Muse News

2022-DEC-30: It's the end of 2022 and my Muse, a fickle mistress at the best of times, has decided to send me inspiration on something completely different: Chaos Lands. Who am I to complain?

2022-JAN-16: I'm still alive! I've got my personal problems at least half-sorted out (you know, the personal problems I didn't tell you about because they're, well, personal). So I'm continuing work on Winter's Children and will hopefully make some steady progress now. I'd like to write another 20,000 words or so, to reach a total of about 70,000 words, before I start editing. If I manage to write about 1000 words per weekend, I might finish the first draft by June 2022.

2021-MAY-22: It took me almost a year, but I've finally finished my Muse Tutorial Video. In the video, my friends and I play a game of Muse. You can learn how to play by following along. I hope this will be easier to follow and more fun than reading the rules! If I learned one thing from the experience, it's that video editing takes a long, long time. It definitely took more time to edit 3 hours of video than it took to lay out the Muse rule book! Since this video editing hiatus is now complete, I'll be returning to work on Winter's Children.

2019-MAR-16: I just finished playing an epic Muse game with my coworkers! Here is the Actual Play at Story Games. For those of you living in or near Montreal, Canada, you can now buy a hardcopy of Muse over at Crossover Comics near the Atwater Market. I also wanted to let you know that the writing of Winter's Children is continuing at a medium pace. Onward ho!

2018-FEB-25: I've created a free Vassal Engine module that will allow you to play Muse online with friends. Here's a tutorial video that shows how to use the module. Let me know if you have any questions, comments or sweet, sweet praise.

Future Plans

I'm planning on writing two sourcebooks for Muse:

Winter's Children: Humanity emerges from the ashes of a nuclear apocalypse, with the previous golden age all but forgotten. Survivors discover that they have psychic powers. They'll need every advantage they can get to overcome their strange new world, filled with radiation, killer robots, dangerous animals, colonization, conflict, secrets and intrigue.

Gnosis: an urban fantasy set in a place that seems like our modern world, but where magic is real and carefully hidden. The trick is that magic only works if everyone observing it believes it's real. There are tons of weird cults, each with their magical specialty, each vying against the others to try to discover the truth behind magic and the world. Meanwhile, a mysterious and powerful force (the Demiurge), with an army of secretive angels and demons, tries to stop anyone that digs too deeply. Is the world we experience real? Or is it a veil over a deeper truth? How will we know when we've reached the final truth? The magic system will be based on the popular Fudge Observer Effect rules I wrote ages ago for the now-defunct Fudge Factor online magazine.

I am also considering writing some novels for the settings mentioned above.

Reviews

Yes, people have written about Muse on the Internet. Here's the proof:

Testimonials

I bet you woke up this morning wondering what a "blind playtest" is. Well, I sure didn't. But in case you were wondering, it's when someone you don't even know tries out your game! They read the rules, actually understand them, and then play. If you're really lucky then they actually like the game. If you're really really lucky, they tell you about it.

Here's one testimonial from Peter, a man I've never met before (honest!):

"My friends and I have tried a few different RPGs and STGs in the past, but nobody could ever stay involved with a serious story. We gave Muse a chance and let me tell you, it was one of the most entertaining game sessions we've ever had.

"We ended up fighting a Zalien (zombie alien) hoard as a Bon Jovi cover band while Bon Jovi himself had come back from the dead and wanted to enact his revenge on us.

"Basically, the game was awesome because it allowed for us to do stupid and ridiculous things within the bounds of the game and everyone managed to stay involved and attentive and we'll definitely be making it part of our weekly game nights! Thanks for making a cool game."

--Peter

Actual Play Vignettes

Here are some write-ups of real Muse sessions:

  • Azathoth Returns: Avery Mann thinks of himself as an ordinary guy. One day, while jogging in a parc, he finds a pair of strange spectacles. Putting them on reveals the truth about the supernatural world around him. He soon finds himself at the center of an age-old battle between the forces of the Great Old Ones and the Elder Gods. Will Avery manage to survive and achieve his dream of an ordinary suburban life?
  • The Man That's Been Erased: A man wakes up naked in a forest clearing. He doesn't know who he is, and no-one in the nearby town of Gold Creek knows him either. However, he knows who they are. Has the man been erased from everyone's memory, including his own?
  • Metamorphosis: In modern day Montreal with a magical twist, a Mage transforms people into animals and forces them to work in his mine. How will they restore themselves?
  • Proxima b Colony Ship: After a century of travel, colonists aboard a nuclear-pulse powered generation ship are arriving at Proxima Centauri's Earth-like planet. What will they find?

Forum Discussions

This section is for general discussions about Muse on the Internet:

An Appeal

If you've found Muse news that doesn't appear on this page then please contact me and let me know! Similarly, please tell me if you find that one of the links is broken.

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