iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Ben (he/him) {samovar games} @playsamovar.bsky.social · 17/05/2026

The $1 tickets are not necessary I think. The event is free and I’ll be gladly taking drop-ins!

Ben (he/him) {samovar games} @playsamovar.bsky.social · 17/05/2026

I’ll be at GameFace Con in Baltimore next Sunday demo’ing Emissary at noon, come by and create a world! tabletop.events/conventions/...

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Ben (he/him) {samovar games} @playsamovar.bsky.social · 11/05/2026

I’m honored to have made it to your table! Of course I’m on pins and needles to hear about your world(s) and outcomes. 🪐 Post your index cards!

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Ben (he/him) {samovar games} @playsamovar.bsky.social · 26/03/2026

Pure Panic Silver Spring. April 4. Form a Voltron with your friends or compete with them in a post apocalyptic cooking competition. @junkfoodgames.bsky.social docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

A poster for an April 4 event at Pure Panic comics and games

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Ben (he/him) {samovar games} @playsamovar.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

Bringing it home! Pandemonium Games and @ipr.bsky.social are selling 🚀Emissary🚶‍♀️ at @officialpax.bsky.social in Boston, my childhood hometown, or the “There” to my “Here” in Emissary terms. March 26-29, booth 12109. Full game listing: www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/PAX-Ea...

The ten-second pitch: Emissary is a sci-fi worldbuilding and exploration experience in the storygame style of Microscope, Fissco, or The Quiet Year.

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Ben (he/him) {samovar games} @playsamovar.bsky.social · 13/03/2026

Today at @awesomecon.bsky.social I’m playtesting @arcana-ttrpg.bsky.social. It’s on Kickstarter now! To give a taste, we dispatched a padlock by turning it into a raven and studied a time crystal by running laps with it. Join me 3/14 in the TTRPG hall for my worldbuilder, Emissary!

Players around a table with papers and dice

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Ben (he/him) {samovar games} @playsamovar.bsky.social · 06/01/2026

So… is the thesis of my game wrong? Maybe. Is the game still fun? Yes! I feel like it spins out some pretty “complex” characters — for a one-shot — even though they’re layered on top of the world building. What’s the takeaway? Idk!

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Ben (he/him) {samovar games} @playsamovar.bsky.social · 06/01/2026

She reveals that her main character in The Dispossessed came to her as a face and a feeling before she ever dreamt of the worlds he inhabits. I wrote “Emissary” assuming she did it the other way around, and hoping to give players a glimpse into how.

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Ben (he/him) {samovar games} @playsamovar.bsky.social · 06/01/2026

But in “Mrs. Brown,” Le Guin sternly rejects the idea of characters as avatars or symbols. She calls for scifi authors to start from the tradition of the novelistic character, as Virginia Woolf illustrates in her essay “Mr. Bennet and Mrs. Brown.”

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Ben (he/him) {samovar games} @playsamovar.bsky.social · 06/01/2026

The conceit of Emissary is that your game group can tell a Le Guinian story by starting with a world’s building blocks, and then creating characters tied to those building blocks.

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Ben (he/him) {samovar games} @playsamovar.bsky.social · 06/01/2026

I just read Ursula Le Guin’s essay “Science Fiction and Mrs. Brown” in her collection “The Language of the Night.” It made me wonder if she would hate the game I made about her work??!! 🧵

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Ben (he/him) {samovar games} @playsamovar.bsky.social · 10/12/2025

The original subtitle for Emissary was “or, Twitch Plays Ekumen.” The audience for the joke was too narrow. It works if you know millennial internet, Ursula K. Le Guin, and also the rules to my indie TTRPG. The audience was me.

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Ben (he/him) {samovar games} @playsamovar.bsky.social · 29/11/2025

Thank you for the wonderful compliment! Sorry to hear the cart isn’t working. I will investigate. It’s available also here: www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/Emissa... And here digitally: samovargames.itch.io/emissary

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Ben (he/him) {samovar games} @playsamovar.bsky.social · 29/11/2025

Emissary is a contemplative group worldbuilding game inspired by Ursula Le Guin’s Hainish Cycle. Made with love by a local designer in Maryland just down the street from the evil hat itself. 💜 💫 🚀 knaveofcups.com/product/emis...

knaveofcups.com

Emissary - Knave of Cups

Emissary is a love letter to Ursula K. Le Guin’s Hainish Cycle. Many of these stories—including The Left Hand of Darkness, The Dispossessed, and The Telling—follow a shared structure, beginning with a...

