OSR News Roundup for February 3rd, 2025

Welcome to the first news Roundup in February as well as the first Roundup for ZineMonth2025. I don't usually share links to blogs, podcasts, or other such releases, but I was asked nicely, so I wanted to plug The Jeweler's Sanctum, a neat little solo play game on YouTube.

Also, in observance of ZineMonth, Sabre Games has all of our in-stock zines on sale for this month.

You're going to find this month's Roundups focusing primarily on projects being released or funded as part of ZineMonth; if I missed your new release or crowdfunding project because it is not ZiMo related please let me know. Let's jump right in, shall we.

• Tanya Floaker is one of my favorite indy game designers. One of the things I really admire about their work is the versatility. Whether it's a tactical minis game of skeletons fighting against capitalism, or a game of an alien visitor trying to explore and understand Earth, they consistently produce interesting and thoughtful games. Tanya is currently raising funds for Mum Chums, a slice of life rpg about the people who care for children.

• Paul Wolfe is raising funds for Witch-Lords of Skull Mountain, a mini-setting/zine written for DCC, OSE, and Shadowdark designed as a teaching tool for creating one's own hexcrawls.

• Mill of the Twelve Dead is a project I've been looking forward to (I've got an interview with the creator coming up soon); it's an adventure written for OSE, designed for low-level parties.

• DedZeppelin has released Under the Keep at Ernost. It's written for Wilderlands, a Cairn hack designed to emulate Tolkien-esque style adventures, but can obviously be used with Cairn, Into the Odd, or any similar OSR-style games.

• We recently got in Lola Johnson's The Tower in stock, and I now see that they're kickstarting another project for ZiMo: Universe at Your Door: The Traveller is a solo journaling game where you play a voyager venturing into the depths of space, documenting what they find on their mission.

• Sometimes, We Were Infinite is an interesting looking project for ZiMo. It's written for Troika! and is a game set at the end of the universe, with art by Perplexing Ruins.

• In a News Roundup Exclusive (not really), the folks behind the Dragon Warriors Fanzine Casket of Fays have begun adding a POD option to the fanzine. Issue 14 is out in pdf, as well as in POD.

• Idle Catulary gets promoted here fairly frequently, and I see they've got a ZiMo project. Sharky is an underwater adventure written for Old School Essentials and is designed for readability and ease of play.

• Enter Him/\Love Him is itchfunding as an entry into the Tiny Worlds jam. It's an adventure about exploring another adventure, but is also about exploring a human body? There's a lot going on, but it looks promising.

• A great looking collaborative story-telling game is Knight Forlorn, in which the players control a lone wanderer on a futile quest. The art is evocative and gloomy, and fits the premise to a "T".

• Meldar16 Games is raising funds on Backerkit for their ZiMo project; Vapid Venus Ventures is a solo-journaling rpg all about terraforming Venus.

• Solo games seem to be really big this year, and another one that caught my eye is Realms: Etria, a collaborative story-telling game set in a pastoral, mysterious world.

• Out of Orbit is a fascinating, troupe-style collaborative game where the players take control of a group of survivors from a crashed starship, off course and alone, trying to get off-planet or make a home for yourselves where you are.

• The Rook and The Crook is a really neat looking, system-neutral, mind-bending dungeon adventure with some nice art and an interesting concept.