This month sees the start of a lot more zine-length books. That and taking part in industrial action meant some nice times of reading RPGs after being on the picket line.

Zombie World

By Brendan Conway & Magpie Games

Read before? Yes

Played? Yes

I love Powered by the Apocalypse games, especially when people do different things with it. The Bakers who kicked it all off are normally the best for that, but here we’ve got another interesting usage.

Zombie World is a card-based PbtA game, contained within a small box. You quickly create a character with their past, present and trauma all taken from drawn cards. The present is the only one that’s face up and the others can be revealed when dramatically relevant. The group then have a couple of cards to pass around, determining the community and a few more introducing NPCs.

Finally, you have cards which determine the initial lack the community has, the reason you’d go out into the wild and risk zombie attacks. This is a world after the dead have risen and where people are clustered in small communities in places like farms, malls and more.

For actions, there’s a deck of cards which you draw a number of based on your relevant ability. There are misses, hits, partial hits and critical successes. There’s also a ‘bite’ deck, for when you make moves involving groups of the undead. A single zombie isn’t much of a challenge, but they get a lot worse when there are a number of them. The regular challenge deck is shuffled after each check (a reason I sleeved my copy) and the bite deck is only shuffled when someone draws the one ‘bitten’ card. That way, someone’s going to get bitten at some point. 

The game’s primarily for one-shots and while the book’s tiny, the cards really make the game. The art is black, white and red, evoking The Walking Dead and helping to establish who people are. I’ve run it four times and had very different experiences with each game. Yes, zombies are passé, but this is one of the absolute best zombie RPGs out there.

Something is Wrong Here

By Kira Magrann & Cyborg Serpent

Read before? Yes

Played? No

This is an odd one to work out things like a page count for. It’s a deck of cards with a few of them covering the rules. It’s a parlour LARP and one which asks the facilitator to have a full-length mirror. Luckily I have one of those, but I don’t know how many players I can enlist to play this.

The game’s based on Twin Peaks, specifically the stranger side of it, the lodges and so on. Each player has a role and as the game goes on, they’ll interact with each other and with a strange box we won’t open but we’ll wonder about the contents of. Each player also looks in the mirror and confronts another self, a dark parallel played by someone else when they speak to us.

It’s one of those parlour LARPs which feels quite specific in what it needs and looks fascinating. I don’t know when I’ll be able to run it, but if I do, at least I have a full-length mirror for it.

Codex Zine Volume One

By Gauntlet Publishing

Read before? Yes, in Zine Form

Played? Played some

I’ve been a fan of The Gauntlet since I first saw mention of them on Google Plus. I remember listening to the first episodes of their podcast and thinking they sounded a bit confrontational about some games, but incredible with their knowledge of RPGs, both the mechanics and the social side of things. As time went on, I fell in love with their various podcasts and games. When they started a Patreon, I was there right away, and here they collected the first issues of their zine. It remains the one Gauntlet Publishing book I don’t have a physical copy of.

Early in its history, Codex had a lot of supplements for published RPGs, especially Dungeon World. These issues show the start of their unique games, but stop before they introduce Trophy Dark to the world.

