There's like an inverse relationship between, like, how bad I feel with how long the grass gets, with how good I feel when I cut it. I was chasing that high. Chasing, yeah, I'm chasing the lawn mowing dragon. Yeah. Is the lawn mowing bit the funniest thing we've said in these past five minutes? Yeah, that would be unfortunate if that were the case. Hello and welcome to .zip, a podcast about big games in small packages. My name is AJ. My name is Kim. And today we are talking about exquisite biome by Caro Assertion, art by Si F. Sweetman. Links to their pages are in the show notes and you should check out the game and you should check out the art because the art fucking rocks. They are totally cool. Yeah. Hi, Kim. Oh, pretty good. How are you, AJ? I'm tired. It's raining and I worked yesterday, or I did physical labor yesterday, so I'm sleepy. That is a real sleepy day, yeah. That's a fire up the wood fired stove in the living room and doxing my living room, set up jeez Louise. Yeah, sorry to dox here. Stove. Everyone is going to know I have a stove now. Oh, you know what? I did have a thing I wanted to ask. I'll ask you later. I am so excited to talk about this game. Do you want to just get right into it? Yeah, sure. Cool. Kim, what's exquisite biome? Exquisite biome is a TTRPG for, what is it, like one to four players? I don't even know. It's one to six. I feel like you could do it one to however many you want, really. You could. Yeah, I think it'd be pretty adaptable. So this is a game where you use a standard playing deck of 52 cards to create an environment, a natural environment, and then populate it with weird little guys. Yeah. It's weird little guy maker. Yeah. So you first draw some cards to determine what kind of environment you're looking at. You know, it can be a desert or a coastline or a forest. And then you draw another card to designate like a detail of that environment. So oh, there's a cavern here or a volcano. And then you start drawing cards to create creatures and you're looking at like the different kinds of creature could be mammal, birdfish, reptile amphibian, or invertebrate. And then you basically pick cards corresponding to different traits of those animals. So it's kind of like what role they play in the ecosystem, different physical traits. And then you kind of imagine what these creatures do in their environment. And then the base game has you essentially create three creatures, but the way that you do that is you've drawn like three cards for your first creature, say. And to create your next creature instead of drawing three new cards, you basically change the order of the cards that you've already drawn. You take like the leftmost card and move it to the right. And then you start over with that new arrangement of the same cards, which creates some really interesting interconnections between the creatures that you're making instead of it being entirely random. So yeah, it's a really interesting, I feel like it could be a tool for world building. I think it can also be a tool for storytelling or you can like incorporate it into a larger narrative RPG if you want. It's really adaptable in that way. Yeah, I also feel like, and I guess we've only released the one regular TTRPG episode. There is a, I guess if you, hey, first plug of this, I guess, if you go to k-o-fi.com/dotzip, you can support us monthly, which will get you the test episodes that we did for the show as well as stuff in the future. It's all listed out on there. But in there we played Animnesis by Sam Lee, which this game is kind of a riff on, it's credited at least as like an inspiration, which is fun. But between that and artifact and this, I feel like this is the first game we've played that could just be like a game you play for a night and then like you like have fun with your pals and then you guys like go do something else, like this feels like the first one that's not exclusively kind of like a storytelling tool and is also just kind of like a fun like thought exercise/game/ like really low effort thing that I feel like you could play with people who like aren't into TTRPGs or board games or whatever, like this feels really accessible to me. Yeah, yeah, I agree. And I think that it, you know, we each played it separately, you know, as a solo game, but I do think it probably shines in a group environment because the idea is you were trying to like iterate on these creatures and think about like, you know, the, not necessarily the weirdest, but like, you know, what are the most like interesting ways that you can kind of riff on on these, these prompts? I just feel like in a group environment, the way that that would iterate, I think would be very fun. Yeah, absolutely. Have you, have you played the game exquisite corpse or head body tail? No, but I know, I know what it is. Yeah, so that's, I believe that this game is kind of a riff on that game where head body tail is like works with the corpse, whatever you call it. You like fold a piece of