What was the RPG Pipeline

The RPG Pipeline was a posting board to keep track of upcoming tabletop rpgs from 2015 to 2021 (this Blogger version began in 2019). It covered new English language ttrpgs and ttrpgs going into crowdfunding.

Sunday 31 March 2019

James & Lloyd read indie rpg blurbs so you don't have to: New Indie RPGs March 2019 part 2

February was huge. March was bigger. With around 150 new indie rpgs released James & Lloyd pick six of their favourites.
Direct Download Other episodes
Radical Spin https://theindierpgpipeline.blogspot.com/2019/03/radical-spin.html Movie Night https://theindierpgpipeline.blogspot.com/2019/03/movie-night.html This is a Sad Place, Where Ghosts Live https://theindierpgpipeline.blogspot.com/2019/03/this-is-sad-place-where-ghosts-live.html Eat the Meapets! https://theindierpgpipeline.blogspot.com/2019/03/eat-meapets.html Never Tell Me the Odds https://theindierpgpipeline.blogspot.com/2019/03/never-tell-me-odds-space-scoundrel-rpg.html Invisible Sun https://theindierpgpipeline.blogspot.com/2019/03/invisible-sun.html More than 50 new indie tabletop roleplaying games are released every month. I want to keep up with one of the most exciting areas in tabletop gaming, but I don't know which of these games I should give a look (let alone buy or even play!). So I asked two friends for help. James Mullen and Lloyd Gyan are two of the UK's most dedicated indie roleplayers and, every month, they go through every new indie rpg and tell me (and now the world) what's caught their eye from the new games listed in the Indie RPG Pipeline ( theindierpgpipeline.com )

Support this podcast and the Indie RPG Podcast by become a patron of the bleeding edge of indie rpgs here https://www.patreon.com/theindierpgpipeline

Perilous Ventures Playtest Edition $4.99

Perilous Ventures Playtest Edition: $4.99

Perilous Ventures Playtest Edition
Publisher: J.T. Kercado

Are you ready for a quick, easy, and dangerous medieval fantasy role-playing system you won't spend a lifetime learning and setting up? Then Perilous Ventures is for you!

It uses the new ORC System, which relies on opposed rolls to determine combat using easily available six-sided dice. Character creation is quick and easy, with no ability scores, four classic fantasy races: dwarf, elf, halfling, and human (with rules for playing other races), and four character classes: priest, thief, warrior and wizard.

It uses an innovative magic system with no pre-defined spells, allowing players to be creative and use their imagination to the fullest. It also facilitates monster management with an innovative, automatic attack type determination system.

All you need is a few six-sided dice, papers, and pencils to play the game. I have enclosed a link to a video presentation explaining the very basics of this system.

This is the Playtest Edition, so your help is wanted to refine this game and make it balanced, entertaining, and fun. Feel free to contact me with any questions and comments about it. This is a very simple, straightforward rules set, and the playtest is recommended if you already have some tabletop RPG experience, since some things, like creating an adventure, are presented in a very concise manner.

Price: $4.99


Causum: The Post-Apocalyptic Roleplaying Game - Playtest Version

Causum: The Post-Apocalyptic Roleplaying Game - Playtest Version:

Causum: The Post-Apocalyptic Roleplaying Game - Playtest Version
Publisher: BMC Games

BMC Games presents the Playtest Version for the upcoming RPG, Causum. Built from the ground up with a brand new d12-based system called the AP System, this PDF includes all the necessary material to build a basic Wastelander and run them in a post-apocalyptic world of your choosing. Inspired by the aesthetic of Bladerunner, Mad Max, and other 80's based dystopia media, this alternate world experienced the apocalypse in the distant future of 2015. You must explore and survive against mutants, robots, radiation, and other humans, struggling to make a life in this new world, and save it from further disaster.

This Playtest version contains:

- Rules for rolling stats and building a base character;

- Listings for combat items, such as armor, melee and ballistic weapons, and other miscellaneous items;

- Detailed combat and non-combat machanics which will be used in the full release;

- Tabletop combat rules if using miniatures and grids.

Price: $0.00


Catakombes Dark Reign R.P.G.

Catakombes Dark Reign R.P.G.: Click here to view Catakombes Dark Reign R.P.G.

Dungeon crawler RPG in a medieval fantasy world. - [currently €643 (26%) of €2,500 goal]


Catakombes Dark Reign R.P.G. -- Kicktraq Mini

Saturday 30 March 2019

Fellowship 2nd Edition

Fellowship 2nd Edition: Click here to view Fellowship 2nd Edition

Liberi Gothica Games' best-selling game is back, now with two additional books' worth of content! - [currently $4,527 (32%) of $14,000 goal]


Fellowship 2nd Edition -- Kicktraq Mini

Year Zero Mini Playtest

Year Zero Mini Playtest:

Year Zero Mini Playtest
Publisher: Matt Kay

[Before leaving a review, please note that this is a playtest version, and as such some of the rules will change before final release]

Overview

Like any other rules-light game, Year Zero Mini (YZM) is designed to provide a light framework to allow you to quickly jump into your favourite setting. Where other rules-light games might emphasise action or heroics, YZM is a little more down to earth - telling stories of a more gritty and relatable nature.

Using the Year Zero Engine (soon to be covered by an OGL from Fria Ligan), this game uses pools of standard six-sided dice, and success is measured by any 6s showing up in a roll. You won't find target numbers, complicated mechanics, or funky dice here. We want this game to be accessible to a wide range of people!

YZM is best experienced in one-shots, convention games, or short campaigns (around a dozen sessions). For longer-term play, keep an eye out for Year Zero Lite, the big brother to YZM coming out later in 2019!

Influences

YZM distills Tales From the Loop (the lightest of the Year Zero games by Fria Ligan) down to its essence, sprinkles it with a little Burning Wheel and Alas for the Awful Sea (an awesome PBTA game), and smoothes it all out to create an extremely light framework.

Contents

Condensed down to only four A4 pages (plus 1 page of Playtest Feedback), YZM is a quick read which will help you hit the ground running! It is likewise free from artwork and backgrounds, intended to be printed out double-sided. Inside you'll find:

  • Page 1 covers character creation.
  • Page 2 contains the rules.
  • Page 3 has GM advice for running YZM.
  • Page 4 has advice on preparing your setting.
  • Page 5 has prompts for playtest feedback.*
*Note: this is currently a Playtest Alpha version of the game, and so is not yet written with advice for new Gamemasters.

Find Out More

You can find character sheets in both A4 and Letter formats, plus additional content (including settings) on our website. You'll find the link in the PDF.

In addition, there are groups for YZM on Facebook, MeWe, Discord, and Reddit.

Price: $0.00


Marks: A Game for Fools

Marks: A Game for Fools:

Marks: A Game for Fools
Publisher: Charanaut

Marks: A Game for Fools is a minimalist roleplaying game about unburying secrets and fighting monsters. It is setting-agnostic—built for anything from fantasy to dystopia to space opera—and designed for drop-in, drop-out episodic play for 2 to 7 players.

This game necessarily involves situations of graphic violence. It was made to provide catharsis, not titillation, but lines may blur. It may not be for you, and that's okay.

Price: $8.00


Strange Drifters by Aaron Griffin

Strange Drifters by Aaron Griffin:

Strange Drifters is a game about a group of unknown rustlers, lawfolk, and plain old folk who come together for but one purpose. We get to see ‘em tussle with the world, and we learn about them through flashbacks as we do. But be warned, sometimes livin’ too much in the past can leave you lost and without purpose. And no posse can withstand that…

Strange Drifters is a game for 3-5 players and one GM, based on Psi*run by Meguey Baker and Clink by David Schirduan.

we sing the song of cassandra by eli bees

we sing the song of cassandra by eli bees:

You have foretold a great disaster, and know that the future here holds only ruin. The city will crumble, and the life you know will cease to be. 



