@loremistress93 and i are hosting a charity streamathon all this weekend for trans lifeline!!
come watch some AMAZING people play for a great cause over at https://www.twitch.tv/theloremistress! (i'll be posting as each game starts, don't worry)
we're doing in-stream giveaways of each game being played (some with really fabulous limited-edition physical versions, like trophy and blood borg), as well as a HUGE raffle!!! donate a minimum of $5 USD and get a ticket to win one of over 50 really fabulous prizes donated by equally fabulous people!!! here's the link to donate if you wanna get a headstart:
also, a MASSIVE THANK YOU to Plus One EXP for sponsoring us! they've offered 5% off any order (including 1 month of a zine club subscription) with the code TLM at checkout. 10% of the profits from these orders will be donated to trans lifeline up until may 31st!
It's Kiwi RPG Week! While ideally you'll hear about kiwi ttrpg content year round, this is the week where we really focus on sharing the cool stuff made by our community- from standalone games, to supplements, to actual plays.
This year, I'm going to introduce a kiwi-made rpg each day! Today we have:
Fight or Fright nā Alex Marinkovich-Josey
(Ko tangata tiriti ia)
Fight or Fright! is an ennie award-winning game about magical Halloween costumes and possessed decorations. It's designed for spooky one-shots- and there are several streamed games you can watch to get a feel for it, including here!
Prefer physical media? Plus One EXP have physical copies for sale!
btw I have a new ttrpg being published with plus one exp!!!! it’s perfect for fans of blaseball and/or sports anime and/or absurdist media. it’s weird, it’s silly, it can be purchased here!
I just noticed the top row got super cut-off, and Soul Cemetary is washed out, but now that I've put everything away, it'll be a pain to put it all out again...
The covers for all of these are great, so here's take two for just those guys:
Tomb of a Thousand Doors (for Mausritter): I haven't really played Mausritter yet, but it's one of those games I keep hearing cited in the OSR/NSR circles and I am really curious. This is a project that was highly promoted by one of my main RPG communities, Plus One EXP, and I've been mining supplements for ideas a lot lately. Didn't realize I was getting a GM screen, also!
Golf Quest: I really like Anna Blackwell's work in general, and I'm really curious to see how to make a dexterity game like gold work in the RPG setting. Plus, the art is fun and colorful, and I keep thinking about the video game Golf Story, which was a really goofy and fun game that tried to use Golf as a solution for everything.
Coriolis: The Great Dark: I picked up Coriolis on a whim, and the Middle Eastern take on Sci-fi is a perspective I don't feel like we're getting enough of. A new edition, said to be easier to run and pick up, was easy to get me into.
Armor Astir: Advent: I knew about AA:A before Friends at the Table: Palisade, but never really had the chance to dive into it. The concept was intriguing, and I've had a soft spot for fantasy mech content since Escaflowne. But after listening to the FatT arc, honestly? This game is high on my to-play list. The faction turn is what stands out to me, even though I know that the podcast team tends to embellish their scenes, I keep thinking about some aspects of those turns, because they added so much to the main game.
Little Wolves: Dinoberry Press is a game design team that I watch pretty closely, because they're always doing really fun and interesting things. The fae/fantasy lore at play here is really cool, and I need to get into the mechanics.
Soul Cemetery: I've said before, and will say again, that Snow puts out bangers--and Charlotte's art always adds a ton to the books. Soul Cemetery is a throwback to Gamecube-era games, in a solo RPG with some choices and some interesting blending of the line between player and character. I have a very clear idea of how I'd want to do a play session with this, I just keep not having the time.
Electric Bastionland and Mythic Bastionland: I picked these two up for the same reasons, which are a combination of curiosity, a real excitement about Into the Odd, and some hearty endoresments from designers I like and respect. These games are really cool, they do a great job of making absurd and fantastical setting elements feel grounded and normal, while really demonstrating how deep worldbuilding can go while leaving plenty of room for the players to answer their own questions. Might get ItO to the table soonest, but hopefully I'll get through the other two before too long.
