Mutant Pizza

DISCLAIMER: I don’t copyedit most of my posts, including the Quarterly Crust. Become frustrated by my tyops at your own risk. (See what I did there?)

Hello Hot Days & Sun Rays;

The weather: Sweltering. The days: Long. The sky: Blue. I have spent most of my time this season with my nose to the grindstone, working on board games galore (a smorgasbord of gamesboard? [yeah, okay, it’s a stretch]). I have a long story to tell about my recent games projects. But first, let me yap about what I’ve been reading and playing and whatnot.

I’ve been reading through a lot of books on foraging and mushroom cultivation. As some of you may know, I’m a fan of that type of stuff. I’ve been reading through editions of Tumulus, a quarterly zine about game design, mostly RPG design. I love how Tumulus organizes their deconstruction of RPGs, past and present, through the lens of an esoteric theme (Return to Sea, for example). There have been several books on drawing and painting that I’ve perused (as in, skipped and skimmed through at my leisure, not read through in a detailed manner…silly contronyms).

Fiction-wise, I’ve recently finished North Woods, by Daniel Mason. This was a fascinating read, set in New England, that spanned through generations beginning just as Europeans began to colonize America. The tragic lives of those who found a specific plot of land imprint upon the soil, and their ghosts haunt the territory throughout the ages.

Recently, I started Candide. This is a classic satire written by Voltaire. This is my first Voltaire and I’m enjoying the way the book is formatted and paced. I’m not knowledgeable of French history around that time, so there’s quite a bit that I’m having to look up and research, making the read slow-going. But each chapter of Candide is brief, almost like a series of short essays that segue into one another well, so it’s not painful to stop between chapters and do research.

Video games! I take the approach of playing a lot of games at the same time. I enjoy a healthy dose of single player narrative games with maybe one sweaty competitive game that scratches the manic itches in the corners of my brain. I’m almost finished with Dispatch, which is a great game; although I do agree with people calling it “Twilight for boys” or whatever they say. I’ve been playing Night in the Woods lately as well, and I love it! This is another game by Finji, publishers of Tunic, but it’s a very different game. This is a narrative platformer, with a compelling story about a dying town set in a fictional modern time. There’s a strange nostalgic feel to this, even though the world is quite a bit different in some ways. I picked up Avowed on sale and it’s the perfect mindless shoot ’em, stab ’em combat RPG for me. You get a quest, go do it, turn it in, get money and advance a mediocre but follow-able-when-you’re-mostly-not-paying-attention sort of experience. My only real gripe with the game is that all of the characters are boring, including the player character. Lastly, I’ve been playing a lot (and I mean, a lot) of a game called Deadlock lately. And by lately, I mean over the past year. And by a lot, I mean so much. (Too much.) This is a 6v6 online competitive 3rd person shooter, MOBA combo; being developed by Valve. It’s still in alpha, so the game isn’t technically out yet, but I have a feeling this is going to be the next big thing in terms of competitive esports.

Okay, okay, I’ll stop yapping about sitting on my duff and staring at stuff. Let’s talk about what I’ve been doing this summer, what games I’ve been working on, what’s around the pipeline, all that good stuff. (Spoiler: I’m going to PAX West!)

I’m going to PAX West!

That’s right, I’ll be attending the PAX Indie Tabletop Night Market and selling Color Space, as well as a NEW game. (That’s right, it’s new.)

The game is called Thought Complex, it’s a 1-5 conversational narrative game where you spark interesting discussions and play cards to build on your dialogue. I haven’t even written a design journal about this game because the idea hit me so fast and the game clicked after only a few playtests. I’ll be writing a journal entry, the first and last, soon enough.

I’ve been posting some stuff on my social medias about the game. Check it ooooout.

Thought Complex is off to the magic elves for printing. Here's a peek at some of the cards. For those looking to have deep conversations with themselves and others, I'll be selling this at PAX West! #boardgames #PAXWest

— Mutant Pizza 🍕 PAXWest SOOOOOOOOOOON (@mutantpizza.bsky.social) 2026-07-08T21:47:08.779Z

For those attending PAX, the indie market is on Sept 5th from 7-10 PM. Check out all of the games that’ll be available for purchase here:

I’ve been working on so many board games!!! I’m going to somehow try to keep this section brief though as to not ruin the surprise when I make official announcements on some of these things.

Aside from the Color Space 2.0 rules, I’ve been working on a 2nd Edition of Nine Muses, to be released hopefully by winter of this year (no promises).

Due to some manufacturing and shipping delays, I’m already set up to sell another game at PAX West ’27, if I’m lucky enough to be invited again. This will be a party game using semi-transparent cards; I’m so excited about it!

Lastly, working on Thought Complex has given me the confidence I have needed to work on some of my more narrative and RPG adjacent ideas. I’ve got a 1-page game where you manage an ant colony. It’s pretty far along, already, but I’ve got to tweak some things here and there and, of course, actually playtest it a bunch. I also have a multipage RPG idea that I won’t go into detail about as I don’t have enough to share about it right now.

Now on to the creative writing portion of the evening…

The multi-pronged attack plan for writing

I’ve been neglecting working on my writings, being consumed by board game projects over most of this year. To make up for that, I’m going to spend the next couple of months writing nonstop. I’ve also developed a master plan to get my work out there.

Step 1: Finish some junk

I’ve got to finish writing and editing and writing and editing and writing and…you get it, for a few short stories.

I’ve also got to finish the 2nd Edition of the Aether, which I started working on at the beginning of the year but had to pause on to work on other stuff.

Step 2: Publish finished works though various channels

I’m planning on publishing entirety of The Aether 2E for free on my website as a periodical, one chapter a month, on a specific date of the month. I may also look at publishing it simultaneously on something like wattpad, but I haven’t settled on that yet.

I’ll also be continuing to submit to various publishers seeking works, actually ramping up the pace at which I do this so I can achieve my goal of 50 first rejections this year.

Step 3: Pivot to another book

I have a dark satire fiction story about religion, of which I have a third of a rough draft, that has been crying out at me for the past 5 years (no joke). I plan on finishing a rough draft on it after completing step one and while working on step 2.

50 First Rejections

This is a new blog about my adventures in receiving constant rejection as a writer. (It has no direct affiliation to any such movies which may ore may not star a former SNL comedy actor turned comedy movie tycoon whose career may or may not have peaked somewhere in the late ’90s.) I started this blog so I could share some more of the writing side of my life.

READ MY GODDAMN WEBCOMIC, IT’S FREE!

It’s literally on the front page of my site. Read Heck Yeah! right now or I’ll die. Well, I won’t die but I’ll be sad, which will increase my risk of dying!

That’s all I’ve got for the summer. Come see me at PAX! Look out for my new games coming down the pipeline.

Happy summer, Hot Days & Sun Rays!