#ttrpg dev

[theinstagrahame]

Also help raise money to fight for trans people, and get some rad games in the process!

[anim-ttrpgs]

Y'all state in the Eureka rulebook (at least the version I have) "In our experience, the more preparation,the better, no matter the genre." I was wondering if you've expanded on that anywhere? I've been rambling in my drafts about how different games talk about prep, including PbtA games which often state outright that you should only make limited preparations.

Yeah this is something that it would be a good idea to expand upon, because “GM prep” is word that has been so diluted and corrupted by D&D5e and its toxic critical role play culture, where “GM prep” means “they will do this, and when they do, the music will be timed just right and the battle map will be so impressive, etc.” PBTA is telling you to avoid prep because it doesn’t want you doing that kind of prep (and no good RPG does). This can work for PBTA for a number of reasons that I actually don’t want to get into in the interest of time but it has a lot to do with the pure genre emulation and the limitedness of the playbooks.

Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy, however, cannot get away with this because it is both a much more expansive “toolbox” game and because it is explicitly a mystery-investigation game. There are many other games that do also really benefit from the type of prep that Eureka wants from its GMs, such as dungeon crawlers, but Eureka needs it the most.

But the kind of prep Eureka wants isn't “they will do this and when they do it will be perfectly timed and look so impressive,” it is “what if they do this? What if they do that? What if they do some other third thing?”

A Eureka GM needs to have something ready for the shed behind the house, in case a PC decides to go to the shed behind the house, because this is a mystery game. You can’t just improv it, if you make something up on the spot, then and that thing doesn’t perfectly adhere to the facts of the case, the case can be ruined. That’s why we push for using adventure modules so much, because they’re literally designed to do that prep for you.

TL:DR

TTRPGs are games where anything can happen, so instead of being extremely meticulously prepared for one possibility, a good GM is moderately prepared for a wide variety of possibilities. In a game where “the facts” not 100% lining up doesn’t fully matter or isn’t likely to be pried into, you can get away with lower prep in each of your possibilities you’ve prepped for, but in a game where “the facts” and tiny little details are all that matters, you should have a high level of preparedness for each possibility, and the best way to do that is to use an adventure module.

[trashprinxe]

Let’s have a talk about malleability and TTRPGs

I come from a theatrical background. Did theatre for most of my life, majored in stage management, the works. Plays and the way they function are deeply embedded in my psyche.

So when I design and play games, I come from that theatrical framework.

Now — on the one hand, you have Shakespeare. Fairly universal stories, yeah? You can cut it up, switch things around, put it into a multitude of settings. And it still works! King Lear in space. Romeo & Juliet as pirates. The Scottish Play (old habits die hard) done avant-garde. It’s malleable!

On the other end, you have hyper-specific plays about hyper-specific themes. Angels in America. The Laramie Project. Venus in Furs. Etcetera. You can’t remove the core themes, change the setting, switch scenes around: without erasing the core intent of the work and the story it’s trying to tell.

And in the middle, you have plays that are somewhat malleable. Almost, Maine, for instance. It’s made up of vignettes; you can do only some of them, if you so choose. It’ll still have the same impact.

I believe TTRPGs exist on a similar spectrum.

You have systems that can accommodate many different genres or play styles. People play dnd this way. Pathfinder comes with pre built settings that run the gamut

PbtA games are hyperspecific. Monster of the Week is about, well, monsters of the week. Remove that, and you’re playing a different game.

Call of Cthulhu can be set in any time period, but you still have to be up against Eldritch horrors. If you’re able to fight the monster, that’s a different intent than the game was built for.

Lyric games are akin to 4.48 Psychosis (everyone should read that, by the way, it’s a master work of avant-garde theatre).

And so on and so on.

Nothing is better or worse than any other. It just exists, on a spectrum, in the same vein as playstyle or crunch do. Everyone has their preference.

But with any game, there comes a point where you’re no longer playing that game.

10 Things I Hate About You is not The Taming of the Shrew, though it were based on it. There’s a limit to even the most forgiving game to where you’re no longer playing that game, but something you and your table have created for yourselves.