paper, everybody, playing the game folds a piece of paper into three sections or however many sections there are per person. And then like one person draws a head and then you fold that part over so the next person can't see the head you drew, but they can see like the lines that connect the head to the body and then the next person draws a body and then folds it the same way. And then the next person draws the bottom part of that, the tail, I guess, of that creature. And at the end, you have this creature that three people have created, not really knowing what the previous person did. And I feel like in a way, this game is kind of a spin on that. And also given the name of the game as well, it being exquisite biome instead of exquisite corpse. Yeah, one of the influences is the exquisite beast, which is a book of art by Yuka Ota and Evan Dom that appears to be that concept. Yeah, there is a link in the show in the show notes to the Tumblr archive of that. And you can also, I don't know if you can still buy the book, but they turned that basically Tumblr page into a book, but it's very cool. That is really neat. Should we just talk about the little guys that we read? Yeah, I feel like there's not like it's a really, really simple concept and it's super easy to get into and play, and so we're going to talk about our experiences. I don't think it's really going to spoil anything or like influence your thing because there are so many different variations on the creatures you can get. And then the prompts, I think, are like so leaves so much up to interpretation that even if you drew the same cards that we did, you're going to come up with your own thing. So yeah, I think let's hop into our weird little guys. Yeah. Kim, did you listen to music while you played this game? I sure did. I listened to this artist that I don't even know how I discovered them in retrospect, but they're called Golden Brown. It is like kind of like psychedelic folk is the best way I could describe it. But yeah, they have this one album called Flora and Fauna of the Uncanny Valley. And so I felt like that was very, yeah, I thought that was very apt. So yeah, very fun music for this. I do recommend. What did you listen to? I listened to the Scavengers Rain soundtrack. Scavengers Rain is a show on Max that is about this ship of people who land on this alien planet. And then it's basically them trying to survive on that alien planet. And the Flora and Fauna on that alien planet, like the designs of them are absolutely bonkers and they're so good. And I just, I, separate recommendation for Scavengers Rain. But if you like this game and you like making weird little creatures, definitely watch that show to see the kind of weird little creatures that they make on that show because every episode is like, hey, here's another weird thing that shouldn't function this way but does. It's great. It's so fun. Yeah. I need to watch that. Yeah. And the soundtrack is very like ethereal and weird. Mm. Yeah, it's good. It's very good. Sounds like a similar vibe. Yes. Yeah, definitely 100%. Tell me, tell me about your first, your first little guy. Sure. I'm sorry. Tell me about the place first, yeah. Yeah. Let me tell you about my biome. So I don't remember necessarily what cards I drew, but what they, what they corresponded to was my first one was a shoreline or coast, cool and dry, which was very, very interesting. So I'm sort of imagining like, okay, like a cold sort of like coastline area. And then my second biome card was lake or spring mid day. And so I was like a lake near a coastline, like I was like, how am I going to do that? And when I ended up, I ended up latching on to the concept of the spring. And so a freshwater spring on the coast that meets the ocean and creates a unique brackish environment, rich in minerals, not unlike deep sea hydrothermal vents. Whoa. Hell yeah. Yeah. I got really into it. I was, this is the part where I should probably mention that I was like a nature documentary kid. Oh, whoa. Okay. Cool. I was, I was a real like discovery channel animal planet. Sure. So part, I think that's part of why I feel like this game would be better for a group, at least for me, because I'm so committed to the like, well, it has to make real logical sense. Yeah. Not that I am an expert at that at all, but like, I'm just like, I think it was hard for me to like imagine beyond, you know, a lot of like, what is familiar to me. So yeah, for example, my first creature is called the spring deer frog. Nice. I did indeed draw the reptile or amphibian card. And so I drew one also, and I was going to make a frog and I was like, I can't make a frog on a podcast with Kim on it. I just, I can't. I mean, you could have it would have been fun, but yeah. So I got a frog and it's a burrower or builder, and I was like, Oh, great. I know burrowing frogs. So I made a little burrowing frog. Their distinctive feature that I drew was horns or antlers. And there are horned frogs, but I decided. Yeah, I decided to go