Hark, adventurers bolde and many!

It's Jamzilla here! Life has been super busy for me these past few months, but things finally seem to be settling down and I'm gearing up to start working on some new zines once again! If you do enjoy this blogpost please comment down below as I've been thinking of posting here on itch as a way to stay active between zine-releases. I'd cover some zine/collage WIPs, hobby and miniature-wargaming stuff, and all the other gaming/fantasy ideas I have that are too small to put into a zine!

For now, I'd like to share some of the things I've been tinkering around with these past few months:

A few months ago I started working on a new zine, The Thinworld Phantasy, but unfortunately had to put it on hold as I started a new job and had started taking evening classes around the same time. The Thinworld Phantasy was going to be a spiritual successor to my most popular game CYST, set in a crumbling world of long ago, this time a solo game that uses a deck of standard playing cards rather than the flipping of coins. Here is the (unfinished!) cover spread I started putting together quite a while ago:

The Thinworld Phantasy was/is going to be an atmospheric and evocative game set in a world of darkness and decay, teetering on the very brink of ruin. I had a lot of generators put together that use card-pulls rather than dice, but needed time to pull all the main mechanics together. I like my games rules-light, and The Thinworld Phantasy was a little too weighty when I decided to put it down. 

I did also plan out a fairly short CYST campaign for my main adventure group. The campaign strung together five existing adventures, three of my own and two of my favourites, into a single narrative with enough twists and turns to keep things interesting. The five adventures are (in campaign order):

1. The Haddrithorp Coast
2. The Great, Immortal Ing
3. Shizdushar
4. PANGRAM
5. The Mines of Murdoch

Each of these adventures is small yet evocative, playable as a one-shot but with enough meat to be stretched over a few sessions if need be. I put together a promo for my players, but unfortunately didn't have time to run the campaign. You can see the promo below:

The campaign was going to use an adapted version of CYST that makes use of four attributes: Strength, Wisdom, Guile and Charm. The story ultimately revolves around Ing, a wish-granting immortal, and his descent into madness. I had planned to plant enough seeds throughout the campaign so that in the final show-down with Ing the party could redeem him, join him, or attempt to quell his godly wrath! I still have the notes, so will hopefully run this one soon now that I'm settling into my new routine. 

Now that things are settling down my brain is starting to itch with new zine/game ideas! At the moment I have my mind set on creating a revised edition of my Dark Fort clone Dragon, and a reworked/expanded version of my fantasy skirmish game Pentagruel. I've also been reading through Le Morte D'Arthur recently, which has inspired me to start working on an Arthurian adventure game called Sangrail, which I'll hopefully be putting together very soon. 

Hopefully this blog gets out to you! If reading through posts is something you enjoy, please leave a comment and I'll start posting more regularly here on itch inbetween posting zines!

May thine sword be ever sharp, and thine cunning ever sharper, Jamzilla, 2025