#Sandy Pug Games

[sandypuggames]

We cannot lie to you, best beloved. Though you may avoid us, there is no escape.

We’re in the walls and behind your eyes. We carved every inch of these tunnels and we’ve seen all that goes on inside them. 

Centuries of cities and strangers and frightful, ugly sights. We’d spare you from it if we could, but then maybe you are the adventuring kind after all.

Just remember, no matter where you go, you belong to us. Whether you wait or whether you run, we will find you.

You’re in the Maggots’ Keep now. And that’s forever. 

We just launched a new book! THE EXQUISITE CORPSE IN MAGGOTS' KEEP Is a branching narrative gamebook, where your choices guide you deeper into the ichor-slick darkness of MAGGOTS KEEP. Written by over a dozen authors, and illustrated by the modern Goddess of Gloom, @jnbutlerart

[indie-ttrpg-of-the-week]

Monster Care Squad

Monster Care Squad is a cute, non-violent game about taking care of monsters who REALLY don't want to be cared for, play as medical professionals trying to subdue, and then heal monsters infected by a horrible plague. Have I also mentioned that you can get this game 100% free on the dev's website?

[leafie-draws]

SYNCRASIS map for HELLPIERCERS 🔥

[dragonkid11]

10 Million HP Planet is a fast-paced conversational hyper-TTRPG made by Sandy Pug Games mechanically centered around describing impossibly cool acts of megaviolence, and dealing damage in the millions by rolling thousands and thousands of dice. You have been warned.

[raul-volp2]

Ekhinos Field!

Ekhinos Field Territory for HELLPIERCERS tabletop rpg from Sandy Pug games, pixel art tile showing places where players can storm and destroy demon hordes!

I love to work on HELLPIERCERS pixels, they are always so inventive and cool to work, and I am very proud of this one. =)

[leaftilde]

HELLO

I HAVE A SHORT STORY ABOUT A HOT LADY BECOMING EVEN HOTTER WHEN SHE GETS POSSESSED BY A NOT!SHODAN AI IT'S IN THIS ZINE OF OTHER REALLY COOL AND HOT CREATORS

CHECK IT OUT MAYBE NO PRESSURE

[public-trans-it]

hey whats this about a supposed NSFW expansion for a sandy pug game? ive searched around but havent found anything and i am interested in sloppy

Sandy Pug Games released a game called Monster Care Squad. Its a very cute game about playing as doctors and going around treating monsters from horrible unknown diseases. Its very well put together and I highly recommend it.

One of the really cool things they did with their kickstarter funds though, was set up the Ald-Amura Historical Grant Fund. This was a grant that other game designers could apply for to get some funds to help them make their own expansion for Monster Care Squad. Absolutely INCREDIBLE way to pay it forward, and I really hope this becomes a more common practice going forward.

One of the people to apply for the grant was famous twitter horny poster and THE monster/plant fucker of all time, Leaf Tilde. She created an adventure called The Tangle in the Snarlwood. It includes a new rule that replaces the normal "I'm gonna give the monster medicine to make it all better!" move, with a "I'm gonna fuck this monsters god damn brains out to make it all better!" move.

[dungeonofthedragon]

Non-Violent Adventurous TTRPGS

Today is ANZAC day in Aotearoa New Zealand. It seems a very appropriate time to share some games about helping and healing.

Monster Care Squad by Sandy Pug Games

A game about nurturing monsters and healing them of their pain. In the creator's own words, you play a squad of elite veterinarians. I love games that make you feel you're making a positive difference. I hope to play this one some time.

Ngen Mapu by Helena Real and Evil Hat Productions

This game's gorgeous art is what first caught my eye, but what really drew me in was the premise. Playing as manifested spirits from the dawn of time, you must stop people who are causing serious harm to the natural world without hurting them. What happens if you hurt them? Well, you risk becoming a corrupted ngen called a wekufe.

Wanderhome by Jay Dragon of Possum Creek Games

A game of wandering animal folk. Wanderhome has been on my 'to buy' list since its release. This review sums up a lot of why I love it. The grief and hope of a game that takes place in a world recovering from war appeals to me far more than a game about fighting a war. Plus, my favourite part of roleplaying is exploring a character's internal world, and there are so many chances for that here.

Lunar Echoes is a hack of Wanderhome set in a solarpunk future!

[haveyouplayedthisttrpg]

Have you played MONSTER CARE SQUAD ?

By Sandy Pug Games

Monster Care Squad is a fantasy game about a peaceful world where people and monster co-exist, but recently a strange poison has started to drive monster mad and violent, the players are veterinaries trained to diagnose and heal these monsters, while at the same time solving local problems.

