Zine Month 2025 Strikes Back!

We’re in the last third of February and Zine Month is still going on. RPG zine crowdfunding projects under the Zine Month and Zine Quest banners are being released all though the month, so here’s a selection of campaigns to check out, starting with the ones finishing earliest.

Omen

By Spencer Campbell

I like Spencer’s games, they’ve been fun and often fit a lot in a small package. You’ll find out more about that when my Nova review lands in the near future.

Omen is a one-shot RPG in a slim 20 pages, with players as Fated, rolling dice and picking whether to succeed or fail at their rolls, manipulating them with Omens, all while the end of the world ticks away. 

The game claims to be genre-independent, so you can have fated characters and a doomed world wherever you want.

Crowdfunding here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/thegilaboy/omen-a-oneshot-ttrpg

Against Time and Death

By Nick Bate

This was one of the most anticipated games for 2025 in the Dragonmeet “What’s Hot in Indie RPGs?” last year, so I had to check it out.

The game is a two-player fight through time and space, with a multiverse build between players and then fought over by a pair of characters with a frought relationship. It’s based on things like This is How You Lose the Time War, the Council of Reeds from Fantastic Four and it’s not named here, but I’m guessing Deathloop, too.

While I find myself still being a little awkward when I start playing a two player game, I really like the sound of this.

Crowdfunding here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ickbat/against-time-and-death

In Dreaming Avalon: A Roleplaying Party Game

By Vincent Baker

The Bakers are RPG royalty, and it always feels odd looking at a crowdfunding effort from them as I’m part of their Patreon and therefore will receive a copy there.

In Dreaming Avalon is a party game where everyone plays through a scenario with Arthurian Knights and Shakespearean Fairies who are going through different events. They employ rituals and pick lists in ways which feel reminiscent of the King is Dead and Under Hollow Hills, also by the same author.

Crowdfunding here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/lumpleygames/in-dreaming-avalon-a-roleplaying-party-game

Tourist Hole

By Mike Martens

From one RPG that’s kind of a party game to another. Tourist Hole by Wassailing of Claus Manor’s Mike Martens is a fascinating-looking game about creating strange tourist hotpots in a road trip. 

You establish who you’re playing (even yourself) and make up a place that attracts tourists like a Venus Fly Trap. The question is whether you’ll get our and what will come of you after each experience.

Crowdfunding here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mikemartens/tourist-hole

Wiki Articles are Wizards [citation needed]

By Ben Meadows / Periapt Games

This is a very daft game, and I love the look of it. As someone who’s written fiction and RPG prompts inspired by hitting the random button on Wikipedia, and who played Battle Wizard Hats, this feels very much up my street.

The idea is that you make a character whose magic comes from Wikipedia pages and then compete in a wizard-off.

Crowdfunding here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/periaptgames/wiki-articles-are-wizards-citation-needed

They Burned the Books

By Dreaming Robot

From one weird magic-generator to another, this game has a worryingly timely-sounding name.

Players get a book they’re fine defacing and use it to craft spells, kind of like Wreck this Deck. This is all set in a world where reading is illegal and you’re trying to bring literacy back

Crowdfunding here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/dreaming-robot/they-burned-the-books

Tail-End Charlie: A solo game about the tail-gunners of Bomber Command

By Alex White

I put a shout out on BlueSky about who had campaigns that I should look at for Zine Month/Quest. Alex cheekily mentioned that this would definitely be of interest as it shares a name with me.

I’m the one Etheridge who’s not a massive war nerd, but at the same time I’m a fan of drama and weird solo games. When my brother and I went to the Imperial War Museum for his birthday, we saw a bomber which had sections opened up. I remembered talking to my brother about how I’d never be able to make it in there.

And then I find myself looking at this solo game about the weird, lonely life of a tail gunner and I guess I’ll be going there in some form. Players use a deck of cards to play through several missions, trying to survive their tour in the back of a Lancaster Bomber and spending a few precious moments trying to recover on land.

Crowdfunding here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/plane-sailing-games/tail-end-charlie

Wolden – A Forest RPG of Wayward Cults

By Frank “Mottokrosh” Reding

Mottokrosh has made some fun games previously, and this one looks like it’ll be an entertaining OSR-ish experience. 

The game sees difference cults consisting of witches, wizards and more drawn to a strange forest and encountering the entities within. As well as the system there’s an adventure that’s part of the crowdfunding campaign. 

Crowdfunding here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mottokrosh/woldena-forest-rpg-of-wayward-cults

Love for the Love Gods

By Graham Gentz

You know those Hallmark and Netflix romcoms? What if there are shadowy Eldritch forces which are forcing everything to go through the formulaic plots because it’s all part of a ritual?

This game plays with and questions the kind of heteronormative stereotypes of these stories and aims to make a non-tragic queer experience, even with the ominous control of Eldritch beings. It looks like there’s some fun ritualised play and some players may secretly be working for The Machine, trying to keep things going in “The Cutest Town”.

This looks unabashedly weird and like it messes with genre in some great ways.

Crowdfunding here: https://www.backerkit.com/c/projects/graham-gentz/love-for-the-love-gods?ref=bk-social-project

Starships & Soldiers

By Hammer City Games

Look, I don’t have a Mothership problem, you have a Mothership problem.

Here’s something which looks like it could be fun for people who want a Starship Troopers-like experience in the clunky, broken down space future of Mothership. It also calls on games like Helldivers 2 and Warhammer 40k (I’m guessing the Imperial Guard experience). 

Characters are already doomed in Mothership, so why not let them think they’ve got a fighting chance.

Crowdfunding here: https://www.backerkit.com/c/projects/hammer-city-games/starahips-soldiers-a-mothership-sci-fi-rpg-toolkit?ref=bk-social-project

I’m not entirely sure there’ll be a third list of these, but I’ll be keeping an eye on crowdfunding platforms and accept any messages on Facebook (under my name) or BlueSky (look for skyshark) for people who want to share their campaigns. If there are enough, I’ll put another one together.