Hey folks! I know I don't normally manage "quick posts" and that when I write about RPGs the wordcount tends to burst outwards like one of those trick snakes in a can. Still, today we're shooting for a quick post.
I'm writing to you guys because there are only 3 days left on the Kickstarter for Blood Moon Pact, and I think a bunch of you are gonna wanna back it.
So, Blood Moon Pact is a jubensha. Some of you guys might know about this from my extensive People Make Games documentary talking about them. These games are not TTRPGs, but they are roleplaying games that happen on a table. Genres are hell!
Basically, jubensha is a kind of roleplaying that is extraordinarily popular in China (seriously, however popular you're imagining them to be you can 10x that), so I'm not sure anyone's counting but that might actually make it a bigger industry than Dungeons & Dragons? Who knows! The way these games work is that you essentially take the starting point of the murder mystery dinner party, and then you threw away the dinner and - eventually in China - the murder. While crime was the most popular genre of jubensha at the dawn on the industry, it was eventually eclipsed by romance. You can watch my documentary above if you wanna know more.
But even at the most beginner end, they are also much, much more complicated than any murder mystery dinner party. Above you can see my friends playing Blood Moon Pact last night, where we had an absolutely fantastic time. This is what our table looked like by the end:
Absolute carnage.
(I added the dead body for effect. Hindsight being 20/20, while it was a very useful prop, I actually wish I hadn't. Turns out Blood Moon Pact is a bit of a tearjerker at times, and I could have GMed it with a more serious tone.)
Anyway, here's what matters:
While jubensha is a huge, dramatic, deeply inventive format of roleplaying game in China, with the best games building on one another's innovations for year after year... it's also totally locked away from English speakers. Not only are basically none of these games published in English, the Chinese publishers aren't interested in repurposing their games for overseas markets. The audience is tiny and uncertain, plus the games rely on cultural and historical context that makes them a nightmare to translate.But!
Since I raised awareness of this genre with the People Make Games documentary, several different companies have begun circumnavigating this problem by designing boutique jubensha for the English language market. The games released so far haven't been the complex, emotionally nuanced games that most excite me about jubensha - these companies are naturally making products targeted at newcomers to the genre - but they're a seed, and I want to support them more than anything 🌱
With that in mind, today I'm doing a roundup of the English language jubensha that I think are worth your time. They're not cheap, but they're also more than simple one-shots. Think of it like you're buying an event that you can either GM multiple times, sell on, or give someone as a fantastic gift. Because here's the cool part about jubensha- it's way easier to get non-roleplayers to try them! It's just a murder mystery, after all.
Or at least, it looks that way from the outside...
The reason I'm doing this post is that Blood Moon Pact has just 3 days left on the Kickstarter, so I was racing to give you guys time to back it. This is a fantasy game about a clutch of spellcasting travellers getting locked in a shrine together.
This... does not go well for them.
There are a couple of reasons that I'm particularly emotionally invested in the success of this game. First, it's just a super polished product with a soundtrack that lifts the whole experience and frankly has no business being that good. Second, two of the three people on the team are women, so your cash is helping to lift more women into the games industry. But third, in terms of emotionality, Dark Moon Pact is the heaviest jubensha yet published for the English language scene.
Sure, compared to folks in China who are literally walking into jubensha cafés and saying "I want a good cry, please," it's still a pretty gentle experience. But in terms of giving the rest of us a glimpse of what these games can be? A few of us around the table last night felt pinpricks of tears in our eyes! If I'd known it was that kind of game going in, I could have maybe produced actual tears. That's huge.
Also from an awesomely diverse team but at the complete other tonal end of the spectrum sits Spy of the Year. No heartwrenching backstories or familial shame here, only crowd-pleasing goofiness and very funny names. Perfect for anyone who can't imagine asking their friends to embody a heartbroken orc.
I need to flag here that 🚩I haven't played Spy of the Year🚩, but people who I trust immensely say that's it's very well made. I do, however, have the box next to me as I write these very words, and I'm excited to get it to the table as soon as I can. Leafing through the materials in the box, it looks like a hilarious, super creative design.
Finally, you should absolutely take a look at the work of Suspense Studio. They've published two games to date: Laboratory of Death (students find their chemistry professor dead!!) and Secret Tribe (an uncontacted tribe deep in the rainforest find their leader dead!!).
I'd recommend these games to anyone, I had a blast playing them. They're also easier to get to the table than the other games on this list because they're slightly quicker, they don't need a dedicated GM and you can play with 5 players or 6. So if you're looking for a big experience that'll really "wow" you, you probably want Blood Moon Pact or Spy of the Year. But if you want something with no prep you can actually squeak into a busy Wednesday night, these games have you covered.
Okay! That's all from me. I really hope you guys take a punt on these games. All of them are boxes made by young designers taking a huge risk, and it would make me feel absolutely amazing if you showed them some love.
Also - and I'm just gonna admit to being hugely selfish for a second - I want to these publishers to do well because I want to see what they all do next. I want to play those games, and the games that those games inspire.
I want them to get bigger. More ambitious. More emotionally raw. I want more twists and turns. I want it all. And I want you folks to come with me.
-- Quinns