And the games I was impressed by the most were simple. The games I wanted to love were a bit too complex, but still had a great overall flow and feel to them. I wanted to make a game with as few and easy arithmetics as possible. A player-facing game in which word-labels and narration could play a part in the mechanics. In which modifiers were as easy to handle as saying a word when describing something.

So I ended up with an engine inspired by games powered by the apocalypse, forged in the dark, and powered by fate, and built on the use of traits creating a small D6 dicepool, and the concepts of facets, which basically are mechanically charged words modifying that pool.

And right now, the first quickstart documents are uploaded here, providing a good overview of rules, playbooks, and how to play the game. Over the coming weeks, more playbooks along with magic paths for mages will be added.

We started here at itch.io, calling ourselves Roguish Games, after the name Roguish we called the game, as we wanted to toy with the concepts of rogue-like games on PC and old-school TTRPGs. But after spending time working, researching, and developing our game, we realized the name was already under too heavy use to continue with it, and we decided to switch our label to Ogre Pit Games. And our Roguish game was also renamed Ogreish. Same game, different name.

So from now on, if you have followed us, our project will go by Ogreish.

I would be delighted if you, who are interested in these types of ttrpgs and storygames, would check it out and drop me a comment, good or bad. The documents are not laid-out in any way, so digest them as the early prototype game-testing docs they are.

https://ogre-pit.itch.io/ogreish

Thanks ahead & game on!

-The OGREISH Team

We play to help understand the world around us in a safe environment. It is an adaptive behavior prevalent throughout nature2 that allows a creature to imagine scenarios and test abilities that may aid them when they are met with these encounters.

“Although adults might define as work infants’ struggle to balance and begin to stand or walk independently, infants appear to have intrinsic motivations for achieving these motor skills and show expressions of pleasure in achieving them. Thus, this motor practice appears to be play for infants.” - Garner, B. P. (2021)

So, we create simulations outside our mind in order to form simulations in our mind, all-and-all to understand the world best we can. We are developing creatures, who still use play to grow throughout our lifespan.3  Play is good for the brain.

Read the rest of this article here: https://holisticdice.substack.com/p/neuroscience

So I created my own system after getting frustrated with a well known cyberpunk game brand and it’s spinoff. And after a chat with Bebarce (who you might know from his Kids Game targeted RPG “Power Outage”) the names Beta Maxx X and Beta Maxx were born.

The system itself is meant to be easy to handle at both ends, pulpy, and depending on the work you want to put into details relatively easy to reskin. 

It runs on a d10 die-pool system where your Traits increase the die-pool, and Skills reduce the Target value needed for Successes; both Target Number and Successes float. Each of the Cartridges of the system are then hit with “genre trope sauce” to get each to live in their own space.

Beta Maxx X being the pulpy Space Opera/Fantasy game, has magic, cybernetics, and special rules with Action Movie tropes such as “The Blue Wire”, “Battlecry”, “Bad Day”, and “There Is No Plan B”. This is in addition to spaceships, a considerable number of puns hidden in plain sight, and camp suggestions for antagonists and plot (at least one NPC is suggested to be a disgraced sports player who established a sporting goods company selling wooden bats and is actually a several thousand year old vampire who has been hiding behind changing names).

https://halfling-caravan-games.itch.io/beta-maxx-x

Beta Maxx Death is the Slasher Horror reskin of the game with mundane people, like sexy teens going to spend the weekend in the woods by the lake, who are then attacked by either a mundane or supernatural Slasher (which could be the building!) and their objective is to make it out alive. The mechanics of the game are very similar but include genre tropes for “slasher horror movies” such as a mechanism for Players losing control of their actions and in a panic.

https://halfling-caravan-games.itch.io/beta-maxx-death

Beta Maxxthulhu is the Victorian Adventurer in Weird Tales reskin of the game system riffing off movies such as The Mummy, and Indiana Jones (but backdated 50-100+ years). Now the players can become exposed to the surreal or occult having their world view shatter, and potentially giving them Psychoses that they have to manage during their downtime to mitigate the effects OR which can crop up during their adventures causing them to possibly enter a fearful panicked state, or a kind of “blind rage”. Lore already includes French speaking overly large spider monsters who speak French because it is more comfortable on their fangs than English, German, or Latin.

https://halfling-caravan-games.itch.io/beta-maxxthlhu

Hello everybody! I am Johan Eriksson, an anarchist from so-called Sweden. I have been developing games for a long time but I have never tried self-publishing before. It is very scary and stressful, but it would be sooo cool to be able to be able to sell the game as an actual physical book.

Oceania 2084 is now on Kickstarter! Pledge to secure your copy of the exclusive hardcover print of the "Surplus Edition", beautifully illustrated by Mika Edström (https://www.artstation.com/mikaedstrom).

