In 2021 I started keeping track of all the ttrpgs I play in a recfile database.
Learn more at https://git.tilde.town/dozens/gamelog
Tales of Athas is a game of D&D that I started playing 2023-11-17 as a Player. It is a in person Campaign and is currently Ongoing.
Here’s how it went!
an in person campaign with the old vulcamonos gang!
can’t believe it.
very excite.
some real mad max / dune / acid death fantasy kind of world building from Keegs,
which is really cool.
good for him.
there’s a huge, cracked, blistering sun;
and two moons
(they have names and everything but i didn’t write them down).
there are 9-ish ‘islands’ of earth in a ‘sea’ of loose sand,
so despite being in an unforgiving desert,
there’s lots of nautical imagery.
different crafts that can sail on the silt sea.
we started out in prison with no items.
as cliche as meeting in a tavern,
but fun.
we felt underpowered and desperate.
i’m playing a lovable rogue based on dolly parton.
her name is jolly pardon.
she grew up dirt poor in a one-room cabin in the (hills).
one day she was spotted by a traveling (prince) who was enchanted by her singing.
he whisked her off of to the court of the petty warlord,
where she grew very popular.
her nemesis Dolene, however, grew jealous of her
and spread rumors to besmirch her reputation.
Dolene was eventually successful and the warlord tossed Jolly out of the court.
In our session, we broke out of gladiator’s prison,
crossed the city,
and made it to Shatterglass,
an abandoned obsidian mine and outpost of the Veiled Alliance,
an organization dedicated to freeing the slave cities of Athas.
We found what was left of my crew there.
Zax was a husk.
his mind had been wiped.
And the others had been dragged deeper into the mines.
Following the trails,
we found a strange tableau.
Thri-keen eggs had been arranged around the bodies
of Verin and Zara.
As we approached, a horror burst from the ground and attacked us.
So yeah!
Super excited!
It’s been about 8 years we determined
since we’ve all played together.
and Keegs is a super crafty dm.
There are battle maps and minis,
and he gives everybody dossiers for character sheets and notes,
and sometimes he crafts huge stage pieces for the map.
it’s all really quite impressive.
Small Medium Large is a game of Troika! that I started playing 2023-02-09 as a DM. It is a Discord Voice Oneshot and is currently Complete.
Here’s how it went!
First time playing with the Aftermathematicians!
Ran a game for Enki, Tuesday, Dril, and Lofi.
We played Small Medium Large, winner of the 2022 one-page dungeon contest.
https://www.dungeoncontest.com/
Been a while since I played some Troika. Good times.
We had a lawyer, a sorcerer of friends, a dwarf, and a gremlin catcher.
Camp Spookypants is a game of Sleepaway that I started playing 2022-10-27 as a Player. It is a discord + jamboard Campaign and is currently Ongoing.
Here’s how it went!
Update 2023-01-26: from Pathfinder to a game with no real rules or objectives: my irl group had a hard time adjusting to this.
it didn’t help that we took 2 weeks 3 months! off from
between sessions: we all forgot a lot from the last time we played.
but we settled into the groove, and i think everybody had a really good time!
I play songleader Oleander. I rekindled a friendship with the ropeskeeper, and ended one with the lifeguarder after accidentally injuring a camper.
Holiday Oneshot is a game of D&D that I started playing 2023-01-18 as a Player. It is a live and in person! Oneshot and is currently Complete.
Here’s how it went!
Played a live and in person game for the first time ever! (Since before pandemic)
Work friends: C. (DM), EH (bard), EK (artificer) A. (bard), and M (geomancer (druid)). and Me (bard).
3/5 of the party was bards! It was bard-tastic!
I played Barumpa Pumpum, the lizardfolk College of Creation bard.
https://tiny.tilde.website/@dozens/109706687499993446
They were a little hillbilly, a little redneck. Straight from the swamp. A little uncouth.
We had to go save Santa from (spoilers) Cleff Tezos, who wanted his company, The Nile, to be the sole supplier of Christmas Toys. So he made a big old evil Robosanta to go on a rampage in the North Pole.
Structure was great. Like, 85% puzzles and 15% combat.
We had to find a key, a code, and an RFID card do get into Santa’s Palace. That was the puzzle part.
During the final part, there was a dance-off mechanic that the DM came up with before realizing that the part was 60% bards.
Anyway, super fun. Haven’t gotten to play 5e as a player in a while. Good times.
Hopefully I get to play with this group some more in the future.
planar nexus is a game of 1400 that I started playing 2023-01-16 as a Player. It is a live text Adventure and is currently Ongoing.
Here’s how it went!
Played a tibbius game with sean.
