RPG: The Tropes Jam Bundle Is Ten Awesome Indie RPGS For One Great Price
It’s 2020 and it’s time to play some experimental games–defeat a demon lord, write a trashy romance novel, and more with the Tropes Jam Game Bundle.
Game Jams are one of the best places to look for some games that push the edges of the otherwise well-defined territory of RPGs as we know them. For every high fantasy wannabe out there, there are a million more that want you to get weird at your tabletop. And the Tropes Jam Game Bundle, hosted late last year (and on sale now from itch.io) is a prime example of the beautiful places you can find when you venture into new territory.
Born out of one gamer’s quest to amplify and boost the voices of PoC in TTRPGs, the Tropes Jam Game Bundle not only gets you ten amazing games for only $2 each, it also directly benefits marginalized creators, meaning you’ll help make the tabletop space a little more welcoming AND you’ll get to try out these cool games. What exactly awaits you in this bundle? Check it out.
via Tropes Jam Game Bundle
Tropes Jam Game Bundle – $20
This bundle of games is composed of submissions for the #TropesJam. Containing some very well made games from some great people, this bundle of TTRPGs will not disappoint. All money raised from this bundle will go towards supporting PoC creatives in the TTRPG community who might need some form of monetary assistance in getting their work out there and in front of people. At the end of the bundle period, the total amount will be tallied and an open call will be available for people to submit needs, be it art, layout, editing, etc. All funds are focused on helping people put out creative projects that meet their vision.
Here’s a quick look at all the different games one by one. As you might expect from the name, each one derives its inspiration from a given trope (taken mostly from TV Tropes).
Purplest Prose
Inspired by the trope of the same name, Purplest Prose has you and your friends come together to write the trashiest romance stories you can think of. But it’s not just a storytelling game–you and your friends will develop a writer persona. You might be a Chuck Tingle-esque mysterious recluse interested in bucks and/or ladybucks pounding each other in the butt, and release an entire universe of exotic erotica that may or may not involve the Illuminati, dinosaurs, and more.
Or perhaps you go the more traditional route and develop a writer who has multiple pen names, and is in reality a single person, harried and horny, just trying to pay the bills. Whatever the case, you and your friends will collaborate to create the most romance novel romance novel out there.
The game is played similarly to Cards Against Humanity, in that you and your friends will use index cards and prompts to help get things started, but it quickly spirals into more creative territory. If you like trashy romance novels, this really leans hard into the genre, satirizing it in the best way.
Defeat the Demon Lord (But with Table Tennis)
When a Demon Lord goes on the rampage, it is up to one brave hero (at least) to step up and put an end to the demon lord. But if they’re going to put a stop to the evil, they’ll have to fight the way true heroes do, with table tennis.
Inspired by the trope Duels Decide Everything, DtDbwTT is a live action game that requires you to actually play table tennis. But it layers on a bunch of roleplaying elements, so you can invest a heroic narrative onto your next game. Why play against your boring friend Brent when you could instead be playing against the Demon Lord and all their minions in a shonen-anime style battle for ultimate supremacy.
This game is mostly in the setup. You’ll create a Hero character and a Demon Lord character, and both will help set the stakes for your next game of table tennis. As far as RPGs go, it’s more set dressing than anything else, but if you were already gonna play table tennis (or whatever) that dressing makes your next match feel awesome. It’s some real Paint the Line style awesomeness.
Working For The Corp
It’s 2020 now and that means we basically live in a cyberpunk dystopia. Working for the Corp inspired by the trope of the same name, casts you on the other side of the typical megacorp/mercenary power dynamic. Now instead of playing ‘runners’ of some kind, you and your friends are employees of The Corp and have to defend sensitive information from runners.
If you’ve ever played For the Queen, you have an idea of what this card-driven game is all about. You’ll get a set of prompt cards that you’ll string together with the other players to try and put together a story in which you’re all successful at keeping corporate hegemony safe.
Hot Off The Press
In Hot off the Press, players take on the role of students who all work for the school newspaper and are tasked with finding the best stories about the school and its ongoings before the competition does. But you’ll have other goals like sneaking a couple of kisses with your crush while trying to meet your deadlines and watching out for the school rules not tripping you up.
Fighting Monsters
Fighting Monsters is a lovely little game that you can play a few times in an evening. It requires a little creativity from an unusual source in that you’ll have some writing and drawing to do. You and your friends will portray a community of monsters, with each player taking on the role of a Pillar of the community. Each one of these unique members of monster society helps to hold things together, at least until the Terrors come and take you away and the community is forced to acknowledge the loss and absence of the Pillar.
I love that this game can be somber and sweet in the same story. It’s again, not what you’d expect from a traditional RPG, but you can develop some amazing storytelling in a very little time. If you ever want a break from your ongoing campaign, this is a great way to either set up a new community in your world, or to spin more ideas up out of just the creativity of you and your friends.
A Trip Down Cemetery Lane
Inspired by the old Hitchhiking Ghost trope, this one is a game about someone realizing that they’ve been a ghost all along. This one is pretty great if that thought doesn’t terrify you. Here’s where we start getting into some What Remains of Edith Finch territory because you get together an really explore with your fellow players.
This game generates a lot of cool interaction scenes, especially since you’re all ostensibly hitchhikers just going on a journey until you hit that point where everyone realizes they’re a ghost, and then the game takes off running.
Last Time On
Have you ever jumped into a tv series about midway through an arc, and realized that you’re coming in on one of the few plot-important episodes? This is a game that jumps off from that point. It’s all about figuring out what happened right after Majel Barrett-Roddenberry says “Previously on Star Trek the Next Generation”
At the Monarch’s Gate
This is a game all about that moment right before the heroes go into the throne room and surrender their weapons to the guards. The whole game takes place over a single-session where your adventurers do nothing more than surrender their weapons to guards.
But, as you surrender the weapons, each one has its own story. You’ll tell the histories of your weapons and in doing so learn who their characters are and establish cool facts (hidden or otherwise) about your character and their motivation until it comes time for the dramatic conclusion. This whole setup is kinda the prompt for Hero, so it’s definitely worth digging into. There’s a lot here to surprise you.
Universal
Universal is a game where you, the players, have been put in charge of ruining the creative economy of an entire generation by greenlighting a new Cinematic Universe to dominate every culture. What will yours be? Superheroes? Science Fiction? Cooking shows? Find out how and if your characters can stand up to the pressure they’ve been laboring under.
Follow
Follow is such a fun game. In it, you and your friends all play characters to achieve a common oal, which could be something like start a rebellion, slay a dragon, get your candidate elected, or whatever. It’s something that people need to work together to accomplish, is the main part. Over the course of the game you’ll basically lay out a quest and start following it. It’s a great way to start playing or to develop what happens over the course of a vignette of condensed time.
Wild Speed: Space Family
Do you like over the top action movies? This is for you. Wild Speed: Space Family is a game inspired by the fact that they went to space in The Fast and the Furious once they had enough actual movies. Players take on the role of characters in the 10th iteration of a popular action film franchise (maybe the one described in Universal) and this time the action is happening in space. You have to go over the top and do one. last. job.
If you’re looking for a game that’s as ridiculously fun as it is funly ridiculous, this is the game for you.
Support the Tropes Jam Bundle while you can!
