Since I can remember I’ve escaped into stories to help me better understand and cope with things in my life. Seeing how a character deals with the obstacles and tragedy inflicted by the author can help give perspective, or at the very least a brief escape into someone else’s troubles. And no harm done, right? After all, they’re just a fictional character.
I talked with TTRPG creator Sam Leigh about their latest game, Death of the Author, which explores what happens when that fictional character seeks their own agency and fights back.
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Brent: Thank you for taking the time to talk with me. For our readers not yet familiar with your work, please tell me a bit about yourself.
Sam: Sure thing! I’m a TTRPG designer and editor, publishing under Blinking Birch Games. I’ve been writing games since the end of 2020, and almost a year ago I made the transition to cut down my hours as a research assistant and make TTRPG work into a part-time job. Out of the work I’ve done so far, I’m best known for my solo games Anamnesis and Outliers, and the short-form videos I make on TikTok about indie TTRPGs.
B: What drew you into tabletop roleplaying games? What was your “hero (or villain, we don’t judge) origin story” in the hobby?
Sam: My first experience with TTRPGs was playing a few sessions of Pathfinder near the end of high school. I barely knew what was going on (I distinctly remember a friend picking my feats for me haha), but we had a ton of fun. A couple years later, in college, I started listening to The Adventure Zone, which led me to form my first D&D group – I dove straight into DMing, but none of us had ever played before so we all learned together! After about 4 years of D&D, I found my way to the indie scene and never looked back.
B: How and when did you shift from player/GM to working on your first game content? Was the shift gradual, or did it come on the heels of finding the hobby?
Sam: The shift felt natural, and was definitely a result of learning about the indie TTRPG world. I felt inspired by all the creative, artful work being produced in the indie scene and wanted to try a hand at it myself. I first heard of indie games in the summer of 2020, and by the end of the year I was writing my own.
B: You publish under the name Blinking Birch Games. Is there a significance to that name? Is there an underlying design philosophy at Blinking Birch Games, or is that still developing?
Sam: Honestly, I just really love birch trees! Also love a slightly eerie forest, and Blinking Birch brings a great visual to mind. Additionally, the name is tonally flexible – it feels appropriate to publish introspective, suspenseful, and comedic games under the name.
In terms of design philosophy, my games almost always put characters first, as I’m most interested in character development and relationships. With that said, I’m also still experimenting to see what I best enjoy writing – Outliers, for example, was an experiment in writing surreal comedy.
B: You describe Death of the Author as a hack of Anamnesis. Tell me about Anamnesis and what brought that game about?
Sam: Anamnesis is a singleplayer journaling game about reflection and identity. Your character has lost their memory. Over the course of five acts, they learn more about their past and figure out how to move forward into their future. It’s played using tarot cards, which provide both prompts and creative inspiration. Tonally, it’s very introspective, and it’s designed to fit any genre or time period.
The original concept for Anamnesis was much, much different! It still involved memory loss, but it was a multiplayer game without tarot. When I sat down to write it, though, the game somehow became Anamnesis instead.
B: How does Death of the Author build on the foundation laid with Anamnesis?
Sam: In Death of the Author, the player takes the role of a character who fights against their author’s will, attempting to change the course of their story. Some of the themes overlap (identity, shaping your future), and it follows the same 5-act structure as Anamnesis. However, in DotA, the prompts are slightly different whether the card is upright or reversed. The character in DotA can flip cards around and, occasionally, completely change words in the prompts to gain more agency in their story. The major arcana also serve a different function – in Anamnesis, they were drawn to inspire answers to prompts, while in DotA they represent the actions taken by the author. If you’ve played Anamnesis, Death of the Author will feel familiar while still providing some surprises.
B: Both Anamnesis and Death of the Author use a tarot deck to prompt the player and inspire the narrative. What makes tarot attractive to you as a solo ttrpg designer?
Sam: It’s so evocative! The art itself on a tarot card can tell a whole story. They serve as one of the best tools for quick inspiration, especially because they can be interpreted in so many different ways. In a solo game, when you don’t have other players to help brainstorm, it’s important to provide tools and built-in mechanics that help stimulate creativity. I want players to come up with their own ideas, rather than being fed a plot through prompts. With tarot, I was able to keep the prompts vague and wide-reaching, knowing the cards would help the player define the details and make the story their own.
B: One of your previous games, The World We Left Behind, became the inspiration for a ballet. Can you talk about how that unique translation came about?
Sam: That was the wildest collaboration I’ve been part of! Each year, BalletCollective partners choreographers, composers, and source artists together to create new ballets. The source artist (who can be any type of artist: painter, photographer, architect, etc.) starts the process by creating a new piece. The composer then writes music based on the piece, and the choreographer uses the music to choreograph a ballet, which is then performed in NYC by dancers from New York City Ballet.
The theme of 2023’s season was “Chance”, and the composer, Phong Tran, suggested to choreographer Troy Schumacher that they partner with a TTRPG designer, since chance and probability play such large roles in many tabletop games. Phong also, by chance, had played Anamnesis. He reached out to me over email, and the rest is history! The World We Left Behind ballet was well-liked enough that it’s actually returning for BalletCollective’s 2024 season this fall, which is pretty mind-blowing to me.
B: Crowdfunding for Death of the Author launches on Backerkit tomorrow. What went into the choice to use Backerkit above other crowdfunding sites, and can you talk a bit about that process?
Sam: Kickstarter has left a bad taste in my mouth for the past couple years between their intended move to blockchain, their disregard towards indie creators when they pushed ZineQuest 2022 back last minute, and their terrible stance on AI-generated works. As an editor and guest writer, I still join project teams who are funding on Kickstarter. When the choice of platform is mine, though, I want to keep my own independently-published works off of Kickstarter.
