Games like The Empire Wants You

I feel the back of my neck. My skin is concrete. There’s a round cutout where the jackport digs deep beneath it and into my spine. My bones are concrete. My spine is a circle. Where am I going? Out. That’s a start. I lace up my boots. Fingers dirty. I wash them, the faucet only half-on to keep quiet for Reese. Kssssh. Impossibly loud. At least it doesn’t squeak. Then my coat. Can’t go out withou…

“So, you’re heading to Hillgate? Not many people going there.” “Yeah, we’re doing a piece on all the old mining towns around here for a magazine.” “I’m from Hillgate. Odd folks, that’s why I left. Be careful up there, you hear?” “We will, thanks. Do you know where we could find a place to stay for the night?” “Could try asking over at Murphy’s bar. He sometimes has a couple rooms open. Or…

The intercom comes on over the hum of machines. “Captain? We’re ready, if you’ll do the honors.” “Be there in a moment.” Oliana could have called me directly, but she wants everyone to know we’re about to head out. I try to hide my excitement. After all, it’s not captainly to have a boyish grin on my face. Captainish? It doesn’t matter. I get to the bridge without incident. A few seconds …

The Console is home to characters from many games. You will take your place among them. All of you go about your digital lives. When the Owner’s not around, you don’t have to follow your game's script. You can do whatever you want, go wherever you want. That doesn’t mean life is worry-free. You can explore all the worlds in all the games, visit the Console’s various sections, and enjoy all the …

Content Warning: R-level violence, disturbing unchildlike behavior. The tungcrete towers rise like black gravestones against the scorching sky. Lily’s weapinserts whir as the saw-blades catch up to speed. “Straight and deep around the face-plate. You don’t want to damage the nerve links.”   I scan the surroundings. Crowds on Lania don’t stick around once shooting starts. The Game Carnifex i…

The sound of gravel crunching beneath my boots echoes through the ravine. It’s been two hours since I left the others, if I had to guess. I can see the wisp of smoke trailing up from the campsite. They must be using wet wood. Maybe there are other people out here. If they see the smoke, will they come? And will they be friendly? At least nobody’s getting sick anymore. I remember the da…

“What is it?” Dad takes the object in his hands and turns it over. The paint has worn through in places where the metal gleams beneath. “I don’t know.” It’s a cylinder. Big and heavy, at least for me. “Is it safe?” “Probably not. We should leave it. Nobody will buy it.” It clatters to the ground. His fingers are black where he touched it. He holds them up in the pale blue dim of the ancient corrid…

… And it came to pass in those days that the gods grew weary. The iniquities of humanity exceeded their patience, so they withdrew their grace from all of us and let the dead walk among the living. Glassmakers' Fall is an apocalyptic fantasy game I made to tie into my serial novel Aspects of Sand and for the Apocalypse TTRPG Game Jam. It's a zombie apocalypse set in an ancient fantasy world, where…

Helion, Our Domain is a storytelling game for GM-less or GM-led play powered by Breathless.  Guide an extrasolar colony as explorers struggle for survival. You'll weave stories about the heroes who emerge to lead the settlement and determine whether they fall into ruin or manage to triumph. The game has a traditional ruleset for GM-led play, and also features an Oracle that uses a pack of cards fo…

A game of lost memories, lost hope, and lost technology. You are part of a team sent out to investigate a structure known only as the Library. It harks back to the AI Dominion and a golden age where humanity enjoyed endless pleasure but lived as thralls of the machines. Now, you’re picking through the mess. The builder of the Library was an AI that never contacted humanity directly. Ho…