#itchfunding

[cannibalhalflinggaming]

Zine Month 2024 Round-Up

Lock your credit cards, hide your wallet, tell your banks to close early, because it’s February and that means a veritable deluge of new tabletop roleplaying game zines taking their shot at getting created with some crowdfunded help. Down the hall Aaron can be heard trying to keep his head above water with the first wave of ZineQuest projects on Kickstarter (there’s an alarming number of gargling…

[capacle]

Solo sandbox fairytale winterland!

'Against the Wind' is a solo/coop fantasy-adventure sandbox game in a land ravaged by fierce winds and biting cold, all infused with a subtle pinch of fairy tale ambiance.

Inspired by the brilliant art of Kay Nielsen, in this game you:

• Craft your own world • Create a unique character with 19+ tables • Discover the land as you play with 60+ tables to aid you

The game mixes classic themes such as wilderness exploration and dungeon delving with narrative-focused mechanics.

A single resolution mechanic abstracts your skills, equipment and assets into resources you use to get what you want.

There are procedures to create and explore the winterland, to interact with the folk you meet, to craft potions and more!

Characters are defined by their resources and a series of traits.

Look at how unique they can turn out (I didn't even use all of the tables):

I'm starting itchfunding today (I thought the winter solstice was thematically appropriate), and to celebrate, I'm putting all my other games on sale as well for two weeks! ❄️❄️❄️

I appreciate your support and your sharing the news 💗

[scithemodestmermaid]

Help a solo dev get out of debt with this bundle of six games.  They are free, but donations are greatly appreciated and graciously accepted.

[binarystargames]

CELESTIAL BODIES IS NOW OUT! GO GET IT!

Our (myself and @basilisika's) mecha game is FINALLY OUT! Go get it here!

(You may have read my post about The Grid™️ a little while ago. This is that!)

We're running an itchfund to raise a little so we can devote the time and energy to create our full vision of what this game can be. The stuff you're seeing here is only a fraction of this game's potential: please help us get the whole way. In exchange, you'll get the Terrestrial Edition right now (a playable version with the base concepts and a smattering of content to get you started). If you give us a little more we'll make more content for you too! Weapons, factions, and even new Frames entirely are on the table.

(We also have community copies available, and those higher tiers will unlock more too.)

What are you waiting for! Go get it!

[weregazelle]

CASE&SOUL, my lightweight FITD mecha game drops MARCH 1ST!!! that's NEXT week!!!! with an itchfunding campaign for extra content and new art by tan juan gee!! come be an awful dog of war!! or captain of a spaceship!! or a superstar idol!! or an orphan who has to get in the robot!! all the classics.

[christiansorrell]

Tacticians of Ahm is itchfunding NOW!

For the last year or so, I've been designing and playtesting Tacticians of Ahm, a game inspired by tactical combat roleplaying designs meant to keep classic grid-n-minis TTRPG combat but to reinvent it in a way that keeps it fast and exciting without slowing your entire session down to a crawl!

Pick up the rulebook and get all future updates for free HERE!

Tacticians of Ahm is a tactical combat-focused tabletop roleplaying game in the corrupt3d fantasy world of Ahm. A bit-rotten blight has appeared in the Northern Sea and from it flows the Corrupt1on, fractured light and shattered shapes sowing chaos across the realm. As Tacticians, you alone are prepared to face the darkness spreading across the lands and reunite the scattered peoples of Ahm.

Unique Elements of Tacticians of Ahm:

Always-hit, set-damage grid-based combat!

Class-specific attack patterns, abilities, and more!

Easy-to-use weapon and ability diagrams!

Rules light out-of-combat play using a single d20!

A digital fantasy world corrupting with age!

You know it's a video game, but your characters don't!

