#review

Reef Stakes is a Malaysian coral reef-themed card placement game for 3-6 players with some strong conservation content. So I played it with a conservationist! The game introduces people to the complex issues of coastal development and protecting Malaysia’s coral reefs. Reef Stakes was designed,…

Malaysian creators Mun Kao and Zedeck Siew have been worldbuilding. For the past few years they have been creating a fantastic Southeast Asian game setting. It’s called A Thousand Thousand Islands, and this set of four zines are the first hardcopy products from the project….

Malaysia’s own Ben Chong has created a very small roleplaying game called Magic Swords. It’s a cutting-edge hack of Grant Howitt’s brilliant microgame, Honey Heist. But instead of playing criminal bears, you take on the roles of enchanted weaponry attempting to escape prison.    …

The most important lesson of Pasaraya: Supermarket Manager is that running a supermarket is like solving a fiendishly complicated programming puzzle. I’m not saying that you can actually boil down every business factor into processes and formulas, but that’s just the feeling I get after…

Flotsam: Adrift Amongst the Stars is a GMless and diceless roleplaying game by Josh Fox (Lovecraftesque), being funded via Kickstarter now. Players portray street-level denizens of the shady underbelly of a space station, facing various threats and developing their interpersonal relationships. Think Deadwood or The…

Vangorro is a complete, two-player fantasy battle card game from local game creator Max Tong. Last year, at the age of 10, Max became possibly the youngest published tabletop game designer in Malaysia with the first release of Vangorro, subtitled “Warriors VS HobNogs.” Max illustrated…

Cthulhu Dark is a simple, stripped-down roleplaying game of cosmic horror written by Graham Walmsley (Cthulhu Apocalypse, Stealing Cthulhu, Play Unsafe), Kathryn Jenkins (various articles at Final Thoughts of a Murdered Guard) and Helen Gould (Classic Monsterhearts, “The Sores” in Fear’s Sharp Little Needles). Although the…

Night Witches is a roleplaying game of Soviet airwomen at war. With clear, instructive writing and design by Jason Morningstar (creator of Fiasco) and striking visual design by Brennen Reece (The Warren), the book does a great job evoking the WW2 Eastern Front milieu and lets players…

What: Blades in the Dark When: 2017 Who: John Harper Why: The allure of playing a gang of daring scoundrels in a compelling industrial-fantasy city setting, with structured heist and downtime mechanics.   Blades in the Dark: A Game Deserving of the Spotlight We’ve always…

What: The Warren When: 2015 Who: Marshall Miller (author), Bully Pulpit Games (publisher) Why: Because you were wondering about the rabbits in my logo   The Warren: Why a Roleplaying Game about Rabbits? Animal adventures appeal to me. The struggle for survival and a better…