In the wake of Executive Orders meant to roll back protections against vulnerable marginalized communities, 40 game designers have donated their games to the Best of 2024 TTRPG bundle in order to raise funds for The Trans Empowerment Project. The organization is a 501(c)3 non-profit that directly aids hundreds of trans folks each year. It also recently began the Quest Collective — an initiative to support the community of tabletop gamers of marginalized genders by spotlighting a different game by a trans designer each month.
The bundle, organized by Rayney Day Games, includes nearly 80 games with a diverse range of genres and systems — from a collection of Monster of the Week adventures, to a queer hack of Honey Heist, the horror TTRPG Darkest Hour, and the perfectly named Teddy Bear Holding a Freaking Machine Gun.
Among the bundle’s many solo games is Phantasticine, written by Taylor Smith with illustrations from Maria Capelle Frantz. Inspired by podcasts like Nothing Much Happens, the game is meant to help you fall asleep. The role-playing game equivalent of a guided meditation, it offers a structured scenario for the player’s imagination to explore as they drift into sleep — a type of calming escapism that many might find extremely welcome right now.
The bundle also includes duet games like Bound Together. An expanded version of the solo-game Bound by Kaden Ramstack, Bound Together is a playing card-based, setting agnostic, road trip RPG set in a post-collapse world. Players act as two characters who cling to one another as they travel across a dangerous land. Unfortunately, try as they might, they will likely not complete their journey. With a gorgeous black and gold design, this game alone is worth the price of the bundle.
Also littered throughout this bundle are experimental microRPGs like Rainbow Mutant Slimes by Leigh Eldridge and Fil Cieplak. The GMless game for 1-6 players tells the story of a peaceful family of slimes living deep within a cave system — until a Wizard uses it as a storage facility, drawing unwanted attention from bands of adventurers in search of the very magical artifact that gave you and your family sentience. With adorable, and colorful, designs alongside a quick set of rules and random tables, Rainbow Mutant Slimes is easy to pick up as you work to stop the adventurers from stealing the very thing that makes you you.
While the Best of 2024 TTRPG bundle is brimming with great games, the money it raises will be used to directly aid trans and gender nonconfirming people in areas most impacted by anti-trans federal and state actions, with chapters in 11 states including Texas, Georgia, and North Carolina.
