Kayla Dice/MacQuarrie

@ratwave

Writer/Designer/Artist of TTRPGs (as Rat Wave Game House) "Stand-Up" Comedian Kayla MacQuarrie Podcasts with Game Soup and This is Your Lifepath Buy books: ratwave.square.site

321 Following1,514 Followers1,563 Posts

Patreon YouTube Bluesky

amateur

Is this your profile?Claim it and ratwave.dirty.social is yours.Claim profile

Kayla Dice/MacQuarrie@ratwave· Jul 9

I watched the 1986 film Love Unto Waste tonight which I really dug Chow Yun-Fat plays a character who seems like a menacingly hilarious mix of Columbo and Jose Mourinho then goes to unexpectedly deep places with that character

Inspector Lam in Love Unto Waste who, I cannot emphasise this enough, looks kinda like Mourinho.

A picture of Columbo, I'm visually demonstrating my point

Kayla Dice/MacQuarrie@ratwave· Jul 4

Woke gone mad! Benefits awarded to wheelchair using cat!?????

My family cat (Lenny, ginger) sitting in my wheelchair.

Kayla Dice/MacQuarrie@ratwave· Jul 3

sharing my new strat for not going mental at cons

Kayla Dice/MacQuarrie@ratwave· Jul 2

If your local orders through IPR tell them if you're interested in either of my collections, now in stock! I'm with the Damned and Other Games is a trilogy of tarot-powered musical games, while Out of the Fold features multiple one shot titles playable with a single deck of cards.

I'm with the Damned & Other Games back cover featuring blurbs for the title game alongside Caught in the Remix and Follow Me in the Night.

Out of the Fold & Other Games back cover.

Kayla Dice/MacQuarrie@ratwave· Jul 2

The pseudo-theatricality of the game that CJ points out here is a more important part of the text that it might appear. It's a way of tipping my hand in terms of how much of the game is about facades, imitations and presentation.

One of my favourite things about the game is its framework of a theatre play. The introduction begins with “Enter Chorus, dressed as a town crier,” and is written as an opening monologue, introducing the “cast” and foreshadowing the ending. All the examples of play are formatted like scripts, and the gameplay is strictly structured as a loop of scenes within acts, three scenes before the jousting, the tourney itself, then two scenes afterwards. All of this gives the game a unique voice that I really enjoyed reading. I played the game with some non-RPG friends and just read the intro verbatim because I think it’s perfect.

Kayla Dice/MacQuarrie@ratwave· Jun 25

Kayla Dice/MacQuarrie@ratwave· Jun 22

Described as having nice big eyes by the woman teaching me to put in contact lens

A blond woman with an undercut and peer reviewed "nice big eyes" wearing an Arsenal 23/24 away shirt.

Kayla Dice/MacQuarrie@ratwave· Jun 22

I think I summed up the push and pull relationship I have with an audience in a blog post last year (Also tbh a lot of my opinion on this formed from watching Zoë Coombs Marr's show Bossy Bottom which is online and worth checking out)

There’s a Game Soup episode where I pitch an out there idea and Chloe suggests a general audience would be lost. My reply on air is a quick “Fuck the audience”. I think I could refine the remark being honest. I do care about the audience of the game, I care about people actively engaging with my art and given that games are an artform brought to life through play that is obviously a relationship I give thought to. I don’t care about the nebulous “general audience”, the aggregate of everyone who might be even interested in something I make, the hypothetical unsolicited focus group. I don’t care about the potential customer, fuck the customer.

Kayla Dice/MacQuarrie@ratwave· Jun 18

A fun thing with Darkness and Distance is how decisions in one chapter can shift the story closer to different versions of Frankenstein. If the Scientist takes an assistant who survives the first chapter the Creature's tale starts like the 1931 film

Text Reading:
Afterbirth and Survival

If the Scientist has the Resource “Hired Assistant, Amoral”...
The first thing you know is cruelty. This hireling, the unholy midwife to your unnatural birth, beats you and keeps you chained up. Record “Whip Marks” under your Scars in the Creature’s section. Perhaps they enact the cruelty they once experienced themselves or perhaps they just see you as a beast to be tamed. It matters not, to survive you must break the chains they've encased you in and break their neck as you flee.

