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Concept: “CUT PURSE is a zine by Stockholm Kartell made for the 2024 convention season. It includes stuff for all our games; MÖRK BORG, CY_BORG, DEATH IN SPACE, SKR and some system-agnostic material (as well as an adventure for the Japanese third-party MB hack Nobunaga's Black Castle). But there are also things like album reviews and poetry.”

Content: Several tables (“Where do you hang out?,” “Returning home to your apartment after that one heist,” and a set of news headlines) as well as “Brainbox Scramble,” a combat-oriented “sudden scenario” taking place in a shopping mall.

Writing: Intensely thematic details packed into just a few pages (within the overall zine).

Art/Design: Mostly black-on-white two-column layout with some pink highlighted text, although an initial page for the scenario is white-on-black. An accompanying map provides labels for each storefront in its own distinct font (some with logos) to help sell the atmosphere of the place. 

Usability: Fonts are visually readable, layouts follow an easily recognizable organization of content (with different sections and kinds of information formatted consistently), and necessary details are all included–all of which makes for an easier time using each table or running the scenario.

Concept: “404//SAN is the demented frontpage of the NET, where manifold rumors, advertisements, hoaxes, and conspiracies produce a worthless information sludge. Still, more than enough masochistic users flock to the site to be entertained by trolls or cheated out of their life's savings.”

Content: A one-stop shop for adventures/scenarios, NPCs, monsters, apps, cyberware and equipment, additional rules ideas, and more.

Writing: Every page provides dozens of imaginative and enticing ideas for inspiration, with many pages offering highly engaging in-universe descriptions or framing for their game content.

Art/Design: A variety of artistic and aesthetic styles that embody the artpunk philosophy. The browsing experience feels in line with the CY_BORG rulebook itself.

Usability: Requires close, and often slow, examination to identify and make effective use of content (text and image alike), especially when moving across very differently styled spreads–but very worth the effort.

Concept: “The anarchist glitchpunk movement credits SYSTEM BLOWER for its founding and recent explosion centralized in the Ports. This isn't just political noise, it's a full-blown anti-civilization movement, and as the fanbase has grown, the time for action is now! SYSTEM BLOWER has a job for you. Turns out that Celia Samson, the teen progeny of that moron exec at the top of this hill, Marlo Samson, is a huge SYSTEM BLOWER fan but hasn't gone full System Blower Army yet. This is where you come in. SYSTEM BLOWER has a plan that's going to get creds, piss off the hegemony, and stir up a media storm like never before. All you need to do is pull off this heist and create a scene so no one misses it! It would be great if you survived it...but that's not the point. Raid the mansion. Kidnap or convert Celia Samson to the cause, doesn't matter which, just be sure to get her to the finale show before soundcheck...and then it's time to BLOW THE SYSTEM!!!!”

Content: A good old-fashioned adventure scenario: raid a mansion to kidnap a wealthy heiress for cash and publicity.

Writing: A plethora of engaging details about the setup, relevant NPCs, the location, timing-related concerns, and tables for generating band names, albums, and songs.

Art/Design: Vibrant neon colors and mostly white text on a dark translucent background, with a light-colored glitch art pattern behind that. Pictures of NPCs with similar glitch aesthetic appear occasionally throughout the file. Maps provided of the mansion (with both GM and player versions). 

Usability: Text/background contrast makes for pretty easy reading, and headings/labels are visually distinct to assist with navigating supplement and understanding relationships between blocks of content. However, much of the text in the document is not embedded, limiting the ability to search, copy/paste, or use a screen reader.

Concept: “The director of the L.A.M.B. project, Dr. Seraphima, Had her brains blown out by a 1.4 petaelectronvolts proton beam. The parts of her brain which tethered her to reality and sanity, anyway. Now, she's the revered leader of an exponentially growing cult. Daily, Dozens of hopeful disciples enter the L.A.M.B. to have their craniums fried, hoping to awaken something that elevates them above NPC status. Through the usual back channels, Dr. Daevy hired disposable punks to take care of the situation in a violent fashion. Alas, for now, they all died or joined the CVLT of the Hadron Lamb.”

Content: 48 pages of jaw-dropping inspiration–a full adventure to seek out the head of a strange cult who keeps turning her enemies into acolytes, with tons of exciting seeds and ideas for further exploration.

Writing: Eichhorn manages to wield an impressive variety of styles and voices that provide impressive depth and nuance to the range of subjects covered from one page to the next. 

Art/Design: Artpunk spreads that feel at home alongside the rulebook. Each set of pages evokes a distinct facet of the grimy cyberpunk aesthetic and philosophy that draws players to the game–it’s as easy to be drawn in to the intriguing layouts as it is to the writing.

Usability: For a quick skim-and-find experience, look elsewhere–but consider a shift in reading orientation. This adventure is deeply engaging and requires the reader to attend closely to the combination of writing and design if they are to successfully GM it.

Concept: “I don’t care how you do it. Go to the villa. Get the box. Don’t open it.”

Content: A job to retrieve an armored storage box from a crew of punks for a cult.

Writing: Print medium constraints result in succinct, focused details to guide a GM through the essentials of the mission while making each NPC and complication possibility feel exciting.

Art/Design: Trifold pamphlet opens to show map and initial mission info inside, while NPCs and complications appear on the outside folds/sections.

Usability: Available only in print form. Pamphlet layout is easy to navigate, with consistent headings/labels and section dividers. Font choices are readable and with little fore/ground clutter when appearing over gradient backgrounds.

Concept: “TG Labs is planning some kind of release event. Disrupt it. Embarrass them. Make it a scandal! Can you do that?”

Content: A sabotage operation on behalf of a disgruntled ex-employee.

Writing: Crisp descriptions and explanations of mission locales, potential complications, NPC specifics, and conditions for success, all of which create a range of potential for a GM and their table.

Art/Design: Trifold pamphlet with nitial details and an overhead map of the job location appear on the inside folds, and NPC and complication/aftermath details on the outside panels.

Usability: Available only in print form. Font and background color choices indicate different kinds of content throughout the supplement, with headings/labels visually distinct from the body text. Organization of material allows for easy reading and comprehension of mission specifics from first to last panel.

Concept: “Thoughts and Prayers is a zine by Stockholm Kartell made for the 2023 convention season. It includes stuff for all our games; MÖRK BORG, CY_BORG, DEATH IN SPACE, SKR and some system-agnostic material. But there are also things like album reviews, essays and short stories, thoughts, ideas and takes. 100% of the benefits are to be donated to Direct Relief.”

Content: A smörgåsbord of content for Cy_Borg–some specifically for the game, some that could be used for it or others–that ranges from a location/adventure (Sprawling Car Park) to tables/generators (e.g., “Who else is in the pub when the brawl starts?”) to NPCs (emergency response teams) to medieval weapons to injuries/afflictions to short fiction about living as a corp drone. There’s a lot more than that, too.

Writing: Every page oozes the Stockholm Kartell house style(s) that makes a reader want to use all that they can in their next game.

Art/Design: Black-on-white color scheme in a printed zine format with illustrations throughout. 

Usability: Available only in print format. Table of contents at the beginning of the zine makes it easy to locate info throughout, with a consistent header/footer with page content credits and page numbering to help clarify not only where a reader is in the zine but also whose work they’re looking at.