Who I am
Hello! Welcome to the Jar of Eyes Gazetteer. My name is Lyla, I use she/her pronouns and I write under the moniker Jar of Eyes. Iโm a TTRPG (tabletop roleplaying game) designer out of Boston, Massachusetts. In my past lives, I taught high school computer science, created free online courses that taught hundreds of thousands of students how to make their first Android applications, and worked on the Google News Android app. As my newly updated Twitter profile says:
Talk to me about co-op housing, indie games, ceramics, podcasts, online education, musicals & Android dev.
This newsletter is primarily about TTRPGs. Iโm just getting started, but the intent is to include a mix of:
Updates and announcements for games Iโm working on
Thoughts and reflections on writing for TTRPGs
Reviews or plugs for whatever I happen to be playing
What Iโve Made (thus far)
Jukebox - A Musical Roleplaying game ($8 on itch.io or DriveThruRPG)
Do you like musicals? Do you like roleplaying games? Then boy howdy is this the game for you! In Jukebox, you and 2-3 friends play characters in a musical drama of your own creation, through the power of karaoke and story games. I wrote this game after going to a private room karaoke bar and wondering if I could write a TTRPG that would be playable with a karaoke machine. It takes inspiration from scene-based games like Fiasco and Follow.
Encounters in the Radiant Citadel ($4.95 on DMsGuild)
I was the project lead and a writer on this collection of short adventures based on โJourneys through the Radiant Citadelโ. The original Journeys through the Radiant Citadel is one the newest official D&D books and it features a bunch of adventures inspired by non-western influences (written by folks from those cultures). The Radiant Citadel is the โsolar punkโ adventuring hub that connects all of these new civilizations. Encounters gives DMs running Journeys through the Radiant Citadel short interlude encounters that take place in the Radiant Citadel itself. Thereโs a mix of combat and social encounters. My encounter involves chasing down a contraband family pet. Others include filibustering a trial, saving a wedding from going off the rails, and fighting the re-animated body of the Sapphire Wyvern. The book also features:
3 beautiful VTT maps
1 hand-drawn dungeon map by @mockman
5 original stat blocks
2 brand new magic items
And a beautiful cover designed by @graciedarts
The team: John Cardoso, Nick Donovan, Aaron Gable, Lucas Gobert, Taylor Navarro, Lรฉon Othenin-Girard, Ryan Phillips, Jason Bradley Thompson, Brooke Whitney
What to expect next
Big Bad Con 2022 Wrap-Up: Big Bad Con is a small convention in the San Francisco Bay Area that I had the privilege of attending and volunteering for. They had a number of awesome panels hosted by industry professionals (mostly in their POC track). I took notes, which Iโll share in the wrap-up.
Project Managing a Collaborative TTRPG Project - Lessons Learned: I just finished project managing Encounters in the Radiant Citadel with an amazing team of writers. The launch went better than I could have hoped for - in less than two weeks we hit over 100 sales (and this is a lot for our first product on DMsGuild - and the first TTRPG project Iโve managed). Iโm also in the middle of looking at the teamโs feedback for the project. I plan to write a few posts about what I learned from the experience. They should be helpful for anyone planning their own creative collaboration.
Iโve also got a couple of other TTRPG game projects in the works. Anyway, tell your friends, stay tuned and write to you soon!
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Over and out,
- ๐ซ ๐๏ธ ๐๏ธ
jar of lyly!!!