Almost Bedtime Theater
A podcast by a dad, daughter, and her cousin, providing family-friendly actual plays of role-playing games, plus advice and game reviews.
Almost Bedtime Theater
Exquisite Biome: Review, Actual Play (Ep 22)
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A transcript of this episode is available via the episode page on Buzzsprout.
In this episode, we review and play the tabletop roleplaying game Exquisite Biome.
- 04:40 - Actual play
Exquisite Biome was written by Caro Aserscion with illustrations by Si F. Sweetman. It is available through itch.io and Plus One EXP.
Our intro and outro theme music are by McRoMusic, who can be found on Patreon at patreon.com/mcromusic. Their piece “Melodies of the Past” was used in this episode.
The following tracks were also used and are by Michael Ghelfi Studios https://michaelghelfistudios.com/
- Mysterious Jungle (RPG Ambiences Vol 1)
How to reach us:
- Email: AlmostBedtimeTheater@gmail.com
- Social Media Links: bio.link/AlmostBedtimeTheater
Hi, I'm Rachael
DanAnd I'm Dan, Rachael's dad
RachaelAnd this is Almost Bedtime Theater, a podcast where we play family-friendly role playing games. In this episode, we are reviewing and playing Exquisite Biome, a game about creating strange and wonderful animals.
DanExquisite Biome was written by Caro Aserscion with illustrations by Si F. Sweetman. It's 18 half-sheet pages, and it's designed to be played either as a solo game or as a GM-less game for a group.
RachaelIn this game, you draw cards from a standard playing card deck, and you use the prompts from those cards to build creatures and explore how they live.
DanAnd in addition to the base version of the game, there are five variations that are offered at the end of the book to let you play in other ways, like exploring more locations, creating creatures that are designed to meet specific requirements is another option, especially if you've got a group. So like each person then tries to make a creature that's the best at scaring off predators or the best at surviving in an urban setting, for example. Exquisite Biome is available digitally through Itch.io for $10 or you can pick up a physical copy for $19 from the Plus One EXP website. So let's talk a little bit about what we thought of the game.
RachaelOn a scale of simple, moderate, or complex, we would say it's pretty simple to play. I mean, all you're really doing is drawing cards and using the prompts from the booklet.
DanYeah. And I thought that the prompts were sufficient to really get you going. I liked the questions. I liked the little
Rachaelquestions, yeah.
DanYeah, definitely Speaking of questions, what was your favorite part of the game?
RachaelGeorge and Marcus.
DanThose are these characters that just kind of evolved doing a documentary about these animals when we were playing.
RachaelOkay. Like, actually- I liked how, like, when you switch around the cards when you're moving them, to create another animal. I was worried that since we were gonna be using, like, the same cards, I was worried they were gonna be too similar. And they were a little similar. Like, we had two apex predators. But It wasn't like you're getting basic carbon copies of everything. There were a lot of different prompts.
DanAnd I liked, just, like, even in the beginning when you use cards to come up with your biome pieces, there are combinations there that feel like they don't make sense at first glance.
RachaelMm-hmm.
DanUm, I really enjoy the part of these games where you come up with reasons to make them make sense. Especially if you're doing- Mm-hmm like, kind of a fantasy thing or something, you, you, you get a lot of leeway you can work with there. Mm-hmm. But it's, it's always just that, that aha moment when you're like, I have an idea that'll take these two concepts and actually bring them together in a way that works." Mm-hmm. And then you get these results that are stuff that you'd never come up with, or at least I don't think I would ever come up with- Yeah if I was just trying to imagine a new animal. Then it's like, "Wow, here we go."
RachaelMm-hmm.
DanI'm a big fan of that.
RachaelWhat are suggestions that you would have for somebody playing this game for the first time?
DanI was very tempted to start off by just picking concepts that I liked. It's like when we were picking out the biomes, like, oh, could we do a jungle? That sounds good. I am glad that we just worked that into what we actually pulled on the card. Mm-hmm. So I think my suggestion is go with the cards. Let it be random and see what you get. 'Cause that's a lot of fun. Do you have any suggestions for playing?
