Indie RPGs
Pacts & Blades Rpg Silent Towe
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Trade paperback
$21.00
Reader Reward Price: $18.90
"I walk the moonbeam roads a silver web connecting the many worlds of the Multiverse." -Michael Moorcock, Elric: The Balance Lost, Vol. 1
This Tool Can Be Used as an encounter, a single map hex in a hex crawl, an interlude between adventures, or even a complete campaign that expands the concepts presented at the end of this adventure.
Silent Tower A Campaign Initiator Tool by Lucas Rolim.
Picaresque Roman a Requiem for
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Hardcover
$52.00
Reader Reward Price: $46.80
OVERVIEW Picaresque Roman: A Requiem for Rogues is played with 4-5 people, as well as a gamemaster. Each person makes their own player character (PC) with a quick, streamlined system, then competes with each other in addition to the GM to earn the highest amount of "influence" each game. Over the course of a session, players can earn secret info that gives them a leg up on the other PCs, as well as make deals with or even steal from them. Regardless of whether or not you decide to help or hinder your fellow rogue, all that matters at the end of the day is who's got the most influence of the group, which means stealing from the sought-after "VIP" character who's under the GM's control each game and is often the focal point of the scenario or story. Do watch out though, because just to make things interesting, one of the players is secretly a traitor working for the VIP. If you can't figure out who it is before the end of the game, you might just find all your hard-earned influence gone—stolen by the traitor! SETTING Picaresque Roman: A Requiem for Rogues takes place in an area of Japan that isn't located on any map; an area simply called the City. The City is the nexus where crime, corruption, and power meet. It's got all sorts too, from hustlers to assassins to embezzlers, and more. Sure, it's got a domed sky, and that's a little weird, and the oldest and tallest building in the area is the Clock Tower with its hands stuck at 4:32, but there's just nowhere else like it, with its neon-lit streets filled with vice and temptation. CLASSES The game features five core classes (called Main Gigs) that represent what the PCs do in the City. The five Main Gigs are Yakuza, Info Broker, Swindler, Heartbreaker, and Gambler. Each Main Gig comes with its own unique list of skills, as well as instructions on how to assign its stats. There are also Side Gigs to choose as well. These represent either what the PCs used to do before coming to the City, or what they still do as a side hustle. Side Gigs provide their own unique skill, as well as a boost to a single stat. With 21 Side Gigs in total, players can play their Heartbreaker any number of ways. Are they an idol, used to fame? A martial artist that can't help but draw eyes? Or maybe they're a cynical lawyer. It's all up to the player! INFLUENCES Picaresque Roman: A Requiem for Rogues has been influenced by a number of popular video games and anime series. Franchises and shows such as Yakuza, Baccano!, and Black Lagoon can all be felt in the game's theme, visual tone, and gameplay approach. ENGLISH RELEASE Picaresque Roman is in its fifth edition in Japan and is considered one of the most popular Japanese doujin (aka self-published) TRPGs on the market. Thus, we are beyond excited to help bring it to the West so that even more players get a chance to experience all it has to offer. For the book's English release, we worked with the original design team to add over a dozen new pieces of art (all from the latest edition's illustrator, Takamu) as well as a host of graphic design and layout elements. We are also presenting the game in hardcover form, providing two different variations, in addition to offering a slew of Kickstarter accessories and extras. The English version will retain the Japanese release's original 7.1" x 10.1" sizing in addition to its manga-style black-and-white presentation.
Qvke Borg Rpg
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Trade paperback
$25.00
Reader Reward Price: $22.50
In a land dying a slow death at the hands of irrefutable prophecy, the thread of reality unravels. As the universe-that-was frays at the seams, more horrifying truths manifest. Writhing with eldritch hatred, the QVKEMOTHER: SHUB-NECHURATH reaches out across the cosmic void. Her infinite armies stand poised to bring this realm under her sway. She has heard rumours of the Two-Headed Basilisks and seeks to unseat their power, disprove their apocalypse and usher in one of her own." QVKE BORG is an unofficial expansion compatible with MÖRK BORG. It’s inspired by the atmospheric, action-packed shooter videogames of the early 1990s. If you ever wanted to bring ROCKET LAUNCHERS into your bleak fantasy role-playing game, this is the book for you. Forget the spiked flail – we've got EXPLOSIVES, BUCKSHOT and LIGHTNING! The QVKE BORG contains: A bestiary containing 13 MONSTERS ready to drop straight into bloody combat Writeups on two god-like horrors: CHTHON and SHUB-NECHURATH A new character class: the SLIPGATE RANGER An armoury of 8 WEAPONS to bring industrialised carnage to the Doomed Dimension and Dying Lands alike 5 RANDOM TABLES and snippets of lore for good measure, to get those Game Master juices flowing Artwork by Johan Nohr, Codex Noirmatic and Vil I definitely mentioned the ROCKET LAUNCHERS , right? Qvke Borg is an independent production by Bird Silhouette Games and is not affiliated with Ockult Örtmästare Games or Stockholm Kartell. It is published under the MÖRK BORG Third Party License. MÖRK BORG is copyright Ockult Örtmästare Games and Stockholm Kartell. Created by Michael Done at Bird Silhouette Games. An Exalted Funeral Exclusive! 40 pages, A5, saddle stitched zine, color cover and interiors. Includes pdf.
