itch.io

Correct! The quick ref, a character sheet, & a playset are all you need at the table.

You can also check out the guide at https://in-the-dark.notion.site/game-guide for more insight on how to run the game, but please note it’s still in-progress & doesn’t yet cover all rules.

Hey Alex! Glad you like the game.

There will eventually be a section on this in the game guide. But for now, here are some mostly unedited thoughts on prep for ItD –

The most important thing is don’t overdo it.

You don’t have to prep as much as you think. You don’t have to come up with the cleverest idea for everything. You don’t have to plan out every possibility.

Trust your instincts. Trust your players. Trust the game system.

As GM, your tasks are:

1. Offer the players interesting opportunities & choices.
2. Ask provocative questions, listen to the answers, and make those answers matter.
3. Portray the world reacting to player action.

Notice how prep isn’t on that list? Prep just a tool to support what you actually do to run the game. So do less of it.

When I run a 4-hr one-shot at a convention, I do all my prep at the table. I can get away with this because…

• I know the playsets & playbooks inside & out, and more importantly, the genre conventions & expectations each one embodies.
• I don’t guess what the players want from the game. I ask them. And then I make that happen.
• I’ve practiced. A lot.

What does this look like?

First, I do world & character building with the group (this is steps 1-4 on the Quick Start page).

Discussing what playset the group wants tells you what genre & tone they’re interested in. Creating key places with the players gives you a set of locales the group is already invested in (because they made them). Picking the crew type tells you what kind of mission the group wants to play. Picking factions gives you the groups they want to interact with, and how. Picking a contact gives you a starting NPC to act as a mission giver, guide, ally, or rescue objective. Playbook selection tells you what each player wants to do on their mission.

Second, I ask for a 10-15 min pause. Then I take everything the group created & link it together in a basic structure.

The crew starts en route to or at one of the locations they created. They have an objective based on their crew type (assassins have a target to eliminate, thieves have something to steal, smugglers have something to transport, etc). Make the mission simple – your 1st idea is likely your best. The mission can be given by their contact, who may or may not be with them (or they may be en route to meet the contact). A faction who dislikes the crew wants to interfere with the mission (give them a leader & a reason to interfere). Start with an immediate hook – a mystery, an attack, an obstacle.

Once the group is in the action, any prep you would’ve done is out the window anyway. Follow the cause & effect of introducing new obstacles to the mission, the group trying to overcome them, and the dice determining how that goes (& potentially introducing new obstacles to start the cycle over). Think about what (simple things!) NPCs & Factions want, and how they’ll try to get those things if the crew wasn’t helping or interfering.

A practical example:

The group picks the Desperados playset & the bandits crew type, so they’re a gang of Old West robbers. What’s a classic Old West robbery? A train heist. The group has already created a few locations – Deadrock Springs (a boom town), Spire City (a desolate maze of rock towers), and Fort Fredericks (a Union Army fort) – so the train can start at Deadrock, go through Spire City, & end at the Fort.

What’s the crew stealing from the train? Well, it’s going to an Army fort, so how about the Army payroll? Now you have a train guarded by soldiers, with a lockbox of greenbacks the crew wants to steal. And there’s a built-in ticking clock – the crew has to get the money off the train before it gets inside the fort.

The players invented a contact – another outlaw named Hawk, who’s actually in a rival gang. So that’s the mission giver. Why is Hawk giving the mission? Maybe his gang is planning to rob the train, but he thinks he can get a bigger cut from the PC crew, because the leader of his gang (let’s call him Dalton) takes an overly large share. So now there’s a 2nd faction interfering.

Now all we need is a hook. Let’s start them as close to the action as possible – ask how they’re getting on board the train and throw them right into the moment the plan begins. No need for much more prep if you’re just going to react to the players’ plan.

So that’s the method! Ask players for interesting aspects of the world, ask yourself how they’re connected, and go from there.

(That was a real example, by the way – I put it together in about 10 minutes at PAX Unplugged 2024. My entire “prep” was the filled crew playset & 4 bullet points. Setup ran an hour & gameplay ran about 3 hours.)

Definitely wrote more of an essay than I intended, but hope that’s helpful! I know it's a lot to keep in your head and can seem distressingly abstract, but try it out with a group you trust. You'll probably stumble a bit, and that's okay. Keep at it, practice, & I promise it will get easier every time.

As I said, I’ll add a game guide section on this at some point (and will probably use the above as a 1st draft).

Cheers!

Hi James – my website is davidbrunellbrutman.com, but the best way to follow me for game updates is via my main Itch page at dbb-8.itch.io

Hi – this is not the intention. There seem to be limits to how I'm able to update files & set suggested prices on Itch. If you previously donated at an amount that gave you bonus materials, you should get the updated versions of those materials for free.

I'm going to work on a solve for this. Please sit tight while I figure out the best way to handle. Thanks for your patience & understanding!

You can email me – david (@) davidbrunellbrutman.com

Hi there, thanks for your continued interest! No updates yet, I've been working on the expanded how-to-play guide but have had to take time away for other projects. The timeline for an update has likely pushed back to late this year at the earliest.

¡Fantástico! I've added a link to the game page. Thank you for your work :)

However you’d like! If you’d like to work directly with my layout files for the game sheets & docs, email me at david(@)davidbrunellbrutman.com. I can send you the files so you can put your translation directly into the existing format. Or feel free to recreate the layout (or create a new one) with your translated text.

Just sent – see your email!