👉 Support the game on Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jochergames/oceania-2084-the-orwellian-ttrp...

Oceania 2084 is an anti-authoritarian game about resistance against a totalitarian world, ushered in by ecological collapse and authoritarian populism. Inspired by a blend of rogue-likes, classic literature, and renowned tabletop RPGs, Oceania 2084 offers an adversarial storytelling experience focusing on social gameplay and stealth. Designed for 3-8 players, it's a game of resistance against insurmountable odds, where hope shines through even in the darkest moments.

Mood trailer:

The game is at the time of posting this 27% funded on the Kickstarter. This is far from enough to get the game self-published.  The text below is like a marketing blurb, but I think it captures the essence of the game fairly well. I hope you will consider backing it.

Be part of making the limited "Surplus Edition" of Oceania 2084 – a spiritual successor to George Orwell's classic, 1984, a reality. Experience the dark and tense gameplay, where player agency reigns supreme. Join the resistance against Big Brother's oppressive regime, weaving intricate tales of hope and defiance.

Here is an interview that I recently gave discussing the politics and the intended gaming experience of Oceania 2084:

Oceania 2084 is now on Kickstarter! Pledge to secure your copy of the exclusive hardcover print of the "Surplus Edition", beautifully illustrated by Mika Edström (https://www.artstation.com/mikaedstrom).

👉 Support the game on Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jochergames/oceania-2084-the-orwellian-ttrp...

The already released version, "Austere Edition" is yours for free – complete with rules but sans fancy formatting or illustrations. Download it now as a pay-what-you-want PDF and dive into the intrigue of Oceania 2084!

👉 Check out the free version today: https://jocher-symbolic-systems.itch.io/oceania-2084

Join the resistance. Rewrite history. Explore Oceania 2084 now!

#orwell #ttrpg #roleplaying #indiegame #jocher #dystopian #roguelike #kickstarter #rpg #tabletop #exclusive #limitededition

Pre-Order Here: https://free-radicals-press.itch.io/rapture-big-red

https://megasomamars.itch.io/paratype

https://jhocking.itch.io/cobalt-rpg

Other than just general reactions from rpg experts reading the rules I've devised, I have two specific queries:

1 - What are other games with a skill purchase progression system? This part of my design was mostly informed by an old web game called Urban Dead, and I later realized I should also look at GURPS, but are there other similar systems I can get ideas from?

2 - What are some pros and cons of a class versus classless system? I ask because my system is classless as originally devised, but I can easily make it class-based by having separate ability lists for each class (versus one global list all characters use.) I initially liked the flexibility of a classless system, but I eventually realized class-based does enforce variety of character builds (versus players always choosing the same best abilities).

The goal of the game is to allow each group to tackle complex science-fiction themes without being bogged down by numbers. It's a 2d6, player-facing system with tight rules for body swapping (à la ALtered Carbon) as well as vehicles, space battles, psi powers or mechas (if you wish to have them).

Science-fiction is about change and INTO THE DARK gives you advice to design this change and build your campaign around it. It's in full color and fully illustrated.

It's all here!

The year is 1962. 

The United States military has been conducting secret experiments on “willing” subjects in a program called PSY-CLOPS (Psychic Covert Learning Operatives). The program has successfully created a 6th sense in a  REDACTED number of subjects. This 6th sense can manifest within a subject in several ways, but all of these abilities are simply referred to as ‘powers’. The project has been funded for the past REDACTED years, but in last month, there was a problem. The Pentagon wants answers. REDACTED subjects have managed to escape.

You are one of those subjects. 

The game takes place in the ‘normal’ world of ‘62. Big cars, color TV, drive-ins, malted milk shakes, and beehive hairdos. You and your fellow escapees need to blend into society and avoid the feds, police and sending society into a panic. All of the patients had a regular schedule of pills, known to as ‘candy’, and without candy, your psychic abilities are becoming more powerful... and more difficult to manage. Your other senses are more sensitive from unlocking a 6th sense—you’re more irritable, and when your senses are overloaded, your powers can become erratic.

You start with nothing except a shaved head, white top, white bottoms and white slip-on shoes. No money. No job. No home. You’ve been barely getting by since you’ve escaped. Thank goodness you have powers. You need to stick together with your fellow escapees if you have any.

__________________________________________________________

I would love any feedback or critique you might have, and I appreciate your time. 

Thanks!

 I’ve finished my first priced game, space street, along with a discord community, and will launch on drivethrurpg later this week. I thought you might be curious about what I felt was good about the system’s mechanics, and what I might go back and change or add in a supplement.

 You can find my game at: https://sr16.itch.io/space-street, it’s currently on a 75% of sale for just £1.25, catch it while you can!