antlers for anyone could use AJ and I also create frog of the week. So we know a lot about frogs. Yeah. Kim especially, because Kim's the one doing the research. I just added the funny sound effects in, but and what a good job you do. And then you also draw for their habits and personalities. So I got that they are sedentary, but they gather in small groups. So the spring deer frog is a horned frog that burrows in the sand and hibernates there, except during the mating season, it mates for life and it's horns, which they look like antlers. The horns present only in males are used to fight off competitors. And I actually tried to draw it, but I'm not good at drawing. Oh my God. No, it's so cute. Oh my God. Oh my God. I love that you pointed to the feet and wrote for burrowing. Yes, I did. I used an image of the desert rain frog as they are a little round freak. Yeah. Those are like those little, if you've seen a viral video of a little frog, a little round frog screaming, that's a desert rain frog. And they are burrowing frogs who I think they're from South Africa and they just like burrow in the sand. So yeah, that was that was my inspiration, but I put little ant like deer antlers on him. They're really good. And then so you, the next step is you sort of imagine their behavior through pulling a card that corresponds to like a type of behavior that an animal could exhibit. So you know, eating a meal or pursuit and defense, things like that, they keep it sort of vague. So you can kind of, I think, imagine, you know, take it in many different directions. So I got a hearty meal and a tough life lesson. So I imagine the spring deer frog using its little antlers to sense vibrations on the sand when it's burrowed so that it knows that there's food nearby. Since it is sedentary, it's like not going anywhere. So it's got to wait until the food comes to it. And so it, you know, pops out to eat these little insects that land near it. And you know, the tough life lesson is maybe this time the spring deer frog does not catch its, it's quarry quicker, got to be quicker than that. And then yeah, they just burrow themselves back into the sand. Incredible. I love it. Yeah. Do we want to alternate or should I just keep going with my? Yeah. I think, I think you've gone because I actually pulled a you this week where I kind of didn't follow the rules. And so the scenes, the scenes I set are basically all one connected, like thing. Okay. So I didn't do the nature and most motion scene prompts as it were. So got it. Okay. Because I did my, well, I'll talk about how I thought about mine as opposed to a nature documentary when I get to my thing. So yeah, I think you keep going with yours and then we will see what's up. Sure. My second creature, when I rearrange the cards, I got multiple, it's clubs that is reptiles and amphibians. So I was like, I was like back to another reptile or amphibian. This time an insect forager. And I was like, well, I sure did just make a reptile or an amphibian insect forager. So now I have to think of another one. The traits that I got were also camouflage slash mimicry and that it is folkloric. There is some kind of like local, let me see, how did they describe that folkloric. There is a well known myth or fable about this animal. How is it characterized in the story? Cool. That's so cool. Yeah. And I also drew that it is it gathers in groups of a dozen or more. So I imagined the camodile, it is a small crocodilian like the size of like what we what we know, like baby crocodiles and alligators to to be. That's like as big as they get. They live in the springs and float on top of the water to they float on top of the water in dozens trying to eat insects that land on the surface. And they are a bright bluish green to camouflage against the spring water because you know how like springs have like that very like bright color. And they compete with the frogs in the rainy season when the frogs like come out of their burrows to to mate in the water. And I was like, oh, okay, maybe the frogs also use their antlers to like defend against the camodiles like get out of my territory. These are mice. Yeah. These are my insects. And the fable that I imagined was about a deer frog that keeps chasing the camodile out of its territory. And so eventually that's how the camodile learns to like paint itself blue so it can like sneak in. And then all of its friends paint themselves blue to sneak into the territory. And it's a lesson about being generous and welcoming less, you know, people find other ways to to I don't know, it's so so fun. It's good. I like it. That's really good. And I drew this one. It's not nearly as good, but it's like a noodley little lizard guy. No, it's great. It's perfect. But it has, it has like a long sticky frog like tongue since it's instead of sharp teeth. And yeah, for nature and motion, I, um, I didn't write it down. I think it was, I was just imagining it like resting on the surface of the water and using a sticky little tongue