Racoon Sky Pirates Rpg
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Games & Puzzles
$33.00
Reader Reward Price: $29.70
Raccoon Sky Pirates is a narrative, GM-less role-playing game for 3 to 6 players that takes about three hours to play. Take to the skies, loot a suburban home of all the trash you can carry, and try to keep your ship from exploding.
You and your friends play raccoons: chittering, baggy-pants, ring-tailed burglars. One day in the junkyard, after inventing an improbable antigravity device, you hatch a scheme to build a ship out of trash and fly to the suburbs in search of better trash. There, you'll find a beautiful, free-standing house with a four-car garage and cable internet. While trying not to wake up the residents or the dog, loot the house of all its valuables, like Roombas, PlayStations and other trash. Finally, loaded down, escape back to the junkyard while fending off the Neighborhood Watch.
Revenge of the Foaming Mutant
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Trade paperback
$13.00
Reader Reward Price: $11.70
You’ve been exiled from Dome City 004 into the Foul Wastes for a crime you didn’t commit and it’s time to get revenge - or burst a blood vessel trying.
Revenge of the Foaming Mutant is a 75 paragraph solo interactive fiction microgame written and illustrated by Andrew Walter. You’ll need dice, paper, pencil and some double-sided counters.
- Unique ‘rage management’ combat system!
- Mutated environments to explore!
- Three separate win conditions!
- Dumb humour!
- Gallons of FOAMING RAGE!
Ryuutama Natural Fantasy Rpg
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Hardcover
$52.00
Reader Reward Price: $46.80
Ryuutama is an RPG developed in Japan by designer Atsuhiro Okada. It is set in a world where the "NPCs" of the village—the bakers, farmers, shopkeepers and healers—set off on a wonderful adventure exploring a fantasy world together. Some people colloquially call it "Hayao Miyazaki's Oregon Trail", because of its heartwarming (in Japanese "honobono") feel of family anime, and its focus on traveling and wonder over combat and treasure. The characters are travelers in a world without classical fantasy wizards and warriors. Instead, the characters are minstrels, merchants, healers, hunters, artisans, farmers and nobles who decide (or were fated) to leave their towns and explore the world. Using a light rules system based on polyhedral dice where the randomness in results leads to more story development, Ryuutama provides a framework for travel-focused stories fun for adults and enjoyable for all ages. The game master also creates a special character with its own unique character sheet, called the "Ryuujin". The half-dragon Ryuujin remains "offscreen" most of the time, but watches over the other characters, and can provide limited spells and abilities to support them. The GM provides adversity that the players have to overcome, but at the same time they protect and nurture the characters.
