itch.io

Ah, I agree, but that's what suppliments will hopefully help with. Anything you were looking for in particular?

Hey! Thanks for the kind words. I'd have loved to make whole scenario section, however I just didn't have the space... Perhaps a campaign zine is the way to go?

Thank you so much for playing the game and taking the time to give detailed feedback! 

I will admit the game does have a lack of examples due to space constraints in the physical zine, but there's no reason I couldn't do a separate pdf with an example of each segment of play. I'll defo rework the handouts to add in your suggestions. The ticks around the outer ring are intended for marking the collapse clock (6, 5, 4, etc), but I'll make that clearer. I love the idea of putting the description of the four actions on the sheet.

The time of play and the merging of demons I'll have to think on. I didn't get anything back from playtesting on these points, and so I kinda want to play again myself and see what your suggestions change about the game. Your ideas there might be worth a major update, or may just be a playstyle thing. 

I'm surprised you got through 8 scenes without any meetings, but then again, I should not have let the dice have control there, so my bad. Perhaps if we take away the roll and just have folks choose after the first scene to EITHER go one space forward OR go to the next PC inhabited space. That way, everyone still gets a solo scene and groups can pace the meeting based upon the story a bit more.

Cheers again!

Played Grasping Nettles last night, creating our own setting from scratch. While it has a few little ambiguities in the rules, these were points that we found to be generative in terms of us coming up with interesting points. The wheel made the pacing of story elements have a definite "breathing in, breathing out" pace to them, while the notion of grabbing the nettle of social change was really clear. As we closed, we had a handful if interesting factions, changed peoples, along with a society wrestling with the ideology of work. Beautiful and poginiant, tho I can see how on other nights we could give it a different flavour but still have the notion of a society wrestling with how to handle change drive play.

You're welcome!

Awesome! If you need any help with the tabletop side of things I'd be happy to lend a hand. Tracking and promoting the cutting edge of tabletop game design is something I've been involved with for the past 15yrs now.

Hiya,

I know it isn't the focus, but I've submitted my two recent ttRPGs for consideration. Even if the main bundle ends up entirely computer games, an itch.io selects spring tabletop bundle would be an awesome thing to see. It would be an amazing way to celebrate the tabletop games making a home here on itch these days.

Holding out hope,

Tanya.

Apologies. The last few Kickstarter updates give a fuller picture of what has been happening. Here is the most recent one.

The tl;dr is that 2023 went very differently to how I had pictured (personal illness, two bouts of homelessness, a sick kid, etc) and so there were some unavoidable delays on this project. It is still moving forward and is projected for a full release in Summer 2024. 

Solstice isn't taking any time away from L!TDE. This is in much the same way The Connection Machine went to Kickstarter after L!TDE, funded, and was completed and shipped on time while not factoring into the delays.

I hope this makes sense. If you would like a sneak peek at the current full manuscript for L!TDE then drop me an email at timeoftribes @ gmail and I'll sort it out for you.

OMG! I'm really excited to see where you all took things! Thanks for giving my game a shot!

Amazing stuff! And thank you for playing and letting me know how it's all going. I'm super excited to hear how the second part goes. If you are in the UK and want a physical copy, most shops which stock board games and other friendly local game stores can order it (just let them know it is available on via Spiral Galaxy).

Also, if you liked BE SEEING YOU and enjoy surreal science fiction, I'll shortly be releasing a playtest version of a new game. The Connection Machine is about trauma and connection with the premise exploring four-dimensional space. Think Hypercube, Quantum Leap, What Dreams May Come and The Body Holds The Score. Watch this space!

Does exactly what it says. Top stuff. 5 Stars.

Hi all, 

It isn't long until NaGaDeMon 2022 kicks off. Feel free to post any thoughts and question here. I can't wait to see what we get this year! 

Tanya.

Is it future or is it past?

If you have the ability, you can grab it as part of the Bundle for Reproductive Justice, happening right now!

Magical poetry. Inspiring artwork. An amazing collection of games. THE BEST random tables. World-class GM advice. All told the best free zine I've seen in a long time. It puts many commercial publications to shame.

Absolutely perfect for tales in the vein of Legally Blonde.  The Blonde starts out surrounded by enemies and by the end has either won them over or left them in the dirt. The simple token economy is a stripped down No Dice No Masters, making this a great choice for a single evening of entertainment.

Creepy garden goodness. Beautiful art. Defo one to get if you're a fan of ghost stories and The Quiet Year.

This zine contains a system-agnostic OSR treasure trove of fifty-nine grim and grubby gentrified goblins. It is like someone was making a Gormenghast film, but the only actors available were Brain Fraud's Goblins - they are trying to play their roles straight, but it keeps coming apart at the seams. The description for each entry layers with the others, adding as much detail to the Manor and it's surrounding landscape as it does each individual goblin itself.  The art inside is integral to the zine. It is messy and simple in exactly the same way I expected the goblins I was reading about. This style lends itself to the method of production. Everything about this zine - text, art and layout - ties together. It very much puts over the decay and disgust that underscores aristocrats both fictional and real.

My experience with Crescent Moon tugs on my heart like the memory of a lost friend. Its structure created a magic circle around play where moments of unbridled joy, dreamlike surreality, melancholy and fear all sat in harmony. This is a trait shared by masterworks of the genre.

S&CvsTN is the prefect overblown pulp silliness for a 45-60min of play. Ideal for when waiting for someone else to show up or when another game is cancelled. Our game had Crunch the Barbarian wading through the Bullingdon Ninjas and their blonde-haired leader Bo-Jo-Oh-No, a mission given by the undead floating zombie-head of the assassinated Sun King, and a serpent born of the ruined labyrinth at the centre of the world (it wasn't ruined to start with, but then Crunch happened). All told, it felt like a mix of early kung fu cinema with Hawk the Slayer.  Keep in mind you will need to either print out the Barbarian and Ninja cards or copy them some other way.

I played this game for the first time last night. It helped curate an absolutely sublime experience. The game is lazer-focussed and razor-sharp, with the word choices working perfectly. Highly recommended.

Absolutely! That was the plan!

Thank you, I'm going to be making an updated version soon, so watch this space!

I think it is all aok. No NaGaDeMon police are going to bash down the doors! If you take a lok in the Discord you'll notice a lot of us take games we either manged or just missed out on completing this month and polish them up for a full release at a later date. In fact, I just finished on a Kickstarter for my 2020 NaGaDeMon entry!

Sorry for the late reply - been ill and so limiting online energies. How goes the game?

I've started work on a skirmish game. I've made a thread to post any updates in. Check it out there!

Give it a shot! You can get help here, and the discord is really active as well!

'Lo! Thy Dread Empire', from here out L!TDE, will be a skirmish wargame about the ruling class.

It will be about them, rather bluntly, in the way you get special abilities and advantages and the way in which it shows their casual/normalised greed, callousness and cruelty

The system rewards capital accumulation and causing social division for your own gain.

- Will have a GM
- Will use either token economy or single die type (D6 or D10 becuase fuck any other type of dice)
- To hit, damage, armour et al to be in a single mechanical exchange (single roll rather than series of rolls)
- No fiddly range taking, but use distance banding (Close/Near/Far/Beyond)
- Positioning/terrain advantage highly important
- Land Management and Season Actions will be the engine to drive skirmishes
- Each faction can take special choices  based upon a way in which the ruling class cause social division amongst the working classes (gender, race, ability, law, security, etc)
- There are 100 parcels of land, and to win you need to lord over 51+ for a full year, tho you can take on other players as vassals (as long as they remain loyal)

Let's hear what you are all working on!

Not long now!

Amazing! If you would like any help or someone to brainstorm with then do ask. It also counts as talking about your project, making it one third of the way to completing the challange!

Hi all!

It is just over two weeks until the starter gun fires across the globe for (inter)National Games Design Month. The website has been updated with the latest info. As well as this itch jam there is also a fb group and a Discord server. Does anyone here have a rough idea of what they are creating for November?  Anyone waiting until the 1st before making any decisions?  Let us all know below!

:)
Tanya.

I reckon the best "theory" discussions I followed back in the day on The Forge or Storygames forums or more recently on r/RPGcreation are all tied to actual play experiences and/or a focus on practical application. The focus on the real world humanised discussion and prevented some of the worst behaviors. 

Can't afford Affinity Publisher but want it for laying out games? Check out: https://publisherpool.carrd.co/

"The Publisher Pool is a set of codes for free copies of the layout app Affinity Publisher, redeemable via the Serif Store. These codes are available for indie analog* game designers who'd have trouble affording the app, to help make layout design more accessible."

Perhaps a topic for after the pandemic, but looking at ways of growing in-person clubs and spaces exclusively geared towards indie and small press games.

Hi all 👋

I'm Tanya (they/them). I've been gaming for 30yrs, making my own games and helping out with games clubs for most of that time. These days I'm based out of Edinburgh in Scotland. I'm @TimeOfTribes on twitter, though I'll be glad to see this or any other forum take over from that hellsite.

I've recently been involved in helping coordinate Edinburgh Indie Gamers, a games club exclusively focussed on small press and indie games with a strong focus on inclusivity. We have just wrapped on doing some fundraising via Kickstarter by producing a zine for #ZineQuest3. If anyone here is local then give me a shout and I can get you added to the club discord server.

Design-wise my games are informed by anarchist communist politics and queer liberation. I also tend to make games without any randomisers, either guided freeform or token economy stuff. I only add dice when I want things to feel capricious or unfair. The pandemic has led me towards releasing some of the games I've put together over the years, and so once a few other projects are wrapped up I'll be putting my own games up here.

And that's me done folks! Full game, played several times, and thoroughly talked about with others.

Hi all, I've extended the submission time by 24h to allow folks to work up to the line and still submit. Remember that if you use this time to cheat then the very real NaGaDeMon police will be at your door (#ACAB).