to get, to get prey. I think this is, this is the part where I wrote down nature and motion would be more fun with a group. Um, because yeah, it's just sort of like imagining a scenario, um, sort of loosely. Uh, my third creature, I drew an apex predator bird or fish. Whoa. Okay. Yeah. And I decided to go with a fish, but what I did create is actually an invertebrate. I realized afterwards, which too bad, um, and also it's more of an ambush predator than an apex predator. But here we are. It had to have the, yeah, well, the reason why is it had to have prehensile digits, okay, like, like fingers or tentacles. And I also drew trait cards for a dwellings or nests. So it had to like build a nest or dwelling of some kind and groups of a dozen or more. So what I imagined is what I like to call the spring star, um, and it, it looks like I imagined, um, there's a starfish called the crown of thorns starfish. That is, uh, it has like poisonous spines. So, um, it's like dangerous. If you step on it, um, so I imagined something like that, but with longer, like instead of you like starfish legs, like longer, like tentacle-like legs and about poisonous tentacles, it uses distinct prey, paralytic poison, drags them down where they drown. It slowly consumes, sorry, this is going to get a little dark, but it slowly consumes their flesh until only bones are left and then it builds dwellings out of the bones. Oh, dude. Hell yeah. Uh, yeah. And I just pictured it like living in like the weird brackish in between of, uh, between the stream and where it empties into the ocean. Oh my God, man. Yeah. It's, uh, this, this guy's dark and then yeah, the last, the last thing that you do is sort of like imagine, um, like scenes of, of all of these creatures interacting and I just sort of, I didn't really write anything down, but I just sort of imagine like the, the different interactions that I've kind of already described among these creatures. Um, and this, like, horrifying tentacle starfish. Yeah. Rest in peace to your amphibians, dude. I know. It's dark. It's awesome. But yeah, it's, it's really fun. Um, I, I, I like my little, uh, spring environment. I, I, this is one of those things where I'm like, it would be fun to create more creatures for it. Yeah, that's, that's, that's the, the thing with this game, I think is like, it, it gives you the three card prompt. It gives you options for like, if you add another card to the stack, then you can, you know, make four creatures or instead of three and whatever. Um, and then they'll, you pick two defining traits. So like they're a bit more specific creatures as well. But I think this game plays so easily and so quickly. I think it took me like an hour to get through my thing. And that's cause I was kind of really meandering like with the stuff I was writing out. Yeah, it took, took me less than an hour. Yeah. I feel like you could create like a whole ecosystem in like less than an afternoon, uh, with this game. That's just like so cool. It's such a fun, it's such a fun idea and the, um, the way the cards are situated. I think like the, the adjusting cards instead of picking a new three every time. And I think the, the way that they, uh, like give you the prompts for the middle card, like, uh, hearts and diamonds only have one table and spades and clubs have another table, whereas the other ones are the number and the suit. Um, I think it helps a lot with like you could, you could keep iterating on this without getting too much repetition, which is, uh, I think very, very cool. Yeah, it's, I think sometimes these, um, these games where you're getting prompted by cards, sometimes if they, if there isn't enough variation in the prompts, it can start to feel a little repetitive, but yeah, this, this game does a really good job of making sure that that, that is unlikely to happen. Uh, AJ, tell me about your biome and your little guys. Yeah. Uh, so I went into mine in this headspace of like, if you ever listened to me, you know, just in a radio lab or like a narrative show like that where it's like a semi reported story where someone is like, Hey, I'm here today to tell you about this thing. Um, and then they like cut back and forth between the conversation that they're having with like the host or like them describing it on like a microphone like this and then cutting back to like field recordings, uh, of them, like experiencing the thing firsthand. So that was like the headspace I was in. Uh, and so I, I had written all these descriptions from the perspective of somebody who had like wedge themselves in like a space to like be unseen and to like observe this thing, but then record what they were saying. Sure. So that was kind of the headspace I was in. So I pulled, uh, I did write the cards that I pulled, not that it really matters, but I got the two of hearts in the five of spades for my biome, which means, uh, I am on a tundra or wasteland during, uh, during the, uh, a warm and wet season, uh, during afternoon or twilight, the