If videos are more your speed, check out this intro to the game:

Inspired by video games like Into the Breach, Final Fantasy Tactics and Fire Emblem, Tacticians of Ahm was created out of a desire to maintain the rewarding tactical choices and big dramatic moments of traditional grid-n-minis TTRPG combat without slowing the pace of play by removing as many of the frustrating aspects of play as possible and streamlining the rest. Combat is fast and furious! You can always easily read your abilities, know the damage you will do (and when you can do it), and more.

Check the Itch page for more info and pick up the game!

[tidalwavegames]

IRREGULAR - VIBES EDITION - AVAILABLE NOW

Get it on Itch.io!

IRREGULAR is a tabletop roleplaying game for 3-5+ players. The players create sentient robotic machine humanoids called METALOIDS. Created by MAN, METALOIDS contain the capacity for human emotion, thought, and reasoning, as well as great POWERS that can surpass that of a NORMAL MAN. 

However, for reasons still unexplained, after a period of time, METALOIDS begin to break down, and in the process, go into a berserk state called IRREGULAR. Should one go IRREGULAR, a team of IRREGULAR HUNTERS is dispatched, to incapacitate or, if necessary, kill the IRREGULAR.

That's where you come in. You're an IRREGULAR HUNTER, one of the chosen, to be sure. You come in to a dangerous situation involving an IRREGULAR, and must stop or kill the IRREGULAR threat. But take care--fighting IRREGULARS is a dangerous business. It takes a toll, not just on your body, but on your emotions. 

TAKE CARE WHEN FIGHTING IRREGULARS, LEST YE BECOME IRREGULAR YOURSELF

Available now on Itch.io!

- The VIBES EDITION of IRREGULAR is now available! We will be Itchfunding on February 1st to fund new art and to pay our collaborators! -

[temporalhiccup]

Welcome to your Cozy Town, what will your year be like as you spend the seasons with friends? Check out the game on itchio!

Cozy Town is a lovely and sweet way to pass the time with friends and would be friends. Use a deck of normal playing cards and map making materials to play with others (or by yourself!) and create a town of lovely inhabitants!

You can play out an entire year of this town, across sweet spring, sunny summer, soft autumn, and snuggled down winter. Together you’ll explore what makes people, and the communities they’re in, feel safe and cozy!

I wrote Cozy Town as a way to explore gentle games that don't depend on high stakes, lack, and conflict as a means of play. It's a simple game that values your creativity and intuition, that encourages free form collaboration and an open imagination.

Each season comes with 23 prompts, inspired by my experience as a tarot reader. I'm going to be honest here, that prompt writing was some of the hardest in my life! I wrote Cozy Town early in my game design career and it was hard coming up with almost 100 wholesome prompts that didn't depend on drama or angst, haha! (the rest of my work can be VERY dramatic and VERY angsty)

When you create your town, you have pick lists to inspire features, celebrations, and more! In the final version of the game, I got to work with other designers to create more pick lists and event card oracles for you to enjoy.

The whole game is bursting at the seams with a chill vibe and lovely illustrations! Cozy Town started out as a humble game using font art (and laid out in Libre Office Writer!). But! In the years since, Cozy Town has become such a beloved game. I wanted to create the a shiny version of the game!

I put together a sweet 90s inspired PC layout and A.G. Reeder created truly lovely art. Alex did so much to create the amazing energy of the game, with very little direction from me. Cozy Town became an entirely new game thanks to his work!!

Over the years, I've heard so many lovely stories of folks playing with family, friends, classmates, and by themselves. I've seen the most fun maps and heard wonderful stories. I'm honored that the game has touched so many hearts.

I'm so proud of this game, and I owe much its design framework to Avery Alder's The Quiet Year and Dream Askew (one of my favorite descriptions from folks about Cozy Town is "The Quiet Year, but not depressing and, really happy, actually." hah!)

Cozy Town is a great way to introduce folks to the wonderful world of TTRPGs, but it's also just a fun game to play when you want to chill and have a good time.

