Lexinomicon

Lexinomicon - VF - Détail.

Although I have worked in the publishing industry and I know that a book is a product like any other, I still have some reverence for the physical object. The Lexinomicon, a one-page RPG by Grant Howitt and Becky Annison, lets us desacrate said object once and for all.

What’s the goal, you say? To reveal the truths and entities hidden behind the words by doing all sorts of things to a paperback: blacking out some words, cutting out some others, introducing new characters in the margins themselves, burning and other unholy treatments. Translating it was very fun: recreating the layout was tricky (the original having been scissored & glued together), but the main challenge was to render the vaguely ominous tone of the English version.

Disclaimer: I had lots of fun translating this, but I still haven’t brought myself to play it… Maybe you’ll be braver than I have been! You will find my French translation here and the original there.