itch.io

Inspirational. Astounding. Mind breaking. World shattering. Reality crumbling. 

I rest my case. Thank you for this blessing of a ruleset.

Hello! Thanks for checking out the Jam! This is a game jam about twisting a role-playing game adventure into a setting / tone that it was not initially intended for. 

Let me know if you end up running it! That'd be very exciting. You can reach me in a variety of ways, all on https://sagedamage.itch.io/. I personally really want to run something in Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty.

Thank you!

That's just a way of saying that you can't cast spells with 1 die in the mana pool. It's mostly intended to make specializing in 1/2 mana pools have a bit of a downside (you can't use spells of other mana types that you have 1 in), but can also of course apply to a more depleted pool. In that way, I would recommend to a player to think about the result of their spell, in that, if they want to do fire magic, obviously a red thing, but has only 1 red die, they'll need to either reskin it or provide a bit of an argument as to how their fire magic's intent is something more aligned with a different mana pool.

Hope that helps! If I revisit Zauberspiel like I did Anime Messerspiel, I'm considering a way to burn that last 1 die in a pool, since I can see it to be a bit annoying for players occasionally, since the only way to get rid of the die is to roll it currently.

I've done something very similar with Freebooters on the Frontier 2e's occupations. I actually made little note cards for each character that just described their occupation, traits, and on the back, their equipment. I completely removed the ability scores and rules, and ran Nebin Pendlebrook's Perilous Pantry. I think I rolled a d6 luck roll twice behind the screen, and that was about it. I even had combat diceless! There was a really cool scene of the hunter needing a better vantage point to hit with their bow, and so the other villagers were helping them climb up the cave to hit over the villagers engaged in melee with some giant frog spiders.

I'm just glad it's done! Thank you so much!

Of course! Good luck!

Jam's deadline extended 2 weeks! 

Remember to hop in the discord to talk about your cool projects! We'd love to hear them!

I'm personally working on an adventure, and I'd love to not be the only one! As Marshall says, as long as it's Pokemon and tabletop roleplaying, it's fine!

Thanks for asking! Currently I'm about to start a Play-By-Post playtest of the system with Rojo as the setting/adventure. Once I see it in action I'll most likely have some tweaks in mind.

My goal is to have two main versions of Nova-Core. One with setting content, and one as an SRD. So, a v1.0 would most likely contain a full setting along with it, though the SRD itself may come as v1.0 sooner.

I want to have, within the SRD, options for accommodating different genres/settings, even outside 'space fantasy,' to ultimately have it setting-neutral. As well, I want to flesh what spellcasting is like instead of keeping it open-ended, with something like a d20 table of example spell names for varying archetypes of settings.

Timeline, though? I'm not one that works great with timelines. I'll get there when I get there, but I'll be sure to provide updates along the way! If you want to talk in more detail, I have a Discord server you're welcome to join: https://discord.gg/T6KkUsuVnr

The actual numbers should be:

• 216 Skills
• 108 Natures
• 180 Basic Moves
• 108 Special Moves
• 144 Abilities

Total: 756 Attributes

Sorry for potentially any confusion. Apparently I can't math well.

(realized that the author doesn't see itch ratings, so reposting here from a long time ago)

The idea is gold; well worth the $5. The document, however, is not. 

If you are someone who is looking for inspiration for your own roleplaying game or are willing to do some hacking yourself, this product is for you. Full stop. However, if you're looking for concrete rules to port into your OSR game, you will be disappointed. 

Because I'm the former, this is a positive review. While I won't reveal the idea (as that is effectively the document besides an example and some suggestions), it is certainly a great one that I'll be sure to use in my own hack. There are a few minor concerns I had in my read-through. 

Until I read the example, I thought what defined a "rule" was more like "roll a d20 when you attack" and less like "as a Cleric you have Turn Undead". Could've been a bit more clear in that regard. Secondly, the document doesn't have enough confidence in itself. While I understand the desire to make sure that readers understand that the legacies might not be to their liking, curbing disappointment somewhat, I found that it had the opposite effect on me and effectively curbed my excitement towards the legacies. 