I’m playing Orrowyss the Haunted, a spirit mage. A portal to the spirit realm exposed Orrowyss to otherworldly energies. They are followed by the sound of tinkling bells. They wear an ancient amulet, and a faceless mask (it has two black eyes, and a black vertical line through each eye running the length of the mask) when channeling spirits from the spirit realm. Their familiar takes the form of a small but vicious dog.
Me and Sindie were sent to run off some ratfolk bandits. We tracked them to their caves, and they promised to leave the humans alone if we cleared out the caves of the presense.
good fun!
Update 2023-01-23: Got a little further into the dungeon. Fought off some vines and a woozy trippy room. Found some loot and some tech that might active a Portal
Update 2023-01-30: Fought a spooky spider and got kind of roughed up. Made it to the portal room. But still missing 2 glyff balls. Got to turn into a Ghost Form, and then switch back and do some stabs. That was pretty awesome.
Newton Handle is a game of Quarrel & Fable that I started playing 2023-01-04 as a Player. It is a live text Campaign and is currently Ongoing.
Here’s how it went!
sean is running me and tibbius through a dungeon!
i am playing Cali Copperpot from Castiron Sworn.
we played a quick 90 minute sesh this morning and did some exploring.
I rolled all 1s during character creation!
Cali gonna dieeee
https://seanfsmith.itch.io/quarrel
https://quarrel-fable.carrd.co/
Update 2023-01-10 Played another sesh this morning. Cleared level 1. Fought a giant butcher. Sidestepped the boss, a mopey goth cenobite. Levelled up.
Update 2023-01-24 Sean ran almost the exact same exploding corpse encounter for us that Tibbs ran for us in Planar Nexus! 🤣
36 Corollaries of Lisergia is a game of Lisergia that I started playing 2021-10-05 as a Player. It is a Solo Campaign and is currently Ongoing.
Here’s how it went!
jotting this down to get it in the logs.
i started playing Lisergia with a mishmash of systems and oracles a while back. Don’t play it super often, but still think about it and return to it sometimes. It’s dreamy and surreal and groovy and nice.
https://capacle.itch.io/lisergia
<gemini://tilde.town/~dozens/corollaries/>
Castiron Sworn is a game of Ironsworn that I started playing 2023-01-02 as a Player. It is a Solo Campaign and is currently Ongoing.
Here’s how it went!
sinatra inspired me to read Ironsworn, which I had been meaning to do anyway for a long time.
It looks really rad!
I made a character and ran her through an encounter and it was really fun. Different. Combat was very cinematic. Treating the battle as a progress meter that you can test to see if it’s complete is a totally different feel than just attacking a sack of hit points.
I liked it a lot. I’m going to keep playing!
cleric+thief is a game of Brighter Worlds that I started playing 2022-08-30 as a Player. It is a solo Campaign and is currently Ongoing.
Here’s how it went!
Playing a solo game of Brighter Worlds!
It is super fun!
https://awkwardturtle.itch.io/brighter-worlds
http://tilde.town/~dozens/clericthief/
Basement Quest is a game of Shoes In The Dark that I started playing 2021-07-13 as a DM. It is a email play by post Campaign and is currently Ongoing.
Here’s how it went!
This game is the cat’s pajamas. it’s the bee’s knees.
It is a play-by-post game on the tildepals email list.
We’ve had a lot of people dropping in and dropping out, but it is mostly just sinatra and mio playing, and me facilitating. And it is an absolute blast so far.
We are playing the postcard-sized Shoes in the Dark rules, which immensely support the free-wheeling, rules-light style of play we’ve naturally adopted.
https://dozens.itch.io/shoes-in-the-dark
http://tilde.town/~dozens/quest/
Good Buy, Cruel World is a game of Brindlewood Bay that I started playing 2022-10-26 as a DM. It is a discord voice, jamboard Oneshot and is currently Complete.
Here’s how it went!
Boy I struggle mightily with Brindlewood Bay. It is such a challenging game to run. There’s no guidance for how to play the characters. The clues that pop up lead the fiction in weird directions, and as the facilitator you’re left holding the bag trying to give your players what they want when following up with questions. And at the end, there are so many red herrings and clues that don’t add up, and just.
The ending, the Theorize Move, is the most interesting and fun part of the game. But it rarely creates a narratively satisfying ending.
I also don’t know how to create tension or stakes in this game.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s fun.
I just feel like I gotta find a different system to run these characters and this story on.
