Braun and Brains. A light two stat version of heavier fantasy games. For experienced fans of fantasy that might want something they can play a session or two. It’s not an alternative but a distillation of the real deal. And this has to be true because it utilizes a D20. I hope some very experienced players play it and think, “That didn’t suck!”
What are you working on right now?
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Published this at DriveThru. It’s full of notes on how classic dungeoncrawl games (or at least the combat and encounter parts of them) work aimed at people unfamiliar with the style, and includes conversion notes for 5E.
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Just bought Prison of the Hated Pretender @Gus.L. Introductory adventures that teach players and gamemasters have always fascinated me. The cover looks fantastic!
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Thanks @ClaytonStine!
The adventure is part of a larger mini-sandbox with a larger dungeon, that i hope to finish art and layout on someday which has more details on play style. In general it’s the product of a realization I had back in 2017 or so that a lot of folks who aren’t over 30 don’t really understand the ethos of play and design principles in classic games, and that many would likely enjoy it if they did.
Prison covers most of the easiest ideas to translate into contemporary traditional play - the ones about encounter design, disfavoring combat for problem solving and such. It’s too small a space to go into the orienteering aspects of play like supply and timekeeping really.
I hope you find it useful and if you have any questions just ask.
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@Gus.L Honestly, timekeeping is the part of classic play I struggle with most as a GM, so I’d love to read a basic intro at some point.
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Timekeeping is tricky. I’ll start a thread on “Classic Timekeeping”, but basically it only really matters if one has some other mechanics in play: encumbrance and random encounters principally. The goal of it is to make caution risky – a balacing tool. Also it can be frustrating to track and negotiate because it’s really “turnkeeping”
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Too much always seems to be the way:
The Dee Sanction - Kickstarting right now; 95% complete at the time of launch. A RPG of Elizabethan rogues dodging a death sentence by serving the Crown in England’s defence against the supernatural.
In the Midst of Shades - an alternate historical setting combining elements of Lovecraft with ideas from other sources, both factual and fictional, using The Cthulhu Hack system.
De Cultis Ineffabilibus - many optional ideas gathered in a single dread tome for The Cthulhu Hack, including mechanics for additional creatures, magic, tomes, combat and more - with much material gathered together from half-formed marginalia and scattered notes.
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I made a post about Magery here:
It’s my first attempt to put together a micro rpg.
It has a unique 4d4-based dice pool system combined with an always-succeed mechanic
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I actually just released my latest RPG: Zyborg Commando Resurrection Overdrive! It’s an odd one. I took the main inspiration from the old Cyborg Commando game and then dragged it kicking and screaming into an unholy undead future.
It’s got inspiration from lots of places, including the Mountain Witch (for player torments) and anyone reading the GM’s chapter will get huge PBTA vibes. I learned a lot working on PBTA rules for MASHED, and this game expands on that kind of GMing, with a bit of OSR juice like ‘marching order’ and ‘tactics’.
Nice to finally get it off my plate, but it’s always a weird feeling when something is finally done and released. I just wrote and designed it myself. Probably spent about $60 on art overall, so hopefully it won’t take too long to at least make my money back. Time, of course, I don’t even want to think about how much I spent! 
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Shroompunk is a D&D clone/setting that is mechanically based on implementing Player’s Option and Tome of Battle ideas in BECMI and narratively based on the idea of taking fantasy settings like Eternia and the Mushroom Kingdom and filtering them through the aesthetics of the Hyborian Age. High magic, high power; low, low fantasy.
What I’m excited about is that I’m ripping off paying loving homage to some of my favorite memories from my childhood while also revitalizing a style of “old school D&D” that I think WotC and the OSR have mostly, intentionally, forgotten about.
As for what I’m hoping for, my wildest dreams? Like all of my work, I want to build myself a throne high enough that people want to knock me off of it. I want to invent something good enough people think it’s worth trying to make a better version of it.
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We’ve been working on Ryne for the past year, so maybe I should finally post about it!
The elevator pitch
In a world in its autumn, amid shifting landscapes and restless godhusks, humanity carries on regardless. The Remnants - restless colossi that twist the landscape to their will - shape the world and the people around them. The Vacant are physical beings, vast titans of rock, metal and flesh; the Echoes are beings of spirit, metaphysical and uncanny. We live in their shadow, making peace with their influence. To survive we offer tribute and show respect, learn how to live in their territory.
Why you’re excited about it
Many things! I think the coolest thing for me is that we’re building Ryne up to work for really long term campaigns; we’re working in a set of rules around travelling or being on the road/time skips, and some really nice ( think!) rolebook progressions based on hitting long term storybeats
Also, the emotions based rolling system, where you roll based on how you’re feeling, set up stats linked to how well you cope with that emotion, and have a spiking system to deal with a particular emotion overwhelming you in some way. Oh, and that we’re working in a pretty flexible approach to magic, in that the spirit that makes up half of the world and all things in it is useable, but how differs based on your own perceptions and relationship to it. Binders might be able to physically grasp and move it, Weavers to tend it with gentle repairs and encouraging growth, Unravelling pulling spirit in to make big change at the cost of using their own spirit in exchange…
…also the rolebook for playing as a teen or as a ghost. Okay I’ll stop now.
