As we enter our first week of ZiMO, Josh and I are humbled by the reception for our new module. The excitement as we venture into the PNW mountains/woods for small town horror is everything we could’ve hoped for.
THE BLOOM (itchfunding for ZiMo) by Goblin Archives, Unenthuser
For this update, I wanted to share some new media that just dropped (two videos and a podcast) along with a sneak peak at some of the art for the upcoming module (and a look at our design inspirations for the module)!
DESIGN GOALS
Josh and I wanted to continue the design theming set out in The Bureau where the module itself is both a game text and an in-world artifact of sorts. For The Bureau we had the text a report collected by the aforementioned agency. For The Bloom we wanted to diverge from the previous framing and instead have it be a collection of notes and theories compiled by an unnamed investigator.
Much like all of our work has thematic touchstones listed, we created a similar design touchstones/inspirations. The design intent was as essential to us as the story/theming.
Design Inspirations:
Sean McCoy - Spiral
Gontijo - Public Domain
Gontijo - Tourist Maps
Gontijo - Curated and Clipped Public Domain Art
Joel Hines - Desert Moon of Karth
Gontijo - Blurred Lines - Giallo Detective Solo RPG
Gontijo’s Blurred Lines was a major revelation in how it finds the perfect medium between found artifact and informational text. It helped crack the balance in design elements needed to elicit the desired goal.
NEW NPC ART
Here’s the magic sauce. Josh Clark is unparalleled in his ttrpg art style, and having him a part of the team really helps make the design vision for The Bloom a reality. Here is a sneak peak into some of the NPC portraits from The Bloom.
NEW MEDIA
One of my favorite things about making games is that I now get an official excuse to talk with people about them. Josh and I were on a few phenomenal shows these past few days that I highly recommend checking out.
The Weekly Scroll: Josh and I joined the weekly scroll to talk about The Bloom, LIMINAL HORROR, and future projects. The second half of the show were Hunter & Ryan doing a dive into the core rules. Definitely worth a watch/listen. Podcast Version: https://anchor.fm/weekly-scroll/episodes/Ep--65---Chat-with-Goblin-Archives--Josh-Domanski--LIMINAL-HORROR-e1uckqh/a-a99aleg
Wobblies & Wizards: Josh & I also returned to Wobblies & Wizards to talk with Logar about The Bloom, ttrpg community focus of LIMINAL HORROR, and games. Podcast link: https://anchor.fm/wobbliesandwizards/episodes/The-Bloom-for-Liminal-Horror-e1uecmp/a-a90o4an
The Bloom Game Pitch (Deiku Games): Josh was on The Game pitch to talk about The Bloom, do some character creation, and kick of a scene from the table.