I don't have a set timeline, but I'm aiming for early-mid 2025. All the updated game sheets are complete – email me at david (at) davidbrunellbrutman.com if you'd like copies.

Hi! I responded to your email

Hey, thanks for checking in again! These are still on the back-burner while I work on other games, but I *will* get back to them. Please keep checking in. I'll create a separate game page when they're released.

Very cool! Thanks for sharing. Love how you've expanded the game & taken it to a new setting!

Thanks, glad you like the game & the design! I'm not sure where the Polish team got their map from, and I don't have any plans to include it in the English version. You can ask them if they'll translate it back into English.

The design is all custom, including the weathering and the icons (which I drew myself). You're welcome to use any of it for your own handouts – email me at david (at) davidbrunellbrutman.com and I'll send you the original working files. (Note these are Adobe Illustrator documents and you'll need some Adobe fonts.)

Yes! The next update will add 2 genre playsets – a space opera playset & a jazz age/film noir playset – and 4 free fandom playsets for the Batman, Firefly, Star Wars, and Grishaverse universes.

These will release with version 1.0, which I'll put out when I've finished the game's full how-to-play document.

There isn't yet, unfortunately. I've got form-fillable pdfs roadmapped for a future update

The editable sheets open in Adobe InDesign. They're for editing the layout & design of the sheets if you want to modify or hack the game

Right now the best option for typing on the game sheets is opening in something like Adobe Acrobat. It's pretty good at guessing where the text boxes need to go. Hope that helps until I'm able to release a more polished solution!

Hey there, glad you like the game! All of the original (non-Harry Potter) content in the game is released under a CC Sharealike license. That means you're free to hack, modify, or reuse the game text & rules as you'd like, as long as you provide credit and release under the same license. No permission needed

In short, go for it. Excited to see what you make!

Hm, not sure why your browser would open! These are IDML files that should open in any app that supports Adobe InDesign files

Hi! I’m not aware of any current Hungarian translation projects. But you’re more than welcome to start one, and I’m happy to offer whatever help I can!

Hi there! Thanks so much – it would be very cool to have a Czech translation

Please email me at david at davidbrunellbrutman.com and I'll send you the source files

Amazing! I'll add the link to the game page

Merci pour vos efforts!

I haven't playtested it solo myself, but I know folks have done it successfully

Hogwarts is Powered by the Apocalypse, so anything that adapts PbtA games for solo-play should work. (The game is most heavily based on Monster of the Week, Masks, and Dungeon World, so look for tools for playing those solo)

Here's one I found from a quick Reddit search that looks interesting:  https://www.reddit.com/r/PBtA/comments/ka3n1u/the_tattva_oracle_a_simple_way_to_play_pbta_solo/

Hope that helps some!

Each player character can do every action on the downtime list one time.

Note they’re not required to do all 4 actions – they can choose to to 4, 3, 2, 1, or none.

Hope that clears it up!

Thanks for working on that! Please send me the doc or a link at david@davidbrunellbrutman.com and I'll add it to the game page

Hi! Glad you’ve gotten so many sessions out of the base Hogwarts game & hope you’re having fun with it

I’ve been diverted by other projects & haven’t gotten back to finalizing the Wizarding World/MotW materials to post. But if you’d like the in-progress versions, you can email me at david@davidbrunellbrutman.com

That’s exactly the idea, yes!

I don't have any plans to update the game with material outside the original books & films, but the game is flexible enough for anyone to create their own add-ons!

The next (and likely final) addition to Hogwarts will be the Monster of the Week hack, to allow for games set outside the school with characters who aren't students

Thanks! Glad you liked the game

The main bonus of a higher trait is being better at associated moves. Things are deliberately minimal/abstract to not overload players. (So, for example, Hermione casting a higher year spell would fall under the more abstracted Luck mechanic)

Of course, you're more than welcome to hack the game & add more complex mechanics. I'd love to hear how it goes! My only recommendation is to see how it plays as-written, so you can get a sense of what actually works & doesn't work for your group

A tabletop RPG where you play high-society Regency birds. Embroil yourself in the drama of bird honor, bird courtship, bird inheritance, and bird scandal. An unofficial expansion for Good Society, the Jane Austen RPG

https://dbb-8.itch.io/bird-society

Bird Society is public! Happy New Year!

Thank you

1 more tweak I'm considering – changing "Skirmish" to "Attack"

I'm finding that players want to attack inanimate objects (doors, computer systems, etc), and "Skirmish" doesn't feel right.

But, because "Attack" is a such prevalent term across ttrpgs, it has a lot of mechanical baggage (and it's kinda boring). Open to thoughts, if anyone has them!

Sorry this took so long, but I've added a IDML file of the playbook & playset layouts. This should open in InDesign or Affinity and allow you to fill in your own info for custom playbooks & playsets

Very cool! I'll add it above as well

It's happening

Oh yeah! Streets of Gotham uses the Operators playset, with custom factions

I'll create a page for for free bonus playbooks & add it

Hm! Definitely a display error of some sort. What are you viewing this with, and on what platform?

Hi there! Yes, the game is still in development

How are you viewing the sheets with problem text? PDF? Printout? The text in question should be dark on a light color background, like this:

Moves sheets are done, playbooks are still in progress. Email me (at david@davidbrunellbrutman.com) and I can send you the 1st draft moves sheets. If you want specific playbooks for a game, let me know which ones and I can try to prioritize finishing those layouts

Thanks! I can barely claim credit; it's just a generalized restatement of the more specific XP triggers in the original BitD playbooks. But I do love an XP trigger that leads to thematic problem-solving