PoC Lounge Games
When you make a lounge at a gaming convention, what do you put in it? Games, of course! With the introduction of the People of Colour (PoC) Lounge this year, Big Bad Con wanted to give back to our community, specifically by supporting PoC game designers. Our special events team put out a call for game submissions by PoC designers or majority PoC designer teams to include in our lounge. In this blog post we will share all of the submissions with you and let you know which games you can find in the PoC Lounge during Big Bad Con 2024!
Game Selection Process
A big thank you to everyone who submitted their own games or nominated their favorite ones. While we couldn’t buy them all, we’ve linked the games we were not able to feature in our Honorable Mentions section.
To choose the games for the lounge, our PoC Lounge coordinator reviewed the submissions and excluded games that were too long (above 50 pages), were locked behind Patreon walls, or required other content that wouldn’t be available in the lounge. Once the shortlist was made, the coordinator invited PoC staff members to review the games and vote for the games they wanted to see in the lounge. You can see our voting instructions here:
Using this method, we are delighted to say we bought every single game that had at least one vote for it!
PoC Lounge Selected Games
In no particular order, the games for the PoC Lounge are:
- An Altogether Different River
- Bloodless
- Capybara Capers
- David Kills Goliath
- Down the Road Through the End of the World
- End of the Line
- Faire Season
- Fetch My Blade
- Flats & Fangs
- For Our Family
- Hit Die: The Game
- how we learned to fill our lungs with salt
- Hug That Bear!
- I'm sorry did you say street magic
- I want your pact
- Lesbian Werewolf Crimefighters
- Little Wolves Demo & Quickstart
- Midwestern Moms
- Mixed Heroes
- Nielsenauts
- Our Mundane Supernatural Life
- Que La Vida Vale
- Spells Sold Here!
- Stuck & Wretched
- The Fallen Star
- The Sol Survivor
- The Sun Cannot Bear to Look
- The Very Important Task
- This Is My Final Recording
- To The Temple of Doom! To Defeat the ancient evil!
- Twist Of Fates
- Uncharted Hearts
- Verhext Nochmal!
- What Is It That Lies Beyond The Immenseness of the Dark?
Honorable Mentions
Here are the rest of the games submitted to the PoC Lounge this year. We have included the links to go buy them yourself, their price range, format, and what people love about the game!
Boricubos: The Lost Isles
$25+ PDF, Physical (Zine/Book)
One of the few Latin American-inspired game materials in existence.
BUTT&HEAD
$20 - $24.99 PDF, Physical (Zine/Book)
You co-pilot a centaur! It's silly and lighthearted, and the system encourages players to freely communicate as the internal dialogue of their shared character and coordinate their strategy.
Emerald Templars
$5 - $9.99 PDF, Physical (Zine/Book)
I love that it not only focuses on physical well being but also mental/emotional as well! Players have to care for one another in order to succeed in their adventures!
Everyday Heroes
$0 - $4.99 PDF
This game was designed to be extremely inclusive and to represent people who look like myself.
Far From Home
$10 - $14.99 PDF, Physical (Other)
Full Spectrum
$5 - $9.99 PDF
This needs the base game [Spectres of Brocken] but offers the work by multiple bipoc creators using the core skeleton of spectres to add additional settings & their own internal narrative structure to explore the premise further. On top of that, each game has a different tone & channels different but connected perspectives on growing up, war & family.
Houses of the Sun by Night
$10 - $14.99 PDF
Series of 13 minigames, incredible prose, WILD resolution mechanics (like using a clock face).
Into the Starlit Sky
$5 - $9.99 PDF, Physical (Zine/Book)
I chose Tarot cards over standard playing cards because I wanted the cards themselves (their titles and images) to add to the storytelling of the prompts and infuse some spiritual reflection into a story of sci-fi exploration.
Jukebox: The Karaoke Musical Tabletop Roleplaying Game
$10 - $14.99 PDF
You get to sing while playing!
Ngen Mapu
$0 - $4.99 PDF
One of the few Latin American-inspired game materials in existence.
No Thumbs
$0 - $4.99 PDF
Its absurdist nature encourages surrealist creativity.
Ouroboros System (OS)
$0 - $4.99 PDF
Authored by a father and kid team.
Pasión de las Pasiones
$10 - $14.99 PDF
A very fun romp through the context of messy dramatic telenovelas. The game can be a great ice breaker. Quick, easy to build characters, materials facilitate q chosen shared setting, the game is rules light, easy to pick up & fun for single sessions. Huge replayability.
Plant Girl Game
$20 - $24.99 PDF, Physical (Zine/Book)
The worldbuilding process through with players create their family, home, and town.
Ship of Theseus
$5 - $9.99 PDF
It is a LARP about transhumanism, but not mainstream transhumanism. It is a transhumanist LARP that is heavily influenced by my experiences as a queer, nonbinary, chronically ill, neurodivergent person.
Spectres of Brocken
$20 - $24.99 PDF, Physical (Zine/Book)
The book is a great visual guide and the game itself is emotional, quick, emergent, it uses great design tech to carry the tone and theme. Great work by Aaron Lim at building up a love letter to things he loves by sharing the parts of them he enjoys with people who play ttrpgs.
The Between
Pay What You Want PDF
This game is written by a queer latino man, it's very queer and PoC focused, and it's currently on sale for Pay What You Want as a hype up to the upcoming kickstarter. It's a bit long, I know, but most of the book is the modules, advanced tips, etc.
The Kobold Grinder
$5 - $9.99 PDF
This is a very fun, competitive, light game for a group of friends. The game loop is fresh and keeps everyone invested, great fun energy to being to a community space.
The Brave Professor
What You Want PDF
It encourages you to do research to play the game.
The Wagadu Chronicles
$25+ PDF
Not only is this a rich African setting, it serves as a tie-in for the makers' video game.
The Wandering Lake
$0 - $4.99 PDF
I love how much of the narrative is given to the player.
The Way of the Pukona
$0 - $4.99 PDF
Indigenous South American lore.
Tomorrow on Revelation III
$20 - $24.99 PDF, Physical (Zine/Book)
Women are Werewolves
Pay What You Want Physical (Other), Tarot card deck
First nonbinary focused game, unique take on For the Queen.
Yl'fe
$5 - $9.99 PDF
The Antagonists (monsters)
You Can (Not) Pet the Cat
$0 - $4.99 PDF
The Kitty Chaos Table! :3
