Zine Month 2024 Highlight - Part Three
A final look at interesting zines from Zine Month 2024
We’re now into March and ZiMo is over, but there are still some interesting projects crowdfunding for a short while yet. Below is my final roundup of ZiMo/Zine Quest projects which are ending soon, and three non-zine crowdfunding projects that I wanted to highlight.
MIRU 3
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mimicpublishing/miru-3-an-analog-defense-game
The third MIRU game by Mimic Publishing’s HINOKODO. The MIRU series are solo hex-crawl games, and MIRU 3 focuses on village defence. The campaign also includes tiers for a set of hex tiles, tokens and play aids, and one for a decks of cards and set of coins.
Rumored Lands
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1093341618/rumored-lands
A collection of three 8-12 riso-printed zines by artists Kris Mukai and Arlin Ortiz. Each Rumoured Lands zine provides a different area for players to explore and includes a map, points-of-interest, and rumours to help hook in the players.
Bug Borg
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/monomythpublishing/bug-borg
A bug-based Mörk Borg hack by Monomyth Games. Bug Borg features ten playable species of bug, as well as enemies and hazards to fill the tiny world. This is a great-looking zine typical to Mörk Borg derivatives.
The Haunting of Cliff Cove
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/r-rook/the-haunting-of-cliff-cove-microzine-edition
A collection of microzines by Richard Ruane of R. Rook Studios. The Haunting of Cliff Cove is inspired by cartoons like Scooby Doo and other Hanna-Barbera works, and primarily uses a Forged in the Dark-derived system. Each collection includes smaller player-facing and GM-facing zines, as well as up to two adventure scenarios.
Perfect Momentum
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sstolar/perfect-momentum-a-diceless-bossfight-ttrpg
A 24-32 page black-and-white zine by Slade Stolar. Perfect Momentum sees players explore the world as they make their way to fight a boss, known as an Outrage. It is expected that player characters will likely die multiple times, giving the game a Souls-like vibe. Perfect Momentum uses a diceless system for a gaming loop of exploration, combat, and recovery between each attempt to defeat the boss.
Subterranean Fightin' Freaks
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/andrewmisisco/subterranean-fightin-freaks-0
A full-colour zine by illustrator and cartoonist Andrew Misisco. Subterranean Fightin' Freaks is a modern underground cryptid RPG set in a near-future Chicago. The game uses a d6 dice pool system and includes a starter adventure.
Below are three non-ZiMo projects (i.e. larger books) which I think deserve attention.
Perfect Draw
A CCG-RPG - essentially Yu-Gi-Oh! As a TTRPG. The game uses a PbtA-lite ruleset to emulate the card duels seen in anime like the aforementioned YGO and CardFight! Vanguard. The project comes in digital, paperback, and hardback tiers, and is already fully funded with a whole bunch of stretch goals already unlocked. There’s currently 10 days left to go and they are very close to unlocking rules for cardgames on motorcycles. Let that sink in, then go and help make that a reality.
The Shrike
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/joello/the-shrike-0
A hefty hardback from Vault of Vaarn’s Leo Hunt. The Shrike is a modular sandbox setting based in an abandoned fragment of Hell, primarily for use with OSE but compatible with other d20-based games like Knave or Dungeon and Dragons. The book includes maps, monsters, magic items, and three dungeons for players to explore on top of the almost 50 point-crawl locations.
A Monster's Tail
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/fivepointsgames/a-monsters-tail-a-monster-catching-tabletop-rpg
A PbtA monster catcher game inspired by games and anime like Pokémon and Digimon. The book includes rules for catching and battling monsters (called Genmon), an entire region to explore, and a bestiary of cute monsters to capture and fight.
That wraps up this years ZiMo/ZineQuest highlights. However I plan to release highlights of other crowdfunding projects over the year. To keep up to date with these, and to get a free micro-game, you can subscribe using the button below!