All entries

Archives

November 22, 2022 Limited Monsters At the outset of Wolves, I made the decision to limit myself to only using recurring monsters from Volume 2: Monsters &. Whilst there are the September 29, 2022 Mentorship Applications Open APPLICATIONS NOW CLOSED I am now open to submissions for round 4 of the mentorship scheme I’ve been running. This is done free of charge to give September 13, 2022 Journey to the Underelves On Wednesday lunchtimes I’ve been running an hour-long session of OD&D megadungeon exploration known as Snackrifice. The game has been running for September 7, 2022 Dagda System A large snippet from a forthcoming project. Chaos reigns in the Dagda system. Heavy industries poisoned the atmosphere of Eriu, leading to a mass August 19, 2022 The Inhuman Violence Impossible beings respond differently to violence. Any modifiers to attempts to shoot the Inhuman. A target number the Inhuman uses for ranged August 12, 2022 Wolves Upon the Coast Grand Retrospective It’s been a little less than year since I started selling Wolves Upon the Coast Grand Campaign on itch. Rather than finishing the entire (huge) July 22, 2022 40.20 Berith, Beleth and Bifronze This is just a snippet from the upcoming update to Wolves Upon the Coast Grand Campaign. Three names for three crowns, each resting upon one head of July 12, 2022 Marc Miller Interview & Transcript Below is an edited transcript of the conversation I had with Marc Miller. The edits mostly cut out interstitial material and are for clarity. This June 15, 2022 &&&&&&&&& Treasure Released You can now buy &&&&&&&&& Treasure, the sequel to Volume 2: Monsters &, in physical at Exalted Funeral or as a PDF on my itch.io. If you would June 15, 2022 Empire Fat A PDF is available here All of the below to be provided to players. Your employer has identified that the OPPOSITION is preparing to court an Asset June 10, 2022 35.12 River Temple This is just a snippet from the upcoming update to Wolves Upon the Coast Grand Campaign. A moss-bearded structure emerges from the river-bend, May 25, 2022 Warding A continuation of the system outlined here and used within Wolves Upon the Coast. The base Warding save represents an innate protection against ill May 17, 2022 Glut-Amon A face stolen from a baboon, eyes replaced with four empty sockets of stone jutting out like goggles. A black furred body with arms which drag upon May 9, 2022 History or Archaeology I have a friend (thanks Will) who is an archaeologist. We were discussing the difference between history and archaeology, which he summed up as: April 9, 2022 Making Your Own Sword Imagine a system as a mine. Within this mine is ore. You can dig it up. Imagine your game as a furnace. You can smelt your ore here, and end up with March 29, 2022 48.01 Iric of the Jar A snippet from the forthcoming Wolves Upon the Coast update. In the forest, a vessel is being prepared. It is a full 10’ across, made of clay February 21, 2022 Invocations to a Flame First ally to man and the enabler of thought, Mother Fire dances in the mind and veins. Those born in or travelling to the uttermost East where the February 6, 2022 Night’s Black(pill) Agents During my ongoing game of Night’s Black Agents (NBA) we had a realisation. One of the player character’s strategies is the ironically termed January 8, 2022 Wolves Upon the Coast Grand Campaign Updated Now featuring ~150 hex fills January 3, 2022 SRD Behold: 1d4 Encounter 1 2d20 Bandits 2 3d8 Giant Ants 3 4d6 Orcs 4 2d6 Wolves On the face of it, there is nothing here. Flat, boring January 2, 2022 28.16 Dead Godling The trees on Hlesey grow perversely thick, forming corded walls of bark and wood. Fleshy leaves droop, eager to stroke exposed heads. Without a map, November 29, 2021 No Rules No Rulings When running Wolves Upon the Coast, a situation arose - the players wanted to train the griffon chicks they had adopted (stolen). There is nothing November 1, 2021 Vernacular Games Nails to whiteboards. Against design, against discussion, towards play. Discuss results. Do not discuss plans. This is not play-testing - this is October 19, 2021 17.17 Desecrated Monastery From Wolves Upon the Coast Grand Campaign Within the woods an L-shaped ruin which has not been allowed to fall. Stones, cracked, filled with roots October 15, 2021 Using Markdown and Pandoc to Make RPG Documents for Free This is a rough guide. If you do some googling you can get a lot more detailed information about any of the steps or components - this is focused on September 20, 2021 Wolves Upon the Coast Grand Campaign Released An in-development hexcrawl for use with Wolves Upon the Coast. I am experimenting with pricing structure - as the size increases, so does the price. September 17, 2021 The Infinite Loneliness of Halo 2 By the time I got an XBox, the XBox 360 was in full ascendancy. To compound this, I never had a Live subscription. A CRT TV - if two people were September 16, 2021 Mentorship 1 - Retrospective This was the first round of an ongoing commitment to mentor ttrpg