I. Dear Reader,
There’s a spectacular bundle of games on itch.io right now. Designers from all across the world have donated their games to raise funds for organisations fighting for trans rights in Texas. It’s an absolute cornucopia of indie delights. I thought I’d take a moment to call out some of the lovely games available. There are around 400 in total so this is just the tip of an iceberg.
Pigsmoke is a comedy game of faculty in a magical university. It’s about how your job sucks but also there’s magic making it worse. I’ve been playing very serious games of late and honestly, this is more the speed I need these days.
Other comedy gems: Space Train Space Heist when you’re in the mood for a really over the top, comedy heist. Our God Is Dead where you’re clerics who are hiding the fact that… well, your god is dead.
Anothe fun premise that jumps out at me: Unincorporated is a GM-less game of petty small town drama. You create the town and then you create the petty people who are stuck there being petty to each other.
Noirlandia is from the designers behind Questlandia that serves up noir-themed mysteries in a dark, urban fantasy city. Also you put clues up on actual corkboard! In the same vein, there’s also A Dirty World, a more-noir-than-noir game based on the One Roll Engine.
Exceptionals is a game of “community, activism and kinetic eye beams” that is lovingly inspired by Xmen and all the themes that series represents at its best. You might also like Iron Edda Reforged which is a game of rising up and killing the Norse gods.
Wise Women is a PbtA game steeped in Eastern European folklore about witches who use plants to do right by their community. Space Legs is game about going to space and not colonising it. It’s really easy to not colonise space if you try!
There are tons of solo games as well including LOGAN: An Autobipgraphical Tabletop Game (where you play through the life of Logan, the designer) and Princess with a Cursed Sword (where you… well, you can guess) and Alone On A Map (map-making games rule!)
Maybe you want a duet game? Tension is a 2-3 person game where you play two people (investigator and killer) who are chasing each other back and forth… and things are going to get complicated. Romantically and in other ways probably.
Quietus is another 2-3 person game, using that small player count for an intimate, moody horror story. I’ve mentioned it before during my Forged in the Dark round-up and it remains a great game for fans of movies like The Invisible Man or Oculus.
There’s actual magazines - Wyrd Science 1 and 2, Splat 1 and 2 - but also Skill Points which features articles about using TTRPGs in education.
For OSR fans, there’s Barrow Keep: Den of Spies (what if Keep on the Borderlands was designed today?) and Planar Compass (what if you needed a nice port on the Astral Seas). There’s also 5e adventures and Pathfinder modules.
So go and support this great cause! Contribute what you can!
Yours bundled up,
Thomas
II. Media of the Week
Sharing this now classic GDC talk called ‘Failing to Fail: The Spiderweb Software Way’. I think in terms of advice on “how to be a designer”, we get a lot of advice that points you in the direction of “be incredibly successful”. This is one of those rare sources of advice that points you in another direction - a smaller, scrappier, potentially more sustainable direction.
III. Links of the Week
In Wired magazine, an interview with the CEO of Free League Publishing and the designer of The One Ring 2nd Edition about licensed games.
I stumbled a new blog this week, Waltorious Writes About Games. It has a series called Scratching That Itch which has been covering games from the Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality. This was a recent one about the game, Schema by Levi Kornelsen.
The Indie Game Reading Club writes a glowing recommendation of Fellowship 2e which is a game I’m now seriously excited about.
On Cannibal Halfling Gaming, crowdfunding round-up and a retrospective about ZineMonth with an eye on the stats that the community has collated. Very insightful analysis - some of it quite hard to swallow.
On Githyanki Diaspora, a nice quote about why Strahd is such a good villain: “Strahd works for me because he is a walking example of assholes I see all over the world and our hobby who walk around thinking that they are cursed and wronged. In our tabletop role-playing games, at least, we can roll d20’s and attempt to kick them in the teeth with our friends, sifting through their ashes when we’re done.”
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.
Itchfunding for Zine Month: Sundered Sundries is an expansion for space horror setting ALL MUST BOW featuring three abominable additions - new ancient evils, new playable species, and a nefarious NPC.
In Raccoon Sky Pirates, you play chaotic raccoons flying to a suburban house to raid it for all its stuff. Evade the Neighborhood Watch and try not to explode!
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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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Thanks for more highlights from the Trans rights bundle. I'm still finding gems there and I'm loving it. Great cause and great games.
Love your news letter. Read it every week!