Art & System: Games for Expanded Play

by Central Michigan University Press

A new indie game series from Central Michigan University Press launching with a lineup of three games: Princess with a Cursed Sword, Dog Eat Dog, and the Mountain Witch

This crowdfunding campaign represents the launch of Art and System: Games for Expanded Play, a new game series from Central Michigan University Press. Art and System highlights innovative, artful games that explore the intersection of mechanics, narrative, and design.

This new series has two parallel goals: to preserve indie games which have had an impact on game design discourse, and to showcase new work which pushes the boundaries of games even further. Tim Hutchings (Thousand Year Old Vampire) is the series editor. 

The three games offered in this campaign are:

• Dog Eat Dog (2012) by Liam Liwanag Burke; 
• Princess with a Cursed Sword (2025) by Anna Anthropy; and 
• The Mountain Witch (2005) by Timothy Kleinert. 

Dog Eat Dog: A Game of Imperialism and Assimilation on the Pacific Islands is a multiplayer tabletop role-playing game which places players in the midst of a struggle between a colonizing Occupation force and a targeted Native force.

This 2013 IndieCade Impact Award-winning game creates a social and narrative space at the table which echoes the power imbalances of colonialism. As such, gameplay is unfair and unsettling – but very meaningful. This will be the first time the game is available in physical print form in more than a decade!

Dog Eat Dog is a roleplaying game of colonialism and its consequences. As a group, players work together to describe the conquest of one of the hundreds of small islands in the Pacific Ocean, defining the customs of the native people and the mores of the outsiders arriving to claim it. One player then assumes the role of the Occupation force, playing their capable military, their collaborationist government, and whatever jaded tourists and shrewd businessmen are interested in a not quite pacified territory. All the others play individual Natives, each trying in their own ways to come to terms with the new regime.

The game begins when the war ends. Through a series of scenes, players explore the inevitably conflicted relationship between the two parties, deciding what the colonizers do to maintain control, which natives assimilate and which run amok, and who ends up owning the island in the end.

Princess with a Cursed Sword: A Book of Solo Journaling Games is a collection of five solo journaling roleplaying games by designer Anna Anthropy. The games are powered by tarot cards and centered on exploration and reflection.

Four of the games have been available as PDF one-sheets in the past (Princess with a Cursed Sword, Tavern at the End of the World, The Empress and Her Seer, and Magpie by Moonlight). With this campaign, CMich Press will publish them together as a bound volume alongside a new game, Thaumaturge, and new art from artist Evlyn Moreau.  

The book also includes actual play vignettes for each game, written by an amazing host of featured players: 

• Nell Raban (writer and game designer, Sid Meier’s Civilization VII, Fallen London) as the Princess;
• Sharang Biswas (award-winning game designer, artist, author, and educator; Avatar: Legends, Pathfinder, Sea of Legends) as the Tavernkeep;
• Jupiter Wildwood (maker, writer, and witch; Summoning Circle Press) as the Seer;
• Jack de Quidt (writer and composer, Friends at the Table) as the Magpie; and 
• Gregory Avery-Weir (writer and game designer, Rosette Diceless) as the Thaumaturge!

And there’s more! The book includes rules for a two-player epistolary version of gameplay, suggestions for endless replayability, and instructions for players to create their very own solo journaling RPG in the style of Princess with a Cursed Sword. 

In this influential indie multiplayer RPG, play as one of a group of secretive ronin hired to seek out and kill the dreaded Mountain Witch of Mt. Fuji. Guided by a Dark Fate, each ronin explores the mountain and moves closer to their goal all while keeping an eye on their fellow travelers as the game uses a unique “Trust points” system to shape the course of the adventure.

The Mountain Witch is a self-contained role-playing game in which players take on the role of ronin in mythical, feudal Japan. Outcast and unemployed, these samurai accept a deal that no one else would take—to assault and kill the dreaded O-Yanma, the Mountain Witch of Mt Fuji. But haunted by the past and by dark fortune, these characters very quickly find themselves trapped in desperate circumstances. Originally written for the Game Chef RPG design contest in April 2004 held at The Forge website, The Mountain Witch has become a landmark in the world of indie RPGs. This revised edition provides streamlined play advice and explanations for a smoother gameplay experience. 

As an RPG, The Mountain Witch implements a “play to discover your character” approach which encourages character development during gameplay sessions. To guide the narrative, each character is assigned a secret “Dark Fate,” which creates an ulterior motive for the ronin, and a Zodiac sign for character inspiration. The ronin can expend “Trust points” to either help or betray other characters in future Conflicts. 

Led by a Game Master, players develop their characters, journey through the lowlands and mountain terrain of Mt. Fuji, battle minions of the Mountain Witch, and guard their own secrets. The ultimate drama of the game comes not from battling the Mountain Witch and his minions but from the mounting tension between characters which grows during this journey. In the closing acts of the game, players reveal the Dark Fates which have been guiding their course throughout the quest, corner the Mountain Witch, and feel the consequences of their characters’ choices.

Estimated Shipping date : August 2026

Backerkit Link : Art & System: Games for Expanded Play