warm and wet season. I kind of skirted around a little bit, um, because I had said, I had, I mean, obviously like a tundra is like a frozen, like thing. And if it's like warm and wet, then like stuff is kind of different, but like I, I had kind of skirted around that by being like, well, it's twilight. So it's getting cold again. So like it is, it is warm during the day, but it's, it's when the, when the sun starts setting, all like the rain or whatever turns back into snow overnight. And so this is like that, that point of switching back from rain or whatever into, into its snowing. And so, uh, my first creature and I, I'm realizing now that like I could have named these more normal things, but I'm so like fantasy pilled that I'm like, I have to make up a word. Um, so my first creature is the Alvarick beetle, uh, okay, which is, uh, so I got the aid of spades, uh, which is an invertebrate, uh, that is a flyer or glider, the 10 of clubs, which means it is noisy. Uh, and the nine of spades, um, which, uh, it's habit and personality. Uh, it's defined by its courtship displays. Uh, and then I also, I, I messed up here. I forgot to look at the suit. Uh, it says, uh, this species lives in very small groups, which actually worked with what I came up with, but I did forget in the moment to like actually look at that, uh, and consider it. So in my, my narrative here that I've created, I am, this reporter is sitting, like has managed to find like a crevasse or something to kind of like wedge themselves in to like see what's, what's going on. Uh, and, uh, they are in this kind of open field where the Alvarick beetle comes to mate and so a, an emerald green kind of like, God, I don't know, like six inch in, in like diameter, be it's big is a big deal. Yeah, uh, maybe even a little bit bigger lands like 10 feet away. And it's like this, this emerald green. It's really beautiful. And then, uh, it's got this like really loud call that it does. That's like basically the like most basic version of the, uh, I think it's some of a bim bam bit where they're talking about birds screaming, Hey, come fuck this, come fuck this. Um, it's the most base form of that where it's just like getting into a field and screaming. I'm ready to bang. Uh, and then eventually a, uh, a female does show up, um, and is not quite as, uh, you know, outwardly beautiful as the male is as these things kind of, as nature does, you know, I've watched a few nature documentaries in my day. And the mating ritual that I kind of came up with was it's this loud sound that like persists throughout the whole thing and the female, if it accepts the male's bid, unfurls this second set of wings that it has that are purely ornamental and are like, like unfold into like a three foot wingspan. Uh, so very, very, very big, uh, and then, um, in compasses, the two of them, it like turns those wings into like a dome, um, cutting off the sound completely. Uh, as they, they mate on the, this, this tundra field. That's so romantic. Yeah, I, they, they need their little space. You know, everybody, they, they, they don't want to be out in the open doing a little bit of privacy. A little bit of privacy. Yeah. And so like I said, to, to Kim, I didn't, uh, follow the instructions for like drawing cards to tell you what the scene is going to be. Cause like in my head, I'm not bouncing around from spot to spot. I'm like, I am at this field and, and here's what I'm seeing. And here's what's happening. And so my second creature to arrive on the scene, uh, is the Ignis Gekko. So I got the 10 of clubs, which is reptile or amphibian, uh, and scavenger or thief. The nine of spades, which means it has whiskers or antenna and the aid of spades, which means it is a tool user, so I can operate crude or makeshift tools. And then it, uh, it lives with dozens, hundreds or thousands, uh, uh, yeah, in number. So basically the next thing that this reporter sees is like hundreds of these, these Gekko's coming out that are like the, the way I described them is like, they're, they're basically like regularish size Gekko. Maybe a little bigger than a normal Gekko would be, like a leopard Gekko would be, but they've got these like shovel like heads, uh, with eyes on top. And so the description I wrote in here was like, like a plate with two marbles on it. Um, and so they can, they can see pretty much 360 around them. But because of the way their head is they can't see below them. And so they use the whiskers, like they have like whisker like hairs that like throw out of their arms and legs to just like, you know, make sure that they're radius is always good. Um, but then the tools they can use are, uh, basically dowsing rods. So like Y shaped or like wishbone shaped sticks that they use to like tap around below them to make sure that like to like see if there's anything below them. Oh my God. That's so cool. Eat or whatever. Yeah. I also gave them really bad hearing and like, although they can see 360 degrees, they can't see super far. So the