🌌 Factions of Astroprisma, Zine Month & Rosethorn Keep | Chimera's Lair #001

On the first issue of the magazine we recap everything about Astroprisma, recommend 5 Zine Month projects to follow, and review a new solo rpg!

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Inside this Issue:

• 📃 Introduction to the newsletter!

• 🚀 Astroprisma Update

• 🌌 Factions of Astroprisma

• 🗓️ Zine Month!

• ✍️ Review Corner

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📃 Introduction

Welcome to the first edition of Chimera’s Lair!

I’m Camila, you may know me online as Crescent Chimera. I am a ttrpg creator, and the author of this newsletter. I started Chimera’s Lair with the intention of providing you with updates on my games, share my thoughts, and showcase cool games I enjoy from other creators in this space, with a focus on solo ttrpgs.

What you will find in this magazine:

• Updates on the games I am working on

• News and highlights from the rpg community

• A detailed game review in each issue

Subscribe to receive a new issue of the magazine in your mail every month!

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🚀 Astroprisma Update

First, a quick intro to the game!

Astroprisma is a solo sci-fi rpg about space exploration and faction conflict set in a retrofuturistic universe.

The player’s goal is to explore the entirety of the Star System Map, a 36-tile hexcrawl in the shape of a star system.  

Example of a partly-explored Star System Map

Mechanics & Gameplay

Gameplay is centered around exploration, combat and story events. 

Combat is a deep and dynamic system that will see the player make tactical decisions and use their weapons, hacking skills, cybertech, narcobiotics, and other abilities to defeat a wide range of enemies and bosses. 

As you explore the different planets and locations, you will encounter story events and characters. These will present you with meaningful player choices that will change the course of your adventure.

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Inspirations & Touchstones

Astroprisma is inspired by other solo ttrpgs like MIRU by Hinokodo, RUNE by GilaRPGs, Notorious by Jason Price, and Thousand Empty Light by Alfred Valley.

Aesthetically and style-wise, it is also influenced by other pieces of media, like the manga BLAME!; the film Ghost in the Shell (1995); or the videogames Signalis, FTL, Citizen Sleeper, and Fallout: New Vegas.

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Update & Kickstarter Launch

Last week I announced that the Kickstarter for Astroprisma would release in March!

I am making good progress on the writing and the final designs. The game is about 85% done at this point. I plan on making the digital version of the game available immediately to backers after the campaign ends. Once I finish development on the core book, I’m going to begin working on the adventures and add-ons for the higher pledges from the Kickstarter.

Here are some images of the spreads I have been working on recently!

Abyssal Scars are strange supranatural events that have been observed to occur when living beings are close to death.

Settlements are space stations controlled by one of the 5 factions

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🌌 Factions of Astroprisma

Now let’s talk about some of the lore!

There are 5 main factions that fight for the control of space in the world of Astroprisma. Your standing with the factions of this world will impact your story, providing you with quests and rewards if you ally with them, or conflict and a bounty on your head if you oppose them.

Most settlements you will encounter will to be under the control of one of the following factions:

W.A.R.G. is the acronym for West Anchor Revolutionary Guerrillas, an insurgent group formed by workers of factory worlds, and rebel groups hailing from the core world system of West Anchor.

The MEDUSA Sector is an anonymous and decentralized organization of hackers and cyberterrorists, united under the goal of uncovering the secrets lost in the deepest layers of the Cybersphere.

Built from the last remnants of the galactic empires that ruled the universe before the apocalypse, the Intersolar Federation is the de-facto trade authority in this universe. Its main objective is to fight space piracy and rebuild civilization.

The antithesis to the ISF, the Corsair Syndicate is a rogue federation of smugglers, outlaws, and bounty hunters. Their ruthless practices and network of contraband hubs has turned them into one of the strongest groups in the new lawless space.

The Synth Arch is a quasi-religious organization made up of androids and trans-humanists. Their goals are unclear, since they are extremely secretive about their intentions and only welcome new members who complete an unknown ritual.

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🗓️ Zine Month 2024!

It is February, which means that it’s time to look at all the zines the ttrpg community has been working on. Zine Month has started, and with it I bring you 5 of my personal favourites projects to check out!

Fun fact: I originally started Astroprisma as a 40 page zine for Zine Month 2023, before the project grew bigger and evolved into a 120+ page book.