BTW there’s no written evidence of this anywhere, but the second BB game we played was in March of this year. The first was in February. And this is the 3rd, seven months later in October
Anyway, the module was Good Buy, Cruel World by Michael van Fleet, and it was great. Everybody seemed to love mallwalking and being in the mall. This is the 2nd game i’ve played by van Fleet, the first one being Moon’s Shot, a oneshot for troika.
https://signalstation.itch.io/good-buy-cruel-world
Here’s a character sheet if you want to use it.
untitled is a game of plasma torch that I started playing 2022-09-30 as a Player. It is a discord live text Oneshot and is currently Complete.
Here’s how it went!
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/356977/Plasma-Torch-A-OnePage-RPG-of-Derelict-Spaceships
a one-on-one OHOS with tibbius
it was short and fun!
there are two parts to playing the game:
doing stuff: roll d6. +d6 if your background applies, +d6 if you can use your equipment. 5 - 6 = success, 1 - 4 = fail.
resource die: if you fail, roll d8. 1 - 2 = step down your resource die to d4, and your resources are depleted. if you fail on a d4, you die, or whatever.
running the game looks super easy. there are tables for generating rooms and complications as you explore the derelict ship.
i think the resource die is a fascinating way to represent health and death and resources and depletion all in one handy little mechanic.
during the game, my character (Naylen, a rugged ex-convict with a crowbar) sneaked in through an airlock onto an abandoned, derelict pleasure cruiser to find some loot. they struggled a little bit to get the airlock to work, but then made their way into the hallway and down into a medical bay. (which was locked, but Nalyen guessed the password; it was 1234.)
inside the medical bay, he was confronted with some kind of tentacular eldrich horror / medical experiment. it crushed him and ripped his space suit, but he bopped it with his crowbar and got away.
and then we had to stop
two thumbs up, would play again!
tibbius said he’d be interesting in adapting the system to some kind of fantasy dungeon crawler, and i agree that would be fun.
Boneheads is a game of Adventure Skeletons that I started playing 2022-09-08 as a DM. It is a discord live sesh Oneshot and is currently Complete.
Here’s how it went!
one of my players no-showed during our regular D&D campaign so we busted out a quick onepage rpg
https://gshowitt.itch.io/adventure-skeletons
i’ve been wanting to play this one for quite some time because it looks silly and ridiculous.
Our characters were Vinnie, a sadistic former garbage collector with a vengeance streak a mile wide; Snak, a former orc; and xxx, who used to have a gambling problem.
The skeletons surfaced near a busy crossroads and encountered a shepherd who kicked Vinnie in the pelvis. Snak scared him off, and he ran away with his sheep, vowing to report them to the Visiting Lord.
They regrouped in a nearby barn where they found a shrine to the Visiting Lord. They took apart a goat, Vinnie wearing its pelvis and one of its legs, xxx wearing its head as a hand.
The sweet little old farm lady came by and, confusing the skeletons for her long lost Eustice, offered them soup and redemption. But they knifed her to death anyway.
Bert the farmhand stumbled upon the scene and hit Snak in the pelvis with a shovel, knocking her to pieces. They took out Bert, stole a horse, and burned down the barn.
They came up with a two part plan: vengeance on the shepherd boy, and confront the Visiting Lord.
Snak put on a disguise and pretended to be Clarissa, the milkmaid for whom the boy pines. While he was distracted, xxx appeared on horseback and Vinnie leaped down from above and sent the boy, his love unrequited, into the wild blue yonder with one swift kick to the crotch with his +1 Pelvis Kicking Boots.
Now all well disguised, they ventured into the village and found the Church of the Visiting Lord. They confronted him, and he turned out to be Eccentric Kevin, a fellow skeleton and frenemy from the wizard’s dungeon.
They put Kevin’s skull on display on the church as a religious symbol and mouthpiece for their agenda, began to rotate through the role of the Visiting Lord themselves, and started to tax their congregants heavily.
Amassing wealth and spreading their new religion became their new mission.
Cap’n Mushroom and the Case of the Red Slipper is a game of none/fkr that I started playing 2022-08-09 as a Player. It is a live text Oneshot and is currently Complete.
Here’s how it went!
a quick true fkr game with me and erika, sean running
mad fun.
https://sean-f-smith.medium.com/the-case-of-the-red-slipper-f99872ab7078
erika played Maelo, a tomb raider / cat burglar with a bit of razzle dazzle magic.
I was Cinder, a grizzled sell-sword who has agreed to do just ONE more job so he can retire and be a mushroom farmer. He’s is also a former beloved child actor, star of Li’l Fatso’s Jamboree.
We were called in to investigate the gruesome murder of Baron von Leffe’s squire. They were besieged by bandits out on the road. The Baron escaped, but the boy was skewered by arrows and had his right arm cleaved off and absconded with! The latest in a string of arm thefts.