reason that they show up in these huge numbers to this mating ritual is because it is so loud that is like one of the sounds that like they, they hear and know is like, oh, we should go that direction. So these, these, these hundreds or maybe thousands of these little geckos show up with a little dowsing rods and, uh, are, are basically looking for this dome to chow down. How big, how big are the geckos? I think the geckos are probably also only like, like six inches tall, something like that. I think they stand up on their back legs. Um, yeah. So they can hold the dowsing rods and just like tap the ground. Oh, they hold them with their, their little hand. Oh, I was matching them in their mouth. Okay. No, no, no. Yeah. Yeah. So they, they stand up on their back legs, uh, and they've got this shovel head that they can't see below anything. I love with the Ignis Gecko and they, they tap around. Yeah. I, uh, I, big fan of the Ignis Gecko, uh, weird, weird little guy. And the final thing to join the scene here, uh, are fallow mites. Oh, which, uh, another invertebrae. Yeah, I earned vertebrae, but as a decomposer or recycler, uh, the aid of spades, which means they have broad feathers or scales, uh, the 10 of clubs, uh, which means they're defined by their life cycle. Uh, so they go on, they undergo metamorphosis and they live in groups of dozen of a dozen or more. So, so on this field, besides the dome of the, uh, the Alvaric beetle, uh, there are smaller like mounds around that are slowly collecting snow. And like, like I said, as the sun sets this kind of nighttime snowstorm rolls through. And so the, the Alvaric domes are being covered, but also there are just like piles of trash in this area, uh, like detritus and like small bones and leaves and whatever is like blowing over, uh, the, the island. Actually, did I say it wasn't? Yeah, I said it was an island, right? I don't think I did. I don't know if you did. Yeah, I don't think I, I think I skipped island and did, uh, just did the time. Uh, yeah, it's a tundra on an island. So it's this like weird little island that is just cold all the time. Sorry about that. I totally miss that. So yes, whatever blows in over the, like over the ocean, uh, these little guys collect and they make mounds part of the, uh, the species lives in groups of a dozen or more. There's some questions there. It asks what the social hierarchy is and how status is measured or judged. And so I was like not thinking about this initially because it's just like, yeah, they're just like little mites that like, or like aunt sized little guys that, that make piles of stuff. And I was like, well, whoever has the biggest pile is like in charge. And so I think there's no like scientific discovery that has been made yet. That's like what that means. Um, like what, what having the largest mound really means besides like every once in a while, there'll kind of be this like weird coup d'etat where like a bunch of smaller mounds will like tear apart one of the bigger mounds. Uh, and then evenly distributed amongst the, the people. So I don't know. That was kind of a little fun thing that I imagine with that, um, redistribution of mound wealth. Yeah. And so in this situation, uh, these mounds are, are around. And that is why the Alvarick beetle chooses this spot or these spots to mate is so that they can kind of be like they can disguise themselves more or less as these, uh, mite mounds because the Ignis Gecko does not want to just chow down on a pile of trash. So they, they try and, um, you know, arrive at a time where before the snow starts so that they can be there for long enough that they snow kind of piles over them. And so that they're kind of indistinguishable, uh, from a pile of garbage. And, uh, yeah, so that's, uh, that is, that is, that is the fallow mites, uh, roll in this as kind of a, uh, they, they help with the camouflage. Uh, and then since I was writing this from like a quote unquote reporter perspective or whatever, uh, the ending of this is the mating, uh, of the Alvarick beetle finishing. And so I had said that although the sn, the, the sun is basically completely down and it's, you know, snowing and cold, the Alvarick beetle dome where they were mating heats up and basically like melts the snow away. So it's visible again and then like explodes into a cloud, like a glowing cloud of like steam and dust that like gets blown away in the wind, um, in this kind of like, uh, Aurora Borealis esque display, I guess, of like a million little eggs. Um, pretty much blowing off into the wind, some blow into the ocean and get eaten by fish, some, you know, get caught in trees and some make it to like the ground where they burrow down or where they are burrowed down or buried, whatever, uh, until they are ready to emerge, uh, after they grow. And then I was like, well, I have to, I have to come full circle here, circle of life. I think the, the mom and dad beetles basically are just the shells are just left. And they are taken by