We are beyond excited to announce that Tales from the Cryptids, our forthcoming anthology of games, fiction, poetry, and other ephemera has funded on BackerKit, and we are now open for submissions!
Submit now.
Submission Call
Tales from the Cryptids flips the lens on conventional cryptid lore. In this book, cryptids are beings with vivid lives, goals, and stories of their own to share. We are more interested in thoughtful tales of transformation, self-discovery, and embedded interrogation than stories centering cryptid hunting, categorization, or collection.
Don’t solve the mystery. Be the mystery.
For the purpose of this anthology, cryptids are beings of real or imagined folklore who “could be real” and exist on the fringes of our world. We welcome thoughtful submissions featuring documented cryptids like Bigfoot, Mothman, and Nessie, and we also love new takes on cryptids and creative reflections on the wondrous in the everyday. Could a cryptid be a song, a memory, an entire town? We are excited to read expansive, imaginative perspectives on this theme.
Guidelines
For Tales from the Cryptids, we are keen to acquire TTRPGs and other narrative games that embody a sense of the liminal. We love unusual original game systems and mechanics. Send us games that could be poems and poems that could be games. Send us immersive experiences and thoughtful explorations. If we read your game and say, “Wow, is that game actually a cryptid?” you’re probably in.
For fiction and poetry, we want cryptid content that prioritizes the agency of liminal beings, places, and experiences. Your work does not need to feature a cryptid protagonist or an optimistic point-of-view, but your monsters must have agency and depth.
We are also interested in micro-submissions of uncanny ephemera to literally occupy the margins of this book. Send us cryptid scribbles, doodles, haikus, photographs, and other 2D marginalia. Even we don’t quite know what we want in this category. Surprise us.
Submissions will be open March 1 - May 15, 2026 or until we hit our submission cap of 100 real non-AI submissions in each category. We will endeavor to send responses by June 15, 2026.
If you have any additional questions about submissions to Tales from the Cryptids, please don't hesitate to contact us at scryptidgames@scryptidgames.com.