Cinder and Maelo quickly established a great Watson/Holmes dynamic, and discovered that the wounds from the arrows display necrotization consistent with the Red Slipper mushroom that grows in the graveyard.
In a cut scene, the two set up a trust and a will so that in the event of their unfortunate demise, the Li’l Fatso Memorial Mushroom Farm will be established to teach children the joys of composting.
Sean pointed out afterwards that there were no dice rolls whatsoever, which I find delightful.
dragonflyd6 is a game of Dragonfly D6 that I started playing 2022-07-18 as a Player. It is a live text Oneshot and is currently Hiatus.
Here’s how it went!
almost forgot about this one!
sean ran a game of dragonfly d6 for me and tibbius
it is a cardless version of his very interesting insect horror survival with a solitaire card game mechanic, exuviae
https://seanfsmith.itch.io/exuviae
the first playlogs can be found on medium:
https://sean-f-smith.medium.com/play-report-dragonfly-d6-part-one-c8654b2f3a6f
in the second session, Sid and Midge arrive at the Angles house, and shit goes immediately sideways.
Sid heads in to talk with speak with Isolde Angles who behaved and moved most unnatural.
Meanwhile Midge tried to sneak around the side of the house but got covered in eggs, and then chased by the mosquito-stuffed skin suit of Mick the dispatcher.
Sid eventually came to her rescue as Miss Donnelly climbed out of the cab.
It was a total horror show. Midge was not in control. It was really fun!
Zigs and Dragons is a game of D&D 5e that I started playing 2021-12-03 as a Player. It is a Roll20 + Discord Series and is currently Dead.
Here’s how it went!
Zig’s first time DM-ing! A series of oneshots on a mysterious island. Getting to play with Alex again is fun. The characters escalate from session to session from level 3 to 6 to 9 etc. Have played two so far. Having a lot of fun playing and getting to make new characters all the time.
Update 2022-02-16: Been continuing to play this and enjoy it. It’s been nice watching Zigs come into his own as a DM. It’s been just man and Jaybee playing lately. Miss playing with the others, but it’s also fun with just the two of us. I’ve played a different character each time, slowly building out the sprawling family tree.
Update 2022-08-30: Moving this to dead. Game fizzled out after some tensions at the table escalated.
Anvil (Homebrew) is a game of Smithy of Sacrilege that I started playing 2021-06-01 as a Player. It is a Play by Post Campaign/Open Sandbox and is currently Dead.
Here’s how it went!
A hack of Tunnel Goons by Nate Smith. Very fun original world, hex crawly open sandbox. You can get a lot done even with hyper minimal rules
https://seanfsmith.itch.io/puffin
Update 2022-02-11: Still going strong! Sean just recruited some new players to breathe some new life into the game. We abandoned the spooky haunted house which we learned is actually just a front for an arms smuggler. Then we decided to go climb an anti-crater!
Update 2022-08-30 Moving this to dead. Haven’t had any movement on it in quite some time.
Guardians of the Shadow Frontier is a game of Tricube Tales that I started playing 2022-08-23 as a Player. It is a discord text Oneshot and is currently Complete.
Here’s how it went!
tibbius is running a game for me and brine and sean.
I’m playing Toobin, a sneaky little bastard with preternatural senses, and who is often greedy. Joining Toobin are Khedera (sean), an agile sentinel who’s quick and too often vainglorious; and Syfas (brine), an agile seer who can manipulate elements with a touch but can be blinded by vengeance.
We came across a body by a waterfall, discovered that it had been killed by an archer while waiting for a lover’s tryst. Took the body back to the village. People were sad about it :(
And that’s about all we had time for in this OHOS. We didn’t have time for a OHMOS. So we’ll play again next week.
Did a lot more roleplay than Getting Stuff Done. Found out that Toobin is superstitious, and shy around people who aren’t Guardians.
Tricube is fun. Never heard of it before Tibbius suggested it. Excited to explore further the karma/resolve + quirk/perk mechanics. I kind of like the meta token currency.
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/294202/Tricube-Tales
Update 2022-09-28 I missed a couple games due to being out of town. But now I’m back. Tibbius is … what’s the ttrpg term for distro hopping? We ditched tricube for Quarrel & Fable, which he then hacked into his own “Test Metal”.
https://seanfsmith.itch.io/quarrel
https://tibbiusgames.itch.io/tst-mtl
I missed the entire fight with the ‘mirror wolves’, but dropped back in just in time to pick back up the original murdered lover mystery, which is exactly where i left off.
Brine left the game, sean i think got busy with something else, so it was just me and tibbs, which was just fine
Orion Valentine is a game of Thousand Year Old Vampire that I started playing 2022-07-16 as a Player. It is a journal Oneshot and is currently Complete.
