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@teacabbage.bsky.social

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Tabletop and video game designer, currently working on Spindlewheel Forever and Rabbit's Foot Retrofit. See my previous work at https://22to22.itch.io and get the Spindlewheel deck at https://plusoneexp.com/products/spindlewheel-30

a screencap of itchio activity. spindlewheel forever has 36 downloads today, and spindlewheel has nearly 500 views from Thursday. I have to assume it's bot scraping??

The freedom of interpretation in these machine games is deceptive. Without overt restriction, you have to work to keep your interpretation of the cards in line with the machine’s narrative. You maintain the rigidity of the machine, holding it together, unlike a game whose mechanical action stands unambiguously on its own terms; in a machine game, you hold the walls of the labyrinth in place even as you lose your way in its halls.

Additionally, there is a sense of discovery in Spindlewheel games, an almost passive style of storytelling that looks towards the next card draw to resolve, describe, or provoke the next beat of the game. The system itself is a player, providing its own sensibilities and opinions to the contour of the table.

a pair of bionic legs in a tattoo chair. the cursor takes off a plate on one leg's knee, detaches one foot and puts it on the other ankle, before replacing both feet where they're supposed to go.

a sign reading "Rabbit's Foot Retrofit & Repair" with a sprinting stylized rabbit which has a cybernode on its back and a running blade on its nearest hind leg.

A discord screenshot of 22to22 saying "I think maybe this game development was a cognitohazard posing as a monetizable hobby designed to make me crazier"

Dancing: all in step, we align, lest we fall, out of time / misplacement, eyes turn to see who doesn't know this

Queen Bee: go go go go fly fly fly fly find find find find eat eat eat eat / why must you be in charge? A convenient fire late at night

Hourglass: a mad scramble, a present savored, a memory preserved/a silent deadline, a dismal future, a moment missed by marn @corpserevivers

Blacksmith's Hammer: fissures widened, iron bent and broken by heavy hands/cold steel turned hot, something new shaped from old scrap

The loop: memorized steps to a dance you've done one thousand times before / gotta get out gotta get out gotta get out by marn @corpserevivers

Susan's gift: an ivory horn, a blessed present, a reward for gentleness/how will you call to me when i have gone and grown and you are gone, by Weaver Walker (old @ censored)

Tin Penny: a small and clearly counterfeit coin, a foolish fondness cheaply gained, crossed by princess

Scholar: record keeper, documentarian, insatiably critical and curious, crossed by vulture's

Flood: brimming reservoirs, high tide, an outpour of riches, crossed by poppy flute

Echo: a glance unseen,a shadow trailing, a desire unrequited, crossed by Doctor

Changeling:a stranger behind a familiar face, unpredictable and uncontrollable, crossed by laughing mimic

Tapestry loom: the mainstay, the throughline, the common thread in a complicated plan, crossed by the fallen

Knight: a well-armed soldier, a banner bearer, a champion, crossed by alpha

Survivor: scar crossed in body and mind, wounded and raw hearted, crossed by Polaris

Empress: unrivaled sovereignty, a master tactician on and off the battlefield, crossed by ferryman's toll.

Tender of blooms: an apothecary, a provider of perfumes, potions, and poisons, crossed by chasm.

Heatwave: the first spring thaw,a thermal updraft,a warm embrace, crossed by adversary

Holy stricture: warnings in favor, lessons in allegory, History in folklore, crossed by the final rose.

Black book: an old memory, a family tree, a private journal, crossed by Roman candle.

Leviathan: scale beyond reference, ambition outside of reason, servant to nothing, crossed by apostle

Unicorn: rare and wondrous, skittish frame stilled with a calm touch, crossed by merchant.

Vagabond: a passing traveler, superstitious and weary, with miles still to go, crossed by the sea

Healing word: a hierarchy of knowledge, an ivory tower, crossed by mother of monsters

Star: the narcissist grasping for fame, desperate to be seen by power, crossed by Hunter

Grandmother's ring: a new partnership, a steady alliance, crossed by plague

Unbroken mold: return to tradition, a perfect duplicate, to replace instead of repair, crossed by apprentice.

