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.

Thursday 30 September 2021

Tartarus Gate: A Role-Playing Game of Sci-Fi Horror / $10.82

Tartarus Gate: A Role-Playing Game of Sci-Fi Horror / $10.82: Publisher: Rebellion Unplugged

It’s the year 2130. You are an unpaid intern aboard the transport ship Charon, entrusted with shepherding cargo from Earth to the Tartarus Gate Waystation. Visual feeds with the lower decks have gone down. Something is moving. You’re six months’ travel from the nearest help. And you really need to impress your employer if you want to be made permanent.

Writers Grant Howitt & Chris Taylor (Heart, Spire, Honey Heist) join artist Pye Parr for a brand new game of sci-fi horror. Tartarus Gate is a complete RPG for up to seven players, designed to last three to four sessions, with the possibility to extend beyond into the world you’ve created. The game includes everything you need to play in person or online.

***

Tartarus Gate is a hit. It achieves some fast-paced nastiness that should get your table rolling away within just minutes of cracking open the booklet and is a pretty solid example of just what the Adventure Presents... series is aiming for.

Tabletop Gaming Magazine

Adventure Presents: Tartarus Gate is an impressive first issue, an attractive package that is easy to pick up, prepare, and run - it could be ready to play in thirty minutes!

Review from Ry'leh

It's great fun and we can't wait to see what Rebellion does next with this format.

Starburst Magazine

Tartarus Gate: A Role-Playing Game of Sci-Fi HorrorPrice: $10.82

BIFF! BAM! KAPOW! / $13.99

BIFF! BAM! KAPOW! / $13.99: Publisher: Spectrum Games

BIFF! BAM! KAPOW! is a tabletop roleplaying game that brings to life the televised escapades as seen on The Adventures of Hoot Owl (a fictitious series used as the basis for this game). The players can take on the roles of Hoot Owl and Screechy or create their own heroes and bring them into the setting the established heroes and villains inhabit. 


The game utilizes a modified version of the Intention System (as seen in Retrostar, Stories from the Grave and On the Air), which was designed to minimize prep time so that you and your friends can jump right into the action without a lot of fuss. And once you get started, you won’t have to devote four to six hours to playing. BIFF! BAM! KAPOW! is at its best when sessions last 60 to 90 minutes, as this is about the right amount of time needed to accommodate the same amount of story that would fit into a 30-minute episode of a TV show. The game was designed to pe played by one Showrunner and up to two players, though there are guidelines for adding more players.


Each and every rule in the game was included to facilitate collaboratively telling a fun story with your friends while faithfully emulating the feel of the superhero shows that graced television sets all over the world. This degree of accuracy in portraying the genre means that realism is sometimes—and by “sometimes”, we mean “almost always”—thrown right out the window. The TV shows that inspired the game affected an air of surrealism and campiness that often flew in the face of anything resembling logic. That’s half the charm, to be honest.


BIFF! BAM! KAPOW! is your ticket to a world that slightly resembles our own… but with a Dutch tilt. So gather around the table with your friends and join us in celebrating the zany and offbeat adventures of televised superheroes during the 1960s. We’ll be right there with you… same Owl time… same Owl channel.


BIFF! BAM! KAPOW!Price: $13.99

Schisms & Sacrilege / $5.00

Schisms & Sacrilege / $5.00: Publisher: Not Writing Games

Build your own religion! Schisms & Sacrilege is a solitaire role-playing game that breaks down how to make a fictional spiritual movement with basic questions and world building prompts. Create a founder and figurehead, beliefs and prohibitions, symbols and schisms, all with a simple series of questions and prompts. 

Take the religion you have made an insert it into your ongoing role-playing game campaign, a story, or any other fictional setting.

What you Need

  • An hour or two
  • Something to write with 
  • A way to keep time (clock, watch, etc.) 
  • Optional 4-sided dice (d4)

This game is based on the Lost & Found SRD

Schisms & SacrilegePrice: $5.00

Mecha + Pilot / $2.50

Mecha + Pilot / $2.50: Publisher: Glass Wolf Games

Welcome to the World of Mecha + Pilot (pronounced Mecha Plus Pilot), a simple one page d6-based RPG ruleset for running your own TTRPG Mecha campaign! Players will create their Pilot and Mecha to take on all sorts of different adventures. The player running the game and world is known as the Game Commander. The rest of the players are known as a Pilot that control Mecha.

The Game Commander has the freedom to craft their own unique adventures or make use of the random table to help in deciding a genre to tackle!

