The Last Gasp of Winter

A little something from The Firmament.

It was January, I blinked, and suddenly–April! But here up north we had snow last week, so I'm claiming this first newsletter of 2026 as on time, more or less. I'll keep it brief, because if I don't it's going to take another 6 months for me to get a newsletter out.

To help with that, I'm committing to short monthly updates, only dipping into longer essays when I really have something to talk about. Each month, I'll tell you what's new (updates) and what's next (mini design diaries!).

So...

What's New?

It's been a while since my last newsletter, so, a lot!

1) The Foresight Studio Store is officially operational. I haven't been able to offer too much there yet, but I'm finally (finally) in a place where I can start ordering more stock. I had fun carving a stamp for outgoing packages!

A hand holds three cardboard envelops splayed out, with a light blue stamp of a stylized eye on each of them. — If you place an order, keep an ... eye ... out for it. ha ha

2) I'm contributing to this anthology of one-shot incursions for Trophy that successfully funded on Kickstarter last month. It's a nasty little Trophy Dark romp featuring parasitic fungus and the feeling that you really, truly belong.

3) Public Access (a fantastic game that was a blast to lay out) was featured on Quinns Quest, and had a very successful Kickstarter for its updated (print) edition! It's still open for late backers.

4) A lot of people have been picking up my GM-less drawing/worldbuilding game Decomposer lately! No idea why, but it might be that it's now on the Solo RPG List, an awesome resource that I recommend checking out.

What's Next?

Right now, I'm going full tilt on The Firmament. I'm not sure I ever properly introduced this game beyond its initial release for February 2025's Below a Bad Moon Jam, but it's grown quite a bit bigger since then. So:

The Firmament is a tarot-based TTRPG of divinity and desperation. You play as Children of Heaven, otherworldly beings that were born when Mother escaped from the House of the Infinite and (accidentally?) created the universe. All was well for eons, until the ravenous creatures of earth outpaced their resources. Now, four factions of greedy, horrible humans have built a base on the moon to infiltrate the firmament–the maze that separates earth from heaven.

You are tasked with descending through each of the firmament's nine levels, manipulating humans to prevent them from snatching heaven's power for themselves (or worse, breaching the door to the House of the Infinite). When you reach the moon, you plan to reopen the channels and flood the world below with the waters of heaven.

A black background with a faint white grid overlaid on it. On the background is a grainy, scribbly illustration of a blue/pink/green plane, light shining down from it. In the middle of this top plane is a translucent blue arch with an infinity symbol in it. Below is a greenish-yellow grainy dome, with a glowing yellowish blob on it. It has root-like greenish structures coming off the bottom, and a faint blue ripple beneath it. There is a moon and a sun overlaid on the dome, and the space between the top plane and the dome is surrounded with a white box. A line descends from the box to the bottom half of the image, where it splits into a bunch of roots/branches. On the left side of the image starting about halfway down, there are four grainy rectangular images stacked vertically, including an inverted cityscape, some kind of landscape, a picture of some clustered dots that look a bit like cells, and a Mesopotamian seal. — A map of the world, as we understand it to be

Each of the firmament's levels is played as a spread of tarot. Interpretation is at this game's heart, but it's got some crunch, as players need to strategically use their heavenly abilities to keep minor arcana out of heaven, shift the balance of suits, and much more. Some more things about it:

It's GM-less and built for one or two sessions of a couple hours each.
It plays well solo or runs up to 7 players (one for each Child).
It's inspired by ancient Near Eastern cosmology, Lurianic kabbalah, and surreal religious horror like Baroque and Angel's Egg.

That's The Firmament! In future design diaries, I'll get into graphic design/layout and mechanics (depending on what I'm working on at the moment).

A preview spread from The Firmament. It features two black pages with white dotted lines and a thin white frame with rounded corners on each page. On the left-hand page is a large reddish, pixelated blob that extends past the edge of the frame. Over it floats the section title in glowing white glitchy font, "BIRTH." On the right-hand page is text in white, that says: "Mother’s Aspect-in-Light birthed seven Vessels, luminous shells of glass and flesh capable of containing our Aspects and granting them physical form. To exit the Chambers of Heaven, choose which Vessel will carry you into the labyrinth. They have minds and histories; their knowledge will become your knowledge, their power your power." Below that is text in a vaguely mystical white font, that includes the titles and descriptions of each Vessel along with an icon representing them. They are: Architect, who knows the Labyrinth’s hidden places. Translator, who speaks with those others cannot. Psychopomp, who guides the way between realms. Scribe, who keeps the Records of Heaven. Astrologer, who cleaves day from night. Gardener, who coaxes a new world forth. Fatalist, who guards the secrets that spell our end. On the far right is a white sidebar with the section heading BIRTH in bold black font, and above it, a black crescent moon. — The text has already changed since this version but I'm Not Writing Into Layout (anymore)!!

Keep an eye out for crowdfunding info soon. In the meantime, I'm planning a handful of playtests. If you're interested, let me know using the form below.