#5 - Grotten

Grotten is a minimalist dungeon crawler using physical tiles to generate and explore a dungeon, where you roll on random tables to fill the rooms with monsters, traps, loot, NPCs - and a final epic boss fight. The zine contains one-page rules and character creation, cut-out dungeon tiles and tokens, and lots and lots of random tables.

#4 - Milk Bar

Milk Bar is a sci-fi tabletop roleplaying game set in an alternate-timeline, post-Soviet Poland. After the Soviets grew in power, their ultimate clash with Capital left your city in ruin. All you can do now is gather your fellow Communards, salvage whatever you can, and build your Milk Bar.

#3 - Beetle Knight

In Beetle Knight, you play as arthropod Knights designated by the Iridescent Order as protectors of the realm of Litterfall. You are thus duty-bound to travel the world, helping those in need.

#2 - Tiny Fables

Tiny Fables is a sandbox-style adventure for Mausritter set in an old-growth forest warped by fae magic. Echoing the themes of classic folklore and fairy-tales, this module confronts players with the narrow distinction between warmth and darkness, cruelty and whimsy, and danger versus reward.

#1 - Mystery Under Magi-Mart

Mystery Under Magi-Mart is a pick-your-path adventure book, taking you on a quest into a dungeon-like shop basement to find a potion. The book's provides a sense of exploration and discovery without complicated rules or dice-rolls.

💡 Zine Month Alternative

TTRPG Creator Adam Vass (Cybermetal 2012, Necronautilus) has started a really interesting alternative to ZineQuest. An open game jam that encourages sharing ideas, scrappy projects, and trading materials, in an attempt to capture the DIY and collaborative spirit of making zines for the fun of it.

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✍️ Review Corner | Rosethorn Keep

Cover Art

It’s time for my favourite part of the magazine, the Review Corner. This week I took a break from looking at shipping costs spreadsheets (not fun), to play a new solo rpg I found on Itch.io (very fun).

The game is Rosethorn Keep, by Kaydevs and Charlotte Laskowski.

The Itch.io page reads:

“Rosethorn Keep is a solo TTRPG where you acquire companions and complete dungeons in order to upgrade your castle, under the looming threat of the Demon Lord. When your castle is built and your companions are ready, can you defeat him before he thrusts the world into darkness?”

I was immediately hooked. The premise, together with the 2-bit pixelated aesthetic convinced me to give the game a try.

The game’s art style works specially well on the character portraits

Mechanically, the core is set around a 3-step gameplay loop: you lead your characters through a dungeon, clear the dungeon and take resources, and you then spend those resources upgrading your castle.

After a couple hours of play, I realized why the loop drew me in so quickly: Darkest Dungeon. That’s it! The core of this game is very similar to that of the videogame that has seen me sinking dozens hours of playtime, clearing dungeons, beating bossfights and upgrading my base, so my characters are a little better prepared next time they fight the eldritch bosses that have taken so many of their companions before.

Rosethorn Keep uses these videogame design concepts and implements them seamlessly into the tabletop world. The roguelike loop and the upgrades to the castle provide a real sense of progression through gameplay, and a natural difficulty curve as the game advances.

So much personality is conveyed through just their portraits and names

This game is a great example of how to create an engaging solo game with a minimalist gameplay system. Dungeon delves are very straightforward: you roll a d6 for each of your characters when you enter the dungeon, you roll more d6 and reference the dungeon’s tables to create encounters, and you try to match or beat the encounter’s target number (TN) by adding your character’s relevant stat to the d6 you rolled for them at the beginning of the dungeon.

I think that one of Rosethorn Castle’s main strengths is how it gives room for player choice within its minimalist presentation.

Choice is something I have struggled with a lot in the past with many non-journaling solo rpgs. Often I’ve felt like there is very little input from the player in the events of the story, in the outcome of combat or encounters, relegating a lot of those decisions to a dice roll.

Rosethorn Castle breaks away from that. Yes the gameplay is streamlined, but every encounter feels like solving a small puzzle. What character to pick? What dice to reroll? What trait to use? Which one to save for later on? There’s plenty of space for player interaction and meaningful decisions in each gameplay session.

Rosethorn Keep is available for PWYW at Itch.io

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Thanks for reading!

Follow the Astroprisma Kickstarter

Visit the website - Astroprisma.com

My links - Twitter | Itch.io | Youtube (Coming Soon™)

Want to write about Astroprisma? Check the Press Kit