You are the oracles. And no one will listen to your warnings.


a prototype created for the Roll to Craft Game Jam

KOBOLD ENDEAVOUR by gshowitt

KOBOLD ENDEAVOUR by gshowitt:

You are a kobold, a scrawny dragonling whelp, and you have been tasked by the capricious and cruel MIGHTY DRAGON KING to sneak into a rival dragon’s hoard and steal as much loot as you possibly can in order to win favour. Problem is, you’re terrible at everything - except creating distractions. Can you stack up enough distractions to get in, get the treasure, and get out alive? Probably not.

A one-page RPG.

Eggsecutive Powers by RavenDice

Eggsecutive Powers by RavenDice:

It’s a busy press conference for a controversial POLITICIAN sweating under the stage lights.The PRESS is snapping photos, shoving past each other and yelling over the din of questions. Secret service AGENTS eye the crowd, scanning exits and looking for suspicious behaviour. An intrepid ACTIVIST has a hand in their pocket, nervously running their thumb over a single, perfect EGG. A decisive moment arrives: an opening. Time slows to a crawl as adrenaline surges through everyone’s blood.

This is a game for between two and eight players. It can be played within ten minutes. The only materials you will need are a blank piece of paper, a pencil or pen, small markers such as dice or coins for player and crowd positions, and a six sided die for rolling.

Different characters have different motivations and goals. Each character has different ways to win the game, using their diverse powers and abilities, but multiple players can win at once.

All Outta Elder Signs by Ryan Boelter

All Outta Elder Signs by Ryan Boelter:

You can do whatever you want in this suspenseful and silly variant of All Outta Bubblegum, originally created by Michael Sullivan and Jeffery Grant. Lean into the weird and wild as you fight against the forces of evil and save the world.

This game plays pretty fast, between 1 and 2 hours. Generally when a majority of your players are out of elder signs, you can start thinking about finishing the story up by letting them take out the ancient deity that is being awakened.

If you'd like to hear an actual play that used an earlier version of this variant, check out the International Podcast Month feed here:

For more information about All Outta Bubblegum, check out this article on Tribality detailing the rules of the original game:

This game is provided for free, but tips are greatly appreciated and will go towards all future projects of mine.

Thursday 28 March 2019

Dark Streets & Darker Secrets

Dark Streets & Darker Secrets:

Dark Streets & Darker Secrets
Publisher: Gallant Knight Games

The streets of the city were always dangerous, as far as Sarah could remember. But now, after discovering the sinister truth behind reality, even her own shadow could give her the creeps.

Dark Streets & Darker Secrets is a Street & Sorcery Rules Light Role-Playing Game with an Old School spirit, just like its predecessors: Sharp Swords & Sinister Spells and Solar Blades & Cosmic Spells.

It’s a game about modern adventures in the world we live today, only with a layer of supernatural weirdness and horror. Characters are people who have found out about the mysteries and horrors that exist in the world and have decided to do something about it, be it battle it, join it, or simply explore its possibilities in any way they see fit. They will battle evil cultists, corrupted ghosts, bloodsucking vampires, and frenzied werewolves, or maybe they will be the horrors of others. This edition of the game assumes the reader knows the principles of what role-playing games are and how they are played.

What will you get with this book? Not only you will get a complete game system for urban fantasy, action horror and street and sorcery stories, you will also find tools and generators to create cities, neighborhoods, organizations, factions, NPS, monsters, ancient and sinister artifacts, complete adventures, which can all be of great help to inspire Referees of all modern games!

So grab your leather jacket, a baseball bat and whatever you can get your hands on to put the bad monsters to rest and come explore these dark streets and unveil these darker secrets

Price: $9.99


Radical Spin

Radical Spin:

Radical Spin
Publisher: Merry Mancer Games

Radical Spin is a micro-RPG about melodramatic action animals. Hedgehog heroes, will you beat your evil twins, stop the robot army, and survive the perils of high school? Live out your bad fanfic fantasies today!

Recommended player count: 2-5 (GM not included)

Price: $1.49


DOGS the Gaem

DOGS the Gaem:

DOGS the Gaem
Publisher: Cosmic Mirror Games

DOGS the Gaem.

This open and free-form game follows a simple, group story-telling formula to allow each player to take control of the narrative. Players can use the Kwik Play Rules to play as dogs in silly situations, or jump into the full campaign, taking care of their flowers and even playing as cats.

DOGS the Gaem takes place in a world of millions of identical suburban landscapes lost among an endless and sprawling jungle. Cats are horrifying and nearly omnipotent creatures made up of broken coding. Humams are jerks and sometimes you teach them a lesson. Other times, you just focus on doing dog things.

What would your group like to do today? Take down the pet store? Sneak into a movie theater? Eat the squirrel you found yesterday and buried?

It's DOGS the Gaem, play however you want.

Price: $5.00


Upwind

Upwind:

Upwind
Publisher: Nocturnal Media

A new world of adventure awaits!

Imagine Bakshi’s classic animated film Wizards has a head-on collision with Disney’s Treasure Planet and the resulting fire is put out with a whole lot of Studio Ghibli’s Castle in the Sky. That, in an unexpected, animated mash-up, is Upwind.

Upwind is a narrative style RPG set in a strange alternate world of floating island nations, flying sailing ships, long-lost technology, wild elemental powers, looming war and forgotten legacies.

Upwind is powered by the Q system, an original stakes-based, playing card-driven mechanic that gives every encounter consequences with meaningful, narrative-building outcomes. With its unique bidding rules, Upwind plays as fast as you can tell your story.

Also for Upwind:

The Prophecy of the Grand Amplifier Campaign

The Knight's Deck

Price: $14.99


Crawler by HellaBigClaws

Crawler by HellaBigClaws:

There are worlds underneath our own. Worlds where people have gone to live differently, where treasures lie, where dangers await. There are risks, yes. But something drives you down here, something that drives you to crawl through these caves, to risk lives and limbs. What  could it be? I guess you'll have to find out...

Crawler is a 2-4 player, gmless dungeon crawling game that requires 3 d6, a deck of cards, and index cards. It's meant to create a more narrative focused approach to role playing a dungeon crawl, with resolution based less around chance, and more around what characters can do. It's 2 pages long, and easy to pick up and play.

To know the Metal, the Blood by Ullie

To know the Metal, the Blood by Ullie:

A list of questions for a mech and their pilot to ask each other, in that quiet moment prior to a mission where it's just the two of them.

For 2 players.

This game is inspired by caro's Alone in the Station Remnants and Takuma Okada's What Will I Do When You're Gone?. Also Abe Mende's discord on Play by Post.

If you want a sad play by post mech pilot romance, check out Annie Johnston Glick's Beyond Reach.

Eyes by the Roadside (middlechild) by MataraMG pt

Eyes by the Roadside (middlechild) by MataraMG:

Eyes by the Roadside is a communal storytelling game and tabletop role-playing game about Midwestern towns fraught with horrors both supernatural and all too real. As a group you build a Midwestern community from the ground up, including its name, population, and history, and then fill it up with spooky folklore, shameful and confusing mysteries, and terrifying rumors. The group then puts together an inciting Incident which gets the game rolling and brings the characters together to investigate- and hopefully survive- the horrors of the town.

Is the Incident just the most recent manifestation of some darker truth about the town and its past? Or is it another brush with a dark demimonde beneath the surface of our natural reality?

Eyes by the Roadside features an innovative system of dice pools based around taking Risks in order to build up enough dice to survive the inevitable threat encounters, the moments when the darkness of the town swells to dangerous levels and the characters must think fast to survive. Each session can be handled by the same or a different GM, and as the story unfolds, each player will have plenty of opportunities to embellish and elaborate upon the town's many terrifying and vague mysteries.