 I think the good part about the system is how it handles clues and investigation, a big part of the sci-fi film noir setting combination. We’ve all had that 5e sherlock game where the session stalls to a grinding halt because of a failed investigation check. In this game, similar to gumshoe, you automatically find any clues.

 What I didn’t like about gumshoe (not that I dislike the gumshoe this is very much a subjective issue) is that I didn’t feel like what I rolled had a big enough impact on how I interpret the clue. I decided I would accept the basic premise of gumshoe (that an investigative game is not about finding clues, but interpreting them) along with the premise of dnd investigation checks (that higher rolls will be more beneficial).

 I decided that based on how high you roll, you will be able to ask a certain amount of questions for the GM, who will answer in a way that works with what your characters could find out. For example, Deck, a rough and tumble investigator with a cybernetic eye and a big fedora, finds a black marble bird statue, and rolls a 4, so he can ask the GM 2 questions about it:

Deck: Okay, I ask if the falcon has any historical importance.

GM: You know from a childhood history lesson it was unearthed from an old Egyptian tomb in the 20^thcentury.

Deck: Okay… erm… Is it stolen? No nevermind… why is it here?

GM: It’s here because the syndicate is going to give it to someone, you know because there’s some wrapping paper next to it.

I like how I did this mechanic because I feel it makes the players engage with information and seek out information they’re interested in, rather than being told information, the players take an active role in revealing the mystery through the mechanics. That being said, it comes with the risk the GM will be unable to give a good answer and immersion might break.

 However, I’d say my biggest regret is not including more character creation rules in the game, I think in my desire to make the game more accessible, I threw away too much that the game would of benefited from. This partly comes from my history of making more one-page TTRPGs which need simpler rulesets than space street.

 For example, I think Deck would be a cooler character if their player were able to actually give them a cybernetic eye in their rules, rather than it purely being Deck’s appearance, I’d also include some more rules in general, just to flesh out certain aspects.

"The play-based GonParis Method is a simple, smart, and effective way to banish encumbrance forever.  Adopt this dungeoneering strategy, and you’ll never be overloaded again."

https://rolistespod.itch.io/paris-gondo-text-only

"Let's Hire a Graphic Designer" 50% sale

Purchase NOW, at a reduced price, the text-only very first edition for "Paris Gondo - The Life-Saving Magic" and help me HIRE A GRAPHIC DESIGNER.

This text-only release is a work-in-progress but it already contains everything you need to spark joy through the SIX STEPS of the play-based GonParis Method.

The sales from this edition will go towards hiring a professional graphic designer to make more legible and visually pleasing versions of the Rule Book, the Play-Aids and Card Decks.

A Simple Effective Play-Based Method To Banish Encumbrance Forever

This game is a tongue-in-cheek tribute to encumbrance rules and other tropes found in beloved dungeon-crawling games.

It is a GM-less storytelling game for 3 to 6 players, designed to be played in a few hours with polyhedral dice and no preparation.

Players in this game embody Adventurers who, as a group called a Party, have reached the last level of a Dungeon and defeated the Boss who presided over it. Play starts as Adventurers discover Loot you create. The objects you decide your Adventurer carries home makes up what you pack as their Final Inventory.

If Adventurers hold on to possessions that spark joy, they might feel invigorated and satisfied for the rest of their existence, or at least until their next adventure. But letting go of less emotionally charged but useful Belongings might prove to be a deadly mistake for the Party on their Journey Home.

Here's is the commercial I made for it. It's a "Take That" styled card game :)

EMILIO QUESTEVEZ
Player Roles: You are each incarnations of Eternal Warrior Emilio Estevez, guardian of the Esteverse. The GM will decide what terrible fate has befallen reality today and, once you've gathered your party from the halls of Valhalla it's time to sally forth. Each player creates a character and sets out.

Character generation
d6 for Character Class
1: Sports Estevez
2: Crime Estevez
3: Dystopio Estevez
4: Breakfestevez
5: Directevez
6: Emilio Westevez

d6 for Special Skills
1: Shooting
2: Coaching
3: Crimeing
4: Cowboy
5: Vehicle
6: Showbiz

Task Resolution:
roll 2d6 for a task, +1d6 if your Skill and/or Class would apply (+2d6 max). A 4, 5, or 6 succeeds. More 1s than successes is a Critical Failure. More 6s than anything else is a Critical Success.

You need 3 successes per player before 2 failures per player occur to win your quest. A critical success is 2 successes, a critical failure is 2 failures *and* reduces the player's task dice to 1d6 +bonus dice for the remainder of the game.

good luck have fun

And once you decided that, what challenges and advantages did you encounter because of it?