Mecha + PilotPrice: $2.50

Beakwood Bay / $8.00

Beakwood Bay / $8.00: Publisher: Jackson Adams RPG

Beakwood Bay is a hack of cozy occult mystery RPG, Brindlewood Bay, published by The Gauntlet. The game is focused on letting players roleplay as ducks in the mold of Carl Barks’ and Don Rosa's Uncle Scrooge and Donald Duck comics from the 1950s and 1980s respectively and the more recent Duck Tales cartoons. Play revolves around going on harebrained adventures to gain treasure and protect plunder from nefarious forces but the characters must be wary of letting their ill-begotten gold corrupt them and warp them into Scrooge-like figures.

 Here's what you're going to get in Beakwood Bay

  • 40 pages of rules, setting information and more, with no need to have purchased or played Brindlewood Bay to start.
  • 10 Sasquatch Scout Honors, to customize your Mallard based on their heroism and special skills that get them ready for treasure hunting .
  • A customized character sheet.
  • Advice for Keepers on embracing a cartoonish setting while exploring themes of colonial capitalism, hoarding wealth, the dangers of isolation, and the value of community. 
  • A first adventure that sees the Mallards exploring a ghost haunted ship-wreck in search of a lost diamond bust.
Beakwood BayPrice: $8.00

Eshna- Tabletop RPG ^

Eshna- Tabletop RPG ^: Click here to view Eshna- Tabletop RPG
An open world tabletop RPG with card game elements, for up to 5 players including your game master. - [$7,000 goal]

Survival of the Able (Back From The Dead) ^

Survival of the Able (Back From The Dead) ^: Click here to view Survival of the Able (Back From The Dead)
A tabletop RPG about people with disabilities working together to overcome a zombie plague. - [$6,000 goal]

Final Roll TTRPG ^

Final Roll TTRPG ^: Click here to view Final Roll TTRPG
Final Roll is a simple design and easy to enjoy TTRPG system. Built to be accessible, quick to learn, and engaging to play. - [$8,000 goal]

Flabbergasted! A comedic tabletop RPG ^

Flabbergasted! A comedic tabletop RPG ^: Click here to view Flabbergasted! A comedic tabletop RPG
A comedic tabletop RPG set in the roaring 20s! Join a social club & get up to mischief & mayhem - all before your afternoon tea! - [und;7,000 goal]

Hounds of the Tsar: Print Edition ^

Hounds of the Tsar: Print Edition ^: Click here to view Hounds of the Tsar: Print Edition
A roleplaying game of secrets, suspicion, and terror. - [$600 goal]

An(Other) Unofficial RWBY TTRPG: The Momentum System [Free]

An(Other) Unofficial RWBY TTRPG: The Momentum System [Free]:

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Remnant is a world of monsters and fairy tales, of noble heroes and great deeds, built upon the backs of love and sacrifice in equal measure.

The four kingdoms of Remnant exist in a constant struggle against the forces of Grimm, dark entities which seek only destruction and chaos. The Grimm take on many bizarre and dangerous forms, from creeping Deathstalkers to beastly Beowolves to powerful Ursa, and only become more dangerous as they survive longer. Drawn to human suffering and negative emotions, the Grimm are constantly nipping at humanity’s heels, threatening their borders and making expansion difficult.

There are those who understand that Remnant sits precariously on the head of a pin, but most of its citizens are simply trying to make it from one day to the next. For those huntsmen and huntresses tasked with protecting the common people, life can be a constant struggle. But that is the life they choose. Take up your weapons, protect the kingdoms, slay the forces of Grimm, and become the hero of your story. 
 

---

An(other) Unofficial RWBY TTRPG is a custom system best played with 3-5 players and facilitated by a Game Master. Players take on the role of huntsmen and huntresses, armed with their custom weapons, an arsenal of Dust and their unique semblances to take on the horrors of the Grimm, the seedy gangsters and criminals who seek to upheave the status quo, and the dark forces that sow chaos across the kingdoms. 

Featuring the Momentum system, which allows full player creativity to solve problems and deal with obstacles through a push and pull of building up momentum and then expending it in large bursts, with enemy-specific moves to stall the player's progress and stop them in their tracks.

AURWBYTTRPG is in open beta! The first 50 pages of rules are available here for free, which allows players to build their own custom characters and begin their adventures in the world of Remnant as a team of huntsmen and huntresses. Future updates will bring the world to life with a history of Remnant and details of the four kingdoms, as well as enemy profiles and stat blocks for common opponents and ways to customize more advanced versions of each enemy. Also coming soon: Character sheets! Follow this project to catch it right as updates are released!

