I keep on meaning to do individual posts with reviews but life… is a pain in the ass. However, these rad games all came through my radar over the past period of time, and I figured I’d just post my thoughts all in one! As always, these reviews will be copied over to the itchio pages with a rating to support the creators, and I recommend you buy the games that sound cool to you, and TIP the creators!
Remember this Pride month that marginalized queer creators need support especially when big corporations are promoting Pride stuff while not actually supporting queer creators! Direct support matters!
A note: Please keep in mind that my reviews are largely based on short self-playtests, solo play, and the review of the text since I am unable to put together a game group at this time. I’ve played, read, & designed a pretty wide variety of games, so it is not typically challenging for me to envision how something plays out in full experiences, but it is still useful to know that the review is based on limited engagement.
Skel-IT-Ons by Nevyn Holmes
Genre Tags: multiplayer (3+ players & facilitator), fantasy, tarot cards, heists, coins
Replayable? Yes!
Actual Play Available? Some examples in text
Length: Short (One-shot)
Full disclosure: I think Nevyn is very cool and enjoy their work, and have done Script Change consultation work for them. However, I don’t think this really changes how I feel about the game!
Skel-IT-Ons by Nevyn Holmes is a rules-light one-shot tabletop roleplaying game based on John Harper’s Lasers and Feelings in which you play skeletons working in the IT department of a major corporate entity. Only the player characters are skeletons, which means you’re surrounded by meat suits. It’s generally pretty lightweight, with a fun and silly premise, which I think is awesome! The game uses six-sided dice and a means to record your character & their information.
The graphic presentation of the game is really gorgeous. I love using bright pink against grey or other monotone, and the cover’s stark imagery of cubicles with the bright pink text over it is so great! It evokes a really specific vibe that is what my brain calls “eldritch corporate” and I don’t know how else to explain that! The interior has really cute and fun skeleton art and a combination of sans serif and handwritten font that’s still adequately legible for most people, and the text is mostly large enough to read without zooming in on a PDF.
The rules are informed by Lasers and Feelings, but also influenced by Grant Howitt’s Honey Heist. The presentation of the rules flows pretty well, starting with character creation and then moving onto gameplay, facilitation, then the tables and credits on the final page. Character creation is pretty simple, a combination of freeform elements like your name (which must be totally normal, definitely human), constrained elements like your stat number (ranging 2-5, higher determining that you’re better at IT and therefore good at human stuff, or lower determining that you’re better at Spooky and therefore good at sneaking and skullduggery), and choosing from picklists for things like your specialty (email, lying, brawling, user accounts, etc.), role (InfoSec, Intern, etc.), Skeleton Power (Funny Bones, Picky Fingers, etc.), ulterior motive, and fear. It’s flavorful and well suited to the game!
To play the game, you roll dice when there’s uncertain rules or risk, using six-sided dice and adding dice based on various factors (expertise, preparedness, etc.). The number of dice that succeed (trying to roll over your stat if you’re rolling Spooky, and under your stat for IT). There are helping moves, plus ones for focusing and reducing your meters. Your meters are Spooky and IT, and increase or decrease based on failure or success, and are what determine wheter you go feral, turn into a pile of bones, get found out as a skeleton, or lose your job! It’s cool to see genuine stakes in a one-shot game but still ones that aren’t too intense. I also love the presentation of the rules here!
A lot of the game is focused on completing IT tickets, which have tables in the back and can gain you Kudos, which determines the final winners. The tickets are determined by the facilitator’s rolls on the ticket tables, and the facilitator can also include things like Overtime for unresolved tickets, or introduce Absurd Obstacles to make things a little more hectic. For the players, the three main goals are “‘Fix’ things, complete your ulterior motive, and don’t get fired or turned to bones.” The facilitator (called a GM here) is there to make things complicated and present challenges, as well as to help determine what happens when rolls fail.
Overall, I think Skel-IT-Ons by Nevyn Holmes is a rad one-shot game that has great art and layout with really approachable set of rules that create an entertaining environment for play! I definitely recommend picking it up, especially as many people are rejoining their game groups & simultaneously returning to more “standard” work environments. Practice keeping your skeleton identity under wraps and have some fun with friends!
When the Music Stops by Yuri R
Genre Tags: multiplayer (3+ players & facilitator), fantasy, tarot cards, heists, coins
Replayable? Yes!