This is one of my favorite games, I love the process of going to new towns, meeting characters, figuring out what's wrong with the monster and going to deal with it. The characters you can make are so diverse and full of personality, and the gameplay is very fun.The book itself is also full of wonderful art and interesting lore for the setting, specially for all the monsters.

[sandypuggames]

in HELLPIERCERS, we represent the larger War of Infernal Liberation through a strategy phase called STRATCOM. This phase takes a ton of inspiration from map games, like A Quiet Year, as well as faction-focused TTRPGs like REIGN.

Each faction gets its own map to start with, and you will spend a lot of the game adding buildings, locations, traps, hazards, armies, convoys, and more to it in the same kind of collaborative-combative vibe as the rest of the game, with the GM trying to dominate Hell, push back your forces, and retake lost locations, and the players pushing up toward the final fortress of the enemy faction.

Each map is an abstraction, covering roughly a 800 mile stretch of territory that you'll grow into a complex visual log of The Last War.

First map is a representation of the SYNCRASIS faction's paleoproterozoic landscape, illustrated by the incredible @leafie-draws, and the second represents the industral-blasted nuclear wasteland of @leaftilde's AUTOPHYES faction, illustrated by the marquis of shadows, @jnbutlerart.

budget allowing I'd like to ship everyone two 11x17 trifolds with the maps printed, because Risk Legacy permanent changed my brain chemistry and i love the idea of physical maps covered in drawings and supply lines and armies and stuff.

How this side of the game plays out is very very much one of the more exciting elements of play, and I can't wait to see how you all engage with it. And remember, Hell is a prison. Break its bars.

[theresattrpgforthat]

how many ttrpgs do you know of that came with soundtracks?

THEME: TTRPGs With Soundtracks

Hello friend! I knew of a few off the top of my head, and went searching for some more. Many of these soundtracks are playlists of already-created songs, hosted on streaming apps like Spotify, but a few are designed specifically for a certain roleplaying game. Either way I hope you find something up your alley!

Monster Care Squad, by Sandy Pug Games and The Fox in the Flowers.

Long after the crowns have fallen, long after greed has had it's day, long after war, poverty, hunger, and tyranny passed into memory, Ald-Amura's peace is broken by The False Gold, a terrible sickness spreading through its greatest guardians and most beautiful Monsters.

Unified by community and driven by a love for the planet and each other, The Monster Care Squad rises. Do you heed their call?

A game about caring for monsters in a fantastical world is already probably enough to sell a lot of folks on the pitch, but the love for this game shines through in the third-party work available, including Sounds of Ald-Amura, by The Fox in The Flowers. Sandy Pug Games is a creative collective that prioritizes support for the entire team behind any given project, which is probably why their games are so beautiful and so well-crafted.

Long Haul 1983, by SPC. (Spotify Soundtrack)

It’s 1983, and the world feels hollowed out.

LONG HAUL 1983 tells the story of a dangerous journey through an empty world. 

You play a long-haul truck driver trying to make their way home. Every day, you’ll hit the road, navigating treacherous highways, fleeing from menacing threats, and dealing with the psychological impacts of isolation.

And at the end of each day, you’ll find a payphone, make a call, and leave a message for the most important person in your life. 

They never pick up. You never stop calling.

This is a solo game, where the soundtrack is designed to enhance the experience of loneliness and isolation, using ambient sounds and hits from the time period this game is set in. The game comes with a list of songs meant to be played during certain moments, as well as a list of songs that are designed to be background atmospheric pieces. If you want something that elevates your solo journaling experience, this game might be for you.

Orbital Blues, by Soul Muppet Games. (Soundtrack)

It is an intergalactic age of cowboys, outlaws and bandits playing on an interstellar stage. It is a time of hyper-capitalism and a cut-throat gig economy. Unreliable trash-heaps carry scrappy underdogs to their next gig, and corporation freighters lumber across the horizon laden with an empire’s bounty.

These are the music-fuelled, moon-age daydreams of a rebel space age. 

These are your ORBITAL BLUES.

Games inspired by tv shows and movies have a great starting point in finding music that really fits the tone - you can start with the soundtrack of the things that inspired you. But Chris Bissette was not happy to simply show you the soundtracks for Cowboy Bebop and Firefly and call it a day. They created a custom album to play alongside the game that’s a little soulful, and a little rock n’ roll. A soulful space-western kind of game lends itself really well to music to evoke melancholy and loss, so I definitely recommend listening to some of this if you want to play Orbital Blues or any other game inspired by the same sorts of media.

The Wildsea, by Felix Isaacs, and Songs of the Lignin Tide, by Liam Peregrine Vaughan.

Your character is a wildsailor, part of a crew cutting their way across the island-studded wilderness of the treetop sea on a vessel of your very own. You’ll clash with survivor cultures and wild beasts, scavenge and salvage for wreckage and trade-goods, chase rumours, and uncover secrets. The focus of this game is on exploration, progress, and change - you’ll define the world of the Wildsea as you sail it.

