vol.7: creative, collaborative, and powerful
Greetings, adventurers!
This newsletter may be a tad short, but that’s because there’s a TON of content coming your way this month. September is International Podcast Month, I Am Hear has re-launched, there’s a bunch of August debuts, and there’s a ton of rad Kickstarters to check out.
The RPG podcast community continues to move through the messy world in which we’re living, exuding a creative and collaborative power that never ceases to amaze me.
Thank you to all of you, listeners and creators alike, for everything you do.
August Debuts are up! You can read about all of the new pods that launched here. Want to know what’s coming this month? Well, I’ve finally re-launched I Am Hear!
I Am Hear
I Am Hear is a conversational podcast that focuses on the guest and their experiences with RPGs and the RPG community. It explores the unique stories of RPG community members and purposefully features members of the community marginalized by race, gender, sexuality, neurodivergence, and/or disability. I Am Hear aims to boost those folks and their stories.
Season 3 launched today with the first episode featuring Makenzie De Armas. Makenzie and I talk about her work, mental health, writing for a project that directly reflects and connects her Filipino heritage, streaming, the community, and how important it is that we keep pushing that door open for future waves of players and creators.
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More Info: Website | Twitter
SuperIdols! RPG
An Actual Play of Masks: A New Generation
SuperIdols! RPG is the Magical Girls actual-play podcast you never realized you needed until this moment, right now. With only five episodes released, this show features the transformative splendor of Magical Girls in the vein of Sailor Moon mixed with the glam and musical stardom of Jem. SuperIdols! RPG takes you back to high school where emotions and competition run high. Largely in preparation for what the world knows to be a cutthroat music industry - where superheroes and villains alike come from record labels and studios- these highschool “idols” have formed a club in hopes of seeking fame, fortune, and glory once they’ve graduated. GM ErynCerise not only creates a fun and lighthearted world for her players to explore but allows them the space to explore their powers with custom moves she’s created specifically for the system [Masks]. The custom moves lend perfectly to the basics of Magical Girls: powerful when they activate their abilities but “normal” teenagers otherwise. The sound design lends well to captivating the listener into an animated and bright environment, and captures the feeling of delightful anxiety for what challenges these super teens will face next.
Recommended Starting Point: Welcome to the Club, Pt. 1
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More Info: Website | Twitter
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Kickstarter Funding ENDING SOON: Twilight: 2000 (Ends Sep 3)
A classic tabletop RPG returns in a new retro-apocalyptic edition, from the makers of the ALIEN RPG and Forbidden Lands. The new retro-apocalypotic edition of Twilight: 2000, published in partnership with Game Designers' Workshop, goes back to the roots of the franchise with a boxed set for sandbox roleplaying in the devastation of World War III. The new edition will be the fourth in the series, the first being released by GDW in 1984. Just like the original version, the new edition is set in a year 2000 devastated by war – now in an alternate timeline where the Moscow Coup of 1991 succeeded and the Soviet Union never collapsed.
Follow on Twitter | Support the Kickstarter
Kickstarter Funding ENDING SOON: Wanderhome (Ends Sep 3)
Wanderhome is a pastoral fantasy Role-Playing Game about traveling animal-folk, the world they inhabit, and the way the seasons change. It is a game filled with grassy fields, mossy shrines, herds of chubby bumblebees, opossums in sundresses, salamanders with suspenders, starry night skies, and the most beautiful sunsets you can imagine.
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Kickstarter Funding ENDING SOON: Dark Matter (Ends Sep 7)
Dark Matter is a rip-roaring futuristic campaign setting set against a mashup of sci-fi and fantasy influences, which lets you play DnD in Space without learning a new system.
Play as bounty hunters, galactic explorers, or daring space marines in a universe inspired by the likes of Star Wars, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, The Expanse, and Doom. You and your crew can pilot breathtaking starships, face down alien horrors, battle evil space wizards, and explore the furthest reaches of the galaxy.
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Kickstarter Funding ENDING SOON: ORBITAL (Ends Sep 8)
ORBITAL, a space station RPG zine: Build a space station, full of threats and conflict, and then play to find out whether your crew of characters can hold it together. ORBITAL gives us airlocks and control panels, pensive faces looking out into the cosmos, improvised fixes for critical systems, military-sponsored subterfuge, warm embraces in the cold vacuum, frantic struggles in zero-gravity and unknowable ancient technology, asking WHAT DO YOU DO NEXT?