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Ben (he/him) {samovar games} @playsamovar.bsky.social · 28/11/2025

I still want to play this! If any other DC-area public-service minded folks wanna get a game together, let me know!!

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Reposted by Ben (he/him) {samovar games}

Sticky Doodler 🔜 PeopleCon 3 @stickydoodler.bsky.social · 28/11/2025

Are games art? When @playsamovar.bsky.social applied to get our games in Takoma ARTery's latest installation, I was dubious they'd say yes. The organization displays locally-made art in underused retail windows. But -- they said YES! 1/▶️ youtube.com/shorts/lvVYq...

youtube.com

Takoma ARTery displays local games

YouTube video by StickyDoodler

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Ben (he/him) {samovar games} @playsamovar.bsky.social · 27/11/2025

I guess this does make me a Sticky Doodler. Maybe I can publish it under your imprint?

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Ben (he/him) {samovar games} @playsamovar.bsky.social · 27/11/2025

What should the rest of the rules be? You tell me.

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Ben (he/him) {samovar games} @playsamovar.bsky.social · 27/11/2025

I’m playtesting a new game. Core concept: draw rooms in a space station and then draw little crew members to go in them. Other rules mostly superfluous.

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Reposted by Ben (he/him) {samovar games}

Sticky Doodler 🔜 PeopleCon 3 @stickydoodler.bsky.social · 21/11/2025

Before you get to the main expo hall, stop by the PAX Together Intersection Lounge in 201C - I spot some games Designed in the DMV here, from @greenintern.bsky.social, @playsamovar.bsky.social, and me! Thank you @sidequestbooks.bsky.social for welcoming indie designers and games to the table!

LGBTQ banner and "PAX Together" banner on display in front of Room 201C

Side Quest Books & Games table inside the Intersection Lounge with oodles of indie games!

Colorful games and greeting cards including "Hostile Architecture" by Grint

Display racks of zine games including Emissary by Samovar Games and The Bonsai Diary by Gene Koo (me!)

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Ben (he/him) {samovar games} @playsamovar.bsky.social · 21/11/2025

Wow thank you Scott, that’s so kind! Dispossessed is one of my favorites and a big inspiration. Are you headed to PAX U?

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Ben (he/him) {samovar games} @playsamovar.bsky.social · 19/11/2025

238 games! at the @ipr.bsky.social table staffed by Pandemonium Games! at #PAXUnplugged! and one of them is Emissary, my GM-less story game inspired by the worlds and wanderers of Ursula K. Le Guin. Pay them a visit and grab your copy this weekend!

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Ben (he/him) {samovar games} @playsamovar.bsky.social · 15/11/2025

Emissary will be at @officialpax.bsky.social #PaxUnplugged in Philly next weekend! Drop by the @sidequestbooks.bsky.social table in the PTI Lounge to grab a copy while supplies last! I can't wait to hear what 🪐 worlds and 👣 wanderers you all cook up. #DesignedintheDMV #storygame

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Reposted by Ben (he/him) {samovar games}

Grint @greenintern.bsky.social · 15/11/2025

If you're going to #PAXU, check out @sidequestbooks.bsky.social's booth! They'll be selling a whole mess of great independent RPGs, including my own! I'm terribly grateful to them for the opportunity to get my stuff out there!

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Reposted by Ben (he/him) {samovar games}

Knave of Cups @knaveofcups.com · 09/11/2025

Happy drop weekend! New in the shop: Emissary by @playsamovar.bsky.social 🫱🏽‍🫲🏼 A GMless multiplayer storytelling RPG inspired by The Hainish Cycle, Ursula K Le Guin's stories of Hain-seeded human(ish) worlds. Guide an Emissary from Here (their world) to There (a fantastic and mysterious new world)

The cover of Emissary, A story game inspired by Ursula K Le Guin's Hainish Cycle. The cover is a colorful jungle-like environment with a single figure (taking the place of the "a" in "emissary") walking into the distance

An interior example from Emissary. The lefthand page is titled Phase III: Worlds In Motion and gives directions for the Emissary's visit to a place called Here. There are guidelines for the First Scene. The righthand page continues the directions and includes guides for Subsequent Scenes

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Ben (he/him) {samovar games} @playsamovar.bsky.social · 07/11/2025

They’re the best!! Where do you get them?

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Ben (he/him) {samovar games} @playsamovar.bsky.social · 07/11/2025

Omg the second coolest thing about being included in the @knaveofcups.com catalogue is getting to see your product against one of their impeccably selected backdrops 😍 🌌

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Ben (he/him) {samovar games} @playsamovar.bsky.social · 02/11/2025

So friggin cool! I think of the modder community around Wildermyth. People could add encounters/dilemmas. I would *love* to write some of those.

