📣 New solo RPGs, actual plays, Zine Month wrap-up, and more

1. New GMless games and tools

🪲 Catalyst Cards

This 18-card deck provides prompts to inspire story ideas in solo and co-op tabletop RPGs. The prompts establish the scene, present challenges, reveal clues, create characters and creatures, increase tension, and more. A booklet explains the narrative benefits of each prompt.
Catalyst Cards | itch | $5.00

👑 To Swear on Your Honor

In this 64-page solo game you play a romantic knight embarking on quests to protect innocents and the reputation of a sovereign. Your knight has a Legend and four stats — strength, swiftness, gallantry, and cunning. Create the world and your knight, then guide them through randomly generated perils and intrigues.
To Swear on Your Honor | itch | $5.00

📚 The Librarian’s Apprentice

In this solo journaling game, you explore a great library that exists in a space between worlds and time. As an apprentice, you must retrieve six documents requested by your librarian before the day is out. Created with the Firelights Creator Kit.
The Librarian's Apprentice | itch | $5.00

🌻 Iron Valley

In this solo game, move into a small community and start a new life. Maybe you’ll restore your family’s farm, explore the mysterious forest, or fall in love. Iron Valley captures the feeling of cozy Life Sim video games like Animal Crossing and Stardew Valley. A hack of Irownsworn, this beta release runs over 100 pages and is free with an optional donation.
Iron Valley | itch | Free

Follow this link to all the latest solo games on itch.

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2. Solo and co-op actual plays

Actual play (AP) shows, where gamers record themselves playing tabletop RPGs, have played a big part in bringing the hobby into the mainstream. The Adventure Zone got me back into RPGs after 20 years. Some of today’s most interesting APs are from players of solo and co-op indie games. 

Party of One, hosted by Jeff Stormer, focuses on two-player RPG experiences. Each week, he plays a new game system, often with its creator, completing a full story in an hour. Jeff has been hosting the show, produced by Jen Frank, since 2015; there are over 350 episodes in the backlog.

No other podcast spotlights as many voices, games, and stories. They range from comedic to intense but they always come across as personal. Jeff says creating the rapport takes work:

• “My #1 job is to make my guests feel comfortable so the best game comes out. We always tailor our game to the guest; whether that means it’s a game they’ve designed, or it’s a game we’ve chosen for them.”

• Off mic, Jeff provides a guest packet which outlines the recording process and safety protocols.

• “We start our recording with five or so minutes of casual conversation, to help the mics fall away. And I make sure to check-in during the process to make sure everyone is comfortable and happy.”

Jeff recommends starting with the hilarious episode, The My Little Pony RPG Alex Pearlman Found in His House When He Moved In. It showcases the attention Jeff brings to each show — learning the rules, sharing the spotlight, and tying all the pieces together in an entertaining hour.

He has two new APs launching in the coming year: Jeff Stormer: Podcaster for Hire, a Rockford Files-inspired mystery-of-the-week show about a hapless would-be detective solving vaguely podcast-related cases and Truepenny Tales, an actual play/audio drama using his Anyone Can Wear the Mask system.

The Bad Spot, hosted by Matt Risby, is a YouTube actual play/audio drama utilizing the Ironsworn: Starforged system. The sci-fi story, which just completed its second season, follows a lonely scavenger, his malfunctioning survey bot, and a determined stowaway.

The show is polished and tight, with a laser focus on characters. The episodes have momentum, with Matt keeping the story moving forward, even when rolling dice to resolve combat or an encounter. I asked him how he keeps the pace going.

• “I think about the upcoming episode and where I'm going with the story and I'll make a lot of notes. Then I'll press record and narrate from those. When I come to a point where I'm stuck, or there is a narrative fork in the road, I'll stop and walk away and have a good long think about where the story could possibly go and what my characters would do. When I figure it out, I'll make some more notes and start playing again with a head full of ideas and possibilities and see where the dice take me.”

Matt doesn’t let the system get in the way of telling a good story. He approaches the show from a writer's perspective.

• “I'm playing a game for myself. But I'm also telling a story I want people to find engaging and connect with. Balancing those two things is tricky!”

The Bad Spot channel also features Matt’s excellent player guides for Ironsworn and Starforged. His advice, such as choosing moves that fit the fiction — not necessarily what’s most advantageous for a character, has improved my play significantly. I recommend watching Combat 101.

Matt is working on a new, non-solo project for the summer while his Starforged campaign is on break.

Interested in starting your own AP? 

• Differentiate: Before kicking-off a project, Jeff says, “Listen to other AP shows, and take inspiration from shows outside of AP. Find something about your show to differentiate it, beyond ‘we’re friends playing games.”

