The MÖRKTOBER prompts are here!

As per tradition, I always share the prompts in September to give you some time to ponder them ahead of the actual event in October. They were available last week as a crossword puzzle you had to solve. Now they are available in the usual format!

I think there are some good ones in there this year, particularly “ship” and “crab.”1 The final one for Day 31 should come as no surprise to those who have participated in previous years.

This year’s prompt list is illustrated by Marie Enger, creator of Death to the Wizard Kings and Casket Land. I was thrilled to be able to work with Marie and absolutely love the art!

Read the MÖRKTOBER FAQ for all the details on how to participate!

Crossword puzzle solutions

Congratulations to everyone who solved the crossword puzzle! It proved to be far more popular than expected, and I was shocked at how many people gave it a try.

Solutions are in the image above. Spoilers if you haven’t already solved it. From what I can tell, 13 Across and 25 Down were the two most likely to trip people up.

Make weird things with Tenebrous

“A very well put together book to help any DM stuck in a creative rut.”

I made something new for MÖRKTOBER!

Tenebrous is a 44-page guide full of random tables and inspiration to make dark and weird things for MÖRK BORG:

• Chapter 1: The Dark Fort

• Chapter 2: What should I make?

• Chapter 3: Create a monster

• Chapter 4: Choose a location

• Chapter 5: Rumors & lies

• Chapter 6: Bäncht’s Rat Box

• Appendix: Art resources, generators, inspiration

This guide includes random tables for project ideas, items, monsters, locations, rumors, and more.2 They can be used individually to create one-off things for use in MÖRK BORG or other dark fantasy settings.

Make whatever you want. But remember… Make it dark. Make it weird.

Tenebrous is available as the Tenebrous Adventure Bundle (Print + PDF) at the Exeunt Press Shop. The bundle includes both Tenebrous and the Cemetery of the Silent Monks one-shot zonecore adventure.

- E.P. 💀

P.S. If you love tabletop games, you should check out Tumulus. It’s a print-only, quarterly zine packed with Skeleton Code Machine game design content.

Play some weird and wonderful games at shop.exeunt.press.

Written, augmented, purged, and published by Exeunt Press. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without permission. Exeunt Omnes is Copyright 2026 Exeunt Press. For comments, questions, reports from the EZ, or pro tips: games@exeunt.press

TENEBROUS and MÖRKTOBER are independent productions by Exeunt Press and are not affiliated with Ockult Örtmästare Games or Stockholm Kartell. They are published under the MÖRK BORG Third Party License. MÖRK BORG is copyright Ockult Örtmästare Games and Stockholm Kartell. TENEBROUS, MÖRKTOBER, and the MÖRKTOBER stylized logo are Copyright 2026 Exeunt Press.

Thank you to everyone who stopped by to say hello at Harrisburg Board Game Day! I had a great time and met so many new people. I plan to write up my experience in a future post, including what I’d change about my table setup.

This week, I want to share two recent interviews I did. It’s not often I do things like this, so you’ll want to check them out.

The Game Thread podcast interview

Produced by Harrisburg University, The Game Thread is a game design podcast hosted by Greg Loring-Albright (Ahoy, Keep the Faith). In Episode 6, Greg interviewed me about teaching free game design classes at public libraries.1 We covered some of the challenges and how I make the class work for all experience levels.

Pit Trap Zine interview

Each quarter, Johan Nohr (MÖRK BORG) makes a little zine to include with orders from his Pit Trap Shop. In the most recent one, Pit Trap Zine #3, he interviewed me about MÖRKTOBER and Exclusion Zone Botanist: Epsilon. The zine has a ton of other cool stuff in it and it’s free to download.

- E.P. 💀

P.S. Get the 2026 MÖRKTOBER Prompt Puzzle and solve it to get early access to this year’s prompts.

Play some weird and wonderful games at shop.exeunt.press.

Written, augmented, purged, and published by Exeunt Press. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without permission. Exeunt Omnes is Copyright 2025 Exeunt Press. For comments, questions, reports from the EZ, or pro tips: games@exeunt.press

Prompts hidden in a puzzle

The MÖRKTOBER prompts are here, but you’ll need to work to reveal them. This year the prompts are hidden in the 2026 MÖRKTOBER Prompt Puzzle. Solve the puzzle and get early access to the prompts before the event begins in October.

A printable version is available on the MÖRKTOBER itch.io page linked above.

Solutions will be posted before October 1, 2026.

Download the puzzle!

What is MÖRKTOBER?

Each day in October, make something for the MÖRK BORG (or CY_BORG) roleplaying game inspired by the prompt list and share it. An item, scroll, weapon, class, dungeon room, or anything else. Use any format or medium you’d like — art, music, drawing, writing, or a mix of all of the above!

It’s chill, not a challenge. Have fun with it.

MÖRKTOBER runs from October 1 through October 31.

Some important information:

1. MÖRKTOBER starts on October 1 and continues through October 31 each year. The prompts are released ahead of time on September 1, but you should wait until MÖRKTOBER starts.

2. There is no registration for MÖRKTOBER. Make things when you feel like it, and don’t worry about missing some days. It’s a creative writing (or art) exercise, so use it the way you feel is best for you. It’s also OK to not post every day! Some people just post a few times a week if that works better for their work/life schedule. Take breaks when you need them!

3. Tag your stuff #MÖRKTOBER when sharing. You are encouraged to share your work in the #mörktober channel on the MÖRK BORG Discord server. Some people do post compilations, but it is not required and just personal preference. There is a custom #MÖRKTOBER Feed for Bluesky to find the work of others.

4. You should read the FAQ. It has answers to most questions you might have and is updated when new questions come up.

I hope to see your dark and weird creations in October!

- E.P. 💀

P.S. Tumulus Issue 8 is coming this month! Dead malls, abandoned arcades, and the influence of videos games on board games and TTRPGs. Subscribe to get it!

Play some weird and wonderful games at shop.exeunt.press.

Written, augmented, purged, and published by Exeunt Press. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without permission. Exeunt Omnes is Copyright 2026 Exeunt Press. For comments, questions, reports from the EZ, or pro tips: games@exeunt.press

Harrisburg Board Game Day is this Saturday, August 29, 2026. The event runs from 10 AM to 8 PM at Strawberry Square in Harrisburg, PA.1

I’ll be there with an Exeunt Press table selling weird and wonderful games, including the brand new We Are Mushrooms.

Running a table by myself can sometimes be stressful, so I really appreciate the chill atmosphere of this event. It’s easy to actually have a conversation and chat for a while with everyone who stops by.2

There’s also a game library provided by The Bodhana Group, other local designers to check out, Break My Game playtesting, and a charity raffle, and chances to win board games. BrownCastle Games is also hosting a crokinole tournament!

You can find all the details at the Harrisburg Board Game Alliance website.

I hope to see you there!

- E.P. 💀

P.S. Heads up that I will probably only be at the event until about 5 PM or so. If you want to catch me, do it before then!

Play some weird and wonderful games at shop.exeunt.press.