Shinobigami Rpg
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Trade paperback
$26.00
Reader Reward Price: $23.40
Shinobigami: Modern Ninja Battle RPG is a role-playing game originally developed and published in Japan by legendary designer Toichiro Kawashima and gorgeously illustrated by the talented Shie Nanahara. Shinobigami is a fast one-session RPG focusing on character drama, stories of conflict and cooperation, and light tactical strategy in a dark modern "World of Shadows" setting where mysterious ninja exist and engage in inter-clan conflict in an ongoing hidden cold war. The overall effect is a very easy-to-learn game that is equal parts story-driven RPG, German-style board game, and secret identity/role game (like Werewolf or Coup): With a few friends, you together create a dramatic story that starts and ends in the course of just a few hours (one evening). From there, you can revisit the same characters or make new characters, and create another tale set in the Ninja Cold War. Gameplay Shinobigami is a game for 3-7 players, with one player acting as the Game Master (GM), who prepares the scenario and helps facilitate the game. Each player creates a character from one of the six warring ninja clans and introduces them to the other players (you can find out more about Shinobigami character creation and rules at the official website). The GM then hands each player a "Secret", which is a piece of information or a true goal specific to that character. The GM introduces the antagonist characters (if any), the Prize or Goal of the mission that all of the characters share, then the game begins. The game plays in three Cycles: Each cycle, every player has one scene where their character is the focus. That player narrates their scene and starts moving to accomplish their goals. Based on their Secret and the other characters, they might attempt to learn the other character's Secrets, to form Emotional Bonds with them, or just follow them in order to trigger a one-on-one battle. After three cycles, there is a no-holds-barred free-for-all battle called the Climax Phase with twists and surprises as the players reveal their true alliances and hidden motives. After the dust settles from the Climax Phase, there's a brief Epilogue where we see who accomplished their goals, which relationships changed or became stronger, and who walked away with the Prize. This three-act structure, the character types, the secrets, the strategies and twists that occur during combat by means of Shinobigami's "Velocity System" battles, and most importantly the nature of the relationships that form in the game due to the Emotional Bond rules, means that even though the game follows a tight structure, no two games of Shinobigami will ever play out the same, even with the same players. It will be a unique experience each time. The Book Shinobigami has a very different form factor and design from common Western RPG books. Shinobigami is originally a small form factor hand-sized paperback book of about 200 pages, not too different than Japanese manga size (very readable on smaller tablet devices). The book is divided into two sections: The first half of the book contains a Japanese-style Replay, or an entire session of play - from character creation to epilogue - written out in screenplay format. This is a real session that happened, and provides the reader with a blueprint to understanding what kinds of stories and fun you can create with Shinobigami. A replay is also a great reference for new or inexperienced role-players, because it shows you what to expect from the game, how the rules work in actual play, and what an actually good, fun session with enthusiastic players can look like. The second half of the book contains all the rules you need to play the game. Once you read the replay, you've got an idea of the flow of the game: The rules show you how you can take the next step and run the game yourself. The rules are written simply and concisely, and there are lots of random tables to help you with the character creation process, especially when trying to come up with authentic Japanese ninja-like character and NPC names. Shinobigami is a tabletop role-playing game: To play this game, you will need some friends, a few hours, and some six-sided dice.
Shiver Archetype Dice Pack
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65
$26.00
Reader Reward Price: $23.40
Roll the knucklebones and test your luck. The SHIVER RPG Archetype Dice Pack contains all the dice you need to get your character rolling in game! Included within are:
10 - 6 sided black skill dice with engraved coloured core skill symbols.
4 - 8 sided white talent dice with engraved coloured strange & talent symbols.
WHAT IS SHIVER?
Winner of the people's choice award for 'BEST RPG' at UK Games Expo '22. SHIVER is a roleplaying game bringing tales of the mysterious, the peculiar and the strange to life. An easy to learn and innovative game system inspired by a love of horror films and pulp TV shows that brings storytelling to the fore. Shiver makes it simple for you to tell the stories you want to tell, however weird and wonderful they may be.
Take on the role of archetypal characters from any story, time, and place to uncover the dark truths that lurk in the shadows of the world. Unmask the villains, go boldly into the unknown and while youre at it, try not to die.
Shiver the Cursed Library Rpg
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Hardcover
$58.00
Reader Reward Price: $52.20
The Cursed Library
A Military operation discovers horrors aboard a lost ship in the Arctic circle.
A group of 1980's kids explore a haunted house on Halloween night.
A Wild West posse investigates mysterious disappearances at a mountain mine.
A crew answers a distress signal in the uncharted depths of deep space, only to find more than just survivors.
Broken down with no way home, a group search for help at an old farmhouse through the cornfields.
The Cursed Library collects these five tales of horror across the ages to be used with the SHIVER tabletop role-playing game.
WHAT IS SHIVER?
Winner of the people's choice award for 'BEST RPG' at UK Games Expo '22. SHIVER is a tabletop roleplaying game bringing tales of the mysterious, the peculiar and the strange to life. An easy to learn and innovative game system inspired by a love of horror films and pulp TV shows that brings storytelling to the fore. Shiver makes it simple for you to tell the stories you want to tell, however weird and wonderful they may be.
Take on the role of archetypal characters from any story, time, and place to uncover the dark truths that lurk in the shadows of the world. Unmask the villains, go boldly into the unknown and while youre at it, try not to die.
