Whoa, thank you so much! I have no idea how Role works, but I appreciate the work you put in. Okay if I share these?

Thank you for the kind words and the translation!

Yes, it's so good! I've loved Degen's comics for years, so it was a real dream to get to work with him on this.

An absolutely stellar adventure. We talked about it on our RPG book club podcast, joined by amazing guest Dia Lacina.

https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/aaron-king2/episodes/RTFM-Wet-Grandpa-e2...

This is very cool, thanks so much! Is it okay if I tweet this out? Do you want to be tagged?

What a great game! Our RPG book club podcast just recorded an episode about it. https://anchor.fm/aaron-king2/episodes/RTFM-Blood-Feud-e1vl7v2

This is a very insightful review! I left a more detailed comment there. Thank you so much.

I made the game public again. Also feel free to check out Patchwork World, a fantasy PbtA game where I applied a lot of the lessons I learned writing The Veil Fantastic.

Thanks for the kind words! Let me know here or on Twitter if you end up using them for anything. I'd love to check it out and promote it.

Thanks so much! Shoutout to Tito.

Thanks so much for this! Made my day.

Honk honk.

I trust Kevin Siembieda to hug it out with me.

The most fun I've had making a character.

Not the author here, but I'll take a shot at replying: "bear" carries a specific meaning in certain gay communities. Wikipedia says, "It describes a hairier and/or heavy-set gay or bisexual man."

So to interpret the result, the character is a gay person interested in bears (heavy hairy dudes). It's could be a joke, but it could also be a fun way to subvert expectations.

As for presenting it to your players, you could probably start off by saying, "Hey, you might not get to pick your sexual orientation in this game. Is that okay with you?" If so, great! If not, you could change that option to something else or let them reroll.

Absolutely intrigued! I'd love to see a longer version, maybe that mixes both halves of the pages? Like, the mechanics don't (to me) feel tied into the top half of the page.

But it's all good content! I love the details and the mechanics, but the actual drive to adventuring is only mentioned a couple times. I'd love to see a longer version with a sample of play, example dungeons (or just a table of rumors for dungeon delving), some sample items with tags, etc.

I hope the critical points of this post aren't overwhelming; I definitely want the takeaway of my comment to be "I want more!"

https://erinking.itch.io/icy-city-omnibus

Dearest readers,

I write you from my modest house at the edge of my more modest wheat fields. My mood, drained for days by an unkind sun, was significantly lightened when my mailcarrier (you remember, the well-muscled and steadfast beauty I mentioned in my last letter) brought a delightful little package to my door. It was a curious book, called Grandpa's Farm, put together by some folks I new before I moved out to the prairie.

Let me tell you, after just a few minutes of reading, the sun's persistent stare was all but forgotten, and I was reminded why I planted this wheat. This little booklet contained inspiring ideas of constant (albeit often slow) progress, blossoming friendships (like mine with the thick-limbed mailcarrier), and the brief & wondrous payoff that comes after years of work.

And the illustrations! Delightful, ephemeral, yet somehow containing the sweat & devotion seemingly endemic to these toiling prairie folk around me.

Looks like I've gone and rambled again. My apologies. Not many folks to talk to out here. But it's my sincerest wish that, if you find yourself similarly longing for a friend who'll listen raptly to your chronicles of labor, you'll get yourself a copy of Grandpa's Farm. And do let me know how it goes.

Truly yours,

X

I made bees.

Hi! Love the game, very excited to run it with a couple of my groups, and I'd LOVE to have a playbooks + reference PDF to send them. I saw your comments about wanting form-fillable sheets, and I'd be happy to convert a non-fillable PDF to fillable. Or edit & convert the old ones, which are apparently no longer available? Feel free to hit me up here or @aaronmfking on Twitter. Thanks!

My good friend is an education professor and is planning his curriculum for a "games in education" class. I was chatting with him, and we inevitably got to talking about, "What is a game?"

I sent him the link to We Are But Worms and got to listen live on the phone as he bought it, opened it, and started laughing. He uttered The Word, continued to laugh, and then wheezed out The Word again. He said, "What if I broke the class into groups and assigned one group Monopoly, one group soccer, one Call of Duty, and one We Are But Worms?"

I'm really hoping he puts this in the curriculum. I'll let you know if he does. He teaches at a small liberal arts college in Minnesota, so maybe you'll get some response games.

Try this! https://twitter.com/aaronmfking/status/1365418557845237767

Character creation is quick, the rules are clear and easy to learn, and the way combat speeds up as turns pass is amazing! And it's so easy to add to and hack. Ditch your slow & clunky fantasy RPG and pick up Sledgehammer instead.

Made a bundle just for you! They're both 50% off here (a.k.a. buy one get one free) until the end of the week. https://itch.io/s/44331/icy-city-bundle

I was lucky enough to playtest this game, and it was so flexible and fun. The mechanics are simple and moody enough that, even if you're not into the excellently dripping aesthetic, it can easily be hacked for any setting/genre where people operate under unclear orders, harboring hope & rebellion in their hearts.

Because you demanded it! https://spearwitch.com/products/the-icy-city-troika-edition-issue-1

I played this game as a crooked lawyer named Dimsdale Pondbottom, and we learned about institutional violence and ghost law.

A beautiful book! Clear and seemingly effortless cartooning full of empathy and pain. I've been a fan since the Sea Urchin days, and Knetzger just keeps getting better. You deserve to treat yourself: read this, read the first issue, and then go track down Bug Boys, Sea Urchin, and all the Laura Knetzger comics on Zeal.

The beautiful art and maps are worth the price alone! Even if you don't play traditional fantasy RPGs, the images and ideas in this zine are inspiring for anyone looking for some fantasy, some whimsy, and some spooky.

Unfortunately, both my printer and my post office burned down in the recent uprisings. But if there's demand for it, maybe I can get someone else to print & distribute it. I'll start poking around!

"A few good ideas, some principles, and shared storytelling" describes nearly every RPG. Your comment is poorly constructed and mindlessly cruel.

Love those sickly yellow and purples on the cover. I mean, I love the whole thing, but those colors are choice.

Yeah, I never want to deal with DrivethruRPG again, but the one thing they have over itchio is easy revenue sharing. And they've gotten some big projects from it! Uncaged, for instance. I'd love to see a big itchio-first RPG anthology.

Replying to add my game to the bundle. Here's the link: https://erinking.itch.io/icy-city-omnibus

The adventure is so clearly and compellingly laid out! And the backgrounds are great. If someone's new to Troika! and looking for first steps past the basic rules, this is an excellent place to look. (Great for Troika! veterans as well, obviously.)

Thanks so much for this kind comment! That's a great picture for a captain.

Very good and spooky! And easy to make less spooky if horror isn't your vibe. Clear layout and useful handouts make these adventures a breeze to use at the table.

Starkly clear in layout and function—it's almost immediately usable at the table regardless of system. It's peppered with moments of sly humor, shocking violence, and very human emotion. It tells the stories of gods, humans, animals, and the things in between without taking agency from players and their characters.