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Hi everyone!

May was one of those months that just spun and spun until everything was upside down. Halfway through the month, I felt like I was living in the "Lemon, it's Wednesday" meme. I'm guessing that a lot of other folks have been having a busy month too, so I have extended the jam deadline until July 5, giving folks an extra month-and-a-bit to work on entries. 

May the odds be ever in your favor! 

I love that - and hey, maybe it's not so lofty at all! (I actually extended the jam deadline because I don't know about everyone else but my May has been WILD, so I am giving folks some extra time!)

This is excellent, thank you for sharing!! 

Hello! I just finished up and released my free, one-page Lasers & Feelings hack, In Want Of A Wife. 

"Fortune or not, a Single Man is now in possession of a Dinner Invitation, and will be spending his evening with your family… imminently. You are a group of  unmarried sisters, each with your own feelings and opinions about this guest. Survive dinner with your reputation in tact, no matter what the guest (and/or your scheming mother) has in store."

Inspired by Jane Austen, specifically Pride & Prejudice, it's meant to be lighthearted, funny, and simple to play in one-shot. Lasers & Feelings felt like the perfect system to hack - instead of creating an alien, the GM creates a Houseguest - a Single Man who will soon descend upon your home: 

GM and Player options will definitely have a lot of things you're familiar with from the original Lasers & feelings, with their own twist. 

• Character creation options focus on archetypes, personalities, and a skill that you're good at - not all the archetypes are positive, but I personally think it'd be a lot of fun to play a sister who was a ridiculous flirt. (Hello, Lydia Bennet!)  
• Instead of designing a space ship, you design the house that your family lives in.  
• Instead of Lasers vs. Feelings, we have Pride vs. Sense - how do you balance societal norms and expectations with whims and your own free will? 

The game is: 

• one-page
• black-and-white
• easy to print
• free! 

If it sounds like something you'd be interested in, feel free to grab it! 

Hello everyone! The Jam has officially begun, and if you're like me, you were totally going to start working on an entry right away... and you haven't yet. I'm curious to know what folks are thinking about making! In case it's a helpful jumping off point, I wanted to share what I'm working on - and what I'm thinking about working on, in a perfect world where I have time to do FIVE sets of five for the "Make 5" jam. (I will not have time.) 

• I've been kicking around the idea of some setting pieces for MOSAIC Strict for a while now, and this might be the perfect opportunity. I love the modular aspect of MOSAIC, and I'm trying to track down more content written in/for this system/format. I've been feeling drawn to sci fi novels lately, and I'd probably have some aspects of that genre in my collection. This is the "shorter" of my two main project ideas. 
• I found some awesome Affinity 2 pamphlet templates by Bammax Games, and the templates include a gatefold brochure, which I hadn't really considered for layout before. Now that it's in my head, though, I am toying with the idea of using the format for little TTRPG settings. This is the "longer" of my two main project ideas. 
• I love, love, LOVE hacking one-page games, and I think that even outside of the context of this jam, I've hacked Honey Heist five times. (Not all of them are on itch, though.) I'm thinking about a little set of hacks, though whether I hack another game five times or hack five different games remain to be seen. This is the idea that I definitely won't have time for, even though it's ironically the one I've made the most progress on so far. 
  • I already did a Lasers and Feelings game this month, so IF I keep going, I could already be on my way to a set of five! 
  • I'd be interested to know what your favorite one-page game systems are. No reason. 

This isn't my resource but I'll admit it's one I refer back to constantly: The wonderful duo behind Shouting Crow have an itch collection that was made for the Below A Bad Moon jam once upon a time, and it has lots of short-game SRD references in it. I'm telling you, I go back to that collection all the time. It makes me wish it was easier to search for collections on itch. I should probably bookmark it now, while I'm thinking about it. 

Here are some questions, if you want: 

1. What are you working on for the jam? 
2. What is the link you're envisioning? 
3. What can you do NOW to set yourself up for success as the month goes on? 

Lovely game and lovely layout design. 

This made me laugh - I feel like you've created a strong character here with Ron, and that's particularly fun and special when a game is so short in word constraint. Very excited to cause some grocery store scenes. Is it bad that I'm almost hoping the dice stick me with the "get escorted out" ending? 

