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Ashcans

Preview hot new games with this mini edition that includes everything you need to play!

Cartel | Pasión de las Pasiones | Velvet Glove | The Ward

 

What Is An Ashcan?

The term ashcan comes from the comic industry, when publishers would produce editions containing unlettered stories and unfinished art that weren’t intended for wide circulation. Most of the time, these ashcan copies went straight to the trash! While they primarily were used to establish copyright, the term has spread to other industries since then.

Our ashcans are works-in-progress that give you a chance to play games before they’re completely finished. We love the feedback we get from our fans, and getting such a diverse group of people to play and run these games helps us make them even better. We don’t make an ashcan for every game we eventually publish, but we try to release at least one a year.

This is also an opportunity for us to work with new creators, teaching them the process Magpie uses to create games and giving them a taste of what it’s like to publish your own work. Sharing the work of new creators is something everyone at Magpie Games believes in, and we hope you enjoy their work as much as we do!

Cartel: Ashcan Edition

3-5 players | 2-4 hour sessions | Rated Mature |

Cartel is a tabletop RPG about the members of the Sinaloa Cartel, the largest drug trafficking organization in the world, trying to stay alive in an increasingly dangerous game of drugs, money, and power. During the game, you’ll be part of or connected to the sprawling network of narcos, halcones, y sicarias that moves billions of dollars of drugs into Los Estados Unidos each year. The game is set in Durango, Mexico, and there, your characters will contend with la policia, the members of other cartels trying to hone in on your turf, the members of your own cartel trying to edge you out of your position, and of course, each other.

If you are a fan of Breaking Bad, The Wire, and El Mariachi, you’ll love Cartel!

Buy

 

Downloads

Play Materials

Behind the Scenes

Mark Diaz Truman – Creator

The Core Team:

  • Brendan Conway
  • Marissa Kelly
  • Justin Rogers
  • Thomas Deeny

Actual Plays & Interviews

 

Pasión de las Pasiones: Ashcan Edition

3-5 players | 2-4 hour sessions | Rated Teen |

Pasión de las Pasiones is a tabletop RPG about the dramatic plotlines and torrid lives on the world’s longest running and most successful telenovela series. During the game, you’ll take on the role of one of the main characters in this telenovela, while also sometimes portraying one of the audience members watching from home and reacting with joy or delight or outrage at the depredations of these on-screen characters. You’ll play heroes, lovers, schemers, and villains; lies will be exposed, plots will be shattered, hearts will be broken; and if you’re lucky, maybe you’ll even throw El Generalisimo off a boat and get a happy ending filled with flowers, dancing and romance…at least until next episode.

If you are a fan of Jane the Virgin, Ugly Betty, or Queen of the South, then you will love Pasión de las Pasiones!

Buy

 

Downloads

Play Materials

Behind the Scenes

Brandon Leon-Gambetta – Creator

Team:

  • Brendan Conway
  • Mark Diaz Truman
  • Miguel Ángel Espinoza
  • Justin Rogers
  • Shelley Harlan
  • Katherine Fackrell

Velvet Glove: Notebook Edition

3-5 players | 2-4 hour sessions | Rated Mature |

Velvet Glove is a tabletop RPG about the rough and rebellious lives of teenage girl gang members in 1970’s America. During the game, you’ll take on the role of one of the members of your girl gang, dealing with the adults who try to keep you down, the skeezeballs who catcall you on the street, and the other gangs who would love nothing more than to see you taken out. But that’s okay; your girls have your back. Together, you and your gang will push right back against the world that pushes on you, and you’ll pursue your own pleasure, your own schemes, your own vengeance, and your own desires. No matter who stands in your way.

If you are a fan of Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!, Switchblade Sisters, or The Outsiders, then you will love Velvet Glove!

Buy

 

Downloads

Play Materials

Behind the Scenes

Sarah Richardson – Creator

Team:

  • Mark Diaz Truman
  • Brendan Conway
  • Marissa Kelly

Actual Plays & Interviews

The Gauntlet – +1 Forward

The Ward: Acute Care Edition

3-6 players | 2-4 hour sessions | Rated Teen |

The Ward is a tabletop RPG about modern medical drama, centered around the lives of doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals. During the game, you’ll take on the role of one of those medical professionals, trying to do your job and save lives while managing your ever-rising stress levels and your own personal addiction. Maybe you’re addicted to drugs; maybe you’re addicted to being right; maybe you’re addicted to helping other people. But one way or another, it’s going to get you into trouble, the kind of trouble where maybe you’ll find yourself in a supply closet kissing your rival surgeon.

If you are a fan of ER, Gray’s Anatomy, or Scrubs, then you will love The Ward!

Buy

 

Downloads

Play Materials

Behind the Scenes

 Kevin Petker – Creator

Team:

  • Mark Diaz Truman
  • Brendan Conway
  • Sarah Richardson
  • Miguel Ángel Espinoza
  • Katherine Fackrell