Actual Play Available? Some examples in text
Length: Short (One-shot)
When the Music Stops by Yuri R is a GMless story game for 1-5 players designed to be played while listening to a mixtape and using the tape to travel through time by rewinding the music. It is inspired by Ribbon Drive by Avery Alder. The game only assumes that the characters can somehow travel through time, and that they’re trying to stop some disaster from coming to pass, and otherwise it is setting agnostic. The game uses 4 six-sided dice, a way to play music & prepared playlist (prepared by a player or using one of the provided lists), lyrics for the final song of the playlist, and a way to take notes.
The layout of this game is pretty with photographs of a lot of music-related objects and scenes (record players with quotes, cassette tapes, etc.) in a largely monotone (black, white, grey) color palette. the font is mostly monospace like typewriter font except for the serif quotes and sans serif thicker header fonts. The only part that’s a little challenging to read is really the music tracklists, which are white on black and smaller text, however, there’s a link to the Spotify playlists so that you can easily find the songs without having to read them!
When the Music Stops includes a safety section that’s well worded and encourages using safety tools as well as breaks and dialogue, primarily recommending lines & veils set up a few days before play to allow for time to prepare. I really appreciate setting safety expectations early, and putting this section before the Making the Mixtape section, because I personally know some music can even impact a person’s ability to play safely. (I feel like Script Change would suit this game well, also, if you’re looking for more structure.)
The Mixtape section is really great, giving guidelines on choosing a theme, timing the playlist well, including diversity, and the importance of having the lyrics (including a translation if it’s not in your native language) of the final song. As I mentioned, there’s also a sample playlist with a Spotify link, which makes this simpler for pickup play! In the section on playing the game, the instructions say to fast forward to the final song and look over the lyrics together, not talking but listening, and then flesh out the disastrous event when the music stops. There is a lot of useful guidance here on how much to detail, what to use to inform the narrative, and what it means to play towards resolving the disaster instead of trying to immediately fix it.
Character creation includes name, pronouns, and four traits for each character as well as any additional notes you desire to include or not. Traits are simple, descriptive phrases like “Single father,” “blessed by the gods,” and so on, with two being directly from the lyrics of the final song even if they overlap with others, just interpreted differently. This is really a cool and simple character creation that uses the game’s musical mechanics, which I love!
Each game also includes up to 7 Obstacles, and I like the flexibility in this section allowing you to stop when you feel it makes sense and say that whatever Obstacle you’re at is the final Obstacle. It is also is great that this section includes guidance to check in with quiet players and encourage them to, if they desire, be the next to introduce an Obstacle, since the last person who spoke in a given scene is given the right to introduce an Obstacle and some players are quieter or engage in different ways. You also don’t have to have Obstacles in scenes, which allows for more flexible storytelling.
Resolving obstacles uses die rolls against a 1-3 (makes it worse and causes you to use Chronicle points), 4-5 (timeline fights back, rewind your playlist), to 6 (overcome obstacle and gain a Chronicle point, more successes is more points) scale. You roll dice equal to the traits you’re using, which can be based on combined/team effort. I will say that it would be useful if Chronicle points were defined before this section, but it’s not too complicated to figure out or find since it’s a small document! The Chronicle points define how effectively you address the disaster at the end of the game, with more being better.
Finally, a great part of the game is the epilogue section on Rebuilding. This is after the confrontation of the disaster where you kind of unwind and thank each other & give positive feedback. It’s a great debriefing that includes a number of useful questions integrated into the structure, and I love a good opportunity to say nice things about each other and release tension or anxiety about the experience of play.
When the Music Stops by Yuri R is a great way to use music mechanics to tell a story and represent traveling through time in an attempt to avert disaster! I absolutely think it’s worth checking out and playing alone or with friends, whether you’re playing face-to-face or long distance. Music is a great supplement to storytelling & roleplaying, and this is a great example of how integrating it is awesome!
***Intermission – Game Bundles!***
There’s some amazing game bundles happening this month, please check them out and see which one suits you!
Queer Games Bundle 2021 – I’m in this bundle with I love you and I adore you! It has TONS of games and there’s even a Pay What You Want edition! Great Pride month collection! Support queer creators in and out of the bundle this month and all year round!
Indie bundle for Palestinian Aid – This bundle to support Palestinians who are struggling against the genocidal acts of Israel is full of tons of AMAZING games, and I’m in this one with Let Me Take a Selfie! Thoughty is an apartheid free space opposed to the actions of the state of Israel!
