You might be wondering why a company that's better known for its literary magazine would want to jump into the gaming world. (Hint: it's not because we have endless time on our hands!) While writing has always been our passion here at Loud Coffee Press, like most creative people we have many other interests! Both of us are lifelong gamers. Take Annie, for example. She invented a LARP (Live-Action Role-Playing game) as a child without even knowing anything about role-playing or LARPing, if you will, and lived out her childhood days on cops and robbers detail. Annie's game expanded into her teenage years with stories, a plan for a serialized novel, and characters galore.
I (Fred) was always interested in Dungeons and Dragons (D&D). As a kid growing up in the 70s, most games on the toy store shelf were of the Monopoly and Life board game variety. I stumbled upon D&D at a friend’s house and was immediately intrigued by this game that only consisted of two books, a set of weird dice, and a crayon (for coloring in the dice!). Did I mention that the game had an awesome dragon on the front and a group of adventurers who are about to get cooked alive?
The one thing about running a D&D that people don’t usually talk about is how it teaches you how to tell a story. Think about it: it involves Dungeon Master (DM), which is a lofty phrase for storyteller, who creates a story that's interesting for the players and will keep them coming back week after week. As DM, you learn pacing, how to conjure drama, and how to think on your feet. Players are unpredictable, so as the DM, you need to react to player's decisions. D&D is a living, breathing story. I credit D&D with teaching me everything that I know about storytelling.
Eight Bells Bluff is the coalescing of our love for writing and gaming! We took elements of role-playing and the craft of story writing and rolled them into a unique game that exercises the imagination while teaching the craft of writing!
We are launching the preview page for Eight Bells Bluff on Kickstarter on July 6th, 2022!
Why did we pick that date?
This is a true story. We visited a very trustworthy tarot card reader who told us during a reading that if we were planning to launch a major project we should do it during a specific two-week period ranging from June 25th to July 10th, 2022. Whether you believe that sort of thing or not, we selected a date in between and used that as a deadline to launch the project!
We hope that you will join us for this ride! If you are interested in learning about Eight Bells Bluff, you can follow us on Instagram at:
@eightbellsbluff
@loudcoffeepress
Or read our game FAQ at: https://www.loudcoffeepress.com/ebb-faq
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Loud Coffee Press is a labor of love powered by two passionate creatives who are consistently short on time and sleep! If you want to support us, hit the heart, share this post, or...