Bluestocking's Organic Gaming

Magic is dying, and the Magus is dying with it.  We travel together to the realm of Umbra where Magic was born. When our regular games finished, and Fan Expo was just around the corner, which meant limited our ability to play high-prep games, Rob, Rach, and I decided to try out some of the no prep games we had picked up at Jiffycon in the summer. When we were there, we stopped at Modern Myths , a gaming store of epic proportions. It was there we discovered a copy of Fall of Magic, which had been Rach's goal purchase for the trip. Coming in with hefty price tag, Fall of Magic is the one extremely expensive game that I would say is worth every penny. It's absolutely stunning in every possible way. When you open the slender, beautifully designed box, you discover a scroll. The scroll has a map upon both sides, one side for the surface world, the other for if you travel underground. There are five elegantly made tokens, an instruction book with flawless instructions,...

Ever log in to your G+ and cringe at what's going on? Ever watched your friend get trolled, wanting to help but also fearing for your own mental health at the same time? Ever played in a game that broke your soul enough you just couldn't anymore? Ever stared at your character sheet, exhausted inside, and thought "where do we go from here?" (Honestly you probably started humming the Buffy song, too, and that's okay.) Gaming can be a viciously emotional experience for some folks. If it's a form of your self care , like it is for me, it can be devastating as well to find yourself wishing there was a game that night. If you're an industry professional, new or veteran, it doesn't matter, you've experienced the drama of the industry on some level. Whether it was being a support person, involved yourself, or just watching from the sidelines, it was probably an exercise in control or at least emotionally draining on some level. From the many, many g...

A few years ago the epic and amazing Avery Alder appeared at Fan Expo after I convinced her it was a good idea and the game organizer at Fan Expo agreed. It was one of those giddy moments where something you helped make happened was happening. She was standing on the stage, giving a talk about inclusivity in gaming. J'adore. My mentor and great friend, Sara, was sitting beside me with her little dude in arms. And Avery talked. Eventually the X-card came up as a tool at the table to help with problematic players and content. Sara and I looked at each other. Our world had changed. We, meaning the organizers of Toronto Area Gamers , were having issues, repeatedly, of gross misconduct at the table. This came in the form of dudes just being subtly sexist and kinda inappropriate without it bordering on actual harassment. Combine that with one dude who followed women home and had me doxxed because I told him he couldn't live out his personal sexual fantasies at the table, and...

I'm in an inflatable boat. I've been practicing all week how to paddle properly. I get out a bit and then remember how much I don't want to be in the water because I'm terrified of what's in the water. There could be something in there that will touch me. Or worse, bite me. I could lose a toe. Or maybe more. I could drown. The boat starts to go in circles as I paddle too fast and not evenly on one side then the other. My dad starts yelling at me for being an idiot. My mom's telling my dad to leave me alone and trying to get me to look at her. I can't breathe. It's so hard to breathe. I could die on this stupid inflatable boat. I could drown. I'm at school early because I hate being late. I have english first, so I'm walking on the side of the building when the school councillor smiles at me and asks me to come with her. As I walk towards the councillors offices, which are across the hall from the reception and principals' offices, I see one...

Her name is Swift. She is a hero but is seen as a misfit. Her society, those elusive wanderers in a dream-like void, see her as nothing more than a tailor. They value loyalty, so much so that it is the core belief their traditions are built upon. One day, people start throwing themselves into the void with their dead loved ones to prove their undying loyalty. Swift knows it's wrong, yet no one else can see why... Downfall is an evocative, expansive, intense RPG for three people. Winner of the IGDN Groundbreaker awards for best setting, and written by the amazing Caroline Hobbs , Downfall excites my imagination. For the last three or four years, mostly what I've been playing is PbtA games of varying flavours with variations. Once in awhile I'd take a break from them to play Golden Sky Stories or Ten Candles , but never anything for long. Downfall is a game I want to keep playing, again and again. The game itself is designed for one-shot play. The three of you ch...

Trish is a human caught up in the supernatural world. Her brother has become a demon, slaughtering their parents and their friends. She was a monster hunter, kind of. With her friends. Before it went south that and that brother of hers went truly evil. She was 19 when it all started, dropped out of school to take care of her teen brother. He's a demon now. She's 22. She's in love with an angel named Ariel. He loves her back, but he loves her like one loves a favoured precious possession. She's too fragile for this world. Ariel is hunting the brother. Trish finds a way to pull the demon out of her brother, knowing it would pull the demon into herself. She does so, to save the brother. Ariel kills her, because he loves her and suddenly understands that Trish knew he would do that for her. The mortal is dead. The supernatural people around her bury her and say kind things about the person she was. A silence hits the table. It's my character. Trish is mine. I killed...