Hey everybody, it’s [location]’s favorite [professional], Karin Malady! You might know me from roles I’ve played, like The Knife that Cuts Image From Form, The Augur of Want, The Daughter of Kaos and Mystery, and The Anathema Logos. I’m here to tell you about [thing you’re going to spend money on]!

As covered in my interview with Kritiqal last year, not only am I a writer, I also do indie tabletop design. I’ve been working with Will Hellwarth of GoodbyeWorld Games on a TTRPG called The Portal Tomb. We wanted to create an experience that could be played in 1-2 sessions and tell a complete story with frequent dramatic beats. So I’ve been using a lot of design principals I’ve learned from my solo work and experience in indie spaces to build something exceptional. Instead of dice, dramatic moments are resolved using divination with Ogham runes. These results are interpreted to create context and flair for big moments. Your group will attend the mystical funeral of a Gaelic warrior Queen in the Iron Age. Characters are built from quick choices that make them ready to play in minutes. Then one friend will host the game and take on the role of the Queen herself to guide you through the night of her funeral. This is a collaborative process, as players build the structure of the game by selecting modular mini-games called rituals that can be played in any order. To top it all off, every important point of emotion and tension is marked onto the Casting Circle to create a unique piece of art to be shared with your table. Everyone has arrived to put something to rest – and it might not only be the Queen.

Sure, rivals may say I’m “designing games with nefarious occult purposes in mind” but can you really trust them after they did [that thing you hate]?

PORTAL TOMB can be found on Kickstarter Right Now – [the management]