The Gaming Shelf Gears Up for an Anti-Capitalist Apocalypse
It feels like the last month of gaming news has been a whole decade. Remember the OGL 1.1? That happened less than three weeks ago! For those of you who don’t pay attention to Dungeons & Dragons (teach me your ways), you can check out our explainer here. Otherwise, here’s some incredible games as we gear up for Zine Month—a whole 28 days of indie RPG crowdfunding that will surely drive me mad and empty my wallet.
Latest Releases: Apocalypse Frame, Wayfarer’s Deck, A Pinch of Magic, The Fear Bundle
“APOCALYPSE FRAME uses the LUMEN game engine, expanding upon that formula to make a tactical mecha roleplaying game influenced heavily by Armored Core, Xenoblade Chronicles X, Battletech, and XCOM. In a ruined and terraformed world where most of humanity is under the yoke of a brutal regime, the former workers of a once-remote factory—now known as the Collective—have risen up to create a future of freedom from oppression.”
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“Neon Nights is a system-agnostic and cyberpunk-themed deck of runner hangouts, shady bars, gang turfs, and badly lit street corners ready to use in your tabletop RPG of choice. Across 50 illustrated tarot-sized cards, you’ll find suspicious dealers, undercover cops, well-guarded soup kitchens, and more.”
“A Pinch Of Magic is a lighthearted prompt-based set of one-page RPGs about many witchy things. It can be played by 1-4 players. This anthology series contains the basic rules to get you started along with 10 One Page RPGs centered around the witches you create.”
“The Fear Bundle is collection of indie tabletop RPG supplements from some of the most creative indie RPG designers, both veterans and first-time authors. We’re talking about 11 supplements, packaged in a beautiful black folder. The bundle modular structure allows you to build your own gaming experience and play for weeks, both group and solo games: survive in a city ravaged by Kaijus, run for your life in a zombie-infested world, fight your way out of corporate horror, get through a suburban nightmare, fight, and much more horrific adventures.”
Crowdfunding: The Fifth Season, Lichoma, The Search for Lost Species, Kobolds Ate My Baby, Vast Grimm
“The Fifth Season Roleplaying Game is designed for you to play out adventures and stories set in the world described in the Broken Earth trilogy of novels by N.K. Jemisin—a world where constant and unstable tectonic and volcanic activity threaten all life; a world whose peoples have learned to adapt in order to survive. It is a world where everyone learns that Father Earth hates his children and is always trying to kill them, where metal rusts and even stone crumbles, and the best you can do is be prepared for the next disaster. In the world of the Broken Earth, community—the comm—is everything, because in community there is support and a chance to persevere.”
“Lichoma is a political, dystopian RPG defined by ecological collapse, social strife, and body-based economics and technology. Character concepts and abilities are based on their cards but are otherwise freeform and interpretive, not bound hard and fast by classes or mechanics. This creative aspect is complemented by an intuitive, streamlined system. The core rules fit on a single card and include fast procedures for non-combat Challenges and violent Conflicts. Additional, optional rules allow groups to add more depth and nuance to fit their preferred play style.”
“The Search for Lost Species takes the deductive gameplay of Search for Planet X to a more terrestrial plane, delving into isolated parts of Indonesia and Papua New Guinea in search of animals believed by many to be extinct. Renegade partnered with Re:wild, a real life organization that is actively searching for Lost Species in our world.”
“The cult classic Kobolds Ate My Baby returns with a new edition powered by polymorph. It’s faster, easier, and funnier than ever! All Hail King Torg!”
“Vast Grimm is a stand-alone, art-filled, punk-fueled OSR role-playing game about the few humans remaining in a universe being consumed by growing parasitic würms. This is a game about survival, no matter how gruesome things get, humanity must survive.”
In Other News
MÖRK BORG opened pre-orders for Ikhon, a heretic-based OSR module based on the original game.
Join the Party’s third campaign, The Rising Tide, brought to you by Multitude and DM’d by Eric Silver, will run on Tuesdays from January 31 until February 21; story episodes begin on Tuesday, February 28th.
Solo but Not Alone, a TTRPG charity bundle, is back with all funds going to Jasper’s Game Day, a TTRPG-based suicide prevention charity.
Acheron Games, Studio Agate, and Uhrwerk Verlag have announced the creation of the European RPG Studios Union.
Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
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