Thomas Manuel - itch.io

Thomas Manuel ttrpg.substack.com/ @chaibypost

Hello! I'm Thomas M (he/him). I'm an award-losing journalist, award-winning playwright, and award-ambivalent game designer based in Chennai in India.

I write and edit the The Indie RPG Newsletter, a weekly dispatch about indie RPGs that curates articles, reviews, podcasts, videos about indie RPGs. You should check it out!

This page has all my tabletop games. If you like solo games, check out The Spider and the City.

Apart from what's here, I've done a handful of freelance gigs as well - writing, layout, and cultural consulting. I'm particularly proud of being a contributor for New Agenda Publishing on Orun: Post Apotheosis, Afro-Inspired, Space Opera RPG and for Rowan Rook and Decard on SIN, a sourcebook for Spire.

Contact me:
📧 notrueindian@outlook.com

$5

a ruleslight TTRPG to play characters and factions

For The Other City

storytelling game of two detectives in two cities solving one case

Triptych: Art Horror TTRPG

$5

a storygame of a painting and its macabre secret

HyperCity [Status: Playtest]

$5

a cyberpunk TTRPG where you play solo together

Blades in the Spire

a fan conversion of Spire classes to BitD playbooks

The Spider and The City

$10

a solo TTRPG about a criminal mastermind in a rebel city

Odds and Ends

A collection of my small, ancillary or unfinished work submitted to Itch jams

Cities of the New Weird, Rise Up!

OSR supplement to generate the peoples, parties and neighbourhoods of your own City of the New Weird.

How to Find Love and Lose the Time War!

A 2-player storytelling game of enemies turning into lovers!

The Magic of Names

a ttrpg magic system inspired by Ursula LeGuin

a storytelling game based on indian folklore

a character sheet looking for a game

Co-Op Dice Mechanics

a one-page cut-and-fold mini-zine with 2 co-op dice mechanics

Wishlist

Games that I soon hope to own.

24 Hour Crime Scene

A Crime-Solving Tabletop RPG

Thou Art But A Warrior

Muslim Knights sworn to defend Islamic Spain at the beginning of the Crusades.

An unofficial supplement for HEART: The City Beneath

A rules-light, procedure-heavy RPG in the old school tradition.

Trouble For Hire

A tabletop game of high octane adventures in a post-western world, by Kevin Allen Jr.

Nathan D. Paoletta

Bloodbeam Badlands

Gunslinging Vampires in the Unsetting Apocalypse

A Forged in the Dark tabletop RPG of dwarven settlement building

Extracurriculars

A game about being in class and wishing you were on the field.

A Theatrical Heist RPG

Copperhead County

Southern noir, Forged in the Dark.

The Sun's Ransom

Our Queen Crumbles

A collaborative storytelling game about magic, revenge, and inevitable death.

They Took Our War

A Descended From the Queen game about War, and Hate.

Nguyen Conditions

The Playmakers (collection of interviews)

A collection of interviews with some of the key people who organise public play of tabletop roleplaying games

EpistolaryRichard

A game of family and ancestry

Songs For The Dusk

A post-apocalyptic sci-fantasy tabletop RPG about building a better future.

Stewpot: Tales from a Fantasy Tavern

A collection of games for running a tavern with your old adventuring party.