I am headed back to my home state and my alma mater. I am attending ASLE (Association for the Study of Literature and the Environment) for the first time. ASLE’s theme this year is “Collective Atmospheres” and will be held at the University of Maryland, College Park (UMD). My sister Alenda Chang and I organized a double-session called the ASLE Arcade, an exhibition of environmental games and their designers (similar to the arcades we have done at the Society for Literature, Science, and the Arts in the past). In a way, we are trying to bring game studies to ASLE!
Alenda and I were hoping to demo a mod of Archaea: Bane, my collaborative, fantasy card game. The mod is called Archaea: Cataclysm, which draws on different lore from the world of my live-action role-playing game Archaea. In Archaea, there is a group of mages called the Keepers of the Twin Towers of Elemental Power:
Of all the disasters of the Age of Silence, perhaps the most significant was the destruction and unraveling of the magics held by the Twin Towers of Elemental Power. Built thousands of years ago, the Towers watched over the forces of air, earth, fire, and water. It is rumored that the first Towers were reconstructed from the remains of ancient Icuni structures designed for the same purpose…the Keepers of the Twin Towers seek to maintain, research, and regulate elemental magics in the realm. Known only to the most powerful of elemental mages, the realm is constantly shifting and changing especially with the use of magics that harness or affect the land, the sea, and the weather. In addition, the magics unleashed by the Cataclysm continue to cause disastrous effects across the realm. Storms, droughts, earthquakes, floods, fires, and eruptions often come as the price for powerful elemental magics.
It is easy to see how using this bit of worldbuilding would lend itself to a game about mitigating, mediating, and repairing the environment. In Archaea: Cataclysm, players would take on the role of mages using their powers and resources to stop the spread of natural yet magical disasters like fire, flood, and storm. The basics of the mod are laid out, but there’s still a lot of work to do. Hopefully, a full set of cards will be ready in a few months. In the meantime, I will use my Archaea: Bane game to demonstrate the general mechanics that would power both versions.
I am also going to exhibit my light horror freeform LARP called LOSTFOUND, a little game about getting lost in nature. I am not sure we will have the time or space to actually play it, but I thought it fit the theme of the arcade. LOSTFOUND won a Golden Cobra Challenge Award last year, and I am excited to share it with folks.
I haven’t been back to UMD’s campus in a long, long time. It will be interesting to see what’s changed (and what’s stayed the same). It will also be good to catch up with some friends and collaborators at the conference. Then I hope to spend a little time reacquainting myself with the area and DC.
Thanks to all of the designers who agreed to be part of the Arcade! I am also looking forward to the only other game studies panel in the schedule:
