Lock your credit cards, hide your wallet, tell your banks to close early, because it’s February and that means a veritable deluge of new tabletop roleplaying game zines taking their shot at getting created with some crowdfunded help. Down the hall Aaron can be heard trying to keep his head above water with the first wave of ZineQuest projects on Kickstarter (there’s an alarming number of gargling sounds), but as has been tradition I’m taking a look beyond the white-green halls of the original ZQ to see what other excellent projects can be found in the wider Zine Month 2024.
Tag Archives: TTRPG
The Trouble With Reviewing RPGs
Usually we keep any mention of the Wider TTRPG Discourse to the Discussions section of the Weekend Update, but there’s an exception to everything. Supposedly Matt Colville said some things on a stream earlier this week? I’m sure he did, the man’s got a lot to talk about, he’s got a Kickstarter going on that I’m sure Aaron will talk more about in January’s Crowdfunding Carnival. Of course then the topic got sucked into the ouroboros of social media, starting with Twitter’s rotting alive husk, and do you think anyone is providing any links to said stream? No, of course not. Doesn’t matter, though, because The Discourse spins on, and its latest incarnation is, broadly, this:
Reviewing a game after reading it versus reviewing a game after playing it.
Oh. Oh wow. Are… are we The Discourse?
PAX Unplugged: A Local’s Guide (2023 Update)
Ho adventuring gamers! We are on the eve of PAX Unplugged in downtown Philadelphia. After a few years of plague I have managed to shove a fist through the loose grave I was buried in and make my way last year. There were some changes, and what advance information I have suggests that things will be mostly the same. A few years ago I did a primer on attending, as I happen to live in the general area. For the most part, things in general remain the same but there are a few key differences in getting there from when I tried to dispense wisdom back in…2019? Oof.
Without further ado, this is the wisdom and knowledge I have gained.
Continue reading PAX Unplugged: A Local’s Guide (2023 Update)
Eat the Reich (Backerkit Preview)
The date: 1943. The location: Nazi occupied Paris. Your assignment: to climb into a pressurized steel coffin. Survive a drop from a few thousand feet. Make your way to the Eiffel tower, where the Fuhrer’s airship is docked and drink all of the party leader’s blood.
Relevant note: you are a vampire.
Sometimes you need a self respecting monster (or six) to take care of the scummier ones.
A backer preview of Eat the Reich released in October 2023 (fittingly on Friday the 13th). It is an RPG written by Grant Howitt (the creator of the Honey Heist), illustrated by Will Kirkvy and published by Rowan, Rook and Decard (the publishers of DIE RPG), and it is a completely, totally and 100% unapologetically anti-fascist joyride.
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Fabula Ultima Review: A Golden Table Talk JRPG
Epic stories of larger-than-life heroes destined to accomplish great deeds fighting against fearsome villains and tragic antagonists! Fantasy worlds brimming with magic, wondrous locations, and uniquely bizarre monsters! Challenging battles that will call for clever tactics, cooperation with allies, and tricks up your sleeve to win! If you’ve played Japanese roleplaying games like Bravely Default, Chrono Trigger, Granblue Fantasy, Ocotopath Traveler, or (duh) Final Fantasy, the premise might be quite familiar indeed. This, however, is no video game. Neither will it take you through a predetermined story, however many branches it may have, thought up by writers and enabled by coders you’ll never meet. Instead, grab some dice and prepare to put your own tabletop twist on the genre you love, with a story and world of your own creation. Welcome to Fabula Ultima, created by Emanuele Galletto and published by Need Games!
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The Unpublished Network at PAX East 2023
If you want to catch a tabletop game in one of its more interesting stages, it’s always a good idea to swing by the Unpublished Game Network. The ‘Unpub’ Network provides, well, networking for unpublished games that are still in development and at a convention gives them a place to put their game through its paces. It’s notable that the signage says ‘looking for playtesters’ instead of just ‘looking for players.’ While not quite as rich in traditional CHG content as its Unplugged sibling PAX East offers the advantage of being right in my own stomping grounds, and getting to attend its ’23 iteration for all four days meant I was able to swing by the Unpub tables multiple times.
Cannibal Halfling Radio Episode 22 – Now Playing: DIE Pt 3
Four friends who drifted apart came back to play a game together for old times’ sake, only to find themselves becoming their characters. Jay the gamemaster has vanished, leaving Fitz, Evelyn, and Max wondering exactly what is going on. When they track Jay down will the game continue, or come to a final end? Find out as the Cannibal Halflings find one another in the Fields of the Lost in the conclusion to our actual play trilogy of Now Playing: DIE the RPG!
Continue reading Cannibal Halfling Radio Episode 22 – Now Playing: DIE Pt 3
Cannibal Halfling Radio Episode 21 – Now Playing: DIE Pt 2
Last time, we learned about the lives of Jay, Fitz, Evelyn, and Max – who they were in high school, the gaming group they formed together, how their lives didn’t exactly go according to plan since. As the gamemaster kicks things off the players find themselves wondering: what the hell is going on here? Find out as the Cannibal Halflings pick up their dice in Now Playing: DIE the RPG Part 2.
Starring:
Editor Aaron as Jay/the GM
Aki as Fitz
Geni as Evelyn
Seamus as Max
Based on the comic DIE, the first issue of which can be read for free here, DIE: The Roleplaying Game can be purchased in PDF form on DriveThruRPG and from Rowan, Rook, and Decard. Physical copies can be pre-ordered through BackerKit.
You can follow us on Twitter @HungryHalfling for article and show updates! You can also drop by the Tavern of our Discord to chat with us, or reach out to us via email at cannibalhalflinggaming@gmail.com.
If you like what we’re doing with CHR, give us a hand and leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and Spotify! You can also support us on Patreon.
You can follow us on Twitter @HungryHalfling for article and show updates! You can also drop by the Tavern of our Discord to chat with us, or reach out to us via email at cannibalhalflinggaming@gmail.com.
If you like what we’re doing with CHR, give us a hand and leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and Spotify! You can also support us on Patreon.
Music is Feral Angel Waltz (feat. Alexander Nakarada) by Kevin MacLeod – License
Cannibal Halfling Radio Episode 20 – Now Playing: DIE Pt 1
Jay, Fitz, Max, and Evelyn gather together for their high school reunion, and to revisit the tabletop roleplaying game that they played together so many years ago. There’s going to be quite a bit more emotional bleed than they expected… but first, who are they? What are their discarded dreams and deep-seated problems? Why should they have never come back together… and why do they absolutely have to? Find out as the Cannibal Halflings don their Personas in Now Playing: DIE the RPG Part 1.
Continue reading Cannibal Halfling Radio Episode 20 – Now Playing: DIE Pt 1
Kickstarter Wonk: April, 2021
Welcome back to Kickstarter Wonk! Oh it’s an exciting month, this month. Maybe it’s because of holdouts from ZineQuest, or maybe it’s because there’s a vaccine, but there’s actually a full, healthy crop of Kickstarter campaigns out there! We couldn’t even stop at 10; if you haven’t already, check out Seamus’s review of Tyler Crumrine’s Possible Worlds Kickstarter. And after you’re done with that, scroll through these 10 handpicked campaigns. The world is healing!
Continue reading Kickstarter Wonk: April, 2021
Cannibal Halfling Gaming 