Creative Chat with Andrew Gillis

“Genre is flexible in that way: genre’s like a cloud; it’s a field.”

We’re kicking off Season Two in an incredible Creative Chat with game designer (and old pal) Andrew Gillis, creator of the incredible Girl by Moonlight, a tabletop roleplaying game all about magical girls — currently in crowdfund!

I had an unmitigated blast talking with Andrew about their creator backstory, what magical girls mean to them, what’s inspiring their work right now … and some sneaky-peekies at projects currently bubbling in their brain. Here’s a teaser:

Full realness, I had the hardest time making a trailer for this episode because everything Andrew says deserves a spot in the highlight reel. Seriously, don’t sleep on this one. (And ps., you’ll definitely wanna stick around for what they hype in the shout-outs portion of the pod.)

You can grab the transcript here. Enjoy!

xx, aa

[ Teaser video transcript; dialogue playing over music bed ]

andrew gillis: I've kind of just flitted about to various things, but I've always had an interest in trying creative pursuits, and that impetus to, like, want to make stuff.

allison arth: This week on the Little Oracles podcast, a Creative Chat with game designer Andrew Gillis.

aa: I love that you're thinking of the roleplaying game as, like, this intermediary thing; that it, kind of, sits in that space of potential creativity.

ag: Yeah, it's a tool set that's not quite done yet; someone has to take it home, and run with it, and build on it.

aa: So what is it about the magical girl genre? Why magical girls?

ag: For me, the genre has always included this, kind of, like, queer relationship to it, and so expanding on that, and having this game that I’m making be about that relationship to the genre specifically. It’s not a generic magical girl game — you know, it’s Andrew’s magical girl game: my idea of, and experience of, and relationship to this genre. Genre is flexible in that way; you can’t really strictly define it, right? Genre’s like a cloud; it’s a field; you know if you’re within it, maybe, but you might also be at the fringes of it, and kind of be half in, half out.

aa: I feel like Girl by Moonlight is definitely in that space, right? Like, even though the overarching thing you can say about it is, “It’s a magical girl game,” you’re also exploring mystery, you know? Like, sleuthing.

ag: Yeah! And so, the “magical girl” thing is, like, the wedge—

aa: Right! [laughs]

ag: —that’s gonna get the game into people’s hands, and they’re gonna be like, “Oh yeah, this is a magical girl thing!,” and then they’ll be like [goofy indignant voice], “What is all this gay stuff doing in here?” [laughs]

aa: [laughs]

ag: And I’ll be like, “I got you, ha-HA!”

aa: [laughs]

ag: The genre includes this stuff, and it works; there’s synergy there that exists, and if you’re not thinking about it that way, this is gonna expand your thinking and be generative.

aa: Find Little Oracles wherever you get podcasts.