Your card challenge is to triumph over Strength (8).

When you have completed this challenge you make your bloody escape. Use this box to record how you killed the assistant.

Erase the “Hired Assistant, Amoral” Resource from the Scientist’s section and record as part of your Death Toll on the Creature’s section.

Kayla Dice/MacQuarrie@ratwave· Jun 17

I have written before about why I gave a possessive title to Absolute Monster, and there are reasons beyond just having the audacity

The three games with confirmed titles each felt too specific to themselves to work as titles for the overall collection. I needed something simpler that encapsulated the collection, monsters needed to be in there, and if I could indicate something about the tone that was a bonus. I feel like Absolute Monsters does that well enough, I don’t think you read that and think friendly monster.

I went with the possessive title because of an assumption I’ve made about audience tastes. On a personal level, I prefer to read a short story collection by the same author than an anthology of stories by different writers, same with poetry. I prefer albums to greatest hits compilations, I prefer a single standup doing an hour to a split bill. The assumption here is maybe lots of people have that preference, so heavily indicating that these games have the same writer is beneficial. Is it a little arrogant? Maybe, but I tend to prefer arrogance to the sense that someone doesn’t believe in their own work.

Kayla Dice/MacQuarrie@ratwave· Jun 17

Kayla Dice's Absolute Monsters is a hardback collection of storygames about monsters, by an award winning incomparable artistic voice (me). Tales of colossal behemoths, menacing supernatural predators, dangerous experiments and horrific transformations. www.kickstarter.com/projects/rat...

Frankenstein and Frankenstein's monster.

Kayla Dice/MacQuarrie@ratwave· Jun 17

Not necessarily the final logos but here's a taste of the horrors within Absolute Monsters. (The more followers the pre-launch has the quicker I work on the games) www.kickstarter.com/projects/rat...

Kayla Dice/MacQuarrie@ratwave· Jun 14

In a sense, the game is also a Frankenstein's monster

Darkness and Distance or The Triumph of a New Prometheus is a retelling of Frankenstein in the form of a roleplaying game. It is also an oral storytelling game, an asynchronous card game, a character creation game and an embedded branching interactive narrative. In playing the game you'll tell the story of a scientist, his creation, the pain they caused each other, and the explorer who bears witness to the end.

Play requires a deck of Tarot cards and the gamebook itself. Chapters cover events in the story and feature card challenges that must be completed and key choices that must be made. The decisions and consequences will influence the narrative and point to the next Chapter. Between chapters the narrative is relayed through a Storytelling Scene, with a player performing as different key characters depending on where in the gamebook they are.

Kayla Dice/MacQuarrie@ratwave· Jun 10

There's an anecdote inside about focusing the lens of the collection by identifying what wouldn't fit

With two games planned more becomes apparent about what the connections had to be. Those two games are connected by their focus rather than their mechanics so that has to be how the whole collection works. I wondered if monsters was too broad a theme but a conversation with my partner Laurie helped clarify the lens. I was idly wondering if there were any other previous titles that would also make sense to include and he suggested To Embrace a Swamp Creature, I didn't think this would work for inclusion and realising that helped focus the lens.

Our Destroyer and Fear the Taste of Blood take their monsters seriously and treat them as real threats. They aren't there to be parodied or turned into heroes. Swamp Creature's protagonists don't fit alongside these monsters. That's not to say the monsters in the collection can't be sympathetic, are inherently malevolent, or that they can't have depths of meaning, it's more about not winking at the concepts and engaging with them on their level.

Kayla Dice/MacQuarrie@ratwave· Jun 9

They're saying she's got "a lot of personality" and the rumours are true! www.chortle.co.uk/review/2026/...

That task will now fall to Kayla MacQuarrie, who brought a lot of personality to the stage. Her attitude is slightly barbed, but also authentic, which the audience could connect with. She’s upfront about the challenges of having fibromyalgia, which has now made her a wheelchair user,

Kayla Dice/MacQuarrie@ratwave· Jun 9

Are you in London next Friday? Come to The Space in the Isle of Dogs for a fab night of comedy, I'll be performing and the show will be headlined by Edinburgh comedy award winner Sam Nicoresti! space.org.uk/event/shenan...