Written, augmented, purged, and published by Exeunt Press. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without permission. Exeunt Omnes is Copyright 2025 Exeunt Press. For comments, questions, reports from the EZ, or pro tips: games@exeunt.press

As the launch of Exclusion Zone Botanist: Epsilon approaches, I’ll be posting regular updates with a behind-the-scenes look at the design decisions going into the game:

• Epsilon Update 01: Epsilon overview

• Epsilon Update 02: Plant features

• Epsilon Update 03: Plant morphology

• Epsilon Update 04: Exclusion Zone map

• Epsilon Update 05: Character creation

• Epsilon Update 06: Playtesting

• Epsilon Update 07: SHX system

• Epsilon Update 08: Bloom

• Epsilon Update 09: Inventory

• Epsilon Update 10: Timeline

Note that everything here is in development and subject to change. These updates are a snapshot of how things looked when they were written.

Follow the Kickstarter pre-launch page to be notified when it goes live!

Exploration and discovery

I consider exploration and discovery to be core elements of Exclusion Zone Botanist: Epsilon. I want you to feel like you are walking into the unknown, unsure what you will find, and surprised by what is there.

One way to do this is to move to a larger, pointcrawl map as I described in Epsilon Update No. 4. Combined with primary, secondary, and tertiary objective locations defined on the map, this creates interesting routes and some tough choices.

When you move into a new node, however, you still need a way to find out what’s there. For that, I want a simple die roll system.

Here’s how it works:

1. When entering an unexplored node, roll 1d6 + Ring, where Ring is the current concentric ring that you are in on the map (ranging from 1-6). This yields a number between 2 and 12, depending on your current location on the map. Higher ring numbers (deeper into the EZ) will produce higher results on average.

2. Compare the result versus the discovery table:

   1. 2-5: Alpha Class encounter

   2. 6-9: Plant discovery1

   3. 10-12: Beta Class encounter

3. Make additional rolls as necessary to define the encounter or plant.

Let’s take a look at what each of these results mean.

Three different discovery results

The discovery roll results in one of three outcomes:

1. Alpha Class encounters are fairly routine and sometimes mundane. They include thick underbrush, annoying insects, strange smells, and unstable terrain. Some are hazardous (and trigger a challenge), a few are strange, but they are rarely unsettling or inexplicable.2 Many of them have associated journaling prompts.

2. Plant Discoveries are still the core of the game. These result in a new, undocumented plant being found. You’ll roll for plant morphology and features.

3. Beta Class encounters, on the other hand, are where things get really weird. Strangling roots, incoherent VRF event survivors, crash sites, and truly dangerous things are all in this class.3 Many of them are challenges.

This discovery system has elements of a depth crawl. Moving deeper into the EZ toward Ring 6 at the center shifts the results of each discovery roll. You can see this in the photo of my original, rough notes above.

In Ring 1, the possible results are 2-7. A result of 6 or 7 means a plant discovery. That’s 2 of the 6 possibilities or a 33.3% chance of discovering a plant. You are more likely (66.7%) to have an Alpha Class encounter. There is no risk (0%) of a Beta Class encounter in Ring 1.

You are most likely to discover new plants in Rings 3, 4, and 5 with an approximately 67% chance of finding one. The chance of finding new plants is actually a little bit lower in Ring 6 at 50%.

The more dangerous Beta Class encounters don’t show up until Ring 4 (17%) and increase to a high likelihood in Ring 6 (50%), at the remains of the VRF in the center of the EZ. In Ring 5 and Ring 6, there is no chance of a rather mundane Alpha encounter. It’s either plant discovery or a Beta encounter.

Objectives, risk, rings, and discovery

I like that this creates a natural progression of discoveries as you move deeper into the EZ. Things start pretty normal in Ring 1 and the chance of discovering a new plant is pretty low. Things get more weird and dangerous as you approach your primary objective location at the center in Ring 6.

If you were only tasked with discovering plants, you’d avoid Ring 5 and Ring 6, but the new primary, secondary, and tertiary objectives (each tied to locations on the map) force you into other rings. Suddenly routes matter, time in each ring matters, and taking the shortest route isn’t always the best plan.

That’s the feeling I want in Epsilon: a constant pressure to move, explore, watch the clock, and wonder if you have time to complete one more task before you must leave the EZ.

- E.P. 💀

P.S. Follow Exclusion Zone Botanist: Epsilon on Kickstarter. I post updates here on the third Friday of each month.

Play some weird and wonderful games at shop.exeunt.press.

Written, augmented, purged, and published by Exeunt Press. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without permission. Exeunt Omnes is Copyright 2025 Exeunt Press. For comments, questions, reports from the EZ, or pro tips: games@exeunt.press

I’ve mentioned many times that restrictions breed creativity when it comes to game design.

This was particularly true for me in this year’s Appendix N Jam hosted by Dank Dungeons. The jam requires that submissions be not more than four A5 pages or the equivalent — two A4 pages or eight A6 pages. Having never worked in an A6 format before, I thought it would be a fun challenge.

Combined with my randomly assigned title of Cemetery of the Silent Monks, I created a little, black and white, A6 adventure zine.1 It’s a zonecore one-shot for MÖRK BORG inspired by Roadside Picnic and Stalker:

“The sky over Graven-Tosk was torn asunder with blinding flame and choking, black smoke. At least that’s the way Aalgut the Gravedigger explains it. Says a Black Egg now sits just outside the main cemetery. Big as a house. Perfectly smooth. Doesn’t cast a shadow. He’s seen it himself, but refuses to go too close. He’s seen the Silent Monks that come and go from inside. He’s seen them take people inside the egg — and never come out.”

It’s got sphincters, mutating milk, and digestion machines. As one person described it: “This adventure has wonderfully grotesque imagery, but leaves out just enough detail for our imagination to fill in the blanks with something personally upsetting. Bravo!”

The constraints and that imagination came together in how I built the Black Egg artifact generator.

The Black Egg Artifact Generator

Powerful alien artifacts feature prominently in Roadside Picnic and are important to the genre. These discarded items are probably just junk to the aliens, but to humans they are inexplicable, magic-like objects.

I wanted to include them in the adventure, but with a tight space constraint, I couldn’t actually list them out in detail. While a list of D12 Black Egg Artifacts would be handy for a GM, there was simply no room.

Instead, I opted for a A+B+C combinatorial table plus a table of D6 powers that (when combined) could generate 1,296 different items.2 The specific details are left to be imagined, which can sometimes be even better.

The table has three Aspect columns (A, B, and C) of independent aspects that can be combined. The first column is an adjective, the second is a material, and the third is a physical form. They are then combined in order to create an artifact:

• 1+3+4 = humming stone needle

• 6+5+1 = spinning crystal sphere

• 5+1+5 = throbbing flesh blob

Then a power is added to the artifact with an additional d6 roll. The powers are more defined and may include mechanical effects. Examples: “Animals are terrified of it. Dogs whine. Livestock panic.” or “Will explode when struck. Test Toughness DR12 or stunned, +4DR for d4 rounds. Artifact destroyed.”

With just a few rolls, a GM can create any number of unique artifacts — some useful, some dangerous, some useless. They seem utterly mysterious to the players, and it is up to them to figure out what they do.