them. They are taken by the mites to add to their piles, uh, of trash. So yeah, that's, that is, uh, the tundra island of, uh, I named it, uh, the, the hail denoube dead zone. And in my head is called the dead zone is because people, uh, before they discover that there were animals on it, just thought it was like a weird, like, uh, cold island that no, nothing to survive on. And it's just kind of kept that name forever. So wow. Yeah. That's wild. I stopped job. Thank you so much. It's so fun. It was so much fun to play this game. I'd like, I've had fun obviously playing all the other games that we've played for the show, um, but this one, I was just like, I think because it was so light, I have a tendency to get like super heavy for some reason in my, in my, like, when I'm given freedom, uh, to tell a story, it always gets like kind of dark. Uh, but this one was just like so light and fun. And like, I think because it was nature, even if it got a little dark toward the end where like the parents are dead, like that's just nature. And so I wasn't like super, there was no like emotion behind it. It's just like, this is just what happens. Uh, and I think there's like, it's more of like a splendor kind of thing and less of like a, yeah, that's really sad kind of thing. Yeah. So this game is so much fun. Yeah. Um, I, yeah, I had a great time with it. It does feel like I liked how, um, how, like, light is a very good way of describing it, right? Like it's, it's very easy to just like pick up and do and like not have to, like you can write or not write as much as you want. Totally. Yeah. And it's like, it's very like vibes. Yeah. A hundred percent. I think that's why it could be so easy for like, like I was saying earlier, like for people who don't play games like this to pick up because you don't have to write anything down, you can just be like, yeah, I made this beetle and like, it's got these really pretty wings. And then everybody's like, cool. I'm thinking about a beetle with pretty wings now. You know, it's like, it doesn't have to be as, as in depth, uh, as, as we went. Um, I, I do, I think, uh, so I've played another of Cairo, Assertions games called, uh, I'm sorry. Did somebody say street magic, uh, or I'm sorry, did you say street magic, um, which is a city building game that you play in a group and basically you go around the table and like, you create a neighborhood and the next person creates like a person in that neighborhood or creates a different neighborhood or whatever. And it's, it's a very cool game and it's, it's, it's very collaborative and it's really good. And I think, uh, to transition into big takeaways. Yeah. Takeaways. I think my big takeaway with this game is that some games are more fun with other people. Um, yeah. And like, I really had a great time playing this game, but the whole time I was sitting, like my partner to my, to my left at her desk doing work, I'm like, man, you would have, I think we could have a lot of fun playing this game together. Like as fun as it is to like make this stuff up in my head, it was very fun to even just share it with you. Like I think sharing in that experience of creating a thing is like really, really cool. And I think this game being so easy to pick up and easy to understand just makes it a really fun, uh, experience to just like, Hey, we should do this together. And like it'll take us a half hour, maybe, or whatever. And so I don't know if that's like a fully applicable, applicable, big takeaway. Um, but I do think that's what, whenever I think about this game, it's going to be one of those things that's like, I want to play this with somebody, you know, like I'm, I'm not going to pick this up to play by myself anytime soon, I think. Um, but I, but I have already added it to a list of games that I want to play with my tabletop friends. Um, yeah. So yeah, I, um, I think my big takeaway is pretty similar actually, which I, I don't know if I have it like fully crystallized into, you know, a, a pithy sentence, but like, sure, I do think that I really like the, like, compa, sort of contemplative solo RPG where, you know, you're, where you're journaling or like, I, I really like that format and I've had a lot of fun doing those. Um, but yeah, this, this feels inherently different where, and I don't know if it's like, because it's like reflective of the idea that you're like creating a, you know, an ecosystem where like interactivity is like part of it. Um, but like, I, I do think that, that there is a value in, in feeding off of other people's ideas when, when coming up with these things, if, even if only because like it's so hard to imagine creatures that are outside of the realm of like what, what we're familiar with, you know, it's like trying to imagine a new color almost. And so I think that like it's valuable, I think, to, to have like two different people whose, whose frames of references are going to, at least two different people whose frames of references are going to be different to