• Blood – A location for Urban Shadows, some Dungeon World content
• Chrome – A Sprawl campaign starter, science fantasy items for Dungeon World
• Ectoplasm – A Monster of the Week mystery, a Sprawl playbook, some Dungeon World items
• Starlight – A Malandros campaign starter, a Lovecraftesque scenario in space (the first Lovecraftesque game I ever played!). Of note here is “The Temple of the Peerless Star” for Dungeon World, which would get heavily reworked for Trophy Gold
• Darkness – Called (a self-contained nanogame about encouraging a possession), a Final Girl scenario, Pizza Time! for Lovecraftesque, a 6D6 superhero scenario
• Love – Some setting material for Lady Blackbird, a deity and campaign starter for Dungeon World,
• Yellow – The Society for Vegan Sorcerers (a self-contained RPG), a Dungeon World campaign starter & campaign elements, a Cheat Your Own Adventure scenario
• Iron – An OSR adventure about dwarves, Wind on the Path (a self-contained RPG about duels to play at conventions), Dwarven shrines for Dungeon World
• Madness – A city for Dungeon World, Rituals (a PbtA game about living with OCD), The Madness of Cú Chulainn (a two-player story game), a Cheat Your Own Adventure scenario
• Time – Timegasm (an RPG about time travel and the legal problems arising from it), Reset (a two player Memento-inspired RPG), Turning (a tool for time shifts in RPGs), Overlooked (an RPG made to play with Turning), a Dungeon World campaign starter
• Neon – Tonight Only! (An RPG about battling bands), a campaign frame for The Veil, Mechanical Oryx, Route Clearance & Memories (the 200 Word RPG challenge winners for 2017)
• Crystal – Heroes and Crystal Kingdoms (an Indie Hack RPG), Dungeon World elements, a supplement and a knightly order, Keepers of Antarra (a story game),
• Joy – Bunk Beds (a LARP), So You’re Becoming a Dragon (a how to guide), an Apocalypse World playbook inspired by Babymetal, some Dungeon World celebrations and the first ‘Gauntlet Daddy’ pinup
• Discern Realities Annual – This was just Dungeon World material and I’ve used a ton of it in DW and Quest over the years.

It’s really interesting seeing how far The Gauntlet has gone from this era. There are some concepts which have persisted and evolved, like Pizza Time which I’ve seen as “Chuck Eat Cheese”, then this, a Cthulhu Dark AP and tidbits about it as a self-contained game.

As I don’t really run Dungeon World anymore, I might harvest some of those parts for other games, but probably not. I want to try Wind on the Path at some point with some friends, and I definitely recommend the Lovecraftesque & Lady Blackbird supplements.

Dinosaur Princesses

By Hamish Cameron, Dana Cameron and Ardens Ludere

Read before? Yes

Played? No

This is a light game about playing dinosaurs who are also princesses, solving problems. The book has black and white images with thick enough lines to help colouring in, which the game heartily encourages.

The Paleontologist (GM) comes up with a problem and the Dinosaur Princesses help define a plan to deal with it. They use their keywords to add dice to a pool, versus the Paleontologist doing the same. Any 4-6’s are successes and people can help by using their words or ‘cheering’ which is a support mechanic.

Dinosaur Princesses is definitely a kid’s RPG and a fun-looking one. The definition of ‘princess’ is kept purposefully broad and almost like the recent filmic outing for Barbie, there are additional careers the princesses can have. Unforgivably, the definition of ‘dinosaur’ is also broader and can be anything if people want. Child Charlie would have been livid, although I get that you might end up running this for kids and one of them would want to be a cat or a robot.

Thousand Arrows: A Samurai Action & Drama TTRPG

By James Mendez Hodes & Galileo Games

Read before? No

Played? No

One of the interesting things about having my spreadsheet ordered by the date games were launched on Kickstarter means that I’ll come across games like this which were launched in October 2018 but fulfilled this year.

I first learned about the Warring States from Path of the Assassin by Kazuo Koike and the Samurai Warriors series of games. This RPG’s set during that turbulent time, with mechanics linked to the different clans and religious orders from the time.

Players pick a clan and one of several playbooks:

• The Courtier
• The Retainer
• The Knight
• The Foot Soldier
• The Secret Agent
• The Warrior Monk
• The Summoner
• The Farmer

People might have quite different roles while interacting with each other, unlike games like Legend of the Five Rings which have everyone as samurai. That’s another factor in this game, the terminology is all translated so ‘samurai’ is ‘knight’ for example. Hodes wanted to show a samurai game set in Japan without being one of those dozens of RPGs that think owning a replica katana, a handful of keywords and having a shonky honour system will do.

I admit I don’t know enough about the era (see above list of how I first encountered the Warring States Period) but this game does a good job of presenting the setting and informing an ignorant rube like me with enough detail to run without falling down Orientalist pitfalls. Hopefully.

Turn: A Tabletop Roleplaying Game

By Beau Sheldon & Daedalum Analog

Read before? No

Played? No

I’ve been looking forward to reading this for a while. Turn is an RPG of shapeshifters living in small towns. Each player has a playbook for their role and an animal that they shift between.

