#jeeyon shim art

[jeeyonshim]

reading starling house by alix e. harrow for the first time and felt like drawing the sad wet cat of a man at the heart of the book

[ratgrrrlgames]

Hierarchies of Circles

This is a collection of anarchist 12-word RPGs for the Anarchy in the Tabletop, 12-Word RPG, and Forever Open Source Jams.

don’t know anything about art or design and I only know a little bit about anarchism. I most closely align with anarchist communism, but as a queer chronically disabled and neurodivergent non binary trans womxn, I have a lot of frustration with ‘purist’, anti-voting, accelerationist bullshit that wants anarchism on a mountain of marginalised corpses.

We need to live to be able to fight

Love, support and solidarity

- RATGRRRL

I am Queer in every sense.

I don't make things for bigots.

Hierarchies of circles is released under a Creative Comrades License.

Artwork and assets are Attribution 4.0 International , Creative Comrades or public domain Licenses

I can't stop bigots using my fucking Queer shit, but they are absolutely not welcome to it and I will call them the fuck out.

Marginalized folx or anyone who can't afford to pay for whatever reason, please pick this up for free!

Thanks to 

Strega Wolf van den Berg (Inspiration and art)

Sergei Nechayev by Pavlov's House (Directly inspiring some of the games and being a perfect soundtrack for this)

Much That is Good and All That is Evil by Jeeyon Shim (Directly Inspiring one of the games)

[siegecraft]

Indie TTRPGS as Teas

Cozy Town by Rae Nedjadi (@temporalhiccup) as Art of Tea Orchid Oolong

Wickedness by M Veselak as Octavia Tea Lavender Assam

The Snow Queen by Jeeyon Shim (@jeeyonshim) as Harney & Sons Black Cask Bourbon

Sleepaway by Jay Dragon (@jdragsky) as Aesthete Tea Summer Nights

[coffeeandjournaling]

Field Guide to Memory

A keepsake game by Jeeyon Shim and Shing Yin Khor

Materials

game manual

journal

pen, art supplies

printer (if you want to use the ephemera provided)

some common items for one prompt or another (coin, leaf...)

Premise

Accomplished cryptozoologist Dr. Elizabeth Lee has gone missing and is now declared dead five years after her disappearance. Her ongoing research on the Pronghorned Desert Rat remains unfinished and is currently held hostage by the Institute for Theoretical Evolutions. As her former student, you set out to finish what your mentor started to save these endangered critters and reconnect with Elizabeth and her legacy in all new ways - some surprising, some humbling, some devastating. This is a game about community and finding peace in the knowledge that no one ever truly leaves this world as long as they are remembered.

Mechanics

At the beginning, you use the character sheet to create your persona. Each in-game day then provides you with the next piece of the narrative as well as one or several prompts to journal about. Most of the prompts are presented as some sort of in-game correspondence or other ephemera/facsimiles for you to react to. You journal in three different categories, as given in each prompt: your diary, your field notes and your correspondence (each is basically exactly what you would expect from their name). If you take notes on cryptids, answer some official letters or reflect on your time with Dr. Lee, each journal entry brings you closer to the whereabouts of the Pronghorned Desert Rat. Some prompts bleed into your reality as the player - you might be asked to destroy parts of your journal or go outside to answer a prompt and gather materials. Bit by bit, you’re creating your own artifact, a chronicle of your efforts, as foreshadowed by the keepsake aspect of the game description.

Thoughts and Examples from my Playthrough

Field Guide was my first foray into solo games and a truly magical experience. The game has a very strong narrative, aided by a pleasant and engaging writing style that manages to feel consistent and still leave room for distinct character voices. You’re drawn further into the story by the lovingly designed ephemera and facsimiles, effortlessly fitting into the gorgeous layout of the game manual (which feels like a horrible name for something that is much more than just a guide for you to follow). Sitting down every day to answer prompts was always thrilling: What piece of Dr. Lee’s colourful past will be unveiled today? Which challenges lie ahead? Who is going to join my ranks of allies? Each journaling session was satisfying in a different way, each prompt unique and engaging.

The simple yet elegant layout, the ephemera and the writing spark your creativity to create beautiful, clumsy, neat, human ephemera yourself. I haven’t drawn for a good while before I started to play and suddenly found myself doodling again without pressure or anxiety. You don’t need to be an artist - the game doesn’t judge your skills, only challenges you to try. If that’s not your cup of tea, there’s enough material to be printed and used as a base for your journaling. It might help to have some stickers, washi tape and similar stationary supplies at hand, but maybe your character prefers a simple black pen in a blank notebook.