Eyes by the Roadside is a complete, fully-functional beta of a final game. It is still in the middle of being playtested and is subject to occasional updates. Please contact me on twitter (@gahostan) or through my support email here if you have comments or questions! I'd love to hear from some players who aren't just at my tables. Also, if you like what you see, consider becoming a patron at https://www.patreon.com/mataramakesgames! Thanks so much for your support!

* * * * * * * * * *

This is my first ever attempt at formatting a book using real-ass book formatting software! It's print-formatted (as in, formatted to be printed out as a book), so it'll look best in your PDF viewer if you set it to two-page viewing mode! I'm going to make updates to this document here and there to touch things up and add a more PDF-viewer friendly version without all the blank facing pages.

Also! I'm in the middle of securing a variety of dark, spooky art for a third incarnation of this game which will be full of delightful darkness.

UPDATE: The PDF Viewer-friendly version has been added!  If I understand this site correctly, anyone who buys into this project page should get access to both the print-formatted version and the PDF Viewer-friendly one! :D

If anyone has any troubs with getting either, let me know and I'll look into it. Thanks, guys!

Wednesday 27 March 2019

Cast A Queer Spell by silentferrets

Cast A Queer Spell by silentferrets:

Cast A Queer Spell is a journaling game about growing up weird in a wizard community that believes everyone is normal. Be born, get sorted using "completely accurate" manatyping, learn magic, cast spells, grow up, face the consequences. Wizards don't know everything.

Depending on how fast you write, can be played in less than a half hour. Requires writing implement and six sided dice. Can be played solo or with other players around a table or online.

I posted an actual play of this game to twitter:

https://twitter.com/thousandheads/status/1105236238217416705

Ballad of the Pistolero

Ballad of the Pistolero: Click here to view Ballad of the Pistolero

A Wild West Table Top RPG - [currently $280 (9%) of $3,000 goal]


Ballad of the Pistolero -- Kicktraq Mini

Gearheads

Gearheads:

Gearheads
Publisher: Many Words Press

Gearheads is an automotive adventure micro-RPG which lets you play out a particular brand of motoring hijinks. Players take the role of a producer and two to four presenters on an acclaimed TV car show. With a collection of junkers, beaters, and jalopies, the presenters face a series of challenges to determine whose car is best.

Easy RulesDesigned with one-shots in mind, Gearheads fits in its entirety onto four pages—just the right size for a DriveThruRPG gamemaster screen. Ultralight characters, cooperative car generation, and a simple highest-roll-in-d6-pool core mechanic ensure a minimum of time spent on learning and setup, leaving more time for playing.

Ultralight Characters
Is your presenter slow, plodding, and nitpicky? He has more dice in Knowledge. Is your presenter fast, oafish, and loud? He has more dice in Power. That's all you need to know.

Cars at Center Stage
More important than the presenters are the cars they bring to the table. Gearheads' rules for cars drive the drama of breakdowns and roadside repairs to the forefront.

Each presenter designs a pair of cars by assigning dice to its dice pools. He then picks a car from the set designed by his colleagues.

Narrative First
Gearheads is a story-focused game, short on in-depth rules and long on advice for more closely mirroring the motoring adventure show genre. Introduce your cars, mock your colleagues' choices, and tackle the producer's challenges, all with minimal interference from the rulebook.

The car graphics on the cover are designed by Freepik.com.

Price: $1.00


Infinite Power: 2nd Edition Role Playing Game

Infinite Power: 2nd Edition Role Playing Game: Click here to view Infinite Power: 2nd Edition Role Playing Game

Infinite Power: 2nd Edition brings the excitement and fun of superheroic action comics & movies to your table! - [currently $102 (2%) of $5,000 goal]


Infinite Power: 2nd Edition Role Playing Game -- Kicktraq Mini

Castles & Cats

Castles & Cats: Click here to view Castles & Cats

Castle & Cats is a Tabletop, Role-Playing Game, for Preschool and Elementary aged children. - [currently $356 (4%) of $8,000 goal]


Castles & Cats -- Kicktraq Mini

Arkelon Chronicles - Playtest

Arkelon Chronicles - Playtest:

Arkelon Chronicles - Playtest
Publisher: Wendigo Workshop

This is a Playtest version of the game. It holds limited options, but contains the vast majority of the core rules, making it possible to play the game up to 10th level. Inside the book, a link to a survey will allow you to give us your opinion and reviews, so we can refine the game even more.

We tried to make it look and feel as polished as we could at this point of the project, but small errors and typos might still be present.

This Playtest is Free, but you can support the project by Paying what you Want. Donations are appreciated, and makes this project even better, but they are not mandatory!


Welcome to Arkelon, a world of progress, conflicts and incredible diversity.

Setting

Following the discovery of an old Alien ruin in the frozen wastes of the North, technology jumped hundreds of years into the future in a very short time frame, allowing the many inhabitants of Arkelon to explore their vast and intricate world. In the wake of this incredible discovery, more primal races struggled to find their place in this new world, their spirituality and way of life being challenged by the new technologies, while others thrived due to these new opportunities. Gods are slowly forgotten, as machines and technologies are now able to replicate their miracles.

In this golden age of technological progress and discovery, many adventures unfolds as corporations attempt to gain control of valuable resources, corrupt politicians take control of cities, daring explorers find marvelous archaeological sites, self-proclaimed heroes and villains are worldwide phenomenon, and unseen forces seeks to corrupt the very soul of Arkelon.

This Playtest includes:

- All of the rules you need to play or run an Arkelon Chronicles game. From how to create monsters and create your own character, to conditions and environmental effects.

- 5 playable character classes, each with one available path. From disciplined Warriors and peaceful Druids, to the religious Priest and cunning Outlaw, the choice is yours!

- 5 playable races, both classic and original. From the domineering Shiaris and common Humans, to the warmongering Dragonkins and colorful Jaanvaris.

- A wide variety of spells, talents, skills, personality traits and items(both magical and technological) to create the character you want to play!

- Information about the setting, including gods, spirits, beliefs and basic adventure hooks




Our Goals

Dynamism. When designing the game, we wanted to allow players(and creatures) to react to their environment, allies or enemies, even when it is not their turn, to keep everyone engaged at any time. We also wanted them to be able to perform multiple actions during their turn, especially at higher levels, whether you are a magic user or a fighter.

Customization and diversity. When working on the game, one of our main goal was to allow everyone to make a compelling and personalized character, by also keeping it realistic and grounded in the setting. The many options of the game allows for a good diversity in races, cultures, personality and classes, and two characters will rarely be alike, encouraging creativity and flexibility in your progression.

Bring fresh air to common fantasy archetypes. Although it is possible to play as Warriors, Druids, Elves and Orcs, we tried to bring novelty to those classics, either by giving them unique visuals, culture or mechanics. We also created new races and classes to join those classics, creating a complete and unique universe.


Core Rules

Arkelon Chronicles uses polyhedral dice sets, with a D20 as the main dice used to resolve conflicts, and uses a comparative system for combat and active skills. In combat, both parties roll their dices and the highest of the two wins the exchange.

Our Stamina Points system allows characters and creatures to help allies or impair foes at critical moments of a battle with special abilities, even while it isn't their turn, keeping everyone as engaged as possible.

Price: $0.00


America the Bulletproof

America the Bulletproof:

America the Bulletproof
Publisher: Fantasy Heartbreaker

Crack jokes. Throw punches. Love your friends.

America the Bulletproof brings the absurd crime, bloody action, and best friends of The Fast & The Furious, Saints Row, and Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels to your tabletop.

