announcements

Two new games from the designer of Anamnesis and Outliers

Explore an abandoned planet and defy the will of your author

Samantha Leigh

Nov 18, 2024 — 3 min read

This is a community submitted press release.

Game designer Samantha Leigh of Blinking Birch Games released two new TTRPGs last month: Death of the Author and The World We Left Behind.

Death of the Author

What would a character do upon confronting their author?

Death of the Author is a 1-2 player tarot TTRPG about a character fighting for agency within their story.

Over the course of five chapters, the character attempts to shape their narrative by twisting scenes written by their author. What messages does the author send to the character throughout the story? What happens when the character finally confronts their author?

A tarot card for The Author. A woman stands with an open book in one hand an mannequin in the other. A smear of ink obscures her face.

Gameplay involves drawing cards for scenes written by the author. The character then has a chance to modify the scene prompts, changing the story in the process. However, changing the narrative draws the attention of the author, who might choose to retaliate as they rewrite the scene.

Death of the Author is a hack of Anamnesis, twisting the original mechanics in new and surprising ways.

The game's artwork is by Victor Winter, with layout by James Hanna and editing by Marx Shepherd.

The World We Left Behind

The answers to mysteries often lie buried in the past.

The World We Left Behind is a GMless 1-5 player game about astronauts uncovering the history of an alien planet. Learn about the planet’s flora and fauna while uncovering vestiges of the past. What happened to the sapient species that called this planet home? Why do only remnants of their lives remain?

During this casual worldbuilding game, players draw symbols on playing cards to create a planet, populate it with traits, and uncover the mystery of the species that left this world behind. Tell a story of wonder, companionship, and legacy in the midst of a lonely planet.

The artwork is by Helena Santana and the layout is by Sinta Posadas.

Six ballet dancers performing The World We Left Behind. Five have their arms reaching towards the sky, while the sixth dances with both arms raised.

The World We Left Behind was originally commissioned by BalletCollective to be used as Source Art in their 2023 season, THE MOMENT IS IMMINENT. Composer Phong Tran and choreographer Troy Schumacher played The World We Left Behind and used it as inspiration for the music and choreography of the ballet. The ballet premiered in NYC in Fall 2023, performed by dancers from New York City Ballet.

Materials from the box set: a game book, a cassette, a deck of playing cards with art from the game, and a purple die.

cmntx records and Phong Tran partnered with Sam Leigh to produce a limited-edition box set of the game book, cassette, and materials needed to play. It is available on the The World We Left Behind Bandcamp page, where you can also find the music Tran composed for the ballet.