1: Electrocosmic’s Introduction & Basic Influences

This blog is about Electrocosmic, a tabletop roleplaying game that I am working on. This is among other projects I work on periodically as I become distracted, but as of recent it nears some sort of displayable state.

Electrocosmic is a game that attempts to apply cosmic horror to a strain of mecha anime in the 1990s, particularly Neon Genesis Evangelion but with a range of contemporary other influences that are too numerous to count. In particular:

• Pacific Rim (2013)

• Color Out of Space (2019)

• The Void (2016)

• Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989)

• The Mist (2007)

This is among others sources and inspirations. Rather than going through in a granular fashion with influences, I thought I should write something to try to explain what I am trying to do with the game and more.

Accordingly, this is spoken with a personal voice rather than that of a corporation, press manager, or the like. It does not seek to speak in a voice that, to me, is inauthentic. However, initially I began to write under the notion that blog might be useful and that it helps develop an audience for the works even if that is not purely the goal as I write.

As such I will talk about the project, but it will not be in a fashion that seeks to ‘sell’ the game. I will try to be unsparing and frank as my thoughts as I have considered the project for many years.

Electrocosmic is a long dream of mine and my sincerest effort to do my best to articulate what I had found lacking elsewhere. It emerged out of a series of long mecha-themed campaigns, other games, and similar concerns. It also emerged out my general annoyance at the thematic qualities of those games with respect to mechanics and other things, though this will come up later.

All of this is also something of a recounting of what I have tried to articulate in the game, felt, and other concerns of the process. It is sometimes said that writing is a lonely road, but to write alone and develop a game alone is to experience the foibles of a writer, a game designer, an aesthete, and others. It has also meant I have needed to grow in this regard, as I was not – in the main – skilled in these things before I began, and I will leave it to the reader to consider if I am skilled now.

All of this meant to be a guide to help others in the industry or to provide clear guidance with respect to the market or other things – it is something of a private goal and the lessons or possible lessons or statements gleaned by the reader won’t be systematic or possibly useful. In this I would like to apologize, but there are likely better accounts with better lessons and better structure to help people accomplish their goals, though something may be learned here.

In this is feels much more like a person’s journal or something of that sort admixed with a kind of developer’s log.