writers with the goal of growing the space and helping others get published. At September 14, 2021 Techniques to Write Adventures There’s a random adventure jam you could join! Obviously these will not work for everyone, are not universal and is very incomplete. This is the September 6, 2021 2d20 Bandits On an encounter table, the entry 2d20 Bandits pulls a lot of work. Bandits are human beings. This makes them harder to deal with - when you lean in September 1, 2021 A Theory of Art lest I ever have to try this shit in a tweet again. Artist - someone who, for whatever reason, makes something they or others consider Art. Art - August 25, 2021 Ruislip & Surrounds Date: 08/25/2021 Assumes the use of Wolves Upon the Coast. Monsters may be found in Volume 2: Monsters &. Treasure was generated using the August 18, 2021 03.09 Donenashoe For use with Volume 2: Monsters & only. The forests in this hex have swathes of damage through them, forming bands of growth. An abundance of deer August 10, 2021 Boasts Take a black, wide-nibbed marker. Destroy all references to character levels and XP. Copy out the below into the margins of your rulebook. A July 30, 2021 Parallax RPG Review c.w. violence, torture, state repression. If anyone is able to provide me with a physical copy of the Parallax RPG I’m willing to pay up to £100 for July 23, 2021 15. Dominion Reap A thick gold band set with pearls, emeralds, rubies and diamonds. Between them, elephants, leopards and bears in silver cavort. Compels others to July 22, 2021 Encounter Roles Types of encounters found on an encounter table, assuming the standard “encounter check” procedure. n.b. a single encounter will fulfil many of July 16, 2021 Volume 2: Monsters & Released For those who come direct-to-source: Volume 2: Monsters & is out and available from EF for physical and itch.io for PDF. A collection & expansion of June 29, 2021 2. Child of Stone Within the earth things grow. The earth does not love all of them equally. Some are banished. Upon the lava plains they can be found - an armful of June 25, 2021 Plus Three Versus Magic weapons carry the legacy of the wielder. To make a weapon +1 versus a specific type, kill one hundred of them with that weapon. Give the June 24, 2021 House of the Perishing Worm - Free Adventure Finished something that I didn’t like but was taking up brainspace regardless. Now it’s yours - grab it here. put in a page because it’s big and June 19, 2021 5. Doubleface Drachm Silver coins marked by two oddities - the obverse always depicts a pair of faces, each facing outwards albeit tilted away. There seems to be endless June 5, 2021 A Border Fort Upon the sluggish river a fortress has sat since before these neighbouring lands knew indigenous kings. Hands recruited from far away laid the June 3, 2021 d12 Desert Plants & Miscellany d12 Description Notes 1 Flowering, fleshy, purple cacti. Tangled “blisters” of fat, short needles. Delicious once needles are removed. 2 May 31, 2021 Drowning Weights To be married to the Sea is considered unseemly to these coastal people. The sea is like an animal, to be tamed and used, not loved. Found in May 20, 2021 Stone Knife Found in the soil. Blunt, rounded. Has no guard - a loose grip ensures cut fingers. Carved into each is a face, mouth yawning open. Drinks blood. May 8, 2021 Six Shooters All of the below should be treated however you treat revolvers. Huge, pitted iron revolver. Pulling the trigger tires the finger. Roars when it May 6, 2021 New Zine Release - Black Knights A zine with my words and the incredible art of David Hoskins can be bought here now. A UK release is forthcoming. Get the UK release here May 6, 2021 A Home Beyond the sun-bleached fence, cacti pulp steams. Spent rifle shells - six of them - sit in the recently disturbed dust. A lean-to stable has a May 5, 2021 A Tomb A mound of earth, grown over with grass. With a shovel, you could reveal the stones beneath the earth. With a pick, you could remove the stones, to May 3, 2021 Mechanisms as Abstraction Mechanisms abstract the thing they describe or simulate. This can be done to speed up play, or to make something complex more easily grasped. The April 22, 2021 Postcards from Cable Street Released For the rare ones who come here without also using Twitter - The antifascist charity zine I’ve been a part of organising and submitted to is finally April 19, 2021 The Country Date: 04/19/21 cw: war, ideological violence, childhood trauma Roz has laid this out, and it looks fantastic. Grab it here! Dukerino has made a April 18, 2021 Perfection Trap Date: 04/18/21 There is a common tendency to try and find the ‘best’ way to do things. The best initiative system, the best HP system, the superior April 2, 2021 Violence Been tooling about with a fast, nasty system for violence resolution and then I stumbled on this Update 11/10/2021 - as a number of people have March 17, 2021 Against Incentive Incentivising behaviour is bad for your game. Axiom - Most players, most of the time, will take the most optimal option. Incentives