Wanderhome

Last updated
Wanderhome
Designers Jay Dragon
IllustratorsCam Adjodha, Sabii Borno, Geneva Bowers, Lauren Henderson, Kimberli Johnson, Jo Thierolf, Dominique Ramsey, Nadhir Nor, Jennie Lindberg, Danny Kyobe, Conner Fawcett, Juho Choi
PublishersPossum Creek Games
Publication2021
Genres tabletop role-playing game, fantasy
SystemsBelonging Outside Belonging
Skillsrole-playing, improvisation
Website possumcreekgames.com/pages/wanderhome

Wanderhome is an indie role-playing game by game designer Jay Dragon about animal people in a pastoral setting, based upon the Belonging Outside Belonging game system by Avery Alder and Benjamin Rosenbaum. [1] It is published by Possum Creek Games. Unlike typical tabletop role-playing games, Wanderhome does not use dice, turns, or a gamemaster, focusing instead on the characters' emotional journey. Dialogue takes the place of battles, and gameplay revolves around question prompts. [2]

The mood of Wanderhome, according to Polygon's Chase Carter, is cozy and wholesome, with an undercurrent of trauma from the land's past wars. [3] It was influenced by the Redwall books [4] and Studio Ghibli animated films. It was funded and fulfilled through Kickstarter. [5]

Wanderhome won 2022 ENNIE Awards for Best Family-Friendly Game (Gold), Best Cover Art (Gold), and Best Interior Art (Silver). [6] Wanderhome was nominated for the 2021 Nebula Award for Best Game Writing. [7] Wanderhome was featured in Itch.io's charity bundle for abortion funds. [8]

Related Research Articles

Benjamin Rosenbaum is an American science fiction, fantasy, and literary fiction writer, game designer, and computer programmer. His stories and novels have been finalists for the Hugo Award, the Nebula Award, the Theodore Sturgeon Award, the BSFA award, the World Fantasy Award, and the Otherwise Award. His tabletop role-playing game Dream Apart, together with Avery Alder's Dream Askew, was a finalist for the 2019 ENNIE Awards for Best Game, Best Setting, and Product of the Year.

The ENNIE Awards are awards for role-playing game (RPG) products and their creators. The awards were created in 2001 by Russ Morrissey of EN World in partnership with Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D Third Edition News. The ceremony has been hosted at Gen Con in Indianapolis since 2002. Since 2018, EN World is no longer associated with the awards.

Evil Hat Productions is a company that produces role-playing games and other tabletop games. They are best known for the free indie RPG system Fate, Blades in the Dark, and Thirsty Sword Lesbians, all of which have won multiple awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dread (role-playing game)</span> Tabletop horror role-playing game

Dread is a horror RPG designed by Epidiah Ravachol and Nathaniel Barmore, and published by The Impossible Dream. The game uses a Jenga tower for action resolution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Powered by the Apocalypse</span> Game system for tabletop role-playing game

Powered by the Apocalypse (PbtA) is a tabletop role playing game design framework developed by Meguey Baker and Vincent Baker for the 2010 game Apocalypse World and later adapted for hundreds of other RPGs.

<i>Avatar Legends: The Roleplaying Game</i> 2022 tabletop role-playing game

Avatar Legends: The Roleplaying Game is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game produced by Magpie Games. It is set in the world of the animated television series Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra, and takes place in five different time periods. It sees players take the roles of martial artists, technological experts, or benders – people who can manipulate one of the four classical elements – who fight for balance in the world while also working towards their own goals and struggling with inner balance, represented by opposing ideals held by a character.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Banana Chan</span> Game designer and writer

Banana Chan is a Chinese Canadian game designer and writer.

<i>Thirsty Sword Lesbians</i> 2021 tabletop role-playing game

Thirsty Sword Lesbians is a narrative-focused tabletop role-playing game that emphasizes telling "melodramatic and queer stories". The game was funded via a 2020 Kickstarter campaign and published by Evil Hat Productions in 2021. It uses a modification of the Powered by the Apocalypse game system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jeeyon Shim</span> Korean American game designer

Jeeyon Shim is a second generation Korean American game designer and writer. A former outdoor educator, her body of work is strongly influenced by themes of connection to the natural world. Playing Shim's narrative games often involves creating a keepsake artifact.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lucian Kahn</span> American musician and game designer

Lucian Kahn is an American role-playing game writer/designer and musician based in Brooklyn. His work focuses on LGBT, Jewish, and subcultural themes, typically utilizing satire and farce. His games include Visigoths vs. Mall Goths and his music includes Schmekel.

