This game pulls one of my favorite moves for building a picklist, which is making you pick things you ARE and ARE NOT from a single set of objects. There’s some really juicy ideas to put next to each other here! It also has some excellent “advancement/retirement” scenes for how each character’s story might end.
I also really liked the emphasis you put on how the environmental elements can present themselves differently for different maps/ships/seas/etc. I see it as, the same element can present itself in different ways and with different goals, rather than a setting element that permeates the world wearing various different forms.
An amazing way to hack in the adventures of mistrusted monster hunters! I love the method of describing how monsters interact with settlements, and how players have to navigate both investigating a potentially non-malicious monster and the locals' mistrust.
I went FUCKING WILD over the implied setting from the word go; this games opens with describing what investigators are and the role they play in a consensus society with no kings or cops; traveling Weird Little Guys who're called in to help figure out what happened before the community itself decides what to do.
The actual gameplay is very cool too: in act 1 every player gets chances to frame scenes where the detectives make discoveries, while using some really cool abilities. Then in act 2 everyone gets a chance to put together an explanation of what happened, structured by a blackjack-esque card game.
An amazing game for witches out in the middle of nowhere, where to be a witch is to be an overworked "doer of the grimly necessary." Opening by describing the GM-player relationship instead as "an asymmetrical, cooperative game" gives it a slightly different tone that I think is followed through on well with the option to voluntarily fail an action.
With a light hand, it paints a stark world I'm excited to explore. There are a few touches that remind me of the Discworld witches, but the game does not share that setting.
(included in the "Indie bundle for Palestinian aid")
You know that scene where all the characters are being interrogated separately, and the camera cuts between them and they're contradicting and backing each other up?
Something weird just happened that you can't quite remember and all fundamentally disagree about. Now you're being interrogated and playing the interrogators in turn.
This sure is a game that's happening to my eyes. I love it; the game is sweet, and it has hella Vibes. I think I'm gonna print the black and white version and find a box of crayons.
This is such a clever mechanic for both player-focused world-building, and generating dynamic character relationships focused on external objects or actions.
This is such a clever mechanic for both player-focused world-building, and generating dynamic character relationships focused on external objects or actions.
Provides a fantastic case for why you want to build a meta-sport-game, and then some great advice on what to consider in making something distinct that still fits within the RPG.
Provides a fantastic case for why you want to build a meta-sport-game, and then some great advice on what to consider in making something distinct that still fits within the RPG.
A wonderfully considered game wherein you construct a magical sword. Excellent both as a game itself, and to generate the story behind a magical sword.
Incredibly concise, and with a great tactile element (that can be translated to work online).
You've got time travel going into this heist, and the ability to split the timeline into alternate branches, but you have to worry about alerting your target or damaging the timeline.
The deliberate physicality of casting spells and the intentional and explicit antagonism of the GM role (though not the person-playing-GM) combine to make this an amazing game.
This game system is honestly inspired. So simple, yet so powerful, the decision of "how many fingers" depending on what you want, versus what you think the GM will do... Absolutely deserves to be hacked.
On one side, a fun game about talking with and caring for fellow pokemon. On the other, a vivid depiction of the ills haunting current pokemon healthcare.
A tangle of relationships, in a game played across two different times? Sign me up. And that's before mentioning the simple resolution mechanic which encourages hopping back and forth to see what's happening in both whens!
A Simple World style game with some tasty traits and a bit of crunch in the combat system. Light paranormal elements, which the table can season with to taste.
A lightweight game you can play any time you've got dice. Simple character creation and easy resolution mechanics make this easy to play with anyone, anywhere.
Just enough nudge to make remembering the importance of reviews fun, with a mechanic that means the longer you play, the more you'll want to leave reviews!
A system-agnostic setting pamphlet. You and your friends are giants trying to run these pesky Aesir out of our town, without getting in too much trouble!
Absolutely breathtaking. Begins with a short essay on morality and choices that I already know I'm going to come back to again and again.
Not only shows how to make a colossal beast truly seem huge in a game, but also discussed why decisions were made, which gave me a greater appreciation for how things work.
