Posted July 16, 2025 by recursivefaults
Considering this is a submission to the 1-Page RPG Jam. I joined the Discord to hear what other folks were doing, share my stuff, and learn!
I'll be honest, this idea appeared almost fully formed in an instant, so I wrote it as quickly as I could. Now, in the process of that, some things make sense and some don't. Those weird parts get iteration.
One immediate change prior to publication was that I made Progeny an individual stat and not a colony stat. By the time I was done writing, I realized that making it an individual stat would turn this into more of a board game than an RPG and encourage PVP-style play, which I had no real mechanics for or interest in.
The next set of changes came after feedback from the lovely Discord community, who brought up that the font was too hard to read. I was also concerned about this, so I made a quick change.
Next, there were questions about the overall game flow, which means my writing was unclear. Bedbugs is meant to play over the course of several nights of hosts arriving in a seedy motel. Each night is described as a series of turns where the bedbugs will encounter things, play out their lives, and ultimately take one of three actions. This flow of a night and turns was unclear, so I adjusted that.
Then the tables I provided for the GM to use to make the turns and night interesting were meant to be inspiration and not mechanical must-haves. So I put a few words in to indicate that.
Next, I added a set of options to alter the game. One option is to alter the amount of progeny from 3 to another number to make the game easier or harder. I also put a suggestion in for combat, and included the original option of making progeny an individual bedbug attribute.
Finally, I added a note on how to end the game. Originally, I left this out as I felt anyone who sits to play will have to come up with something, and whatever they come up with is reasonable. I had the empty space, so I put in a few suggestions on how to end the game, from the amount of time, to a score in terms of progeny.
All that's left is to playtest!