Cassi Mothwin | @Lorem ipsum
she/her
We are so excited to bring you our interview with Cassi Mothwin. Cassi is an award winning and best selling TTRPG designer. We were lucky enough to speak to Cassi about her brand new game, Tangled Blessings, a solo or two-player magical horror school game launches on Crowdfundr February 1st!
We are so looking forward to your new game, Tangled Blessings! What were your inspirations when creating this game?
I’ve always loved the idea of college, of getting lost in my studies while hiding away in a library nook. The real experience was a large departure from the idyllic scenes I let playout in my head, but even now, six years removed, I can’t help but romanticize some of those moments. Sneaking around on campus, late night reading sessions in the common room, finally understanding something and reveling in that pleasure… It’s a community aspect that is a blip in many of our lives that we’ll never experience again. Drizzle dark magic on top of that, and you have Tangled Blessings.
We love the idea of a tarot card based system. What drew you to this mechanic?
Tangled Blessings uses the system created by Sam Leigh. Sam started a jam for their game Anamnesis in November, an event where folks were encouraged to create anything inspired by Anamnesis. Sam’s game uses tarot cards, and I had this idea for a magic school solo game churning in the back of my mind. Magic school + tarot cards just seemed like the perfect match.
What will Crowdfundr mean for your work as a TTRPG designer?
Crowdfundr is my first attempt at crowdfunding. Because Crowdfunder is new to the TTRPG space, they are going above and beyond to help promote projects and answer questions. I don’t think I’d get that kind of guidance with an alternate funding service. I feel more confident with this project because there is always someone I can ask for help, and I know they’ll reply.
With the surge of interest in D&D and other TTRPGs in recent time, what effect do you think this could have on the community and industry?
People are already having friendly debates on what a tabletop RPG is versus a board game versus playing pretend. We’ll see these conversations spring up even more with complicated answers. Can painting be a tabletop RPG? What about sharing food? I think we’ll see more interesting uses of tools as well. Dice and tokens are cool, sure, but what about a tabletop RPG that requires paperclips?
With the recent news on D&D's OGL, what could this mean for independent TTRPG creators?
This is a big question with a lot of answers. My one dream is that it means more accessibility is built into lesser-known TTRPGs. I know we all love our beautiful PDFs, but I hope the skillset that went into making D&D usable for some (phone apps, multiple digital versions, character builders, etc.) will roll into smaller games that aren’t part of corporations so we have the opportunity to include more people at our tables.
Thank you so much to Cassi for speaking to us and giving us the inside scoop on Tangled Blessings! Make sure you check out this new game, and give Cassi a follow for all the news and updates.
Image description:
Cassi is smiling as she takes a selfie. She has long, wavy brown hair, with purple tips. She is wearing a black top, black headphones and a purple beanie with a white moth embroidery. Behind Cassi is a purple lit room with fairy lights on the wall.