Here’s how it went!
Been meaning to play this one for a while. The catalyst for doing it is that I think my players in my D&D game might at some point soon go meet a powerful vampire NPC. And I wanted them to have a compelling and complete backstory. And now they do! It was a wild ride. It ended up turning Valentine into kind of a wretched thing. Not a proud, beautiful creature, but a desperate, damaged, and unhealthy one. I’d like to play it again, at least one more time. I felt like I didn’t grok it enough to create much continuity or connection across prompts. I had resources and skills, but wasn’t often able to use them effectively. That’s probably on me. Next time! 5 out of 5, would play again.
a game of trophy gold is a game of Trophy Gold that I started playing 2022-06-29 as a Player. It is a live text Oneshot and is currently Dead.
Here’s how it went!
An ongoing series of live text play on discord. Technically a oneshot, i guess? But spread out over 1 - 2 hours of text here and there on discord.
It’s a Sean game with eskur, 7th Outpost, and wendi. (wendi couldn’t make it this time tho)
I’m playing Ifori, who is basically a cleric of a small god from Brighter Worlds. And who is also basically a less monstrous version of Bbblippt from Wicked Ones. She has a small turnip-like creature that she believes is an infant god. It gives her access to rituals at least.
This game, we escaped and immolated some kind of sucking flesh tree, and then desecrated a shrine to some evil earth deity and then killed one of its priests.
And that was about it! Short and sweet.
First time playing Trophy Gold. The stress mechanic feels the same as from Cthulhu Dark. I like it. Makes things feel risky and scary, and that you’re constantly on the edge of doom and disaster. Kind of like the token meta-currency. Haven’t gotten a chance to actually use it yet.
Lichway is a game of Old School Essentials that I started playing 2022-06-10 as a Player. It is a discord voice Oneshot and is currently Complete.
Here’s how it went!
played some OSE with sean and the gang. played a human thief named Myla Wygarthe (thanks dmheroes). played very fkr style: there were no rolls at all. very system agnostic. we had some fun searching a spooky dungeon for the dark enchantress.
facing the titan is a game of Facing the Titan that I started playing 2022-06-04 as a Player. It is a miro + discord voice Oneshot and is currently Complete.
Here’s how it went!
This was a Swords Without Masters game, the first of which I’ve played. Played with eskur, fergus, and hoid.
Very interesting system. GM-less, narrative, storytelling. Lots of fun. Interesting use of setting tones, and then freeform story telling.
unique d21 tables: roll d66, and the low roll is the tens and the high roll is the ones.
played for 2 hours, didn’t get to finish. but really liked it. very unique to the kinds of game i usually play.
13 Story Bizarre is a game of Troika! that I started playing 2021-04-29 as a DM. It is a Play By Post Oneshot and is currently Complete.
Here’s how it went!
Originally supposed to be a really quick adventure with my core Troika pbp group, but has been slogging along for months now. I’m about to just end it so we can move on to something else.
https://brick-road.itch.io/13-story-bazaar
Update 2022-05-12 The game is complete! Blessed Lytton, Dear Labolas, Precious Frondella
Nyolibhotep’s sewers is a game of maze rats that I started playing 2022-04-17 as a Player. It is a discord live text Oneshot and is currently Complete.
Here’s how it went!
finally got to play a game with sean!
short little 2 hour live text game on discord.
possibly my first maze rats ever.
i played a chisled chimneysweep hippie, and we went down into the sewers to find out what the cultists were doing with all the doubleslugs.
read the whole thing here:
https://sean-f-smith.medium.com/play-report-maze-rats-nyolibhoteps-sewers-1003d411c39f
Strixhaven is a game of D&D that I started playing 2022-02-21 as a DM. It is a roll20 + discord Campaign and is currently Complete.
Here’s how it went!
Strixhaven happen!
Background: my pathfinder group agreed to disband and reform as something else. Seems we were a little burned out on the game and needed a change. (I for one have complained to anybody who will listen about how much I hate Pathfinder!) So we decided to try something a little lighter and light-hearted and we went back to 5e D&D and agreed to try Strixhaven: Curriculum of Chaos. Former DM gets to play, I get to DM, and we finally had our first session.
Chierce showed up having not made a character and decided to just lurk quietly and watch, which was both totally okay but also kind of weird.
Our planned cadence is ~1.5 hrs twice a week. We’ll see if we stick to it.
We got one third of the way through the first 3-part session. We might get through the next two parts next sesh.
Anyway, cool, new game! Super fun!
