[Q&A] Graham Gentz (Under the Autumn Strangely)

[7:30 PM]Graham Gentz Loves To Playtest: Hello hello! I’m Graham Gentz (he/they). I’m a facilitator and game designer living in NJ outside of NYC. I am also occasionally a puppet. You can check out my itch here: grahamgentz.itch.io(edited)

[7:31 PM]Graham Gentz Loves To Playtest: I wrote “Under the Autumn Strangely”, a pastoral horror game of anachronistic Americana in a land that Never Was. Inspired by “Over the Garden Wall” created by Patrick McHale, players collaboratively create a world uncanny and old. Codify and encourage tonal clash as the Three Roles meld whimsy, autumnal melancholy, and dread. Physical copies are available through Indie Press Revolution: https://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/Under-the-Autumn-Strangely-Print-PDF.html

[7:32 PM]Graham Gentz Loves To Playtest: I recently released the one-pagers “Ooze Your Daddy”! (100% of sale profits go to First Collective 614) and “Immortal Lich Henry Kissinger”. I run the KNZarts Substack (https://knzartifice.substack.com/) with Ryan Khan, an absolutely fabulous designer (https://the-one-true-ryan-khan.itch.io/). We write about design and intentionality and have largely adapted a dialogue style for it. I enjoy turtles and hip-hop and surrealism. I also love to playtest.KNZarts | KNZ Arts | SubstackA joint production of visionaries Ryan Khan and Graham Gentz. Click to read KNZarts, by KNZ Arts, a Substack publication. Launched 6 months ago.

[Q&A] Jackie Prince & Michael Macagnone (Crucible of Aether)

[7:34 PM]Mike: Sure! @Jackie and I are part of the team that created Crucible of Aether, a simulationist, mystic-industrial TTRPG! What does simulationist mean? When presented with a challenge, for example a locked door, you can approach that in any number of ways with the 40 Skills in the game. Lockpick the door, pry off the hinges, take the doorframe out of the wall, or bust it down. Or you could just sweet-talk someone on the other side to open that locked door for you. If you picked the lock, you gain XP in the Lockpicking Skill. If you pried the door off its hinges, you could gain XP in Metalworking or Engineering. Alongside these Skills are the dozens of Careers representing everyday professions, divine callings and powerful factions that straddle both sides of imperial law. Getting access to those ability trees happens through play at the table. What does mystic-industrial mean? CoA takes place in the Empire of Odayos, an amalgam of nations in the midst of a chaotic industrial revolution driven not by steam but the ancient technology of an abandoned civilization. Ever-turning gears of flesh-like metal power great factories, and new inventions spring forth from the dreams of faceless, robotic scholars. Imperial elites have maintained power by keeping an iron grip on these strange resources, fueling vast economic and technological disparities. In Odayos, mechanically augmented knights meet with pike-wielding legionnaires on the battlefield, or nobles in woolen tailcoats might discuss politics with undead librarians in stone ziggurats.

[7:34 PM]Mike: Both of us are going to tag-team your questions. We’re currently in playtesting right now with an eye to launching soon! (we also have a playtest this Saturday with open slots)1

[Q&A] Clipper Arnold (Toku Legends)

[7:37 PM]Polyhedra Games: Hello! My name is Clipper Arnold. I am a writer, musician, and game designer based in Brooklyn. I lead Polyhedra Games, an independent game publisher. We’ve released various products over the years and have run four successful Kickstarters. Our latest game is a supplement for Nebula Chaos (our sci-fi/space opera game) called TOKU LEGENDS. It’s inspired by tokusatsu and henshin heroes (think Power Rangers/Super Sentai, Kamen Rider, and more!).

[7:38 PM]Polyhedra Games: We funded our initial goal in a little over 24 hours but are going through some stretch goals right now. We also have been selected as a “Project We Love” on Kickstarter!