All comments, questions, reviews and tips are greatly appreciated! As the game is still in open beta, some numbers may be tweaked or adjusted with future updates.

--- 

Another Unofficial RWBY TTRPG is a fan project and not endorsed by Rooster Teeth in any way. Rooster Teeth and RWBY, including its setting, terminology and characters, are registered trademarks of Rooster Teeth Productions, LLC. © Rooster Teeth Productions, LLC.
 

Charge RPG | Power Your Story Telling [$5.00]

Charge RPG | Power Your Story Telling [$5.00]:

Charge RPG is a free, open and generic role-playing game.

With Charge, you can

  • Easily create characters for any setting
  • Embrace the style of play you are the most interested in
  • Use built-in dials to decide if you want a grimmer or bigger than life adventure
  • Create a compelling campaign
  • and more...

Early Access

Charge is currently in early access. It is available so that people interested in play-testing the game can easily access the rules. Thanks for your interest, support, and love. 💜

Get Started Now

Charge is freely available at fari.games

It's also released under Creative Commons Attribution CC-BY.  

Support the Project

Since charge is free, you can use this project page to support financially the future of the game or engage with its awesome community.

In order to download this ttrpg you must purchase it at or above the minimum price of $5 USD. You will get access to the following files:

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Empty Table [Free]

Empty Table [Free]:

Arthur has fallen, leaving the Knights without a Round Table!

Playtest rules drafted in about a month for the Round Table Literary Universe Jam!

I'll be testing these rules with my friends eventually, but I'm pretty sure these are functional enough to do something.

(Sorry the everything's separate, I couldn't figure out how to combine all the PDFs)

Download NowName your own price

Click download now to get access to the following files:

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A Set Of Scrubs [Free]

A Set Of Scrubs [Free]:

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Welcome to The Halfcut Hospital Trust!

Due to an unfortunate budgeting shortfall, we are sadly no longer able to provide separate uniforms for porters, nurses, doctors - or even patients! Everyone is now issued with daily sets of scrubs, which we can reuse again and again, saving the hospital lots of money which we can spend on management consultants patient care.

Sadly, the entire staff of our laundry department has recently gone on strike - they are asking for something called “holiday pay” - so please bear with us if the quality of our cleaning is temporarily less than satisfactory.

You are a set of hospital scrubs.

You will live as that single set of scrubs through a daily change of wearers. Witness the wonder, sadness and drudgery that is the hospital experience. Slowly experience your material becoming stained, ripped, repaired and eventually discarded. 

Perhaps you will recognise a symmetry between your fragile cloth and the human lives around you?

IGNOBLECORPS: PILOTS OF COMMAND [Free]

IGNOBLECORPS: PILOTS OF COMMAND [Free]:

Hello Pilot

You are about to embark on your first mission for the glory of Command. We have faith that your training will not fail you, and that you in turn will not fail us.

You have your mission.

Ready for launch.

IGNOBLECORPS is a game about desperate mech pilots working within a titanic organization spanning the galaxy. Fight for and against Command's control and try to get out alive. 

This is a hack of NOBLECORE: Fate of the Shattered Galaxy by Eric Faber, and was made for the Mecha Jam II.

Download NowName your own price

Click download now to get access to the following files:

Support this game at or above a special price point to receive something exclusive.

Please feel free to grab a copy here if you want to check it out before buying, or if cost is prohibitive. 

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Schisms & Sacrilege [$5.00]

Schisms & Sacrilege [$5.00]:

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Build your own religion! Schisms & Sacrilege is a solitaire role-playing game that breaks down how to make a fictional spiritual movement with basic questions and world building prompts. Create a founder and figurehead, beliefs and prohibitions, symbols and schisms, all with a simple series of questions and prompts. 

Take the religion you have made an insert it into your ongoing role-playing game campaign, a story, or any other fictional setting.

Need a fictional world where you can set your religion? Check out World Maker.

Also available on DriveThruRPG!

What you Need

  • An hour or two
  • Something to write with 
  • A way to keep time (clock, watch, etc.) 
  • Optional 4-sided dice (d4)

Credits

Written & Designed by Michael Elliott

Art by Odilon Redon

This game is based on the Lost & Found SRD (https://lostandfound.games).

In order to download this game you must purchase it at or above the minimum price of $5 USD. You will get access to the following files:

Support this game at or above a special price point to receive something exclusive.