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Kickstarter Funding Continues: Mnemonic: A Weaver’s Almanac
(Ends Sep 15)
The world of Mnemonic is a world of memory: flawed, eternal, ephemeral, evolving memory. Stand on a hillside, and you can feel the world remembering themselves, remembering the smell of grass that is no longer there. Climb to the top of a tree and feel her swaying beneath you, creaking under the memories of storms that once tried to pull her up by the roots.
Those who can sense the world's memory are called Weavers. In Mnemonic, we don't play as heroes in a story; we play the Weavers who have gathered to tell those heroes' stories.
This Weaver's Almanac is a 180-page book that contains everything you need, from the game's core rules to a host of usable setting content, to play a full story—or numerous connected stories—in the world of Mnemonic.
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Kickstarter Funding Continues: Legends of Avallen: a Celtic-Roman RPG
(Ends Sep 15)
Legends of Avallen is an indie tabletop RPG inspired by Celtic mythology and Roman-occupied Britain. In this fantasy world, players and gamemasters alike will play out tales and themes of humble beginnings, the clash of cultures, and the mysteries of the Otherworld.
Where other games skip the origins of your character, Legends of Avallen starts from the very beginning: you're an ordinary townsperson looking for an excuse to adventure. From those humble origins, you will quest out into Avallen, growing both in character and in power as you discover its magic. Soon you'll choose to follow a legendary path, learning the ways of the Bard, the Gladiator, the Magister, or many more. You will seek out lost relics, slay terrific beasts, riddle with the Gods, and change the fate of Avallen forever.
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International Podcast Month is LIVE
September is International Podcast Month (IPM)! IPM is a wonderful opportunity for podcasters to cross-promote, celebrate each other, and share the love of podcasting with the world. To celebrate, a collaboration of many diverse and inclusive podcasting folks have created Audio Fiction Minisodes, Creator Conversations, Non-Fiction Minisodes, RPG Actual-Play One-Shots, and contributed to a month-long blog.
With daily episode releases, there’s an incredible amount of content ready for you to listen to throughout the month. In addition, all RPG Actual-Play One-Shots are made up of a variety of creators across the podcasting medium who have gotten together just for their one episode! So tune in for some mashups between some of your favourite (or soon-to-be favourite) podcasters!
Subscribe: Apple | Google | RadioPublic | Spotify | RSS
More Info: Website | Twitter
Kyle Allen Devich Launches “We Met at The Dog Park”
Kyle Allen Devich, game designer behind Super Queero and producer and cast member of Prism Pals, launched their third game yesterday, a two-player tabletop RPG yesterday called We Met At The Dog Park. This game follows two friends through - one who has committed a murder and can’t remember, and the other who is trying to help them recall what happened. Fraught with suspense and inspired by classic games such as Clue and Taboo, players use a system of cards and keywords to communicate and remember the events of the night the murder took place. Content Warnings for themes of death and murder.
More Info: Buy We Met At The Dog Park
Ken Davidson Launches #TTRPGResourceJam
Ken Davidson, LARP and TTRPG designer, launched the #TTRPGResourceJam today; a month-long itch.io community event for designers to create resources and talk about their fields of expertise, specifically focused on making game design resources accessible for all indie creators. Upon completion, for those that agree, all submissions will be collected into a Pay What You Want pack with donations heading to I Need Diverse Games.
More Info: TTRPG Resource Jam
Austin Walker, 12Face Productions, Billy Wright, Michael Bowman, Fandible, Roll Like a Girl, Dice for Brains, The Hydian Way, Christine Scherer, The Redacted Files, Landon, Darcy Kennedy, Michelle Shepardson, Adrian Brooks, John Harper, Waffles a.k.a. Mahaffay, Minna Reilly, Ryan Boelter, Rane Wallin, Rob Abrazado, Jason Lillis, Laura Boylan, Splinters of a Broken Sun, Alice Kyra, Max, Tavern Tales, Kelly Froese, Orion D Black, and The Broadswords.