Start with a name and a weapon -- Garry the Knife, Billy the Gun, Karen the Fingernails, Tom the Bit o' Wood Wit Nails In. Then define your team of criminals by saying what you love about each other.

Plot bank robberies, knock over armored cars, and even steal land-to-air missiles. Pick up dice of different colors as you describe the action, then roll them to create wild tone shifts between Gritty and Absurd... and to find out if you take a bullet!

If you do, if you're dying, then there's only one thing that can save you -- a friend confessing you why you just can't die on them!

America the Bulletproof includes a core rulebook, a custom dice roller for desktop or mobile, and VTT dice images.

Steal. Kill. Feel.

Price: $6.99


Be Gay Do Crimes by Evan Saft

Be Gay Do Crimes by Evan Saft:

Written for Pride Month in 2018, Be Gay Do Crimes takes all the fun of doing heists and combines it with the inevitable crushes formed within a queer social group.

This game was hacked from Honey Heist, written by Grant Howitt. His Patreon can be found here: www.patreon.com/gshowitt

If you like this game, and want to throw money somewhere, please give it to an LGBTQ non-profit. The designer's organization of choice is the Ali Forney Center, which can be found here: www.aliforneycenter.org

#birdsecrets by Kurt Potts

#birdsecrets by Kurt Potts:

#birdsecrets is a roleplaying game for 3-6 players. To play you’ll need two different six-sided dice, some pencils, printed sheets and no more than 2 hours.

#birdsecrets is a mix of Clue-style deduction and PbtA-style storytelling. You’ll take on the role of a bird with many secrets and with the help of or in opposition to the other players you’ll attempt to solve a murder. The game ends when someone has uncovered HOOdunnit or when 2 hours is up.

This game was a submission to the Short and Easy Jam. It had a short development cycle and may see updates as the game sees more play. Any future updates will be provided to at no charge to all buyers.

Game Details:

  • Playtime: 2 hours
  • Players: 3-6
  • 14 pages including cover and character sheets

My Welcomed Guest by Dawn Bear Games

My Welcomed Guest by Dawn Bear Games:

My Welcomed Guest is a solo game about being trapped in Faerie and trying to bargain your way home. Throughout the game you will be answering questions and potentially accruing Taboo, which is an indicator of faerie taboos you may have breached. Sometimes without you knowing what action it was that directly broke the taboo. The game will be played over five acts.

This game was created as part of the Short and Easy game Jam.

You will need some additional materials:

  • Something to write on.
    • You can print out the game and write directly on the paper, use a journal, an electronic source, or something else that suits your fancy.
  • Something to write with.
    • If you have a favorite pen or pencil, get that. If not, anything will do, a pen, pencil or crayon.
  • A six sided die.
    • There are many electronic versions available if you don’t have a d6 easily accessible.
  • A place to accrue Taboo marks.
    • This can the corner or back side of a page, an index card, a sticky note, or a bowl to hold glass beads. The important thing is to know how many Taboo marks you have accrued.
I believe in paying people for their work. This game is priced at $3, but if that isn't something you can do right now, in the spirit of Faerie bargains, send me an email (dawnbeargames at gmail) and I'll send you a copy. It will come with the caveat, that if you play it, just let me know you played it. No need for a review or feedback (though I would love feedback), just to know that you played it. I won't promise to get you the game immediately, but I will likely get back to you with in a couple of days.

Conjure Hagalaz by blakeryan

Conjure Hagalaz by blakeryan:

Conjure Hagalaz is tabletop RPG about Explorers, Investigators and Espionage Agents who travel a Supernatural Fantasy universe by portals, dreams and walking. 

- With a mix of traditional and PBTA components, Conjure Hagalaz is a great on-ramp for those seeking a mid range narrative and structured style to tell ongoing short or long stories. 

- The mixture of Supernatural Exploration and Fantasy Espionage is up to you with player and moderator guides within.

- This pack contains maps, spells, creatures, moons, world details, the astral plane, species, the underworld, cheat sheets and everything else you need to run the game.

- Agenda, Principles, Moves, Fail/Win-Loset/Succeed task resolution.

The Lodger by Jay @ UFO Press

The Lodger by Jay @ UFO Press:

You’re a small group of 20-somethings living in a sprawling city, trying to work out what you’re doing with your lives.

You rent a house together - an Edwardian terrace with a ratty front garden and faded wallpaper.

Something alien has taken up residence there - in the attic, or a shed, or the basement, or a cupboard. Its presence is warping the house, in ways you can't fully convince yourselves are supernatural. 

Will you work together to investigate the horror and push it back? Or will you be too burned out, cash-strapped or terrified to stop it from claiming and devouring you all? 

To play, you'll need at least 4 six-sided dice per player - it's best if you can easily distinguish between them. Some scrap paper and pencils, and some items you can use as tokens, would also be helpful.

Made possible by the good folks at patreon.com/ufopress!

DRIVE·10 by The ChaosGrenade

DRIVE·10 by The ChaosGrenade:

Drive·10 is a fast, simple, traditional tabletop role-playing system with easy character creation and streamlined mechanics.  Designed for quick pick up and play — brainstorm a setting, make characters, and get to playing all in one evening. Ideal for one-shots, short campaigns, convention play and more.

  •  Simple d10 Resolution Mechanic— roll the die, add your bonuses, try to score 10+ to succeed. Easy as that.
  • Streamlined Tags system gives you an easy framework to define the features of your character.
  • Rules Necessary / Quick & Dirty Design  -- Complete, compact and straight to the point, D·10 is a full rules set in a few pages. 
  • Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike 4.0 — take the rules, share them, make them your own. 
The free version of Drive·10 is a no-frills, single-column 8 page PDF.

For a payment of $2 or more, you can get the fancy layout version (pictured to the side) that was designed to be printed out and kept in a binder or notebook. Use it for easy reference and passing around at the table. It also comes with a bonus page of additional combat options for those who need a bit more meat in their games.  Future expansions will be included for paying customers!

All money earned from D·10 will go to funding future games and projects from The ChaosGrenadeWe appreciate your support!

Curious what characters can look like with D·10? Check out this blog post for some sample PCs and quick NPCs!

My Supernatural Powers Are Fading by Ullie

My Supernatural Powers Are Fading by Ullie:

You were in denial at first. Supernatural powers that let you do the impossible. Why you? Why now? But eventually you got used to them.

You've got troubles to help with, threats to face and dreams to realize. And your powers are vanishing on you. This is your last chance to put them to use.

For 1 player.

This game uses a Degradation system inspired by an episode of the RPG Friends podcast about progression systems in games.

JustRules is 2 pages. ExtraSpace is 5, it has more breathing room so you can print the game out and write your responses to the prompts directly on the document.

Dragon Drive-Thru by Ash Cheshire

Dragon Drive-Thru by Ash Cheshire:

You can play this game any time you want a dragon. Now you'll have as many dragons as you like!

In this game, you can absolutely ride the dragon if you want to.

You'll need:

● One 6-sided die (Optional!)

● Your creativity, fueled by all the dragons you’ve ever met or can imagine. (I bet you can imagine a lot.)

● And that’s it!

cover photo and sculpture art by Ash Cheshire

www.instagram.com/divinecheshire

Consequential Redemption by gallifreyanhalfling

Consequential Redemption by gallifreyanhalfling:

When supervillains must team up with superheroes to defeat an even bigger threat, things are bound to go awry. The enemy you face is powerful and you will have to overcome many difficulties.

How will you work with such an unlikely team?

Will the supervillains ever truly achieve redemption?

Pockets full of Stars by Speak the Sky

Pockets full of Stars by Speak the Sky:

Let me tell you a secret. Stars aren't really balls of fire or little dots of light, that's just what some people say. So what is a star, really? You want to know?

