Essays, actual play, theory talk, and general navel-gazing about story-focused roleplaying, aka “indie” games. And trindie. And OSR. If you’re small and scrappy, I want to talk about what you’re doing! If you’re fighting to grow, I want to talk about what you’re doing! Basically if it’s roleplaying (tabletop, freeform, larp, whatevs) and it’s not the monolith of D&D, it’s in my wheelhouse.
The optics, they're bad. So...I indulged in a lot of retail therapy when the lockdowns started. I backed many games. Too many, one might argue. But if you've ever participated in a crowdsourcing campaign, you know how it diabolically gives you multiple serotonin hits: first when you back it, later when you spend the money,… Continue reading Q1 Reviews (Part 1 of many, sob)
We’re deep into a campaign of Handiwork Games’ second edition of a|state here with no signs of stopping. I was just about to leave Forged in the Dark games behind but a|state convinced me to stick around awhile long. Let’s dig into how a|state redeemed FitD for me. a|state is available in PDF from DriveThruRPG… Continue reading Deep Dive: A|STATE
I’ve been elbow-deep into Forged in the Dark games here for the past several months. I ran Court of Blades for the IGRC online convention in December, and now I’m several sessions into the excellent second edition of a|state from Handiwork Games. Right now I think it’s best in class on many fronts, the current… Continue reading Hammers In The Night: FitD 101
How To Play Immersive Journaling Games Editor's note: This is an experiment for The Indie Game Reading Club! It's an excerpt from Paul Czege's upcoming zine, The Ink That Bleeds. It's all about his extensive delve into solo journaling games over the past couple years, both a reflection on the medium and a practical how-to… Continue reading Excerpt: The Ink That Bleeds
When is a game “published” anyway? Is that even the right word these days? “Released?” I’m old-fashioned. In my dumb head, a game isn’t really out in the world until there’s a dead-tree book available for purchase. Even if 80% of my new game purchases are PDF. Like I said: dumb head. There are two… Continue reading A Tale Of Two (and a half) Trophies
