May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month in the U.S., and in honor of the incredible work done by Asian, Asian American, and Pacific Islander designers, I pulled together a list of games for you to check out. These games are created by designers who live across the globe and are not limited by location.
From Gubat Banwa’s martial arts warrior RPG to Arc’s Doomsday-clock timing system, there’s an incredible breadth to the design sensibilities, themes, and genres featured. Hopefully you’ll find your next favorite game.
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“Reach of the Roach God is a tabletop RPG campaign set in the deep places of the earth. Explore villages and temples; follow trails through karst and cave; breathe in the darkness; parley with a god in chitin. The first full-length adventure book from A Thousand Thousand Islands, a Southeast Asian fantasy worldbuilding project. Beautifully illustrated, with a system-neutral design, for use with the fantasy tabletop RPG of your choice. Inspired by the vast caves of Southeast Asia: places of underground rivers, entombed jungles, ancient bones, holy spirits, and many, many roaches.”
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“Mangayaw is an RPG for one facilitator (the Mangaawit) and at least one other player. Players act as Binmanwa, adventurers and survivors in an archipelago of bloodshed and goldlust. This game is inspired by Philippine legend, folklore, culture, and history.”
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“Inspired by the voyage of the bathysphere and the world’s first deep sea dive, Into Blue Midnight is a GM-less two-player Wretched and Alone game that lets you play out the last hour of two scientists within the bathysphere when everything goes wrong. All it requires are two players, a single six-sided die, a standard deck of cards, a block tower, some tokens, pen and paper, and a container of water.”
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“Pipedream is a #SWORDDREAM roleplaying game of detectives, problem-solving, and rural mysteries in a fantastic world; or a farcical drug comedy. You may play it as both.
“The game is played as a conversation between a Referee and 1-4 Wisefellows (halfling detectives). The Referee describes the scenes and supporting characters, and presents problems and threats that players are faced with. The other players portray the Wisefellows and decide on their actions as they experience surprising adventures in the world of Irisfields.”
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“Lair of the Frog God is a system-neutral, frog-filled misadventure, with an optional bestiary for Cairn. The Lair contains dark, eldritch secrets and way, way, too many frogs. Survive its horrors, and you may eventually be granted audience with the mythical Frog God...”
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“Horse Girl is a solo GM-less journaling game in which you will document your surgical and mental transformation into a horse by the love of your life.”
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“Something From Your Lover is a collaborative storytelling game around the tales of seven boys, your soulmates from a different life. Play a generative intimate game of being, becoming, falling in love and its different colors consequences and reveries.”
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“It is the far future. Earth has been abandoned for generations. Humanity left for brighter stars, richer planets, and shining colonies. To fuel their dreams of a better tomorrow, the humans turned to the Elementals and their magic. This magic is an invaluable source of power and labor. Machines were created to harness and enslave the Elementals.
“You were one of these Enslaved Elementals. You are machines that echo the legendary magic you once possessed. You and your friends are among the few who have managed to return to Earth. What remains of Earth’s cities is falling apart. The Corp won’t let go of you so easily either. But shining through the cracks is a magic that is ready to be reborn.
“Can you outrun the Corp long enough and bring forth the Rebirth of magic? Will you survive this revolution you’ve started, or will the Corp recapture you? We play the game of Balikbayan: Returning Home to find out.”
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“Masak Ayam is a short TTRPG about being a Chicken empowered with various Powers and attempting to escape a scrumptious fate. Assemble the Chickens, prep the kitchen, and get set to engage in this ridiculous and dramatic tale of escape. Will they make it free? Will they be caught and cooked? Or will their powers overcome them? It is up to you to discover this fate!”
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“Exquisite Biome is a game about the symbiosis of the natural world. Create an ecosystem, populate it with strange and wondrous animals, and see how they interact with one another.”
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“The 99¢ Chamber of Death is a role playing game for two or more people. You’ll assume the role of Warriors bent on stopping the Big Boss from obtaining the Power to rule New Jungle Village. It’s a place where your dice are only as dangerous as your words. The 99¢ Chamber will ask you to fight and rhyme against evil.”