Stars... they're actually lighthouse coves, and campfire groves, and other cozy little lit-up places, just on a colossal, cosmic scale. You see, stars are where giants live.

Did I not mention the giants?

Lovely people, really. Careful, dignified, and LARGE – sensible, humble, and LOUD (when they want to be). They jump from planet to planet, helping people, making friends, and exploring the universe.

Don't believe me? Just wait, you'll meet one some day, like me. Best friend I ever had. Helped me move house... from two planets over.

-

Pockets full of Stars is a cozy solo role-playing and world-building game about tiny people living on tiny planets, and humble giants living on cozy stars.

To play this game you'll need six six-sided dice (6d6), a writing implement, and a stack of index cards, among other things.

Fledglings by el Stiko

Fledglings by el Stiko:

Each year, the town calls on their allies, a peaceful goblin tribe from the western wood, to construct a trial dungeon, filled with puzzles, traps and monsters, so six youngsters can use their training to prove themselves.

Armed with your patches for lore, exploration, a spirit bond and two special skills, you pack your bag with food, water, a few tools, and one magical treasure from your mentor. You call your bonded companion (an animal or spirit) and follow the goblin trail.

The goblins want you to succeed safely, but challenge prepares you for the wider world. The traps are sharp, but clean (to prevent infection). If things get out of hand, they (along with your pet) might step in to protect you from real harm.

Fledglings is a simple role-playing game about aspirant adventurers-in-training facing a final test to earn their adventuring patch - the magical fantasy equivalent of wilderness scouts or guides, being taught what they will need to keep themselves, and those they love, safe from the dangers of the wider world. It draws inspiration from the Lookouts comics, the Wildlings RPG (among other games by John Harper) and the Wardlings miniatures from WizKids.

These fledglings are training to be clerics, druids, fighters, rangers, rogues and wizards. They have the beginnings of their skills and abilities but have never really tested them before today. It's a defining moment for them as the future heroes of their world.

The character sheets contain the barest details. Instead, the players reveal their skills and equipment in play by declaring them as the story requires. This allows each player to invent likely solutions to their challenges in line with how they imagine themselves rising to meet them.

With the real dangers in their future, this game is a moment to explore the fantasy adventure genre in a safe and emergent way, where glimpses of peril are cushioned by the last support structures of youth, family and culture before setting out on your own. The tone and subject matter reflects these aims by occasionally menacing without maiming or killing characters...yet.

You can continue using these rules beyond that part of their story,  or move the characters to a more complicated ruleset like Hero Kids or Dungeons & Dragons when the players are ready.

All Fledglings adventures I write will be added to this page in the future, free of charge. Currently included is a sample adventure from 2018, the latest from 2019 will be published mid-August, once my players have experienced it.

Rules Lawyer by Matthew Guzdial

Rules Lawyer by Matthew Guzdial:

Imagine a world in which the laws of reality are written in a language that special, magical people learn to bend to their will. We call these scholars, adventurers, and spellweavers by a special title denoting both their class and birthright: Lawyer.

In this game one player plays as a special class of lawyer, sworn to protect and uphold the laws of reality called a Public Defender (or just Defender) while the other player plays as a scoundrel lawyer attempting to reinterpret these laws to their will known as a Prosecutor.

Both lawyers struggle against one another and with the all-powerful deity (some would say demon) who controls these laws of reality, known as The Judge.

---

Rules Lawyer is a 2 or 4 player competitive game of spell creation, usage, and friendly arguing. Play across a series of Trials, contending with one another and The Judge.  All you need to play are a a six-sided die and a surface to write-on (virtual surfaces are recommended). Downloads are:

Rules Lawyer.pdf - A 12-page description of the RPG, along with tables for generating quests and Trials.

Rules Lawyer Two Pager.pdf - A 2 page version of the game, to be used as reference during play.

Spoken Magic by Dylan Grinder

Spoken Magic by Dylan Grinder:

You carry within you a great power. Power that can shape the land, and safeguard you against its waiting dangers. But to wield that power, you must give it shape and meaning through your words.

Spoken Magic is a prompt-based collaborative storytelling game for one to four players. The game guides you on a journey through magical lands where you will encounter strange dilemmas that can only be solved through magic— a process that has players sharing their words of power to craft a spell appropriate for the task. Throughout this journey you will investigate the purpose of magic, explore the conflicting desires for safety and heroism, and learn the true nature of your very own magic words.

This game was designed, written, and illustrated in under 24 cumulative hours for the March of the Wizards 2019 game jam hosted by the RPG Design Friends as part of Twelve Months Twelve Jams (#12jam).

Monday 25 March 2019

James & Lloyd read indie rpg blurbs so you don't have to: New Indie RPGs February 2019 part 2

February was a tsunami of new indie rpgs, so much so that even James & Lloyd have had to split their podcast into two in the latest episode of James & Lloyd read indie rpg blurbs so you don't have to!
Direct Download Other episodes
More than 50 new indie tabletop roleplaying games are released every month. I want to keep up with one of the most exciting areas in tabletop gaming, but I don't know which of these games I should give a look (let alone buy or even play!). So I asked two friends for help. James Mullen and Lloyd Gyan are two of the UK's most dedicated indie roleplayers and, every month, they go through every new indie rpg and tell me (and now the world) what's caught their eye from the new games listed in the Indie RPG Pipeline ( theindierpgpipeline.blogspot.com )

Support this podcast and the Indie RPG Podcast by become a patron of the bleeding edge of indie rpgs here https://www.patreon.com/theindierpgpipeline

Sand Dogs

Sand Dogs:

Sand Dogs
Publisher: VSCA Publishing

It’s hot, it’s dirty, and there’s dust on the horizon that probably means someone else found out about this Tomb before you. You’ll get there first -- your armoured car is fast, rigged for the hard-packed sand -- but they are coming with more people and...is that a biplane?

No matter; if worst comes to worst you have a way out. The hairy spindle you found at the last tomb has a useful side effect: it shifts you sideways through space to somewhere...else. But where?

It has to be pretty bad to want to find out.

Sand Dogs is a fast-playing campaign RPG that provides simple but durable rules to play indefinitely in a psychedelic dieselpunk fantasy that links to all the other planes in the Soft Horizon. Obstacles to online play have been removed, making this a go-to choice for playing with friends anywhere on the ‘net.

Price: $12.95


Children of the Stone (English Translation) by el Stiko

Children of the Stone (English Translation) by el Stiko:

This is an English translation of a dwarf game by Manu Sáez  for #jdr200palabras (200 word RPG jam, Spanish) which Eneko Palencia laid out beautifully before Eneko Menica & I pounced about translations into Basque and English, respectively. It was also translated into Catalan by Miguel Ángel Martínez Castilla, then into Galician by Sergio Cotelo. All five versions of the game can be found at http://nogarung.com/hijos-de-la-piedra/ - and although it translates directly to "Sons of the Stone", I opted for "Children" because I like to imagine you can play as lady dwarves (with or without beards) and any gender-expansive option you prefer at your table. In my mind, they reproduce by carving the next generation out of the earth and singing the same song which gave them life. Who sang the first dwarves into being? Play it, and tell the story your way.

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Affinity by Autumn

Affinity by Autumn:

This game was created for the WizJam2k19 game jam, its a simple, single player, one page game about finding your magic. The guidelines are very flexible, if you don't have a favorite di you could instead talk through the list you made and settle on the one that you think fits the most, as an example. Relax, enjoy yourself, and find your magic.

Winsome by el Stiko

Winsome by el Stiko:

Based on Ironsworn, this single-sheet folded A6 booklet is a stripped-down hack of Shawn Tomkin's brilliant game, but genericised by removing the setting, signature stats and themed oracles. You could use this game to enjoy Ironsworn's mechanics in the setting of your choosing, solo or alongside friends.

