A continuum of discontinuities

Time flows at its own steady pace. Oblivious of joys and hardships. Just like the movement of this sphere of land and water, ice and fire. Revolving across the pitch-black space. Circling that middle-aged yellow star, we named Sun. 

Time jolts, stops, and restarts. Advancing in steps. Twenty-four follows twenty-three. January follows December. One follows thirty-one. The calendar page is turned. Time is reset while moving forward. 

In the land of games, another time frame overlaps these two. Here, time is often marked by projects starting and by projects ending. One after another. One alongside others. Since I returned to this land, wearing a different habit, each year has brought more and more such marks. 

The transition between years that happened a couple of weeks ago was no different. Continuing some projects, starting new ones, and ending others. 

Reading and commenting on the near-final version of an upcoming book on the design of historical board games, focusing on conflict and war games. A domain I really enjoy, and a lot of reflection and learning throughout the process. A second experience of the kind, after Wargaming Experiences II - Discussions, by Natalia Wojtowicz.

Writing a new rulebook from scratch for a game to be soon launched on a crowdfunding platform at the reach of your fingers. From a blank file and a game teaching session to the complete rules. Organising and streamlining. Tweaking sentences and words. Crafting images and examples. Aiming to provide a good learning experience for first-timers and a valuable reference for those returning to the game. Seeking to let the creation shine on its own. Always a welcomed challenge that comes with great freedom of choice.

Working on the final stages of two others: Unconscious Mind by Fantasia Games, and Apex Legends: The Board Game by Glass Cannon Unplugged.

Consulting and editing for another rulebook. This one is for a game that has already been funded on Kickstarter through a very well-managed and successful campaign. A beautiful game with intriguing gameplay, full of challenging decision spaces. At the core of the work is a forth-and-back discussion on how to better convey all the intricacies and nuances to smooth the learning curve and provide the best possible experience.

Editing yet another rulebook. For a write-and-roll game with some traits of role-playing and within a Lovecraftian setting. With considerable leeway granted, this may be the first of a stream of collaborations covering different game genres. More to come!

And a new rulebook translation into Portuguese, faithful to the entry point of this journey. Always happy to help bring more games in Portuguese to the tables and to see publishers investing in the growing Portuguese market. The collaboration with the Belgium translation studio The Geeky Pen is now one of the most long-standing, and the portfolio of translated games grows from year to year.

More fragments to come. Discontinuities within a continuum.

One year full of rulebooks

It has been a good year! Over forty rulebook-related projects, comprehending writing, editing, proofreading, translating, and commenting. Regular collaborations and a fresh batch of new, promising ones. In addition, I did some editing and provided feedback for a book about the uses of wargames, plus a couple of playtests. It also marked my first international convention – Festival International des Jeux, at Cannes, with game demoing included! And, of course, the Portuguese ones at Leiria, Estarreja, and Viana do Castelo, with a workshop on rule book development at the latter. 

My portfolio is expanding fast. The dots are connecting. The lines are traced by so many people, sometimes in unexpected ways. From Apex Legends: The Board Game to Unconscious Minds, courtesy of Thanos Argyris. A significant boost regarding new collaborations thanks to Paul Grogan, who generously keeps recommending my work to different publishers :) And to Paulo Soledade, who did just the same one year or so ago. Truly appreciated. Thank you so much!

The momentum is building. And that is why I decided, by late May, to roll the dice again, this time choosing a different action space to place the pieces, taking this journey one step further: the full-time day job became part-time. One more full day for working on games. Let’s see how it plays out!

It all started not longer than five years ago, when I decided to dive a little more into the hobby by creating this blog, In Black and White. Writing. In Portuguese and English, to reach different audiences. Photographing. Collecting. Playing. 

At that time, I did not know the board game scene, let alone the industry behind it. I was wandering in the land of games. BoardGameGeek, Kickstarter, gaming groups and conventions, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Virtual and physical interactions. Soon after, the first rulebook translation. Then, a couple more. Playtests. New contacts. Connections. 