At three spots in the five page document the author basically says "hey, this is a proof-of-concept, so take what I'm saying with a grain of salt!" So, I took my excitement with the grain of salt requested. Ultimately minor complaints, but still complaints that somewhat held back my otherwise great read and food for thought.

Would recommend.

I'm glad you like it! I agree; one-page RPGs generally need just a bit extra to really shine in longer games or for players who need more system. Let me know what you end up doing with it!

If you’ve backed Discordantopia, please be sure to download the Thank You text document, inside being a link to the Discord!

I’m thinking of starting a Play-By-Post playtest one-shot, which may end up manifesting as a pamphlet dungeon later on. It’d be unfortunate to miss out if you’ve backed Discordantopia!

Here will be a list of the twitter previews I've done, with discussion below.

Locations 1-10

Locations 11-20

Will be updated as I go.

I started getting into soloing after really bouncing off of Ironsworn when I saw Chris McDowall's Ask the Stars. I found it very intuitive and fun, and decided to make my own version for Pokemon Zero!

You can find it here: Ask the Stars for Pokemon Zero

Any other discussion on soloing PM0 can also go here. As well, let me know if you want more resources like this, and if you'd like to actually see them inside the document!

Where can I download this? I don't see any download or purchase button.

I preordered BtB2! However, going to downloads, it doesn't include the tracking sheet. Perhaps that could be a 'demo' on itch? Either way, thanks for the awesomeness!

That's odd, considering I have it as black text. You should now be able to download the document in markdown text. Hope that helps!

Can I create content for Arcon? I want to make some tools for my table, and it could be nice to put it on itch. Thanks! This is a great setting.

The Affinity PDF editor seems to work fairly well, but I'd love something a bit cleaner! Thanks for your work!

I got the OK to adapt the video game Crawl to a GM-less TTRPG!

Love this zine, and am hoping to run it soon!

I really want to make my own scenario with a  similar pitch (on a much smaller scale, admittedly), that being "70s punks + Lovecraftian horror".

I want to make sure I wouldn't be stepping on any toes by doing so. Is there a way I can contact you?

I would LOVE to see an affinity template for playsets!!

Title is fairly self-explanatory. The best feedback I could receive on this game is what you'd like to see next, or what you want expanded.

Let me know what you think!

Quick update: The deadline has been given an additional month of time. One, including myself, I know people that could use some extra time. Two, given that only two submissions have made their way into the jam, I thought extra time could help that.

Thanks! Happy Funneling!

So, how are you doing, Referees, Wardens, and Game Masters? If you haven't already, now would be a great time to tell the world about your idea for the Funnel Jam! I'll start!

I'm thinking of writing "Fool's Gold", a playset for Trophy Gold in which, you guessed it, the players control multiple characters. I personally feel that the mechanic of Devil's Bargains and Trophy's implied setting both serve as great foundations for a good time with funnels. Specifically, I'd be going for a more narrative approach to funnels, to get the players a bit more immersed in the narrative than most other funnels. I was thinking of making my own incursion for it, but I might just end up converting a DCC funnel and spinning it, considering it's already been nearly 10 days into the Jam. With that in mind, that leads me into a bit of a question:

Do we all feel we can a submission within the time frame? Last I checked, I still have the ability to push back the deadline, and so if anyone feels that they won't be able to finish, please contact me on Discord and we can come to a solution that works for you.

Finally, a small announcement! I'm going to be running Nebin Pendlebrook's Perilous Pantry, a DCC funnel from Purple Sorcerer Games! I will not include a link to the product because every one I saw included the FULL map for some reason, but I'm sure you can find it yourself if interested in the product (which I do highly recommend, as someone who ran it once before). I'm going to run it using Funnel for Cairn by Xenio, although I'm thinking I'll have the players roll on the DCC villager profession d100 table.

If interested, please fill out this Doodle and DM me on Discord (I'm in the NSR server, as well as can be found @ SageDaMage#7515) when you have done so, so I can check the availabilities and ask you some questions!

Do you have a link to the final product’s store page? I can’t find it.

