Preview: Tiny Tome

What do a 1990's warrior, a raccoon, an office dwelling demon and a robot that is pretending to be human all have in common? Well you can be any of them and so much more in the upcoming book Tiny Tome by Long Tail Games. Tiny Tome is a collection of 50 Tabletop Role Playing Games (TTRPG) games created by dozens of creators and bundled in a single book that is active on Kickstarter.

There are 50 different games built into Tiny Tome and each one is unique and a different experience. Each game has a completely different feel and designer. They range from solo adventures to games that can involve dozens. The creativity bound in this book is huge, the games are so vastly different and they have such creative mechanisms that I have not seen in other TTRPGs. Each game is only two pages in the book and only takes a few minutes to learn. I think that the best approach will to take a look at a few of the games within the Tiny Tome.

In Gloom by Paradox Press an ancient evil is awoken and is about to consume the entire town you live in. This game requires six 1 hour burning candles and a deck of tarot cards. This one is its own ambiance as the six candle should be the only light in the room. Then you use the tarot cards to create characters and when you are completing tasks to save the town. The candles will be lit and and put out during the game and when the final candle is put out the game is complete.

12,500 years ago humans were struggling to exist in an world where the food could eat them exist the world of Mammoth by Exeunt Press. In Mammoth you will craft and gather or Travel. At the end of the night you will eat, rest and paint on the cave walls. You can gain special advantages for crafting tools or painting things on the cave wall. This was a very interesting premise that I found really fun to play and transport myself into a different era of humanity.

The only thing tiny about Tiny Tome is the physical size. Inside you will find 50 different universes to explore

Another interesting system that was in the book is called The Last Tea Shop by Spring Villager. In this solo adventure you are the operator of a tea shop at the crossroads of the living and dead and the last stop for souls on their journey to the great beyond. You create your character and shop then prepare for customer. You have 24 days to serve customers as they come through. You will brew them special teas to help them on their journey.

Beast at the Bay is a game by Ive Sorocuk that uses the second guess system. Takes you on a journey of self reflection as you come home from a long journey to your old home town. You faint memories of getting attacked by a beast and you roll a die and answer questions from a list of prompts. As you reflect on what happened to you the beast inside you is wanting to get out and you fight for your humanity. You are fighting for your humanity if you make it to 6 then you defeat your inner beast get to zero and the beast has control forever.

You will need some random things for some of the more creative games in the book so take a look at that before you grab the book and run off to game night. If you are looking for a solo game to pass some time or have a larger group you will find something to fit the moment in Tiny Tome. There are light hearted games and games that will dig into some deep philosophical questions and there is plenty of weird too. All in all if you cannot find a mini TTRPG in this book that interests you might not be into TTRPG.

Players: 1-14

Year Published: 2022

Recommended Ages: 10+

Time to Play: varies

Transparency Statement

A pre-production copy of Tiny Tome was provided to Bert's Tabletop Games by Long Tail Games for review purposes . Final products may vary from what is portrayed in this article.