Welcome to the first news Roundup in February as well as the first Roundup for ZineMonth2025. I don't usually share links to blogs, podcasts, or other such releases, but I was asked nicely, so I wanted to plug The Jeweler's Sanctum, a neat little solo play game on YouTube.
Also, in observance of ZineMonth, Sabre Games has all of our in-stock zines on sale for this month.
You're going to find this month's Roundups focusing primarily on projects being released or funded as part of ZineMonth; if I missed your new release or crowdfunding project because it is not ZiMo related please let me know. Let's jump right in, shall we.
Tanya Floaker is one of my favorite indy game designers. One of the things I really admire about their work is the versatility. Whether it's a tactical minis game of skeletons fighting against capitalism, or a game of an alien visitor trying to explore and understand Earth, they consistently produce interesting and thoughtful games. Tanya is currently raising funds for Mum Chums, a slice of life rpg about the people who care for children.
Paul Wolfe is raising funds for Witch-Lords of Skull Mountain, a mini-setting/zine written for DCC, OSE, and Shadowdark designed as a teaching tool for creating one's own hexcrawls.
Mill of the Twelve Dead is a project I've been looking forward to (I've got an interview with the creator coming up soon); it's an adventure written for OSE, designed for low-level parties.
DedZeppelin has released Under the Keep at Ernost. It's written for Wilderlands, a Cairn hack designed to emulate Tolkien-esque style adventures, but can obviously be used with Cairn, Into the Odd, or any similar OSR-style games.
We recently got in Lola Johnson's The Tower in stock, and I now see that they're kickstarting another project for ZiMo: Universe at Your Door: The Traveller is a solo journaling game where you play a voyager venturing into the depths of space, documenting what they find on their mission.
Sometimes, We Were Infinite is an interesting looking project for ZiMo. It's written for Troika! and is a game set at the end of the universe, with art by Perplexing Ruins.
In a News Roundup Exclusive (not really), the folks behind the Dragon Warriors Fanzine Casket of Fays have begun adding a POD option to the fanzine. Issue 14 is out in pdf, as well as in POD.
Idle Catulary gets promoted here fairly frequently, and I see they've got a ZiMo project. Sharky is an underwater adventure written for Old School Essentials and is designed for readability and ease of play.
Enter Him/\Love Him is itchfunding as an entry into the Tiny Worlds jam. It's an adventure about exploring another adventure, but is also about exploring a human body? There's a lot going on, but it looks promising.
A great looking collaborative story-telling game is Knight Forlorn, in which the players control a lone wanderer on a futile quest. The art is evocative and gloomy, and fits the premise to a "T".
Meldar16 Games is raising funds on Backerkit for their ZiMo project; Vapid Venus Ventures is a solo-journaling rpg all about terraforming Venus.
Solo games seem to be really big this year, and another one that caught my eye is Realms: Etria, a collaborative story-telling game set in a pastoral, mysterious world.
Out of Orbit is a fascinating, troupe-style collaborative game where the players take control of a group of survivors from a crashed starship, off course and alone, trying to get off-planet or make a home for yourselves where you are.
The Rook and The Crook is a really neat looking, system-neutral, mind-bending dungeon adventure with some nice art and an interesting concept.
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