I think this is good, although does not really tackle the original issue, in my opinion. An individual action is still using a d20 roll-under system, so there's still the problem of that being basic. Either way, though, here's my feedback on the Action Chain system:

Action Chains Themselves

In my opinion, there are a couple problems with what you've proposed. Firstly, if one failure warrants failure of the entire Action Chain, the chance of succeeding should NOT decrease. As a player keeps rolling, the likelihood of a failure increases regardless of any modifiers. Sure, not individually, but as a group, the more rolls you are making the higher likelihood one of them would be a failure.

Secondly, in my opinion, a multi-part challenge is not really demonstrated well with a roll-under system. As much as I love them, I do not think they give this kind of system justice. From what I've seen in systems with something similar to what you've proposed in-place, there is generally a way to tally successes (and get multiple successes in one roll) or are roll-over / roll high. In either of those cases, an Action Chain would have a total number of successes / sum of rolls, and as you make rolls, you contribute towards the problem. This would both solve the problem of being tricky with multiple players and having surprise obstacles occur. It also allows those that didn't roll as well to contribute, which seems more heroic and team-based to me, which seems like something you're going for.

My Recommendation

From everything you've described, if I were you, I would make the game somewhat Rooted in Trophy, but go in an opposite direction for Devil's Bargains. Trophy, in unfamiliar, is based on Cthulhu Dark and Blades in the Dark. Devil's Barigains allow the players to actively root for their own terrible end by giving a player a boost in their roll with a condition attached—they must do something negative or something must happen in order for them to get the boost. When I say go in an opposite direction, I mean that players, instead of pitching to another player something bad to happen, they strike a deal in order to facilitate teamwork. For example, if Superhero A was making a really important roll while Superhero B needed help lifting a rock over an innocent bystander, Superhero B could ask Superhero A if they could help them for a moment after their roll to lift the rock. With the permission of the GM, Superhero A can take an additional die as long as they help Superhero B.

Expanding on that slightly, for Action Chains, I'd use the Trophy resolution system, but take the result's number and mark it against the Action Chains' total. When certain thresholds are reached, the problems are solved.

Hopefully this gives you some food for thought! Very excited for what you turn out.

My personal answer (and something I personally believe most DCC funnels do NOT do well) is that you should especially consider the IMPACT the funnel will have on surviving characters. A funnel is an amazing time to give the players crazy mutations, powers, or even just hooks to other things you want to come up later, after the funnel. Due to the fragility and unattached attitude players will have, you can get away with really warping a character into something interesting. For example, I ran a funnel of my own creation for a group of players. One of the characters touched a pedestal with their bare hand, which jammed a long rod of alien metal into their arm, which allowed them to use their arm as a weapon but also allowed aliens to control it (think Magneto controlling Wolverine's metal bones but just the arm).

To your secondary question, "I'm especially concerned with how to account for the added burden on players to keep track of multiple characters", I think that there are two things to keep in mind:

(1): Traditional roleplaying will normally be heavily mitigated. I've seen this go one of two ways. Either the players each choose one character at a time to put to the forefront for roleplaying, or they just don't really talk in-character. This is generally expected for most traditional funnels. A funnel is very "meta", and strategic thinking is encouraged, often involving some metagaming, especially since (A) the players can't really get into character with three characters at once and (B) the players might not even get the chance to fully get into character due a character's unfortunate demise

(2): Players often (at least effectively) play as one character with two hirelings at their personal control and disposal. So, when thinking about the burden a player may have, they'll often come up with some solution by themselves or as a group to mitigate the issue. Mechanics might be an issue, but if you're running something rules-light, it normally isn't an issue. When designing a funnel, at least the one's I've seen (I haven't designed one yet), traditional OSR problems usually do the trick, although you are expected and encouraged to make the stakes a LOT higher, or the problem a lot harder to solve, at least without some collateral damage.

Hopefully all that helps! Let me know if you have any additional questions!

What does the ring of terms mean on the character sheet? I can't find it mentioned anywhere in the book. How is it utilized? As well, I'm not entirely sure I know how Emotional Spikes apply to rolls, as well as how to remove them. Like, beyond the emotional spike getting to 5, what do the emotional spikes mean? Sure, emotion spiking, but how should that be RP'd? Then, lastly, how are Emotional Spikes marked removed? The book mentions erasing them when you mark an Emotional Spike in an opposite emotion, but is that 1 Emotional Spike, or all of them?

Thanks!