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“Cockamania! is a fantasy adventure setting that lies at the heart of Southeast Asian culture. Explore the native habitat of the red junglefowl, wade through the monsoon rains, bet on the biggest or meanest cock, and parley with the gods!
“This game is system-neutral, which means that no new rules are required to be learned in order to understand this RPG. If you already have a fantasy RPG of choice, feel free to use it to explore the town of Sabungan. Two statblocks are included in the Appendix for a couple of unique personalities, but all other creatures and people are expected to exist in most bestiaries and monster lists.”
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“Arc is a role-playing game where heroes defy the cruel Doomsday Clock to save their world from a looming apocalypse. Rules-light, tension-heavy, dripping with deliciously dark art yet lovingly written for all storymakers at heart.
“Stories you make and play in Arc run against a timer. While heroes navigate and transform the world around them, the real-time Doomsday Clock ticks to an irreversibly cataclysmic event. That doom is up to you. It could be an explosive battle, the literal end of the world—or something more intimate: the departure of beloved spirits, the farewell of an era.”
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“For generations, the Trash People have lived and thrived in the Staten Island landfill that we call—the Trash Lands. Now, a group of rude and entitled humans wish to bulldoze your home and erect luxury condos where YOUR people live. Obviously, that isn’t going to happen, and you have formed a legendary coalition amongst the Trash People to ensure that you hold back the humans.
“Our Home is Trash is a table top role playing game, meant for 2-4 players (plus a GM) ages 10+. It’s a d6 (six sided dice) based game.”
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“The Islands of Sina Una is a new Campaign Setting for 5th Edition that pulls from precolonial mythology and culture of the Philippines. In the time since Bakunawa’s last attack the mortal races that inhabit the island recover slowly as life goes on. While some do battle with the monsters that roam these lands, others work as intermediaries, communicating between spirits and deities to help protect and guide their people. And yet, there are still others who choose to align with the terrible Celestial Eaters, to destroy the moon and bring about the end of all things.”
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“Keris & The Dream is a GM-less TTRPG for one (5 - 15 minutes). Martial arts in the Malay community continue to be deeply rooted in mysticism, despite the Muslim-washing attempts by the government and religious heads. The keris, especially, has purportedly many magical uses outside of being a mere weapon and I intend to explore these stories with you.”
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“The Twilight Throne and the Houses of Ruin is a political intrigue TTRPG of surreal magic and tragic intimacy. It uses the Forged in the Dark system (of Blades in the Dark fame) and restructures the system dramatically. You are powerful Nobles, beings of pure magic in a broken land of fairytales, serving a Throne that will be the last in an age of curses and corruption. How high will you rise before you fall?”
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“Orichalcum is a tabletop roleplaying map game for 1-5 players. Players will lay out a map of the Empire that oppressed their ancestors and drowned in a deluge of its own making. By remembering what was left behind, they will draw a connection from the past to the present. Their people, the Exiles, have evolved past the Empire’s ways, and these differences will become features on each player’s map of their island home. Orichalcum is a game about drowning empires and imagining utopias.”
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“Villagesong is a fantastical RPG about communities, leadership, and change, inspired by tales from ancient Java. Your decisions will determine the future of your village and the island. What will you sacrifice, and what will you hold dear?
“You play a village leader, responsible for your home. As the game progresses, draw cards from the change deck to discover the events facing your village. You will make tough decisions, form and break bonds with other leaders, and discover how your island changes. Choice by choice, you will shape the song of your village, sung for many years to come.”
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“Spectres of Brocken is a role-playing game about making friends and then years later going to war against them in giant mechs. Make up some young, naive, messy trainee mech pilots. Find out who you are. Find out who you are to each other. Find out what you want in the world. Years later, find each other on the field of battle, each in your own fearsome custom mechs. Find out who Source: Gizmodo