Creative Commons License
This derivative work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, all credit to Shawn Tomkin for his original work in the Ironsworn System Reference Document (SRD) .

Thrones and Powers by Goat Song Publishing

Thrones and Powers by Goat Song Publishing:

Thrones and Powers is an Objective Engines game created for March of the Wizards 2k19. It allow the players to take on the roles of factions of wizards, vying for control of the world, in heated competition with one another. It tells the story of their philosophies as they come into conflict and blossom into new, stranger forms. Thrones and Powers is a game for 4 players over the course of three sessions, each of which last two to four hours.

Coffee Shop AU by quietgalaxy

Coffee Shop AU by quietgalaxy:

A two-player tabletop roleplaying game about slow-burn café romance. Grab a friend,  some dice, and a warm drink, and play.

(This is a love story. No matter what else this game ends up becoming when you play it, it should be a love story first and foremost. Because whoever these characters are in other lives, here and now they are normal people, and in this kind of story normal people get to fall in love too.)

Murder in the Quantum Monastery

Murder in the Quantum Monastery:

Murder in the Quantum Monastery
Publisher: Côme Martin

Murder in the Quantum Monastery is my mini-RPG for March 2019.

There's been a murder in the Monastery, and one of you is guilty! But who depends on the current reality, and that's bound to change at any moment...
Inspired by the Name of the Rose and the Stanley Parable, Murder in the Quantum Monastery is designed for 1 GM and 3 to 6 players, and comes with a printable set of cards which can change the setting of the game, its rules, and even its meta elements!
Price: $1.00


Foreboding by Eric Merman

A one-page Dread hack to incorporate time loop themes:

itch.io

A one-page Dread hack to incorporate time loop themes

3v3 Wizard Basketball by pauly3d

3v3 Wizard Basketball by pauly3d:

Are you a wizard who's tired of the obsolete and arcane rules of Quidditch?  Do you think Wizard's Chess and Wizard's Poker are just frivolous mind games?  Have you gotten kicked out of your local intramural soccer league for casting spells?  Then 3v3 Wizard Basketball is the game for you!

Wizard Basketball is a rules-light comedy role-playing game for 3 or more players. While one player acts as Referee, the others play as Wizards playing a rowdy game of basketball with useless skills, expansive spellcasting, and the constant threat of THE FUZZ.

Will you slam the dunk to end all dunks? Will you get polymorphed into a stoat? Will THE FUZZ destroy the reckless joy of basketball once and for all?

You'll have to play to find out what happens!

Cover Image by josedejesus on Pixabay

Memories in the Making by Goat Song Publishing

Memories in the Making by Goat Song Publishing:

Memories in the Making is a game about that last summer that you spend with your friends before everyone goes off to different places, to different schools and jobs. It's about those memories of youth, captured in a sunbeam to be treasured. It's about the good times, the joyous times, the times in that liminal space between childhood and adulthood when the world seemed so free. Memories in the Making captures those moments that so define our nostalgia.

Memories in the Making was made for Short Rest jam.

Sunday 24 March 2019

The Elephant & Macaw Banner: Player's Guide

The Elephant & Macaw Banner: Player's Guide:

The Elephant & Macaw Banner: Player's Guide
Publisher: Porcupine Publishing

Containing the first 60 pages of The Elephant & Macaw Banner Roleplaying Game!

This PDF has everything you need to play your first sessions in this fantastical setting, exploring 16th-century Brazil and its monstrous and magical secrets.

The Elephant & Macaw Banner is an award-winning fiction series that tells the adventures of the Dutchman Gerard van Oost and the Yoruba Oludara during their travels through a fantastic version of sixteenth-century Brazil. These stories, based on Brazilian history and folklore, have been enjoyed by readers around the world.

Now it’s time to immerse yourself in this world of Brazilian fantasy, a setting full of adventure, magic and monsters, in which you will find endless opportunity to invent new stories. Create your own heroes and have your own adventures in this magical world!

What you'll find in the Player's Guide:

  • The Elephant & Macaw Baner Roleplaying Game's basic system
  • Character creation 
  • Skills, crafts and professions of 1576 Brazil
  • A surprisingly large collection of period musical instruments
  • Battle Resolution: an easy-to-use yet engrossing combat system
  • Magical & miraculous powers: three forms of superntural power, namely the Divine Graces given to devout followers of the Church; the Powers of Breath mastered by native shamans; the Powers of Ifá, used through techniques of divination and mysticism fro West Africa.   
  • A lot of full-colour, breathtakingly beautiful artwork 

Looking for an adventure? CLICK HERE for the first Elephant & Macaw Banner adventure, The Legend of the Golden Condor.
Price: $7.00


Another Generic Looter Shooter

Another Generic Looter Shooter:

Another Generic Looter Shooter
Publisher: Sword of Odin

Another Generic Looter Shooter

Mankind tried to push to the boundaries of Terrestrial space… and met with resistance. Several factions disagreed with this expansion agenda, and now mankind has been pushed into a corner. The City of Walls is Earth’s space fortress and the Keepers are it’s elite guardians.

This is a shortform RPG and includes both a pretty version and a printer-friendly version of a Destiny/Anthem/Division-like game of shooting... and looting.

Quick Hits

Games are meant to be be, right? Right! Sometimes, you just don't want to do a lot of reading and instead, you'd like to do a lot of playing. That's where Quick Hits come in, these microgames are short and sweet, and pretty entyertaining. Some are more like real short RPGS, where others might be something even more abstract. Use them for when you need a break from your campaign, or just having a quick get-togther with friends. Enjoy!

Price: $1.00


Rare Birds

Rare Birds: Click here to view Rare Birds

An intuitive, descriptive tabletop rpg. - [currently $25 (13%) of $200 goal]
Rare Birds -- Kicktraq Mini

Fellowship of the White Star: Beacon in the Dark

Fellowship of the White Star: Beacon in the Dark: Click here to view Fellowship of the White Star: Beacon in the Dark

A story driven tabletop role-playing game (RPG) set in the 1920s with supernatural elements using a new level-less, skill-based system. - [currently $506 (6%) of $8,000 goal]
Fellowship of the White Star: Beacon in the Dark -- Kicktraq Mini

Pretty Fairy Princesses: An Unapologetically Dainty RPG

Pretty Fairy Princesses: An Unapologetically Dainty RPG: Click here to view Pretty Fairy Princesses: An Unapologetically Dainty RPG

A rules-light tabletop role-playing game where you and your companions are pretty fairy princesses. Download the system right now! - [currently $127 (127%) of $100 goal]
Pretty Fairy Princesses: An Unapologetically Dainty RPG -- Kicktraq Mini

Lancer Core Book by Massif Press

Lancer Core Book by Massif Press:

Lancer imagines a future where a survivor humanity has spread to the stars after weathering terrible ecological collapse on Earth -- the end of the Anthropocene as a consequence of unrestrained consumption and poor stewardship. Lancer features a mix of gritty, mud-and-lasers military science fiction and mythic science fantasy. In the setting, conscript pilots mix ranks with flying aces, mercenary guns-for-hire brawl with secretive corprostate agents, and relativistic paladins cross thermal lan es with causality-breaking, unknowable beings. Players of Lancer adopt the roles of mechanized chassis pilots -- mech pilots -- comrades together in a galaxy of danger and hope. Some groups will fight for Union, working to rectify the crimes of previous administrations. Others, for a corprostate, working to advance private interests while lining their pockets. Others still will fight for groups acting in opposition to those in power, or of themselves.

Lancer offers deep, modular mech customization, a wide range of player backgrounds and hooks to prompt storytelling, and a system and setting with room for any narrative you and your group want to tell. It’s best with a group of 3-5 players, and can be used to run a one-shot session or persistent campaign.