create optimal March 14, 2021 Ogres Muscle cords thicker than greed. Take up all you possess, and carry it with you. See what you desire, and come to possess it. This is one of the March 5, 2021 Demiurge Assassin Some seek Heaven through violence. This sect aim to bring violence to Heaven, and use it to kill the Demiurge. They have spent hours poring over February 27, 2021 Magic Outside of Levels Effects beyond the mundane are achieved through the invocation of properties or through pacts with the supernatural. The knowledge of these rituals February 22, 2021 The Principles of Thinking Adventures Systems (as in ‘combat system’ not ‘system matters’) offer a trade - your freedom in exchange for something else. This trade is not always in your February 16, 2021 Kobolds Wounds in the earth multiply and gape. Infection lingers each injury a womb children unbidden. Teem in stone. HD 1-1 / AC as Armour / Damage as February 8, 2021 Wealth is What You See Remove XP gain. Instead, your level is determined by the wealth you carry/are accompanied by. Obviously, this quickly becomes impossible if it’s all January 20, 2021 New Game Released - The Laudanum Drinkers The Laudanum Drinkers A game about resisting the Empire in the realm of Dream January 17, 2021 Two Magic Items I hate magic items. Clothed in wing and leg, seeking proboscis fastens the garment tight. Insects are unhappy to swarm this closely, and make this January 13, 2021 Weird War - Mission Generation For use with this A soundtrack suggestion Roll 1d6. On a 1-3, the mission is Behind the Lines. On a 4+, you are being sent to the Front. The January 4, 2021 CONSIM The Observer will outline the situation. The small scale and rough differentiation means situations involving irregular forces and clandestine December 29, 2020 Red Rock Funeral A Scenario for use with ADF and Troika or whatever else you might want. I’m not your dad. Where the red sand becomes red rock a settlement, Ignear, December 17, 2020 Shooting Through Walls If attempting to blast through walls in a facility or starship - or checking to see whats there - or dealing with a miss - use the following November 27, 2020 Stealth in Space Roll 1d6 and Consult Below - Value or Above is Detection Detection Score Ship Situation 6 Running Dark, no systems, internal vacuum. 5+ November 25, 2020 Water Elemental Gather rain on a hot, dry day. Add 2 droplets of blood. Forget the face of a sibling. By these gifts you may breathe life into liquid. 2HD / AC as November 10, 2020 Dryads Plants exist in a different world to people. They change the landscape slowly, over years and generations. They are the land - they do not claim it. September 21, 2020 ULTRANOIR! Tales are told of rain-slick streets sliced apart by hard-white reflections. Men with hats and cigarettes and women with red red red lips - the only August 4, 2020 Weird War The collective anguish, dreams and souls of the continent are rendered manifest in the Psychoscape/Psychogeography, the sur-reality layered below June 11, 2020 Running a Game This is everything I can think of/remember doing when I run games without focusing on stuff like encounter tables and whatever - more the social May 26, 2020 Sphinx Flay the poet and roll them in sand. Leave them to bake in the sun. When the vultures come they will drink their blood and borrow their wings. This May 20, 2020 Ents Amongst woods visited too-often they lurch between their erstwhile siblings. They have seen one man kill another in anger. They have watched the May 16, 2020 Trolls To create a troll, take up pliers and empty the head of teeth. Into each bleeding socket insert a talon of glass. Many will break - this is why most May 14, 2020 Gnolls All took the mask willingly. To those not understanding what it entails, the mask is inert. It is made of thick stone. It depicts a snarling dog. May 13, 2020 Wraiths A single stone out of place is all it takes. A tendril of darkness will worm it’s way in, and coil itself around the corpse like a lover. Such a May 12, 2020 Giants The only art left to the giants is self mutilation. The ruins they haunt are filled with blacksmiths, poets and sculptors, trapped in bronze cages. May 11, 2020 Orcs There is never an orc. There are always orcs. Within the belly of each is a burning nugget of iron. Carve off a limb and embed a slug of iron. Wait May 8, 2020 Druids our mouths are full of soil hands beneath these hills grasping flint and barrow worm-sinews road-breaker fort-burner legate-eater the woods are May 6, 2020 Minotaur To make a minotaur, start with clay. Form a pot in the shape of the head of a bull. The mouth must be wide enough to scrape the temples as it is April 16, 2020 A Weapon is not a Tool fuckin about with a heavily houseruled OD&D for no particular reason. No thieves, no clerics, magic users powered by Wonder and Wickedness the issue February 8, 2020 Things Goblins Do cw: sadism, violence, cruelty to animals and children, goblins aren’t cute. goblins aren’t fun. goblins are fucking horrible. they live in trash and