itch.io

I adore this premise, love the idea of making a 'boring' history game

On some level, yes, Israel's Declaration of Independence could potentially be a valid topic for a pedagogical game, but even if this game underwent substantial revision, I cannot think of a single classroom I have been in where the premise, text, and appropriateness of this game would not be immediately and wholeheartedly challenged by the entirety of the student participants

I find it interesting that you say you've run participatory classroom games on topics such as genocide and slavery—I have a hard time imagining how that could be possible with regards to ethics and safety. If deep care was taken in their design, I would be very interested in seeing how those games work. I can only hope they were not written with such a deeply uncritical design, and with such a hegemonic voice and POV as this one

My biggest problem is that your game text, the authorial voice, your own voice, 1) mentions only violence against Zionists and Jewish people (the sole semi-exception, you say: "Atrocities are committed on both sides"), 2) does not clarify any difference between Zionists and normal Jewish people, 3) hagiographizes 'Great Men', 4) does not reflect at any point on what it might mean for a classroom of students to play all men, all Zionists, all ethnosupremacists, all nationalists, to themselves 'play' as architects of a regime of genocide and apartheid, without even a mention of safety tools, 5) reproduces the lionizing narratives of a genocidal state as that state at present is undertaking a wholesale genocide in full view, and so of course it makes sense that your game 6) erases Palestinians. You literally refuse to refer to Palestinians at any point in any of your work. Those who oppose Zionism and their genocidaires are simply "Arabs", implicitly non-native non-nationals, and you use the word Palestinian only in a single instance, as an adjective, to clarify a certain kind of Arab. The point here is not that language is important. If you simply revised the text to include the word Palestinian, your way of thinking (whether your own or—if I'm feeling very very charitable—imported from a wider hegemonic discourse that you've thoughtlessly reproduced) still informs the entirety of the structure of the text. You say that Palestinians can go have their own things, make their own things, too. You say that this game is about Zionists, and to each their own place and thing. I think this stinks of apartheid, as does your game, on a meta level and a functional level. It is simply not a critical work, it is useless, it is at worst dangerous. At best it's not worth even the amount of words I have already spent on it

There is a genocide going on in Palestine, against Palestinians, right now, just as there was in 1948. Your work here is completely inappropriate and unsalvageable. The kindest thing I can say to you is that I hate it

to clarify, a roleplaying exercise where you take the role of a genocidaire, ethnic cleanser, ethnonationalist—such as the architects of apartheid this game would have you play as—now that is perhaps a compelling idea to create a game around, with enough care and criticality a game like that could MAYBE be designed, but this is not that game, a game in which the game text reproduces the systems of exclusion and violence which characterize Israel

this is a game which reproduces inequalities by it's very structure, which engages with none of its historical context critically, and which erases a genocide (the Nakba) and erases a people (Palestinians) while a second genocide against those people is underway—this is detestable, poor, shameful history-writing and stands as an even worse pedagogical tool

to clarify, a roleplaying exercise where you take the role of a genocidaire, ethnic cleanser, ethnonationalist—such as the architects of apartheid this game would have you play as—now that is perhaps a compelling idea to create a game around, with enough care and criticality a game like that could MAYBE be designed, but this is not that game, a game in which the game text reproduces the systems of exclusion and violence which characterize Israel

this is a game which reproduces inequalities by it's very structure, which engages with none of its historical context critically, and which erases a genocide (the Nakba) and erases a people (Palestinians) while a second genocide against those people is underway—this is detestable, poor, shameful history-writing and stands as an even worse pedagogical tool

while a genocide is being perpetrated by Israel at this very moment, how tone-deaf and insane it is to publish something like this, a game where you (can only) play as Zionists during the ethnic cleansing of the Nakba, which features game text characterizing Arabs as violent and unreasonable and in which the author refuses to refer to Palestinians directly, erasing their very existence off their own land in a manner so appropriate to Zionist thinking

truly disgusting

while a genocide is being perpetrated by Israel at this very moment, how tone-deaf and insane it is to publish something like this, a game where you (can only) play as Zionists during the ethnic cleansing of the Nakba, which features game text characterizing Arabs as violent and unreasonable and in which the author refuses to refer to Palestinians directly, erasing their very existence off their own land in a manner so appropriate to Zionist thinking

truly disgusting

Hell yeah, thanks Franc! That would thematically be v dope :)

brilliant and fun (and peak Cruelty Squad or whatever that aesthetic could be called) and I utterly adore the art, true creative vomit I love it

it's clearly so thoughtfully done, great work dude

i'm in love with this art style, this adventure is evocative and nails what it's going for so perfectly, not least because of how good the art is

