With the rise of AI and generated 'content', I have found myself going back to my roots of zines. Why make printed, physical media in a social media, technological world? Well for one, zines are just cool. There is nothing better then handing some one a few pieces of paper stapled together that you spent an afternoon slapping it together. It's something that can only be experienced in person and is limited in is reach by having to be physically shared. Something that AI can't steal because its not posted to any sort of social media, website or downloadable aspect.
I started making small zines in college and fortunately and unfortunately, I do not have record of any of the zines I created. I'll admit, they were not good... I was still discovering my voice as an illustrator and learning layout design. But I had some good ideas!
In 2019-2020, I made my first 'real' zine, which is Deadly Garden. I made it for Zine Quest on kickstarter. It was an awesome initiative which promoted RPG zines for a whole month and so much creativity came out of it. A few years later, kickstarter killed it by making it during Gen Con. It usually ran in the winter which was a great time to stay indoors and make some zines.
Deadly Garden is a collection of plant monsters for D&D 5e. This was the first time I felt like my art and design finally came together. I had at least a year of working on yearbooks under my belt and had been teaching myself how to do layout design. Did I take the job with the intent of learning layout design? Yes and no, I really didn't want to work retail anymore and needed employment for Health insurance and to pay rent. I used a specific system to design yearbooks that was owned by the company I worked for and had not really used any other design software. At the time, I did all the layouts for this zine in Photoshop which made layouts a pain, but I used what I knew.
In the layout interesting? No but I think the drawings are really cool even years after. I have zero idea if these monsters are balanced and don't really care at this point. I would like to make an expansion to these zine with a mixture of drawings and kitbashes with system neutral rules. Something to add to my list for next year.
The year after, I made another zine in collaboration with my sister Claire called Traveler's Trunk. This zine was based off a store I created in our D&D campaign. We created 30 new magic items that could be used in any fantasy RPG. The items are def on the weirder side from the standard magic items. They weren't made to be super powerful, just unique objects. It was really fun working with my sister and I'm pretty sure this is the first and really only zine we worked on together.
After Traveler's Trunk, I didn't make a zine for a few years. I was so burnt out from yearbooks that spending more time on any sort of book project made me want to scream. Then the pandemic kept going and going and I wanted to make things for myself again. I remember getting home super late after spending 8 hours literally manufacturing books and being like if I could do anything right now what would I do and I told myself it was making a game.
Because I was working late nights and was not able to play with my weekly game crew, I got into solo RPGs. I was really enjoying playing them. Notable favorite is Artifact which really inspired me. I liked that why I was playing, I would also illustrate the object. From that, I made a quick little game for creating a fantasy map of a ghostly ruined city. Is the system cutting edge or new? No, but it doesn't have to be, just make something! I do still have copies of these zine.
That same year, I made Dusty Cathedral which is a system Neutral location to use for RPGs inspired by folk horror and puppets. I had just read Into the Wyrd and Wild and was blown away! I was like I want to make something like this. So I created these zine full of weird characters.
This is one zine that I do still have copies of! I need to actually bring these places and get them into people's hands.
The next year, some friends and I did a zine jam over a weekend to help raise funds to get friends to Adepticon. I made a zine of system neutral monsters based on my Technicolor Nightmare models. This is the first time where I felt like my yearbook skills clicked with my zines. I used a vapor wave style to enhance the whole zine layout and make it feel like an old game manual. While I did enjoy using full color, I never got any printed since it was too expensive.
Later in 2024, I created Kaiju Kitbash as a way to create giant monsters. Its mostly tables to roll on for idea generation. When designing this zine, I specifically made it black and white to keep printing costs down and leaned more into texture. I really like texture in my drawings but always struggled to get it right in my zines. Luckily some friends made a texture pack called Skin Graft and it was full of amazing textures to use. This was also my second zine doing layout in Affinity pro which is what I use now for all book / zine projects. I highly recommend it as an alternative to adobe. Now its free but at the time, I paid 50 bucks and feel that is was absolutely worth it.
Two years later, I finally printed the zine! I have an upcoming zine fest next year and wanted to get a head start on making sure I have new stuff for my table.
This year I made more zines then ever! I started out by making this mini zine of my Cauldron warband for an event I was playing in. It introduced my opponent to my models and what they are. I managed to lose all 3 of my games! But hey, I had a cool zine.
Next I finally 'finished' the layout for Missile Toads (I do need to go back and make some adjustments). I did most of the game design in 2025 but dragged my feet to get the zine together. I will admit that most of my design time was dedicated to other projects (aka Threnodyssey) but I worked on this while letting my mind stew on problem solving.
I use to post my zines for download online but recently I decided moving forward, I'm not going to. I will still post a bare bones version of Missile Toads for free but the rules with the designed layout and art wont be! I don't want to limit the rules of the zine, I want it to be free an accessible to everyone. But I want the zine to feel special. And getting the whole experience will be reserved for the physical tabletop.
Last week, I slapped together a zine using lore I wrote for my Lobster Pot 28 warband over the summer. This lore will appear in another publication, but I spent way too long writing the lore to not make a little zine of it. I use to do a lot of creative writing growing up but as I got older, I stopped. I think similar to how people stop drawing because they realize they can't draw well, I stopped writing for that reason. But hey, why not try and even if I'm not the next Ursula K Le Guin doesn't mean I can't just do it for fun. I think the internet makes us feel like if we are not doing a creative pursuit as adult to a pro level, its not worth pursuing. This was the first time that I sat down to write something with the intent of having fun in mind. I used some of my favorite fake history to play into the setting of the game. This zine will only be available in person! You wont be able to buy it from my online store.
Why should you make a zine? Well for one its fun and is a great exercise in creative story telling. You can make one with collage or just hand writing or you can use an online program like canva or Affinity. It doesn't have to look like a professional book, as long as you are sharing your ideas, it will automatically be cool. Its a great way to share your passions with others. It can be recipes, local history, the cool things you see on your walk, there are no limits to zines. But more and more in the AI Slop world, combat it by making a zine. And if you cant make a zine, make a flyer And if you can't make a flyer, make a postcard. If you can't make a postcard, make a sticker. It doesn't have to take hours and hours to make, to contribute creatively to the physical media world. Break out your glue, grab some paper and staple them together.
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