MoonPunk is our response to the idea that “games shouldn’t be political.” Fight the power and bring down oppression on The Moon through teamwork and direct action. MoonPunk is a narrative-driven, Powered by the Apocalypse tabletop roleplaying game with a retrofuturistic twist on a punk zine aesthetic. How are you gonna resist? March on the streets? Organize a labor union? Electrify a Louisville slugger to swing at The Authority when they raid your favorite bar?
MoonPunk requires a group of players (Punks) and a game master (The Authority). The Authority’s job is to bring the lunar revolution to life and set the stage for the Punks to tell the story of their fight against injustice. On the other side of this battle are the Authority Figures, corrupt NPCs representing the oppressive powers of society. It’s the job of the Punks to bring these Authority Figures down and make The Moon a better place.
Playbooks: MoonPunk contains 12 playbooks for the Punks to choose from, each representing a different facet of lunar society, including…
New Mooner:Exiles, refugees, and immigrants, New Mooners are recent arrivals on Luna and don’t have their space legs, yet. They’ll have to learn to fight or make friends. Our favorite move is “No Bullshit.” If you feel like you’re being taken advantage of by someone, you can take a +1 ongoing against that person if you start to Throw Down.
Mutant: Lunar-born mutants often find themselves on the fringes of society and are some of the most vocal champions of the revolutionary cause. Our favorite move is “Hey, fuck you.” When you directly and publicly stand up to oppression or bigotry, take +1 forward.
Guildy: The Moon runs on hard work, and Guildies fight to strengthen the labor rights of all workers. Our favorite move is “Seize the Means.” On 10+ Throw Down result, you can disarm your opponent and take what’s in their hands.
Enforcer: Good at keeping friends safe and not-friends not-safe. Our favorite move is “Buddy System.” You can carry with you a willing target or an unconscious person with no penalties and escape a dangerous situation with them. Doing this removes both you and your target from the current location and danger.
The base version of the print game will be a 6×9 (nice) book in black and white. It includes all of the following:
The PDF version includes all of this in digital format, and anyone who has access to the PDF will also have access to a dyslexia-friendly version. Our initial goal of $3,000 will cover all of our costs to get this project up and running and get games into the hands of our backers.
Quickstart Guide
Right now you can start playing with our Quickstart Guide. The quickstart guide contains the 12 playbooks without art, histories, or class-specific leveling options. It also contains the reference guide for Punks and The Authority.
We will send out download codes for the Quickstart Guides to backers daily. This code will allow you to download the guide for free on DriveThruRPG.com, which also gives you the option to be notified when we make any updates. We’re still in the process of making MoonPunk the best game it can be, so the Quickstart Guide is subject to change before the final version of the game is released. We’d love to hear your feedback. Send us a message here, on Twitter, or on Discord if you have questions!
We started Wannabe Games when we realized that they just let anyone design games. We thought it would be fun to learn how to make TTRPGs by streaming our process live on Twitch and releasing a new micro-game each week for free and seeking input and critique from other players and designers. Eventually, we decided we wanted to explore ideas for bigger projects. You can see more of Wannabe Games’s work here.
Jessica Geyer
Jessica is a bisexual writer, educator, and game master extraordinaire. She’s the daughter of a UAW member and strongly believes in workers’ rights and the dignity and value of all people. She loves LARP and RPGs and has always been an avid gamer. She got her start writing for RPGs through Fearlight Games, contributing to Baker Street Casebook #2: Missions from Mycroft, Sherlock by Gaslight, Baker Street Casebook #3: Strange Cases & Distant Places, Hood: Swashbuckling Adventures in Sherwood, and Hood: Beyond the Forest. When she’s not roleplaying, she’s hanging out with her dog, Baldur, or grading essays. You can follow her on Twitter @jawska.
Alex Sprague
Alex is a political activist, pop-culture enthusiast, and the best damn Mario Party player you have ever seen. After the 2016 US elections, he started running political campaigns to strengthen the rights of voters in his area and fight back against the reliance on fossil fuels. During his free time on the campaign he wrote TTRPG modules which turned into a passion. Alex has written an X-Men themed 80s musical, a Cthulian nightmare based on the song Ocean Man by Ween, and more than anyone person should write about The Matrix. You can follow him on Twitter @KittyCrusade. I am also available at Alexander.Wyatt.Sprague@gmail.com for any questions.
