Quest Craft: Windy Realm Encounter Jam | Fall 2025
It isn’t hard to feel the call of the otherworldly in Chicago. If you’ve ever walked the lakeshore in stormy weather, and seen the fury of an inland sea so vast and so cold that it creates real-life corpse candles — you know this place is filled with horrors and wonders. If you’ve ever been served a hot tamale on a freezing sidewalk, you know the people here are worthy of story and song. Maybe you even know the right incantations to summon the mythical 22 bus. (I don’t, please teach me.)
So it’s not hard to see where the inspiration for the Windy Realm Gazette comes from, or why so many community creators turned out to support it with creations of their own. Today I’m sitting down with Nick Garcia and Brian Moody to talk about the birth of the Windy Realm Gazette and what it’s been like to create a fantasy version of the Windy City.
“I've always been a fan of print media,” said Garcia, co-editor and chief of the Gazette, “there is something intoxicating about holding a book or a magazine or a little three-page RPG encounter.”
His co-editor agrees, “I grew up reading magazines like Alternative Press, Rolling Stone, Game Informer, and Wired and have always loved the format,” Moody said.
The Windy Realm Gazette will be a quarterly publication that will build out a “sword and sorcery” version of Chicago known as the Windy Realm and feature contributions from tabletop gaming creators across the city. Most entries will be system-agnostic, so you’ll be able to add them to any ongoing or new campaign.
It’s also important to them that the project highlights local TTRPG creators and helps build a stronger community here of writers that can support each other. “There are so many talented writers and artists in this area that deserve to be recognized, and many others that may just need the same little push I did to get started,” Moody saidMy hope is that we're able to amplify the voices that are already creating in the space and inspire those that haven't quite taken the leap into more than just participating in games.”
“I had a mentor of mine tell me once, if you wake up every day and write, you’re a writer. There is a difference between that and being a published writer, are mostly due to circumstances you cannot control.
With this project, I want to help people showcase their work. If they are an artist or a writer or a TTRPG designer, I want them to hold something physical so they can show people and say, I’ve been published. Someone saw my work, loved it, and wanted to take the time to print it for all to enjoy.”
CTGA’s Encounter Jam brings new winds to the realm
On November 30th, 2025, CTGA held Quest Craft, their first-ever Encounter Jam. For two weeks prior, local creators had been working on their own creations for attractions and dangers that players might encounter within the Windy Realm. In the prompt created by Nick and Brian, the party has been asked to help escort a caravan to the Samhan Market in The Snare (what some other-worlders might call The Loop).
Whether the party takes the bandit-laden Mon’s Road, the mysterious Two Lion Trail, or the treacherous River Wind, there was plenty of inspiration for us to pull from as we wrote our encounters. 16 creators submitted a wide variety of monsters and locations steeped in Chicago history.
Encounters
| Encounter | Author | System |
|---|---|---|
| Vakwi, Rat of the Hole | Morgan Parsons | D&D 5e |
| The Fall Migration Hunt | Dex Greenbright | System-Neutral |
| The Fat Cat of Upten | Tom Chiodini | D&D 5e |
| The Marching Hoard | Ben Guest | System-Neutral |
| The WereGeese of the Goose Island | Andres Paul | System-Neutral |
| The Missing River Ranger | Nick Enquist | D&D 5e |
| A Day’s Labor (CW: ICE and Operation Midway Blitz) | Erica Abenti | System-Neutral |
| The Deepwater Outfit | Tim Csernica | Shadowdark |
| The Jewels | Jon Podulka | Shadowdark |
| Boris Lost | Tobias Ginsburg | System-Neutral |
| Mists of the Middle Way | Jonah White | System-Neutral |
| From Road to Road | Kenny Lee | System-Neutral |
| The Hag of Dearborn Crossing | Rayne Bakcheious Whitington | D&D 5E |
| The Brave Bronze Pilot and The Flying Circus Challenge | Mel Georgiou | System-Neutral |
| The Stone Garden | Sydnie + Dillon | System-Neutral |
| Where the Wild Wind Flows | Lisa Hartman | System-Neutral |
At the event, several tables spontaneously broke out, quickly rolling up Shadowdark character sheets to jump into these vibrant worlds. While not everyone in the caravans safely made it to the Samhain Market, the players got to enjoy hours of fun and learn about their city along the way.
Download the PDF below to check out these incredible encounters!
“It felt really gratifying to see all the people take to the prompt. But I have to give full credit to my co-editor Brian Moody for coming up with it. That guy is a true legend.
What I'm really excited about is the shared world we are building with the community. I want to find a person that lives in say, Wicker Park or Bucktown and read how they view their neighborhood in this shared world. That's the exciting part.”
–Nick Garcia
Pictured Left: The Fat Cat’s Tavern.
Part of The Fat Cat of Upten by Tom Chiodini.
“I knew it would be rewarding creating and writing The Windy Realm as a setting, because there is just so much inspiration to get from Chicago as a place, but I didn't expect how much I would love seeing people cultivate and grow the seed I was planting.
The Encounter Jam had so many cool ideas and really showed just how talented those in the Chicago tabletop scene are. I can't wait to work with some of the writers to really flesh out their ideas and create new ones.”
–Brian Moody
Pictured Right: Osco the Meatball,
manager of the Jewels by Jon Podulka.
Where can you find the Windy Realm Gazette?
Right here! While the heart of the project is creating print media, we’ll also be publishing extras here on the Beyond the Table blog. Some entries to the Realm may be too long for print publication (at least right now), and others may be better suited to a digital medium — those you’ll be able to find here.
But there are no shortage of big dreams for the Windy Realm! "Ideally, I'd like to create some sort of ecosystem with this project. A shared community that continues to build upon itself,” Garcia said, “It would be cool if, after a few issues, people can start playing in the world Brian and I — and the CTGA community have built. That's a long way off. Let's just get through the first issue and take it from there lol."
If you’re looking forward to the first issue of the Windy Realm Gazette as much as I am, you can stay updated on CTGA events here. And if you’d like to join the community of creators, join us on Discord!
Like what you’ve seen so far and are inspired to add to the Windy Realm? Reach out to the team!
You can email Nick and Brian at:
Disclaimer: The information in this blog and on www.chicagotga.org is presented for educational and entertainment purposes. Any statistics, recommended products, or other information is researched in good faith, but no warranty is made to the completeness nor accuracy of the source. All written and multimedia content published here is the intellectual property of Chicago Tabletop Gaming Association (CTGA) or contributing community members and is not for reproduction or sale by third parties. By accessing this site and all its materials, you agree to and acknowledge these terms.
