Friends!

I'm thrilled to announce SHRINES: Sites of Reverence & Power, a forthcoming riso-printed worldbuilding zine from my little press Empty Mountain (Nothing Can Die) for exploring sacred architecture and devotional practice in analog adventure games.

Coming to Kickstarter this February for Zine Quest 5

Contents:

• 12 illustrated spreads of micro-fiction and system-agnostic gameplay hooks, each offering a distinct and evocative site for game masters to embed in their worlds.

  Players can…

  • Project their minds over cloud and kingdom from the Pagoda of Kiran the Eye
  • Attract disciples by returning lost treasure-scrolls to the Shrine of the Hidden Word
  • Climb the megafauna Orm the Inexorable to meet historical figures in the Arbor of Time
  • More!

• Procedural tools for generating shrines, rituals, visitors, and atmospheric detail.
• Critical theory on real-world shrines and their functional use in games.

Sample spread:

Product Specs:

• Risolve Studio of Lancaster, PA will riso-print SHRINES as a 28-page, 11x7” zine on saddle-stiched Springhill Vellum 67lb stock (details may slightly change).
• The base version will include two colors of ink (the stock itself acting as a third), but the Kickstarter campaign will likely include stretch goals that add a third ink and/or other improvements.

Risolve Studio in Lancaster, PA

Creators:

• Writing by James Pianka, a systems and narrative designer in the game industry (Magic: the Gathering, State of Decay 2) with fieldwork and publication history in Buddhist philosophy.
• Art and layout by Conner Fawcett, an illustrator, costume designer, and sculptor working in tabletop roleplaying games (Wanderhome, Lancer, World Ending Game) and adjacent media.
• Cultural consultation by Khenpo Pema Wangdak, a Tibetan Buddhist scholar of the Sakya school and founder of the Vikramaśila Foundation; and Jeremy McMahan, a museum educator (Guggenheim Museum, Rubin Museum of Art) and scholar of Himalayan religious history.