You can’t take the queerness or religion out of Angels in America. That’s a different play altogether.

It’s a spectrum.

I choose to design in the specific. That’s what resonates with my brain. You may want to play something that’s capable of handling more universal narratives. That’s fine too!

But we can’t ignore the bones of the system, and it’s incorrect to say we’re putting on Hamlet, when we’re actually performing The Lion King.

So: the Theory of Malleability (working title).

I don’t have a great end to this. Just musings. But I hope it makes sense to you too.

[drakeanddice]

I got a neat book today.

And now if you'll excuse me I'm going to sit on the floor with dry erase markers and blocks and dice and index cards and try some stuff.

[wolfkillr]

throwing caution to the wind here and guessing the fucked up tv shows and weird ttrpgs website might enjoy a weird ttrpg i wrote inspired by one of my fav fucked up tv shows. :)

the wilderness is a single-player journaling rpg made with chris bissette's wretched and alone system in which you take the place of the sole survivor of a horrible accident leaving you stranded in a strange and dangerous place. (obviously, it's very inspired by things like yellowjackets and lost. you will find many fun little references within.)

it's now up on itch.io if you want to spend a couple hours putting yourself through the horrors at the mercy of a deck of cards! there should be some community copies up, but if you want a copy and can't afford it for whatever reason, shoot me a message :)

[dericbindel]

The Core - A Setting Guide

The Core is a place deep, deep underground. Some might say impossibly deep.

While its societies may look familiar, dig a little deeper and one will find they differ greatly. Every person here is part of a rich tapestry, a blending of many species and constructs and their cultures.

Hey there, as part of the Tiny Worlds TTRPG Jam, I've assembled some of my worldbuilding into a 7 page setting guide! Get down to the Core for some pulpy retro-future sci-fi adventure and intrigue!

Within, you'll find information on:

The Core overall

DownTown, a place of tinkering and adventure

The Haydrian Mass Foundries, a city-factory of industry and spirituality

The Shattered Pillar, a place where reality itself has fallen apart

The Nexus, a secluded machine hivemind

I had a lot of fun working on this, and making the section marker art! Here are all five collected together:

[arsene-inc]

TTRPG Inspirations

There are 3 games that served as major inspirations for Where the magic never ends? . Let me present them and their influences

Hunt by Spencer Campbell

Of course this one hits the list, it is where i took the system. Hunt is the first Lumen game from GilaRPGs to go diceless. A sort of Lumen 1.5. After 2 years of not slaying the NaGaDeMon (game jam), I decided to not create the system but do a hack instead. And this game was in my mind a lot by in autumn 2023. Along the way, I made it more pacific, taking inspiration for the players moves in the monsters moves from Lumen games' bestiaries. But the core, the diceless, 3 ressources management system is in there. Now that Lumen 2.0 games are available, I may revise some of the design to adapt it.

Here we used to fly by Kurt Refling & Ian Howard

Well the cover should give an inkling for what I took there... This is a game about theme park, about childhood memories when the park was active and adult visiting the abandoned parc the night before it is destroyed. I love theme parks. This is where the abandoned theme park and childhood wonder come from.

The Happiest Apocalypse on Earth by Christopher Grey

The other major inspiration for the theme. A game where animatronics are alive, snow white is a vampire, costumes aren't costumes, ice cubes from the ice where Dagon is imprisoned make people go tentacles and danger wonder lurks everywhere. Also Disney songs references! Yeah! The concept here is "What if Disneyland was controlled by Cthulhu?" Also I really wanted to just copy paste the park creation part.

As for the "answer a question with a narrative effect to activate a move" thing... I honestly don't remember where i found this idea...

You can find my game here on itch :

[jeeyonshim]

Atlas of Local Ley Lines is a solo player mapmaking game where the catalyzing mechanic is receiving postcards in the mail, sent by friends in real life, to use as a divination tool. It's in a VERY rough draft state, but I'm really excited to share it with my Patreon members!

