Aidan Bowes

I am write short, original, affordable games designed to distract you and your friends for an evening of merriment if not gut-aching silliness. Each game is unique: it's own theme and mood; and mechanics designed to maintain these. But each of them can be run in an evening, normally over 2-3 hours.

Some of the games

• The Queue: largely diceless story game 
  • The ritual of queuing taken to extremes. Players can choose how real or surreal it feels in game.
  • Three pages. 1-6 players. 
  • Suggested: benefits from some experience.
• Mighty Scout Leaders: Magical Girl game 
  • What if adults with responsibilities were picked to be heroes?
  • 22 pages, including 10 pages of playbooks. 2-5 players and a Story Guide.  
  • Suggested: benefits from some experience.
• The Furgatives: Action Comedy
  • Cartoon rabbits on the run in a big city. A Dash! game about running.
  • 6 pages. 1-any players and a Story Guide.
  • Suggested: age 13+
• Quest for El Donato: A dark comedy and world building 
  • Debate fictional religious philosophy on a grizzly journey.
  • 2 pages. 3-5 players.
  • Age 16+
•  Jump Wizards: silly/surreal game of narrative combat
  • 8 pages. 2-5 players.
  • Suggested: age 10+
• Bad Spaceships: World building. 
  • 8 spacious pages. 1-10 players.
  • All ages.

• Werepenguin Field Trip: A cozy adventure game. 
  • Play as animals who can turn into penguins (deliberately or accidentally) who need to catch up with some students.
  • 7 pages. 3-6 animals and a Story Guide.
  • All ages.

• Unnamed Fairy Princess Game:  the coziest adventure.
  • My favourite game here.
  • Be a strong fairy princess who has the power of wish fulfilment, then deal with whatever problems come from doing so. Or are you just children playing fairy princesses?
  • 4 pages. 2-5 players and optional Story Guide
  • All ages
• The Horror Trap: Dark comedy
  • My second favourite game
  • Essentially, you are the villager from The Wicker Man, seeking to sacrifice a hapless stranger in an overly complicated way.
  • 6 pages. 2-5 players and a Story Guide
  • 18+
• Spaceship Horizon: A Comedy of Ignorance
  • Gosford Park in space! There's a murder but no murderer, only accusation and hijinks.
  • 6 pages. 3-6 players and a Story Guide
  • Age 16+

Who am I?

I am Aidan Bowes, a serial designer who finally got around to publishing.

I am most well-known for designing fan sets for the werewolf card game Rage for 10 years. Working in a collaborative team, the sets were fully designed, playtested, illustrated and published. In particular, I led the tightly designed Call of the Sea sets. I am occasionally known for my championing of werepenguins.

I have been finding creative outlets all my life, and I am a massive rules geek. My quest is for the perfect, elegant system. In the meantime, I write silly games that make my friends and I laugh.