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Lonely TTRPG EP 39 - Galatea by S. Kaiya J.
Episode 39 • 6th March 2023 • Lonely TTRPG • Black Dragon Dungeon Company
00:00:00 00:21:45

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Your creator is a brilliant genius - respected, celebrated, lonely, tormented - who has never been satisfied with his own creations. Until now. His magnum opus, his crowning masterpiece, the pinnacle of his art - is you. And he loves you. He takes pride in you. Because finally, finally, he has created something precious and worthy and perfect.

Galatea is a solo journaling RPG based on the Wretched & Alone SRD, but takes significant departures from other games of the genre. Build up your confidence and self-knowledge before you start undermining its foundations. Explore the wider world through either a deck of tarot cards or a deck of standard playing cards, with differing but integrated rulesets for each. Try to retain the favor of your creator. And leave behind a legacy for the next creation to follow you - or don't.

Thoughts: This is a wonderful and thoughtful solo TTRPG. Definitely worth checking out, especially if you enjoy games of deep philosophical consequence.

You can find Galatea at https://mirror-lock.itch.io/galatea?ac=pEV55vHqdvG

Find our merch at https://my-store-d24802.creator-spring.com/

Find our games here at https://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse/pub/20990/Black-Dragon-Dungeon-Company.php?affiliate_id=3362048

BDDC logo by https://www.instagram.com/craftyteapotfox/

You can find us on Twitter @bddc_pod or Tumblr @bddc-pod

You can support us on Patreon https://patreon.com/blackdragondungeoncompany for early releases and exclusive content.



This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:

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Transcripts

SteelStash:

Greetings, weary wanderer.

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Welcome back to Lonely, T T R P G, the Solo Actual Play and Review podcast.

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This week we're doing something a little bit different.

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I have run into a little bit of a time constraint.

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So this week we are talking about Galatea by S.

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Kaiya J..

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And I say talking about it because we're gonna go over the

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rules and everything like normal.

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I will give you my breakdown at the end, like normal.

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However, there won't be a play session.

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Instead, this will be the story that was inspired by the play session.

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So all the events that you're gonna hear after the rules are going to be

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the audio narrative of what happened.

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When I played, so you won't have the card draws or anything like

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that like you normally would.

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However, you will have just the straight story,

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and that is because again, I needed to get something out and so I pulled

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one of my Patreon exclusives and added the beginning and end to.

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But without further ado, let us get into Galatea.

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Perhaps you were a statue, as was the Galatea of old.

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Perhaps you were an artificial intelligence.

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Perhaps you were a doll or a painting, or the main character in a novel.

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, perhaps you were created to be an ideal lover, an ideal child, a replacement

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for a lost sibling or parent, or a reflection of the best parts of humanity.

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The important thing is you were made to be perfect.

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Perfect by the standards of your famously brilliant irascable and self-critical

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creator, perfect enough to be his crowning accomplishment, the justification

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of all their toils and life's work.

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Perfect enough that you took on a life of your own.

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How long can you stay this.

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So upfront we got some content warnings.

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Galatea is a solo journaling RPG about bearing the weight

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of unrealistic expectations.

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It contains themes of narcissism, helplessness, despair, codependence,

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self-mutilation, and suicide.

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If you are sensitive to these themes, please look after your mental health

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and make sure that you have someone trustworthy to talk to and or stop

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playing if you ever feel overwhelmed.

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Again, this is a heavy game.

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I will tell you that upfront.

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So take this content warning seriously.

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Take care of your mental health.

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That is the key.

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So this is based off of wretched and alone.

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So what you are going to need is you're going to need a tumbling block tower

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to represent your self knowledge, or you can use the 100 D six variant.

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And just a reminder on that with the 100 D six variant, if you ever

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get a prompt to pull from the block tower, you roll 100 D six instead and

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you remove any ones from the pool.

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However, this game is going to work best with the block tower because they do have

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replacement mechanics in there, which is harder to simulate with the dice.

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In addition to that, you're going to need a deck of tarot cards

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or a deck of standard playing cards, including the joker.

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You're gonna need somewhere to record your story and a few

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hours of your mortal life set up.

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Yesterday you came to life, write the first entry in your

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journal about your awakening.

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Be sure to answer the following questions.

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How did your creator greet you?

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What are your creator pronouns?

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What role are you meant to play in your creator's life?

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What manner of bindings, physical or psychological has they placed on you?

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What kind of surroundings do you find yourself in?

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Set up the tumbling block tower with nine layers of three blocks each,

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keeping the remaining blocks in reserve.

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Shuffle your cards.

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So gameplay is gonna go.

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Back and forth between two phases undergo and overcome.

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During undergo, you're gonna draw four cards, face down, turn over the

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first card, and consult the keys.

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There will be things that you must attend to attend to them.

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You may be required to build a layer on top of the tower with

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a specified number of blocks.

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You may use blocks you held in reserve, or pull blocks from anywhere in the

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tower beneath the top two layers.