TTRPG Charity Bundle for Trans Support – I am sad I missed out on getting in to participate for this one, but WOW is it full of tons of wonderful games! Don’t miss out on helping trans people thrive in spite of the current harmful legislation attempts!
Sapling Soul by Logan Timmins
Genre Tags: multiplayer (3+ players & facilitator), fantasy, tarot cards, heists, coins
Replayable? Yes!
Actual Play Available? Some examples in text
Length: Short (One-shot)
Sapling Soul by Logan Timmins (breathingstories) is a solo game inspired by We Forest Three by Rae Nedjadi and is an evocative exploration about belonging to the Forest and the Forest calling to you for help. It uses multiple (at least one) six-sided dice, a 20-sided die, a way to record your journey (digital, handwritten, or audio are all offered), and about 30 minutes of your time. This game is presented pretty simply but I feel it has a lot of depth!
The layout uses a simple white background and black text in a serif font with beautiful nature photography, very atmospheric and mysterious photographs of forests with light pouring between trees or the sky peeking through the foliage. I love tree photos so I immediately loved this part of the text, to be honest! Overall the layout is really functional, which is important, but it’s also quite pretty.
The start of the game includes some flavor text to guide your journaling and set the scene, and then has you establish your Trust in the forest by rolling 2d6 and adding 3. If you have 0 trust, you move to a section called “Losing Trust” and follow the instructions there, but you start out with this established number and record it in your journal. After this, you create your Sapling Soul. I won’t be including all of my play through, but here are the questions for creation and my responses.
What is your name? Evan
Sapling Soul Creation Questions & Responses
What does the Forest call you? The Lost One
How does the Forest call to you? The Forest keens, a ringing sound in the distance, that I know and will never forget.
You also have three attributes, empathy, nurture, and unknowable. To get stats for these, you roll 3d6 and add the totals together for each attribute. When you test these attributes, you roll the 20-sided die. Equal or under the attribute succeeds, over the attribute fails. Consequences happen in either case, and in some cases you invite hostility, including that of the Haunted, resulting in marking a strike in your journal. Three strikes invokes the Hunted by Haunted section. In encounters, you sometimes won’t test your attributes, and instead roll a d6 to find out what will happen. The mechanics here are pretty well explained and quite simple, and though a lot of the play is in the experience of journaling, the journaling is impacted quite a bit by these rolls.
There is a short safety section that details how there is a chance you won’t make it through, and that failure is still a story, with a note to pause or leave the game if you’re uncomfortable. I often wish solo games had more structured safety support, and I felt that here, but I am glad it’s noted at all. Reminding people that you don’t have to finish a game is important!
The following pages after this are the actual play with prompts and the results on a 1-2, 3-4, 5-6 scale or 1-3, 4-6 scale based on your d6 rolls. After the first roll, sometimes you’re prompted to test your Attributes, and there are further results on a similar d6 scale that impact your Trust stat, the number of strikes you mark related to the Haunted, and other things like causing you to have to roll twice and take the lower score on your next test. All of this is supported with about a paragraph or more of flavor and detail about what happens narratively because of your results, anything from chittering in the forest to physical discomfort or threats from the Haunted.
I will be clear that there are absolutely parts of this that could be disturbing, scary, or potentially triggering. There are a lot of themes of struggle, potential combat whether physical or metaphysical, spooky framing of the forest environment and the threats you encounter, some elements of deception, and some elements of being pursued or chased, among other potential elements that I might not have caught. I would especially note that the results of being overtaken by the Haunted or the Intruder both involve loss of self, not always ending the story but making you into one of the Haunted. For me, this is particularly creepy and stressful, but it’s a completely legit story element. If you like things that are spooky and a little unsettling, deeply evocative and exploratory, this game might suit you well! It’s super captivating and enjoyable!
Sapling Soul by Logan Timmins is a journaling game that takes you deep into the forest and explores a haunting story. I recommend it for a mysterious experience in storytelling! If you’re still spending a lot of time at home and alone like so many of us are, this may be the perfect way to get outside without even leaving your door.
Royal Blood by Grant Howitt
Genre Tags: multiplayer (3+ players & facilitator), fantasy, tarot cards, heists, coins
Replayable? Yes!
Actual Play Available? Some examples in text
Length: Short (One-shot)
Royal Blood by Grant Howitt is a rules-light heist roleplaying game for three or more players and a facilitator in which you, the Royals, intend to take the power of the Arcane in a heist. It requires a deck of tarot cards that is shared amongst the players and a handful of coins. The text states that it typically takes 2-3 hours if played at a fair pace, but does also say you can play in multiple sittings if you want to take your time.