If you decide to play, you will be busy for a few weeks, at least. I do recommend you take your time, as intended by the game - it’s a much more lasting, reverberant experience and will stay with you for a good while after. Some of the “reality-breaking“ aspects had me wait on the next journaling session for a couple of days until I could do what the prompt asked me to - while you can always use your imagination, of course, I found the waiting time to be beneficiary to my game experience. It felt wonderful to finally get back into it, like I waited for a letter in the mail that finally came. Honestly, don’t rush it. And don’t worry if you leave the game to rest for a bit - it’s gonna marinate in your head and get even better. Linking the game to real-world places and experiences connects you that much more with your character and the story you’re building. I don’t think I’ll forget that day at the park although I was alone and the weather was terribly bleak - yet I enjoyed myself immensely.

A lot of the gameplay relies on you getting introspective. You might reach into places that feel uncomfortable for you. While the mood in general is a lighter one, with bright memories of your mentor just as frequent as the more sombre ones, it can get pretty dark here and there. Personally, I liked these parts best, but if you’re looking for an overall fluffy and happy adventure, this might not be for you. I’m not ashamed to admit that I cried a little at the end.

Finally, the cryptids! There’s of course the Pronghorned Desert Rat, a small horned critter on the verge of extinction (according to Dr. Lee). If you are not able to attach yourself to your late mentor, these wee guys will motivate you to keep going. Learning about them, their behaviours and characteristics, was some of the most intriguing things about the game. With them come a few more cryptids that are part of their ecosystem and a few others you will have to explore or make up yourself, as well as - light spoiler! - some sexy cryptid costumes for a burlesque show. The concept of the ecosystem is also adapted to describe the community you build to achieve Dr. Lee’s goal. The theme of connection is weaved strongly into every aspect of the narrative and gameplay, so much so that you begin to think of it even at times you’re not playing. What makes a community? I think that is one of the question the game wants you to find an answer to.

Even though you have plenty of creative freedom to answer your prompts during the game, the narrative is mostly linear. There’s a predetermined ending that you can embellish to your liking and will be different for each player, but I reckon a second playthrough for the same player, even with a new character, wouldn’t differ significantly and isn’t necessarily worth it. That being said, the time you spend with it is plenty and I find the game worth the cost for what it is.

This might be your cup of coffee if...

you prefer to be guided in your solo adventures.

you enjoy a well-designed manual full of fake memorabilia and ephemera to use in your journal.

you’ve always wanted to be a cryptozoologist.

you take pleasure in exploring a character in-depth, especially in relation to other characters and how they impacted yours.

you are open to experimental mechanics.

You can find the game on itch.io. Both creators also have their own patreon - your support garners you access to some of their smaller projects, which are also worth a look!

[jeeyonshim]

immolation (the grand lysis of palamedes sextus and camilla hect)

[jeeyonshim]

finished another composition sketch for more starling house fanart because i finished chapter 17 and now that's where i live i guess

[jeeyonshim]

a friend played through the prologue for @pallisia's incredible visual novel soul of sovereignty and now i cannot stop thinking about this sad flower man. what an inspiration, if you haven't seen it yet you need to check it out!

[jeeyonshim]

bad twin

[jeeyonshim]

"I don’t mind the walk to Starling House so much anymore. Wearing Arthur’s coat is like wearing a small house, with shiny buttons for doorknobs and stiff woolen walls to keep out the chill. For the first time I understand how anybody could actually like winter; it’s a delicious defiance to be warm when the world is cold."

– Starling House, by Alix E. Harrow

[jeeyonshim]

fresh out of the oven: first batch of npcs for leviathan, my deep sea mech pilot game

[jeeyonshim]

Watching your wallet but still want to play a new game? Here's a reminder that I have two games available for FREE on my Patreon! Much That is Good and All That is Evil is about wreaking havoc as a Western gull, and Catfish is about doing your monster friend a solid.

These are small solo games that I release through my Patreon. VERY RARELY I offer them on other outlets (stay tuned!) but for $3/month you get access to all of them. It's an absurdly good deal, because I don't want cost to be a big hurdle for people who want my games.

The direct link to Much That is Good and All That is Evil is here, and the direct link to Catfish is here! Here are some sample pages:

My Patreon is my only regular source of income, and I pack it full of games and art and whatever else I'm tinkering with. A longtime member described the energy of the experimental games I release there as "abundant and joyfully chaotic," which delighted me haha.

If you'd like to be a dirtgoblin too, membership sign ups are at www.patreon.com/jeeyonshim!

[jeeyonshim]

“He wanted her to stay, and stay.”

[jeeyonshim]

one flesh, one end

[jeeyonshim]

today's warm up

[jeeyonshim]

you never step in the same river twice

[jeeyonshim]

the priest and the demon hunter