RachaelNo, I agree. I think, like you said earlier, it's fun to try and make things make sense. We came up with stuff that I never would've thought of.
DanLet it work its magic.
RachaelYeah.
DanAwesome. Next up, we usually cover any suggestions for someone who's running this game for the first time. This was us just playing it and reading it and kind of running it all at the same time the first time. Since you don't have a GM that runs it, it's just read through it. It is, a short read.
RachaelMost of it is tables
Danif you read through it once before you play, you can easily be in a place where you can, I guess, host it for a group if you wanted to. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Maybe you're not the GM, but you're just making sure everybody knows how it's played. Do you have any other thoughts about the game?
RachaelI liked playing it with somebody. It was so much more fun playing it together than it would've- been playing it by myself.
DanI agree. Uh, George and Marcus were a lot of
Rachaelfun. Yeah. And that's our review. If you would like to get in touch with us with a question, comment, or suggestion, you can email us at AlmostBedtimeTheater@gmail.com, or find our current social media links at bio.link/almostbedtimetheater.
DanAnd if you enjoy our show, please consider leaving a rating or review wherever you get your podcasts. It means a lot, and it does help other folks find us. Thank you.
RachaelAnd now, let the adventure begin.
DanDo you want like, a real world set of animals or a fantasy set of animals or sci-fi or
RachaelI wanna go more fantasy.
DanOkay. So let's kick it off. Step one, we need to establish our environment. And that means drawing cards that are going to tell us what kind of environment we're working with. Ready for the first card? Oh.
RachaelI forgot which one that is. That's a three of clovers. Clubs. It's a three of clubs. It's
Dana three of clubs. Scrub or grassland. What is
Rachaelthat?
DanI was hoping for jungle. Do we need to shuffle? I think we need to shuffle
Rachaelbroski, did you not shuffle?
DanI didn't shuffle.
RachaelOkay, there's a jack I figured we shuffled Coastline or shore. That's like a jungle.
DanThat's, yeah, like, like- That's like a jungle a jungle of the sea.
RachaelThat's seaweed.
DanThere could be seaweed in this jun- Okay, coastline or shore. I like it. Okay. Okay. I like it. Okay. Cool, cool, cool.
RachaelOkay.
DanAnd we have a heart.
RachaelOh.
DanWhich means cool No, heart. Warm and
Rachaelwet. Warm and wet. Uh, so like j- jungle.
DanIt's like a jungle
Rachaelcoastline. It's like a
Danjungle coastline. It's like an island, coastline- Yes warm, tropical.
RachaelOkay.
DanOkay.
RachaelOh. Oh, canyon or a valley. At the coastline. Wait. Hear me out. Hear me out, okay? You got the shore. You got the waters, and then, like, in the waters there's like like in the water and then it woof, and then there's a- An
Danunderwater canyon?
RachaelYeah. Ooh. Just like that.
DanSo we've got afternoon or twilight in an underwater canyon. Cool, cool. No,
Rachaelit's warm.
DanIt's a warm, wet underwater canyon. We get to just draw three cards from the deck, place them in a row, and those are our creature cards, so we'll use those to describe an animal that lives in this warm underwater canyon next to the coast.
RachaelThat is secretly a jungle.
DanYes.
RachaelI mean, nobody underwater knows it's a jungle.
DanUnless, unless they're amphibious.
RachaelWell, that's their problem.
DanThen, then they're in on the secret.
RachaelTwo of...
DanClubs
Rachaelclubs.
DanWe need three cards.
RachaelOh. King of diamonds. King of not diamonds. It's the curved diamond.
DanThe spade.
RachaelYeah. Okay
DanSweet.
RachaelOkay Two of clubs, king of diamonds, king of spades
DanOkay, so the first is our creature card general description. A two of clubs, which means we have a grain or seed eater who is a reptile or amphibian
RachaelOr
Danamphibian. They know the secret.
RachaelOkay, so it's an amphibian.
DanAn amphibian seed eater.
RachaelOkay, hear me out. Okay, again, you remember Project Hail Mary and the astrophage, and how they would, like, go one place to eat, and then they'd go somewhere else to have babies?
DanUh-huh.
