TTRPGs 2023
First game of the year!
Hanukkah Goblins by Max Fefer (HydroForge)
https://hydroforge.itch.io/hanukkahgoblins
New game. New group. First time finishing a one shot game or adventure in one session. Good times!
Truly chaotic, wholesome, educational, and fun!
#TTRPG #IndieTTRPG #HanukkahGoblins #goblins #TTRPGs2023
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TTRPGs 2023
Game no. 2
Liminal Horror by Goblin Archives
https://goblinarchives.itch.io/liminal-horror
"Liminal Horror bring adaptable modern horror to TTRPGs. It is a rules-lite, fail forward system that leverages creative problem solving in order to create memorable experiences at the table. Players act as 'investigators' navigating a modern world full of terrible and unknowable horrors."
"It is a modern horror hack of Yochai Gal's Cairn"
#TTRPG #IndieTTRPG #LiminalHorror #GoblinArchives #TTRPGs2023
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TTRPGs 2023
Game no. 3
Bloodless by @Ennio_Goes
https://ennio-goes.itch.io/bloodless-ttrpg
A bloody brilliant Vampire Survival Solo RPG powered by Caltrop Core
Review thread: https://dice.camp/@SebrinaCalkins/109650943564366535
Complete Playthrough thread: https://dice.camp/@SebrinaCalkins/109592478818230193
Caltrop Core: https://titanomachyrpg.itch.io/caltropcore
#TTRPG #IndieTTRPG #Bloodless #Ennio #TTRPGs2023 #CaltropCore
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TTRPGs 2023
Game no. 4
Tunnel Goons by Nate Treme/ Highland Paranormal Society
https://natetreme.itch.io/tunnelgoons
Elegantly simple, fun, & begging to be pulled apart & put together in infinite awesome ways & have fun things made for it
"Tunnel Goons is a simple table-top role-playing game...It's a light weight 2d6 system that can be applied to many different genres and settings."
Thread about the first session: https://dice.camp/@SebrinaCalkins/109651469061689467
#TTRPG #IndieTTRPG #TunnelGoons #NateTreme #TTRPGs2023
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TTRPGs 2023
Game no. 5
Much That is Good and All that is Evil by Jeeyon Shim
I have had truly had a delightful time playing this delightful solo game honouring and condemning the seagull/ gull as a journaling game, and will make a point of playing it quicker and dirtier, as intended. This time as an urban seagull.
This convinced me to back their Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/jeeyonshim/
Much That is Good and All that is Evil by Jeeyon Shim: https://www.patreon.com/posts/75590441
Game no. 6
Electric Bastionland by Chris McDowall
https://chrismcdee.itch.io/electric-bastionland
"Bastion - The Electric Hub of Mankind
The only city that matters. Too big to fall, too complicated to function. A mess of alleyways, legalese and crowds. Aliens, Mockeries and People always in your way and your business
Everybody’s here
Everything is here"
I had the best time playing this & the truly bizarre, eclectic & fun bit of #OSR with some of the best background flavour I've seen in a #TTRPG
Game no. 7
Brindlewood Bay by @jasoncordova6/ The @gauntletrpg
Mystery-solving old femmes in a quiet, British seaside town with cozy Cthulhu vibes.
A truly glorious game I left the table wanting to play, run and write more!
I had the most wonderful time playing as a maven for the first time with the absolutely fabulous Philippa Mort, playtesting her partner's mystery.
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/410316/Brindlewood-Bay-Kickstarter-Edition?affiliate_id=1507682 (affiliate link)
Game no. 8
Lichoma: A Meatpunk TTRPG by Strega Wolf van den Berg/ Bogfolk
It was truly an honour to play with members of Bogfolk and @plusoneexp @KeganExe on stream as a fucked up little gal, blow up people and carnival rides, and guaranteed a nightmare clown with a balloon string.
Plus One Exp Actual Play:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbLAte5PUY0
Lichoma On Kickstarter:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/bogfolk/lichoma-a-meatpunk-ttrpg
My coverage of Lichoma: https://ko-fi.com/post/Lichoma-A-Meatpunk-TTRPG-Links-and-Threads-Collec-I2I8HSFMO
Game no. 9
Gesta Orbital by La esquina del rol
A Nano RPG About Space Survival
https://laesquinadelrol.itch.io/gesta-orbital
A truly phenomenal little game that it was a true joy to discover and agony to play (complimentary).
Everything about it is unreasonably well done and brilliant, from the premise, mechanics, Moreau's art, character sheet, to the playlist. Just, wow!
