From January 5 through February 2 the Cloud Empress Winter Jam is being held on Itch.io. This jam is four weeks of module creation for the ecological scifi fantasy Cloud Empress game system. As part of this jam, Chloe Shields has just released The Belly, a district within Upsilon City- The Falling Chandelier, a cloud city location. I reached out to her over Discord DM’s to talk about her module, upcoming adventures, and her upcoming Kickstarter for The Brain Forest, a TTRPG zine.
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Columbary TTRPG: A common disclaimer in TTRPG adventures encourages game managers to borrow or remix an adventure to fit their own needs. I have always been really shy and self-conscious of altering someone else’s work, be it a game module, or a recipe. I always think: “What if changing the recipe messes up the meal?” and never “What if changing the recipe makes it better?” As you wrote The Belly for the Cloud Empress Winter Jam how did you decide what to expand on inside the universe of Cloud Empress? Are you ever nervous about fiddling with and developing another writer’s recipe or a game world?
The Belly, a city district for Cloud Empress.
Chloe Shields: The Belly was actually the product of a collaborative decision between me and a group of other Cloud Empress wardens. We run a distributed campaign together (pioneered by warden Peter, see his blog post) at a local game night where we sync the games with the real-world calendar. Naturally, as the year came to an end, we realized we needed somewhere for PCs to overwinter... Thus came the idea of creating a cloud city, with each GM contributing a district. At the time I was reading Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake, a book about fungi, so my district quickly became fungal-themed.
My approach to expanding on the world was fairly systematic. I made a list of every mention of cloud cities in official materials, and already there was so much inspiration to go off of. Central monuments, tutors bathing in chalk, house armies, ancient vapor nets... Together, we wardens picked out the aspects we were most excited about and just ran with them. I never really worried about stepping on toes, since the Cloud Empress third party guidelines are so generous. The creator, Watt, has a knack for kickstarting the imagination, and everything that followed from their little snippets of prose felt like it was mine to play with. Then again, I also don't mind if later Watt releases something that contradicts what I've made. I think the point is to be creative and have fun, and that's what I'm doing!
Columbary TTRPG: Something that I love the most about tabletop games is how many different skills they ask of you during the creative process. For The Belly you wrote, edited, did layout, and also sourced public domain illustrations (J. Augustus Knapp’s illustrations for John Uri Lloyd’s psychedelic Etidorpha (1895) were seemingly made for Cloud Empress!). When you first started playing, GMing, and making your own games, what about the game building process drew you in the most, or caught your imagination first?
A selection of illustrations by J. Augustus Knapp for John Uri Lloyd's Etidorhpa (1895)
Chloe Shields: The logistics of structuring adventure modules was immediately exciting to me, before I even realized it. When I started GMing I quickly ran out of published material, and I showed up to my next session with a hand-drawn adventure zine to use for the game. I realized this was perhaps not common behavior when the other wardens were fascinated by what I'd made! Every session I've run since I've prepared from the start as a pamphlet or zine, complete with layout, images, and a cover page.
I suppose I like this approach for two reasons. One, I simply get aesthetic pleasure from working with a well-designed adventure, even if I just made it for myself. Each adventure feels like a little piece of art. Two, working within the constraints of a layout keeps me focused during the writing stage. I like knowing that I only have so much space to describe a character, for instance.
Columbary TTRPG: You have a number of creative outlets in addition to TTRPG’s: cooking, baking, foraging and fermenting- I think these are all hobbies we both have in common. It’s nice to wander around in my imagination as I walk in the park collecting acorns in the fall or linden buds for salads and chicory for tea [and coffee] in the spring. I think it sometimes works the other way as well. Can you tell me about how your work or other hobbies influence worlds like The Belly?
Chloe Shields: It's lovely to walk through the world and see possibilities for things you could use wherever you go. I recently moved to a place with excellent autumn foraging, and was blown away by how many hazelnuts were studded throughout a local wood. I toasted them and put them on a festive salad for friends. It was great.
Chloe collecting hazelnuts in a local woods near her home in the Netherlands. Hazelnuts will ripen well even when picked green as seen here.
Anyhow, I tend to focus on the quotidian details of the worlds I'm creating (sometimes to the detriment of adding, you know, any kind of actual stakes). As I was working on The Belly, I kept thinking about how everyday people would use their fungal environment to their advantage. With no other source of matter around them, fungi would of course make up the majority of their material world. It was a lot of fun to think about.
Columbary TTRPG: As half of Gazellig Games you are in the planning stages of a Kickstarter for a TTRPG zine called The Brain Forest. What do you have planned for this project, and can you tell me a little about the other half of this collaboration?
Chloe Shields: The Brain Forest is another project born from our collaborative RPG night. My friend and fellow warden Lucas created his own independent region he called the Brain Forest, essentially a wacky pocket dimension full of colorful brain-themed flora and fauna. Since I have a background in neuroscience, he kept asking me brain-related questions as he prepared his sessions. When eventually the Brain Forest seemed ripe for becoming its own game, he asked me to work on the project with him! We're calling ourselves Gazellig Games as a play on "gezellig," a Dutch word relating to coziness and togetherness, and gazelles, which are cool animals.
A preview of The Brain Forest. Illustrations by Chloe Shields.
For The Brain Forest, the vibe to expect is one of fun exploration in a strange new world. Think Star Trek, scouting, and the colorful worlds of cartoons, all built on neuroscientific concepts without being precious about them. My most important role in the game so far is illustration, so I'm excited to stretch my art legs and get more work out there.
Columbary TTRPG: You find yourself living in the confines of The Belly, the fungal underside of a cloud city suspended in the sky. Having just completed your apprenticeship as a Pigeon-rat trainer for the sky city’s couriers you find yourself at a crossroads and rethinking your career path. With a choice between joining the risky ambitions of the sky-faring Martlets or working for a steady barter in the Sulfur Queen’s factory, where might you turn?
Chloe Shields: The Martlets are certainly making a name for themselves, but have you seen the Sulfur Queen's factory? She already owns the tip of the Belly and I don't think she's going to stop there! After all, just about everyone wants black powder, Lordlings and revolutionaries alike. Whoever wins, the Sulfur Queen comes out on top. Or, rather, bottom. Those gliders look like fun, but when the chips are down I know who's side I'd rather be on!