RachaelWhat if this thing goes up to eat in the jungle, and then it comes back to, like, sleep and live and have babies?
DanLike an amphibian.
RachaelI genuinely forgot that's a thing You just invented amphibians i'm so smart.
DanYou're science.
RachaelThat did not cross my mind at all, and I was like-
Danour second card... Let's see. Our second card-
RachaelCamouflage or mimic. That's cool. Octopus.
DanIt's an octopus?
RachaelIt's a, it's an amphibian octopus-like thing.
DanOkay.
RachaelIt blends... 'Cause don't octopi, like,
Danthey can- Octopuses?
RachaelOkay, so these octopices
DanWhich is like an octopus and a fish. It's an octopices.
RachaelYeah.
DanWe're inventing animals. Let's do it. Mm-hmm. And then our third creature card is about its habits and personality. Sedentary lifestyle on a king of spades.
RachaelIt does not move often. And dozens, hundreds, or thousands- of this species live together. What is the collective name for this creature? Whoa. And what is enough to stir its attention?
DanThat's
Rachaelcool. So they're all just, like, sitting there, hear me out again. They, like, move as a collective- Okay like, all of them go up on land to eat at the same time, and that's, like, part of their protectiveness, and they also all, like, camouflage. They all mimicry themselves to look like another kind of animal. What if when they go out on land to eat, they all mimicry to be different parts of this, like, huge snake, so they all look like a snake moving together- Ooh to go feed.
DanThat's so awesome
RachaelAnd nobody messes with it 'cause it's a huge snake
DanIt, it's a big snake
RachaelYeah
DanWhich just happens to have lots of tiny little mouths that are eating seeds- Yeah, yeah because it's actually a whole bunch of these little octopus fish
RachaelIt's an herbivore, yeah.
DanThat is so cool. I'm envisioning, like, this 30-foot long-
RachaelYeah
Danlike, eight inches around, quote-unquote, "snake" cruising through the jungle
RachaelAnd it's really just a bunch of, like, really cute
Danlittle octopices It's all these little
Rachaeltiny
Danoctopices thousands of them-
RachaelYeah
Dangoing up to get seeds, and then swiggling their way back down into
Rachaelthe water Yeah, maybe they, like, crawl around trees to, like, reach the top of the tree Sure.
DanAnd the, the sedentary part, maybe they don't do a whole lot underwater.
RachaelMm-mm.
DanThey wear themselves out on land. But the
Rachaelwater, the water's, like, protective for them.
Dando they stay as a group underwater, or do they scatter underwater?
RachaelI want them to, like, make a huge net out of themselves-
DanOoh
Rachaelwhen they're on the water, and so, like, they're like this huge net of things.
DanIt's almost like a floating canopy of them.
RachaelYeah, a floating canopy.
DanOoh.
RachaelThe wind brings the seeds from the jungle onto the water- and then they all make these huge rafts of whatever, octopices, okay?
DanUh-huh.
RachaelAnd they, like, join together. Maybe they've got, like, claws or something they hold together, and they all just like- Tentacles. Yes, tentacles, and they all float.
DanThat's awesome.
RachaelLike, hundreds and thousands of them.
DanSo they must not get very big.
RachaelBut I'm thinking they must have some kind of shell on the back so that nothing can, like, get them from above.
DanOr the camouflage.
RachaelThey're colored to look like the sea.
DanSo they're, like, light colored underneath, so if something underneath looks up, it looks like the top of the water and the sky- Mm-hmm and they're dark on top, so if something's looking down it looks like they're part of the ocean.
RachaelMm-hmm. Okay. I don't know about the snake thing, then.
DanThe snake thing was pretty wild. I mean-
RachaelMaybe they lay their eggs, instead of on the water, they lay their eggs on the trees.
DanOh.
RachaelSo they go like a snake.
DanOkay, What is the collective noun for these creatures? 'Cause there's so many of
Rachaelthem in- Octopus.
Danwell, I mean, like, like a flock of something, or a- A
Rachaelflock of octopus.
DanA flock of octopices. I mean, they could be called all kinds of things. You can have like,
Rachaela chameleon of octopices?
