Sam Leigh

@goblinmixtape.bsky.social

4375 Followers 642 Following

They/She. Award-winning TTRPG designer of Blinking Birch Games. Author of Anamnesis and Outliers. Freelance writer and editor. Website: blinkingbirchgames.com Itch: blinkingbirchgames.itch.io Logo: @alderdoodle.bsky.social PFP: @nebuleeart.bsky.social

An open cardboard box filled with loose copies of Anamnesis. On top is a single rectangle of chipboard, not large enough to cover all of the copies.
A screenshot that shows the games Anamnesis, Death of the Author, and The World We Left Behind at 50% off.
A very roughly drawn map. Three lines point to spots on the map and are labeled "rock", "soil", and "water". A horizontal line of letters is above the map, and a vertical line of numbers is to the left of the map.
The itchio page for Blinking Birch Games. The text ok the page is in a very pixelated, game-aesthetic font.
A copy of Anamnesis held up against a white wall. The cover art, which is in shades of brown, depicts a nude figure sitting down, their face obscured by wisps akin to smoke or fog. The title, ANAMNESIS, is at the very top of the cover in white and repeats down the cover, fading more as it gets towards the bottom.
Three zine-sized games (Anamnesis, The World We Left Behind, and Death of the Author) lined up next to each other. Each one has a small dent in the top right corner.
A copy of the first volume of Witch Hat Atelier. Stuck to it is a pink sticky note that says "gay :3" in small letters.
The storybook Three Little Rocks, the game book A Perfect Rock, the Rock Oracle Deck, and the Star Map all lay side-by-side on a wooden table.
A copy of Dragon Reactor. The cover is black with white art that shows spears piercing into a mech.
A red QR code
A fortune cookie that reads "One always regrets what they could have done. Remember that for next time.
The cover image of A Fool's Errand, which shows an android about to walk off a cliff. They hold a flower outstretched in one hand and a bundle in their other. A small dog follows behind them.
The vinyl record Electric Mangrove sits on a bookshelf
Two brown bookshelves sit against a red wall. They are both filled with TTRPG books and boxes.
A plastic skeleton sits on a shelf. It's head is tilted and it's arm is in a waving position. A colorful clown doll with light blue hair sits in its lap.
Two tall brown bookshelves up against a red wall. A book of zines and a few piles of books sit on the floor. The shelves are partially filled with RPG books, cards, and boxes.
A scattering of paper lays across a rug and the floor, as though thrown. The papers are pages from the game Spine, which we're previously folded as a printed booklet. The pages have been written and drawn on.
A selfie of Sam with a blue CVS bandaid on their shoulder. Behind them is a bookshelf of TTRPGs and a skeleton hanging from the wall.
A screenshot of an email. The subject line is "Any expecting a tube of blood?". The body of the email says "Good afternoon all, I was handed a tube of blood earlier and I-" before the email is cut off.
A physical copy of the TTRPG His Majesty the Worm
A graph with Dry and Wet on the X-axis and Gun and Sword on the Y-axis. Anamnesis, Death of the Author, and The World We Left Behind are all in the Dry Sword quadrant. Outliers is in the Dry Gun quadrant.
Two stickers of the Blinking Birch Games logo. The first one is in color, and the second is in black and white.
The new Blinking Birch Games logo. The name is in gray-blue and the Bs are stylized to look like tree trunks. To the left is the trunk of a tree in yellow-brown, with banners coming out to surround the title. An eye sits between the words "birch" and "games"
A screenshot of the home page of BlinkingBirchGames.com. It shows a crop of the cover of Anamnesis behind the text "Blinking Birch Games: tabletop roleplaying games by Samantha Leigh"
A piece of graph paper with a strange-looking map. The rooms drawn on the map are oddly-shaped, some not following the lines of the graph paper. The rooms vary significantly in size. About half the rooms are red, and the other half are blue.
Sam is leaning against the trunk of a birch tree. They're dressed in black jeans and a red button-down shirt with rolled up sleeves. The leaves from the birch are behind them, and a road and field are in the background.
A small dog standing on a cat tower. He has gray hair that is long and mangly, and his ears are large and pointed upright, giving him a slightly hyena-like appearance.
A small white dog with black spots is playing tug-of-war with Sam, who is out of frame. The dog's eyes are big and buggy and look like they're going in two different directions.
An orange cat sits in Sam's lap as they remove shrink wrapped copies of The World We Left Behind from a box. As Sam looks over the copies, Tim moves around, frequently rubbing his face against the copies or Sam's arm.
A video of Sam talking about Pocketopia. There are screenshots of 5 different Backerkit pages: A Land Once Magic, Blood in the Margins, Assemblage, Soul Cemetery, and Hit the Road, Jack!
A paperback copy of Wolf & Fang Detective Agency: The God Thief by Anna Blackwell. The cover shows two people in a stone building, possibly a castle. One is crouched on the floor, dressed in a white tank top and cargo pants - they have a tail and are holding out a broken, gold goblet. The other is leaning against a wall, one arm crossed over their waist and the other hand up by their chin - they're dressed finely and wearing many rings.
A picture of Sam lounging on a chair, squinting at a card they're holding up in the air. There's a grid of cards on the table in front of them. Most of the cards are face-up and have drawings on them. A few Sharpies are scattered to the side. There's a bowl and an open notebook on Sam's side of the table.