Godless: a curious outsider,a prodigy, crossed by fiddler's rosin

Gilded Lily: fashion and flourish, high court grandeur,a gift as sweet as it is absurd, crossed by spinster

Glacier: eons past frozen in ice, glacial drift slowly carving canyons, crossed by quiet knife

Cursed sword: a voracious blade, double edged, glittering red with an unquenchable thirst, crossed by trickster

The spindlewheel box next to the deck next to two cards crossed, face down.

Spindlewheel is Dixit by way of Oulipo. Spindlewheel is Oblique Strategies if Brian Eno got wrung through the ATU folklore index. Spindlewheel is tarot for the queers who think that Rorschach tests should have more verse poetry, and Grapefruit for the aesthetes who like it when their solitaire bullies them. Spindlewheel is as much a tool as it is a lens, as it is an engine, as it is a game.

DOUSING ROD

Some myths are fireside tales at best
-
Leading the lost further away from rescue

AUNTIE L.

A nosy meddler with the best intentions
-
Fabulously wealthy, morally indistinct, hauntingly unfamiliar

CRYSTAL

Bent light shattered into color, speaking kaleidoscopic
-
Platonic formations of happenstance

CASSANDRA

Lucky liar thwarted at every turn
-
Omniscient and ineffectual, discredited and ignored

BLUE BLOOD

Gagging on a silver spoon,
life is so hard
-
Loan after loan against the reputation of a name

GREEN FLASH

A glimpse of another world
-
Primordial flinch, acting purely on instinct

ALCOVE

Even here, nestled between stones, secrets still echo
-
Not the highest place of honor,
But an altar nonetheless

FAIRGROUND

Light and sound
in the dark, impossible spectacle
-
An empty field in the light of day, like nothing ever happened

LOOT

Trading boots
with the dead, measuring
sole to sole
-
The finest prize, proof of valor

BLADE OF GRASS

One of many, missing the trees for the forest
-
Trampled, buffeted, burned, and yet unfazed

APRON

Flour-streaked and tear-blotted, names embroidered on the hem
-
Stiff with bleached stains, weary of all the red

EMBOUCHURE

Taking the shape an instrument requires
-
Absolute control, though it may look a little funny

GODKING

Seizing legacy bare handed,
uncontested in battle,
a living legend
-
Inhuman brutality
over mortal weakness

A photo of the 200+ card print and play deck next to the spindlewheel box.

Oracles After Hours Featuring: Rae Nedjadi, Sasha Reneau, Maria Mison, Produced by: Paddington @QGCON2025

a fancy graphic that reads "soloing spindlewheel forever live 7:30pm pst"

CORRESPONDENCE: choose a method of correspondence that you can share with the rest of the table. Private messages, letters, arguments in the Opinions section of the local news, etc. Keeping your cards in mind but concealing your hand, discuss what's on your character's mind. Yoou may go back and forth as often as you like, or write your missives to be unsent and unanswered.

the full ruleset for Spindlewheel Detective, as seen in the Spindlewheel Microgames collection.

Clock Clockwork: declare a project. Assign a character to see it through. Make a stack of 3 cards from your hand. At the beginning of a scene, flip a card in the stack: this is the first step of the project. At the end of the scene, draw a card from the source deck to see if it succeeds. During the scene, other players may play cards onto the stack to help or hinder your progress. If all 3 steps succeed, the project succeeds. If 2/3 steps succeed, the project fails but the cards go back into your hand. If 1 or no steps succeed, the project fails and all cards go to the Arbiter.
Downtime Whispers: pick a spread from those available in Downtime. Instead of drawing one card for the Arbiter to answer a question, you may draw into that spread to answer; once the spread is completely filled, the answering cards go into your hand.

three diagrams describing the core loop of Spindlewheel.

a title treatment like neon signs that read "Oracles After Hours" next to the fool, the 3 of cups, and the wheel of fortune. "Featuring: Rae Nedjadi, Sasha Reneau, Maria Mison. Produced by: Paddington". under it reads Oracles After Hours @ QGCON2025 surrounded by rainbows.