Jason Morningstar's The Blue Way Crowdfunding June 16th

Central Michigan University Press (CMich Press), the publisher of Five Hundred Year Old Vampire, Monumental Consequence, and the hardcover edition of Dog Eat Dog, will launch its crowdfunding campaign for The Blue Way on June 16. This game by Jason Morningstar (Fiasco, Zhenya’s Wonder Tales, Desperation) is a bleak cooperative tabletop fantasy storytelling game about colonialism and lost stories. 

The Blue Way was initially published by Bully Pulpit Games as a patronage project. CMich Press is crowdfunding an enhanced version of The Blue Way, which will feature a physical box, a deck of cards, and a tearaway pad of character sheets featuring the haunting art of Samuel Araya (Dog Eat Dog, Five Hundred Year Old Vampire). The enhanced version of The Blue Way will also be produced with a companion curriculum guide by Dr. Jonathan Truitt and Dr. Ray Kimball that includes alternate decks for gameplay.  

The Blue Way is both accessible to new players and enticing for advanced players seeking a gritty but rewarding storytelling experience. First, players take on the role of villagers in the fictional Sàthani community. This community has been occupied by their conquerors, the Dusians, who want to bring peace, order, and a sense of normality to the village by the standards of Dusia. Players draw their village map, read and share their character sheets, then play through a story of Sàthani resistance.

Each person takes turns reading aloud from a deck of the Dusians’ demands. All players must then individually decide to accept, object, or rebel against the demand, though only one person will take the brunt of any negative decision. A player's decision is made by either lowering their eyes to accept, raising their eyes to object, or raising their eyes and a fist to rebel. The cost of objection is the gradual destruction of player character sheets and related character lore. The cost of rebellion is death. Nevertheless, for each villager, there will be a point when demands are made which are unacceptable to their culture and their village. Each player will take a stand.

While the Sàthani and Dusians are fictional groups, The Blue Way scenario was inspired by real historic events. CMich Press carries the distinction of being the only academic press which publishes peer-reviewed tabletop games. Each of the games in its Scholarship & Lore series, which will include The Blue Way, is produced with a curriculum guide for educators. The Blue Way’s curriculum guide will include new, alternate decks for gameplay drawn from Truitt’s expertise as a Latin American historian. Educators will find The Blue Way Curriculum Guide useful for engaging their students in an interactive exploration of the topics addressed in the game.

The Blue Way can be played solo or with up to six people. Playtime runs anywhere from half an hour to three hours, estimated at about half an hour per player. 

This game is dark, but meaningful. Follow the prelaunch page now to back The Blue Way when it launches on June 16th!