You can find the game on itchio at the link below! The itch page has recordings of Cozy Town being played on stream, and at the bottom of the page there's a video from Dicebreaker where the game was featured!

I'm really grateful for the folks who talked about the game and enjoyed it. The support over the years and the successful itchfunding meant I could afford to work with other creatives to work on the final version!

My health has finally improved enough that I can add the last pieces of art from Alex, so the FINAL (???!!!) version of the PDF should be up soon. (I mean, the version you can get now is 99.999% there haha)

There's an audiobook version that's coming out in 2023, and maybe a few more surprises? Who knows! I hope you check out the game and tell folks about it!

Indie TTRPGs are full of varied experiences that celebrate different ways of playing. If Cozy Town isn't your cup of tea, I hope you check out another indie TTRPG, play it, and tell people about it!

[indierpgnewsletter]

Indie RPG Link Roundup - 05/02/2023

It’s the beginning of Zine Month (and Zine Quest) and there are hundreds of zine projects that are going to launch across February. If you feel like browsing, check out the Zine Month site. I’ll shout out two projects being run by folks from the Global South.

Argentinian designer, Armanda Haller’s Grandmothership, which mashes together Honey Heist, Brindlewood Bay, and Mothership to make a game about grannies in space. It’s on Crowdfundr, a new platform that’s accessible in countries that are blocked by Kickstarter.

There’s also Hit the Road, Jack by Filipino designer Kyle Tam which is a one or two person game about a thrilling chase between a vengeful lawman and a criminal trying to escape their sins. There’s a great actual play on Party of One if you want to check it out. It’s itchfunding so the number of sales decide the amount of additional content and design in the game.

Now Links of the Week

RPG Theory

Really interesting! An excerpt from Paul Czege’s new zine The Ink That Bleeds, about how to play immersive journalling games: “I think of this process as “write to find out,” and I think it’s necessary to a journaling game for it to be immersive.”

An article after my own heart. Videogame designer Tanya X Short (Boyfriend Dungeon, among others) writes in praise of messiness: “When I meet with other experienced game designers, we find ourselves admitting to fascination with decidedly inelegant game designs, and envious of those designers that permit themselves this kind of latitude.”

An interesting read about using Netrunner cards like a tarot deck and telling a story with them. It feels a bit like what I thought CCGs were as a kid before I actually knew anything about them.

Misc

On Polygon, Gamefound discusses their progress as a crowdfunding platform and their goal of eating into Kickstarter’s stranglehold.

Matthew Gravelyn collected data from 125 game designers/publishers on itch and published a report with some data visualizations to show the results. Interesting results, useful for any solo designer who publishes games.

Black Armada Games talks about almost getting scammed by someone pretending to be an artist by using other people’s art.

A database of RPGs or SRDs with open licenses

If you don’t subscribe to the Indie Press Revolution newsletter, it’s another good way to keep up with the indie games.

Applications for the Diana Jones Emerging Game Designer award are open.

Alongside #RPGSEA and #RPGLatAm, there is now a hashtag for tabletop games form South Asia: #saRPG.

If you want to support the Indie RPG Newsletter, please head to the patreon:

[goodsleepcoll]

Next up, our JimmyShelter aka Peter is Itchfunding his ttrpg. Check out the link for more information: https://jimmyshelter.itch.io/pine-shallows

[harperthejay]

Hullo!

I wanted to share a bit of what's going on behind the scenes for me at the moment. I always talk about how I get distracted by projects, so I wanted to do two things: figure out exactly how many projects I have going on right now; and let people know what I've got in the works!

After the Great Beast has already been released, but I'm working on a decent sized update to it. This is very similar to what I did with Substitution; I released it as a one-page game to get it out there, then updated it with more detailed rules, progression systems, and lore. That's what I'm doing with AtGB; new rules, expanded weapon and armor mechanics, progression system, bestiary, lore, the whole kit and kaboodle! AtGB: Expanded Edition is getting very close to completion, and I'm super excited for this one.

