Thought experiment: What’s the ugliest game book you’d still pick off a shelf if you came across it again for the first time? Indie snobs will of course claim it’s a whole long list, but the reality is that we really do judge a book by its cover. That’s why they have covers. Fair warning:… Continue reading Ugly Beautiful Books
Category: Indie Game Reading Club
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.
Masks: A Late, Deepish Dive
Let me say up front that I love everything Magpie Games has ever put out. I go out of my way to play their stuff, and I’ve run nearly everything they’ve ever put out. Starting with Epyllion way back in the day, through Urban Shadows, Bluebeard’s Bride, Cartel, Zombie World, Pasión de las Pasiones, all… Continue reading Masks: A Late, Deepish Dive
Drawing a Blank
Something interesting happened at our regular game night this week. It’s personal, not a sweeping theory or a review although there’s a bit of both in there as well. Summer is really hard to schedule and it’s worse if your group has kids. So I typically try to have a big campaign in the fall,… Continue reading Drawing a Blank
A Short Deep Dive into The Facility
Broke a 3-week-long RPG fast with The Facility last night. Felt good to touch dice again! The Facility is a zine-sized game by Galen Pejeau built on Breathless, a game framework I've been digging into since starting through a solo game called Substratum Protocol. It's a very basic push-your-luck kind of game, where each time… Continue reading A Short Deep Dive into The Facility
Guest Interview: Paul Czege
Note from Paul: This week we have guest writer Slade Stolar's interview with long-time indie Notable Paul Czege. Czege has a Kickstarter for Inscapes, a zine sequel to The Ink That Bleeds, both about getting the most out of solo journaling games. Slade is no slouch either: he's the author of The Indie Hack (2016),… Continue reading Guest Interview: Paul Czege