Just before the Gaming Shelf takes a long break (we’re back on July 12th!) I’m thrilled to be able to highlight some board games and creators who have been working hard over the last few months to give us some great pieces. We have the indie studio Possible Worlds Games, as well as a bit of a new direction for Shelf, a book about text games that is currently crowdfunded.
Featured Creator: Tyler Crumrine
Also known as the founder and publisher of Possible Worlds Games, Tyler Crumrine has done an incredible job since founding the studio following his success with the 2020 Beak, Feather & Bone RPG hit / tagging map. After funding Successfully the Possible Worlds RPG series in 2021 (which was released this year!) and from creating a scholarship program for reciprocal artists, has returned to Beak, Feather & Bone and created an amazing new supplement. Claw Atlas is an expansion for Beak, Feather and Bone, and includes 10 new maps and alternate game rules. It has already successfully achieved its crowdfunding goal and the campaign will continue until July 1st.
From the original game’s page, “Inspired by mapping games like Avery Alder’s The Quiet Year and archetypal role-playing systems like Meguey and Vincent Baker’s Powered by the Apocalypse, Beak, Feather, & Bone is a game zine-length featuring game rules, 11 community roles illustrated by Austin Breed, a Jonathan Yee map and optional tradition and GM tips for running games in a city full of crows. “
New releases: Absurdia, In God’s Green Earth, Domesday 10XX
“Absurdia is an absurd modern fantasy game about the absurd hilarity and underestimated horror of everyday life. You play as a resident of a surreal suburban city marked by chaos and entropy, where the other world is normal and the “Inspired by works of absurd humor, surreal horror, and literary nonsense such as Welcome to Night Vale, Alice in Wonderland, and Gravity Falls.”
In God’s Green Earth, a top-level dungeon for Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition, “A farmer has disappeared into the woods. The tracks lead to a small hill with a protruding stone brick gate. The bricks are old and covered. What is growing in the depths of the earth? “
10XX is a game about resisting the Norman invasion of England. You are marginalized Englishmen — poor, marginalized, ignored — trying to protect your neighbors and shouting loudly before your inevitable death. (Available in Modern or Old English)
Crowdfunding: 50 years of text games, the latest adventure
“In [50 Years of Text Games] There are 50 in-depth chapters, covering 50 games: one released each year since 1971, when a Minnesota teacher introduced a teletype to his class to release a game called The Oregon Trail, until 2020 and the last in AI narrators. Revised and improved from the acclaimed series of blogs, each featured game receives a rich and in-depth analysis of how it works, what it’s about, why it’s special, and its enduring legacy. “
“In The Last Adventure, you are a warrior, champion and monster hunter. Now you have come to die, but on the verge of death, neither the family nor the ancient heroes welcome you … The Last Adventure is a game of desktop adventures in two zines The first zine is you: a warrior, now dead, still looking for adventure The second zine is The Land of Death: the places and landscapes of the land of death, and the people and the monsters you will find there “. (From one of the co-creators of Apocalypse World and the Powered by the Apocalypse system.)
In Other News
- Free League Publishing has a summer sale, including games such as ALIEN The Roleplaying Game, Vaesen – Nordic Horror Roleplaying, Tales From the Loop, Forbidden Lands, Symbaroum, Coriolis – The Third Horizon and Mutant: Year Zero.
- BackerKit has dropped its plans for its new crowdfunding platform and initial commitments include Monte Cook Games, Story Engine, Exalted Funeral, Restoration Games and Unstable Games, among others.
- The queer game package is available one more week at itch.io.
- B. Dave Walters led a D&D session for some members of the Stranger Things cast and said in an exclusive comment to io9 by email: “Stranger Things holds a special place in my heart, as this was the world. where I grew up.His story.It’s my story (maybe with a little more monsters.) Being able to join the Hellfire Club and bring the Arch-Lich Vecna to the glorious non-life has been one of the highlights of my career … and the end is one of the wildest things. I’ve never had the privilege of seeing it! ”
- Artana Games’ latest educational board game, First in Flight, is currently co-funded.
- Don’t look too closely at your neighbors … the back game board game is now available.
- Ticket to Ride: San Francisco is now available exclusively on Target.
- Members of the Dungeon & Dragons community have filed charges against popular players Satine Pheonix and Jamison Stone, accusing them of abuse and ill-treatment (CBR, Comic).
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