This is such a sweet little game! I like the use of a time constraint to create urgency and close the loop of helping - it encourages the player to focus on what is most helpful. I love the idea of looping it over time; I think this sets up solid replay value. Nicely done!

Thank you!!

Yes, absolutely!!! Please feel free to do so!

Oh my gosh I'm so glad you enjoyed it! Also I love your play-through - you really captured such beautiful imagery. I like that you based it on a bridge that you're familiar with, and also I loved your idea of rolling a d100 for age. Do you mind if I share a link to your write-up on my bsky? 

I hope that if you do end up getting to play the rest of the series, you enjoy it just as much as this one! 

This is such a kind and lovely review, thank you so much! Sorry it took me a minute to get back to you - funny enough, I was in the middle of working on a big update to this game specifically. The prompts are mostly the same with some tweaks, but I modified how the game ends, did a whole new layout, and added some 'extended gameplay' options to increase that replayability. 

I'm really glad you were able to snag a Community Copy, and I hope that you'll enjoy checking out the updated version if you end up replaying it! 

-Maggie

Hmm give this one a try! https://discord.gg/CwbHwPpcAw

I'll update the page too but here's a join link for you! I always forget how quickly those expire. :) Thanks for the request!! https://discord.gg/YKCjm22f

Hahaha so glad you enjoyed your time as a Parent In A Children's Book, even if that time was very short! 

I'm SO excited to hear that you're interested in making rolling tables - first of all, because it's a great opportunity for a pun, of course. But the reason I include rolling tables in the list of things that are welcome for this jam is because I love them! And I think they're such a great resource for folks to use in their tabletop gameplay. I don't know if I'm going to have time for two entries this year but if I do, I might do some rolling tables myself. (My current plan is a short system agnostic adventure module!) 

In addition to your excellent passenger, luggage, event table things - here are some things that I think could be really fun rolling table lists, whether you want to make them yourself or someone else wants to run with them! 

• Train cars themselves, especially on a fright train or a train with a variety of cars. 
• Train station names and/or short descriptions
• Conductors and station managers and other train staff

Another resource that could be really fun is something that includes timetables and schedules. I'm not necessarily positive it needs to be formatted AS a rolling table, and I'm not sure I completely understand my own vision here, but I'm throwing it out there in case it sparks inspiration for someone. 

Hi everyone! I come bearing some exciting news - Tabletop Train Jam 2025 is officially live! I moved it up a month, so the jam will run in October instead of November this year, but you should check it out if you're interested in joining us for yet another year of TRAIN GAMES!

I have a busy few weeks coming up so I wanted to get the jam page live NOW and give folks a chance to get excited. That said, I'll hopefully be adding some more resources over the next month or so before the jam actually starts on October 1st.

By popular demand, 2025 Jam will now feature a BUNDLE! 50% of proceeds will go to the game designers, and 50% will go to charity! Provided I get everything set up with itch correctly!

I just released By Way Of Starlight on itch for the One-Page RPG Jam 2025 and the Build A Better World TTRPG Jam! It's a solo game, though multiplayer guidelines are provided at the end for an optional group version. 

In this game:

• You play as a star, collecting wishes that you hear from your spot in the night sky.
• Use specific prompts to help you generate those wishes, one by one. 
• Explore the backstory behind those wishes to learn more about the reasons they were made. 
• Choose one wish to grant - and spin out how it comes true in a little epilogue. 

It's pretty quick to sit and play, and because you are limited to single index cards, it feels a little faster than a traditional journaling game. It's $2.99, but there are plenty of community copies and I'll be re-upping them especially while the One-Page Jam is still going on. Your purchase comes with the full-color version, a black-and-white version that's more printer friendly, and a text-only version for maximum accessibility. 

I also did a little play-through and photographed my index cards below, just to give you a better sense of how the game looks visually! It took about an hour, though if you sat with things even longer than I did, it might take up to two hours. (Or if you wanted to write more than six wishes!)  I hope these photos can give you a sense of how sweet but simple this game is - I really wanted to make something that felt satisfying as a solo play experience, but that didn't take a super long time, or a really intensive start-up commitment. If this game interests you, I'd love for you to give it a chance!

EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS DELIGHTS MY SOUL. Laughing Lark Games has done it again!!! I didn't know how much I needed this game to exist until I put it in my eyeballs. 

