The Gray Matter Sodality
After Albert Einstein died, his brain was dissected and studied by scientists determined to discover the roots of the renowned physicist’s immense intelligence. They failed, and pieces of Einstein’s brain were shipped all over the world: some to academic institutions, some to private collections, some to places dark and unknown.
Through unique, physical puzzles sent to you in the mail, we tell a fictional story of The Gray Matter Sodality, an organization seeking to reclaim and unify those brain fragments.
Today I’ve launched the biggest project of my life/career: a monthly puzzle subscription with a narrative arc. I’ve spent months crafting physical puzzles and writing a story to complement those puzzles, and it’s been an absolute blast. I hope that shows through as people engage with their subscription. I feel very good about the puzzle parts but the narrative I’m a bit nervous about. Writing fiction is not something I’ve spent a lot of my life doing and yet, I’ve never felt more connected to something I’ve written than how I feel toward this project. I’ve run games of Dungeons & Dragons for years and scribbled plenty of world-building notes, but for this I literally have been carrying around a “story bible”. I’ve developed a character I’ve fallen in love with and developed a long-term narrative around him and the organization he represents. I hope that this project is successful enough to see it all play out. Here’s how you can be a HUGE help to me:
- Retweet my announcement tweet.
- Share my post on Facebook.
- If you know of anyone in the press, anyone who has an active blog or podcast about gaming/puzzles (or something along those lines) who might be interested in GMS, please connect us or give me a heads up so I can reach out: AustinAuclair [at] PatientRock.com.
- Subscribe to GMS! Or gift a subscription to someone who might like this kind of thing. In fact, use promo code AUSTIN to save 50% off ($12.50) your first month.
Thank you very much. Anything you can do to help spread the word would very much be appreciated.
The other scary thing about this whole project is just the sheer amount of logistical work there’s been; building puzzles that can be mass produced but still be interesting, figuring out the flow of monthly, progressive mailings, figuring out the finances all of this, actually ordering all the pieces of each mailing and setting up the puzzles, etc. Surely I’ll have an epic blog post for you all down the road.
This is all thanks to working for Traipse. My boss knew I’ve wanted to try this sort of thing for ages and he has too. So, off we go. Wish us luck!