I’ve talked about The Wildsea extensively in the past, so I’m just going to talk a little bit about Songs of the Lignin Tide. The Wildsea community is dedicated, inspired, and creative, and that leads to some amazing work created by players, for other players. Songs of the Lignin Tide is one of those examples. It uses a wealth of different sounds to add richness and texture to this unique and verdant setting, and it feels like the creator drew heavily from their own experiences of playing the game. I highly recommend you check it out if you want more Wildsea in your life.

Quietus, by Sinister Beard Games. (Spotify Playlist)

QUIETUS is a one shot, prep-less RPG of melancholy horror. It’s a game for a GM and one or two players, and emulates tragic horror movies like Oculus, The Strangers, The Babadook, Inside and the Netflix version of The Haunting of Hill House. If a piece of fiction can make you cry and scream, then it’s a great model for the sort of stories that you can tell with QUIETUS.

The music for Quietus is also a Spotify playlist, with a collection of songs that fit the tone of a tragic horror game. It’s an hour and forty-three minutes long, and since Quietus is meant to be a one-shot, I have a feeling you might have to play through it more than once, or let Spotify generate similar songs after the playlist finishes up.

GoblinMixtape’s Soundtracks, by Sam Leigh.

While creating a soundtrack on your own might be a daunting task, using established songs to fit the vibe of your ttrpg is much easier, and GoblinMixtape (aka Sam Leigh) has connected many designers to playlists designed to emulate the feeling of their games. There’s quite a few playlists already created by them, so I’d recommend checking out this list of playlists if you want to see the games she’s worked on before.

[leafie-draws]

it's winter sale timeee! ❄️ Sandy Pug games are 40% off! including Monster Care Squad, it's expansion and more! curl up with a comfy game, or gift 'em to your friends! ♥ https://itch.io/s/110822/sandy-pugs-winter-sale

[ttrpgbrackets]

The featured games!

In the interest of being a thoughtful community member, below are links to all of the games featured in our bracket, submitted by followers!

Ascendancy can be found on Ruby Soleil-Raine's itch.io.

Patchwork World can be found on Aaron King's itch.io page. Patfinder can be found on Paizo's online store.

Thirsty Sword Lesbians, Monster of the Week, For the Queen, and Blades in the Dark can be found at Evil Hat's online store.

Pokemon Tabletop Adventures 3rd Edition can be found here.

Wisher, Theurgist, Fatalist can be found here.

BXLLET and its expansion SHXLL CASXNGS can be found on Legendary Vermin and Rathayibacter's itch.io pages.

Justicar can be found on Nevyn Holmes' itch.io.

Troika can be found on its website.

Exalted Third Edition can be found on Onyx Path's website.

Glitch can be found on Drivethrurpg.

Lancer can be found on Massif Press's Itch.io.

Monsterhearts and The Quiet Year can be found on Buried Without Ceremony's website.

Wraith: the Oblivion and Mage: The Ascension can be found from White Wolf on drivethrurpg.

Fiasco can be found from Bully Pulpit Games.

Chuubo's Marvelous Wish Granting Engine can be found on drivethrurpg.

Beam Saber can be found on Austin Ramsay's itch.io.

Spire: The City Must Fall and Heart: The City Beneath can be found from Rowan, Rook, and Dekkard

Guardian Mecha Generations is by Chris Longhurst, though a direct link could not be found by this author. Submissions and asks with more information are welcome.

Public Access can be found from The Gauntlet.

Leverage is no longer in print, but was designed by Cam Banks and Rob Donaghue for Margaret Weis Productions

Disparateum can be found on Rathayibacter's itch.io.

World Wide Wrestling is found on Nathan Paoletta's website.

10 million HP Planet can be found on Sandy Pug Games' Itch.io.

Interstitial: Our Hearts Intertwined can be found on Riley Hopkins' itch.io.

Warhammer Fantasy Roleplaying can be found from Cubicle 7 Games

City of Mist can be found from Son of Oak Games

Final Bid can be found on liberigothica's itch.io.

Apocalypse World can be found on its own website, by D. Vincent Baker and Meguey Baker.

Lasers and Feelings by John Harper can be found on its own website.

We Are But Worms can be found on itch.io from Riverhouse Games

Kingdom can be found on Ben Robbins' website.

Kernel can be found on Ava Ayers' cohost.

Ironsworn: Starforged can be found on the Ironsworn website.

Capers can be found on NerdBurger's website.

Fellowship 2nd Edition can be found on liberigothica's itch.io.

Eidolon: Become Your Best Self can be found on the Eidolon Playtest patreon.

