Who are you?
My name is watt; I’m a TTRPG creator best known for my Nausicaä-inspired ecological science fantasy game Cloud Empress.
How would you describe your RPG collection?
Standard fare with a few gems and oddities.
How has your collection changed over time?
I started purchasing indie tabletop roleplaying games in 2018. I started by prioritizing adventures and setting content, but I’ve found a greater interest in acquiring rulebooks and rule systems.
If you could keep only one, which one would it be?
Oof, do I have to? I’d save Frontier Scum by Karl Druid from the fire. A perfect blend of rules-lite simplicity, terse writing, with some gonzo thematic rules (like your cowboy hat acting as a key protective element).
Super out of print and unlikely ever to be reprinted, the books stand in a unique place in their minimalism, literary prose, and exploration of Southeastern fantasy.
What’s your most prized item in your collection and why?
Don’t it always seem to go, that you don’t know what you’ve got til’ it’s gone. I’d pick the A Thousand Thousand Islands zines and Reach of the Roach God by Zedeck Siew and Munkao. Super out of print and unlikely ever to be reprinted, the books stand in a unique place in their minimalism, literary prose, and exploration of Southeastern fantasy. Truly irreplaceable.
Munkao continues similar work with the Kala Mandala series, which feels comparable, but not identical.
What's the newest addition to your collection?
I recently picked up Wages of Sin by Luke Gearing and Mega Damage by Tuesday Knight Games for the Mothership system. I’ll be running some Mothership Sci-Fi Horror for a game night during spooky season this year.
What's the oldest addition to your collection?
It must be Electric Bastionland by Chris McDowall and Sleepaway by Jay Dragon. I had some old 3.5E D&D Books and Pathfinder 1E from my first forays into tabletop roleplaying, but those ended up at Half Price Books at some point along the way.
What game opened your eyes in some way, and how?
The Isle by Luke Gearing is a minimalist masterpiece, notable for its complete lack of artwork (although some beautiful maps). The writing is evocative and sparse. The book defies many modern TTRPG trends while creating something beautiful and unfolding.
Truly a mix of MC Escher and Hieronymus Bosch mixed with your favorite TTRPG zine and the doodles in the margins of a notebook.
The most beautiful book in your collection?
Silent Titans by writer/designer Patrick Stewart with art by Dirk Detweiler Leichty. The art is unbelievably gorgeous and extravagant in a hand-drawn isometric-inspired style. Truly a mix of MC Escher and Hieronymus Bosch mixed with your favorite TTRPG zine and the doodles in the margins of a notebook.
How is your collection organised?
I organize books by size and format. The box sets in one corner, zines in a wooden bin, and larger hardcovers on the other side. (To be honest though, normally the books are all over my room in piles or different bookshelves based on when I plan to read or reread them, so I pulled them from their corners for the pictures at hand).
The one that got away? (Want, but can't find or buy anymore.)
I was going to say Crush Depth Apparition by Amanda Lee Franck, but it looks like it’s back in stock when I went to confirm it was out of print; excuse me while I go get my print copy! Possibly the coolest map in any TTRPG book, with wicked and haunting slices of the NPCs’ inner lives.
Favorite non-rulebook, non-adventure book that you’d still consider part of the collection?
I’m a sucker for the Ghibli artbooks even though they can feel slapped together (in terms of content, form factor, and presentation). The style of my upcoming mid-industrial ecological fantasy game, Burial Cloud, takes Miyazaki’s pencils and hasty watercolors as key inspiration for the game’s art style.
P.S. - Who would you like to see a Shelfie from?
I’d love to see Aaron King’s (@aaronmfking.bsky.social) shelfie. [Editor's note: you can already find Aaron’s Shelfie here.]