Minted in Blood is my largest project to date, and one I've been working on for many months. It's made with the Charge system, a personal favorite, and it's meant as an homage to games like Final Fantasy VI; fantastical stories, personal drama, character driven plots, oppressive empires, plucky heroes, and of course, magic and magic-powered technology. I'm really stoked for this one too, folks. I plan on itchfunding this project when it gets closer to completion, and while that makes me really nervous, it will also let me create what I hope to be an awesome product. I've already reached out to an artist to get some prices, so I can start budgeting! It's still a ways out, but I hope you're all gonna like this one as much as I do.

The Church Sucks Because They Won't Let You F*** Dragons started out as a silly little game, and ended up turning into a pretty cool punk story about fighting against an oppressive church for the rights and lives of dragons. Development has paused for the time being, as I got distracted by the projects above, but I definitely wanna come back to it soon. One note about TCSBTWLYFD; while it started as a LUMEN project, I think I'm going to be moving it to Hopes & Dreams. This isn't anything against LUMEN (as you'll see below), but more that I was trying to force that system on to my game, instead of letting the game breathe in another system. I'll release info about the switch when I start working on it again!

The Neverending Dungeons of Chaos is one of my earliest games, and much like AtGB and Substitution before it, I've been wanting to go back and rework it for a while. It was initially created using Caltrop Core (a fantastic system!), but I realized earlier this year that LUMEN is perfectly suited to the game. As with the above projects, I'll definitely make some announcements when I start working on it again.

The other four projects that are on the backburner and/or in the conceptual phase right now are: Octomech, Superhero Robin Hoods, Vitrification, and You're Never Alone in the Hundred Acre Wood. The first two are very very light concepts at this point, but with the other two, I've started making some preliminary notes on possible systems and details. Vitrification is actually a sequel game to Substitution, taking place in the 2300s. It will be a kind of cyberpunk game about inventing time travel to avert the apocalypse - I promise it'll make sense! Substitution is a game about time travel, and Vitrification is a game about making sure the Substitution Initiative comes to fruition. I'm pretty stoked about this one. AND FINALLY, You're Never Alone in the Hundred Acre Wood is something I've been working on here or there for months now. Ever since Winnie-the-Pooh has entered the public domain (just the first book!), actually. Details are light, but think Winnie-the-Pooh meets Mickey Mouse Clubhouse; players will be animals, stuffed animals, or maybe other things, helping out Pooh and Piglet and the others with tasks that need done, before sitting down to have nice chats with friends. It's gonna be wholesome and warm.

WHEW. That was a long post, folks! Thanks for hanging in with me, and I hope you found something to be excited about. I'm always happy to answer questions, so please, feel free to ask if you have any.

Happy Holidays, and I hope you're all doing well!

Harper

[capacle]

I keep thinking of the double-edged sword of partial success.

On one hand, they do help move the story forward. On the other hand, coming up with complications every time can be taxing.

That got me thinking: what if we reversed the way we look at partial success?

See, a partial success is usually seen as taking away from a full success. It is a ‘success, but…’.

You start with the assumption that you did the thing, but then you take a step back and inject a cost, a complication, or a choice.

I love it, but it can be overwhelming.After the 6th partial success in a row, you're like: “You convince the prince, but… I don’t know, you twist your ankle or something, I don’t care. Let’s move on.”

I've tackled this problem in different ways. Mechanizing it, hand-waving it, offering prompts and tables… They work, but I kept exploring. And that led me to the idea of looking at partial success from the other end.

What if we did the opposite? What if we started from a failure, and built up towards success with costs? Would it help with narrating partial success if we could pick and choose a few costs to work our way towards success?

So in my current project, I adopted this.

You roll 2d6 and need to get a 10+ (which is hard). If you don't, you can buy your success by spending different resources.

