Besides philosophy, Brendan also teaches tabletop game design at his college. Sometimes he publishes his games here.
Iron Age: Council of the Clans
“Iron Age” is a political strategy game, in which players compete and co-operate with each other to build a community. The better you manage your village, and the better you manage your relations with other players, the more honour you will gain. And the more honour you gain, the better your position will be at a special democratic assembly called the Landsmoot, where one player is elected the Chieftain.
Originally designed as a teaching tool for a college course in political science, the simple rules of Iron Age allow many strategic possibilities. From the “hard power” of the army to the “soft power” of trade and culture, just about every facet of politics in the real world can be represented here – all depending on how you play!
Aeronauts and Musketeers
A&M is an early-modern swashbuckling fantasy role-play game, with an easy-to-learn system and endlessly customizable characters. Taking inspiration from Gulliver’s Travels, Baron Munchausen, Zorro, and the Three Musketeers, with A&M you can find adventure from baroque city streets, to surreal faraway islands, and everywhere in between!
A&M will be published in 2025 by Arcana Creations, in two volumes:
- The Basic Rulebook gives you everything you need to run a fast-paced swashbuckling adventure in world of greedy merchant princes, ruthless tyrant kings, and scheming religious fanatics. The innovative Wildcard system is intuitive and easy to learn; and character-creation takes mere minutes.
- The Campaign Sourcebook takes you into the world of Whisperlights, Brendan’s high fantasy novel for young-adult readers of all ages. It imagines what would happen if a fairy-tale world had a democratic revolution.
Free to play on the web!
The following games are single-player, text-based experiences which Brendan built using Twine, an open-source game design and non-linear storytelling tool. You can play all of these in your web browser, for free:
Bards of Summerland
Bards of Summerland is a text-based fantasy adventure game of fencing and bardic performance, set in the world of Brendan’s novel Whisperlights. All references to anything other than stuff from Brendan’s novels are purely coincidental, except insofar as they may entertain one Mr. Greg Currie. Play it on your browser here, for free.
Rabbit Quest
A genetically-modified group of rabbits escapes The Institute and explores the countryside, dodging predators and hunters while looking for a new home. Play it on your browser here for free.
Brendan’s Ecosystem Simulator
A simulation-game that challenges you to build a food web and a “balance of nature” with your choice of 60 different animals, birds, fish, trees, and plants. Then, you’re free to mess with it. Throw in a new predator. Pull up all the trees. Most of all, experiment! Take a guess at what might happen when you change something, and then make that change and find out what happens! Play it on your browser here for free.
Gravity Waves
Gravity Waves is a single-player, text-only space exploration RPG. You’re an independent pilot, exploring the galaxy for discovery and profit, and you’ve picked up a passenger who wants you to take her to a planet called The Aisling: a place that she knows only from hazy childhood memories, and which other passengers say might not exist at all. Play it on your browser for free.