Every purchase of Schisms & Sacrilege adds a copy to the community copy pool. This pool is intended for anyone experiencing financial hardships. If you want to check out this game and have trouble justifying the cost in any way, help yourself. These community copies are here for you.

Diceless Vol.1 [$2.50]

Diceless Vol.1 [$2.50]: Wizard Dungeon Crawling
Diceless Vol.1

Princess of the Universe [$12.99]

Princess of the Universe [$12.99]:

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Here you stand, bearing arms in the name of Virtue against the arrayed villains of the distant planet Eidolon.

You have great powers, and great responsibilities, and you are entirely up to the challenge of both.

The challenge to be...

PRINCESS OF THE UNIVERSE!

Virtuous heroes. Operatic villains. Wondrous landscapes.

I loved the fantasy toys and cartoons of my childhood. The pure fantasy, the toyetic vehicles, the weird world, the fact that you could defeat a villain with one sock to the jaw. Or, better yet, by tossing them in a puddle of mud.

At the same time I was watching the heroic action, I was learning about things that would matter to me my whole life, and absorbing images that would shape my career in fantasy gaming. And I know I’m not the only one.

But some of us didn’t see ourselves in those toys and cartoons, especially as we grew up. There wasn’t a gay heroic warrior, or a trans rebel against the hordes of evil. And the shows were awfully white. While later generations of TV have improved on that, it remains an absence keenly felt. This game is about reclaiming our storytelling roots by building them around our present identities.

So for everybody who watched fantasy cartoons and desperately wanted all the matching toys, this game is for you.

For DriveThruRPG users: Selling through itch gets me a higher royalty than DTRPG. However, if you're more comfortable there, I'm happy to offer it -- click here for the DriveThru page! Thank you for your support in any form! <3

In order to download this game you must purchase it at or above the minimum price of $12.99 USD. You will get access to the following files:

Infinity Train fan game [FREE] [Free]

Infinity Train fan game [FREE] [Free]:

This game is FREE. I DO NOT own Infinity Train.  This is FAN WORK.

In this RPG you'll play as a passenger, denizen, or passenger-denizen (like Hazel or Mirror Tulip)! There's also a role for a playable conductor (this games version of a Game Master).  Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be on an Infinite Train? Will your passenger be able to overcome their hardship? Or maybe you want to be a denizen and find a way out for yourself! 

Will you be able to get off the train?

This game is made for one-shots or very few sessions.

Download for free. It is a docx

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Travelling Alone Through the Post-Apocalyptic Wasteland [$1.00]

Travelling Alone Through the Post-Apocalyptic Wasteland [$1.00]:

Travelling Alone Through the Post-Apocalyptic Wasteland is a hack of Takuma Okada's Alone Among the Stars.

This is a journalling game requiring one player, a pack of 52 standard playing cards and a six-sided die (1d6) or another suitable randomiser.

You are exploring the wasteland after civilisation was destroyed in the Final Wars, journalling what you encounter in your travels.

See the video preview to the right for a look at the full supplement.

This is a layered PDF. For how this works when printing, see the video below:

In order to download this game you must purchase it at or above the minimum price of $1 USD. You will get access to the following files:

Support this game at or above a special price point to receive something exclusive.

If you cannot afford a copy, please help yourself.

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Robotic Hearts v0.5 [Free]

Robotic Hearts v0.5 [Free]:

Designed to be played in shorter action packed 'episodes'.  Players will get to build interesting characters both human and other, and pull off daring jobs to keep flying through this harsh universe.  This episodic style will encourage players to mix it up with both the characters they play and to maybe even try their hand at GameRunning. Please note it is still in an alpha testing phase, so please forgive the bland design. Looking forward to any feedback I get.

Download NowName your own price

Click download now to get access to the following files:

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This Is the End of the World [Free]

This Is the End of the World [Free]:

This Is The End Of The World is a mini-RPG for two players. You’ll need paper and pencil, or a document to type in, and two six-sided dice. Play is designed to take approximately five minutes.

In This Is The End Of The World, you will tell the story of the climactic battle between (super) man and monster that decides whether humans will survive the end of the world, or whether monsters will take over the ruins. Either could win, and winning isn’t the point as much as telling the story of an epic battle. The players should work together to create a dynamic and surprising encounter. After all, no one can predict what will happen when two beings with everything to lose face off.

Download NowName your own price

Click download now to get access to the following files:

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Haunting [$5.00]

Haunting [$5.00]:

Haunting is a two player game about a sentient House that wants to devour its Occupants. 