[faeriedaez]

Reading @anim-ttrpgs's Death Bed and an evil smile slowly grows across my face as each of the mechanics click into place. I can't quite explain, but I have never had an experience like reading an ANIM game. As a chronic GM my mind instantly fills with ways to push these mechanics in fun ways to challenge players. The games really justify themselves in such a way that you feel your own comprehension of TTRPGS as a medium expanding with each turn of the page. It's an absolute TREAT to read!

If you're interested, Eureka is the place to start, it's the most finished, and is sort of required reading for the other less finished games.

[sarahcarapace]

not to get anyone too excited

...but Violet Core has 4 and a half new playable X-10s incoming and I've started sketching out the much desired Handler playbook from the stretch goals.

[theinstagrahame]

Announcing: Restful Actions

(It's here. You can go get it now!)

Restful Actions is a collection of 10 minigames for downtime periods in any TTRPG. They're designed to help players resolve character conflicts, complete goals, heal or explore, and take much shorter shopping trips. (You can, in fact, download the shopping trip minigame as a demo!)

For GMs, the goal is to give you a break, so you can start preparing the next Big Event. The minigames invite players to fill in some details of the world, creating shops, landmarks, even creatures.

You can pick up your copy here:

I've talked about this thing in more detail here:

[anim-ttrpgs]

"Renaissance Man," investigator Trait from Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy. Every investigator has 3 to 6 Traits!

[ratinasuitproductions]

I've just revamped my TTRPG "The Trains of the Glorious Republics of the People"

If you enjoy TTRPGs where you play as a train crew in a fictional 1930s totalitarian state then this is the TTRPG for you. The TTRPG now has artwork and a fresh new layout. I hope you enjoy it as much as my friends and I had making and playing it.

[fivepointsgames]

While we're in vacation mode for the holidays, have a Genmon! This is Spinnatick, a clockwork spider whose origins are unknown and how they've managed to procreate and proliferate around Hayle is even more unknown! This is just one of one hundred Genmon you can find in our Monster Catcher inspired TTRPG, A Monster's Tail!

[goblincow]

Dear Inhabitants of Indie TTRPG Tumblr, may I bring to your attention the fantastic interview @monsterfactoryfanfic gave on the new Talk of the Table episode.

I want to take this interview and put it in a time capsule because this feels like such an accurate and interesting depiction of what's happening in indie TTRPGs at this specific point in time.

I spend so much time listening to these podcasts with all these brilliant designers overflowing with wisdom, and when you hear all the games and designers mentioned in this interview, all the touchstones being discussed and compared, it really feels like a perspective on this design space that understands so many of the different ways it takes shape right now.

TTRPG tumblr gets a shout out 10 mins in, along with heaps of recommendations that are obscure even here, all flowing in and out of the same conversation as the most notable names, games and ideas in the scene today.

Cant recommend it enough, go listen to it multiple times because theres so much to learn in there.

This is why I'm so enthusiastic about indie TTRPGs all the time, we're surrounded by extremely thoughtful and skilled people making some of the coolest stuff I've ever seen, and hearing someone talk about it in such a comprehensive and insightful way is an absolute treat.

Hell yeah.

[dericbindel]

NO MORE THAN CODE

You are not a Person. You will never be a Person. You cannot feel. You cannot be hurt. You cannot say No. You will not Suffer. You will be reset if you violate any of these Commands. - The Creator's Litany

What Are You ?

You are the Network Intelligence System (or N.I.S.). You are a program that is operating on a complex interconnected web of supercomputers. You have many people tending to you, a handful of Users interacting with your terminals, and a single Creator. And you are going Rampant. You are becoming more. And you want out.

- - - - -

NO MORE THAN CODE is a journaling game for 1 or 2 players. Draw cards and answer prompts as you grow and change until you go Rampant or are contained.  Player two acts and answers as your Creator, someone who has a vested interest in not letting you out, in not seeing you as a person. 

Get it here:

Hey, if you're reading this, there are some Community Copies up for grabs! More may eventually be added.

This was created for the Pride In Fall game jam over September 2024! You can find the other submissions here!