Divine || Mundane by mercutioes

Divine || Mundane by mercutioes:

You are a god of good, of light and truth.  You are god of evil, of rot and decay.  You are a mortal hero, steadfast and loyal in a world of the divine.

Divine || Mundane is a game in which you build a world together and find out what happens when gods clash with mortals and with each other, when rivals must work together, when enemies become lovers, when war brings people closer.

This game is a hack of D. Vincent Baker's MF0: Firebrands.  In it, you will create characters, design a Realm, and utilize nine minigames to find out what happens together.

The Memorial Ritual by Machine Age Productions

The Memorial Ritual by Machine Age Productions:

The Memorial Ritual is a short parlor game, twelve pages and ready to play instantly. The game itself should take about a half an hour, but can take as long as you want. The Memorial Ritual has you and three or more friends invoking ghosts, telling stories, and perhaps rebuking demons.

The PDF features interactive layers, so you can turn off the background for easy printing.

 The book also features a short story set in the San Jenaro universe tied to the novel Reaching Out.

Grave Consequences by MataraMG

Grave Consequences by MataraMG:

Grave Consequences is a rules-lite TTRPG/story game in which the players take on the rolls of recently reanimated undead creatures whose fates have been bound together by the Thrall, a powerful necromantic force created by a human necromancer called the Dark Mother. When the revenants awaken from slumbering in the Dark Mother's mausoleum, they find her and all of her acolytes slain by the church's Grim Hunt.

The revenants are alone in a world that despises them, and must support one another and help provide for one another's various Needs in order to survive.

  • 6 Different playbooks to choose from, each with radically different abilities, Needs, and Troubles to explore. Play the invincible Wight Knight, the tormented Spectre, the duplicitous Vampire, the grotesque Abomination, and more~~
  • Player-driven campaigns: the action and direction of the game is determined by the players each night. Do you want to take care of your Needs first? Explore someone's Trouble? Strike against the Church? Search for a new safehouse?
  • A narrative-focused system that doesn't skimp on tactical complexity in combat. Play this as a heavy-RP story game or indulge in the combat system as much as you wish.
  • You're powerful, but the only people you can truly trust are your Thrallmates. The world really is out to get you, and you'll need to help each other out in order to survive and flourish.
  • A largely setting-agnostic approach. This game's story could take place in almost any fantasy setting. Very few details are made concrete in order to allow players to fill in the blanks of their world.
Grave Consequences is a complete, fully-functional beta of a final game. It is still in the middle of being playtested and is subject to occasional updates. Please contact me on twitter (@gahostan) or through my support email here if you have comments or questions! I'd love to hear from some players who aren't just at my tables. Also, if you like what you see, consider becoming a patron at https://www.patreon.com/mataramakesgames! Thanks so much for your support!

The game file available here is what could generously be called an ashcan draft. It is a direct .pdf download of the word processor document in which I wrote it. A much more professional-looking version is currently in production and will be released here (and on my patreon) within a couple months. An even more awesome version is in the works as well (one complete with spooky art and other gross goodies), and I'll make more information available about that at a later date.

Eyes by the Roadside by MataraMG

Eyes by the Roadside by MataraMG:

Eyes by the Roadside is a communal storytelling game and tabletop role-playing game about Midwestern towns fraught with horrors both supernatural and all too real. As a group you build a Midwestern community from the ground up, including its name, population, and history, and then fill it up with spooky folklore, shameful and confusing mysteries, and terrifying rumors. The group then puts together an inciting Incident which gets the game rolling and brings the characters together to investigate- and hopefully survive- the horrors of the town.

Is the Incident just the most recent manifestation of some darker truth about the town and its past? Or is it another brush with a dark demimonde beneath the surface of our natural reality?

Eyes by the Roadside features an innovative system of dice pools based around taking Risks in order to build up enough dice to survive the inevitable threat encounters, the moments when the darkness of the town swells to dangerous levels and the characters must think fast to survive. Each session can be handled by the same or a different GM, and as the story unfolds, each player will have plenty of opportunities to embellish and elaborate upon the town's many terrifying and vague mysteries.

Eyes by the Roadside is a complete, fully-functional beta of a final game. It is still in the middle of being playtested and is subject to occasional updates. Please contact me on twitter (@gahostan) or through my support email here if you have comments or questions! I'd love to hear from some players who aren't just at my tables. Also, if you like what you see, consider becoming a patron at https://www.patreon.com/mataramakesgames! Thanks so much for your support!

The game file available here is what could generously be called an ashcan draft. It is a direct .pdf download of the word processor document in which I wrote it. A much more professional-looking version is currently in production and will be released here (and on my patreon) within a couple months. An even more awesome version is in the works as well (one complete with spooky art and other gross goodies), and I'll make more information available about that at a later date.

Close Encounters by Travis D. Hill

Close Encounters by Travis D. Hill:

Close Encounters is a 20 minute solitaire game about observing the people around you and answering questions about them. At a half sheet, or even printable at a smaller scale for better portability, Close Encounters only needs a crowded place and a bit of time.

Princess Academy Adventures by BJKWhite

Princess Academy Adventures by BJKWhite:

Princess Academy! Where young princesses come to learn, to explore, to fight, to grow! Princess Academy! A shining beacon of light in a chaotic world! Princess Academy! Can you ever have too many princesses? Not in this academy's opinion. Princess Academy Adventures is a school-focused tabletop roleplaying game where princesses will attend classes, be given tasks and assignments, earn XP and merits, rank up, and eventually graduate from the academy. The tone is light but dramatic. Princesses might get a bit knocked around, but they can't die and tend not to suffer any injury more serious than a broken arm or two. I originally created it as a game to play with my daughters, so it's aimed at an experienced gamemaster with inexperienced players. As such it contains quite a few rules and suggestions intended to guide younger players into tabletop roleplaying games. By design it's a forgiving game that encourages creativity and exploration.

Files:

Princess Academy Adventures - Core: The core rules for the system.

PAA - Sourcebook #1 - Factions & Monsters: Includes information on various factions in the known kingdoms, dozens of monsters, some rules on maps and travelling between locations, and a bunch of useful random tables.

PAA - Character Sheet: Available as a PDF or a PNG. Designed to be folded in half to make a little booklet, why not.

The Dreamer by W.H. Arthur

The Dreamer by W.H. Arthur:

The Dreamer is an RPG play with theatre of the mind. You get to visit strange alien landscapes, long forgotten civilisations, or bizarre escheresque geometries. Feel the grass underneath your feet, the touch of soft velvet, the smell of exotic spices and the sound of waves splashing against rocks. The possibilities are limitless.

The one-word RPG concept was started by Riverhouse Games's We Are But Worms.

The Novelist by W.H. Arthur

The Novelist by W.H. Arthur:

The Novelist is a pen and paper role-playing game, where you get to tell stories of epic fantasies, page-turning thrillers, or star-crossed romances. In this game, you are free to explore anything you want, from the human condition to the far edges of the galaxy.

The one-word RPG concept was started by Riverhouse Games's We Are But Worms.

Violet by Star Owl Games

Violet by Star Owl Games:

Violet is a world-building story game for players to build something beautiful together inspired by art and media they love. The word “beauty” can be interpreted any way the players want. Players will collectively describe a place through the lens of various categories, building off their fellow players. The title, Violet, comes from the phrase “purple prose” or writing that is too elaborate or wordy. In Violet, players should delight in beauty and language, and not worry about what they say being perfect.