DanI like that one. Excellent. All right. So now that we have answered all of those prompts associated with our cards, we get to have a scene where we get to see these animals. So we're gonna pick a lens through which we are watching this creature's life. Suggestions are, is this like a nature documentary that we're watching? Is it that we're field biologists and we've got research notes that we're documenting this with? Or is it something where it's being watched through the creature's point of view?
RachaelI like the idea of a nature documentary.
DanI really do too.
RachaelWhat if it was just you and me, and we came over here, and we're, like, freelance YouTubers or whatever, and we're d-
DanOh,
Rachaelmy goodness
Danwe're pretending to be a documentary crew
Rachaelokay. You encounter one of these octopuses in the wild.
DanHere
Rachaelwe do- No you
Dandon't. No you don't. You encounter thousands.
RachaelShut up, George.
DanThere's never just one.
RachaelGeorge, mute your microphone, George.
DanThere's not one.
RachaelGeorge!
DanOkay, nature documentary it is. There is a list of prompts here that we can get one by- I'm
Rachaelgonna draw a card.
DanA nine.
RachaelRisk and reward.
DanHmm.
RachaelHmm. Welcome everyone to planet Erf. My name is Marcus Grump, and I am your leading documentarierer in this-
DanSays who?
RachaelShut up, George. It's not your turn yet.
DanI'm George.
RachaelGeorge, shut up. I,
DanI'm George.
RachaelNo. That's Anyway, so here we will be, um, investiga- ig- in-
DanYou, you tell them, Marcus. Yeah, you tell them.
RachaelWe will be investigating the risk and reward in the life of these octopices that we have found on
DanThis island.
RachaelThis island. In a sea.
DanNext to the island.
RachaelNext to the island. Thank you, George.
DanYou're welcome.
RachaelI will- passing it over to George, who will talk about the life cycle of the, of Pisces o- birds.
DanBirds? These are not birds, Marcus. These are octopices, the most, the most extravagantly, wildly impressive creatures of this very small part of the ocean. This fascinating thing about the octopices is that thousands of them will gather together in a flotilla that we call a chameleon. And then they, they float along and they're eating all of the little seeds that Marcus has, uh, uh, that- that's me, has, has invented. I mean, discovered. Totally discovered. And then-
RachaelGet it together, George
Danwait, I'm, I'm George. Oh, no.
RachaelGeorge. I,
DanI have a-
RachaelI don't... Yeah, so I will be taking over now since George is having- There's risks George.
DanThe risk is you'll get ate.
RachaelThis is not
Danyour- You're gonna get ate the herbivores.
RachaelGeorge, take a five-minute break. Okay, so, so these... these octopices-
DanYes
Rachaeluh, they, uh, there's risk in living on the high seas by an island, and that risk is always danger-
DanAnd getting eaten
Rachaeland getting eaten.
DanOh, man, these things, they get eaten like popcorn. That's why there's thousands. Not by me. I don't eat them. I would never.
RachaelGeorge.
DanI would
Rachaelnever. Take a swim. Take a swim.
DanI'm going swimming.
RachaelSo the risk is that there's, uh, when, um, when these octopices, they come on land to, to, to eggs, and then there's, there's fake trees, man. These trees, they're actually giraffes, but here we call them gi-trees.
DanWait, wait, wait. I, I go take a swim. Now, now you have invented giraffe trees.
RachaelI no invent. I no know.
DanYou discovered.
RachaelI-
DanYou discovered the giraffe
Rachaeltrees I discovered the sh- You know what this sounds like to me? Actually, we're gonna patent the name as G- J- Jamarcus trees
DanJ- George. It r- just rolls off the tongue so much better
RachaelOkay. take a walk, George.
DanYou'll never believe what I discovered when I went and took that swim- What? out there.
RachaelWhat, George?
DanWell, let's find out. Oh. Okay.
RachaelWe gotta talk about reward first. Th- th- The reward is that they have babies
DanAnd survive.
RachaelAnd survive.
DanYes.
RachaelThat's a reward.
DanJust like popcorn.
RachaelUm, what-
DanOkay. Now-
Rachaelkind of popcorn are you eating?