Update 2022-03-16: Second session went so much better! Threw out a bunch of the rules. Made the rolls a bunch more simple. Players actually solved the mystery, Got a couple glimpses into the conspiracy. It was a hoot and a holler!
Update 2022-10-06: Finished the campaign! That was super fun!
Numenera is a game of 2-bit that I started playing 2021-10-31 as a Player. It is a Discord PBP Adventure and is currently Dead.
Here’s how it went!
gonna start a coin-flipping game with tibbius. gonna play a witchy person.
Update 2022-02-11: Moving this to dead. The story was really good. The system was surprisingly good. The gimmick is that you a special that you can invoke and it just happens. And then you flip a coin. Heads = you can continue to use your special. Tails = special is burned until recharged. Made for smoe really fun gameplay.
See more at https://tibbiusgames.itch.io/2-bit
To Kill A God is a game of Risus that I started playing 2021-08-24 as a Player. It is a Play by Post Campaign and is currently Dead.
Here’s how it went!
pbp on rpg.net with tibbius. Playing former child actor Sender, who is a blade for hire who just wants to retire and be a mushroom farmer, who is also haunted by the ghost of his dead twin brother who he absorbed in the womb, and who is also followed around by small woodland animals like a disney princess.
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/170294/Risus-The-Anything-RPG
Update 2022-02-11: Moving this to dead. Never could remember to go check rpg.net for updates. One of our players dropped, and it became not enough to keep the story going. sad! First time playing Risus, a game I’ve long wanted to try. Don’t feel like I ever got to really get a handle on it.
Acid Death Fantasy is a game of Troika that I started playing 2021-09-16 as a Player. It is a Play by Post Campaign and is currently Dead.
Here’s how it went!
Another more different ADF! Born of the APF server, but on another new server with Kunailby. Playing Gliftwirp, a sarong-fu master who is also basically the hamburglar
Update 2022-02-11: this game fizzled out. The second ADF Troika game I’ve played to do so! Too bad. I enjoyed the brief time that I got to create some McDonalds cosmology. Just for fun, here’s Gliftwirp expositing a little bit.
Gliftwirp bites into a burger that he swiped from somewhere, closes his eyes, and sighs happily.
“How grand that your falcon-headed god gave you his own sight as a boon! How grand that you can even know your god!”
“Sadly, my god grants no boons and answers no prayers. It is a long story with which I shall not tire you okay fine if you insist.”
He settles in to tell a story.
“Long, long ago, my god (whose name I cannot say for reasons you will soon understand) was a member of high stature in the Court of the God King. And his best friend and closest confidante was the court jester, Rhahn Ald. But their friendship would end in tragedy! Just listen and you will know why.”
“You see, Rhahn Ald, the trickster, had quietly and discreetly been stealing magical items from the king’s coffers, slowly, over the years, accumulating glamour that he used to increase his influence in the court, to weaken the God King’s mind and make him reliant on him. My god (whose name I cannot say) eventually found out and threatened to expose Rhahn Ald. So the mad jester framed his best friend, and easily convinced the God King of his guilt.”
“So as punishment, everything was stolen from my god, including his name. The Court of the God King will only allow him to be referred to as the Evil Nemesis. (Bit dramatic don’t you think?) He also had his handsome physique stolen from him: he now inhabits the form of a large, four-armed, purple worm. And he had his home and all his land stolen from him: he now resides in a damp cave. Most cruelly, he had his intellect stolen: he remains just barely aware of what he used to be, of what was taken from him. But his eloquence is gone. He is incapable of forming the words he needs to defend himself, or gather followers to his cause.”
Gliftwirp sighs sadly and nods. “My god was cursed and exiled because of the evil trickster god Rhahn Ald.”
“And in retribution for his wrongful suffering, his followers turn to holy acquisitions and righteous theft. Just as everything was taken from our beloved Evil Nemesis, so do we take and redistribute. And so we shall until he is redeemed and restored to his rightful place.”
Gliftwirp continues quietly to himself, under his breath, “Robble robble, Amen,” and takes another bite of his hamburger.
“I truly am happy that you get to know your falcon-headed god, Kiara. It is a gift I hope you won’t take for granted!”
Dad Overboard is a game of Brindlewood Bay that I started playing 2022-02-10 as a DM. It is a discord Oneshot and is currently Complete.
Here’s how it went!
okay so first of all this is a historic game because after years of inviting her to join me in my hobby, this is the first time pete agreed and actually joined. bittersweet: she did not have fun.
nor did i, to be honest. this was a very challenging game to run. i felt stressed out and frustrated the whole time. the clues were super vauge. it was hard to understand a new system, and the mystery, and also stay on top of helping people play their character. There was also a bunch of the game that I should have just thrown out because it was not applicable/appropriate for a one-shot. Also all of the clues are objects. There’s no way to have a clue come up in conversation without the person running away so they could find an object, or somehow describing the object for some reason.