Less is more with zonecore

If I were unconstrained, I’d probably still be working on Cemetery of the Silent Monks. I’d be tempted to include a long list of interesting artifacts for players to find, listing out each one in great detail. Each would have a name, description, and specific mechanical effect. It would be a lot of work and fill up a bunch of pages.

And I’m not sure it would be better.

In fact, I’m quite certain it would be worse.

I think people are enjoying the artifact generator because it doesn’t indulge in excessive exposition. It doesn’t explain the artifacts in detail. By its very nature it creates a bit of mystery and unknowable information.

That captures the “unknown and unknowable” zonecore vibe far more than a detailed list of artifacts.

- E.P. 💀

P.S. Grab a free copy of Cemetery of the Silent Monks at itch.io and leave a review.

Play some weird and wonderful games at shop.exeunt.press.

Written, augmented, purged, and published by Exeunt Press. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without permission. Exeunt Omnes is Copyright 2025 Exeunt Press. For comments, questions, reports from the EZ, or pro tips: games@exeunt.press

“It was a stoop sale, which is a garage sale if you live in Brooklyn, which I do.”

— MC Frontalot

Scratched, scuffed, and playable!

Over the past few years, I’ve accumulated copies of Exeunt Press games that are lightly damaged. I can’t sell them at full price as pristine and perfect items, and yet they are too good to throw away. They are perfectly readable, usable, and playable!

The Exeunt Press Summer Stoop Sale to the rescue!

Give these books a good home. Show them that they deserve to be played just as much as other copies! And do it at a significant discount!

Shop the stoop sale!

Everything is 60% off regular prices!

Get Exclusion Zone Botanist, Blackflower, Eleventh Beast, ADVENTURE!, Caveat Emptor, Make Your Own One-Page RPG, and select issues of Tumulus for 60% off their regular prices.

What kind of damage? Examples include (but are not limited to):

• Scuffed, scratched, partially delaminated covers

• Bent, creased, or otherwise wonky (but readable) pages

• Dog-eared or bent page corners

• Dinged and damaged edges

• Minor print alignment errors

• Other cosmetic issues that do not impact playability

They aren’t perfect copies, but they are perfectly good games.

Every copy signed by me!

To make these copies a little more special, I will be signing every one that goes out. I might even include a little scribble skull drawing to go with it. Along with the scratches and scuffs, your book will be one of a kind!

Sale ends Sunday, August 16, 2026

This is a short sale and some of the titles only have one or two copies available. If you see something you want, grab it.

All Stoop Sale items are available via the Summer Stoop Sale product page. Select the item you want from the drop-down menu.

If you have any questions before ordering, let me know at games@exeunt.press.

Quantities are obviously limited. Once they are gone they are gone. All items are sold as-is, non-refundable, with no warranty expressed or implied. All sales are final, but gaming is forever.

- E.P. 💀

Play some weird and wonderful games at shop.exeunt.press.

Written, augmented, purged, and published by Exeunt Press. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without permission. Exeunt Omnes is Copyright 2026 Exeunt Press. For comments, questions, reports from the EZ, or pro tips: games@exeunt.press

I sometimes get asked to check out people’s new one-page RPGs, particularly around this time of year during Unknown Dungeon’s One-Page RPG Jam.1 While I don’t have time for open submissions, I’m always happy to check out the games my friends are working on.2

It made me think about what universal feedback I might give for those making new games this year, particularly one-page RPGs released as PDF-only. While I talk at length in Make Your Own One-Page RPG about game design and publishing, there’s a short list of things I’d encourage all new creators to consider.

Here is that list!

I hope it helps you make your first (or next) one-page RPG.

1. Don’t rasterize your text.

This is probably the biggest piece of advice for those brand new to making games and entering game jams. While it can be tempting to work in your favorite app such as Canva or Photoshop, you should really try to create a game with selectable text.

Without getting all technical, text is usually vectorized. This means it is infinitely scalable (larger or smaller) because the letters are stored as points, lines, and curves all fitting on a grid. Depending on how you export from Canva or other applications, it might rasterize your text. Raster images are made up of individual pixels rather than curves. When you try to zoom in on them, they just get blurry.

How can you check? Open up your PDF and try to select just the text to copy and paste it elsewhere. If you can, you probably have vector text. If you can’t, it is almost certainly raster text. You can also check by opening the PDF properties and checking the list of embedded fonts. If there are no fonts listed, it might be rasterized.

Also, if you exported your game as a JPG or PNG, the text is rasterized. Please use PDF instead.

Being able to select and zoom in on text is important for people with screen readers or low vision, and for anyone who wants to read on displays of different sizes.

Can I select and zoom the text? That’s the first thing I check.

2. Tell me the hook up front.

I have a short attention span when it comes to new games, and I’m sure I’m not the only one. It’s a roleplaying game, so tell me what role I will be playing in this game!

Am I a wizard? If so, what am I trying to do? Is it a cooperative game or competitive? How long does it take? What do I need to play? What kind of fun should I expect?

The final exercise of my public library game design classes is usually a Mad Libs style game pitch. I make worksheets that allow participants to fill in blocks about their games: game name, hook, min/max players, and so on. In just three sentences, they can quickly communicate what their game is about. Almost always I’m immediately interested upon hearing the resulting pitch and want to learn more.

It doesn’t need to be a full marketing pitch, but even a one-page game should tell me why I might want to play it.

That’s the second thing I look for when checking out a new game: What’s the hook?

3. Have a clear core game loop.

No one will play your game if they can’t figure out how to play it.

Almost every game has a core game loop, even if it is not immediately obvious. Take the time to map out the loop of your game. Use a flowchart if you can — not necessarily to include in the game, but for your own edification. If you find you can’t easily build a diagram of your core game loop, you probably have a game that is too complex (or outright broken).

After you understand your game’s loop, make it clear in the game. I like to use numbered lists of steps when making one-page RPGs because space is tight. When more room is available, I include the flowchart.

Once I’ve read the hook, I want to know how to play! Show me the loop.

4. Make it printer friendly.

I love white text on a black background as much as anyone, but please remember that many potential players will want to print your game to play it. Having one or two A4 pages of black ink may discourage people from giving it a try.

Does this mean you need to use boring black text on white and ditch your vintage parchment background? Not necessarily. You can always include a printer-friendly version with the background image layers turned off.

I’m not hard-set on every game being printer friendly, but it is something to consider.

As an ancillary “Rule 4.5,” I would add that you should use high contrast text in your one-page RPGs. The tight space is already going to make you use a smaller font, so you don’t need to make things worse with heavy grunge effects and low contrast. Again, you don’t necessarily have to do this, but at least consider an alternate “high contrast” version.3

I usually print games to play them. Have mercy on my printer.

5. Include credits and contact info.

I’m always surprised at how many games don’t include credits or a copyright notice somewhere. Let me know who made the game. Tell me where I can find more of your stuff via an itch.io page or social media. This also helps me know how to credit creators when discussing games at Skeleton Code Machine.

