(BackerKit) Food & Evil RPG by Goosepoop Games #Zinetopia2026

Another great entry from BackerKit's #ZineTopia2026 is Food & Evil, the tabletop roleplaying game where you don’t hunt demons…you are the demons. Your party runs a food truck, serves questionable cuisine, gathers cursed ingredients, and causes just enough chaos to keep business booming.

(BackerKit) Space Cat #Zinetopia2026

 With the lack of #Zinequest projects hitting my personal demographic, I ventured over to Backerkit to find their own February promotion, #Zinetopia2026

There's a little more hope in the universe.

Space Cats is a fun RPG where everyone is playing a crew of curious space adventurers, flying across the universe, taking jobs everywhere trying to pay off a monumental debt.

And yest, not everyone is cat... but it doesn't mean they can't be....

(Kickstarter) War Pigs: A GMless TTRPG of Chaos and Goblins by Caroline from Side Quest #ZineQuest

Over the last years, February has meant the glut of small and smaller press books on crowdfunding in celebration of #Zinquest.  I'll admit I've been distracted by the #RPGCampaignToolChallenge , but in my review of the first eleven days of the camapign, there's not much on Kickstarter that interests me, or even gets to motivated something cool.

Luckily War Pig: A GM-less TTRPG of Chaos and Goblins has stopped that pattern.  

WAR PIGS is a chaotic, two-stat GMless TTRPG about goblins navigating through elvish enemy lines to get back to their own army base. It's based on Honey Heist, Nine Goblins, and a whole lot of goblin jokes.
U are goblins in an army of goblins. U ride into battle on your greatest weapon... WAR PIGS.

(Mall Kids) Tony "Pepperoni" Sordoni - Pizza Delivery Guy #CharacterCreationChallenge

Day 15 of the #CharacterCreationChallenge and here's my part two for the Mall Kids RPG 'zine by Matthew J Gravelyn.  

Character Name:  Anthony "Tony Pepperoni" Sordoni          Pronouns:  He/Him

Look:  Jeans & T-shirt, always a hat of 

Style:  Preppified Security Uniform, small backpack.

Where Do You Work?   Tony's Pizza and Subs (no relation), about a half mile from the mall.

Who are You?   Nobody

What do you Want?  Ask someone out

Cred:  4

Corporate: 2 

The sportos, the motorheads, geeks, sluts, bloods, wastoids, dweebies, dickheads - they all adore him. They think he's a righteous dude

The above quote from Grace Wheelburg describes Ferris Bueller to a T, but not Tony.   Rather, all those groups might consider Tony a "good dude"  maybe just "a dude," at worst "it's the pizza guy, he's decent."

Tony "Pepperoni" worked at the neighborhood pizza shop even before they began paying him under the table... and he's not even family!  He's worked up to deliveries, usually riding a very illegal moped, or his parent's very ancient Chevette when the weather's bad. 

He's a fairly likeable kid, never gets into too much trouble, and can attach himself  to just about any group... except the preps.  

He's trying desperately to attach himself to Sabrina Marks, edgy former preppy (?).  He's found himself wandering into the new scene-core/alt shop, the Velvet Alley, and purchased to many keychains, stickers, and other cheap random crap just to talk to her.  

He has moved up his imaginary totem pole of importance to her.  Doing little errands, grabbing her a drink, easily getting friend-zoned with the "lifesaver" descriptor.  He probably (and doesn't) have a shot, but it was better than just waiting around with the skaters until the next shift at the pizza joint.   

The influx of the preps at the store have made everyone uncomfortable, definitely the customers, but especially Sabrina.  Tony's too good to do anything illegal, but to get in Sabrina's really good graces, he'd do the teenage equivalent of burying bodies.

A little insight on Tony:  When I completed my first #CharacterCreationChallenge back in 2022, I swore I wouldn't do it again.  I did return for 2023, planning out things a little earlier in advance.  I actually made some great characters for 2024, but ran out of steam on day 13.  Last year, I planned a lot out much earlier, be it concepts or random AI art inspiration, with a healthy reliance on D&D 5e or Gamma World 4e.  

This year? I had about 13 days plotted out, but not statted out, by mid-year.  Tony was a little later, probably the end of summer, when I created a new blog draft with "Pizza Delivery Boy - #CharacterCreationChallenge."

I could use a bunch of systems, but remembered Mall Kids from last year.  Except *gasp* my concept for Tony doesn't perfectly line up with the 20-page 'zine.  A tiny nudge with concepts, a need for a second character, and voila, Sabrina Marks was created to fill that void.   

It's funny, I when I looked back for links to the previous years', and to remove the rose-colored nostalgia, I realized that the next couple days of characters will be an undertaking two years in the making, that keeps getting pushed back. 

I also must say I finally need to sign up for the Patreon for Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff.   I have a pile of scenario ideas from the podcast hiding in my drafts, inspiration for some obscure Gnome Wars units, but I also built about a Hackmaster character back in 2023 based entirely on Favomancy.  You can make nothing but D&D characters, or Star Trek, or Villains & Vigilantes, or the hottest indy RPG, all month long.  I do like a little flair and variance from mine, even if they're bean diviners or pizza guys. 