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Ben (he/him) {samovar games} @playsamovar.bsky.social · 02/11/2025

It’s looking great! One of my favorite parts of FTL are the little text-based non-combat encounters. They add so much flavor. I feel the potential for them in a more open world is huge if they are affected by some simple skill checks/crew attribute tags. Have you thought about anything like this?

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Ben (he/him) {samovar games} @playsamovar.bsky.social · 28/10/2025

I made digital download key bookmarks for physical copies of Emissary I’m selling locally. On the back I dropped 20 more Nonsense Words. That’s a 20% increase in nonsense words from base Emissary! Get yours this weekend at Game Kastle’s Goblin Market gamekastle.eventcalendarapp.com/u/46429/2o5l...

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Ben (he/him) {samovar games} @playsamovar.bsky.social · 22/10/2025

My haul from the @peoplesbooktakoma.com Indie Game Fair last weekend! I can’t wait to dig in.

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Ben (he/him) {samovar games} @playsamovar.bsky.social · 20/10/2025

I have had this exact rant about FTL many times, thank you for your service, followed! 😂

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Ben (he/him) {samovar games} @playsamovar.bsky.social · 19/10/2025

Wonderful Indie Tabletop Fair today at @peoplesbooktakoma.com talking to people about Emissary and hearing some great speakers.

A table with a display for the roleplaying game Emissary

A sign with a quote from The Left Hand of Darkness reading “One voice speaking truth is a greater force than fleets and armies.”

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Reposted by Ben (he/him) {samovar games}

People's Book @peoplesbooktakoma.com · 17/10/2025

Weather looks great for our outdoor tabletop games fair on Saturday 10/18! ☀️ Swing by from 12-4 to meet local designers and join us for a moderated discussion between three established gamer designers inside People's Book at 4pm!

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Ben (he/him) {samovar games} @playsamovar.bsky.social · 17/10/2025

Ah man the Garage used to be *the* hangout on my high school forays into Cambridge. Pandemonium, Newbury Comics, punk clothes, my first Vietnamese food. PS: These posts are really testament to the power of @ipr.bsky.social, huh?

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Ben (he/him) {samovar games} @playsamovar.bsky.social · 08/10/2025

Thanks for your interest! I would love to hear what you think. It’s a very open-ended story gaming experience. I tried to dissect what makes Le Guin’s Hainish stories tick - layered world building, peaceful exploration, etc. Give it a go and share the world you create!

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Ben (he/him) {samovar games} @playsamovar.bsky.social · 07/10/2025

Thanks Gene for repping Emissary! DMV folks, come out to @peoplesbooktakoma.com on Saturday 10/18 to check it out!

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Ben (he/him) {samovar games} @playsamovar.bsky.social · 03/10/2025

I finally finished @stickydoodler.bsky.social’s Bonsai Diary. Truly a mind-expanding experience to think forward six generations, especially in this moment that is so steeped in despair.

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Ben (he/him) {samovar games} @playsamovar.bsky.social · 01/10/2025

October 18, People’s Book in Takoma Park! Hear from the creator of Fluxx and many more. Buy local board games, card games, roleplaying games, and zones!

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Reposted by Ben (he/him) {samovar games}

Chris | Junk Food Games @junkfoodgames.bsky.social · 19/09/2025

Indie Tabletop Day at Pure Panic Comics and Games is in just over a week! Games, vending, panels! Sept 28th! Silver Spring, MD Check out the deets in the link below and sign up to play some games. Tell your friends! www.designedinthedmv.org/indie-tablet...

designedinthedmv.org

Indie Tabletop Day!

Green Intern Games Hartly Samovar Games StickerDoodle Games

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Ben (he/him) {samovar games} @playsamovar.bsky.social · 26/08/2025

Come check out our little mini-convention with vendors, panels, and game demonstrations highlighting locally-designed tabletop roleplaying games!! There is so much creativity going on #DesignedInTheDMV

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Ben (he/him) {samovar games} @playsamovar.bsky.social · 22/08/2025

I’m playing thru this currently in little installments and it’s truly a joy! A meditative practice!

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Ben (he/him) {samovar games} @playsamovar.bsky.social · 22/08/2025

I’m so digging it! The fact that so many of the mechanics rely on telling a little tale makes it feel unique. It shines the spotlight on players and reminds me a bit of a straight-up tale-telling experience like Baron Munchausen.

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