Along with creator credits, remember to credit art and font sources as necessary. If you are using public domain art, the artists are dead and won’t demand credit… but it’s still nice to do. Some fonts, maps, SRDs, and freely available art pieces require credit to be given in the game itself. Consider using Hinokodo’s Human Made logo.

Check your licenses and give credit where credit is due.

- E.P. 💀

What do you think? What’s on your “pre-flight checklist” when doing a quick check on a game before publishing it? Let me know in the comments.

P.S. New game! Get We are Mushrooms (Print + PDF) in the shop. Be the mushroom you’ve always wanted to be. Skeleton Code Machine readers can use code IMAFUNGI for 10% off your order. Offer expires August 7, 2026. 🍄

Play some weird and wonderful games at shop.exeunt.press.

Written, augmented, purged, and published by Exeunt Press. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without permission. Exeunt Omnes is Copyright 2025 Exeunt Press. For comments, questions, reports from the EZ, or pro tips: games@exeunt.press

I fill your pants with bees!

You and your opponent are rival wizards. Battle for supremacy by using your wizard fuel to cast spells and drain the fuel of your rival. Less fuel means fewer options for spells, so you’ll need to be creative.

Wizard Fuel Duel is a two-player, head-to-head game about casting absurd spells to drain the fuel of your opponent. It plays in about 10-20 minutes and only requires three six-sided dice (3d6) and a deck of cards.

Each round you roll three dice and assign one to Action, one to Essence, and one to Target. When combined, they create the spell that you’ll be using against your rival: Drain Energy, Infuse Object, Ignite Animal, and so on. Then you’ll describe how the spell actually works against the other wizard. Remove heat and freeze their head in a block of ice. Infuse and fill their pants with poison or bees (or both).

It’s a quick, silly game that fits on a single A4-sized page front and back. Free community copies are available! Scroll down on the game page to claim one.

Line art is by Evlyn Moreau. Color is by me.

Claim a free copy!

Join the One-page RPG Jam

Wizard Fuel Duel was created for the One-Page RPG Jam 2026 hosted by Unknown Dungeon. This is my second submission this year! Check out The Walden Paradox to see my first one.

The jam encourages participants to get creative by imposing a tight constraint: the game must fit on a single sheet of paper. I’ve found the concept so intriguing that I’ve published a guide on how to Make Your Own One-Page RPG.

This year’s jam runs from July 12, 2026 to August 16, 2026, so there’s still time to join!

- E.P. 💀

P.S. If you love tabletop games, you should check out Tumulus. It’s a print-only, quarterly zine packed with Skeleton Code Machine game design content.

Play some weird and wonderful games at shop.exeunt.press.

Written, augmented, purged, and published by Exeunt Press. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without permission. Exeunt Omnes is Copyright 2025 Exeunt Press. For comments, questions, reports from the EZ, or pro tips: games@exeunt.press

You are Henry David Thoreau.

You came to the woods because you wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if you could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when you came to die, discover that you had not lived.

The Walden Paradox is a solo journaling game about Thoreau’s final months at Walden Pond from May 1846 to September 1847.

Each month, a new visitor will call upon you. Converse with them. Keep a keen eye for both peculiarities and signs of time paradoxes. Record everything in your journal. The game ends either at the 6th time paradox or when your time at Walden ends in September — whichever comes first.

Then, you will write a final letter to your friend, Ralph Waldo Emerson.

This is a journaling game for 1 player that plays in about 1-2 hours. All you need to play are a pencil, paper, deck of cards, and two six-sided dice.

Free community copies are available!1

Get The Walden Paradox

Join the One-Page RPG Jam

The Walden Paradox was created for the One-Page RPG Jam 2026 hosted by Unknown Dungeon.

It’s an annual jam that encourages participants to get creative by imposing a tight constraint: the game must fit on a single sheet of paper. I’ve found the concept so intriguing that I’ve published a guide on how to Make Your Own One-Page RPG.2

Exclusion Zone Botanist, Eleventh Beast, and Caveat Emptor all began as jam submissions. Last year’s submission was Ghost Beacon.

This year’s jam runs from July 12, 2026 to August 16, 2026, so there’s still time to join!

- E.P. 💀

P.S. I also published Cemetery of the Silent Monks this week for the Appendix N Jam — a zonecore one-shot for MÖRK BORG, inspired by Roadside Picnic and Stalker. Investigate the Black Egg that landed in Graven-Tosk! 👽🛸🪦

Play some weird and wonderful games at shop.exeunt.press.

Written, augmented, purged, and published by Exeunt Press. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without permission. Exeunt Omnes is Copyright 2025 Exeunt Press. For comments, questions, reports from the EZ, or pro tips: games@exeunt.press

Cemetery of the Silent Monks

The sky over Graven-Tosk was torn asunder with blinding flame and choking, black smoke. At least that’s the way Aalgut the Gravedigger explains it. Says a Black Egg now sits just outside the main cemetery. Big as a house. Perfectly smooth. Doesn’t cast a shadow. He’s seen it himself, but refuses to go too close. He’s seen the Silent Monks that come and go from inside. He’s seen them take people inside the egg — and never come out.

A new zonecore one-shot for MÖRK BORG inspired by Roadside Picnic and Stalker from Exeunt Press.

Cemetery of the Silent Monks is an 8-page, A6 zine including:

• D6 Rumors & Lies

• D6 Encounters in Graven-Tosk

• Black Egg Artifact Generator1

• Silent Monk Transformation Stages

• The Black Egg Map (7 areas)

A6 is approximately 4.1 × 5.8 inches (105 x 148.5 mm). I’ve ordered a small print run which will be available in the Exeunt Press Shop in September.

Free community copies are available!2

Get Silent Monks

Join the Appendix N Jam

This adventure was created for the Appendix N Jam 2026 hosted by Dank Dungeons.

It’s an annual game jam that “pays homage to this retro pulp fantasy.” Participants are assigned a randomly generated Appendix N book title. They then create a TTRPG module (adventure) based on the given title. Submissions are limited to four A5 pages (or eight A6 pages).

Last year I made The Trench Grub’s Thirst for the jam. It’s a CY_BORG heist, inspired by The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton and the “The Last Question” short story by Isaac Asimov.3

This year’s jam runs from July 1st 2026 to August 1st 2026, so there’s still time to join!

- E.P. 💀

CEMETERY OF THE SILENT MONKS is an independent production by EXEUNT PRESS and is not affiliated with Ockult Örtmästare Games or Stockholm Kartell. It is published under the MÖRK BORG Third Party License. MÖRK BORG is copyright Ockult Örtmästare Games and Stockholm Kartell. CEMETERY OF THE SILENT MONKS is Copyright 2026 EXEUNT PRESS.

Play some weird and wonderful games at shop.exeunt.press.

Written, augmented, purged, and published by Exeunt Press. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without permission. Exeunt Omnes is Copyright 2025 Exeunt Press. For comments, questions, reports from the EZ, or pro tips: games@exeunt.press

As the launch of Exclusion Zone Botanist: Epsilon approaches, I’ll be posting regular updates with a behind-the-scenes look at the design decisions going into the game:

• Epsilon Update 01: Epsilon overview

• Epsilon Update 02: Plant features

• Epsilon Update 03: Plant morphology

• Epsilon Update 04: Exclusion Zone map

• Epsilon Update 05: Character creation

• Epsilon Update 06: Playtesting

• Epsilon Update 07: SHX system

• Epsilon Update 08: Bloom

• Epsilon Update 09: Inventory

Note that everything here is in development and subject to change. These updates are a snapshot of how things looked when they were written.

