CE wins Silver Ennie for best writing
I’m thrilled and still shocked to say that Cloud Empress: Land of Cicadas won a silver Ennie for best writing! I could not have done this without your support. Thanks so much for everyone who voted to help the game receive this recognition. For those less familiar, the Ennies are the ttrpg world’s Oscars and Teen Choice Awards wrapped into one. The final stage of the awards requires fan voting. For perspective, Chaosium took the gold prize in the same category with a 24 employee staff and a reported revenue of about 25 million a year. As a small publisher, I expected very little out of the fan-voting portion, but you all blew me away! Thank you for drawing new eyes to Cloud Empress and putting a particularly shiny feather in my cap.
worlds by watt joins 1% for the Planet
In other exciting news, I’ve joined 1% for the Planet. Since the start, I’ve wanted to make this publisher a values-driven business. Writing games that create settings instilled with themes of climate restoration, anti-racism, and highlighting LGBTQIA and trans experiences have made me particularly thoughtful about how I could put my money where my mouth is. I’ve worked hard to give artists and contractors bonuses and equity in Cloud Empress’ success. Now I’m happy to expand the company’s efforts to give back. 1% for the Planet is a charity that companies join to commit to donating 1% of their total revenue to pre-vetted environmental charities. 1% for the Planet conducts yearly audits of members to ensure these contributions are made. worlds by watt will be donating to a combination of local, national, and international charities to address climate change and food insecurity. I’ll share more once those donations occur. You’ll also start seeing a 1% for the Planet logo on the back of upcoming Cloud Empress materials to encourage other companies to join the program and highlight my commitment to saving the planet from climate catastrophe.
Breadbasket terrain descriptions
For this month’s Cloud Empress expansion (inspired by Ennie voted game of the year Shadowdark), I wanted to provide additional Breadbasket descriptions that could be used when repeatedly visiting the same hexes. You can find all previous Cloud Empress newsletter expansions here.
BREADBASKET TERRAIN
1d10 Description
A single-family farm used year-round, winter wraps lay near the plastisteel dome, and six buckets of water waiting for the veggies they will hydrate.
A valley lit by glow bugs. A group Farmerling children showing off to their Cloudling peers demonstrate how to squash the bug’s abdomen to extract a glowing green fluid. If any adults witnessed the congregation, the science experiment would abruptly end.
Fields of tall grass known for their venomous snake toads. Once there was a cleared path for safe travels, but neglect leaves little sign of past visitors.
A full-grown Imago trudges through a field disrupting swaying rows of Wheat leaving cup-sized holes where its legs stood.
Noises of scraping dirt somewhere in the distance shape into the booms of an ancient engine. The last Snake Mover on this line excavates the invisible path it follows heading back to the Rustbucket after seasons of rest.
Ten birch trees make pronounced highlights in this neck of woods. On two of the trees, someone clumsily peeled too much of the bone-white bark for paper revealing fragile pink strips of wood.
The Fleshthresher and adult Imago square off on a rocky hill. The ancient machine’s blades shift in spin preparing to ram its telekinetic opponent.
A wooden shanty teeters in a fiery blaze. The shack drew neighboring teenage Farmerlings to the unmonitored spot for all illicit activities and the partying youth drew nefarious travelers.
A child with a cut rope around their waist cries under an oak tree. The child can’t locate their traveling kindergarten and fears the group left without them on account of their frequent sneezes.
10 The emerald roll of clover hides dozens of bunny birds who lounge in the sun. Sensitive to vibrations, the creatures fly-flop ten or twelve feet away when approached.
11 In a small pen an old Farmerling hand clings onto a strong tan packsquab insistent on throwing off her human rider.
12 The human-made lake, once praised as a local amenity, turned local nuisance with the brood of mosquitoes spawned in the stagnate waters every summer.
An old trapper’s stretcher dries four fox squirrel pelts.
Against the creek’s slow flow of water, a mother turkey duck leads six chicks toward the opposite shore. Behind her, two antagonizing male drakes swim to cut her off.
Low fields of lettuce soak in the spray from a touring Fleshthresher, growing ripe and green.
A scrub wall of invasive chokecherry trees. A teenage Farmerling hacks at the wire-like saplings for about forty-five minutes before slinking off for better fun.
The rainstorm catches the occupants of a small summer village off guard. Everyone from the smallest child to the oldest adult hurries into the village dome to gather and place buckets, cups, and tarps to catch the precious water for boiling.
A gaggle of onlookers in a small summer village watch the reverent Brood Monks insert cubes of salt into the body of a traveler slain by stampeding Imago. The monks finally place the corpse in the Courier's funeral urn for the long voyage to the feeding grounds.
Six workers with sun-dried skin the texture of leather wait on the shady side of a Cloudling tent for Lordling willing to pay them to pick corn in the nearby field. They laugh under their breath knowing the folly of trying to own land and hire help in the Wastes.
Gim the Gun sits in a three-post Farmerling tower holding a stick carved like a rifle. When Gim spots travelers xe shakes a bell, once for friend and two for foe.
What I’m enjoying right now
Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree by FromSoftware (Loved it, but don’t think my brain can handle this kind of stress and dopamine anymore!)
Final Fantasy 14 by Square Enix (Elden Ring palate cleanser. I’m trying tanking for the first time)
Into the Odd Remastered by Chris McDowall and Johan Nohr (Obsessing over the book’s layout)
On Writing by Stephen King (Getting motivated for the last of the Life & Death project writing)
The Details of Our Escape by Tyler Crumrine, Linnea Sterte, and Renee Gladman (Jealous I didn’t make this game!)
That’s it for this month! Did you make it to Gen Con? What have you been playing?