Jinkies!, the latest game from the twisted mind of Toby Strauss, is on Kickstarter. Jinkies! is a tabletop RPG (role playing game) inspired by the mystery-adventure cartoons of the 1970s. Jinkies! resembles cartoons like Jabberjaw, Scooby Doo, Where Are You!, and Speed Buggy.
About Jinkies! Creator Toby Strauss
Creator Toby Strauss is no stranger to comedy game writing. His previous works include Is the Space Pope A Lizard? (finalist in the 2016 “200 RPG Challenge”) and Mx. Universe (published in queer gaymes: a collection of games by queer people about queer experiences). Both of these LARPs (live action role playing games) are light in tone, even when addressing heavy themes.
Is Jinkies! Right For You?
Jinkies! is intentionally written for two audiences: children and adults. For children, Jinkies! faithfully captures the wholesome feel and zany antics of a classic Hanna-Barbera cartoon. For adults, Jinkies! offers optional rules that hew closer to the feeling of Adult Swim remakes of the classics like Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law.
Toby shares that Jinkies! was born from his misspent youth watching cartoons. Hanna-Barbera reruns are a part of his DNA, and Toby calls Jinkies! his “love letter” to this classic media.
Jinkies! is a Powered by the Apocalypse (PbtA) game. The GM, or game master, (called “The Animator”) and the players collaboratively tell the story of their group of “meddling kids” thwarting villains disguised as ghosts, ghouls, and phantasms.
The game is not driven by the mystery, but rather by the adventure, the structure, and the characters. Toby points out that none of the mysteries in the cartoons were solvable by the audience. Instead, the shows were driven by how the characters interacted on their adventures.
The result is a game where the players have an active role in providing and interpreting clues, writing the mystery as the game progresses.
Fund It: Kickstarter
Jinkies! is on Kickstarter until March 19th and is slated to ship physical copies by December of 2020. You can check it out here!