I had two players (pete and ari) who had never played a game before, pete was kind of lost. i should have thrown out abilities and had a straight 2d6 roll.
that said, it was a great group. a real convergence of spheres.
I don’t know, i’d run it again. I imagine i’ll feel more prepared the second time around. the players (except for pete) all seemed to have fun
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/307416/Brindlewood-Bay
Arkham 1628 is a game of Cthulhu Dark that I started playing 2022-02-02 as a DM. It is a discord voice Oneshot and is currently Complete.
Here’s how it went!
Radsauce. Ran it with Carter, Hilary, and Jimmy. It went a bit over an hour, and the we finished it up in a bit over an hour the next day. Not positive I got all the rolls right, but the players seemed to have fun. I got a couple wtf moments out of them which seems like a success. I think there might need to be something said upfront about how the point of some of the weirdness is just that it is weird. That is, not every theme is a clue to the answer to the mystery. (Speaking directly of the puppet theme in this adventure.) There was interest in continuing with the othe mysteries in the text, so we might start that next week
Agents of Edgewatch is a game of Pathfinder that I started playing 2021-02-26 as a Player. It is a Roll20/Discord Campaign and is currently Dead.
Here’s how it went!
Pathfinder is everything I hate about ttrpgs. I only keep playing this because it’s the only way this particular friend group continues to get together, so I’ll probably keep playing it forever, hating the game and enjoying the company of my friends.
Update 2022-02-02: We killed this campaign as a group to try out something new. New system, new characters, new game. Inject some life and some fun into this struggling beast.
Ultraviolet Grasslands is a game of 2400 Exiles that I started playing 2021-12-29 as a Player. It is a discord voice Oneshot and is currently Complete.
Here’s how it went!
fun! eskur ran it, played with hat and wrongtube. never played 2400 before, that was fun. never played the UVG setting either. that was also fun. played in the Forest of Meat!
https://wizardthieffighter.itch.io/ultraviolet-grasslands-and-the-black-city-uvg
https://jasontocci.itch.io/2400
Quiet Midwinter is a game of D&D that I started playing 2021-12-28 as a DM. It is a discord + owlbear.rodeo Oneshot and is currently Complete.
Here’s how it went!
super good! ran for z and j. the premise was ‘Cheesy Hallmark Christmas movie for OSE’ and I think they pulled it off really well. Players arranged for the best ending possible: get /everybody/ to meet up at the docks: dinaz and lucretia to steal the ship (desperate move by L to get on the naughty list) both bounty hunters, yvette and midge, to capture dinaz and lucretia + bitter; winter and loss there, snow to arrange a romantic sleigh ride with Z and Loss… it was a beautiful chaotic mess that was super fun. five thumbs up.
https://r-rook.itch.io/ose-quiet-midwinter
yule homebrew is a game of Into the Odd that I started playing 2021-12-21 as a Player. It is a Owlbear Rodeo + Zoom oneshot and is currently Complete.
Here’s how it went!
another Kyle game! got to play with eskur and wendi and kim. first time playing into the odd. played Luna Saturday, dreamy moonchild with a cane. we ventured down below a giant tree, and prevented a goblin invasion. (Wendi stopped the ooze ritual and tossed a bomb into the mirror.)
Giraffe Wants Best Leaves is a game of Giraffe Wants Best Leaves that I started playing 2021-12-05 as a DM. It is a jitsi -> mumble (technical issuse) oneshot and is currently Complete.
Here’s how it went!
This was a first, made a little toy rpg (a lasers and feelings clone) and some tildepals wanted to play it, so I ran a game for nico and malvarma. fun little session!
http://tilde.town/~dozens/giraffe/
crapland 2 is a game of troika that I started playing 2021-11-05 as a Player. It is a Discord Jamboard Oneshot and is currently Complete.
Here’s how it went!
beautiful craptastic chaos at galgoricon 2021! Galgorian and Spooky Rusty ran a two table game with players constantly teleporting between the two locations before joining up at the final encounter. It was bonkers and fun. Big cast of characters, almost 12 players
Moon’s Shot is a game of Troika that I started playing 2021-09-09 as a DM. It is a Zoom Oneshot and is currently Complete.
Here’s how it went!
ran moon’s shot for alex, sparky, and jade. a good time was had by all. they did a capitalism, but for good
Moon’s Shot is a game of Troika that I started playing 2021-09-21 as a DM. It is a Discord Oneshot and is currently Complete.
Here’s how it went!
