Games
Games I've written, most of which fit on one letter-sized page (though you might have to squint a little if you actually print them -- I've never tried). They're listed from most recent to oldest, so paint a pretty good picture of my evolving design philosophy (and improvement with LaTex).
Heirs of Sea and Shadow
A game of romantic fantasy inspired by the punchy, swingy, rapid-fire play of Trollbabe and Stranger Things. Well, it's punchy and swingy the way I play it, anyway.
Heirs is a bit crunchier than Calypso, with a more concrete injury path and proscribed rerolls that push you down that injury track surprisingly quickly. The core merchanic uses sliders, between 1 and 10, to represent your hero's approach to a problem, and an over-under mechanic to determine success or failure.
There's also a full (albeit mini) descending darkness setting. With talking animals, giants, and angry trees.
And a dynasty system, with Tag inheritance and all sorts of dramatic shenanigans, so you can play out epic storylines spanning generations.
To Make a Murder
... a narrative solo mystery framework
More proof of concept than anything else, to be honest. It's a simple framework to run a mystery game; you start at the top and work your way down, periodically uncovering key clues about the characters. These clues are hidden in the back of the book, kind of like those old magic ink sleuthing books from the 80s.
Calypso
... Apocalypse World mashed with Lady Blackbird
A mashup of Apocalypse World's mechanics and Lady Blackbird's character generation, along with a heaping helping of general soloing techniques, run through the blender of my idiosyncratic play style.
Calypso is designed to be compatible with Apocalypse World and its derivatives. It should be trivial to use the core rules with any PbtA game, and the character options should work with Lady Blackbird with very little tweaking.
Secrets & Shadows / Starfarer
The former is paranormal romance, or urban fantasy, if you prefer, while the latter is straight science fiction. Draws heaviy on Lady Blackbird for character generation and Apocalypse World for resolution and mechanics. No good name for the mashup system yet, I'm afraid.
No built-in structure or end point, but plenty of color and situation starters to get things going and keep them moving. Should be playable solo or in a group, one shot or long term. I expect to make a lot of these in different flavors.
6 Feet Under
Mystery with a hard-boiled, noir feel, written after 6 Against the Dark as I was transitioning away from a "purchasing outcomes" framework and towards Apocalypse World's resolution system.
Uses a character generation method similar to that of 6 Against the Dark, but replaces the standard three Act structure with one inspired by a "beat sheet" for a more fluid but still very board-game-like result.
I as about halfway done with it when I got bowled over by illness, and by the time I got back on my feet I'd moved on to a different approach entirely. I finished it up anyway but I think the resolution mechanics are handled and explained much better in the next set of games.
6 Against the Dark / 6 Days to Adventure
Two flavors of essentially the same game; one is horror of the haunted house variety and the other evokes big globe-trotting, treasure hunting adventure potboilers (or pulp adventure, if you prefer).
Built around a board-game-style three Act structure with a simple dice resolution mechanic (using s "purchase results" method). Like 6 Hours, designed for one shot, or at least self-contained stories; you start at the beginning, rough out a character in broad strokes, then play through the steps (scenes) in order.
Designed for solo but with more room (and less constrained roles) than 6 Hours for multiple players. The framework is also suitable for running by a GM.
6 Hours to Midnight
... and no one is precisely who they seem to be, including you.
Intrigue and romance in a time-based format designed to create a cohesive narrative story. And to encourage exploration of themes of love, sex, and rivalry in a rpg context. Inspired by S\lay with w/Me.
Probably suitable for solo play only, though you could possibly play with a GM and one or two players, maybe even competitively, assuming your group is cool with that and the major themes.
It's definitely designed as a one shot, with a decent number of things to keep track of, and very story focused, with a clear beginning, set up, and end.