During play, the players will work together to create their story, documenting the time that the Occupant spends living in the House and telling the tale of how the House will inevitably becomes vacant once more.

The House is waiting…

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How will you play?

You'll create Occupants from prompts. 

As Occupants move in they will leave their mark through adding or changing rooms. But the House will push back, twisting these rooms in spooky ways. 

Player 1 (Occupant): the Gentlefolk add a ball room to host lavish parties. 

Player 2 (House): the guests complain of inexplicable voices

Player 1 (Occupant): the Gentlefolk blame old pipes and insist that the party continues

In turn, the House will haunt the Occupants.

Player 2 (House): every few days when the Author is in the library, the book shelves will start to shake, knocking books to the floor.

Player 1 (Occupant): the Author flees from the room

Player 2 (House): as they run, the bookshelves start to tip over like dominoes, and they only just make it out

Finally, together you decide this Occupant's fate, will they Fight, Flee or Fall to the House?

As you wait for a new Occupant you'll Rest, with music on and your eyes shut, until the next Occupant moves in and you repeat the process until your story is complete.

A spread from the pdf. The left page is a section is titled 'occupants' with simple art of portraits on a wall. The right page describes 'Act One' and 6 occupants that you can choose from.

Recording your story

The game asks you to keep a journal of the events as they unfold and record the changes to the house through a drawing of it.

You can draw one from scratch yourself or use the printable House template we've included:

Haunting House Template

Using sound

During play, you will prompted to listen to some small audio tracks as part of the game.  These tracks are currently under development and are due to be released as part of a future update. 

In the meantime, feel free to use the excellent audio composed for the game Artefact by Jack Harrison. These tracks were created by the talented Christopher Michael Roberts and they work well for this game.

You can find them here: https://theartefact.vercel.app

Alternatively, feel free to use your own eerie music.

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What will you need?

  • Two players that are feeling spooky.
  • A couple of hours.
  • Some eerie ambient music
  • A safe place to play in dim light.
  • A way to document your story in words.
  • Something to draw with.
  • Snacks!

Acknowledgements

Haunting is based on the Lost & Found SRD and inspired by games like:

You Might Also Like

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In order to download this Haunted House RPG you must purchase it at or above the minimum price of $5 USD. You will get access to the following files:

Support this Haunted House RPG at or above a special price point to receive something exclusive.

If you want to play Haunting but are experiencing financial hardship, please claim one of these free copies of the game.

Every purchase of Haunting will add two new Community Copies to the pool for someone to claim.

YOU ARE A WIZARD [$3.00]

YOU ARE A WIZARD [$3.00]:

welcome one and all to YOU ARE A WIZARD, the next generation of RPG. discover cash money whimsy and magic as you traipse around made up places a living world filled with suckers regular people. you'll play as a wizard, a bastard shithead nasty dude an incredibly inteligent and sophisticated keeper of the arcane arts, capable of commanding awesome power and altering the fabric of reality maybe. together you'll have fun (huh??), go on grand adventures (what the fuc, and maybe, learn the meaning of friendship and magic (i have no idea what game youre playign)

within this hallowed text ye shall find:

  • 24 (read 'em, twenty-four) pages rendered in full high-definition color (and a plaintext version)
  • a strong, versatile and innovative rules-lite system built to handle up to infinity players at once (this is definitely a correct and true claim)
  • 8 (nine?) CURSEBOOKS, which are like playbooks but worse better
  • at least 22 (twenty-three?) different wizards, each with a unique name and magic artifact and hand-illustrated by yours truly
  • my fursona 
  • w

so what are you waiting for??? let's get to committign crimes wizarding!

<hr></hr>

this "Game" was written for the #MSPaintJam hosted by Iam Yusem

if you end up actually playing this, first off: how?? second off, tell me how it went :] thanks for reading this far

In order to download this "Game" you must purchase it at or above the minimum price of $3 USD. You will get access to the following files:

Support this "Game" at or above a special price point to receive something exclusive.

If you are interested in playing but don't have the budget for it, claim a community copy for free, or shoot me a DM here or on Twitter! Every copy of the game purchased at or above the set price also donates a community copy, as well as directly helps out an artist.

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FAR Beyond [Free]

FAR Beyond [Free]: MS Paint TTRPG Jam submission
FAR Beyond

Midnight Feast [Free]

Midnight Feast [Free]:

You're a first year student at Wumblesnorts school of witchcraft and wizardry. Every year the teachers hold a great feast and no one else is invited! But not this year, this year you and your friends are going to steal the food and hold an epic all night party in your dorm intead!

