In Our Own Wor(l)ds – Olivia Montoya

This ZineQuest 2 project is a 28 page 1/2 size (5.5” x 8.5”) rpg zine that is half game and half DIY guide to zine-making, funded through Kickstarter. The game is about making zines, trading zines, worldbuilding, and character development. It’s a love letter to zine culture, friendships across the distance, cultural exchange, snail mail, and parallel universes.

This game is about a specific subgenre of zines known as “perzines”. A perzine is a personal zine, where the “zinester” writes (and sometimes draws) about their own life experiences, identities, interests, and thoughts. Perzines are perhaps the type of zine most likely to be traded by mail, as well as the most likely to foster friendships across distances. It’s like being pen pals, but also sort of like letting someone read your diary.

In Our Own Wor(l)ds is about this experience, but with a fantastical twist. Two players will take the role of characters living in two different universes, somehow able to exchange their zines across the barrier between them. The worlds might be very similar to our own, or very, very different. All that is guaranteed is that both characters will make and exchange multiple handmade zines about their lives, their worlds, their thoughts, and their circumstances, and larger narratives will take form over the course of these exchanges.

In Our Own Wor(l)ds is an rpg in the tradition of story games, with more of a focus on collaborative storytelling rather than stats and battles. Do expect, however:

Character and Universe sheets
Instructions for creating universes
Instructions for generating characters
Instructions for generating plots and overarching themes
Instructions for creating content for each of the 3 zines each character creates over the course of a standard game
Instructions for making two different styles of zines with varying numbers of pages