Follow the Kickstarter pre-launch page to be notified when it goes live!

Status and timeline update

Work continues on Epsilon, but at a slower pace as of late. My efforts have been focused on getting We are Mushrooms published and on two other projects to be released in September. While this update may be shorter than the previous ones, I’m happy to report that Epsilon is in a good place:

• Introduction and front matter are complete

• Character creation is done

• The improved inventory system is done

• The map structure is complete

• Encounters and challenges (SHX) are done

• Plant discovery, features, and morphology is done

• The new Bloom (corruption) system is done

It feels great seeing the whole game come together.

The challenge is that I still need to commission art and work with an editor for revisions. After that, I need to finish layout for what is easily the largest project I’ve ever done. With 167 days left in 2026, while not impossible, it feels increasingly unlikely that all of those remaining tasks will be done before the end of the year.

I know how much you are looking forward to this game, and I truly appreciate your patience. As I mentioned in the very first update, the Kickstarter will go live when it is ready. In the meantime, you can follow along with updates.

No matter what, you can expect an update here on the third Friday of each month!

- E.P. 💀

P.S. Check out this amazing Exclusion Zone Botanist scrapbook created by Vansheea and shared on the r/solorpgplay subreddit. It’s really impressive!

Play some weird and wonderful games at shop.exeunt.press.

Written, augmented, purged, and published by Exeunt Press. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without permission. Exeunt Omnes is Copyright 2025 Exeunt Press. For comments, questions, reports from the EZ, or pro tips: games@exeunt.press

I’ve been working on a new game, and the test prints arrive next week. It’s called We are Mushrooms, and if you’ve enjoyed solo journaling games like You are a Muffin, I think you are going to really like this one.

We are Mushrooms is a solo journaling game to play together.

You will begin by choosing what type of mushroom you’ll be and creating a basic map of your immediate area. Then, over the course of twelve turns spanning three seasons, you will silently observe what happens in the forest. Knights, rogues, merchants, monks, and animals will leave their mark on your surroundings. New features will be added to your map. The weather will change.

You might even be eaten, but that’s okay.

You’ll always grow back.

Subscribe now

Growing and releasing spores

Each round of the game you’ll have a chance to grow. Some forest visitors may cause your growth to decrease (e.g. if they eat you), but don’t worry too much about being picked or eaten. Most of your mushroom structure is safely underground. You’ll just take a short break and then grow right back.

If you ever reach your maximum Growth (three dice stacked, each at their maximum value), you will disperse your spores and spread to nearby areas. When that happens, you’ll choose two adjacent locations on the map and draw your mushroom in them. Then you’ll begin the growth cycle again.

Rolling the same visitor more than once

Each round, a new forest visitor appears. The visitor could be an animal or a person. They might just be passing through or they could leave a lasting mark on the forest clearing. It is possible (and expected) that some visitors will return later in the game (i.e. rolling the same value again). Return visits often have different details or effects. Some visitors will even interact with things other visitors have left behind.

A solo game you can play together

You can play We are Mushrooms as a group — sort of like a silent book club.

All players start and end the game at the same time. When rolling for an encounter, all players (i.e. mushrooms) will experience that same event. How players react to and imagine events, however, will be an individual experience for each player. The Monk (one of the forest visitors) might enter the forest clearing and build a shrine, but each player can imagine what that shrine looks like as they see fit.

The goal is to provide a framework where any number of players can have a shared activity and yet feel comfortable exploring their own creativity and imagination.

When is it going to be available?

We are Mushrooms is written, edited, and laid out. I sent it to the printer to have a few test prints made to make sure it’s perfect. They are due to be delivered the week of July 14, 2026. I’m excited/nervous to see what they look like!

Assuming they are good, I’ll send the full print order to the printer. Those usually take 2-4 weeks to arrive. Then We are Mushrooms will go on sale at shop.exeunt.press.

Subscribe and follow along here at the Exeunt Omnes newsletter to be notified when copies are available!

Subscribe now

- E.P. 💀

P.S. If you love tabletop games, you should check out Tumulus. It’s a print-only, quarterly zine packed with Skeleton Code Machine game design content.

Play some weird and wonderful games at shop.exeunt.press.

Written, augmented, purged, and published by Exeunt Press. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without permission. Exeunt Omnes is Copyright 2026 Exeunt Press. For comments, questions, reports from the EZ, or pro tips: games@exeunt.press

It’s back!

If you’ve been unable to complete your Tumulus collection because Issue 01 “Do not trust robots.” has been out of stock, now is your chance.1

The theme of this Winter 2024 issue is dystopian anxiety about malfunctioning artificial intelligence. You’ll find android naming schemes, a cyberpunk district worldbuilding game, a logic puzzle, and a hex flower game engine.

It’s available now via the Tumulus Back Issues order page while supplies last.

I don't trust robots.

- E.P. 💀

P.S. If you love tabletop games, you should check out Tumulus. It’s a print-only, quarterly zine packed with Skeleton Code Machine game design content.

Play some weird and wonderful games at shop.exeunt.press.

Written, augmented, purged, and published by Exeunt Press. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without permission. Exeunt Omnes is Copyright 2025 Exeunt Press. For comments, questions, reports from the EZ, or pro tips: games@exeunt.press

I’ll be at the ALA Annual Conference this week in Chicago! Come to the GameRT Mage’s Program: Creativity, Community, and Connection: Why We Can’t Shut Up about Game Jams:

This panel brings together librarians and game publishers to share their experience and ideas on hosting game design workshops at your library! From iterating on existing games to creating original ones, from board games to tabletop roleplaying games, from single-day events to a month-long event, come learn how play can foster creativity, facilitate community, and build connection with library resources and services.

The panel is Saturday, June 27, 2026 from 2:30 - 3:30 PM CT at McCormick Place, W 194 A. Rebecca Strang is the moderator.

Because I’ll be there, note that any Exeunt Press Shop orders received during that time will ship after the conference. You can expect shipping to resume by Wednesday, July 1, 2026.

If you will be there, please let me know in the comments!

- E.P. 💀

P.S. If you love tabletop games, you should check out Tumulus. It’s a print-only, quarterly zine packed with Skeleton Code Machine game design content.

Play some weird and wonderful games at shop.exeunt.press.

Written, augmented, purged, and published by Exeunt Press. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without permission. Exeunt Omnes is Copyright 2025 Exeunt Press. For comments, questions, reports from the EZ, or pro tips: games@exeunt.press

As the launch of Exclusion Zone Botanist: Epsilon approaches, I’ll be posting regular updates with a behind-the-scenes look at the design decisions going into the game:

• Epsilon Update 01: Epsilon overview

• Epsilon Update 02: Plant features

• Epsilon Update 03: Plant morphology

• Epsilon Update 04: Exclusion Zone map

• Epsilon Update 05: Character creation

• Epsilon Update 06: Playtesting

• Epsilon Update 07: SHX system

• Epsilon Update 08: Bloom

Note that everything here is in development and subject to change. These updates are a snapshot of how things looked when they were written.