like really, like unlock something, something like special in here. So yeah, I, I think that's it. I, I, I kind of agree. This one was, it's fun on your own. I think I would, I think the context where I would play this on my own again is if I am, you know, trying to create, you know, a biome with like weird fantastical creatures, like, I think maybe I would play this again to, to do that. Like either for a, you know, a TTRPG setting or like a creative story setting. But otherwise, yeah, I think it would be very fun to do in a group. I think also I think it would be really fun to play a version of this where like, either this is kind of the core mechanic of a larger narrative about like a group of researchers, um, and like, you know, they like landed on an alien planet or something. And like this is part of, you know, what the gameplay of like exploring, yeah, or even as like a, you know, your, your TTRPG D and D party has been tasked with exploring this, this new biome and so, you know, they have to like report back about what they find and they find these three creatures, I don't know, something like that where I think it would be fun to role play as part of this. Um, that is something I would love to like play with at some point. Yeah. I think that could be a very, very cool thing. Uh, part of the reason I bring up, I'm sorry, did you say street magic is because there's a line in the book and I can't find it for some reason, but there's a line in, I'm sorry, did you say street magic? That's like, we're going to create a city that none of us could have created on our own and that will be better for have, and that will be better for being created by a group of people collaboratively as a community like should. And I think that that is like the, the thing that was sticking in my head the whole time playing this game is like, this would be better with other people because for exactly the reasons that you were saying, it's just like we could, we could, everybody has a different experience and a different like way of thinking that they're bringing to the table. And now I'm just thinking about like, what about your, your like role play idea? Like I'm, I'm very curious about, I think for, for other games, it's been easier to directly imagine how you could kind of role play in those situations. But for this one, I think is, it's, it'd be a very different experience, I think. Um, from other types of, of role playing, I don't know. Anyway, I think, I think that's everything today. I, I think so. Yeah. Um, so, uh, yeah, I, I, it's, it's a bit of a short one, but I mean, this, this whole, this whole book is like 22 pages. Um, and that's, that's everything. So it's, it's a very small thing. It's $6 on it right now, uh, which I think is like the standard price. So, uh, yeah, I want to shout out that it comes with like a, they, they include a version that has like minimal like formatting. I forget how they describe it. Look at that one, but, but basically it's like, it is just the information, which is very nice when, when you're like in the middle of playing and just like trying to flip between pages. It's like a very streamlined version of the PDF. I really appreciated that. Um, yeah, well, yeah, it's like basically a word doc. That's great. Yeah. It was, it was really nice to have. Cool. So that's, that is exquisite biome by Caro Assertsione with art by Si F. Sweetman, uh, you should check out their stuff in the show notes. Uh, both of them are incredibly talented. Caro is an incredibly talented game designer. Uh, Si F. Sweetman is an incredibly talented artist. Uh, all the stuff on their website is so cool. And as always, if you have played this game, share your weird little guys with us. We, I would love to know the little freaks that you made on your weird little desert, uh, island, and you can do that in the worst garbage discord, uh, links to that also in the show notes. So yeah, uh, thank you to the worst garbage for having us. Thank you to all of our collaborators, my, uh, beautiful partner Tara, uh, for making the art that you're seeing for this episode, as well as just our general art, uh, shout out to, uh, Amranthan for the theme music. Shout out to, uh, Brendan Bigley, uh, for the interstitial sounds that you hear throughout the episode and also shout out to our third host, Chase, for making our beautiful website, uh, where you can find, I don't know, links to the show and maybe other stuff, but it's, it's a fun little website. You should go visit it just to like look at it and go, wow, nice job, Jase. And, uh, finally, Kim, thank you for making the show with me. Thank you, AJ, uh, you can follow the show at links in the show notes. Uh, and, uh, there are links to everything we brought up in the episode, as well as a bunch of stuff that we did not bring up in the episode. So you should check out all of that stuff. Uh, thank you so much for listening. We'll see you in the next one. Bye bye. Bye. [Music] P.W.G. The worst garbage to all mine. [Music]