The Human Roles are:

• The Beastborn
• The Heir
• The Late Bloomer
• The Lover
• The Organiser
• The Overachiever
• The Showoff

The Beast Archetypes are: 

• Bear
• Bison
• Cougar
• Otter
• Raccoon
• Raven
• Snake
• Wolf

The Town Manager (GM) and players establish the small town the make it a suitably messy little place. As their characters they shift back and forth and manage the stress that builds as they go. This is a PbtA game, but one of the nice innovations is the reverse rolls, where you’re aiming to fail at times as you struggle against your dual natures. An example is ‘Mind your manners’ where your beast may want to speak first. You roll minus your Honest instead of plus, hoping to keep yourself from blurting out something helpful or betraying your nature.

I’m not a massive werewolf or shapeshifter guy, but this is a fun looking game. There’s a supplement which introduces sample towns from outside of America, including an English coastal town which means a Seagull Beast Archetype. Brilliant, and horrific.

After the War

By Alasdair Stuart, Jason Pitre and Genesis of Legend

Read before? No

Played? No

This was one of the RPGs which inspired this whole quest. I started it so many times and could never get through it. More of a failing on my part, but I just couldn’t focus on it. With a quest like this, I knew I’d have to power through and even so, it still took a surprising amount of my afternoons after picketing, before editing podcasts.

The concept of this game is fascinating. The idea is that in a spacefaring society comprising humans and several other alien species, a memetic disease started spreading through music. People would be drawn into it and become part of a kind of hive mind, pulling others into the collective. Given how it’s spread, it shot through civilisation with shocking speed. People were cut off from each other, isolated and pursued by their loved ones. A solution was made which was similarly horrific. Another virus was spread, one which would counteract the Song but drove a third of the people with it into becoming berserk, violent monsters. Once everything was over, the traumatised remnants gathered together and started to rebuild, ever aware that the Song and Tormenta were still present.

Although there are a few alternative places later in the book, the game defaults to having characters based in Polvo (translated that means ‘Dirt’). A settlement which is being rebuilt. The healing from trauma and the paranoia about would could happen make for the driving forces of drama in the game.

This sounds like a cool setting and that does make a vast amount of the book, with survivor interviews, histories and so on. You engage with the rules by going through free play until something needs to be acted on, demanding attention and providing a Question. Conflicts answer them, with people declaring their sides for what should happen, collecting dice for Traits and Convictions, then rolling to see the totals. Characters gain Strain which drops any of dice from that score or lower. It’s not just PVP, though, as the GM will often be rolling for things like The Song or Tormenta.

All in all this is a fascinating setting. The system’s a little off in how it frames these moments of conflict, but probably fine when you’re playing it. My mind went more into the directions of Last Fleet or Legacy: Life Among the Ruins when I read it, so I think I’m more surprised by what it ended up being than anything else.

The Demon Collective, Vol 1

By Camilla Greer, Mabel Harper, Comrade Pollux & David Shugars

Read before? No

Played? No

This is an anthology of OSR adventures, each of which are interestingly weird. Given my interests in these kinds of adventures, I’ve been looking at these with an eye too probably running them in Into the Odd, Troika or Trophy Gold if I ran them in anything.

Night School

Things are awry at a wizard school. Luckily this is nothing like that other wizard school. What’s nice is that the place is still in use so there’s a lot of students to deal with while following the various hooks, hunting a child catcher and so on.

She’s Not Dead, She’s Asleep

There’s a vampire princess and a tumbling block tower in this one. The dungeon’s really interesting in being in two states. You want to traverse it quietly, carefully, but need to pull whenever things will make noise. When the tower falls, things change for the much, much worse. You also have to get through the slumbering vampire princess’ tomb in order to get to the treasure.

Bad Faith

There’s a village which seems pretty poor, sad and doomed before you include the cultists who have set up nearby. They’re getting bolder and they’ve started to be able to warp the memories of the locals, making everything much worse.

Hush

This time the dungeon’s a dwarven library, which feels like a fun place to set things. I like that this isn’t just another Moria type situation. It was sealed off, but has since been unearthed and there are a number of hooks to motivate people into going in.