Interstitial 2e: This one takes me back, because its first edition is among some of the earliest Indie RPGs I ever heard of. Takes me back even further to the time I played through Kingdom Hearts (even if I've not gotten to the sequels since college ended...). Putting the playbook concept on pre-existing characters by putting them into archetypes is really fascinating, and I'm honestly excited by the prospect of seeing what attracts people to different characters. (I've also always wanted to use Interstitial as a system to run an AP Podcast crossover event, but never gotten to that...)
Rascal's One Year Zine: Rascal is easily doing some of the best indie RPG journalism in the biz. This zine collects some of their biggest pieces from their first year in operation. Super proud to be a supporter, but also really cool to have a piece of this history.
Project Ecco: This was an impulse buy, because I missed the original crowdfund. I picked it up because it's a misprint book, and I love giving damaged/misprinted books a good home. What really sold me on it was the Party of One 400th episode, which used Project Ecco and Jeff's back catalog of episodes to play through the game. It was such a neat conception that I wanted to at least read through the game and see how it was made.
Corvid Court: I love Spencer Campbell and his work in general, so he's an easy sell for me. But also, I know this is one of his earlier games and you get to be a bunch of heisting birds, which I am all about! (Or I misunderstand the pitch and am going to get a pleasant surprise).
Mythomorphosis: Since I was a kid, I've always really liked and been fascinated by pantheons and gods, so a TTRPG to generate that is a pretty obvious addition to my collection. The book is actually quite gorgeous, and I can't wait to try this out.
I've forgotten the original title of this one, but I know it changed during crowdfunding (and I think it's silly, but whatever works).
Johnson^2 (for Mothership):
The Magus Bookmark: Got this neat bookmark for supporting The Magus when Momatoes started pulling the new edition together. I didn't get the full book during that crowdfunder, but when Essun Dove did another one for a different game... Iiii treated myself. Momatoes' desgin work is some of the best in the biz, both visually and mechanically.
Aether Nexus: Like I said above: I love a fantasy mech. Picked up Aether Nexus on the strength of the pitch alone, it's a more OSR-y take on mechs in a fantasy setting. I do feel like AA:A is going to be the go-to, but I did really like watching how this developed, and am still excited to at least give it a read-through.
Mana Meltdown, Wind Wraith, The Toxic Wood, Woodfall, Willow, The Haunted Hamlet: I've seen Wind Wraith and Woodfall, and a couple of the other modules here, in a few places--including my local game store. It's the art that gets me on these, but they also have been pretty well reviewed. I backed Mana Meltdown because it seemed like a really fun and intriguing module on its own, but one of the tiers got me the rest of these modules. I believe they're written with OSE in mind, but I am still very into mining modules for other games...
Tomb of a Thousand Doors (for Mausritter): I haven't really played Mausritter yet, but it's one of those games I keep hearing cited in the OSR/NSR circles and I am really curious. This is a project that was highly promoted by one of my main RPG communities, Plus One EXP, and I've been mining supplements for ideas a lot lately. Didn't realize I was getting a GM screen, also!
Golf Quest: I really like Anna Blackwell's work in general, and I'm really curious to see how to make a dexterity game like gold work in the RPG setting. Plus, the art is fun and colorful, and I keep thinking about the video game Golf Story, which was a really goofy and fun game that tried to use Golf as a solution for everything.
Coriolis: The Great Dark: I picked up Coriolis on a whim, and the Middle Eastern take on Sci-fi is a perspective I don't feel like we're getting enough of. A new edition, said to be easier to run and pick up, was easy to get me into.
Armor Astir: Advent: I knew about AA:A before Friends at the Table: Palisade, but never really had the chance to dive into it. The concept was intriguing, and I've had a soft spot for fantasy mech content since Escaflowne. But after listening to the FatT arc, honestly? This game is high on my to-play list. The faction turn is what stands out to me, even though I know that the podcast team tends to embellish their scenes, I keep thinking about some aspects of those turns, because they added so much to the main game.
Little Wolves: Dinoberry Press is a game design team that I watch pretty closely, because they're always doing really fun and interesting things. The fae/fantasy lore at play here is really cool, and I need to get into the mechanics.
Soul Cemetery: I've said before, and will say again, that Snow puts out bangers--and Charlotte's art always adds a ton to the books. Soul Cemetery is a throwback to Gamecube-era games, in a solo RPG with some choices and some interesting blending of the line between player and character. I have a very clear idea of how I'd want to do a play session with this, I just keep not having the time.
