Jim Hall of Brooklet Games is crowdfunding Worldlings. You can catch my previous interview with them here. I've also just added their newest 'zine Gabiko: Floating Goblin Fortress to the webstore.
Question: Easy question first: Give us the elevator pitch of your project. Tell us about it in two sentences or less. Answer: “Worldlings: Tales of Tiny Gods” is a bestiary of delightful animistic gods wrapped in a mystery generator at the edge of civilization.
Q: Is this your first ZQ project or have you done it before? If it's your first, talk a bit about what inspired you to give it a shot this year. If you've done it before, what's something you've learned from previous ZineQuests that you may be doing differently this time, or, if you're not doing anything differently, talk a bit about your previous descriptions. A: This is my first Zine Quest as it's the first year that I've really felt comfortable creating zines. It's a set of skills that have really gelled for me in the last 9 months or so. My first printed zine was for ZiMo back in February and I definitely caught the bug. I have been publishing and distributing around one zine a month since then on patreon.com/BrookletGames.
Q: Finally, tell us something about your current project that really excites you but the average backer may not be aware of. Maybe a twist to an old trope, a new way of presenting something, or maybe just something you've never tried before that you're using this as an opportunity to try out.
A: On its surface, Worldlings is a catalog of cute tiny gods that permeate the natural world. Each type has its own domain of cultivation. Seedlets coax seeds to grow, Mosslings spread carpets of moss, and Rocklets usher the smoothest stones to the streambed. There will be 10-16 different classes of Worldling based on which stretch goals get reached.
It's more than a bestiary, however, in that we're creating a mystery generator and prewritten story hooks that GMs can use to create encounters for the curious to investigate. Here is an example prompt generated with the zine, "A blight is killing the forest and it is spreading into civilization. As players investigate they learn that the townspeople have recently begun polluting the forest with dense coal-fire smoke. Later, players discover that fallen leaves infected with blight have been seen trailing through the town. The leaves come from innocent Treelings seeking the source of the pollution to stop it." Will the players broker a deal with the Treelings? Convince the townspeople to pollute elsewhere? Or something else entirely! It's up to them.
These prompts can be used to add color to the random village your players decided to visit, or you can build an adorable monster-of-the-week style campaign where players travel from village to village helping with complications arising from the Worldlings.
"Worldlings" is inspired by the spirits in the anime Mushishi, Studio Ghibli films, and the tiny worlds in the dense, lush swamps and forests of midwestern USA. Stats will be written for Cairn/Into the Odd and 5e but the prompts can be used for any system. It is written by Jim Hall and A.J. Montague and the art is by Okro. The campaign launches on August 9th and you can find it here!