Zine Quest and Zine Month took tabletop RPGs in weird new directions

polygon.com:

As with any creative medium, some of the most exciting new elements of tabletop role-playing come from experimentation. Once you’ve wriggled free from the bonds of Dungeons & Dragons, you’re able to better observe its smaller designers — the mad scientists and provocateurs working to push the form to see what they can do, or even just get away with. Each year, Zine Month is the perfect outlet for this community of creatives to let their freak flags fly, whether it be through Kickstarter’s Zine Quest or Crowdfundr’s Tabletop Nonstop.

The TTRPG zines of 2023 were incredibly diverse, featuring everything from whole games to 5th edition hacks and even to a few titles aimed squarely at children. But there were a few that really stood out, projects that tried to challenge not just players, but the very idea of what a tabletop RPG could be.

Expect these and other games inspired by Zine Month to reach backers throughout the balance of the year.

Tarot-based solo games are a big part of Zine Month and the itch.io design scene, but My Mother’s Kitchenby Fleet Detrik uses recipes to turn the tarot around a bit. You’re playing as a spirit in possession of a cookbook who’s trying to use written recipes to help recover lost memories.

In My Mother’s Kitchen,role-playing is as much about creating memory as it is fulfilling it. The drawn tarot cards help fill out the family tree and represent the people who will actually be doing the cooking. They also give players the ghostly power to help influence the success or failure of the larger family. Detrik said they designed the game to help come to terms with the helplessness they felt as their grandmother’s health declined due to age and took a turn for the worse, and how cooking helped