[Q&A] Peter Reuss (Factions)

[7:32 PM]Peter: Hey everyone , I’m Peter, and I’m the designer of Factions: A political, PbP, TTRPG where you create and your own faction and play as its leader. This is a GM-led, setting agnostic, rules-lite system about story, diplomacy, and fantasy politics. The rules are available on our discord: https://discord.gg/nfRUk29BER

[Q&A] Benn Graybeaton (Terminator: T2 – Resist)

[1:06 PM]Graybeaton: Hi Everyone, I’m Benn Graybeaton. I’m Line manager for the Terminator RPG over at Nightfall Games. I’ve been in the crew for 3 years and have been a full time dev for 8 years. Prior to working for NFG I was over at Modiphius where i helped build 2d20. (I was PAYE employee 1 over there) The Terminator RPG QS can be found in the link below. Its PWYW and as good a place to start if you’re curious.(edited)

[1:06 PM]Graybeaton:

[Q&A] Peter Lattimore (Heroic Deeds)

[1:03 PM]Garblag (Pete): Hi I’m Pete, from Garblag Games. I’ve been playing ttrpgs for over 30 years. I run a twitch/youtube channel that’s been going for a while. I kickstarted a zine format game a few years ago, which I’m now building upon for Heroic Deeds. I’m married with 2 boys (7 and 4). Between them, the full time job, the channel, and making games I have just about enough time for sleep.

The channel is here https://www.youtube.com/garblaggames

And the kickstarter is here (4 days left) https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/garblag/heroic-deeds-rpg

[Q&A] Benjamin Palmer (Basecamp Basics)

[7:32 PM]Ben | Adventures Await Studios: Hey I’m Benjamin. I go by Adventures Await Studios online. I’m a TTRPG designer with over 130 published D&D 5e adventures, three funded and fulfilled Kickstarters, and a thriving Patreon. You can check out my work here: https://www.adventuresawaitstudios.com/

[Q&A] Scott Uhls (Fast Action Hero)

[7:31 PM]Scott U.: Hey everyone. I’m Scott Uhls, founder of Heeroic Studios Gaming, and creator of Maximum Apocalypse RPG, Beta Red RPG, and the Few and Cursed RPG. Today I’m here to talk about my newest game Fast Action Hero. It’s a zine-level RPG system that I created after looking at the various action-movie style games (like Feng Shui, Outgunned, etc.) and thought that there had to be a more streamlined way, so I decided to follow the rules-lite style of the Black Hack and make something that captures the quick and over-the-top action sequences of the 80s and 90s action films that I loved as a kid. It is, by far, the most streamlined and rules-lite of all the games I’ve created to this point, but since we focus on the player actions rather than GM dice rolls in the system, it has also allowed for the coolest narrative action sequences in any game I’ve run so far. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/scottuhls/fast-action-hero?ref=b7w360 (DONE)

[Q&A] Michael O’Connor (Blightmoor)

[7:32 PM]Mike O’Connor: First, a big THANK YOU to @Dan the GMshoe for the opportunity to provide this Q&A!1

[7:34 PM]Mike O’Connor: My name’s Michael O’Connor, and I’m the designer behind Blightmoor – A 5e Gothic Horror RPG Supplement. Blightmoor is my first official jump into self-publishing and I’ve been kickstarting it since February 6th. It may help some folks get a quicker understanding of the supplement by explaining that it was originally conceived as a new “Realm of Dread” for the Ravenloft campaign setting. Over time, I decided that it would be best to divorce it from the Wizards/Hasbro settings and make it its own thing. The basic background and drive of the supplement are to provide GMs and players with:

• A new island nation to explore, encompassed by an early-Victorian, Gothic culture and beset by an encroaching “blight”, driven by the archvillain/antagonist of the story

• A new race and multiple new classes, subclasses, and other character-focused content around which people may create characters

• New mechanics tied to many of the new character concepts, which are intended to provide fun, genre-driven capabilities

• An infamous antagonist, along with her creations and abominations, to face – among a multitude of other adventure hooks, points of interest, and other things to explore

You can check out the project here. I hope more people will consider backing! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/skewedmind/blightmoor-a-5e-gothic-horror-sourcebook (done)(edited)

[Q&A] Andrew Beauman (Battle School)

[7:33 PM]Chronoforge: My name’s Andrew Beauman and I’m the designer of Battle School: A Team Based TTRPG Battle School is my first foray into self-publishing and I’ve been kickstarting it as a part of Zinequest 2024. The ethos of the project is all about teamwork and collaborative mechanics that create unique tactical and narritive encounters with the fun and familiar sci-fi-classic backdrop of a setting that is inspired by one of my favorite books of all time: Ender’s Game. That being said I’ve really ran with the idea and developed it into something wholly new and beyond the Orson Scott Card classic and built a game around the mechanics I crave in TTRPGs. You can check out the whole project here and I’d love it if you’d consider backing https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/andrewbeauman/battle-school