(Mall Kids) Sabrina Marks - Edgy Cashier #CharacterCreationChallenge

Day 14 of the #CharacterCreationChallenge and I'm doing a two parter for the Mall Kids RPG 'zine by Matthew J Gravelyn.  

We're definitely more into a late 90's/early 00's as we move to the Rosecrest strip mall.   The CVS just moved into old regional chain pharmacy, the liquor store at one end is now a satellite office of the DMV and the Chinese restaurant at the other end that's been there since 1965 still hasn't remodeled, but changed it's name.

Character Name:  Sabrina Marks         Pronouns:  She/Her

Look:  Long black hair, more denim that is popular right now. 

Style:  a cleaner version of alternative, slight goth streak

Where Do You Work?   Cashier at the Velvet Alley, a scene-core/alt clothing store. 

Who are You?   A prep in disguise.

What do you Want? Quit, but wants to do it right, so she still gets that last under-the-table payday.

Cred:  2

Corporate: 4 

Sabrina is a prep, has always been a prep, but she HATES the other preps.  So when a position at the new clothing store Velvet Alley fell into her lap, so couldn't say no.   It's taken a bit to get used to the weirdos, freaks, dweebs, burnouts, and losers, but she throws on a vest, rotates wearing the "trendy alternative" earrings before they get too popular, and speaks a little of their lingo, and the customers don't give her any grief.  

But now the preps have discovered the scene, something has made the store popular in their eyes, and it's now the store is like every day in high school, but she's pulling minimum wage to to put up with it. 

She's ready to quit, and if she can get rid of the preps without burning the store to the ground (and still getting the last week's pay in cash), so be it....

Tomorrow :  Sabrina's "Shadow"

(Kickstarter) #ZineQuest2025 - THE SINGULARITY WILL HAPPEN IN LESS THAN A YEAR

 Sixpence Games has launched THE SINGULARITY WILL HAPPEN IN LESS THAN A YEAR, a game of community in the face of the end of the world as we know it.

From the Kickstarter:

Inspired by The Quiet Year by Avery Alder, this is a game of anticipation, dread, hope, ambition, loss, and potential gain. You'll play through just under a year of story and roleplaying prompts as you draw from a deck of cards, each one corresponding to the events of that week. Spring has the tone of "we'll get to it later", Summer has an optimistic tone, Autumn has a desperate, scrambling tone, and Winter's tone is resigned to your fate.

Roleplaying prompts include dealing with a sudden advancement of AI capabilities, celebrating a holiday, a proper cult splitting off from your community, handling social scandals, being presented with moral dilemmas, and more. You'll be pressed to make difficult ethical decisions at every turn as the end draws ever closer.

(Kickstarter) #ZineQuest2025 - Avon By the Sea for 321Action!

 John McGuire is back at it with another zine Kickstarter, Avon By the Sea.

From the Kickstarter: 

In the sleepy beachfront town of Avon By The Sea, a devastating hurricane has awakened an ancient evil—and it’s up to you and your friends to stop it.

Set in the off-season of a quiet vacation town, Avon By The Sea combines The Monster Squad's kid-driven adventure with The Lost Boys' brutal horror. It's kids versus monsters in a battle for survival.

Do you have what it takes to face the darkness?

(Kickstarter) #ZineQuest2025 - Killers and Kittens by Orcs Unlimited

Orcs Unlimited has launched a Kickstarter for  Killer and Kittens, an OSR based RPG zine, where adorable kittens venture into dungeons.  

I hope this is all I need to now about this game.....

(Kickstarter) #ZineQuest2025 - Tomb of the Scorched King

 Skydance Games has launched a Kickstarter for Tomb of the Scorched King, an epic, desert-themed one-shot adventure for 4 players at Level 8-10.

PDF only campaign, with a few add-on pdfs to bolster the campaign.  At this price, it's on my watch list.

(Kickstarter) #ZineQuest2025 - Among the Leyline

 Along the Leyline is a fantasy TTRPG now on Kickstarter.

I'll be honest, there are a lot of #Zinequest items I'll never list.  Obviously I won't mention things that don't interest me, but too much polish and not enough polish are up there on my list.  

 

If I ever ran a Kickstarter, I would want a bit more polish than this campaign's write-up, but I feel I'd be closer to this one than a tried-and-true cardstock cover zine presentation, and that's okay.  

This game is obviously a labor for love for the creator.  Beyond an emphasis on sword-fighting, and reducing rolls to a bare minimum, I have absolutely no idea what this game is about. 

But they reached their humble goal quickly, so there's enough people interested in his concepts.

(Kickstarter) #ZineQuest2025 - Isle of the Ancients

Twin Magi Games has launched a Kickstarter for Isle of the Ancients, an adventure for both Dungeon Crawl Classics (DCC) and Shadowdark.

PDF is a little high for $9, but the Print & PDF + Shipping is $19

(Kickstarter) Askew - #ZineQuest2025 -

Eric Bloat has launched yet again, another Kickstarter, Askew: the 1990s Slacker Subculture & Supernatural TTRPG.

