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Fantasy in My Backyard - Google Maps World Building

Created by James Quigley and Chase Call

Build a hidden world of urban fantasy in real cities using Google Maps. Collaborative worldbuilding to create the relationships, history, and secrets of the game's fantastical factions.

Latest Updates from Our Project:

Shipping is In Progress (and Mostly Finished!)
12 days ago – Tue, Oct 27, 2026 at 07:42:40 PM

Hello!

Last week I received the books from the printer and spent this past weekend getting out the majority of packages. Those have been dropped off and everyone whose is packed should have a tracking number now connected to their account. The rest are twenty or so orders from late backers and EU backers who I'm making sure I can use a service with pre-paid duty taxes with. Included everyone should have a thank you letter, guide to access your digital files, and 4 of the one pagers.

Unfortunately we lost contact with the New York Writer and decides to not delay for shipping while we find a replacement. The New York One pager and player reference cards will be available as digital downloads as they become available!

We'll have a final update but please share with us when you get your packages and play your first games! We'd love to hear about your cities and stories on the discord (as well as it being the best place to follow for all future projects including the mysterious box show in the image below!)

Click to join the discord!




Printing Books and Charging Cards!
about 1 month ago – Mon, Oct 05, 2026 at 06:22:52 PM

Hello All!

A quick update to start off the spooky month of October. With the final sign-offs given for our proof prints we are sending in the order for our full print run, and will be charging cards to prepare for packaging and shipping later this month.

To make up for the short and sweet update, and to give you all a taste as to the physical products that will soon be in your hands, here's a sneak peek at what the final print looks like!



Closing in On Printing! + Stretch Goal Updates
about 2 months ago – Mon, Sep 14, 2026 at 07:41:21 PM

Hello!

The past month we've been polishing the game text with final updates to the layout and text. Proof copies were ordered at the start of the month and once we've verified colors/margins look good, we'll be sending off the order to print.

In the meantime, we've been working to get finished on our two outstanding stretch goals: the player aids and city one pagers.

For the city one pagers, we're partnering who have lived experience in all of the selected cities.

New York City, New York - Alex Tripez (he/they) is a New York native and a writer working with Hunter's Entertainment and Darington Press
New Orleans, Louisiana - Loki Williams (he/him) is an 8th Gen New Orleans native, career rpg writer, and Ennie winner
Madrid, Spain - Vicka Ruscica (she/they) is an Argentinian rpg writer and project lead whose previously lived in Madrid for years
Istanbul, Turkey - Luke Frostick (he/him) is an English scholar of Turkish literature whose been living Istanbul for the past 5 years while working as a contributing writer for Metis Media
London, England - Katy Eddy (she/her) is a English senior technical writer who also writes and self publishes rpgs. Katy almost joined to help us with layout with her love of English Folklore so we're happy to haver back.

The writing for the one pagers are in flight and on progress to being finished in parallels with delivery. The printable player aid has been finished for a while but going through some minor revisions and layout.

Our timeline partially slowed by the print proof production but we're on pace still to print and begin fulfillment in October. We'll probably be locking cards in the next week or so.

We're getting closer to the end and can't wait to share the final project with you all!

City One Pager Tie Breaker Vote + New Full Text Version!
3 months ago – Mon, Aug 24, 2026 at 09:32:39 PM

Hello!

We've concluded the final round of voting for the City One Pagers! The top 4 are:

New Orleans, LO
New York City, NY
Istanbul, Turkey
Madrid, Spain

The final spot is currently tied between:

Marrakesh, Morocco
Skowkegan, ME


Apologies misread the poll! We have a last city in London, England (Although I would have also been excited to see one of the tie breaker's make it through)

There's a final poll up for the tie breaker while we get moving on writing the other 4 one pagers.

Additionally! There's a new version of the Full Rules which will probably be the final "content edits" before the final proof reading pass. 

Layout Revisions are taking longer than anticipated so final edits will probably leak into September. We're overall still on schedule but may have to wait a little more before printing

Interested in Playtesting and Seeing WIP? Join the Discord

How can you help?

  • If you have either friends, distributors, or local game stores, spread the word by sharing the link: bit.ly/backyard-rpg 
  • Play the current rules and share your experiences with @quigjam on bluesky or discord.
  • Join the discord and give feedback to in progress development! See a snapshot of me live ranting about the game below!

City Voting Round 2!
3 months ago – Mon, Aug 17, 2026 at 06:51:10 PM

Hello!

The poll has closed for round 1 of voting for the City One pager stretch goal with the following 9 cities moving forward!

  • New York City, NY
  • Youngstown, OH
  • London, England
  • Venice, Italy
  • New Orleans, LO
  • Istanbul, Turkey
  • Marrakesh, Morocco
  • Madrid, Spain
  • Skowkegan, ME

No other city received votes so I've decided to not arbitrarily promote one into the top 10. Voting for the 5 to be selected will continue till Sunday, August 23rd!

Head over to community page to cast your vote!