The layout of the game is really pretty with colorful, patterned backgrounds that have images related to the various tarot cards and the general theme. There are bold colored splashes with text over them on many pages, which I am grateful for because as gorgeous as these pages are, the narrow sans-serif font can be a little challenging to read over some of the more vivid or busy backgrounds. This is likely just a me thing though, I don’t think most people will struggle! Overall it looks great and it uses a little crown-and-eye icon to indicate when the author is providing guidance or notes, which is fun and useful!
Character creation for the Royals involves choosing a Royal from the tarot cards (four families of royals, based on the suits of wands, swords, etc. with detailed roles in the text of the game). All of the characters are equal regardless of implied hierarchy, and the text details that whether you’re naturally part of a family or not is irrelevant, as it’s based on your magic awakening. Next you ask the Royal on your right a series of questions, and the Royal on your left a different series of questions. The questions are really great (“Who have we both loved?” and “What secret of mine do I wish you didn’t know?” are great prompts, and there are several others!). Next, you write down “silver” and “blood” on a sheet of paper, splitting two facets between these two fields, including things like relationships or equipment. Silver relates to arcane ancestry, while blood is real world and mundane things.
These facets are what you wager in challenges, and when you fail they’re damaged or lost. You invert (like a tarot card can invert) when you lose all facets. This is a cool way to handle managing resources and what you can use them for without having to keep detailed track, as well as making resources integral to the actual narrative & engagement with challenges. The section on “Junk Magic” talks about using objects, fetishes, charms, and relics to accomplish magic, which is something the Arcane don’t have to do but Royals do. Determining how you do this is part of character creation.
You also choose a reason you’re doing this heist, but it’s a secret from the other Royals, whether it’s revenge, pride, greed, or loyalty. The game does say that you don’t have to define this in detail up front, and that it might change through play. You reveal this when your card inverts! All of this and a name and you’ve created a character. Each of the families has a ton of rich flavor and detail for the characters, so I feel like there’s a lot of room to play this multiple times.
The next sections of the game describe the Arcane, basically who you’re facing in the heist to take their powers, and the City, where the game is set. The Arcane each have a domain in the city where they’re strongest, defined & fleshed out by all players as a group. It also details how the Royals will describe their court, and then the five icons that players gain (each getting one) that can be used in case of a crisis.
To start off, Fate Herself (the facilitator) draws a major Arcana card to choose & describe the Mark for the heist, and players share something that relates the Mark to them (things that could potentially motivate them against the Mark are especially good here) and Fate Herself records them. The Mark holds The Prize, which is the manifestation of the power the Royals are stealing. The Prize is protected by the Box, which is basically the obstacles the Royals encounter, represented by five major arcana cards laid out on the table around the Mark, and defined by the Icons list in the text. From here, players use coins (3 per player) and play through scouting for the heist, defining the box, placing coins to indicate contributions, then using their facets and so on to play through the actual heist and engagement. They’ll draw cards and based on the card result get a “No, and,” “yes, but,” “yes, and,” or a “yes, and then some” from Fate Herself that gets broken down and affects how they overcome icons. If all icons are overcome, the prize is had, but there can be a lot of complications down the line!
The game itself is rules light, but the execution could be more complex for those unfamiliar with tarot, or for those who might struggle with using multiple components for whatever reason. I’d recommend thoroughly reading the text, as well as looking over the noted alterative rules within the text, before engaging in play. The game doesn’t have any particular safety guidance, so I’d especially recommend having a discussion up front to see how you want to support a safer table & if there’s any aspects of a magical heist that you want to encourage or avoid.
Royal Blood by Grant Howitt is a beautiful and intriguing heist game using tarot cards and themes to help create a stirring environment for roleplay. I think it would be great especially for play groups that like tarot card themes and want to explore what their presence in a concrete world would mean, especially when vying for ownership of power. If you’ve got some witchy friends you’d like to get together, this may be just the game for you!
I hope you enjoyed these reviews! I hope to do more of these over time, as well as other posts about theory and design! If you enjoyed these, please support the creators by picking up their games & tipping, as well as leaving positive reviews. You can also check out the awesome bundles I linked to, full of great games for important causes! Finally, consider supporting Thoughty on ko-fi.com/thoughty if you’d like to see more from me!