I think Hush might be one of the easiest to convert into a Trophy Gold scenario, but I can see how each of them could work fairly well. You just need to use a theme (e.g. ‘Silence’ for Hush) and to split areas out into sets with goals to pass. My plan for a first Trophy Gold conversion is Sunless Citadel, mainly as my players bounced off it back in the day, but this feels like it would be more satisfying to convert.

Girl Underground

By Lauren McManamon, Jesse Ross & Hedgemaze Press

Read before? Yes

Played? Yes

Girl Underground is a small RPG and a great way of experiencing Powered by the Apocalypse games. It’s a simple zine with sparse, lovely art. It takes influence from Alice in Wonderland, Labyrinth and other, similar tales.

The Girl is a shared character co-created by the group and passed around with who controls her in a scene. She has Manners she needs to mind, such as, “A girl must be quiet” or “A girl must never make a mess”. These are illustrated on index cards and one of them has been broken just prior to her arrival into a fantasy world.

The Girl makes several strange and powerful friends:

• The Beastie
• The Construct
• The Faun
• The Mythic
• The Ogre
• The Runaway

These companions are all introduced in quick scenes where they’re having problems and brought together by The Girl. Their moves can be incredible and strange, but they all drive the action and decision-making into the hands of The Girl. Her goal is to travel from place to place, learning to change the Manners she’s being forced to adhere to. 

The book has guidance on how to play, details of the playbooks and different locations to find, along with potential threats, ways they can link into each other and troubles to deal with. Looking through these for a few minutes prior to running might give a good throughline to use and a way to plan a finale. Even with that low level of planning, you can always find ways to change the places on the fly, cutting them short if you need to or extending them if you’ve got more time to play.

I’ve run this game once and it was an adorable experience. The companions were all a joy to run for, with a Construct made of tools who would keep handing bits of himself over and falling apart, a Mythic who was the last of the dragons and a Faun who was an escaped djinn. 

People often ask what a perfect one-shot game is and this is definitely up there as one of the best.

Mall Kids

By Matthew Gravelyn

Read before? No

Played? No

Based on the system behind Honey Heist, Mall Kids is a game about kids who work and hang out in a mall. They have to perfectly balance working for The Man and being rebellious enough for the people they want to impress. 

There are multiple mall games I’ve backed on Kickstarter and while I think this is the one that least appeals to run, that’s just because Green Dawn Mall and Visigoths Vs Mall Goths are both so conceptually strong. It’d be interesting to run this one and I’ve got some vague ideas of adapting my local mall as it was in the 80’s, back when my dad and his friends used to play pranks and he dressed as a gorilla to sell copies of the Socialist Worker to people.

synthesis.

By Riley Rethal

Read before? No

Played? No

A selection of ‘meta’ games. I like this kind of post-modern examination, but it makes it a bit tricky to talk about.

The games include:

• Post-Mortem for the Post-Modern – You are the heirs of an author who recently passed away, trying to work out what to get when divvying up the inheritance. Make up assumptions about the intentions of the author, objective statements about what is publicly known about the author. You can’t definitively say anything under the surface though, after all, the author is dead
• Pop-Popcorn – Making up a movie that you just saw, using a couple of tables
• Fitting in – Teenagers talking about things they don’t understand and pretending to know what they’re saying
• This Game Has No Rules – I feel I don’t need to say more about this game
• All Roads Traveled – Going through a journey on a piece of paper and viewing things from different angles
• Resonance and Echoes – A game about reincarnation and moving from setting to setting, having events which echo between them.

Comrades

By WM Akers

Read before? Yes

Played? Yes

This is a game about resistance and revolution. Unlike Spire it’s not something that’s fantastical by default, but grounded in reality or a version of it. I remember an interview with the author where they said about wanting to present a version of resistance which isn’t plagued with in-fighting or doom & gloom ideas about how any attempt to improve things is doomed to failure. We get enough of those narratives, so it’s time to try something else.

I appreciate this a lot. Sometimes it’s too easy to get bogged down with despair that any positive change can come, that people will work together.