My write up of my playthrough and full review: https://ko-fi.com/post/BrinaPlaysReviews-Gesta-Orbital-by-La-esquina-de-A0A1I23RA
Game No. 10
Here, There, Be Monsters! by @wendiyu
https://wendiy.itch.io/here-there-be-monsters
After setting up so many games, reading the book to death, making encounters & filling my not app with ideas, I finally got to play HTBM! the other night & had the best time!
The City of literal monsters and actual monsters (authoritarian, fash, colonialist, capitalists, etc.) & the rules light, flavour heavy vibes of this game mean everything to my Queer trans disabled neurodivergent anarchist arse!
Game no. 11
Playtesting "In Disguise", @EvlynMoreau's "secret transformers game"
Not sure how much I can say, so I will just say that I had an absolutely wonderful time playing with Evlyn, @huffa & @killthesun_, as Tachanka, my subtle as a brick guerilla from the War of the Spark. A matt black, dark Damascus steel, & red trim bot with Solidarity as an ability & all-terrain buggy with mounted heavy machine gun & black bloc holomatter avatar. (last time I was M-spec lesbian train!)
Game 12. Mausritter by @losing
https://losing-games.itch.io/mausritter
I literally can't say enough good about this game!
I was besotted by the book, swooned at just how good The Estate is, panicked at letting myself not do lots of prep, & had the most amazing time running it & making up my own plots & moments on the fly.
Truly a perfect game with so much high quality locations and adventures.
I see me running/ playing A LOT of this!
https://losing-games.itch.io/mausritter-the-estate-adventure-collection
Game 13. D&D
My first game in something like seven months with a long-running group on a long hiatus. The group is amazing & I had a lot of fun playing with them. For me D&D is something that can be fun if played sparingly & not in any way financially supporting WOTC. I still don't see myself running it again at this point
Support 3rd party creators if you're in need of stuff for it & play other games
Simple DeeEnDee by @filthgnome is a great alternative
https://itch.io/c/1590339/simple-dee-en-dee-digital-box-set
Game 14. Grandmothership PREVIEW by @armandahaller
Cowdfundr: https://crowdfundr.com/GRANDMOTHERSHIP?ref=ab_5C6662
I had so very much fun writing an adventure & running it tonight. I haven't laughed so much in a game in a long time. @EvlynMoreau, @huffa & @ToreNielsen are always a joy to play with & Evlyn's art of her character & backstory dog is phenomenal
Can't wait for next session & to see the finished article!
Congratulations to the team for funding!
GRANDMOTHERSHIP is here! A TTRPG for 2-4 players and 1 GM about space, horror, mystery, and senior ladies putting every piece together. Get into trouble, put together a crochet scarf, go ballroom dancing, and find solutions where everyone else has failed.
Game 15: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 4th Edition
Core: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/m/product/248284?affiliate_id=1507682 (Affiliate Link)
I love the Old World & the quality of the Starter set is amazing, but we have struggled with how much there is to do to make characters (set does come with pregens) & just how many how many factors going into every interaction. I need to play more & I'm excited for the adventures, but running & remembering the rules has been tough
Starter Set: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/m/product/261941?affiliate_id=1507682 (AL)
Game 16. Slayers by @gilarpgs
https://gilarpgs.itch.io/slayers
After so long of loving this game, I finally got to run this game & it's even more fun & easy & awesome than I imagined! Had the absolute best time with @BRIARMONEY, @LadySapling & GrimblGrombl running a hunt from Alex Rinehart (https://alrine.itch.io/harrowing-hunts-vol-1) in a District by J.R. ZAMBRANO in the Slayers Almanac (https://gilarpgs.itch.io/slayers-Almanac).
So very hype to play so much more!
Game 17. Troika! by @melsonianarts
https://melsonian-arts-council.itch.io/troika-numinous-edition
I ran Troika! for the first time tonight and had an absolute blast with @BRIARMONEY & @LadySapling!
I used the Blancmange and Thistle from the book. We just had a cracking time getting to the roof in the lift and ended up with a child with a flaming lance and elemental hovering over them harassing the partygoers being distracted by a magical shadow show...
#TTRPG #Troika #IndieTTRPG
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@melsonianarts which backfired and turned everyone except the caster, a Candle Witch imagined as a living wick with a patchwork candle she adds to herself and her candelabra mech body, into pigs. She picked up the cursed lance, tanking the elemental and now we have to find out how (or if we want to) our tricky, morbid Necromancer and their new colourful, now armoured pig friend. So much fun!
Game 18. OId School Essentials @necroticgnome
https://necroticgnome.com/
For all my years of gaming, I never played any ye olde D&D or an explicit retroclone & I had never done a dungeon run (or fought a dragon for that matter), so when @EvlynMoreau offered to run an OSE dungeon she had worked on for @huffa, @killthesun_, & myself, I jumped at the chance, especially as we are generally more of an FKR-y & narrative-driven lot usually.
