Possible Worlds Games will publish 12 new RPGs by 2028

Possible Worlds Games is about to become the busiest publisher in the small press tabletop industry. Tyler Crumrine, the head and heart behind the company best known for Beak, Feather & Bone, only recently announced he would be publishing Austin Walker’s Realis. Now, Rascal can inform you of 11 other tabletop games slated to publish between now and late 2027 — 8 of which come from independent designers.

In order of expected release date:

• Tacklebox,  J. Walton: A card prompt-based “surreal fishing game” from 2018 chronicling the story of two friends on an existentially tenuous trip, fully realized in a new edition.
• Better Strangers, Tyler Crumrine: A card prompt-based game for creating interesting backstories for passersby on the street or figures from art — the seemingly unreachable people in our everyday lives.
• Homecoming, Meghan Cross: A solo tarot-based RPG described as “splitting the difference between Anamnesis and Bluebeard’s Bride” where players will investigate an ominous curse haunting the women of a particular family.
• Cosmic Century Knights, James D’Amato & Drew Mierzejewski: The “Single Unique Power” anime trope mixed with magic swords, dice assignment, and plenty of random tables.
• Chuck, Tyler Crumrine: A card-based solo RPG inspired by Minami’s Lover that will be offered for free during a joint crowdfunding push for Homecoming and Cosmic Century Knights. 
• Realis, Austin Walker: Sentence-based science-fantasy roleplay within a thousand haunted moons. Factional powers, dozens of classes, play to find out.
• CANON/EYES, Jeff Stormer: A worldbuilding game where players add their favorite media to a shared reality that everyone must share, book club-style.
• Space Between Stars, Viditya Voleti: Full version of the GMless RPG about exploring unstable space with a motley crew using a dice pool system.
• Hearts like Comets, Adam Bell: “Legend of the Galactic Heroes-style zoomed out TTRPG by way of trick-taking and tic-tac-toe.” What more can I say?
• Apocalypse Canaries, Charu Chandni Patel: Solo “walk-and-reflect” RPG about young scouts making meaning and preserving community amidst a player-defined apocalypse.
• Overcure, D.G. Chapman: Another instantly head-turning meets-meets: “Mega Man Battle Network meets Trauma Center/Dr. Mario” where an IRL area’s wi-fi network powers random generation tables for a minis-agnostic tactics game.
• BAD BAD BAD, Tyler Crumrine: GMless roleplay where fan fiction-crazed characters mash together creative properties and OC in a corrupted cyberspace modelled after Archive of Our Own.

The prodigious list includes several notable names operating at the forefront of indie tabletop design and performance, such as Austin Walker and Jeff Stormer, alongside relatively fresh names such as Charu Patel and DG Chapman. Crumrine structured Possible Worlds Games’ upcoming portfolio to intentionally match up creators. Sharp-eyed readers may notice games grouped by mechanics or theme — those games will be available to purchase in bundles at a discounted price.

In a recent interview, Crumine told Rascal that he believes players will buy curated pairings, or even sets, of RPGs. He will leverage the relative size of known creatives to shine more spotlight on names he believes deserve recognition. Further, the dramaturge-turned-tabletop designer is ready to step away from the drafting table in order create ladders out of the iniquity of indie publishing.

Possible Worlds Games is changing to fit Crumrine’s new vision, one informed both by his days as a publisher for stage plays and a deep belief that the tabletop industry needs more than the ‘Kickstarter or die’ mentality so many tabletop designers feel trapped within. Co-ops, mentorships, grants, collectives: Crumrine hopes Possible Worlds Games’ seasonal pairings proves one more path out of the crowdfunding-choked woods.

This interview was lightly edited for clarity.