GamesWant more skateboarding and laser pistols in your D&D campaign? This year’s ZineQuest is offering up a feast of weird and wonderful new adventures for tabletop RPG fansWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
GamesWant more skateboarding and laser pistols in your D&D campaign? This year’s ZineQuest is offering up a feast of weird and wonderful new adventures for tabletop RPG fansWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: Anthony Grasso, Stillfleet Studio)
Every February, Kickstarter holds a month-long celebration of tabletop RPGs calledZineQuest, featuring all sorts of crowdfunded zines. What’s a zine, you ask? It’s a short, self-published book, in this context usually an adventure, a supplement, or a small, self-contained game.
They tend to be a bit scrappy and weird, allowing creators to run with wild and niche ideas you might not see in full TTRPG books. This year’s no exception in that regard, and there are lots of great opportunities to spice up your shelves with something unusual and creative.
You can check out the full list of ZineQuest projects through asearch of the ZineQuest tag on Kickstarter, but it’s a lot to sift through. To save you some time, I’ve picked out what I think are some of the most promising zines on offer this year—read on, and see if any take your fancy.
Gas! Gas! Gas!
This one-shot scenario for excellent sci-fi horror TTRPGMothershipinvolves a catastrophe at a subterranean prison, where players will have to contend with both a malfunctioning computer system determined not to let them escape, and a rapidly spreading and oddly intelligent poisonous gas leak. You’re in safe hands with this one—creator WacoMatrixo has previously worked on one-shots for Mothership calledAuroraandDecagone, both scenarios that had really interesting and creative twists on the game’s usual formula. They’re also known for makinggreat animated videosoffering play advice and house rules.
Blister Critters
(Image credit: Anthony Grasso, Stillfleet Studio)
A stand-alone game about mutant cartoon animals trying to survive in a world where both humankind and the ozone layer have disappeared. The tone of this one is a little muddled—it’s like Looney Tunes with body horror, and I’m not sure the two themes gel perfectly, at least in the free quickstart. But it’s bursting with personality, the art is brilliant, and I love its weird tree of mutations players can progress along, so I reckon it deserves the benefit of the doubt. Plus, I really enjoyed the style and charm of creator Anthony Grasso’s previous projectAMMU: An Eldritch Extermination.
The Lair of the Skateomancer
(Image credit: Black Dragon Games)
Beetle Knight
(Image credit: Jim Hall)
WithHollow Knight: Silksongstill nowhere to be seen, we must turn elsewhere for our bug adventures. Beetle Knight stands ready to fill the void. It’s a stand-alone game where you play as an insect hero in the world of “Litterfall”, a forest floor where flies, mantises, fire ants, and more form kingdoms and factions to interact with. Also included are two full adventures and even rules for playing solo.
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The Abbott Trilogy
(Image credit: Stuart Watkinson)
Designed to be easily adapted to your TTRPG system of choice, this trilogy of adventures can be run as one-shots or linked together into a short campaign. The stark art-style is very appealing, and I love the old school vibe—particularly with the mix of traditional dungeon fantasy with strange sci-fi elements. If you miss the days when it was perfectly normal for your D&D group to explore a wrecked spaceship and pick up a laser pistol, this is the zine for you.
Meatheads
(Image credit: Mark Conway)
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It seems like Square’s finally consistently taking the PC ports of Final Fantasy seriously
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The most important tool in Remedy’s new co-op FPS is the shower: ‘Saving water is essential’
If you missed it over the holidays, this noir Half-Life 2 mod turns you into a hardboiled detective in Prohibition-era Chicago
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