The Gaming Shelf Gets Outsourced (to Space!)

“In a world where life’s finality is an undeniable truth, a group of adventurers found themselves trapped in the most unlikely of prisons—the Mausoleum of the Deity of Death. Their existence extinguished, their souls ensnared by twisted fate. The promise of peaceful rest eluded them, replaced by the suffocating embrace of this otherworldly tomb.”

“The Progeny is a Programmed Adventure Game inspired by the old MicroQuests made for The Fantasy Trip and David Cronenberg’s classic film The Brood. You can play solo or wardenless using the included simplified Mothership rules and crawl procedure, or you can use the materials as a one-shot pamphlet adventure and player aids for use as a traditional Mothership module.”

“In the middle of Bonerland, beautiful moonlight stains the marble edifice of an old townhouse like spilled creamer on a coffee stained countertop. The shapes of the building and her side-house distorting and elongating in precious illumination. This vertiginous cornucopia of suffering is the Heartbreak Hotel, named thusly for the disposition of her patronage. We find inside some of the most miserable bastards this side of Transport Vein 17. Each table bears the linguistic fruit of a wide variety of heartbreaks. Death, disloyalty, and disdain copulate to form beautiful new imprecations muttered into glasses carved out of skulls. Such is the decor of the Hotel. Morbid. Gothic.”

“In Dukk Börg you are the treasure hunters and gizmo speakers that seek to be the richest ducks of a dying world. You will form your own clan of found family, hoping that together you’re smarter than the smarties and tougher than the toughies. You will face off against witches and crime syndicates, seek out ancient treasures, explore the doomed city of Dukk Börg and the surrounding Calikotan environs, and watch helplessly as apocalyptic psalms based on the classic theme song tick down to doom. Life is truly like a hurricane here in… Dukk Börg!”

“Afterwords: The Far Horizons Guide to Death is an anthology of short games and essays on the subject of death. With authors drawn from across the TTRPG space, and presented by the Far Horizons CoOp, this life-affirming book will challenge, delight, and intrigue players of all kinds of games.”

“Players in Beecher’s Bibles are Jayhawkers, Red Legs, Free-Staters; proud abolitionist militant guerrilla bands in 1850s Kansas, clashing with the pro-slavery forces of border ruffians and bushwhackers. A ‘Beecher’s Bible’ was the name given to the breech-loading Sharps rifle that was supplied to and used by anti-slavery forces during the Bleeding Kansas period (1854–1860). The name was inspired by the words and deeds of abolitionist minister Henry Ward Beecher of the New England Emigrant Aid Society.”

“Era: The Empowered is a superhero Tabletop RPG harnessing the power of the Era d10 system to bring the heroes and villains you create to life. Discover a super-powered world of gods and heroes, in the Definitive Edition of the critically-acclaimed TTRPG, and get new expansions!”

“Outsourced: The Luko Fin Corp Deception is a hardcover module, compatible with Mothership 1E. The module is complete with solo procedures and plays well with 1-6 people. Outsourced presents a mission outsourcing corporation woven through all slices of life. When you know too much, Luko Fin Corp is hired to make you disappear and fabricate the evidence of an accidental death.”

“Cottages & Cerberus is a cottagecore monster-slaying TTRPG. The game balances cozy gameplay, popular in farming/life sims, with brutal boss battles. Players defeat monsters to gain resources that can be used to craft items for their cottage and increase its cozy points. The game is designed to be quick to learn but also rewards system mastery.”

“Planet Fist is a Powered by the Apocalypse narrative wargame of satirical sci-fi skirmish storytelling and an independent total conversion hack of Claymore’s Fist.”

“Badger and Coyote is a duet TTRPG for a glass of wine on a lazy Sunday afternoon filled with adventurous woodland mischief. Tell tales of heartwarming, dangerous, and fanciful teamwork while overcoming challenges together.”

“Frontier Scum is a rules-lite Acid Western roleplaying game. An auto-destructive, violent and LSD-infused take on Spaghetti Westerns, about wanted outlaws making their mark on an unreal Lost Frontier. Probably getting shot before having the chance to shoot. A rough-and-tumble world of insatiable greed where scum live one slug from the grave. Inspired by such things as El Topo and Dead Man.”

“Worlds Away—a new independent actual-play podcast—has just released its first episodes. The show’s first season, titled Convergence, takes place 250 years in our future. After the end of humanity’s first interstellar civil war, the distant planets of a region known as the Verge will soon face a choice: to rejoin with Earth and its unified Republic, or to follow humanity’s first colony—a planet called Aventine—on the path toward independence.

“The first four episodes of Worlds Away are currently available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all other major platforms, and new episodes are released every other Wednesday. The game system for the first season is Impulse Drive, a Powered by the Apocalypse game by Adrian Thoen.”

“My First Dungeon Presents: Gertrude’s Birthday Surprise is an 8-part Yazeba’s Bed & Breakfast actual play limited series featuring a full cast from across the TTRPG community and beyond, bespoke sound design, and original music. This season is our ultimate love letter to Possum Creek’s innovative new game.”

(Disclosure: Linda Codega appears on two of these episodes. They did not receive any payment for their appearance.)

“Dice Company Podcast is the latest real-play TTRPG podcast. A group of old friends escaping the mundanity of the real world are now producing this podcast of their game sessions. Set in the fictional world of Elestia and specifically on the continent of Aethelon, the traditional medieval fantasy setting is giving way to a new era. Automatons, steamrunners and airships have become a reality and the old world is coming face-to-face with the new.”

“Wait, Roll That Again! follows host Alex as he attempts to design his first-ever TTRPG. Through conversations with designers from around the world like Jay Dragon, Michael Sands, and Ashley Warren, and rigorous playtesting with his gaming group, Alex tries to prove that game design is not only fun, but accessible for anyone! Wait, Roll That Again! combines interviews, actual play, and design discussions together in its first season to make a contained game design experience.”

“Severed Sons, a D&D podcast company, hosts two long-running campaigns: Rime of the Frostmaiden and Rolling in the Netherdeep. They additionally publish Side Quests with celebrity guest stars and Random Encounters, where every aspect from character creation to monsters and plot are randomly generated.”

• Tales From the Loop has a new supplement from Free League: They Grow Up So Fast.
• The submission deadline for the Ethical Games conference (January 10-11) has been extended to September 25. Please feel free to submit a paper or a talk.
• NorthStar releases two new games in September: Eila and Something Shiny and Inheritors.
• Urban Legends of The Lost Bay is a game jam for intradiegetic zines that might be found in the world of the TTRPG, The Lost Bay. 
• Matthew Lillard, Tyler Jacobson, and Kate Welch have collaborated to create Quest’s End whiskey, which will be available in four flavors, starting with Paladin.
• From September 29-October 1, Steve Hardwood will be running 12 games back to back across a 48-hour period, streamed live on the Sassypants Twitch channel, as a charity event for the Starlight Children’s Foundation.
• Monte Cook Games’ crowdfunding for The Magnus Archives has raised over $1.5 million.
• The Moonshot Podcast Network, an LGBTQ+ podcasting collective of creative voices and far-out ideas with over 20 active shows, is hosting its first-ever Moonshot Direct, at 9:00 p.m. ET on Wednesday, September 20.

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