Category: i did a thing

In my defence, I was given an idea, procreate, and shenanigans spoons

me

You know that feeling where you see something done kind of poorly and you think ‘I can do that better’. I was already ordering at a print on demand store that day and-

Anyway, story aside, I now have a very nerdy mug

Some nerd facts about this:

• The green is halfway between excel and google sheets, since I use both and couldn’t pick one
• Similarly, the spreadsheet has elements from both excel and google sheets. It is not a screenshot, but I drew it in procreate from scratch

As soon as I posted the picture of said mug, several people said they’d want one of their own. Now I’m not about to open a shop or deal with shipping mugs all over the world, so instead here is

Please don’t use for reselling/commercial use. If you do get it on something for yourself (or as a present for a friend) I’d love to see it

I cannot believe that they’ve not done an ikea room yet

Me at what must’ve been around 3 am on a night I couldn’t sleep

You can listen to my episode called flatpack misfortune here (or on your podcast medium of choice).

At the beginning of this year I stumbled across Escape This Podcast while looking for a way to make a tabletop homebrew more puzzl-y. It felt like everything just fell into place. I binged the whole podcast in about two months and started writing my first room almost immediately after listening to the Making a room bonus episode. 

I knew I wanted to be on a guest GM season while I was still writing my first room. Immediately I felt like I found my groove and I wanted more. I was writing my second room when the idea of being lost in IKEA popped up in my head and the idea immediately felt right. 

But… I wasn’t all that sure I could do it. Making the room, sure. I’d run my first room by then and felt confident that I could make a room that wasn’t terrible. I felt like I could run something decently enough too. But going on an actual podcast felt like several lightyears out of my comfort zone. I knew it would bring a lot of anxiety and I wasn’t all that sure if I could handle it. There was a lot of stuff about it that absolutely terrified me. At the same time, I don’t like not doing things just because they give me anxiety. I spent most of my life outside of my comfort zone anyway, this would just be a little farther than anything I’d done in years. 

Nevertheless, I went for it anyway. The people around me were encouraging and the community around the podcast is so lovely. Not to mention Bill and Dani have been super helpful as well. 

I had so much fun with the whole process. Especially playtesting. Admittedly there were a LOT of errors I had to fix. I had mistakes in puzzles and mistakes in the flow of the room, but with the help of my playtesters I think I managed to fix them all. 

I really enjoyed recording it too. I knew I would be anxious, and I was, but the moment we started the anxiety was gone. It caught me off guard how much it felt like I was performing, which I hadn’t done in a long time. 

I’m already working on a next room, which promises to be very different. Not to mention the puzzles I’m designing and the skills I’m learning to make them better. 

Finally, I gotta say a quick thank you to: Bill and Dani for having me on. Georgie, Tom and Alex for playtesting. Lisa for helping me come up with the plot twist. And finally my partner for encouraging me and helping me get through the anxious parts.