This will be my first time funding on Backerkit. They have a much better policy on AI-generated content, and they actually work one-on-one with creatives, with a member of their staff assigned to each project (thanks Kirwin!). My only critique so far is that they push promotional methods a bit more than I’d like – other than that, I’ve had a great experience so far.
I also considered Crowdfundr because I love everything they’re about, but the platform is still working out some kinks, especially when it comes to collecting shipping post-campaign. I’ve backed many Crowdfundr campaigns though, and I’d love to try using the platform in the future once some of their growing pains are over.
B: The fragmenting of social media seems to have made finding an audience for creators increasingly difficult. Do you have any thoughts on what designers can do to compensate? Do you see a change coming around how you’ll find an audience for your creations?
Sam: This fragmentation is so difficult. It’s exhausting to try to build an audience on multiple platforms at once, but it’s also worrisome to put all your eggs in one basket knowing that all it takes is one thoughtless decision from a person in power for a platform to come crashing down.
My biggest advice would be to find the platforms that align with how you enjoy posting. For example, if you enjoy making videos, then TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram might be best, but if you don’t enjoy making videos, you’ll just burn yourself out on those platforms. Try to find the platforms with communities who inspire you, and make it easy for you to engage with their work as well.
With the US government moving forward with their TikTok ban, it’s possible I might be making a lot of changes by the end of the year! My entire video production process would change, and I’d likely move to a better format for YouTube. Only time will tell.
My biggest advice for building an audience, though: help promote other people’s work, too. Engage in your peers’ work with genuine interest and joy, and then shout-out the projects you love from the rooftops. It feels great for both yourself, and the person whose work you’re spreading word of. Plus, you’ll have a much better understanding of what all is happening in your creative community, and engaging in others’ work will make you a better creative yourself.
B: Similarly, social media was often the main way many freelancers and creatives in the TTRPG space connected. Is it more difficult to find collaborators now than it was, say, even a year ago? What do you think freelancers can do to be seen?
Sam: Personally, I’m still able to find collaborators fairly easily. Part of that is because I’ve gradually grown more connected over the past couple years as I’ve made videos about various games and done freelance work for different projects. My work is more expansive than it was a year ago, and thus finding collaborators has, if anything, become easier over the past year.
With that said, if you’re starting out and unsure where to find collaborators, I’d recommend starting by looking at your favorite TTRPGs. Who are the writers you’d want on your team? Who are the artists? So long as they’re open for work, there’s no harm in sending them an email with info about the project. Also, it’s great to keep a list of everyone you’re interested in working with. I have a personal discord server where I keep notes on various RPG-related topics, and one channel is just a bunch of artists who I might be interested in commissioning in the future. When I have a new project, I can scroll
through that channel and see whose style might best fit the project.
In terms of being seen as a freelancer, the best thing you can do is just tell people you’re looking for work! Make posts on your socials that describe what you do, and say you’d love to work on other people’s projects. Even if no one bites, people will have at least seen your message and some might be making a mental note for later. Having a website (I just have a Carrd!) with additional information is also very helpful.
B: Speaking of collaborators, you’ve assembled quite the talent for Death of the Author. Want to brag about them a bit?
Sam: Absolutely!
Victor Winter is returning as Death of the Author’s artist – he also illustrated Anamnesis, and he’s done an incredible job making the visual style of Death of the Author distinct while paying homage to Anamnesis. The art has an ink-splattered quality to it that is very fitting.
The layout artist is James Hanna, who I first worked with during Outliers. I was extremely impressed by his work on Outliers and was happy to hear he was interested in Death of the Author, too. He helped figure out the lettering for the title, and he’s currently sending me rough drafts of the interior pages, which I’m very excited about.
Finally, Marx Shepherd will be editing the game. I’ve worked with Marx a couple times now and they always do incredible work with insightful editing comments. I’m still finalizing the rough draft of Death of the Author, but I’m looking forward to passing it along to Marx once it’s complete.
B: What other games out there right now excite you? What are you drawn to as a designer and as a player/GM?
Sam: At the moment I’m GMing a campaign of Orbital Blues for two players. The three of us love it! Our games are very focused on character and story, as opposed to optimization and strategy, and Orbital Blues puts the characters first.
I tend to be drawn to rules-lite systems that prioritize characters and setting and don’t require much (if any) planning. For this reason, a couple other favorites are Necronautilus and Star Crossed, which I’ve played as one-shots many times and always have a blast with.
B: Are there other projects on the horizon you can discuss?
Sam: I’m currently working on an updated, print version of The World We Left Behind! The goal is to have it available by the end of October. I’m also doing a lot of work with Iko’s The Lost Bay, between guest writing and editing.
Everything else is still near the beginning of development, though in 2025 I want to focus my attention on a larger project that’s been cooking in my brain for a while, inspired by The Backrooms, Jeff VanderMeer’s Annihilation, and, more recently, Scavenger’s Reign and Dungeon Meshi. I’m incredibly excited about this one and can’t wait to dive into it.
B: Thank you again for talking with me, Sam! Where can folks find you if they want to follow what you’re up to?
Sam: I’m @GoblinMixtape on most platforms, though primarily Twitter and TikTok! My games can be found at blinkingbirchgames.itch.io, and you can also visit samleigh.carrd.co for a rundown of everywhere to find me. Thank you so much, Brent!
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Thanks again to Sam for talking with me about TTRPGs and Death of the Author! The crowdfunding campaign starts tomorrow so sign up to be notified on launch!