DanOkay. George. George. All right. So now we shift the cards that we drew before. Like DNA transcription. The three animal cards. Yes. so now we can work through the table once more.
RachaelOh, for evolution?
DanWell, it's not the same animal evolving, although there is a version of the game that does that. This is, because we've shifted them, now we'll get completely different answers- Oh, all right on the creature tables.
RachaelOkay.
DanUm, so that we
Rachaelcan- An apex predator.
DanWe've-
RachaelThat's what eats our popcorn.
DanIt is. It's a bird or a fish, including sharks, eels, and rays, and it is an apex predator. So now the second creature card.
RachaelVivid coloration.
DanTo warn or to entice. It's an apex predator. What's it warning off?
RachaelOthers of its kind, saying, "This is mine." Ooh.
DanIs it like a, like a poison arrow frog, where it's got some splashes of black, but then there's bright blue and bright orange and bright reds and-
RachaelYes.
DanIt's not an ambush predator.
RachaelNo.
DanCause it's not sneaking up on anybody.
RachaelNo.
DanAll right. Time for the third creature card. Habits and personality, it's endangered. And it lives in groups of a dozen or more
RachaelMaybe the vivid colors, like that's what they use to have social hierarchy.
DanOh, I like that idea let's see. Endangered, this creature's species is at risk of extinction. What forces endanger its livelihood?
RachaelGeorge.
DanI am not a force of extinction for apex predators
Rachaelinvasive disease.
DanSo we've got an apex predator. It's vividly colored. It is endangered by the recent introduction of a disease. It goes around in groups of a dozen or more. What's that hierarchy like that it tracks with its coloration? Do the colors change?
RachaelMaybe as they get older it changes.
DanIt's a, it's a slow coloration shift. Mm-hmm. And then does that mean that its hierarchy, or its place in the hierarchy changes as it gets older?
RachaelMm-hmm.
DanInteresting. Now, we have not decided what kind of animal this is. Is it, like, a shark, or is it, like, an eel, or is it, like, a-
Rachaelfish? Like a big old shark, or maybe just, like, a medium-sized shark, and they, like... maybe they can see a much wider range of colors and light than the octopices can, and that means that, like, they can see differences between the octopices and the actual, like, surface of the sea?
DanWhat if they see, into temperature ranges?
RachaelOh, okay.
DanAnd so if you're going along and you look up, and all of a sudden there's this part where the water is a slightly different temperature because the octopices are- Mm-hmm making a cover there.
RachaelUnless octopices are amphibians and they're cold-blooded. Are amphibians cold-blooded, or is that just reptiles?
DanAmphibians are cold-blooded.
RachaelThat's why frogs sunbathe, right?
DanYeah. What are you gonna call it, Marcus? You gonna call it a- fish Marcus?
RachaelYou're pretty smart, George, I'll give you that.
DanIt's a Marcus fish.
RachaelI don't think that was funny. Try again, try again, try again, George.
DanNo, no, that's fine. That's fine. Try again,
RachaelGeorge.
DanYou don't think I'm funny. George. It's okay you don't think I'm funny. George. Eh. George. Nope, nope.
RachaelGeorge, no, don't leave me, George. Stay, George. Don't go on a walk, George.
DanI gotta go for a swim and find another animal.
RachaelDon't go for a swim, George.
DanSomething I can name a George.
RachaelI'll call it a
DanA George and Marcus?
RachaelA George and Marcus fish?
DanA George and Marcus fish.
RachaelYeah.
DanOkay, okay, i'm back in.
RachaelCopyrighted. Since now.
DanLet's, let's, uh, let's, let's find ourselves one more animal so we can go home. All right.
RachaelAll
Danright. Shifting the cards one more time.
RachaelOoh.
Danfirst creature card.
RachaelIt is-
DanKing of spades
Rachaelanother apex predator. You sure you did that right?
DanI did. The, we had two kings, so it-
RachaelIt's an invertebrate.
DanIt is. Like a giant squid, or an arachnid, or a mollusk. A mollusk.
RachaelIt's a huge clam.
DanA huge clam is the apex predator at the bottom of the canyon.
RachaelThe canyon is the clam.
