On May 30, 2015, I launched the Kickstarter campaign for a little game called Spell. The campaign had twelve tiers, underpriced custom designed metal tins and laser cut letters, no attached artists—it was earnest but no less of a hot mess. It didn’t fund, and I’m thankful for that.
The YouTube creators behind Thrilling Intent did a wonderful livestream of the game, and I still owe them a debt of gratitude for that early support. Momentum kept up because enough folks heard of and enjoyed this weird little game that uses letter tiles to let you actually spell out the spells you cast. Get it? It’s a pun. Spell.
Fan art popped up on tumblr, I kept running my own games, I started hearing about games played by complete strangers. There were tiny grassroots on the internet, and I still loved Spell very much. I kept working on it. On January 30, 2018, I launched a new campaign.
The Make/100 was much better put together and offered a significantly improved product. Spell was my first roleplaying game, and I learned a lot in the years between campaigns. I listened as much as I could to players and GMs who interacted with Spell. I posted a survey that received 75 responses, some of which went on to inspire some fantastic mechanics in the revised version of Spell: The RPG.
We funded at over 600%, and I was over the moon. Spell has always been my flagship, not just because it truly launched Whimsy Machine, but also because it represents my design philosophy: adaptable, whimsical, creative, inspiring, and a bit silly, while maintaining a heart of gold.
With all new commissioned art, a whole second book of modules, revised and expanded mechanics, Spell: The RPG was a game I could be really proud of. And I was. But as we approach the ten year anniversary of that first beta release following the failed Kickstarter campaign, I’m reflecting on Spell.
I can look back at it through the lens of the dozens of games, large and small, I’ve made since; the countless hours I’ve spent playing a variety of games; the exceptional communities of designers I’ve been a part of. I can explore what I did well, identify where I still needed to grow, and improve all the odds and ends, equipped with everything I’ve learned in this last decade.
I’m asking you now to join me on the next stage of this journey. Spell has gathered a small orbit of unfinished supplements, grand ideas, additional settings, and WIP books I’d love to add, as well as a one-page RPG version I made a while back. I’d like to improve the foundation of Spell and fold in these extra pieces into one celebratory package. I call it the Anniversary Book Collection—or, the ABC edition for short. I can’t help myself.
This is my official announcement for Spell: The ABC Edition. While it’s planned for 2025, a good product is more important than a timely product. If you’ve played or run Spell before, or own it but never got around to playing, or a friend told you about it once, I’ll invite you to participate in a new feedback survey. Nothing beats actual player experiences when it comes to testing a game’s mettle.
Thank you for sharing this adventure with me,
Taylor Currey
Whimsy Machine