Follow the Kickstarter pre-launch page to be notified when it goes live!

The inventory challenge

In the original Exclusion Zone Botanist, there is no inventory system. You begin the game with “a couple of chem lights, rations, first aid kit, and a Bureau issued HX-40 pistol that you’ve never fired.” Beyond those items, you have your sketchbook and pens. Nothing is ever gained or lost during your incursion into the EZ.

I want Epsilon to have an inventory system. To me, the ability to customize the items you carry is just as much a part of character creation as is choosing your background and skills. Finding new items and occasionally losing some of them needs to be part of the game.

In the Epsilon version that was playtested at Unpub, players had a basically unlimited inventory. New agents began the game with eight items including a notebook, chronometer, food, water, backpack, paper map, analog compass, first aid kit, and chem lamp. There was also D66 table to gain additional starting items to add to your inventory. Even more items were acquired via events while exploring the EZ.

While I liked the immersiveness (and perhaps simulationist vibes) of it, it slowed down the game in a suboptimal way. This showed up in the playtest feedback as I noted in my post-test write-up:

Too many ways to gain items and no way to lose items. Players didn’t love having to search through a long list of items to see if they applied to the current challenge. Based on watching how players interacted with each part of the game, the equipment wasn’t as engaging as the exploration and drawing.

It should have been no surprise that people play Exclusion Zone Botanist and Epsilon for the exploration, drawing, and push-your-luck zonecore tension. Adding an inventory system that makes players stop those activities to search through a list runs counter to the goals of the game.

Keep it simple

Epsilon’s inventory system is now streamlined in a way that lets the best parts of the game shine. The starting equipment is still there, but abstracted away. If you think you’d reasonably have an item that would help in a specific challenge, give yourself a +1 to the SHX system roll. We don’t need to list everything out.

Yet some item specificity is necessary. Therefore, special items that are acquired along the way will go into your inventory, but with a much smaller fixed capacity. You can carry four items with you at any time.

I’m also continuing to revise many of the encounters and challenges so that they consume items. Previously the game would continually give agents new items but never remove any. Balancing that will be a big improvement and is aligned with simplifying the gameplay.

Epsilon is the largest project I’ve worked on so far. Scope creep and the desire to include every fun idea is a constant risk and battle.

Of course I want to have it be a deeper game, but inventory is a good example of the need to focus on the core promise of the game: deep exploration and discovery with constant time pressure.

Follow the Epsilon project

I am posting an Epsilon update on the third Friday of every month through development, launch, and fulfillment. You can read previous updates in the Exeunt Omnes archive.

What do you think? Have you played a solo game where the inventory system got in the way of the best parts of the game? Let me know in the comments.

- E.P. 💀

P.S. If you love tabletop games, you should check out Tumulus. It’s a print-only, quarterly zine packed with game design content and creative inspiration.

Play some weird and wonderful games at shop.exeunt.press.

Written, augmented, purged, and published by Exeunt Press. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without permission. Exeunt Omnes is Copyright 2025 Exeunt Press. For comments, questions, reports from the EZ, or pro tips: games@exeunt.press

Although Exclusion Zone Botanist: Epsilon remains the main project at Exeunt Press this year, I’ve also been working on some other games. This week, I’d like to talk about my learnings from playtesting one of those games: Proxwar Zero.

Two games, both alike in dignity

One of the games is a spiritual successor to You are a Muffin called We are Mushrooms. It takes what I’ve learned since publishing it in 2022 and applies it to the new game’s design. There are more opportunities to personalize your character, a greater variety of prompts, and (what I find most interesting) connections between the random events. The game is made to be played either solo or “solo together” with others. After one more check from my editor, it’ll be ready for a test print.

The other game is a cyberpunk city-builder called Proxwar Zero, based on the Gridlock City game included in Tumulus Issue 01. It’s influenced by world-building games such as Beak, Feather, & Bone by Possible Worlds Games, which was itself influenced by Avery Alder’s The Quiet Year.

I wanted to use my board game knowledge to give the competitive mechanisms more teeth. My goal was to make the core mechanisms of the game solid and enjoyable, even without the storytelling and thematic layers.

Proxwar Zero gives you the feeling of controlling a shadow faction conducting secret operations: funding landmarks, torching rival headquarters, and burning allegiances. Each of the 12 available factions (including both corps and hackers) has an asymmetric Special Op that feels unique. You build and destroy the city, all the while placing bets on which faction will have the most power in the end.1

How it got here contains a valuable lesson in playtesting.

Iteration zero

Proxwar Zero is a game where 1-4 players compete by influencing the factions of a cyberpunk city to gain control. Players don’t control anything on the map. They are not the city factions. Instead, the players represent shadow organizations waging a proxy war via the city’s corps and gangs.

I spent a lot of time writing the rules, revising them, and adding mechanisms to counteract potential problems that might arise. The original playtest version of the game rules came in at over 3,900 words.2 There were rules for drafting factions, setting up the map, and preparing starting hands. Players each managed a hand of cards but also a face-down, dynamic stack of cards. Each player’s turn included three phases, each of which had multiple steps and options. The end game had multiple scoring steps and a slew of tiebreakers.

It was different, interesting, complex… and a bit of a mess during the first playtest.

Imagine a beautiful house of cards that eventually collapses under its own weight. That was the first iteration of Proxwar Zero.

There were so many steps that it was a burden to play. Many of the steps required multiple lookups and references, such as cross-referencing the card suit to the faction to a color when drawing it on the map. The map had zones that restricted actions and then dice that restricted the zones. It was system upon system that made it feel like we were fighting the game the whole time.

We did end up finishing, but I could hardly say it was a fun time.

And yet, we agreed there was a great game in there!

More streamlined and more engaging

That first playtest was a fairly discouraging experience. Afterward, I copied the whole mess into a new Notion subpage called “Deprecated” and started over.

I did not, however, throw away all that work. Instead, I tried to write the rules again, but this time from my memory of the playtest. I kept the parts we felt were fun, and ruthlessly ripped out as much complexity as possible. How can I eliminate the need for color coding? Can I just use a single hand of cards? Can I get rid of the dice completely?

I ran another quick, partial playtest and cut some more.

I ended up reducing the rules by almost 50%.

Setup now takes almost no time at all. Turn order and “first player” no longer matter. Players choose a single action on their turn and it moves to the next person. There’s a clear end game trigger and scoring is easy.

Based on the latest partial playtest, Proxwar Zero is, without a doubt, a far better game:

• Setup is faster

• Turn order is simpler

• Actions are streamlined and useful

• The storytelling elements have space to shine

• Scoring is cleaner

These changes didn’t just mechanically improve the game (though they did). They made the game easier to play. The proxy war aspect of the game and its emergent storytelling come through more clearly now. The game is more engaging because players spend less time navigating procedures and more time creating a cyberpunk city.