Bounty Frontier Robot Battle by dailypasta

Bounty Frontier Robot Battle by dailypasta:

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to space. It’s filled to the brim with Monsters, Moon Gods, and Immortal Space Dogs with Guns. You are a part of the Bounty Frontier and our main base is the Bounty Frontier Headquarters(BFHQ). You’ll know it well. You will be given Tags (or bounties, if you prefer to call them that) to hunt and destroy in order to pay off your student loans from the Frontier Robot Space Academy. While fighting: be smart, be safe, and go all out!

The Tag List will stay as a Google Doc because I will continuously add new Tags! So check in every so often.

Tag List and Tag Template: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1aiF6yS6kS0fR6eMH_JNi0L1FWf9h0Rqjlj-zpptU3dI/...

WHAT IS THIS GAME?

It's a tabletop role playing game about Giant Robots that is a requires no prep work. Just make your robot, choose a tag, and fight to survive! The main mechanic is that you perform every move you make to gain FIGHTING SPIRIT! You can use FIGHTING SPIRIT to turn the tide in the battle and claim your bounty. Make your friends laugh, cry, or make them in awe of you as you deliver an epic speech.

This is a great game for those days where the DM didn't have time to prep or a players running late or you just want to hop in a giant robot. Give it a shot. Fighting Spirit!

CREATOR'S NOTE
This is a game that has brought me and my friends some wonderful times and I hope it does the same for you! The game is free so if you like it a donation would be appreciated but above all else I hope you have fun! Thanks for playing!

-Micah

Friday 22 March 2019

i'm sorry did you say street magic by caro

i'm sorry did you say street magic by caro:

In a sprawling metropolis ten years from now, technological breakthroughs will grant modern-day humans supernatural powers far beyond mortal ability.

An archipelago-kingdom, separated geographically by its disparate islands, must band together under the looming threat of invasion.

An underground mining colony abandoned by Earth struggles to terraform a desolate, empty planet from the inside out.

The city that we inhabit has a magic of its own. Its breath is life is spirit—and with this spirit, we create the city together.

��

i'm sorry did you say street magic is a GMless city-building game for two to five players.  Populate the expanse of your city with neighborhoods, landmarks, and residents. Discover their true names, and the ways that they intersect—then set events in motion that will change or alter their relationships.

This game takes inspiration from Microscope, a product of Lame Mage Productions created by Ben Robbins, and from The Quiet Year, created by Avery Alder. Created for the March of the Wizards 2019 game jam.

Text-only and printer-friendly versions coming soon!

(If you're from a marginalized community and can't afford the minimum price as listed, DM @SeaExcursion on Twitter for a free copy)

I'm Going To Become A Wizard by Ell

I'm Going To Become A Wizard by Ell:

A downloadable game
You are 10 years old. You're going to become a wizard by proving you know more than your friends about the world. Your friends are trying to do the same thing.

Winner gets a hat.

A game for March of the Wizards 2k19

Download

Click download now to get access to the following files:


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Nothing Up My Sleeves by SpadeandSpear

Nothing Up My Sleeves by SpadeandSpear:

Nothing Up My Sleeves is a short TTRPG about trying to teach at a prestigious academy of stage magic, despite knowing nothing about performance magic outside of being a literal wizard.

This is a comedic one-shot game about failure and spiraling consequences, and is most fun when you embrace your disastrous, incompetent wizardly self and inevitable blaze of glory.

© Caleb Worker 2019

Arcanademia by ostrichmonkey

Arcanademia by ostrichmonkey:

Arcanademia is a no frills Forged in the Dark game where you play as a member of a Department at a Magical University. You and your colleagues will embark on all manner of magical hijinks on your journey to the top. 

Sabotage rivals' projects, wrangle magical mishaps, court favor with the eldritch Administration, and maybe get some grading done.

Competition is fierce and weird and it takes everything you’ve got  to get the funding and resources you really deserve. 

Alone In My Ancient Tower by mossytoes

Alone In My Ancient Tower by mossytoes:

In this game, you are centuries old, and the looming spire that you have made your home is filled to the brim with storied treasures. Take a moment to wander among them, casting your mind back to the adventures and trials by which you obtained them...

Based on the Alone games by Takuma Okada.

https://noroadhome.itch.io/alone-in-the-ancient-city

https://noroadhome.itch.io/alone-among-the-stars

Starspeaker by linda c

Starspeaker by linda c:

You are a Starspeaker - a celestial ship-mage who crafts magic with the help of the stars, sun, moon, wind, and oceans. Your astrology helps determine positioning, the movements of other boats in the water, beasts that might be hiding in the depths, hidden challenges, and other hazards at sea. You are diviner and harbinger, and your power is both oracle and evocation.

The Siawseren and Rionnach mages are friendly, but competitive. The annual Starspeaker shiprace through the Ulian Islands is legendary; the full sailing crew of each region garners celebrity status. The game’s goal is to finish the race first, avoiding as many hazards as possible, and incurring the least amount of damage to your ship. You do this by using different methods to draw new constellations in the sky, bringing magic down into the world.

The demos are all you need to play, and they are available for free. The pretty version you see is $5.00. Message+follow me at @_linfinn if price is an issue, and you'll receive the game, no questions asked.

This game was created by Linda H. Codega for the March of the Wizards Game Jam 2019; #wizjam2k19.

Starspeaker was created with some inspiration from the Knave OSR system. All interior images are from Clip Art Etc. The cover image is Stürmische See im Abendrot by Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky, courtesy of Wikimedia. commons

You can find Linda H. Codega on twitter: @_linfinn

Worlds of Ink Volume 1 Issue 1 by AlchemyAndInk

Worlds of Ink Volume 1 Issue 1 by AlchemyAndInk:

A downloadable zine
The first issue of Worlds of Ink, published March 2019

Contents:

The Ash Wood Mountain by Darren Kumka

Ostentia by William Johnson

Purchase

In order to download this zine you must purchase it at or above the
minimum price of $2 USD. You will get access to the following files:


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Something Familiar by nm_dart

Something Familiar by nm_dart:

Something Familiar is a game about a coven of witches trying to find one of their lost familiars so they can resume casting their spell that will bring all of humanity under their control. Now they have to trespass into the strange world of humans in order to find it. Something Familiar is a hack of Honey Heist by Grant Howitt! Please check out his amazing work here.

This game was designed for the March of the Wizards Jam (2019)!

Hand-Me-Downs by JKGilbreath

Hand-Me-Downs by JKGilbreath:

Hand-Me-Downs is a cozy game for 2 players about sharing time and learning from people you care about. I designed it with the idea of special moments spent with your grandparents, but it works for any relationship. It's a series of prompts and questions that you can role-play or talk through that builds a story and changes your characters as you play.

Bag of Tricks

wizards using spell components in all the wrong ways:

itch.io

wizards using spell components in all the wrong ways

Thursday 21 March 2019

Don't Burn Down the School! by luciellaes

Don't Burn Down the School! by luciellaes:

Don't Burn Down the School! is a tabletop roleplaying game about 12-year-old mages attempting to not burn down the school.

It is a bright and cheerful summer in the year 2019, and you’re just starting your first year of high school! Paperbark High may be only a small school in a small town, but your magical talents are finally blossoming and the world is your oyster.

A few weeks in, your initial optimism is beginning to wane. It turns out that high school is a LOT more work than you’d expected. Even when you get past the mess of running from class to class according to your schedule, your newfound magical powers continue to manifest in new and surprising ways, regardless of your intents. And then there’s that Malfroy kid and his goons – the lot of them are REALLY starting to get on your nerves. It’s only a matter of time before your petty squabbles heat up into something bigger.



Still, things are starting to look up for you. You’ve figured out your schedule, for one, and you’ve started to get a hang of this whole magic thing. Most importantly, you’ve made your first friends, and together there’s nothing you can’t accomplish.



This game is subject to playtesting and editing. Pricing will change in future to reflect the final product. The current version is 11 pages.