@chkurk
Chicago based game designer, indie TTRPG lover, photographer and tea fanatic. Host of the Gamestorm Podcast. My Work: https://chase.kurkow.ski Photography and Prints: https://chkabstractions.client-gallery.com Part of @storygameschicago.bsky.social
That’s part of why word of mouth, small reviewers and any press that happens is SO HUGE for indies.
And even for the B&N or Distributor scale those things still matter, they just have an outsized effect once there’s an org actively marketing and pushing your thing.
This ties back into another thread that was going around today. Getting your thing in front of people is like… at least 75% of the battle.
Indie’s are especially bad at this - not because we suck at marketing (although plenty of us do) but because the platforms we use are not B&N or Amazon.
I deeply agree that I want more people from the RPG world working with mainstream publishers.
I don't want to frame it as something people can just decide to to.
Working with a large corporation is always a situation where the artist has very little control over what happens.
I know we're under an elevated risk for severe weather and all but this biting 38° I just got smacked with when I walked out the door screams that there's just no way it can go down like that
legit i think the most successful i have been at selling a ttrpg was when a random post about one of mine got a bunch of reblogs on tumblr. if you like something made by an independent creator (not even just ttrpgs! podcasts, webcomics, videos, whatever) you gotta be loud and annoying about it
Getting to set up a table at a local event this last weekend was awesome.
Hearing people from within your community have such positive reactions to the things you’re making is so cool.
Chicago is crazy.
Walking around in 70 degree weather today WAS SUCH A FUCKING TEASE
I would actually love to!
A teaser poster for Nostos, a TTRPG coming to Kickstarter in early April. Impressionist stormclouds thunder over a roiling sea. Caption text reads "Let's find a way home" above the central word, "Nostos". Illustration by Kaysha Siemens.
The pre-launch page for Nostos is live on Kickstarter!
Give it a follow if you'd like updates about my TTRPG about sailing home and saying goodbye, coming April 7, 2026.
Let's find a way home.
www.kickstarter.com/projects/hon...
Come check out Storygames Chicago’s booth at the Royal Palms Shuffleboard Club with @chkurk.bsky.social and @ryanzenith.bsky.social ! do312.com/events/2026/...
If you haven't checked out all the different, unique games designed on Gamestorm, they're all now PWYW!
Go check them out, play the games and listen to the episodes!
itch.io/c/6172800/de...
Come checkout a stream of Vesta Mandate we're doing over on Twitch!
We're primarily doing this to make a video out of it, but join in if you wanna see it live!
www.twitch.tv/storygamesch...
Also, if you haven’t seen the trailer for Diabolic Dialect I think it does a really good job of showing off the game!
Go check it out!!
Also, if you haven’t seen the trailer for Diabolic Dialect I think it does a really good job of showing off the game!
Go check it out!!
ANYWHERE? What a journey
If you like games you can quickly print out and play with your friends or games that let you cast weird magic and force you to think outside the box, then check out the Kickstarter here: www.kickstarter.com/projects/sto...
This looks so wacky and cool.
A photo of Watterson Towers at ISU disappearing into the fog from before I got on the train today.
The fog in Illinois was wild today. A photo of any big building disappearing into the fog always tickles part of my brain.
Running the Print & Play of Diabolic Dialect for some old friends tonight. Should be fun!
And download the game to see how our ideas from the episode translated into the ashcan of Cry Out To God!
A game of rumors, rituals and religion!
storygameschicago.itch.io/cry-out-to-god
Gamestorm S2E2 is out now!
@ryanzenith.bsky.social and I talk ritual tradition and building games around religious themes. Check out the episode!
gamestorm.podbean.com/e/a-game-wit...
The other night I had 10+ tabs open in 4 windows each. It’s an information segmentation thing for me. Gotta remember the things to look at and do!
Had a moment in Mythic Bastionland which was the OSR wet dream: The party learned there was a barrier between them and the hex they wanted to get to, and the "wonder" I rolled on the spark table was "acidic stairs." I thought that was too cool to pass up, so... 1/4
This is like the FOURTH time that I’ve run into a new update of Affinity Studio hard crashing when I try to export something.
It’s cool that it’s free and all. But come ON!
Before it was crashing on export to a network drive but now it’s just… no matter what.
Chicago has the sickest TTRPG scene.
I just backed Diabolic Dialect @Kickstarter
As a fan of free-form magic systems, this looks very cool!
#ttrpg
Go check out @chkurk.bsky.social's hectic game about wacky wizards castin' sick spells!! 🧙🪄
www.kickstarter.com/projects/sto...
It was great having such an incredible gm to run it!
I wish I had the list of spells from that session - what a wild one!!
That’s so kind! I appreciate the shoutout!!