Let's see an example:

With a determined yell, I lunge forward, my blade slicing through the air towards the guard. I roll a 7, not enough for a successful strike. I spend one Vigor, representing the sharp sting of the guard's counterattack grazing my side. I also spend one Gear, as my sword hums with a magical energy. Lastly, I spend 1 Resolve. The guard's strength has caught me off guard, a flicker of fear igniting in my chest. With vigor, gear, and resolve combined, I reach the threshold, turning my near miss into a solid hit.

You see what I see?

It feels like you conquered a hit, instead of having your success tainted by costs, although it is technically the same thing.

Is it just me?

Looking at my resources and spending them as a little puzzle to get to my success threshold made the act of incorporating these costs into the narrative more natural to me.

Perhaps the feeling that you are investing into a success is a more powerful incentive to do so?

Anyway, I thought it was pretty exciting to explore this concept. So much so that it ended up being the core of a new game. And I’m itchfunding it right now!

If you want to see this mechanic (and some of its cool variations) in action, check it out!

[sashadreadful-moving]

workin on compass fell for itchfunding,,, might end up buplishing game

[scithemodestmermaid]

I have a couple of random sales going on for the next two weeks.

Three journaling RPGs for three dollars: click here!

HUNT3R is free for the heck of it, but donations are highly requested: click here!

And the itchfunding campaign to help get Clash Complete on Steam starts on Saturday.

[binarystargames]

Valiant Horizon is out!

Valiant Horizon is finally out! You can get it here! (You can also see various other posts I've made about it on tumblr by clicking that valiant horizon tag.)

Valiant Horizon is a game that features: 

Lightweight, fast-paced tactics powered by Total//Effect.

12 unique classes representing archetypes of ancient heroes, each with their own unique traits and powers. 

A Relationships and Bonds system that ties you to to the friends you make along the way. 

A Reputation system that tells you what kind of heroes your characters are seen as.

A strong emphasis on retelling the memories of ancient heroes to create a setting at your table. 

It's also going to have incredible art for each of those classes! I'm itchfunding so I'm less in the hole for that, haha.

You can back at as low as $15 (which gets you the game right now in its current extremely playable and text-complete state, sans editing and art) or as high as $120 (which gets you the game, all expansions, and I'll write you a new class).

Check it out here! https://binary-star-games.itch.io/valiant-horizon

[ostrichmonkey-games]

Hey! Just launched the itch page for my newest project: Vibe Check - Enter the Inversion. Link at the bottom of the page!

Vibe Check is an illuminated by LUMEN tabletop role-playing game for 3-6 players inspired by The World Ends With You.

Players take on the roles of Players in the Watcher's Game - a week long challenge with the prize being another shot at life, while another player takes on the role of the Game's Master to introduce complications and consequences the Players must overcome as they fight to survive the Watcher's Game.

Vibe Check features LUMEN's fast paced dice pool system, tailored for action filled combat and paired with plenty of powers and cool abilities.

Players choose one of six Archetype, each with their own unique starting ability, and then customizes and powers up their characters with Tokens and Looks.

Tokens - physical manifestations of your soul - unleash action and chaos on the battlefield and combo with your fellow for wild effects.

Looks - clothing and accessories that determines your health and augments your attributes and powers with special tags.

Fight the Pandemonium within the Inversion to earn new Tokens and rewards. Upgrade and buy more powerful gear. Survive the Watcher's Game.

During a typical session, players will complete one or more Missions given to them by the Watchers. Missions center around combat encounters which are fast-paced and action packed. Players are encouraged to get creative in applying their Tokens and powers to create cool combos with other players.

The table can play Missions as standalone combat scenarios or string them together into campaigns over multiple Loops where players explore the Inversion, power up to eventually face the Watchers and uncover the true motivations and secret schemes behind their mysterious Game.

Vibe Check is a part of the Lux Collective currently Itchfunding through August 2021! The money raised during this period will go toward more cool art and extra written content.

If you like The World Ends With You, and/or fast paced action, check it out!