Towards the end of October 2025, Mark and the Lore Link Players had the opportunity to sit down with Kalum, the creator of Magic of Inventorying. Magic of Inventorying is a game that answers the question, now that the adventure is over, how do you get all that loot home?
Over the course of three and a half hours, Kalum walked Mark, Luna, and Twenty through the game, not only explaining how it works but also exploring Kalum’s experiences and thoughts on game design. During the game, they did some improv, some collaborative storytelling, and by the end they had some fairly fleshed-out characters. Mark found it “…a great way to play a quick, interesting role-playing game without a ton of prep time. And after we were done in 2 or so hours, we had a memorable cast of characters.” Twenty said“… for the first time ever I could see myself running a game. The fun, learn-on-the-fly nature and the expectation that the party actually builds the game world is definitely unique and a fun difference to the usual way of doing TTRPGs.” When asked, Luna responded that “The Magic of Inventorying was one of my favorite streams yet. What a great game, with plenty of appeal even for people who have never played a TTRPG before in their life! Fantastic opportunities for improv & collaborative storytelling - game designers, consider picking this up for a team activity!”
Out of curiosity, I reached out to Kalum later, to see what he thought of being on the stream. When asked if the team made him feel comfortable, he replied that, “The team was lovely. You know, Magic of Inventorying is quite uncommon in terms of structure and game among tabletop RPGs. Is it even a TTRPG? Should it be called a story game or party game instead? I’m grateful, the Lore Link crew trusted me through this experience. Since its first release in 2021 (as Paris Gondo – The Life-Saving Magic of Inventorying), I’ve run Magic of Inventorying more than 60 times for strangers, online, in-person, in private, on streams, as part of a dozen conventions. Why do I bring that up? How is that relevant [to the] question? Despite all the above, I’m still anxious about whether the players are enjoying the experience (especially through the first couple of steps). I’m grateful the Lore Link crew already indulged in some banter and laughed [at] my attempts at humour as soon as the first steps.” I also asked if there was anything he wanted to mention but forgot. “I can’t remember if I properly praised our human artist, Bodie Hartley. Bodie is the artist and designer of the Ennie-winning Goblings as well as many adventures compatible with Mothership, DnD 5e and other dungeon-crawling systems. More importantly, I find Bodie’s artefact-loving and often cluttered art is a perfect match for Magic of Inventorying.
“Fun fact: Bodie didn’t draw anything “for” the old Paris Gondo. The original game’s cover and many interior artworks were drawn by Bodie independently of the game. Still, they matched my needs. Licensing these existing artworks from Bodie really was really affordable. At the time, I would not have afforded commissioning so many original artworks.
“It’s been great commissioning and developing with Bodie original artworks, like the cover and new cards, thanks to the modest success of my first games as well as the partnership between Grumpy Bear, Bodie, and I for the Kickstarter campaign.” As we started wrapping up, I asked if he thought he showed off Magic of Inventorying as well as he could. “I wish I would have been a bit less tired. However, I appreciate that the stream was scheduled at a London-friendly time. I understand other streamers’ constraints but facilitating a game online at 2am GMT in the dark in my modest flat is often a challenge.
“I also wish more of Magic of Inventorying’s finalised assets (i.e. board, class affiliation token) and the VTT (probably Tabletop Simulator) would have been ready. Playing online was an important part of Paris Gondo’s development and evolution into Magic of Inventorying. We’re aiming to make this experience top notch for our Kickstarter backers. Online play should be available at all pledge levels.
“Finally, once our improved edition is out, the ideal way to show the Magic of Inventorying will be to do so without me around. We mean it when we say that Magic of Inventorying is GM-less AND Zero Prep. The final edition will include scripted rules that will take players through the game step by step. The Grumpy Bear team calls that ‘putting Kalum in the box.’”
Finally, knowing a Kickstarter for the game was coming soon, I asked him if he had any information on that. “Our ultimate goal is to deliver a box set that meets, if not exceeds, the quality and amount of content expected from board games found in friendly local game stores like Dixit, Raildroad [sic] Ink, etc. A box that contains everything needed to play down to the dice and dry-erase pens. An off-the-shelf game that requires nothing to print yourself. All of that at an affordable price on-par with board games sold in similarly sized boxes.
“Full disclosure, this was a challenge from the start. The impact of worldwide tariffs and the state of board game manufacturing have made this much more challenging. We need a large number of pledges to bring the price per unit manufacturing cost to a reasonable level. We’re headed the right way as near 2,000 adventurers with a strong desire to declutter their loot already follow our Kickstarter pre-launch page. We need everyone’s help, not only pledging, but also signal boosting the campaign.”
So, to wrap up this post, I first want to thank Kalum not only for showing us his awesome game, but also for giving some feedback on being a guest. Hey, I ask because we care! You can find the stream on our YouTube channel, and you can find Kalum on social media on Bluesky, sign up for his newsletter, and you can find his games on Itch.io. Finally, sign up to be notified when Magic of Inventorying goes live on Kickstarter here. You know we’re doing it!