Avery Alder is a Canadian tabletop role-playing game designer. She designs games with themes of LGBTQ self-discovery, community building, and post-apocalyptic survival. With help from Benjamin Rosenbaum, Alder invented the Belonging Outside Belonging system, which became a template for future designers' games. Her work is a topic of scholarship in the history of game design.

<i>Visigoths vs. Mall Goths</i> Urban fantasy tabletop role-playing game

Visigoths vs. Mall Goths is an urban fantasy tabletop role-playing game with LGBTQ dating sim elements by Lucian Kahn, with art by Robin Eisenberg. The ancient Visigoths have time traveled to 1990s Los Angeles and are battling mall goths for control of the mall. The game's tone is silly and the setting has many puns. The game was inspired by 1990s movies The Craft, Empire Records, Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure and Clueless.

Good Society is a tabletop role-playing game based upon the Regency era novels of Jane Austen. A live action role-playing game version is also available. Good Society was created by the two-woman Australian game design team Storybrewers, consisting of lead writer Hayley Gordon and graphic designer Vee Hendro. In addition to role-playing, the game mechanics include spreading rumors and writing letters. It can be played with or without a gamemaster.

Mörk Borg is a tabletop role-playing game inspired by heavy metal music, created by Swedish game designers Pelle Nilsson and Johan Nohr and published by Free League Publishing in February 2020. The game features dark themes, frequent character death, and a doom metal playlist. The title means "dark fort" in Swedish.

Alice is Missing is a tabletop role-playing game played in silence through text messaging. Players investigate the disappearance of a high school girl. The game was designed by Spenser Starke and published by Hunters Entertainment in 2020 after raising over $138,000 on Kickstarter. In 2022, Paramount Pictures began developing the game into a movie.

Jiangshi: Blood in the Banquet Hall is a tabletop role-playing game about Chinese immigrants to North America managing a family restaurant while battling Jiangshi, legendary hopping vampires. The game was designed by Banana Chan and Sen-Foong Lim, who are both Chinese immigrants. It was published independently in 2021 after a Kickstarter campaign raised over US$100,000. The instructions focus heavily on authentic portrayals of Chinese history and immigrant experiences. The default scenario takes place in San Francisco's Chinatown during the 1920s, but the game box comes with a book of scenarios by a variety of writers offering more adventures in different cities and historical periods. The game's tone can range from serious to comedy horror. Themes include fighting racism, exploring intergenerational knowledge and relationships, coping with economic hardship, and working together as a family.

Brindlewood Bay is a murder mystery tabletop role-playing game about elderly women amateur detectives, inspired by Murder, She Wrote and H. P. Lovecraft. It was designed by Jason Cordova and was published by Gauntlet Publishing after a 2022 Kickstarter campaign raised $477,518 from 7,748 backers.

The Gauntlet is a publisher/producer of tabletop role-playing games and podcasts. In addition to game books, they publish a monthly game zine called Codex to encourage experimentation in indie role-playing games and OSR. They have won and been nominated for ENNIE Awards.

Fabula Ultima is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game inspired by Japanese role-playing video games such as the Final Fantasy series. It was designed by Emanuele Galletto, illustrated by Catthy Trinh and Moryo, and published by Need Games in 2023. The game won 2023 ENNIE Awards for Best Game and Product of the Year.

Free League Publishing is a game studio and publisher based in Stockholm, Sweden, formed in 2011. The company designs and publishes tabletop role-playing games, board games, and books based on licensed properties and independent works.

References

  1. "Wanderhome". Possum Creek Games. Retrieved 2024-06-06.
  2. Carter, Chase (2021-04-16). "Wanderhome is a Redwall-inspired RPG that arms players with dialogue, not daggers". Polygon. Retrieved 2023-04-02.
  3. Carter, Chase (2021-12-06). "The best indie tabletop RPGs of 2021". Polygon. Retrieved 2023-04-02.
  4. Zambrano, J. R. (2023-02-01). "Five RPGs For Getting Cozy and Staying Warm". Bell of Lost Souls. Retrieved 2023-04-02.
  5. "Wanderhome is a relaxing animal RPG inspired by Redwall, Studio Ghibli and the Moomins". Dicebreaker. 2020-08-05. Retrieved 2023-04-02.
  6. "2022 Results – ENNIE Awards" . Retrieved 2023-04-02.
  7. "sfadb: Nebula Awards 2022". www.sfadb.com. Retrieved 2023-04-02.
  8. "Wanderhome and Visigoths & Mall Goths featured in bundle for abortion funds". Dicebreaker. 2022-07-04. Retrieved 2023-04-02.