Stingers & Spores
Stingers & Spores started as an idea for a one-shot. I had little interest in insects, but I picked up copies of Bug Fables and Hollow Knight on the same day during a Steam sale, and they got me thinking. Originally, I had the idea to make a silly little standalone adventure with some insect pregens as a palette cleanser after spending so long on Gods and Masters.
I planned to do a little preliminary research on some insect varieties to make interesting pregens. Instead, I fell down a rabbit hole (tarantula burrow?) from which I, many years later, have yet to emerge. Everything I learned about insects made me want to read more. I ended up devouring insect books, scientific papers, and documentaries for a couple of years. With everything I learned, the idea of making a simple one-sheet sounded laughably inadequate on its own.
Stingers & Spores was an act of intense creative passion. I hammered out the entire rough draft (over 150,000 words) in about six months, a record I suspect I will never break. A couple of reviewers have said that this game was made by an entomologist. That simply isn’t true, but I take it as high praise that I did the premise justice.
Specialization is for insects
Stingers & Spores takes my design philosophy from Gods and Masters to its logical conclusion. While you don’t pick a faction in this game, character creation is all about picking what makes your character type unique and doubling down on it.
The character creation chapter is gigantic, but only because there are so many options for making an insect character. From the largest Goliath beetles to the smallest gnats, it was very important to me that any extant species of insect is playable. If it is an insect, and it exists today (I’m not talking about the cat-sized dragonflies from the Carboniferous or whatever), Stingers & Spores has rules to play it.
Magic is even more differentiated than in Gods and Masters. There are six playable Arcane Backgrounds that all handle very differently, from the song magic of Chirping to the martial arts of the War Path. The evil magic of Sporecery, intended for NPCs only, even incorporates cordyceps and undead into the world.
I also designed Stingers & Spores partly as a supplement for any tiny heroes. Whether you want to play a game with insect heroes, tiny humanoids, fairies, or other little creatures (mouse people, for example), Stingers & Spores has a lot to offer. The bestiary is gigantic, with over 50 creatures from every climate and biome across the world with which to torment tiny heroes.
built with players
Stingers & Spores was also my first major experiment in collaborative publishing. The Kickstarter backers didn't just help fund the book; they helped shape it. I got help developing ideas, took suggestions, and gave backers opportunities to contribute to the world and its development. I designed all the elemental gods myself. But a slew of the Arthrogods were player creations.
That experience taught me a lot about what works (and what doesn't) when designing a game alongside its audience. It also convinced me that a crowdfunding campaign can be more than a way to pay for production. Done well, it can become part of the creative process itself.
That experience has directly informed my plans for The Good, the Bad, and the Bugly. I want its Kickstarter to feel less like a store opening and more like an opportunity for the people who are excited about the game to help shape what it becomes.
what the future holds
I’m not done with Stingers & Spores. This book is the basis for my next big project, and I already have a solid concept for another one after that.
On a personal note, making this game literally changed how I see the world. I now take the time to really stop and notice the world around me, and to appreciate how little of what is happening around us has anything to do with humans at all.
If you want to check out Stingers & Spores, take a look here.