I am SO glad you both made the game AND pushed back against that anxiety and published it anyway. I've never found much point in arguing what is or isn't worth making a game about. Everyone's taste is so personal, and that's why a multitude of games exist! I have gained so much joy and comfort in reading through all the beautiful entries for this jam, and I haven't even finished going through all the ones that caught my eye. Your game is just as important as the other games, and it's quite timely, and I'm grateful I get to be one of the folks connecting with it! 

Oh, how this hit me! 

It's concise, it's well-written, it's a very strong premise - AND - honestly my favorite thing about it is the design and layout you used. You gave each page so much space, you let the words fully consume the page. 

It reminded me of how vast and scary the ocean can be, especially in this context. It made me think about how if I were there in that raft, I might feel like that - both like there was a vastness around me, AND like the folks there in the boat with me were the whole world. 

I just wanted to share this reflection. Really lovely game! 

This game is beautifully written, eerily simple, and wow Jo's art suits it so well. 

I wanted to note specifically that I think your word choices here are so elegant. I think it takes a confidence and carefulness to, rather than go, "How do I maximize every single word of the 36 I'm allowed," instead sit in the space of, "How can I use those words to evoke a specific mood, make someone feel a certain way." It's one of my favorite things about more lyrical style games, and here you are, doing that AND nailing a simple but effective mechanic/win condition? 

Well done! 

Oh I adore this!!! As a letter-writer myself, I really appreciate the call to action, and I really enjoy that there's a win either way. It captures how I feel about writing letters: It's not necessarily about getting that reply back, or the equivalence of the reply, but instead it's a way to show someone I am thinking of them, and a way to spread a little bright moment in the distressing thing that is our world right now. 

Plus, I stan the U.S. Postal Service, and I love any excuse to use a stamp!

I'm so glad this comment made you feel so seen! I'm still thinking about this game today, to be honest, so really, again, well done on your design work and ability to catch hold of a player's mind. 

I hope you don't mind, I took the liberty of mentioning your game as a beautiful parallel to FinleyJinley's game "You Persist" - I think that game frames a similar experience as (what feels to me like) the other side of the coin - that taking a step back, and allowing life to continue. I mentioned to them that these two games sit like little neighbors in my mind, in the best possible way, and I wanted to share that with you as well! 

This is such a poignant little game! I particularly love how well it speaks for itself - you've put so much narrative into the 36 words and I appreciate that you are letting that stand on its own. 

I think what I enjoy most about this is the simplicity of the prompt 'why' - because there are so many ways to answer that. I almost feel like this would make a lovely bookmark to keep in a cozy book by the bedside for reading when waking up late at night. (Which puts me in mind of your contextual note, about your chronic pain flare-up.) 

I like that even though the experience is not necessarily pleasant, nor even likely to be so, you've framed it as something that you are able to overcome. 

It reminds me of a comment I made on Deric Bindel's game "There Is A Hole In Your Chest," also made for this jam - in my comment I noted how artfully they capture the immediacy of grief/pain/dysphoria/other types of ache, and how hard it can be to take a step back. This game feels like the other side of the coin in my head; you experience that pain AND you persist. In my own little game library in my mind I think these two pieces are companions, and I hope neither of you are upset with me for drawing them together in this way, despite the fact that they're both beautifully different pieces that stand on their own! 

We persist! 

Aw thank you! I'm so glad you do!!

This comment almost made me cry! Thank you for seeing the game, and loving it, and CONGRATULATIONS for the therapy moments you've made it through. You're rad and you've got this! It's nice to be nice to yourself!!

Thank you for reading it!! I'm so, so glad you found it meaningful. 

Thank you so much for this comment, you're welcome & I'm so glad the game resonated for you. 

I really love this game; I think it's elegantly written. What a lovely stylistic choice to split "something" and "anything" into two words each, despite the constraint it puts on your word count, so that you could be so careful and deliberate with your writing. The kind of game that reads like a poem. 

Mechanically, I love it. I love this idea that there is no long-term relief for the grief in this specific situation. I think you nailed the blend of mechanic and metaphor. As someone who has dealt with grief and mental health challenges, that means a lot to me to see reflected so candidly. 

In my mind, there is a bigger-picture zoom-out to the metaphor of this game, which is that this is not the way to heal a hole in your chest. But it also makes me think about how when you're in that moment and experiencing that pain, literally or metaphorically, it can be really challenging to do anything other than try to get respite. 

