Side Quest Books & Games ➡️ PAX East

BOOK FAIR PANEL!!

Cannot BREATHE with how excited we are for this. “Inspiration Is Everywhere: On writing retellings, remixes, queerings and companion novels” with Cassandra Khaw, Cait Jacobs and Luna McNamara 🤩🤩🤩

RSVP at our linktree 👍

(Moderated by yours truly but don’t let that deter you.)

Lev Grossman's The Bright Sword has already been mentioned a couple times, but I came here to say that the audiobook specifically is phenomenally done!

2 wing 7. What about y’all?

I keep seeing posts about ai models like "actually they're good at this thing now!"

but once you understand that ai tools are being built by fascists in service of attacks on humanity, whether or not they can generate useable code or do basic searches kind of stops being the main question

We like some of the smaller more “independent” presses as well, like Creature Publishing, Neon Hemlock, Erewhon (from Kensington)… they’re not as big as the big 5 but they’re wonderful!

Indie Spec Fic Panel & Book Launch w/ Local Authors Join authors from indie publisher Neon Hemlock for a panel on speculative fiction, as well as the launch of Jacobs' "Cyberscion"!

In or near Massachusetts? Come hear me, @robotleblanc.bsky.social and @esther-alter.bsky.social wax poetical about Cyberpunk. Side Quest Books in Somerville MA 3/20 @ 7:30 PM

www.eventbrite.com/e/indie-spec...

@sweeetanj.bsky.social is joining us for our pre-PAX TTRPG Industry Night! She’ll be there 7-8pm and will have various things you can buy and get signed so you can have an Anjali souvenir to cherish forever. Hang above your front door, etc. Free RSVP for the event here! bit.ly/3M7eAXI

Fifty Ways To Love Your (Roleplay) Lover "How to GM Romance" is rules, advice, and some stuff in between.

More than just a collection of tools and advice, How to GM Romance tackles the perennial (and often taboo) issue of flirting, dating, and sex at the RPG table.

Promotional image for this year’s Juneteenth TTRPG event. At the top right is the logo of Twitch channel Find Out Productions, a black cat wearing a reddish pink Carmen Sandiego style hat. At the top left, the text “Hosted by Imani” next to a picture of Imani, a Black femme with short blonde hair wearing sunglasses, looking at the camera. Further text taking up the center and bottom of the image reads: Juneteenth 2026 We Came To Party An All Day TTRPG Event Celebrating Black Joy GM Signups March 30th In the background is part of the artwork Sugar Shack, by Ernie Barnes.

Yo! I am once again organizing an all Black GM & Player Juneteenth event.

The theme is gonna be Black Joy: We Came to Party

Put your dancing shoes on, light up the grill, and move your car from the street we're having a Block Party.

GM Sign Ups open March 30th and player sign ups to follow.

the kind of wisdom one would hope to find in anxient tomes 🩸

I am going to link to organizations that I know for sure are helping trans Kansans. This thread will develop slowly as I either know people or will vet them.

At this point we have not heard from anyone being helped via relocation resources. These exist, but I assume they are overwhelmed.

A screenshot of an email from an ad agency to Evil Hat Marketing: Hey Evil Hat team, Promised this is the last time you’ll hear from me. We are wrapping up generating content on the house. The AI studio is starting to get fully booked with our paying clients, and I have strict orders to stop promoting this come the weekend. I figured Evil Hat might as well get some work out of us at no cost while you can. Want in before we close it up? Best, [redacted] And then our reply: Hi [redacted], We will never use AI for our games or for our marketing. It's toxic to our customer audience and it's an ethical violation of the hard work put in by the human artists we hire to illustrate our books and the human writers who design our games. In short, it's not "free work" it's theft. Feel free to take me off your mailing list. Hope you turn around your business model because frankly, your current approach sucks shit. -Tom

sometimes you have to be clear about your values

Done! 🙌

i know people are intentionally lumping things like spell check in with AI to make opposition feel ridiculous but honestly don't push me. i'd strangle clippy with my bare hands if it meant getting rid of AI

WAR PIGS: A GMless TTRPG of Chaos and Goblins WAR PIGS is a two-stat tabletop RPG for 1-4 players. Escape from behind elvish enemy lines using some d6s, dumb luck, and your WAR PIG.

Next up is War Pigs by @sidequestbooks.bsky.social!

We're fans of goblin-centric games and horrible little guys™, so this one caught our eye right away! Escape from behind elvish lines with your goblin buddies on your trusty WAR PIG. So much cute gobbo art!

🔗 www.kickstarter.com/projects/sid...

Woooosee you there!

Thanks for the WAR PIGS shoutout!

Come play the forbidden “Everyone Is Seaguls with us at Pax East

Featuring
@missysteak.bsky.social
@officialpax.bsky.social
@brianliberge.bsky.social

Game designed by
@gshowitt.bsky.social
Game produced by @rowanrookanddecard.bsky.social

well i for one couldn’t be more excited for the possibilities of AI. finally a technology that answers the age old question ‘what if clippy was wormtongue’

I love you fucked up indie TTRPGs

Thanks friend!! 💚

WAR PIGS IS FULLY FUNDED, INCLUDING ALL STRETCH GOALS! From here on out, $50 out of every $100 goes to an immigrant justice organization. From the bottoms of our green goblin hearts: thanks, y’all 💚

To back or add the sweet supplement add-on, go here:
bit.ly/3LRStEF

AND WE SMASHED THROUGH ALL OUR STRETCH GOALS AND WE’RE ADDING MORE GET ON THIS RIDE IT’S A WILD ONE 💚

#zinequest #ttrpg #indiegame

Thanks for the shaaaare!! 🥹

UHHHHHHHHHH

okay okay okay caroline okay DON’T PANIC

I… guess we go for the stretch goals now??

(Thanks for getting us to goal so quickly, fam! We don’t know what to say!!)

We’re already over halfway to goal?? What is happening?? Is this what it means to sow seeds of positivity and support in a community you love and to then offer up a piece of your silly little heart and have that community want to support you in return?? Is that what this is??

🥹

WAR PIGS, the #TTRPG we (Caroline, Lara and Morgan) made, has OFFICIALLY LAUNCHED ON KICKSTARTER! We’re officially part of #ZineQuest and everything! So! Official!

Back us here (don’t miss the add-on Morgan made me include for 13 coloring pages of goblins 💚) bit.ly/3LRStEF

Also: team goblinsonas 🥹

Benito is a threat b/c he makes art so alluring and enjoyable you want to understand everything about it and then you end up learning about sugar and slavery and colonialism and the Taínos and Hawaii and then you probably have some thoughts of your own, and that's why art is powerful and dangerous

Every instance of "AI democratizes the arts, you're classist and ableist and a gatekeeper for trying to stop it" is a slap in the face to the literally centuries of poor, disabled people making art on the margins and a crass lie in service of a machine that strips down and regurgitates dreams

Ooh, just saw “without Asimov there would be no science fiction,” and no, you stale crouton, you waterlogged saltine, without Mary Shelley—harassed by her husband and Lord Byron—there would be no science fiction.

You’re confusing fandom for canon.