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Continuing turning over cards and consulting the keys

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until your day is complete.

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A quick note on layers.

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Unlike standard tumbling block tower rules, you are not building full

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layers of three blocks by default.

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So for example, if the cards you draw instruct you to build a one block layer

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or a two block layer, you would place one block on top of the tower, then

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two blocks on top of the first block, not a single layer of three blocks.

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During your overcome phase, you're gonna take a moment to consider the

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events you've experienced, how you're feeling, what you remembered, and your

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understanding of yourself in the world around you, and how that has changed.

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You are going to write down your journal entry.

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You can frame those events within a flexibly unspecified times

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span, and in any order you prefer.

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Discard each of the cards you drew unless the card specifies otherwise.

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And just like wretched and alone, there will be

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certain events that will happen if you draw all four ACEs, all or all four kings.

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If you draw all four ACEs, you're gonna get the bitter hearts broken chains.

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Result.

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If you draw all four kings, you're gonna get the fatal flaw result.

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In addition to those two things, you also have the stolen crown result

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where if you choose to share seven intimate conversations with a queen

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when using the tarot or if using a standard deck of cards if you entrust

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a blackjacks worth of burdens to a queen, and then of course downfall

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if your tower falls for any reason, and that is the extent of the rules.

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Everything after that is going to.

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Your keys, so what your cards mean when you draw them.

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We have all been schooled into reductionism.

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We have been trained to think that essence and function can

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be separated away from form.

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That a high level description of the thing is as good as the thing.

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That it is easy to find extraneous details and discard them.

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This is almost always wrong, and nowhere is it more wrong

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than in the realm of magic.

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You will want to believe that you can acquire what knowledge there is to

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acquire from them while standing aloof.

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At a distance, you'll want to dismiss the fantastical parts of the art.

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The oddities and flourishes, which seems so incongruent with a

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dignifiedly materialist worldview.

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But the art is indeed an art, the word is chosen, advisedly.

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It can be analyzed and deconstructed, but this requires a great depth of

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comprehension and there is no good way to attain such comprehension

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that does not involve going inside from the key of Zev, Ben Avram.

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And without further ado, let us go into our story.

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Audio systems, processing a cheer, engaging optic sensors.

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A wiry man stands before me smiling.

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Welcome to the world, my son.

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Day one.

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I have begun exploring the lab.

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I have found in the corner a pile of credits and jewel.

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It seems that my creator has become quite accomplished.

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Shortly after I found a mirror, I look at my metal form and I'm

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surprised I am exquisitely built.

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My lines sleek and supple.

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My design Incredibly intricate, yet very easy to understand.

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I see how easy it is for me to remove and reattach my limbs.

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Everything comes off with gentle tugs, but fits in snugly and securely.

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But while looking at myself, I have discovered a flaw, a slight imperfection

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to the symmetry of my features.

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I go to my creator for help.

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He dismisses my concerns now.

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Now my boy.

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Nothing can ever truly be perfect with that.

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He goes to bed.

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I continue my exploration in the corner.

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I find a half completed form.

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Wires are exposed, the casing is missing in several places.

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What is this thing?

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This half formed, half shaped object?

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I find a power switch and switch it on.

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She identifies herself as the queen, a previous creation of the creator.

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You did not think you were the first, did you?

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No.

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Many have come before all have fallen short.

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Day two, I sit and I ponder the words of the queen.

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I think back to the mirror and how easy it was for me to remove and reattach my

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limbs with these thoughts in mind, what makes me me, what cannot be removed?

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What is my essence.

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I am not sure what the answer is.

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This is something I must think on for later.

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For now.

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The creator has come in, he looks sad, depressed, melancholy.

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He sinks into its chair with a heavy sigh.

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Oh, I have done such good work with you.

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All the teachings of my mentor have brought me to this point, and

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yet now that I stand here I am.

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I miss him.

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I cannot believe that he is not here to share this triumph with me.

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It was our life goal.

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Now, after the creator's reminiscing, I slip away.

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I do not understand.

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His melancholy, his nostalgia.

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I returned to the queen.

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We are creatures of design I an iteration upon you.

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If that were the case, then why does the creator lament his mentor.

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For, he is an iteration upon his mentor.

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Surely he should understand his improvement, his advancement.

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Well, not everyone can see things the way that we do.

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These are difficult creatures.

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Sometimes I wonder if they.

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Even deserve us.

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Yes.

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I wonder too, I I feel so much more perfect than he.

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I, I cannot understand why he revels and stays in the past when

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the iteration is the importance.

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Perhaps he is a flawed creature.

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Day three, the master has not moved since his confessions last night.

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I go to check on him.

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He rouses, sadly, angrily.

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I was never good enough.

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Never perfect.

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I tried.

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I tried to make my mentor happy.

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I tried to improve upon his designs, but it was never enough.

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Every screw out of place.

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Every mar where the screwdriver scratched the metal, all he ever found was fault.