Electric Bastionland and Mythic Bastionland: I picked these two up for the same reasons, which are a combination of curiosity, a real excitement about Into the Odd, and some hearty endoresments from designers I like and respect. These games are really cool, they do a great job of making absurd and fantastical setting elements feel grounded and normal, while really demonstrating how deep worldbuilding can go while leaving plenty of room for the players to answer their own questions. Might get ItO to the table soonest, but hopefully I'll get through the other two before too long.
Interstitial 2e: This one takes me back, because its first edition is among some of the earliest Indie RPGs I ever heard of. Takes me back even further to the time I played through Kingdom Hearts (even if I've not gotten to the sequels since college ended...). Putting the playbook concept on pre-existing characters by putting them into archetypes is really fascinating, and I'm honestly excited by the prospect of seeing what attracts people to different characters. (I've also always wanted to use Interstitial as a system to run an AP Podcast crossover event, but never gotten to that...)
Rascal's One Year Zine: Rascal is easily doing some of the best indie RPG journalism in the biz. This zine collects some of their biggest pieces from their first year in operation. Super proud to be a supporter, but also really cool to have a piece of this history.
Project Ecco: This was an impulse buy, because I missed the original crowdfund. I picked it up because it's a misprint book, and I love giving damaged/misprinted books a good home. What really sold me on it was the Party of One 400th episode, which used Project Ecco and Jeff's back catalog of episodes to play through the game. It was such a neat conception that I wanted to at least read through the game and see how it was made.
Corvid Court: I love Spencer Campbell and his work in general, so he's an easy sell for me. But also, I know this is one of his earlier games and you get to be a bunch of heisting birds, which I am all about! (Or I misunderstand the pitch and am going to get a pleasant surprise).
Mythomorphosis: Since I was a kid, I've always really liked and been fascinated by pantheons and gods, so a TTRPG to generate that is a pretty obvious addition to my collection. The book is actually quite gorgeous, and I can't wait to try this out.
I've forgotten the original title of this one, but I know it changed during crowdfunding (and I think it's silly, but whatever works).
Johnson^2 (for Mothership):
The Magus Bookmark: Got this neat bookmark for supporting The Magus when Momatoes started pulling the new edition together. I didn't get the full book during that crowdfunder, but when Essun Dove did another one for a different game... Iiii treated myself. Momatoes' desgin work is some of the best in the biz, both visually and mechanically.
Aether Nexus: Like I said above: I love a fantasy mech. Picked up Aether Nexus on the strength of the pitch alone, it's a more OSR-y take on mechs in a fantasy setting. I do feel like AA:A is going to be the go-to, but I did really like watching how this developed, and am still excited to at least give it a read-through.
Mana Meltdown, Wind Wraith, The Toxic Wood, Woodfall, Willow, The Haunted Hamlet: I've seen Wind Wraith and Woodfall, and a couple of the other modules here, in a few places--including my local game store. It's the art that gets me on these, but they also have been pretty well reviewed. I backed Mana Meltdown because it seemed like a really fun and intriguing module on its own, but one of the tiers got me the rest of these modules. I believe they're written with OSE in mind, but I am still very into mining modules for other games...
Once again, Plus One Zine Club hitting us with some great stuff:
Deluge at the Drizzle Distillery by Munkao: Really jazzed to dive into this one, because everything I've seen from this creator is beautiful, thought-out, and compelling.
Beloved by Kyle Tam: I haven't yet played this one, but I've played Artefact, the game that Kyle hacked, and it's excellent. The concept for this is awesome, and I'm excited to try it out.
COME ON IN, a Southern Gothic Vampire Mystery is coming to crowdfunding thanks to Plus One Exp Fall 2026. We're assembling a Monster Squad and taking all measures to make sure this thing is ready to rock by the time we get there.
Wandering Blades Review: Old School Tech, Wuxia Style
Highly skilled martial artists roam the lands seeking to redress wrongs, help the downtrodden, and free the innocent from oppression. Heroism, action, melodrama! These are the hallmarks of the wuxia genre, and when they show up in the tabletop sphere they tend to come with a pretty big set of rules and no small amount of actual magic. In this case, though, we have a game trying to use old school…