Stoneburner Rpg
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Trade paperback
$52.00
Reader Reward Price: $46.80
2024 Crit Award finalist for Best GMless TTRPG Stoneburner is a sci-fantasy solo-friendly demon-hunting community-building role-playing game. Inspired by the new school revolution movement, players take on the role of a group of dwarves who must assume control of a demon haunted mine, along with its accompanying settlement. Settlement which they inherited after the death of their distant relative. The game focuses on the dwarves' journey as they navigate the challenges of their new responsibilities, rebuild a new thriving community, and clear the mine of its fire spitting monsters. Writing, layout & design: René-Pier Deshaies-Gélinas Illustration & writing: Galen Pejeau Editing: Eric Lazure FEATURES Survival-based core system based on Breathless. Player facing mechanics, perfect for GM less or solo play. Fast, and highly thematic character creation. Ten character kits, including the Striker, Sinker, Sounder, Spellwinder, and - the Stanchion. Accessible mechanics for combat, looting, crafting, and even community - management. Numerous ways to generate badass space dwarves, dangerous mines, fire spitting creatures, characters, etc. YOU ARE BAD-ASS SPACE DWARVES Play to find out how you will... Explore the cursed mines of the Long Belt. Get rid of the demons haunting its passages. Find out why the demons lurk at certain sites. Extract precious resources. Maintain the leadership of House Grandrock. Repair the relationships with the other dwarven houses. Rebuild a thriving colony. OPEN LICENSED The mechanics and the details regarding the setting of this work are available under the Open RPG License (ORC). For more on this and to design your own "Burned in Stones" work, head over to https://farirpgs.com/pages/burned-in-stones-creator-kit MORE DETAILS Format: +120 pages colored PDF (5.5×8.5”) Number of players: 1-5 Publisher: Fari RPGs
Swine Rpg
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Trade paperback
$13.00
Reader Reward Price: $11.70
You are a pig farmer; you adore your pigs. Speaking of their beautiful heft brings tears to your eyes. Sweet cherubs knowing nothing of the world. The extent of the cruelty man commits is rebuked by their muddy pen. You would die for them - you would absolutely kill for them. Treachery from hungry neighbors, soldiers, and hog thieves is a nightly horror which rattles your mind.
Swine is a scenario for use in the Violence system by Luke Gearing and -as far as I know- is compatible with his game, The Country. It can be played solo, but is better commiserated with friends.
Made by Mark Conway.
Tenra Bansho Zero Rpg Heaven &
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Trade paperback
$52.00
Reader Reward Price: $46.80
TENRA BANSHO ZERO is a Japanese Storytelling Game of "Hyper-Asian Fantasy", in the author's own words. Conceived, designed and illustrated by famous manga author Junichi Inoue (and featuring gorgeous art from illustrators Hiroyuki Ishida, Rasenjin Hayami and others), Tenra Bansho Zero is one of the most recognized "Made in Japan" tabletop role-playing games, and indeed the first licensed RPG from Japan to be translated into Englsh!
On a distant world in the far future, the Sengoku (Feudal/Warring States) period of Japan is happening all over again- But this time with high-tech weapons, magically powered mecha, taoist magic masters, cursed shinobi operatives and super-powered samurai.
The focus of the game is on acting out the characters, their backgrounds and, and their destiny in the world of Tenra. The players get bonus points by acting in character and entertaining the other players, which can be spent to boost powers and gain abilities. Creativity, energy, and camaraderie is physically rewarded in the game. Spend these gains recklessly, though, and you lose control of your character as they spiral down the Path of the corrupt Asura. Character choices, character drama, and most of all character change take center stage in this drama-focused high-action tabletop RPG.
Finally, TBZ is a fast RPG. It was designed to play out like a theatrical production, complete with Scenes, Acts, Intermissions and Coming Attractions. And like a play or movie, an entire story or campaign can play out in its entirety within one 4-6 hour gaming session. From there you can tell another story using the same character, or retire them for good and focus on another tale of Heaven and Earth.
Background: Almost a decade ago, Japanese artist and game designer Junichi Inoue sat down to create a uniquely and unmistakably "Hyper Asian" (in his own words) Japanese world: A world of magic and technology, of samurai and Taoist sorcery, of powerful mecha and cultured geisha. The world was named Tenra, and the game was named Tenra Bansho, or "Everything in Heaven and Earth". With a rulebook dripping cover-to-cover with high quality anime-style art, a setting rich in culture both real and fantastical, and a revised and simplified rules system that focused with precision on roleplaying and character drama, this game took the Japanese tabletop RPG market by storm and spearheaded both a renaissance and revolution in the Japanese gaming industry.