Did moon’s shot again but for the skookums-and-dragons crew. Zigs, Alex, and Jess. They murderhoboed the whole thing.
https://signalstation.itch.io/moons-shot
Garrets Ranch is a game of Cthulhu Dark that I started playing 2021-10-30 as a Player. It is a Zoom Oneshot and is currently Complete.
Here’s how it went!
Kyle ran us a game of Cthulhu Dark! Played with Josh and Mike and wendi. Investigate Garret’s Ranch in Fate, Texas. Everybody escaped intact and alive. A very simple but very flexible game. I liked how you can boost your roll with a cost with the insight die. And we did a good job of using the failure die once or twice. Occupation is really important and you can kind of cripple yourself if you pick something off like “uber driver” like josh did. Nobody took advantage of infinite rolls, and I think somebody suppressed insight only once. Which is all to say that for a rules light game, you kind of have to remember a lot. Anyway, it was fun!
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/98137/Cthulhu-Dark
Rockaway Beach is a game of Marvelous Mutations and Merry Musicians that I started playing 2021-06-12 as a Player. It is a Discord PBP Adventure and is currently Hiatus.
Here’s how it went!
wendi’s game of mmnmm. almost immediately fizzled out. might resume at some point?
https://wendiy.itch.io/marvelous-mutations-merry-musicians
Picket Line Tango is a game of Mothership that I started playing 2021-06-01 as a Player. It is a Play By Post Adventure and is currently Dead.
Here’s how it went!
Just started. Not much to report yet. Update 2021-10-31 Game stalled out really quickly, probably not going to pick back up
https://ian-yusem.itch.io/picket-line-tango
https://www.mothershiprpg.com/home
Wicked Friends is a game of Wicked Ones (Forged in the Dark) that I started playing 2021-04-29 as a Player. It is a Play By Post Campaign? and is currently Hiatus.
Here’s how it went!
Update 2021-10-31 on hiatus
https://banditcamp.io/wickedones/
Acid Death Fantasy is a game of Troika! that I started playing 2021-10-01 as a Player. It is a Play By Post Adventure and is currently Dead.
Here’s how it went!
Abandoned by gm after a valiant effort at keeping it going which is sad. Andy was one of the most creative and generous GMs ever, creating original playscii artwork for us, and providing us with groovy vintage vinal soundtracks.
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/331670/Acid-Death-Fantasy
Honey Rafters is a game of Mausritter that I started playing 2021-06-07 as a Player. It is a Foundry/Discord Oneshot and is currently Complete.
Here’s how it went!
Fun game! Surprisingly spooky. Quite lethal. Cursed sunflower = corrupted bees and candy cultists. Played with FKR discord folk.
https://losing-games.itch.io/mausritter-honey-in-the-rafters
Cocaine and Alligators: Florida Man Sphere is a game of Troika that I started playing 2021-05-23 as a Player. It is a zoom Oneshot and is currently Complete.
Here’s how it went!
Fun pick-up game from Melsonia discord. The game hilariously involves googling random Florida Man stories to create NPCs and encounters throughout the game. Could have honestly done without the whole police violence part in the middle. Good times overall though! I think this was my first time playing Troika in real time.
https://gordinaak.itch.io/cocaine-alligators
Dome Riders (Homebrew) is a game of Troika! that I started playing 2020-10-08 as a DM. It is a Play By Post Campaign and is currently Hiatus.
Here’s how it went!
One of the most tragic stories of 2021 both in-game and without. Epic setting dreamed up by GreyWarden, and then when they abondened the game, me and fraidy_cat and jade decided to keep playing by ourselves using a GM emulator. It was a great experiment in collaboration and self-government, and it was really going places. We have 22 pages of original setting content in a google doc. But then a huge in-game encounter killed our NPC leader and things never really recovered from that. Currently on infinite hiatus.
Storm King’s Thunder is a game of Dungeons & Dragons that I started playing 2020-04-02 as a DM. It is a Roll20/Discord Campaign and is currently Hiatus.
Here’s how it went!
My original long running D&D campaign with my original gaming group. Calling it ‘on hiatus’ is generous. It’s dead in the water. We haven’t played in a year. But I just can’t let it go.
So You’ve Been Thrown Down A Well is a game of Troika! that I started playing 2020-12-21 as a DM. It is a Play By Post Adventure and is currently Complete.
Here’s how it went!
So we started playing this one game and the the GM vanished, so I stepped in and turned it into So You’ve Been Thrown Down A Well, which was super fun. Highlight: the insectoid race who rules as written couldn’t speak, so in play-by-post, the communicated exclusively via emoji.
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/313219/So-Youve-Been-Thrown-Down-A-Well