From the Kickstarter: 

Askew is a tabletop roleplaying game, about teenagers and twenty-somethings who are slackers, delinquents, and underdogs. These youths are their small town’s last hope against the invading forces of the supernatural and demonic beings.

Askew is intended to be a roleplay-heavy, light combat TTRPG. The game and the mechanics are designed to support a cinematic, theatre of the mind-playstyle, with rulings over rules, where fun takes precedence over realistic or granular, intensive complex rules and procedures.

(Kickstarter) #ZineQuest2025 - They Burned the Books

 Dreaming Robot has launched a Kickstarter for They Burned the Books, 

This is a game where you will actually destroy books, but not for the ignorant purpose many folks have throughout history.  

Players will highlight, scratch out, and tear pages from their books through their campaign to create a unique story.  

Players will start by tearing a few pages of their physical books to create their mighty spells, constructed from the highlighted words on the page to concoct what the spell does.

(Kickstarter) #ZineQuest2025 - The Doomed Stronghold

 The Church of Doom has launched a Kickstarter for The Doomed Stronghold

Per the Kickstarter: 

1;1 {Inspiration} A collection of 1d20+ random tables to help GMs like you generate dynamic strongholds for your players to conquer and rebuild in their characters' image.

1;2 {System Agnostic} Sworn to no single RPG system or edition, chosing instead to share its contents in familiar RPG terminology so you can use it at your table no matter what ruleset or campaign your table wishes to run {or might one day want to try}.

1;3 {Human Art} Filled with vibrant "MÖRK BORG" inspired art that is 100% human-made using digitally "kitbashed" photos for a unified, chaotic look.

1;4 {Hand Made} Made entirely "in house" using an ecotank printer, quality cardstock, and my own 2 hands for a DIY feel that deserves more representation in the hobby!

1;5 {Humble} Written in the Church of Doom's semi-biblical style that relies solely on its random tables and 1-sentence descriptions to pack as much inspiration into as few words as possible {so you can spend less time reading and more time prepping}.

1;6 {Campaign} Able to function as an entire campaign themed around delving into a crumbling stronghold, slaying its monstrous inhabitants, uncovering its secret chambers, and rebuilding it into a one-of-a-kind base of operations!

(Kickstarter) #ZineQuest2025 - Rustwater

Rustwater is a realm where the Four Curses destroyed the comfortable life of humans, along with their centuries-old written knowledge — reducing them from an apex species to prey struggling to survive.

Water, both as a power source and transport, dominates the landscape. The corroding hulks of humankind’s Relic Age, roughly a hundred years before your story begins, stain its waters and give this place its name.

This is the foreground where players will weave their own story amidst decay, oddity — and for the courageous — perhaps even hope.

Rustwater isn’t a happy world… but the characters could make it a better one.

(Kickstarter) #ZineQuest2025 - D12 Expeditions Zine

Double Crescent Productions has launched a Kickstarter for D12 Expeditions.

I personally love game that focus on the ne'er loved d12, but very few rely just 1d12 for all resultion.  

For gaming on the go, for pickup games, for when you have an idea and need a simple system that gets out of your way and encourages teamwork the D12 Expeditions Zine is here for you. Players are invited to not just create a character, but to design them within our simple guidelines. And with seven pocket sized pages of simple rules Game Masters have the tools to create scenarios for their Players to explore.

(Kickstarter) #ZineQuest2025 - Dreadnought

 Liminal Artifact has launched a Kickstarter campaign Dreadnought: Return of the Black Maw, a new system where nobledark heroes face dreaded horror

Dreadnought is a TTRPG that pits noble-dark heroes against cosmic horrors borne from the depthless unknown. Players must work together to survive and overcome their dreadful ordeal before they succumb to madness.

One player is the Dread Maker — The DM — who uses the game's unique Dread mechanic to build tension, drive action, and move the players' story forward.

(Kickstarter) #ZineQuest2025 - Boxcars

 Wil Lindsay has launched a Kickstarter for Boxcars, a GM-less TTRPG about life and death as a hobo, riding the rails, circa 1902.

Print and PDF options available.  Reasonable shipping for us in the USA.

(Kickstarter) #ZineQuest2025 - Beneath the Pyramid's Shadow for Savage Worlds

Hardy Tales has launched a Kickstarter for Beneath the Pyramid's Shadow, a micro-modern horror campaign for use with Savage Worlds.

(Kickstarter) #ZineQuest2025 - Sock Puppets

Sock Puppets is a very silly tabletop roleplaying game, currently on Kickstarter,  about a failing children's television series. You and your friends will make a bunch of puppets and then use them to ruin a perfectly good puppet show.

The game is a 38 page zine filled with awkward relationships, messy personal agendas, goofy characters, episode ideas and a handful of rules. It's designed to be picked up and played with no work in advance -- well, except for getting a bunch of puppet-making materials. But you could all just take off a sock and shove a hand in there if you're feeling lazy and gross.

As the Kickstarter mentions, the main version of the game covers some more mature topics.  There are rules for a kid-friendly version, but it's an entirely different feel of the game.