A series 7 emails in a row with subject lines that start with "Just Launched", each about a different Backerkit campaign
Two books on a table. The cover of one is white with an X - one line of the X is solid orange while the other looks like the branch of a fern. The other book, Absolution, is black with a crocodile. The crocodile is warped and yellow flowers grow from it.
Six playing cards written on with black pen and silver marker. There are different symbols in the center of each card, and the cards have writing along the edges, such as "chittering cherry ball" and "illuminated staff"
The cover art for The World We Left Behind. Depicts an astronaut standing on a cliff, overlooking an alien landscape. There are strange-looking trees and artifacts, including a giant half-circle structure in the distance. The sky is pink with white clouds, and the ground is in shades of pink, green, and blue.
A photo of two ballet dancers silhouetted in front of city-like lights. Below is the following text: Three extraordinary works. One night only. BalletCollective opens the Savannah Music Festival on Thursday, March 27 with a program of three ballets that will immerse you in new worlds and illustrate just how far ballet can go in the twenty-first century—performed inside the meticulously restored 1920s Lucas Theatre for the Arts in the gorgeous Historic District of Savannah, GA.
A discord message from Sam, with username Syl Labrot. It reads: "Now, shockingly, neither of you earned any Demerits! Unfortunately though, since Reg earned 2 Commendations and Janice earned 1, this does mean that Janice has entered Probation. I do not think this is deserved, but it is unfortunately part of Agency protocol." Then, in blue text, it reads: "wow NO demerits? you really got a couple losers here." Following that, back to normal text, it reads: "Please ignore that."
A character portrait of a bald, bearded man. He has wrinkles in his forehead and his eye look tired. He has letters either tattooed or carved into his forehead: the letters are "CA", and the rest is cut off as it wraps behind his head. He is wearing what appears to be a torn shirt, over which he has some sort of armor with spikes on the shoulders. The entire portrait is in black and green. Down the left side reads "Credit: Roque Romero" and down the right side reads "Valley100".
A discord channel titled "agency-mandated-workplace-chat". The first message posted in the channel is by Sam, whose username is Syl Labrot. The message is "Hello Agents, you are receiving this message because you have chosen to join one of the Agency's Field Teams, rather than be placed into indefinite containment as Resonants. How exciting! I am your General Manager and will be providing mission details about Anomalies near our Branch." There is a Google drive link that is blacked out, followed by another message: "Before our first morning meeting, please review the materials provided through the above link. The relevant information is from pages 1-135. DO NOT READ PAST PAGE 135. All Agents who diligently read through the required pages before our meeting will receive +1 Commendation and a warm, appreciative smile."
A mirror selfie of Sam in a flannel shirt and army green jacket.
A screenshot from an email that says "Address not found. Your message wasn't delivered to support@itch.io because the address couldn't be found, or is unable to receive mail."
The cover art of Death of the Author, which depicts a character climbing out of a typewriter and reaching towards the sky.
A screenshot of the YouTube description under the Playground trailer: "Thank you so much for all your messages! Some info on the project this is a concept trailer for a series/feature film that doestnt exist yet. I did it in my freetime during 6 months outside my work in the animation industry (animation, layout, storyboard, concept art). Because of the visibility this short had, I had the enormous luck of being contacted by some people that can make this into a real thing . I am now working on writing and developing the story, characters and universe. I am still in the beggining of development so I don't have dates yet but I will let you know as soon as possible. It would be cool also to make a horror game in this universe but maybe later... I might also do a little making of of this trailer if that interests you! Subscribe or follow me on instagram for more news about the project! I will let you know about the next steps ! Thank you again all for the kind messages, I try to read them all!"
A mirror selfie of Sam in a button-down and coat. The button-down is purple with light purple and pink axolotls. They're wearing maroon pants and a black peacoat.
The game Substratum Protocol with the supplemental materials of the Expedition Journal, Personnel Folio, and Team Folio.
A 5-star review by Jessica m Edelbrock on 12/22/2024. The review says: "Duke it out with writer's block. I originally bought this as as novel (pun intended) game to play with my husband. Since then, I've pumped out a novella, breaking a year-long writing dry spell. I loved it so much that I shared it with a few writer friends. They are just as in love as I am!"
Sam standing with their hands on their face, looking haggard. Their hair looks as though they've run their hands through it.
The painting "Duel between Onegin and Lenski" by Ilya Repin, which shows two people pointing pistols at each other in a snowy landscape while a couple onlookers watch. The words "Sam Leigh" have been added above the heads of each of the two dueling individuals
A little guy with a ball that has the number 1 inside