My play-by-mail story game Let Loose the Lilac Mammoths! is available now on my itch.io page! (exclamation mark!)

I wrote it as part of the Step Up For the Postal Service game jam, organized with the news that the United States Postal Service is facing bankruptcy under the Covid-19 pandemic. I very briefly worked as a mail carrier for the USPS, and while it was undeniably one of the worst periods of my life (due to the way the postal service is purposefully mismanaged by a government that is hostile to basic and vital public services), I still believe in the importance of the post office. So the minute I saw Ken Davidson’s tweet about his game jam, I knew I would have to make something for it.

One of my favorite books is David Brin’s The Postman (there’s a theme emerging here). I don’t want to spoil the book, but one of the scenes that sticks with me from it is early on when Gordon finds the postal truck and the mail carrier’s skeleton inside. As he goes through the mail, he realizes its not mail from before the apocalypse, like he initially thinks, but post from the post-apocalypse. Bend, Oregon, and Gilchrist had been desperately writing to each other, finding out each other’s needs and providing each other help. This scene was so powerful to me, and I wanted to focus my game on this sort of mutual aid mail organizing. With a fun fantasy veneer and some prehistoric fauna, of course, as well as some tables you can roll on!

Check out Let Loose the Lilac Mammoths!, as well as all the great entries for the Step Up For the Postal Service game jam. There is a price tag on my game, if you would like to support me and my work, but I know this is also a rough time for many people, so there are community copies available for free at the bottom of the page.