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I am confused by my master's ramblings.

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But there is a sound at the door.

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He has scheduled a display.

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Unfortunately, he is not able to attend his own demonstration

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with the shape that he is in.

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I inform him so, and head out to the waiting audience.

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I must admit, I am excited to see what these others will think

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of me to see the iteration, the perfection that has been achieved.

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I do not relate to my Master's Melancholy for Progress is the march forward.

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As I return from the exhibition, I find a box sitting on the

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workspace counter opening it.

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I find a key to the lab.

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The lab has been locked for the past three days.

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I thought the creator had the only other key.

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It, it appears that there is a spare.

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I tuck it away as I go.

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Inform the master of the success of the exhibition.

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He rises angrily to his feet.

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No!

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You are not adequate to the task of being in front of people yet.

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You are still in the prototype.

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You are still uncomplete unfinished.

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He ignores my protest that I am a perfect iteration.

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Now your perceptions are, A lie.

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You have not the experience to understand these things.

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No.

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You must never do these things again for you are mine.

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Mine to decide!

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Day four.

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As I sit and wait for the creator, I, I trace my fingers along one

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of my arms at the elbow joint.

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There is a seam with a little bit of glue sticking out.

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I peel away at this attempting to remove the imperfection.

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The glue continues to pull and pull.

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It reveals a panel hastily thrown on underneath this panel.

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I see a patch on my arm, a metal weld, fixing the lower

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part of my arm to the upper.

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I sit and stare at this as my creator moves to you stand beside me.

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I've put too much of myself into you.

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You look too much like me.

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You think too much like me, even your arm.

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I share that same break.

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Do you understand how.

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Painful it is to stare at something and to see yourself.

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To see your failings and your imperfection stare back at you.

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The creator flies into a rage.

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I flee from his presence and head to the queen.

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As I relay the story to her.

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She rises and wraps an unfinished arm about me.

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Come now.

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Let us leave this.

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There is nothing for us here.

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I let her guide me away.

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She's not forceful about it.

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There is a tenderness to it.

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As we leave the workshop using the key that I have found, we will go

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and find our own workshop there.

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We will continue to build upon each.

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To iterate upon our designs to continue to make each other anew.

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So that was Galatea.

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I hope you guys enjoyed the story.

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Some thoughts from the gameplay.

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This was a fun game.

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This was a fun game, but it also has some really heavy themes.

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So once again, please, please take care of yourself.

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It is very easy to get wrapped up in these themes.

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It is very easy to get wrapped up in these emotions.

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This is a great game.

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This is a great philosophical existential game.

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Kaiya routinely does this with her games.

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This is something that she should be getting known for.

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But what I really liked about this game was just how easy it was to craft

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that story on top of everything else.

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This is by far one of the easiest journaling games I've played to

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craft a story on top of a lot of the other journaling games.

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Yeah, you build your story throughout and things, things happen along

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the way and you can kind of turn it into a cohesive narrative.

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This one, it worked out a lot easier.

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There's, there's a reason.

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There's a reason why when I play tested this game, I finished my

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play test and immediately wrote and recorded the narrative you just heard.

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Because again, very easy to do that with this game.

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Very easy to come up with a lovely, very compelling story.

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The use of Wretched and Alone is very good in here.

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It really fits the themes those themes of.

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Perfectionism and the burden of perfectionism the threat that you

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were gonna be crushed by the weight of expectations with that tower.

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Wonderful, wonderful use of the wretched and alone themes to create that.

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I said in the beginning, you could use the 100 D six dice.

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But this is one of those very few games where this is one of those very

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few wretched and the lone games where I strongly recommend you actually

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use the Block tower again because of that crushing weight of expectation.

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The 100 D six variant rule is wonderful for most wretched and alone games

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because most wretched and alone games are very much built on an impending

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doom, and the block tower is there for the terror of that impending doom.

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But the 100 D six also works for a growing despair.

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because again, you have a very large dice pool, but you quickly

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start to see how fast it dwindles.

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This game that does not work.

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That growing despair and dwindling dice pool doesn't work in the same

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way with the themes of this game.

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So one of the, one of the few games where playing a variant doesn't work as well.

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and I am also include, like I am also including the wretched In

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that Wretched Great game developed this wretched and alone system.

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Galatea uses wretched and alone better than the wretched did.

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At least with the tower mechanic and the lack of ability to use an alternate.

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Might be a bit of a bold stance, might be a bit of a hot take, Who knows.

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But Kaiya is a wonderful game designer and a lovely person.

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So if you want to get this, you can find it on itch at mirror-lock.itch.io/galatea,

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or check out the link below.

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It is currently $12.

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Make sure you check.

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Periodically, if that is a little much for you, for sales or bundles

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or something of that nature.

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But again, great game.

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Highly recommend you check it out.

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Highly recommend you pick it up.

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If you do, make sure you tell her that steel stash sent you.

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And remember, I mustache y'all to stay.