The idea of influence vs. control is retained and still central to the game. The covert ops are faster, cleaner, and easier to understand. There’s room for players to become their corp or hacker faction as they play the game.

There is, of course, some design work to do. For example, some of the faction “Special Op” abilities need balancing, I need to check the average game length, and the map needs to be finalized. But that is all to be expected at this early stage of development.

So the question is: Did I waste all that time by writing more and more rules before the first playtest?

Reducing muda

There’s a concept called muda (無駄). I’ve seen it translated as “futility” or “wastefulness”. Muda is more than physical waste and defects. It’s any waste of time, effort, and focus that does not add value to the final product.3

Given my background, I couldn’t help but think of this after the playtests. Did I spend hours of time across days or weeks writing rules for no reason? Should I have stopped sooner and tested earlier?

The answer isn’t an entirely clear one.

I ended up ditching almost half of the entire Proxwar Zero design (as measured by word count).4 It might have been better to incrementally add, rather than design and delete en masse. Designing in this way produced a significant amount of muda.

At the same time, while I could have avoided a lot of the “wasted” design time, I wouldn’t have had so many different ideas in the game to test. It’s because it had everything in it that we found the best parts. I’m not sure the core concept of the game could have been expressed in a minimalist form.

As soon as possible, if not sooner

This is where the concept of minimum viable product (MVP) comes in. An MVP is the most basic, usable version of a product that can be tested. You make the MVP and test it early. The feedback you gain is used to develop the product further. The purpose of the MVP process is to avoid the wasted time that I experienced above.

Ultimately, I spent too much time before the first playtest, but the process wasn’t entirely wasteful. It helped me discover which ideas were worth keeping. It’s a minor mistake I can learn from, and the MVP model is a way to handle similar situations in the future.

When should I playtest? As soon as I have a playable core concept.5

Ideas like MVP and muda aren’t hard and fast rules, but they are long-lasting, popular concepts for a reason. While I had a sneaking suspicion I was going too far with the initial design, keeping these ideas at the forefront would have stopped me — and prevented a lot of wasted time.

Either way, I’m very excited about the game Proxwar Zero has become and can’t wait to share it with you when it’s ready!

What do you think? How early do you playtest your ideas? Let me know in the comments.

- E.P. 💀

P.S. If you love tabletop games, you should check out Tumulus. It’s a print-only, quarterly zine packed with Skeleton Code Machine game design content.

Play some weird and wonderful games at shop.exeunt.press.

Written, augmented, purged, and published by Exeunt Press. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without permission. Exeunt Omnes is Copyright 2025 Exeunt Press. For comments, questions, reports from the EZ, or pro tips: games@exeunt.press

Four times a year, Tumulus takes a single theme and explores it from every angle: design theory, game history, mechanical analysis, playable games, and exercises to spark your creativity. Read it with pencil and dice at hand.

Tumulus Issue 06 “Hammer a nail in the coffin.” is the current issue for a few more days — vampires, skeletons, ghosts, haunted houses, and the undead:

• Assignment: TPK: Design a game where the players are already dead.

• The dangerous dead: Exploring the historical and archaeological roots of killing the dead, including D6 Revenant Prevention Methods.

• Bosman’s typology of player death: A model for the death of a player’s character in tabletop and video games.

• Markov chains for restless spirits: Creating mechanisms with memory for escalating ghost attacks.

• Vampires & secret societies: A selection of vampires and the esoteric orders associated with them.

• Haunted houses of insufferable gloom: Read about one of the earliest ghost stories written by Pliny the Younger, and generate a haunted building with bleak walls and vacant eye-like windows.

• Vampire mechanisms in Blood Borg: Five thematically-integrated mechanisms for gutter punk bloodsuckers, including an interview with creator Adam Vass.

• Diceless skeletons destined to lose: Exploring narrative design vs. resolution mechanisms in The Skeletons.

• A place for all my corpses: Operate a cemetery, bury the dead, and make money. A fully playable game that is “incomplete by design” with exercises to improve it.

And this issue comes with a printed Blood Chapter bookmark.

The next issue is set to be published in June 2026, which is just a few days away. Once published, Issue 07 “Slay the dragon.” will be the default starting issue for new subscriptions. It includes a dragon generator and two playable games, one of which is about passive-aggressive dragon roommates.

Get Tumulus

Tumulus back issues

You’ll still be able to get Issue 06, but only as a limited quantity back issue after June 1, 2026. In general, when those are sold out, they are gone.1

Subscribing saves you over 30% on the cost of each issue.

Choose your four issues

When you subscribe, be sure to select the four issues that you want to include with your subscription. This is especially important when renewing to avoid getting duplicates.

- E.P. 💀

Play some weird and wonderful games at shop.exeunt.press.

Written, augmented, purged, and published by Exeunt Press. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without permission. Exeunt Omnes is Copyright 2025 Exeunt Press. For comments, questions, reports from the EZ, or pro tips: games@exeunt.press

As the launch of Exclusion Zone Botanist: Epsilon approaches, I’ll be posting regular updates with a behind-the-scenes look at the design decisions going into the game:

• Epsilon Update 01: Epsilon overview and launch dates

• Epsilon Update 02: Plant features

• Epsilon Update 03: Plant morphology

• Epsilon Update 04: Exclusion Zone map

• Epsilon Update 05: Character creation

• Epsilon Update 06: Playtesting

• Epsilon Update 07: SHX system

Note that everything here is in development and subject to change. These updates are a snapshot of how things looked when they were written.

Follow the Kickstarter pre-launch page to be notified when it goes live!

The inevitable transformation

I recently wrote about the zonecore genre, using The Colour Out of Space, Roadside Picnic, Stalker, and Annihilation as touchstones. Using those as guides, I was able to identify five key elements that are usually present. The first, of course, was an anomalous zone — the EZ in the case of Exclusion Zone Botanist. Others include a non-hero stalker, inexplicable phenomena, and institutional fatalism.

The one that I find most compelling, however, is the inevitable transformation:

Direct or indirect, physical or mental, the anomalous zone permanently changes those who enter it. There is no protection from it or way to ward it off. At best, its inevitable effects can be reduced, slowed, or postponed.

This change is based on proximity to the zone, subtly (or not so subtly) transforming those who enter. It’s the ruined crops, poisoned soil, and a “slightly luminous” Mrs. Gardner walking on all fours in The Colour Out of Space. It’s the stalker’s child in Roadside Picnic — both in appearance and abilities.

Corruption in the EZ

That inevitable transformation is what I wanted to capture in the original Exclusion Zone Botanist. Which is why the six-step “Corruption Progression List” only ever goes one direction. You begin to itch. Small lumps form. Tiny sprouts erupt. Reversing these effects is not part of the game.

The corruption steps in EZB were, to me, one of the most compelling parts of the game. Mechanically, knowing there are only six steps to the fatal end makes the corruption dice rolls more powerful.1

Bloom

I always felt that “corruption” was a descriptive but clunky word for the transformation in EZB. It certainly gets the point across, but it never felt like that’s what agents in the EZ would call it. In my bitter, jaded, sarcastic, bureaucratic vision of the game’s world, the agents would call it something darkly amusing. Something that sounds not so bad, when in fact it is very bad indeed.

