Witchy Women: A Chat With Coven Club Founder Lottie Bevan

Witchy Women: A Chat With Coven Club Founder Lottie Bevan

Weather Factory producer Lottie Bevan recently announced the formation of Coven Club, a monthly London event for women in the games industry. Known for her work with Failbetter Games on titles such as Fallen London, Sunless Sea: Zubmariner, and Sunless Skies, Bevan more recently left Failbetter to launch Weather Factory with her partner, game developer and Failbetter Games founder Alexis Kennedy. Weather Factory successfully Kickstarted and created Cultist Simulator, an innovative card-based narrative game of delving into the sorts of weird and transcendental horror that give the various Failbetter titles their distinctive mood.

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Wario and Waluigi: Who are They, Anyway?

Wario and Waluigi: Who are They, Anyway?

We all know about the Mario Brothers, those stewards of diligence in industries as diverse as plumbing, professional sports, and beating up other beloved Nintendo characters. But Wario and Waluigi—ah, now there’s a mystery. Who are these mysterious inversions of our well-known brothers Mario? (more…)

Finding Your Role: What Is This LARPing Of Which You Speak?

Finding Your Role: What Is This LARPing Of Which You Speak?

Welcome, reader, to An Accessible Guide To Roleplaying, or A Ladies’ Primer On Pretending To Be Somebody Else For Six Hours On A Saturday. I’m Annie Blitzen, the Virgil to your Dante on this daunting journey. It has come to my attention that you aren’t entirely clear about the finer points of live-action roleplaying, which is very understandable. It’s a hidden world, and its denizens have a reputation for being less than welcoming. Allow me, then, to equip you with the knowledge necessary for an expedition among them.
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Bluebeard’s Bride: A Challenging Dance Between Horror and Trauma

Bluebeard’s Bride

Written by Whitney “Strix” Beltrán, Marissa Kelly, and Sarah Richardson
Magpie Games
October 24, 2017

Bluebeard’s Bride is an extremely unusual tabletop roleplaying game in many ways. It recreates the fable of Bluebeard, a wealthy nobleman who marries women and then kills them. All 3-5 of the players work together and against each other to play a single character, the Bride. The game is built around telling variations of one single story only, rather than the free-form campaigns of traditional roleplaying games. It always ends horribly for the Bride; there is no “winning,” only an exploration of her choices and experiences as she investigates the house of her serial killer husband. Plus, it’s printed on square pages. Who does that?

Bluebeard's Bride, Magpie Games, written by Whitney "Strix" Beltrán, Marissa Kelly, and Sarah Richardson, cover art by Miguel Ángel Espinoza

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Rock Candy Games Arrives on the Scene With a Queer Romance Visual Novel

Rock Candy Games is a newly formed studio helmed by Becca Farrow and Anne Camlin. Their new game, Seventh Circle, a queer romance visual novel set in a magic dueling league, is on Kickstarter right now. You might know Farrow from her comics work, including some amazing covers. Camlin’s debut novel, Young Magic, was released serially online, concluding in 2016. Sidequest has gotten an inside look from the creators, and here’s the good stuff.

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