A pen and paper rpg for 2+ people

Download NowName your own price

Click download now to get access to the following files:

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Mud: A Golem Memoir [$6.00]

Mud: A Golem Memoir [$6.00]:

Play out the story of a golem from the moment of its creation to its final days. Mud draws on the mythology of the golem, an animated construct from Jewish folklore, to tell a story about queer and Jewish identity and the experience of feeling out of place in your own body.

Mud includes guided choices and activity prompts designed for a solo reader (or to be read with a close friend). These activities have very light roleplaying elements. 

We invite you to give it a try and treat the book as either a story or a game, as you see fit.

Want a physical version?

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The book is a black-and-white, richly-illustrated staple-bound zine. It's a total of 36 pages, and printed locally in Northampton, Massachusetts.

You can buy a physical copy from our website here!

Content warning: This story contains imagery suggestive of self harm. Please take care.

In order to download this zine you must purchase it at or above the minimum price of $6 USD. You will get access to the following files:

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ECOPUNK: 2044 ^

ECOPUNK: 2044 ^: Click here to view ECOPUNK: 2044
ECOPUNK: 2044 is a cybernoir RPG aiming to inspire stories and activism about climate change. Become a Punk and fight the Death Spiral. - [und;12,300 goal]

Monday 27 September 2021

Mimic Mansion / $5.00

Mimic Mansion / : Publisher: SnakeBones Games

You are a MIMIC; you must break into the MANSION and eat the SACRED GEM.

A one-shot ttrpg for 3-4 players and a moderator, with art by Jason Colter. 

Mimic MansionPrice: $5.00

Heretic / $3.00

Heretic / : Publisher: Tibbius

WE ARE A TEAM. WE HOLD THE LINE. But one of us has compromised with Them, the paranormal entities we investigate, contain, and suppress. One of us is a Heretic - a person with unimaginable power, marked by weirdness, doomed and dangerous, someone we can't trust.

24XX game.

What will a demon do for you, under the gun? What's the price that you'll pay for its service? Do you remember your mission, Agent?

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I've been interested for a while in games about eldritch horror and paranormal entities - games where "magic" was something frightening and dangerous, not just a list of reality macros to be run by rote. Investigative games also tickle my fancy. In media, I liked the themes of X-Files and Warehouse 13 and Eureka as well as It and Magicians and Grail. I also like the premise of Paranoia RPG, and really enjoyed the play-by-post game of it I lurked on. But I noticed that the game I watched used Risus to run faster and wackier than the original rules could enable.

Simplicity in game design, with any involved mechanics being targeted right to a central theme, is always good. That's why I based this game on the 24XX engine.

The "Sanity" mechanic in Call of Cthulhu is well-intended, but I don't think is sensitively named and also just isn't quite impactful enough for my tastes. I wanted something more immediate in effect. I also, convergently, wanted a way to make "magic" available to the players' characters but expensive in a very meta-gamey way that the players, as well as the characters, would notice. So I came up with the Composure die in Heretic. It's kind of like a usage die for paranormal interactions, whether that's the eponymous Heretic bending reality, or the other characters trying to invoke or abjure an entity. When it runs out ... your mind gets eaten. You don't have to simulate any kind of mental illness or neurochemical imbalance or delusion or whatever. You're just done.

The rest of the game hangs on the Composure die and provides a context for players to make decisions about what their characters will do, as well as a solid reason for all the characters to work as a team: because they are a team, employed by the government, with a specific mission to enact in each episode. In that context, it seemed interesting to have one of the players (or possibly an NPC) be a Heretic, a traitor to the team who's cut a deal with an entity in order to attain supernal powers. That concept sprang directly from Jason Tocci's 2400: Codebreakers, in combination with the aforesaid Paranoia RPG.

HereticPrice: $3.00

Prairie Gunfighter / $1.00

Prairie Gunfighter / : Publisher: Better Games

Rugged Individualism distilled to a perfect roleplay form.

A two-page set of rules to run Theater of the Mind western themed tales with simplicity and balance. Are you fast enough or clever enough to survive.

Welcome to the Wild West. Frontier life is a struggle, and the characters chase the dream of riches, be that as leaders of the burgeoning towns or as downright outlaws.

Play with absolute realism or as a stylized adventure.

Prairie GunfighterPrice: $1.00