The Build a Better World TTRPG Jam 2025 challenged all entrants to create something that represents a world we’d like to see, be it a game, essay, or something else entirely. While things can feel bleak here in the present, I am, at my core, an optimist.
I grew up with a deep and abiding love for Star Trek the Next Generation and the future it showed me: a future where humanity has largely moved past its need for hoarding wealth and resources, and learned how to care for itself as a whole.
In David Blandy and Daniel Locke’s Eco-Mofos, players take on the roles of Punks in a Weird-Hope, post-post-apocalypse world, where Gaia has awoken and rebelled against the damage caused to her by the hubris of humanity. The Punks must cooperate and search for a new Glade to call home after theirs is taken from them, braving a wild and strange world 200 years after it ended. Using Essence, adaptations, and a deep connection with the planet, they seek the unknown.
Eco-Mofos may come at it from a different angle than Star Trek, but the message is the same:
Together we can face anything and build toward a brighter future.
In a standard campaign, once the Punks find a Glade, the campaign comes to an end. I could not help but ask myself, “What happens after the Punks find the Glade?” I thought it would be a lot of fun to turn Eco-Mofos’ concept of exploration on its head.
From there bloomed the idea of building a settled Glade that has been at peace for a generation. Punks would still have reasons to venture away from the safety of their home and fight for what’s right, but would always have a place to come home to with friends, family, and mentors who await their return.
Thanks to the settlement building tool Mythwoven by Brett Moore , and the excellent members of the Copy/Paste Discord who lent their time and creativity, we used a community to build a thriving, welcoming home for Punks - their own Glade, Mycircleum. My hope is this document provides Eco-Mofos players with all of the weird-hope exploration and excitement of a regular campaign, with the added comfort of knowing the Punks have a home to return to, goals they can pursue, and people that care for their well-being.
This is still the dangerous and mysterious world of Eco-Mofos, just a little cozier.
Is Mycircleum a perfect place? Certainly not. What Mycircleum is, however, is a shared vision of what the Copy/Paste Discord server believes a unified, open community could be. A place where differences are not only tolerated, but celebrated. It might not always be easy or without struggle, but anything worth achieving seldom is. Keep believing. Keep hoping. Keep fighting.
Seek the Glade, my friends.
Each of these fine people set aside their time to help me entertain a very silly idea and created digital post-it notes on a Canva board for weeks. Without their time, different perspectives and creativity, this project wouldn’t exist. Thank-you for that.
Caelin Araven is the magnificent writer of fantastic modules like Deluxo Waste and the compilation Continent Kimera, both written for Eco Mofos. You can find Caelin's work on caelinaraven.itch.io, or in your mind's eye after you have read it. Their ambition is to impress and inspire you, and one of their favorite songs that inspires Caelin is Illuminate My Heart, My Darling by Yndi Halda.
Amze Emmons is chief collaborator behind [Gather Around Projects,](https://gatheraround.itch.io/#:~:text=Gather Around Projects is a,%2C zines%2C and experimental games.&text=Issues 4-6 continues to explore life in the rolling Stacks.&text=This zine looks at the starting truths in this world.&text=An adventure supplement for EcoMofos.) a small press focusing on publishing artist's books, zines, and experimental games. We are interested in the ways a publication and its distribution can form the basis for temporary community.
Things in current rotation: Simulation Swarm by Big Thief [song], The Flamethrowers by Rahcel Kushner [book], and Here by Bas Devos [movie].
Will is more jumble sale than tuned engine... Game Designer | Editor | Disability Advocate | Referee | Player | Blind | ENNIE Winner | Enthusiastic
David H. K. Jackson is a game designer and blogger based out of the Midwest. He is the author of Roguelike Megadungeon, along with various other weird and experimental games. David is interested in social ecology and science fiction. His favorite movie is Blade Runner and he is currently listening to a lot of a local Mexican radio station to help learn Spanish.