#65: Big Bad Con
I. Dear Reader,
It’s been a non-stop week from me - moved house, major work deadline, hosted my partners’ parents over diwali - and I am exhausted. So I’ll keep this short and shout out a couple kickstarters that are going on now. First, Anamnesis, a quiet journaling game of memory loss and trying to remember who you are. I did the layout for this game and the designer Sam Leigh was a pleasure to work with.
Anamnesis is a part of Sidequest, which is a grassroots crowdfunding event that includes other cool projects like Dave Thaumavore’s Fluxfall Horizon and Tanya Floaker’s Be Seeing You.
Just recovering really,
Thomas
II. Media of the Week
The panels from Big Bad Con 2021 are now up on Youtube. There were a lot of good ones! I really enjoyed The Heart of Games: Designing, Embodying and Celebrating Emotions in TTRPGs, Starting Fresh (a guide to getting off the ground with a new group), and even an announcement that Blades in the Dark is getting an expansion in a new setting book.
III. Links of the Week
Another good itch collection of free resources and tools for game designers
Why Lasers and Feelings is such a great framework for small games
How playing trans characters helped one player learn about herself
All about lyric games and how LOGAN: An Autobiographical Game is an exciting addition to the ranks
Technical Grimoire has a great tutorial on publishing with Google Docs and a little bit of HTML/CSS. The Jalopy Design series on the blog is wonderful from start to finish and I recommend it to everyone.
Anna Urbanek talks about the joys and challenges of raising more than 800K$ on Kickstarter with Exalted Funeral. Based on the math that Anna provides, it’s surprising how much of that money actually makes its way to the creator’s pockets.
Momatoes follows up on her tutorial about using Google Spreadsheets to make character sheets with one about copywriting and how it can help write and market games. Full video on her patreon but the handout is available free for everyone!
If you’re interested in the 2d20 system that powers a lot of Modiphius games including the new Dune, here’s part one of a guide to learning all about it.
There’s a new discord server for sharing and discussing the current wave of solo RPGs.
Two mutual aid / community projects that I’ve heard about:
a fantastic bundle of games to help Jan, a trans indigenous game designer and musician, who ran out of water
an initiative to fund more free copies of Affinity Publisher for game designers
IV. Small Ads
All links in the newsletter are completely based on my own interest. But to help support my work, this section contains sponsored links and advertisements. If you’d like your products to appear here, read the submission form.
The Bundle of Holding presents time-limited, bargain-priced collections of DRM-free RPG PDFs and RPG-related ebooks. Get great games and support charity.
Shanty Hunters is a TTRPG about collecting magical sea shanties in 1880! Check it out!
Meanwhile, in the subway is about mundanely extraordinary people having quirky adventures underground a surrealist city. It's a light-hearted game relying heavily on improv and absurd situations!
This newsletter is currently sponsored by the all-new, fan-supported Fate-SRD.com. Built to be fast, attractive, and accessible, check out the site for rules, downloads, actual plays, and community.
Hello, dear readers. This newsletter is written by me, Thomas Manuel. I’m half-man, half-beast, half-journalist, half-game designer.
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