#78: Captain ZiMo

I. Dear Reader,

If you haven’t heard yet, since Kickstarter rescheduled ZineQuest at the last minute, indie creators kicked off their own alternative – ZineMonth. There’s lots of games to browse that are raising money across a bunch of different platforms including itch or their own websites. It’s neat.

I don’t have a list of recommendations because I’m honestly out of the loop. But, lucky for me, there’s lot of coverage from other people – Dave Thaumavore Reviews, Cannibal Halfling Gaming, Dicebreaker, Sam Leigh on TikTok, DiceStew newsletter and more.

Supportively,

Thomas

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II. Media of the Week

With all this ZiMo hype, I thought it might be a good time to collect some resources for how to get into TTRPG game design and publishing.

• John Battle has a video containing some heartfelt advice that I liked.

• Banana Chan has also started making regular videos – one with some tips for getting writing gigs and the other is a breakdown of the types of writing gigs.

III. Links of the Week

• Since we were talking about politics, another great video from LegalKimchi about “realist” international relations for your games and the Udan Adan blog has a post about drunk, incompetent feudal lords.

• Some nice reports from Dicebreaker on Legend Has It (a game that uses books arpund your house to create myths) and I Guess This Is It (a card game about grief and loss)

• They also have recommendations for games that Dark Souls fans might like that aren’t based on 5e.

  • Related note, I also enjoyed this blogpost by someone who played a fan translation of the Japanese Dark Souls game which runs on its own system.

• If you’re interested in the histroy of Games Workshop, there’s a book out by Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson called Dice Men that you should look up!

• I Need Diverse GMs is offering microgrants for Black game developers this month.

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.

• Procedures to Discover the Path Ahead is a system-agnostic toolset for creating maps and journeys, by yourself or with friends. Expanded version will be itchfunded in February.

• A set of 166 tarot-sized OSR friendly TTRPG Reference cards + a zine that allows for solo or coop board gamification adventuring of the rules lite TTRPG MÖRK BORG.

• ANNA-X66: REDUX mixes together 80s-90s sci-fi films, comics, and novels using the Mark of the Odd system of Into the Odd. It’s on Kickstarter the first week of February.

• “You’re (Not) A Wizard” is currently funding: Congratulations! You’ve been accepted to a prestigious magic school… by mistake. Now you must bluff you’re way through to avoid getting caught.

• The Twilight War, an espionage themed supplement to the 80s alt history horror game, Party First is coming to Kickstarter February 2022.

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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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