Indie Rpgs - Tumblr Posts
Ever since I learned about the concept of the Philosopher King during a greek philosophy class I took in college, I've implemented something adjacent to my worldbuilding on multiple occasions. It doesn't pan out exactly like the original concept of a Philosopher King, but normally it goes like this:
The Players meet the beaurocratic leader of a people.This leader has a scholarly background, usually having been mentored by a missing/deceased/retired great thinker in their youth. The leader demonstrates this background by introducing the Players to an ethical or philosophical dilemma that they are both familiar with, asking the Player Characters how the problem ought to be solved. The Philosopher King then shares their own insights, revealing either a different, but respectable perspective or a cunning and tricky solution.
Throughout the story, the Philosopher King acts as a mostly benevolent wild card character. Sometimes I'll pit the Philosopher King against a BBEG counterpart, typically a generically evil monarch. When I do this, the Philosopher King runs circles around the monarch with their wit, but there are always a few quirks about their philosophy that concern the Players.
This might manifest into the Players questioning who is truly the "good guy" in the scenario, or whether or not they can actually trust the Philosopher King to not betray them in service of themselves, their people, or some other value made clearly important to the Philosopher King.
I'm sure this "niche trope" might just be a sub-category of an already well-documented one, but I think the ethical/philosophical angle adds an interesting dimension in TTRPGs. Because of Player Agency, Players can really sink their teeth into the implications of said philosophy in ways that a passive audience member cannot.
Finally, a new Beta is available!
I spoke about this a bit ago, but I was lucky to have some free time to power through a large part of d12Core. This new Beta is already an improvement, but still so much to do. I would love to hear what you think about it. It is free forever and might be a fun read while we are not at Gencon. More details on Itch.
It's all in the logo. Please help me out TTRPG Family.
I cannot decide.
Hello fellow TTRPG enthusiasts. I am looking for fun and interesting examples for the layout of random tables. I have looked at some of the books I own, but find they are mostly just boring tables straight out of excel. How can we make them look good while still giving all the info and keeping them usable? Has anyone some cool examples?
My hommage to the TV series Supernatural "Carry On" using 24XX is part of this fun Supernatural TTRPG bundle. There are 50 games here for 20 USD. It is the perfect time to get some games to peruse and prep at your leisure for Halloween! đ»
Today's mood : "Hand me an axe! Chopping to be done."
I am writing a Technicolour Post Apocalypse expansion for 6Q, it was going so well, and at almost 50 Pages my brain finally went: Hold it, 6Q doesn't need fully fleshed out item crafting, community upgrades or a bloody point crawl. So today is "kill your darlings" day. đȘ
Before I had four different random tables to generate the setting, plus the point crawl. Now it's one 6Q table. I had a core/body/mod crafting system with three d66 tables for parts. I even had three tables to generate characters. Why do you do this brain?
Chopped it all away and went back to what 6Q is all about: Answer six questions to play.
All that content will come back in some form, but not for basic 6Q. Not wasted effort, just not efficient effort.
Have any of you read 6Q already? It's free and just two pages. Would love to hear what you think, especially how you would like specific world and settings expansions to be presented.
Changes to d12 Core incoming
Hey everyone,
As many suspected, d12Core is evolving into "The Flux Engine."Â The polls in various online spaces helped me narrow down which direction to take, and "The Flux Engine" is the winner!Â
When the change happens, I will keep the d12 Core Itch page open "As is" but disable new downloads from there. I will set up an entirely new page for The Flux Engine. I struggled a lot with this decision as people who already have d12Core will be disconnected from TFE. But I haven't found a way to switch the Itch page to a new name while keeping the old links all over the web active and working. So a new page it is. Lesson learned!
With the change, the latest Beta 1.14 will be released and bring some significant improvements:
Revamped character creation with Origins and Archetypes
More dynamic combat using the enhanced Zones system
Expanded rules for group challenges and conflicts
Refined Adrenaline and Bond mechanics for more dramatic moments
Many examples
Based on your feedback, I've kept the core of what made d12Core fun while refining the system. The Flux Engine aims to be more flexible, inclusive and approachable, whether you're exploring ancient ruins, dodging asteroids or navigating futuristic cityscapes.
Stay tuned for more details and the official release date! You can also keep in touch with all the latest on Discord.
As a teaser, here is a sneak preview of the new cover style:
Changes to d12 Core incoming
Hey everyone,
As many suspected, d12Core is evolving into "The Flux Engine."Â The polls in various online spaces helped me narrow down which direction to take, and "The Flux Engine" is the winner!Â
When the change happens, I will keep the d12 Core Itch page open "As is" but disable new downloads from there. I will set up an entirely new page for The Flux Engine. I struggled a lot with this decision as people who already have d12Core will be disconnected from TFE. But I haven't found a way to switch the Itch page to a new name while keeping the old links all over the web active and working. So a new page it is. Lesson learned!
With the change, the latest Beta 1.14 will be released and bring some significant improvements:
Revamped character creation with Origins and Archetypes
More dynamic combat using the enhanced Zones system
Expanded rules for group challenges and conflicts
Refined Adrenaline and Bond mechanics for more dramatic moments
Many examples
Based on your feedback, I've kept the core of what made d12Core fun while refining the system. The Flux Engine aims to be more flexible, inclusive and approachable, whether you're exploring ancient ruins, dodging asteroids or navigating futuristic cityscapes.
Stay tuned for more details and the official release date! You can also keep in touch with all the latest on Discord.
As a teaser, here is a sneak preview of the new cover style:
For too long, the world of indie roleplaying has been beset by ANIMAL CRIME.
It's time to clean up these indie roleplaying streets. And the only way to tackle ANIMAL CRIMINALS ... is with ANIMAL LAWYERS.
I'm making my Twitch streaming debut (đ±) on 23 June with Actual Play UK, in a game of Maddy Searle's I'm Not Lion, a game where you play animals who think they're lawyers, and the more animal puns you use, the more convincing the judge and jury will find you!
I'm playing Crawl Newman, an ambitious snake prosecutor who's determined to make partner, whatever that means??
I got to play Grant Howitt's Fucked Up Little Man at the last Indiemeet / London Indie RPG Meetup! I have never played a darksouls so every choice I made in this game was influenced by cultural osmosis. My fucked up little guy was a tooth enthusiast with a wet cough who knew a lot of gross and dangerous shortcuts. And I took the record for fastest death of The Damned One â I tried diving straight back into the acid pit we crawled out of post-resurrection and rolled a 1, perishing immediately
And I was pretty proud of the map area I drew, a broken staircase guarded by a phalanx of soldier mummies! Drawing is not a skill I've put a lot of points into, but maps are stylised and so is Dark Souls, and that helped, and I feel like I found creative ways round my own constraints
My game Vampire Cowboys, with layout by Max Briar, is part of the My First TTRPG Bundle! Great if you want a silly genre one-pager AND to support new game designers!