Apologies for the ramble. Really love this game. Thanks for making it! 

I really love this game! Punch cards are such a fun little format, and I think this is a clever way to engage with the surroundings.

I'm so glad the extension worked out for you!!!! Also your game looks so fun I can't wait to read it properly! I LOVE train maps and I am obsessed with the idea of playing on an actual train; really excited to take this out onto the public transit in my area! 

Completely get it. Deadline is extended by two weeks!!! I love the idea - very much looking forward to seeing how you adapt the premise into game inspiration. 

It makes me so excited that you were so excited!!!! Can't wait to take a look at your first submission - I did extend the deadline if you find yourself with time to pull together the second, but no worries. I hope your IT department had fun!!

Ooh excited to see your submission! And I have extended the deadline. I went ahead and gave everyone two more weeks - one week didn't feel like enough purely because all the winter holidays fall right during that week, so I hope that this actually means folks get more of a chance to wrap up their submissions! :)

Hello, Train Jammers!

This jam has been chugging along and it's hard for me to believe we only have ONE WEEK until it pulls into the station. I have enjoyed taking a look at the two games posted so far, and I can't wait to look at those in more depth and also read the rest of the submissions that y'all are working so hard on right now. On that note - does anyone need me to extend the deadline? I'd be happy to add more time; I know this is a particularly busy time of year for a lot of people. 

In addition to that, I'd love to hear more about how your projects are going! Feel free to answer any or all of the following questions: 

1. What are you working on? What's your core premise, what type of game is it, what makes you excited to get a working game together for the Tabletop Train Jam? 
2. What type of train, train mechanic, or moment in train history (or future!) inspired your train game? 
3. What's one thing that has surprised and delighted you about working on your train game?
4. What's one challenge you've run into? 
5. Have you taken any cool train trips recently? 

Please feel free to let me know if a little more time would make your life easier. 

We're jumping in soon because I'm too excited! Let me know if you have any questions, comments, or concerns! I'm here to help. 

If you're looking to discuss this jam and your entry in more depth, you might want to join the TTRPG Collective discord server, where there is a whole thread dedicated to the jam and some folks already brainstorming their ideas. It's an awesome community of folks who uplift and celebrate each other. 

Just released a new cozy tabletop role playing game, and have put it on sale alongside another similar game of mine! Get either game for 50% off, or an extra fifty cents off on top of that when you buy them as a bundle! Just Passing Through celebrates friendship over time (and over a cup of tea), and Together & Ever celebrates queer community. I hope they capture the cozy feeling of autumn-moving-into-winter for you!

Just Passing Through is a cozy fantasy inspired, gm-less duet armchair role playing game. It tells the story of two childhood friends coming back together after one has gone off on grand quests with an adventuring party, and one has stayed at home, living a life that may be more ordinary, but is no less beautiful as a result. As the Voyager passes through town, they stop to visit the Villager. As the old friends share a cup of tea, they pick up where they left off.

You Will Need...

• A deck of playing cards with jokers
• Two players with enough time for a conversation
• A comfortable space to sit together
• An easy way for both players to access the game book
• A warm beverage for each player
• The safety tool(s) of your choice

Some sample questions from the deck's prompts are below: 

Together & Ever is a gm-less, cozy storytelling game for 2-4 players about the intertwined lives of woodland animals, inspired by Frog and Toad. It celebrates queer community, found family, and the simple joys of a quiet life. In this game, you both play as, and advocate for, a specific character, but you are also the co-writer of a grand, charming story. You can return to this world over and over again and play as many sessions as you’d like, collecting volumes over time. 

You Will Need...

• 2-4 players
• A method to write down your stories
• Safety tools of your choice
• Optional Extras
  • A d20 and/or d100 to roll from the tables
  • A handful of dice if you decide to make a drop map
  • A queer or nature themed tarot or oracle deck to pull cards for story inspiration

Thank you so much! It really was a fun and special one to write. And it was also a great exercise in genuinely thinking about the safety tools that would suit the format. I’ve never felt the need to break into LARP safety tools before, but realized it was an important intersection for a game formatted as a conversation.  

Thank you so much! I really enjoyed writing the question list, and thought a lot about what might be a meaningful topic, so that feedback is much appreciated!