Yazeba's Bed and Breakfast can be found on Possum Creek Games

Sentinel Comics: The Roleplaying Game can be found from Greater Than Games

Fathom can be found on Brandon McLeod's itch.io.

Apocalypse Frame can be found from Binary Star Games.

We Used to be Friends can be found on Jonathan Lavalee's website.

I was unable to locate a link to purchase or read Perennial Ultimatum: Bloomward. If you have any information on this game, please feel free to submit a post.

[raul-volp2]

Monster Care Squad new Expansion Behind the Waterfall released!!

Explore the Sunken City, meet new monsters, more mechanics, a lot of cool stuff, including more art from incredible artists and me. =)

Get it here:

[bleongambetta]

Nobody Follows This So I Can Talk About Protean City Comics

I've been thinking about #proteancity and I know there's a small group of people on Tumblr that post about PCC sometimes, so... what if I just briefly lay out what I'd love to someday manage to do to finish out the podcast?

There's no spoilers here technically but if things do end up getting wrapped up, then they might become spoilers. It's almost fan-theory at this point and there's no guarantees this will happen. Just idle dreaming of how I would handle it as a GM.

I've wanted for a while to finish out all of the character stories that exist in PCC. I had an initial idea of basically just getting recordings and seeing what happens, or doing streams, or something, but nothing is concrete. When I DO figure that out, I'll be posting about it everywhere.

But here's what I want to do.

Get a list of all of the PCC heroes and see from their players if they want to do one final arc.

Create a kind of Legion Of Big Badness where we establish and tie together the fates of all of the heroes in this big fight. Like "Yes, we need to handle this giant space threat, but also it's important we defeat this seemingly small time villain, because they're all tied into one big plot."

Do a single recording with each of those groups where they face their biggest baddy, their biggest challenge, whatever, and we hit a denouement.

Have a voting where a small team of (surviving? eligible? existing?) heroes are voted on by the community to finish out the whole thing

Do a final "PCC The End" set of issues where we take on The End (who I think is probably our most powerful villain and a fitting sounding end to the series) using something just HUGE like TEN MILLION HP Planet from Sandy Pug Games (https://sandypuggames.itch.io/ten-million-hp-planet)

I don't know if it will ever happen, but I would love for it to. The issue obviously is just the scale, we have SO many heroes and wrapping up every story could end up taking like a year and a half of podcasts.

Still, we can dream!

[questfriendspodcast]

What's the ideal XCOM TTRPG?

We got a question from @mistermustachiogmc, but for some reason Tumblr deleted it

The XCOM TTRPG discussion in the recent newsletter really interested me because the tactical gameplay is one thing that I would actually want from the XCOM experience. A little magicpunk TTRPG called Zafir does exactly that, and in fact, it's pretty Damn hard to actually die in that game. I think part of the reason for that is that it's really hard to create and get attached to characters that are gonna die very quickly. Even in something like Call of Cthulu, the death of the player characters is the end of the story, a climactic moment that sells the danger of what they're up against, while in something like XCOM, you're expected to keep burgeoning on, making new characters to throw at the enemy. People are more of a resource, and the most interesting thing a character could do in a system that almost guarantees their death is just not to die immediately.

I feel like my main response is to 👀 at the TTRPG they mentioned and maybe plug Hellpiercers by Sandy Pug Games? It’s extremely XCOM vibes except you are liberating hell and also communists. It also does not exist yet but I’m going to be obsessed when it does release. -Tom

I'm not surprised tactical gameplay is something you'd want in an XCOM TTRPG - it's a big selling point of the game, and I imagine it's something most players would want in any adaptation! The reason I'd cut it from my own TTRPG adaption is two-fold:

Like you said, it's tough to deal the relentless onslaught of death in a TTRPG setting. In XCOM, the way they avoid that is by having the player character and all other major characters stay safe in the command center. Unsurprisingly, the first XCOM game (to my knowledge) that has major characters as playable units is also the first one without permadeath.

Tactical combat in TTRPGs is very tough for me personally, in large part because I enjoy tactics video games. In XCOM, I'm getting to dictate the strategy of the entire squad, but in a TTPRG, I get to make my one decision and then have to wait 30 minutes for my next turn (NOTE: my opinion here is heavily skewed by my personal experiences playing TTRPGs). This is why the one tactical TTRPG experience I really want to try is playing a 1v1 Lancer Match against Tom, where each of us controls an entire squad.

For me, the solution to both of these problems is to make "the commander" the player character. The main issues with this solution are (1) keeping the personal connection to the units, and (2) making an experience that isn't just "XCOM with paper." For me, that means taking out the tactics to focus on unit creation, attachment, and death, but I know that's heavily skewed by my personal preferences. Thanks for sharing your thoughts! -Kyle