A sense of direction was shaping in the form of rulebook work. Growing from one year to another. Gaining recognition. Gradually mutating from the hobby perspective to working in this lifelong passion. From 2022, and especially during 2023, the number of collaborations exploded, from full-fledged work to more limited contributions to game development.

The range of collaborations is diverse, and so is the range of geographies. Cultures. People. Creators. Gamers. Across the world.

Portugal and Spain as the natural starting points. Across the Pyrenees into the East and the North. Across the Channel to the British Isles. To the far east, reaching Taiwan and Japan. To Oceania. Across the Pacific Ocean to South America and the USA. And back. Juggling time zones.

With English as the primary common language. Communicating also in Portuguese, Spanish, and French. Learning German (and already making sense of sentences in rulebooks and more 😉). Juggling languages.

The prospects for the sixth year in this new era in the land games are promising. The ongoing collaborations are further developing. New exciting projects are already lining up. And there is a world of new contacts to explore.  

The stars seem to be aligning! 

Find more fragments of this journey at:

In Black and White (2018)

"Not all those who wander are lost" (2019)

Two years of encounters (2020)

In the eyes of others (2021)

Far beyond the horizon (2022)

Far beyond the horizon

 

Setting sail. Like this ship, in early September 2016. That was The Year of the Monkey. A year full of departures into the unknown, breaking with well-established routines.  Changing course, in the book holding the same name, authored by Patti Smith, as in real life.

Setting sail. October 2018. The start of a countdown, which may not have existed without the preceding events. All dots connected. Heading (back) to the land of games. It all started by bringing together words, photos, games, and languages. Things I enjoy. Shaping a blog.  With a vague notion of wanting to be more involved in the world of board games. Without much of a plan. Just wandering around. Craving for the journey. Even with no safe shores in the horizon.

Fast forward to four years later. Things went ways I wouldn’t have dreamed off, when leaving harbour. Looking back at a list of 10, made within this period, in no particular order and selected among many others:

Over 50 rule book translations, increasing accessibility, with a fair number for MasQueOca and for TheGeekyPen, including games such as Concordia and Pavlov’s House. Thank you, José Antonio and Jo Lefebure, for the initial opportunity and the continuous trust!

Interviews with Dávid Turczi, Sabrina Miramon, Sarah Shah, and Don Woods, who so kindly accepted to give some of their time and to share insights on board games with a small audience blog.

Short stories for presenting The Isle of Cats, courtesy of Frank West when kindly reaching out for small content producers, and Welcome to Sysifus Corp., thanks to Wonmin Lee.

The lore for Ynaros Fallin’ main story and scenarios, thanks to the trust and creative freedom provided by Ugo Tomasello, and the very professional way of running his very first game design and production. A game soon hitting Kickstarter.

Judge and coach in The Board Game Workshop Design Contest, aimed at games under development, thanks to all the work of Chris Anderson, and the welcoming environment created.

Learning from Paul Grogan, always welcoming and willing to share his knowledge and approaches, and being able to make some minor contributions in the backstage of Gaming Rules! An invaluable opportunity for someone who loves rulebooks and rulebook-related work in its different forms.

Collaborating with Orlando Sá in the final development stages of Rossio and Pessoa, always open to opinions and to share his vision and expertise, which also lead to other conversations, far beyond games. Thank you for your friendship!

Playtesting games such as The Smoky Valley (Claude Sirois, Spielworxx), Lanzerath Ridge (David Thomson, Dan Verssen Games), and That Others May Live (Brad Smith, Hollandspiele – upcoming), amongst others.

A talk at LeiriaCon, the most international Portuguese boardgame convention, courtesy of Micael Sousa, where I covered over 50 years of (my) games in not much more than 10 minutes!

A board game exhibition, at the University of Aveiro, Portugal, thanks to Margarida Almeida, who made me think about games as a collection and how to display it for benefit of larger audiences. An unexpected and rewarding challenge!

The voyage continues!