DanOh. Okay, we gotta find out about this thing. This thing-
RachaelWatch it say there's thousands of them
Danthat's gonna be freaky. They're gonna be spread out across the entire ocean if there are.
RachaelWhat if they open up, like, 180 degrees so it's, like, all the clams make up the ca- Maybe not. Okay. Small, flat feet. This canyon has feet.
DanIt has very, very tiny feet. They are so tiny. Uh, they, they are so tiny, the, the canyon does not move. The feet were good when it was very small, and it had to get to- Yes, George a new place. Yes. And then it grew and made a canyon. Yes, George. And now it doesn't u- it doesn't use the feet.
RachaelGood job, George. We'll name this one George.
DanIt's a George gorge. Yes. It's a George gorge. All right. Third card.
RachaelGood job, George.
DanThank you. Thank you very much. Uh, third card.
RachaelHis accent.
DanThey're all over the place. Yes. They are, they have gone more places than George and Marcus. Okay. the third creature card- It's another s- king of diamonds
Rachaelsed- sedentary lifestyle.
DanObviously. I mean-
RachaelObviously.
DanObviously.
RachaelAnd it's, lives in very small groups.
DanVery small.
RachaelMaybe it's like a mom and a kid.
Danlike this one has, a parent that is part of its group, but the parent is like around the side of- Oh the island. There's another canyon.
RachaelOkay, so their groups just span much larger distances than we're used to 'cause we're smaller.
DanYeah.
RachaelOh, I mean, they must be there forever, though- Right 'cause, like, they don't move. So it's really just- Yeah. Well, it's probably, like, a mated pair 'cause their children would go off somewhere else. You know what
DanI'm realizing? What?
RachaelThey could be so old to the point where, like, one of them is underground, and it's like an underground cave- Ooh that another one that's up higher opens up to the top so that you can, like, go through one and get to the other. But, like, you don't realize it 'cause they're so big. They look like they're just caves.
DanWhoa. That's Do they periodically go clomp and close?
RachaelEarthquakes.
DanAnd the whole canyon, like, shifts closed and digests and then opens back up.
RachaelYeah.
DanUh- George Marcus, I j- I just figured out something about the- George I am feeling much less comfortable about my excursions into the George Gorge. I wanna go home.
RachaelI got you, George. Vroom. It's, they're on, like, a jet ski. They-
DanEee.
RachaelThe tank might be empty, George. Ah.
DanAh. And cut. Wow. All right. All right, so, ending the game. After you've described all three species with your creature cards- Mm-hmm oh, you can do one final scene if you want of these creatures coexisting together. Followed by a smaller chomp. Followed by a much bigger chomp. That's the story. Yeah. Okay. And then, we can end the game by thanking our fellow players. Thank you, Marcus.
RachaelThanks, George.
DanAnd, wrapping up by sharing a contribution from another player that delighted or surprised you. I was surprised by so many things. I thought that the, frame of these YouTube streamer documentarists- was really fun. Yeah.
RachaelThanks, George.
DanYou're welcome, Marcus.
RachaelGeorge Gorge. George Gorge. So we've got the Octopices copyrighted.
DanUh-huh
RachaelAnd we've got the-
DanGiraffetrees Germarcus Trees.
RachaelGer-
DanGermarcus Trees. Sorry, yes.
RachaelPatented.
DanThat was just a side project, not official.
RachaelAnd the George Gorge's-
DanYeah
Rachaelpatented.
DanAnd then also the- Patent pending apex predator that is the sharks.
RachaelMarcus Fish? The, the Marcus- George and
DanMarcus Fish?
RachaelThe Mar- George and Marcus Fish.
DanGeorge and Marcus Fish, yes. We're gonna be famous, Marcus. We're gonna be famous.
RachaelFamous, George.
DanAnd that's our show on Exquisite Biome. If it sounded like fun, remember that you can find it at Itch.io and Plus One EXP. Our intro and outro themes were created by McRoMusic. This episode also features music from Michael Ghelfi Studios. A list of specific tracks and links to their work are available in our show notes. Thanks again for listening, and have a good night.
George Gorge? George Gorge. George Gorge.