Don't solve the mystery. Be the mystery.
We are incredibly excited to be crowdfunding a new anthology of TTRPGs, fiction, poetry, and other ephemera that flips the lens on conventional cryptid lore. In this book, cryptids are beings with vivid lives, goals, and stories of their own to share.
Tales from the Cryptids features art by Amber Ramirez, and games, stories, and poems from a growing list of contributors including:
- Avery Alder (Monsterhearts, The Quiet Year, Dream Askew, Ribbon Drive)
- Sharang Biswas (Avatar: Legends, Honey & Hot Wax, Feast, Verdure, An Elegy from the Hive Witches)
- Jason B Crawford (Year of the Unicorn Kidz, Yeet)
- Shing Yin Khor (A Mending, Space Gnome Space, Space Hobo Divination Board, Gentle Oraclebird, Field Guide to Memory)
- A.E Osworth (We Are Watching Eliza Bright, Awakened)
- Shen Tao (The Poet Empress)
We will open to additional submissions from game designers, fiction writers, poets, and other uncanny contributors in spring 2026!
What is a Cryptid?
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. Could a cryptid be a song, a memory, an entire town? We are excited to share expansive, imaginative perspectives on this theme.
We love unusual original game systems and mechanics: games that could be poems and poems that could be games, immersive experiences and thoughtful explorations. We will fill this book with games that make you say, “Wow, is that game actually a cryptid?”
We also love stories about monsters with agency and depth, and we will feature cryptid fiction and poetry that prioritizes the self-determination of liminal beings, places, and experiences.
And we will collect uncanny ephemera–cryptid scribbles, doodles, haikus, photographs, and other 2D marginalia–to literally occupy the book’s margins.
Meet the Editor
Tales from the Cryptids is edited by award-winning game designer and author Brigitte Winter.
Brigitte writes stories about monsters, magic, and messy relationships. She is an author, photographer, narrative game designer, and co-founder of Scryptid Games. Brigitte was a 2023 Dicebreaker Tabletop Awards Finalist for Designer of the Year, and her TTRPG, Psychic Trash Detectives, won the 2024 CRIT Award for Best Indie TTRPG and Best Cover Art. She is a 2023 alumna of Viable Paradise, and a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association and the Horror Writers Association. Her short fiction is featured in PodCastle, New Year, New You: A Speculative Anthology of Reinvention, and City of Weird. Her debut novel, The Normal Monster Club, will be published by Generous Press in 2027.
The capacity of storytelling to connect, inspire, and incite is central to Brigitte’s art and her activism, and she creates and consumes stories that are queer, feminist, intimate, and deliciously weird. She grew up on monster-of-the-week narratives, but she’s always been on the side of the monsters.
Are You a Cryptid?
Calling all cryptids, creepy-crawlers, and precious monsters! Do you have cryptid content to share?
We are crowdfunding this anthology to bring it into being, and we will open to submissions in spring 2026.