We’re excited about the chance to work with a great group of diverse and knowledgeable writers and artists. If we exceed our funding goal, we’ll be able to add more lore, extra modules, and a ton more art from these excellent contributors to improve the look and feel of the game. Their bios are below, as well as the amount of funding it will take to unlock their contributions!
Writer: $3750 FUNDED!
Ennis Rook Bashe is a game designer/poet/future social worker from the New York area. Their poetry chapbook Glitter Blood was nominated for the Elgin Award, and their novella The Gift of Your Love won the Lesfic Bard Awards in the Romance category. Find more of their work at https://ennisrook.itch.io/.
Artist: $4500
Mona is a cartoonist and illustrator who enjoys working with sci-fi. She would someday like to visit the moon herself. Check out Mona’s webcomic at Danthesnowman.com.
Writer: $5250
Maggie Herskowitz is a playwright, lyricist-librettist, game dev, actress, singer, screenwriter, figure skating coach, and environmentalist currently looking for a hobby. She has been a writer on the bestselling “Monster Prom” series since the first game and is balancing its THREE (!!! get hype!) sequels with an FMV game produced by some YouTube celebs, such as [REDACTED], and the prominent FMV studio [REDACTED]. She recently started her own game studio, Feral Fairy Inc., to aid in her quixotic mission to raise awareness of the climate crisis, promote LGBTQIA+ acceptance, and feature characters of different body types, races, gender, and abilities. Their first game, “Witch of the Wilderness,” is currently in production, and a portion of the proceeds will be given to organizations fighting the sixth mass extinction and those staving off the apocalypse in which the game is set (but, like, it’s still a sexy dating sim about witches and magic and it will be tons of fun, I promise!). Twitter: @WitchWilderness / @Maggie_Julienne Websites: www.WitchOfTheWilderness.com / www.MaggieHerskowitz.com
Artist: $6000
Raven is an illustrator and player of rpgs based in Baltimore. She’s inspired by creating fun characters, telling stories with her friends, and imagining new worlds. You can find me at http://www.ravenwarner.com and on twitter @ravenwarner
Writer: $6750
Kristin (she/her) is a mom, gamer, designer, writer, and podcaster. With a passion for storytelling games, she is one half of Dice Up Games, the tabletop design team, and is a founding member of the Roll to Play podcast network. Aside from designing her own games, Kristin has been a contributing writer for other published games.
Twitter: @KristinIsNoJedi, @DiceUpGames, @RTPNetwork
Websites: www.rolltoplaynetwork.com and www.diceupgames.com
Artist: $7500
Kaylee Rowena is a comic artist and illustrator based in NYC. Most of her work can be best described as gay ghost stories. You can find her online at kayleerowena.com or @kayleerowena on your social media of choice.
Writer: $8250
Holas~ I’m Carmen Marin, aka Diana Moon, and I’m a Bi Latina Editor/Writer/Content Creator! I’ve been a gamer since the Commodore 64, and into tabletop since my high school days. I’ve worked on mobile romance games as a writer/editor, a content reader for Girl Underground, and playtester for many more wonderful tabletop games. Best way to reach me is on twitter: @DianaMoon!
Artist: $9000
Juan Ochoa, an illustrator and avid gamer who lives in Colombia, South America with way too many cats. See his stuff at www.juanochoa.co
We are committed to fair pay and equity for every single person who contributes to MoonPunk. As such, we have exceeded the minimum rate guidelines established in United (QT)POC Standard Requirements for tabletop freelancers. We also have asked for no spec work and never will because we believe that asking for work without pay is theft.
This is our first Kickstarter project, and as such we are well aware that we have blindspots and could fall into common pitfalls. As a member of the IGDN (Indie Game Developer Network), we have consulted with various experienced publishers for specific, actionable advice on how to successfully run a Kickstarter campaign from start to finish. Using this advice, we have decided to forgo the headache of supply and demand by using Print On Demand. This allows us to deal with making the best product possible without running into the common problem of shipping and handling errors. We will partner with DriveThruRPG.com to handle our printing. Shipping prices can be estimated here: https://support.drivethrurpg.com/hc/en-us/articles/209936893-Estimated-Shipping-Costs-For-Printed-Products We have decided to ask for smaller contributions from our stretch goal artists and writers in order to get this product out in a more timely manner. Everyone working on this product has a reasonable workload and a firm deadline so that we can get MoonPunk in our backers’ hands as soon as possible.