What your hopes are in relation to it
More than anything, to make space for a really broad and cool version of humanity, to give people a strong starting place to imagine gods and regions and magic that appeal to them - fantasy in a really human way, but broad and wild and accepting…
More practically, we’re hoping to kickstart this year for a nice physical release!
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Currently starting a kingdom building game with my 11 year old students for protestant religion.
• At the end of the lesson (or the start) they have to make a decision about their kingdoms. They might come into contact with each other or NPC kingdoms. They get to practice what we’ve learned about David as the biblical example of a good king vs Saul as the bad one.
• Exited because it’s a first try. AND because I’m doing it in both schools I teach in, giving them the opportunity to encounter each other across schools without breaching privacy laws.
• Hopes are that it works, that they understand/learn more about leadership and tough decisions and that they have fun.
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I’m writing a small game based on cottagecore, witchcraft, and my own personal experience.
The elevator pitch
A hex-crawl where you explore a world of DIYs, self-sufficiency, and relationships. Be a kitchen witch for a season, harvest, cook, brew, and make friends!
Why you’re excited about it
This is a very personal game. I’m really thrilled to be able to share my own recipes, tips, and engage people in activities that I love. Also, I kinda low key find OSR super boring, so making hex-crawls–which are so OSR-ish–into a free form game, it’s a super exciting challenge.
What your hopes are in relation to it
It would mean the world to me if someone discovered that they actually enjoy gardening, cooking, brewing teas and balms through this game. Eventually, I’d like to release this into a physical zine, cause I think it would look really cool.
Cheers,
Nyn
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Yes, this is my designing style, lol
Oh boy. Been a while since I’ve posted here.
At the moment I’m working on Them Deeper Bones, a game of delving into the forgotten history of a fantasy world to find lost treasures and gain power. It’s a retroclone, as in, stealing everything I loved about the old red box D&D and AD&D 2e, which were the two games I loved to play as a kid. And then adding stuff that I’ve learned to be fun on top of that. Been working a lot with Fate and PbtA the past few years, so it’s refreshing to come back to the basics and work on a trad project for a while.
The whole thing started with an idea for an alternative damage system for old D&D games, and then sort of grew from that to encompass the stuff that’s been bugging me about the game since I don’t know when. I’ve been really bummed about Fantasy RPGs for at least 15 years now, so suddenly finding something that makes me excited about the genre is incredibly exciting.
I’m hoping to get this finished to a “good enough for a public beta” state as soon as possible so I can get back to my other projects. At the moment it’s consuming all my design brain power as it clearly is something that’s been bottled up inside me for years.
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I should likely put these here.
I recently cobbled together a couple of quick adventures (nearly One Page Dungeons) for the setting I’m building out - Tombrobbers of the Crystal Frontier. They’re stated for B/X, OSE, or something similar, but Gauntlet’s Jason recently did a Youtube Actual Play of the second in Trophy Gold and it turned out pretty well - so they’re by no means limited to those systems.
They’re available on DTRPG:
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse/pub/18552/Ratking-Productions
A third on should be along by the end of the month I hope.
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I really like the design of the covers!! The palette in the first one is gorgeous. Did you create them yourself?
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Thank you,
Yes, I do all my writing, art and now layout myself. It makes everything take a bit longer, but it feels nice to do the whole thing myself. Well except for the editing! Without my editors everything would be 30% longer and 100% less comprehensible. It also cuts my costs so I can hand my hobby labors on to YOU at a low, low price! ($1).
Here’s the cover of the one I’m currently working at:
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“Ma Nishtana: Why is this Night Different” is a story game Haggadah for Passover. It’s a game about ritual and the way stories we tell change to reflect and comment upon our lived experiences.
The system is a stripped down and remixed version of questlandia. The core mechanic is a bespoke safety technique called “Wait Wait Wait!” where anyone may interrupt the flow of play to ask questions, introduce complications, and break immersion to provide meta-contextual interpretations of the scenes. The game seeks to invite all players to experience the seder as we practice Passover at home: welcoming, playful, and deeply relevant.
Please playtest the game! It’s in beta: https://kyotoben.itch.io/ma-nishtana
“Rainbows Forever: A Stonewall RPG” is a story game that meditates upon the meaning of liberation and the way we remember history. The game contextualizes historical events preceding, during, and following the Stonewall uprising through the eyes of a diverse LGBTQ and Ace cast. I am looking for other queer creators if anyone would like to collaborate! Here is the game in alpha gestation:
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Rainbows forever looks amazing! I would love to collaborate, so ping me if you’re interested!
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