Bloom is what corruption will be called in Epsilon.2 It’s a cute, fun word that describes horrible, irreversible changes. Perfect.

Next, I wanted the progression to be less deterministic. The same steps happen in the same order in EZB, which works really well for a short game. In Epsilon, Bloom now has branching paths and multiple terminal points.

It’s like a skill tree, but cursed!3

Bloom progression tiers

Where EZB had six, linear steps for corruption, Epsilon has seven non-linear tiers.

The moment you enter the EZ, you are at Tier 1. Simply entering the zone causes a change, albeit a small one: an earthy smell, annoying gnats, birds that are louder than you’d expect. That’s where it begins — nominal, barely noticeable. After that, the effects become more pronounced:

• Tier 1: Barely noticeable

• Tier 2: First signs

• Tier 3: Benign physical changes

• Tier 4: Significant changes

• Tier 5: Major transformation

• Tier 6: Loss of control

• Tier 7: Terminal (game ends)

As Bloom increases throughout the game, it is tracked on your Bloom die as part of the SHX system. The die starts the game at 1, meaning Tier 1. Each tier has six possible options, but you don’t just roll for each one. After rolling for your starting Tier 1 effect, subsequent ones are based on a twisting path through the progression.

You might start with an itch, but then it might progress to small nodules on your skin or it might lead to a tuft of your hair falling out. If your hair falls it, your fingernails are next. Each step along the Bloom progression impacts the future ones.

If your Bloom die is at 6 and you need to increase it, you reach the Tier 7: Terminal stage. There are six different game endings where you become part of the forest.

Bloom expands the corruption system into something deeper and more unpredictable.

I think you’re really going to enjoy it.4

Follow the Epsilon project

I am posting an Epsilon update on the third Friday of every month through development, launch, and fulfillment. You can read previous updates in the Exeunt Omnes archive.

What do you think? Do you like that corruption is now called Bloom? How do you feel about branching progression paths? Let me know in the comments.

- E.P. 💀

P.S. If you love tabletop games, you should check out Tumulus. It’s a print-only, quarterly zine packed with Skeleton Code Machine game design content.

Play some weird and wonderful games at shop.exeunt.press.

Written, augmented, purged, and published by Exeunt Press. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without permission. Exeunt Omnes is Copyright 2025 Exeunt Press. For comments, questions, reports from the EZ, or pro tips: games@exeunt.press

I ran a free public library tabletop game design workshop recently just outside of Baltimore. It went really well. Not only was it well attended with all the seats full, but everyone was so enthusiastic and engaged!

The structure was exactly the same as the hands-on workshop I ran at the Gettysburg Library back in January, which was based on the crash course I taught at Dickinson College.1 So I’m comfortable with the material, how participants react to the various activities, and what to expect.

While it works really well, I can’t help but try to think of ways to improve it going forward. Can we make the output (i.e. a playable game) the focus of the class from the first slide?

What did I cover in the recent class?

My goal for the 2-hour public library workshop is to have participants walk away with four new skills:

1. Know who your game is for: Understanding the kinds of fun you want your players to have and what kind of players would enjoy your game is fundamental to design. We cover the 8 Kinds of Fun, Bartle’s Taxonomy, and the Quantic Gamer Motivations along with some easy exercises.

2. Be able to pick a theme: Relying heavily on Sarah Shipp’s work on thematic game design, we pick random themes (e.g. mermaid pirates) and try to narrow the scope and increase the resolution — zooming in.2

3. Design for meaningful choices: We cover player agency models, what it means to give players a choice, and how to avoid false choices.

4. Think about your game in three acts: The final concept is how to make the beginning of you game feel different from the end of your game using Freytag’s Pyramid. We also talk about how to make sure your game ends.

At the end of those four sections, the participants have a very simple game that uses their selected theme. It’s not a good game (by design!) but it’s enough to imagine what it might be in the future. We then take turns pitching our games using a standard format.

There’s usually a few minutes at the end for discussion and questions.

What changes would I make in the future?

I spent some time pondering the questions above, particularly about cutting out some content. It’s a lot to cover in just two hours. I’d really like to have more time for discussion and working on games.

Here are the changes I’d probably make to future classes:

1. Reduce the types of players section: The way it is now, we spend time on not only LeBlanc’s 8 Kinds of Fun and Bartle’s Taxonomy but also the Quantic Gamer Motivations. While I like the emphasis on how different models can be used to answer the question of “Who am I making this game for?” it is probably too much. The Quantic stuff is definitely getting cut. Bartle’s might be cut too. The 8 Kinds of Fun does everything I need to cover.

2. Reduce or cut the game arc section: I’m torn on this one because participants find game arcs and timers interesting, but it takes a lot of time to explain. Cutting it allows the class to focus on just three big ideas versus four. Perhaps I can roll it into the Worst Dungeon Crawl Ever iterative design exercise.

3. Make the game the goal: During the class we choose themes and each participant makes an intentionally bad card-based dungeon crawl game with it. Then we use iterative design and player agency models to make it better. We usually end with everyone doing a Mad Libs style pitch of what they’d want their game to become. It’s fun, but it’s crammed in the second half of the class. Perhaps I can restructure to make this game the overarching goal from the start.

4. Keep but restructure the kinds of games: I spend some time covering the differences between types of games: board game vs. TTRPG, euro vs. ameritrash, high luck vs. low luck, abstract vs. thematic, party vs. reflective. It’s helpful to include, but it can be tightened up. Is it possible to combine this into the 8 Kinds of Fun?

5. Incorporate map-making: I ran a map-making workshop at Harrisburg University recently based on Everything is Pointcrawl. It went over so well, I wonder if there are elements of that 3-hour class that could be incorporated into the 2-hour free library classes. Probably not enough time, but worth considering.

6. Allow more time for pitching: The game pitches at the end are always fun and energizing but they are also the last activity before time runs out. So while they are great, they also feel rushed. I’d like to use some time picked up from above to give more time to pitches.

There are some other small changes to slides and structure that I’d do, but these are the big ones that I’m considering.

Focus on the output

I think my biggest conceptual change is to move away (a little bit) from the focus on four specific design skills and focus the workshop on the output — the games.

It might be possible to pitch the class as “make a board game in 2 hours” and have that be the structure, but ensure that we hit the design skills along the way. The class would progress in the same order (e.g. the kinds of fun is first), but we’d be working on our games from the start.

This might allow us to fill out our pitch sheets as we go so that reading them out at the end is the culmination of our work.

Continual improvement

I really think the class structure is good as it is right now. I’ve heard nothing but positive comments from those who have participated. I’d be happy to run it again without any changes.

And yet, I can’t help but think about how it could be tweaked and improved.

Iterative design and playtesting. It’s not just for games. ;)

Let me know in the comments what you think of the proposed changes!

- E.P. 💀

P.S. If you love tabletop games, you should check out Tumulus. It’s a print-only, quarterly zine packed with Skeleton Code Machine game design content.

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