''Puppetland: A Storytelling Game with Strings in a Grim World of Make-Believe'' is a

role-playing game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of player character, characters in a fictional Setting (narrative), setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within ...

written by

John Scott Tynes John Scott Tynes (born 1971) is an American writer best known for his work on role-playing games such as '' Unknown Armies'', ''Delta Green'', '' Puppetland'', and for his company, Tynes Cowan Corporation. Under its imprint, Pagan Publishing, Ty ...

. The game was first published in Arcane magazine issue 16 in early 1997, then later by

Hogshead Publishing Hogshead Publishing was a British game company that produced role-playing games and game supplements. History In October 1994, James Wallis founded Hogshead Publishing, a company which specialised in role-playing and storytelling games. Wallis ba ...

together with ''Powerkill'', a satirical role-playing metagame by the same author, under the title ''Puppetland/Powerkill''. A free edition, including most of the game text is available on the author's web site.

New Style

''Puppetland/Powerkill'' was part of a series experimental/alternative role-playing games published by

. Other games in the series included the award-nominated '' The Extraordinary Adventures of Baron Münchhausen'', ''

Pantheon Pantheon may refer to: * Pantheon (religion), a set of gods belonging to a particular religion or tradition, and a temple or sacred building Arts and entertainment Comics * Pantheon (Marvel Comics), a fictional organization * ''Pantheon'' (Lone S ...

'', and ''

Violence Violence is the use of physical force so as to injure, abuse, damage, or destroy. Other definitions are also used, such as the World Health Organization's definition of violence as "the intentional use of physical force or power, threatened ...

''.

Kickstarter and New Edition

In November 2014, an expanded version of ''Puppetland'' was successfully funded on

Kickstarter Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, K ...

, to be published by Arc Dream Publishing.

References

External links

Official site

Review by Ron Edwards

Various reviews from RPGnet
British role-playing games Horror role-playing games Indie role-playing games New Style Role-playing games introduced in 1999 {{rpg-stub