Years later, this unique and revolutionary game has finally been painstakingly translated into English for play in the West!
Tenra Bansho Zero is a unique tabletop roleplaying experience, and it features:
* PDF Optimization: This game contains two versions of the game:
* The original high-quality art-filled full color setting and rules books together in electronic-tablet-optimized US graphic novel size (700 total pages).
* A text-only indexed version of all of the content of the setting and rules books at US Letter/A4 size for easy reference and printing (150 total pages).
* Over 300 unique pieces of art spread throughout the game, 33 full color manga story pages introduces players to the world and setting features, and ten rules explanations in manga form assist with fast rules retention. The art is done by the formidable hand of Junichi Inoue, the fine brush-work of Hiroyuki Ishida, the comical impact of Hayami Rasenjin, and more! WIth layout for the English edition by industry expert Luke Crane (Mouse Guard RPG, Burning Wheel RPG), you've never seen a game like this.
* Two books, incredible content : A full-color Setting book and a black-and-white Rules and Play book. The books together boast a page count of almost 700 total pages! The huge amount of art, combined with the detailed deep-dive explanations and play advice, will give you your money's worth in usable content.
* A rich Japanese setting involving a planet in a constant state of war, where magic fuels technology and the culture is an analogue of the Warring States (Sengoku) era of Japan. Mecha, sorcery, samurai, geisha, Buddhist monks, cyborgs, annelid-users and more make this game a truly unique--and deeply culturally Japanese--experience. See the Game section below for more details!
* A simple-to-understand rules system utilizing regular six-sided dice, cleverly explained in both detailed text examples and amusing full-page manga art. On top of a system of skills, attributes, action and combat is overlaid a deeper system of kabuki theater-style play: Focusing very specifically on play through Acts, Scenes, and Intermissions, the players of this game are both the actors and audience. As actors, they focus on role-play in a scene with other actors. As audience (much like the audience of a kabuki play), they focus on the drama that unfolds, rewarding the players for dramatic actions and cool ad-libbed lines.
* Speed: An entire campaign, a story from start to finish, can be told over the space of one to two sessions! You can then choose to play the same characters in another tale, or perhaps retire them to look at another facet of life on Tenra.
* All-in-One: The original Japanese game had a core rulebook, a supplement, and later several mail-order only mini-supplements. The data/rules contents and much of the art has been ported and folded into the English book set (originally $145 USD for all of that material if you were to buy it as it came out), including errata and designer suggestions. This is a truly updated version of the game!
Thousand Year Old Vampire Rpg
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Hardcover
$61.00
Reader Reward Price: $54.90
Gold Ennie Award 2020 for Best Production Values, Best Rules
Silver Ennie Award 2020 for Product of the Year
2020 Indiecade Tabletop Design Award
A solo roleplaying game about the remorseless crush of memory over millennia. And vampires.
A creaking hunter among dust and cobwebs, you prowl the night places, seeking the souls on which you feed. You have done this since time immemorial, or so you believe; you have no memories of living as a man-thing like those you catch and eat. But human traces linger; your fingers trace clever arabesques in the dirt of your grave-place and with the flourishes come whispered songs in a language you've forgotten. Far away, in a museum, hangs your portrait in oil by a master five hundred years dead—you might have been lovers but the diary you kept then is long lost.
multi-foiled hardback, digest-sized, 188 fancy color pages
play in a couple of hours or a couple of weeks
solo play, optional group play
Tiny Library RPG
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Games & Puzzles
$18.00
Reader Reward Price: $16.20
Tiny Library is a deck of 50 single-card RPGs from dozens of different creators. Each card is a unique design representing a distinct vision.
Players will...
- quaff mysterious potions with magical effects...
- test their Nerves, Toughness and Savvy in a most dangerous race...
visit The Twin Towns on the Sea...
- and so (so) much more.
Single Card? Yes! Roleplaying games don't always need big books, charts and elaborate character progression (although these things are cool). All they really need is a table with good friends - and some of the designs in Tiny Library don't even need that!
Tiny Tome Rpg
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Trade paperback
$25.00
Reader Reward Price: $22.50
Tiny Tome is a book of 50 single-page RPGs from dozens of different creators. Each game fits on a single A5 sheet (both sides) and is a unique design representing a distinct vision. They were selected from a game jam that ran in December 2021, collecting 113 entries and 1,989 votes from 174 participants. Players will... steal trash for their furry family escape to glorious freedom (and avoid being turned into a toaster) battle their monstrous inner demons and so, so much more.
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