Press Kit
About Penumbra City
There’s a black fog that hangs over the city, and it’s not as metaphorical as you might hope. It’s coal dust. Somewhere up through that smoke, there’s a glorious silver city hovering in the sunshine — but don’t concern yourself much with the floating quarter, because only the rich and holy will ever see it. Groundside, orphans dig through rubble and trash to scavenge the parts to fix their motorcycles, street poets sell fungus and brawl over territory, and bureaucrats ride black horses to midnight salons where they plot the death of the god king. The graveyard’s been squatted by immigrants now for longer than you’ve been alive, and there’s a gang of nihilist ex-marines who seem intent on blowing up half of everything.
Penumbra City is a class-based TTRPG set in the mysterious world of Harrow. Players are led by a game master through a lore-rich world with simple game mechanics full of rival gangs, occult demons, and monstrous monsters.
Developer + Publisher: Strangers in a Tangled Wilderness
Crowdfunding Date: Jun 1, 2023
Crowdfunding Platform: Kickstarter
Release date: Feb 12, 2024
Price: Core Book Hardcover Edition: $50 Core Book Digital Edition: $10 Zines: $5-7 Print, $5 Digital Bundle
Formats: Print, Digital
Press Contact: strangers.publisher@gmail.com
Features
- Reputation matters, money doesn’t: The complex economy of Penumbra City doesn’t run on money, it runs on trust. Rather than track gold or dollars, players track their character’s various reputations with the three coalitions.
- Simplified and class-based: There are no skills to track and no spell books. Each character has set abilities that come with their character class.
- Dangerous: Healing is hard to come by in Penumbra City, and it’s easy to find your character maimed or even killed if you aren’t careful.
- Players roll, not the GM: In combat, players roll their attacks and they roll to defend themselves from the enemy’s attacks.
- Armor works like temporary hit points: A character tracks their hit points, or HP, but they also track their armor points, or AP. AP is recovered after each combat. HP recovers much slower.
Press and Media
The Final Straw Radio: https://thefinalstrawradio.noblogs.org/post/2023/06/21/co-envisioning-worlds-in-penumbra-city/
Geek Native: https://www.geeknative.com/158661/penumbra-city-rpg-offers-a-harrowing-setting-and-a-beautiful-book/
Paste Magazine: https://www.pastemagazine.com/games/penumbra-city/penumbra-city-interview
London 2023 Anarchist Bookfair: Featured as Gameplay Workshop Event
Youtube Gameplay Video
Featuring the Penumbra City Development Team with special guests Bea Flowers and Jamie Loftus
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hv5nCPHWzBc
About Our Team
Strangers is a 19-year-old media publishing collective dedicated to producing and curating inclusive and intersectional culture that is informed by anarchistic ideals. We publish books, zines, and podcasts for the beautiful and odd. Our team is queer, radical, proudly neurodivergent, and has always been on the nerdy side of subculture.
Margaret Killjoy (she/they) : World Design
Margaret is a transfeminine author, musician, and podcaster. She is known as the host of the podcast Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff and a co-host of Live Like the World is Dying, principal song-writer for the feminist black metal band Feminazgûl, and the author of books such as The Lamb Will Slaughter the Lion, A Country of Ghosts, and Escape from Incel Island. She’s been playing TTRPGs for roughly 30 years and can’t wait to show the world the games she designs.
Inmn Neruin (they/them) : Game Design
Inmn is a game master and theater director as well as a professional knifemaker and blacksmith. They are host of the Strangers in a Tangled Wilderness podcast. They are the creative director and writer for Shakesqueer, a Tucson-based queer theater troupe. They’ve run years-long campaigns and are passionate about creating streamlined and enjoyable tabletop experiences for new players and experienced players alike. They would like to add that they are a professional goblin.
Casandra Johns (they/she) : Graphic Design
Casandra Johns is a professional graphic designer who has worker for a who’s-who of radical and independent presses. They’re also a professional mediator, a single parent, and a gardener.
Robin Savage (she/her) : Illustration
Robin is a professional illustrator, artist, and manic pixie dream ghoul with decades of experience, particularly in the world of fashion design. She has illustrated zines for Strangers in a Tangled Wilderness since the project’s inception and is an avowed geek with a love for games and fantasy.
Assets and Images
Thank you for considering Penumbra City
This has been a deeply personal project for all of us at Strangers in a Tangled Wilderness and as an indie RPG, the most important thing for us is getting exposure and getting new players excited about the game. If you would be interested in helping us grow our community by playing or promoting us, please reach out for a free PDF and copy of the book, zines and adventure module.
The book can be ordered here: https://www.tangledwilderness.org/shop
instagram: @tangledwild @penumbracity