This setting is so much fun and all the work y'all put into this book really shines

Hey I love this

Holy shit

Tremendous new interior art

No worries! It's just that as of now when someone searches for them on itch, they won't be able to tell from the thumbnail or store page which is the original and which is the translation!

Hi Littlefears! Love the pdfs! I forgot to specify earlier—can you please specify that they're translations and credit me, linking to my Starlogs and Phasers+Photons pages on your translations' pages? Thanks much and hope it reaches a wide jdr audience :)

Hey there! Thanks for asking permission, and absolutely! Feel free to post them on your itch page! :) I’m very flattered you enjoyed them enough to translate them!

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/307QVRguOcUGSFl6rpSLOF?si=4a2278ab259e43b4 I made a playlist of the listed albums of inspiration (sans TLHP Graveyard)!

I like the symmetry of having 36 playable species, but here's a few more for good measure!

ANTEDEAN: you can enter a catatonic fugue state during which time you have +2 armor.

CHALNOTH: when you attack someone exercising authority over others, roll as if you have an applicable skill and deal +1d6 damage.

DOPTERIAN: +1 to sleight of hand.

KOBLIAD: you need deuridium to live. If you go too long without consuming deuridium, you become sick—for all rolls while deuridium-famished, roll 3d6 and use the two lowest dice. When you have fresh deuridium coursing through your system, make all rolls as if you had an applicable skill.

LETHEAN: you can inflict a psychic poison with a touch. The victim must roll+CON to resist—suffering 1d6 damage with each attempt—and is cured only on a full success.

MIZARIAN: when someone tries to hurt you and you haven’t hurt them or their friends, flip a coin. On heads, they can't bring themselves to hurt you. On tails, they regret the hurt they cause you.

NAPEAN: when you peer into a person's aura to see what their current emotional state is, receive such information easily (in the form of a color) but roll+CON to resist that becoming your own emotional state.

TIBURONIAN: when you indulge in hedonistic excess, roll+CON and heal 2d6+CON vitality on a success.

Heads up: I asked leaf about why the cy_borg tag is strangely empty, and apparently itch has a problem with tags with underscores. It should rather be a hyphen  (-) to show up on a tag search. Just wanted to let the community know about the discoverability problems which will come with that!!

That's great, thanks Oz! The creative gears in my head are already turning 🙌

I keep coming back to Pulka! more and more⁠—it really seems like the perfect hack for onboarding players new to ttrpgs! It has access to that huge breadth of Troika! fluff and supplements⁠—perfect for hooking new players⁠—but it does some fun and smart stuff with Troika!'s opaque rules. Anyway, love this, and I'm inspired to use it for exactly that purpose. Question: what use license does Pulka! have, in particular regarding hacking it (like, a Powered by Pulka! kinda thing)?

very successfully draws out the same feelings and thoughtforms i used to get as a child when i stared at the Dinotopia books; pleasing, blissful adventure

it loses nothing and gains a lot (in terms of allowing players latitude to shape the fiction/places themselves—it is GMless after all) by not actually being a Dinotopia game, though

fun and evocative!

This game has one of the best flufftext intros I've ever read (page 1 of the PDF). It presents so many great hooks ("the witches have returned from the woods", etc.), it immediately set gears turning in my head.

The set dressing that unfolds over the subsequent pages is also well-done, communicating very well the tone and place of the game. Importantly, it leaves lots of gaps for the imagination.

I think this is one of the strengths of the whole system: character creation, too, leads to a character sheet filled with potential hooks, touching upon the PC's past and characterization in a very clear, concise way. Altogether the game delivers potential stories very well. It guides with a light hand.

more music for the table: violin concertos by the leader of an all-black regiment of the French Revolutionary Army, the Chevalier de Saint-Georges

some thematic inspo

thanks dude!!

https://qwo.itch.io/salt-strife

🐁🐝🐝🐝