Comedy in (The) Space
Sam Nicoresti
Tim Renkow
SFL winner: Kayla MacQuarrie

Hosted by James Dowdeswell

Friday 19th June
Door 7:30 pm. 8pm start.
Tickets from space.org.uk or on the door.

Kayla Dice/MacQuarrie@ratwave· Jun 7

Some titles moving along really well, some are in an earlier sketchier place right now but here's some hints

Kayla Dice/MacQuarrie@ratwave· Jun 5

I've given that fact away in the post even though it blows up this gag, mainly cause even if you're not interested in another UKGE post-mortem I think this blog is worth your time

“Hey Kayla, I sort of thought this was going to be a breakdown of your UKGE.” Well I never said that and you thought wrong. All the same I will talk about Gexpo some more, I said we’d go back to Birmingham after all.

Kayla Dice/MacQuarrie@ratwave· Jun 3

This isn't really a post about games. I'd say it's also the most directly personal I've been online since TDL2 flopping changed how much I felt willing to share, so I feel nervous about it. It's kinda funny tho.

“Just so I understand what I’m reading, the purpose of this blog is you bragging about how cool using a wheelchair is, complaining about access, and fishing for handouts? I’m on board by the way, I just wanna know.” I think you’re confusing the salt and pepper for the chips, my rhetorical device of a friend, but stay with me for a bit, I’ll wrap up soon.

Kayla Dice/MacQuarrie@ratwave· May 31

So long UKGE! Thanks to everyone who came by the booth! Sorry to any friends I didn't say goodbye to (I decided it was safest to start my journey home back as soon as possible) Made a sell out of The Gallant and the Virtuous and honestly a really personally satisfying con for me but now I must go!

Kayla Dice/MacQuarrie@ratwave· May 31

As it stands I have no idea how I'll transport any remaining stock back with my busted suitcase There's only one solution: swing by booth 3-128 and buy me out! Every Rat Wave paperback for a deal price of 75.99, also yo I gotta pay a deposit when I get back to London so let's not fuck around here

Kayla Dice/MacQuarrie@ratwave· May 30

H-O-T-T-R-P-G, come and buy some games from me! (3-128, UKGE, don't miss out)

Kayla Dice/MacQuarrie@ratwave· May 28

I've begun herding my stock to UKGE Travel mishap count so far is 1 errant ramp assist and 1 broken lift, I have yet to make it out of London People keep telling me how hard travelling must be for me without prompting and then ending with "at least you're going on holiday" a Falsehood

Kayla Dice/MacQuarrie@ratwave· May 23

"Lads, it's Tottenham" in a Star Trek episode title

Kayla Dice/MacQuarrie@ratwave· May 14

Me and Laurie will be at stall 3-128! Brand new to UKGE will be The Gallant and The Virtuous & I'm with the Damned and Other Games! We're actually very friendly honest

Physical copy of I'm with the Damned and Other Games.

Kayla Dice/MacQuarrie@ratwave· May 10

Have just dropped this message in my family group chat of mainly West Ham fans, except for me and my mum who both go for Arsenal

A WhatsApp message saying "I've always supported VAR"

Kayla Dice/MacQuarrie@ratwave· May 9

Not to victim blame but this balloon does feel like it's asking for trouble

A helium balloon with a dartboard design printed on it.

Kayla Dice/MacQuarrie@ratwave· May 9

Are you in or around the Dartford area today? Get yourself down to the Priory Shopping Centre where I'll be selling paperbacks and zines as part of an indie bazaar

A picture of a market stall set up with books and zines.

Kayla Dice/MacQuarrie@ratwave· May 8

A silhouette of a gorilla/dinosaur creature, the inside showing a painting of a great flood. Our Destroyer is displayed vertically along the side of the image.

Kayla Dice/MacQuarrie@ratwave· May 3

Play contestants in jousting tourneys, meeting again and again across years divided by upheaval, until a tragic death brings your game to a close. This is The Gallant and the Virtuous, now available as a physical book directly from my webstore. (ratwave.square.site/product/the-...)