This is my first Zine Month/Zine Quest/February Crowdfunding Bonanza really being plugged into the RPG scene, and here are some projects I’m really looking forward to! If you have a project you’d like to tell me about, please reach out to horsepondmine@gmail.com! I can and will update this list as I find out about more cool ZiMo projects out there.
Zine-o-Map vs Mini-Adventure, Adventures by Jess Levine, satah, and Rhiannon Daly and maps by David Glass
I’m not usually a big dungeon-delving person, but the drafts I got to read of these nine adventures have me wanting to give them all a go. This collection has something for everyone. You have the tongue-in-cheek Zyzylix’s Challenge Dungeon, where an eccentric wizard sends the party into a dungeon after a set number of macguffins, but also the mysterious and horror-adjacent revenge tale House of Ashes. One of the biggest strengths of these dungeons is that they all feel very easy to slot into an ongoing campaign. The aptly named Prison Break could be used in any situation where the party needs to rescue an imprisoned ally, for instance.
Even groups that don’t usually go in for dungeons will find something to love here. Several of the scenarios lean far more into the social situation in the dungeon than the intricacies of the traps, monsters and treasures. One that I particularly liked from this category (it’s currently unnamed) put me in mind of Ursula K. LeGuin’s Tombs of Atuan as the party is sent to “rescue” a local guardian-priest, potentially against her wishes. I think my favorite of the entire collection is Revenge of the Hagfish Goddess, a slime-themed dungeon where the final treasure is actually just the catalyst for a whole other quest! These adventures are just the Mini-Adventure portion of Zine-o-Map vs Mini-Adventure. There are a ton more maps that don’t have adventures attached, perfect for inspiring the next leg of your #dungeon23 or filling with stories of your own. If you play a lot of dungeon-y games, or if you don’t yet but want to give them a try, you should definitely check out ZVM.
ZVM is live on Crowdfundr until February 17th.
River Spirit, by Nico MacDougall
Reading through River Spirit felt very personal to me, and not just because I grew up in a very small, forested town with an important relationship to a body of water. This solo game tasks the player with saving their hometown from a deadly drought by traveling upstream to parley with a river spirit. Prior to the journey, the player uses a series of prompts to generate features of the town, as well as histories with the various residents. These prompts are evocative to the point that I couldn’t help but answer them honestly about my own hometown as I read them. I imagine any playthrough of this game, no matter how fantastical, will have the player putting a portion of their real life into it. Which makes the final act even more heartbreaking.
River Spirit’s biggest swing comes at the very end when the player must offer parts of their memory in exchange for their town’s salvation. You literally pour water onto your journal, following a series of prompts that gave me chills when I read them. It’s not often that a solo game makes me feel like it reached out and took the reins away from me. I’m really looking forward to getting my hands on the final printed edition of this.
Update: The River Spirit has been funded and will be getting a piece of cover art. 10% of the proceeds will be going to the Anacostia Riverkeepers.
The River Spirit is live on Crowdfundr until February 28th.
Traysikel! Ride or Die!, by Rhodrick Magsino
I’ve reviewed one of Rhodrick’s games before, but this is a complete 180 from his last project. Traysikel! is a two-page action/horror adventure/game that is packed to the brim with Filipino history and culture. Each page is double sided, and they function as rules reference, map, and character sheet all at once. The player(s) must ferry a fugitive spiritual leader called a Babaylan to a spiritual site deep in the jungle aboard their tricked-out traysikel. Imperial occupying forces and mythological monsters alike will try to stop them along the way.
This adventure does an excellent job packing a ton of information into a manageable amount of space. It has just enough options that the random encounters really feel random, but not so much that any of the options feel tacked on. The whole thing is extremely intentional and feels very informed by its real-world setting. Just reading this adventure sent me on a path of researching more about Filipino folklore and history, which I think is really cool to get out of only a few pages.
Traysikel is live on Crowdfundr until March 3rd.
Last Hand, by Eric Faber
This one comes with a big disclaimer, as I am helping write for and edit the companion book of settings. Last Hand is a horror game that uses playing cards to guide players through a nightmarish scenario. The default setting is an old west town, but the It is Out There expansion will include a variety of other horror locales as well. Last Hand is written and developed by some big horror fans, and I think that shines through in the game. If you like desperate, grasping stories about people barely surviving (or dying horribly) against an unknowable threat, then Last Hand is the game for you. Eric has done some awesome work with the art as well, and the test copy images I’ve seen of the print edition look great.
Update: Last Stand was fully funded and has hit it’s first stretch goal, so the setting book It Is Out There will be getting a physical release.
Last Hand is live on Kickstarter until February 27th.
Hiria, by Peter Eijk
I don’t know a ton about Hiria yet, but as soon as I heard about it I knew I wanted to read it ASAP. Hiria sounds like a follow up to Peter’s A Visit to San Sibilia, another city-based solo game, and I’m here for it. Hiria promises to take the evocative and atmospheric city building process from San Sibilia and give it a more clearly-defined direction. You aren’t simply visiting the eternal city of Hiria, you’re there to track a quarry. San Sibilia does a great job of setting the tone while giving the player a lot of freedom, and I’m excited to see how Hiria builds on that.
Hiria is live on Kickstarter until February 28th.
Derelict Delvers, by Cezar Capacle
Derelict Delvers is a sci-fi survival game that uses a GMless dungeon crawling structure based on That Dungeon Game With The Dragons and Stuff by Igor Moreno. Each player builds a space-faring scrapper, but also takes on a section of the responsibilities traditionally reserved for the GM. The Executor is in charge of the broad strokes of the mission, but the Cartographer draws the maps, the Spawner creates the monsters, the Keeper handles loot and advancement, and more. Derelict Delvers takes place in a world besieged by an alien hivemind, but it introduces some interesting mechanical elements that complicate the “spacers good, aliens bad” dynamic.
Derelict Delvers is live on Crowdfundr until March 4th.
Strictly Between Us, by Eli Seitz and Kristen Dabney
I really don’t have a lot of experience with LARP, but this is too cool not to talk about. Strictly Between Us is a game for 4-20 people that uses blues dance as a medium for roleplaying. Players partner up and explore stories about different kinds of relationships as they actually dance together. It seems like a really fantastic game for anyone who already has a background in dance or who wants to really get outside their comfort zone when it comes to what it means to roleplay.
Strictly Between Us is live on Kickstarter until February 17th.