This is a Powered by the Apocalypse game with playbooks like:

• The Artist
• The Brute
• The Demagogue
• The Mystic
• The Patron
• The Professional
• The Propagandist
• The Soldier
• The Student
• The Worker

The moves are often good indicators of what’s going on in a game. This includes things like “Start something”, “Get Rough” as “What’s Going on Here?” And there’s even a move called, “Cradle a Dying Comrade” which might bring them back or use their sacrifice to inspire others.

The system’s not dramatically different from the usual PbtA games, but the big difference is the pathways to revolution, a way where your actions both stated and performed change the group, leading to an eventual success in different ways. The paths are:

• Force
• Organisation
• Zealotry
• Mayhem
• Fellowship

There are positive and negative effects for going up in each of the pathways, but if you focus on one then eventually you’ll win, whether it’s a way that involves democracy, assassination or flooding the streets.

I love the idea of this game, but when I ran a one-shot in 2020 I was not in a good place to set it in the real world, or even the fictional Krescht provided in the book. I decided to take a leaf out of Rich Rogers’ book as he runs Star Wars-themed hacks of all kinds of different RPGs. I took my love of the X-Men and ran a game set in the most glam dystopia ever, The Age of Apocalypse. The group were pregens who were introduced either after 1998 or never featured in the event itself. They knew that Fabian Cortez, the ruler of Staten Island, was going to have official visitors and they had to figure out how to wreck his parade. A powerless Jessica Jones and Loki trapped in mortal form managed to sneak explosives onto the island and blow up Fabian’s giant statue of himself during the parade. It was a fun time and I think I’ll try and run this one shot again, but now I know the system I may even run something in Krescht or during the Paris Commune.

Bite Marks: A game of werewolf pack dynamics

By Becky Annison & Black Armada Games

Read before? Yes

Played? Yes

Powered by the Apocalypse supernatural games are not uncommon. There’s Monsterhearts 2, which is a favourite of mine, Urban Shadows and Monster of the Week. So what makes a game about werewolves so interesting, especially as someone who generally doesn’t give a crap about werewolves?

This is a Black Armada joint for starters and I trust them to put out a good game even if it’s about a subject I’m not entirely invested in. Secondly, this isn’t just about werewolves, it’s about family. Imagine Vin Diesel or one of the Mitchell brothers from Eastenders saying ‘family’ when you read that.

Bite Marks is about a family of werewolves, whether bound by blood, adoption or simply being a pack who hang out together a lot. You’ve got an area that’s yours and obligations to each other. Unlike a lot of PbtA games, this is one where there is a way to make people do what you say and Becky Annison is very good at clarifying what to do and when to use it. This isn’t a “kill this person for me” type of control so much as a “pick your uncle Dennis up from the airport” kind of control, one born more of family obligation. The reason this exists is because there’s a lot of drama that can build, including a mechanic called Spill, where people blurt out how they feel or put their foot in their mouth.

Playbooks include:

• The Alpha – This playbook may end up moving if someone contests it
• The Cub – A new wolf (or a new human)
• The Enforcer – The fist of the pack
• The Fixer – The person with connections with mortal & supernatural worlds
• The Greypelt – An elder who probably used to be the Alpha
• The Howl – The mystic, knowledgable in the weird ways
• The Prodigal – A rebel, recently returned to the pack

Players build up Pack points as they play, especially when there are conflicts and drama between them. These points can be used to help, or saved up until they get spent for a massive move like instantly thwarting an enemy. Assuming the group stay together for that long.

I’ve run this game once, set in Devil’s Dyke in the South Downs. A human had been thrown from the nearby golf course down the dyke, along with the golf cart he was in. The worry was that it would draw attention to the pack who worked out of an abandoned church nearby. They discovered vampires had been creating hybrids who were incredibly powerful and needed to feed on werewolves. The group had trips into town, covered up investigations, lied to other packs and nearly broke apart a few times before all working together to slaughter a giant pack of vampire/werewolf hybrids who tried to siege the church.

Thirteen games! That’s a lot and next up I’ve got another thirteen, too! Come back next time for a few more!