• Trust your instincts: When creating stories, Matt says, “Join the dots and make things matter. If you have a strong idea of something you want to happen, just make it happen! Sure, it's a game, but if you have a cool idea, put the dice down and narrate it!”

AP recommendations

• Jeff: Some Place to Be!, an AP podcast focused on a group of young adults investigating mysteries in their small town. “I love any show that spotlights a wide range of indie games, and this is a killer premise with a talented cast.”

• Matt: Errant Adventures, a solo RPG podcast from Steve Morrison. “We've done some guest appearances on each other's shows and he's such a natural, gifted storyteller.”

In the next newsletter I’ll be interviewing Tavon Gatling, the creator of another Starforged actual play/audio drama, Thunderfang, and Clare C. Marshall, author of the Let's Build Wingtorn series. 

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3. Zine Month survey

Following February’s crowdfunding events, I surveyed two dozen participants to get their feedback and advice for next year.

• 14 ran campaigns on Kickstarter, 8 on Crowdfundr, 1 on itch and 1 on their own website.

• 14 were solo projects and 7 were first-timers.

• 14 said they were likely to participate next year, 4 were undecided, and 6 said they were unlikely, citing competition or desire to release games on their own schedule.

Advice for 2024

📅 Start early: More than half of the respondents suggested creating content and beginning promotion early.

• Start talking about your games 1 to 3 months in advance.

• Send out press packs 2 months ahead.

• Plan social posts and project updates before you need them.

• Set up crowdfunding pages early to troubleshoot problems.

• Invest in great art and have it ready when you start promoting.

🗣️ Network: Several mentioned that Twitter has become a less-effective promotion platform. They recommended connecting with groups on Reddit and Discord, especially the Zine Month Discord.

• Make cross-promotion arrangements with other creators in advance.

• Paul Czege, who successfully funded The Ink That Bleeds said, “When project creators do updates during their campaigns about other campaigns they're excited about, it has more impact than lots of other promotions.”

⏳ Run a 2-week campaign: Campaigns that ran longer than 2 weeks saw diminishing returns. Dead periods during the middle of long campaigns and the pressure to keep promoting created unnecessary anxiety.

💰 Consider bigger tiers: Tim Obermueller, who exceeded $10,000 in funding for his Mothership adventure Hoss, suggested going big.

• “You gotta have a $30 to $40 tier with extra little goodies if you can. If you can do a $60 to $70 tier, do. This ‘super premium’ tier has accounted for about 40% of funding in my past 3 projects.”

• Don’t undervalue digital-only tiers. “Personally, I think your digital-only tier should be (priced) close to your physical tier, especially during Zine Month. Most of the work goes into making the book, not printing it.”

• Ask creative partners to make content which can be used as stretch goals.

😀 Stay positive: Several creators mentioned the stress of running a campaign.

• “It is important to stay positive and remember that even if a campaign fails, that doesn't reflect on you as a creator,” said Anna Blackwell, who had one of her toughest campaigns ever with Golf Quest. “There are a million factors that you have no control over so take some time, grieve as much as you need, and then keep going.”

• Luke Earl, who ran a successful campaign to fund an expansion of his Double D6 system, also encouraged people to enjoy themselves. “It’s basically a big, digital convention full of great ideas and good peoples.”

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4. Crowdfunder & Kickstarter pleased

Crowfundr, which launched eight months ago, saw Zine Month as an opportunity to introduce themselves to the tabletop RPG community. Their president, David Barach, told me:

• "We were especially pleased to support first-time creators and creators from countries that aren’t well supported by the other available platforms, such as those in Latin America, as Crowdfundr is able to run campaigns in over 200 countries and territories."

• Crowdfundr hosted 50 campaigns and raised over $150,000 from 4,683 contributions as of March 12, with 20 campaigns still running.

• David said they have completed a post-Zine Month analysis and have several ideas for next year, but from their perspective, this was a successful first run.

Kickstarter hasn’t released stats for their fifth Zine Quest, but Director of Outreach Nick Yulman said February numbers alone show this year’s event had significant growth in both amount pledged and number of projects launched.

• Participation increased from both first-time Kickstarter creators and repeat creators.

• Zine Quest projects continued to succeed at a high rate (about 90%).

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5. Last roll 🎲

Check out the amazing journal art Apothecaria players are sharing in the Blackwell Games Discord. Here are a few from Samantha Smith.

To share your art, story ideas, game recommendations, news, or ask a question, please leave a comment or message me on Twitter.