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#TTRPG #OSE
We all made random characters with https://dndcharacter.com/. I ended up with a [Berserker] called Tuesday who I imagined as Red Sonja with the proportions of Brock from Venture Bros & Knibbs, a utterly milquetoast Cleric of Pacioli, God of Accounting, who was hilariously incompetent & also had one of the highest bodycount lol.
Ev ran Nightroor Maze from Camilla Grear & herself (https://greerrrr.itch.io/nightroot-maze), which was wonderfully dangerous & strange. Big CW for spiders!
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We breezed through the first session, managing to complete the macguffin with relative ease thanks to some clutch Speak with Animals from @killthesun_'s Druid parleying with the spiders. In the second session, we discovered the hidden plot & secret rooms, losing @huffa's intrepid svirfneblin in the process of getting armfuls of loot.
It was an awesome time & would definitely recommend it for some delving. I'm not sure OSE is for me for long term, but I would absolutely play again/
3/3
Game 19. Cairn by @yochaigal
https://cairnrpg.com/
I recently reconnected with a friend I used to run pbp games for & suggested running my system neutral setting/ hexcrawl, Palimpsest (https://ratgrrrl-games.itch.io/palimpsest) & Cairn seemed a great fit. We've barely started, but it's been incredibly fun & so bizarre rolling on & with my own tables, but so much fun to have a Hermanubis statue spontaneously sprout from the ground. Syncretisms are my new favourite thing
#TTRPG #IndieTTRPG #Cairn
Game 20. Orbital Megastructure [Playtest] by @EvlynMoreau
For a little taste https://evlyn.itch.io/posthumansorbitalstructures
I had such a wonderful time playing with Ev, @huffa & @killthesun_ & this game is absolutely packed to the gills with flavour & fun. The futuristic bio & other tech are wonderful. There is honey armour you can also eat goodness sake! How awesome is that?! Can't wait to play more & always honoured to get to playtest such wonders with such awesome folx.
Game 21. The Eternal Caverns of Urk by @natetreme
https://natetreme.itch.io/urk
I was in two minds about whether to include this after already having #TunnelGoons on this list, but 1. It is it's own thing that came with the OG TG as an addition & 2. it's just so gods damned bloody awesome I wanted to talk about it. Since finally playing it at the beginning of the year, TG has been a great love of mine & my new default game to run for folx new to TTRPGs.
I am completely won over by 0/ minimal prep & riffing on sparks, hooks & seeds, & don't think I could ever go back, so after deliberating on what Tunnel Goons adventure to run (because they all look so fun), I ended up going with Caverns of Urk, simply rolling on the tables moments before the session & channelling my inner Tim Gunn. I have love & appreciation for all TTRPG forms, but IMHO emergent narratives (both in the sense of with the players at the table & wait the referee pulls out...
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The party was warned about a Psychic Razor Shark, which they prepared for and psychically battled with mental images of them fucking the shark up, before finishing it off by working as a team to smash it's glass dome, prop it's mouth open and whip its brain out for a well-earned flawless victory against a serious beast.
Had a great time, as I always do with @BRIARMONEY, @LadySapling & co, folx want to play again & one of them made out with a cute mushroom gnome. Awesome scenes
4/4
Game 22. Being and Time by @huffa (Playtest)
I had the absolute honour of getting to be the first player of Huffa's new game last night, as well as getting my first taste of UVG! Im a bit unsure of what to say beyond it's great, simple (as in elegant), & facilitated a truly wonderful collaborative storytelling experience. I will have more of a mechanical brain another day, but I played an excitable Quarter-Ling called Vasc Keen, a ridiculously excitable Daniel Jackson type
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with the body of a middle-aged Rey Star Wars, if she got stepped on by an AT-AT & was left looking like a Tunnel Goon. She made a big, muscly friend to help stay alive, embraced a ghost who wants to cease to exist, & blundered into a bog-come-rice paddy & the uncomfortable ethics of getting husks to do your work in which xey made another big friend & not so much with the locals. Now this fast-talking (literally, not in any kind of skilled figurative sense) is off to the moon to solve
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Game 23. Into the Odd by @bastionland
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/m/product/399483
I had a session with a group I've been playing a lot of new games with & we weren't sure who we had or what to play, I wanted to something new, which would be simple & fun with @EvlynMoreau's The Great All Hallows' Eve Procession (https://evlyn.itch.io/the-great-all-hallow-eve-procession), & I'd had Into the Odd on my list for ages & needed to spent more time touching the sexy book (Honestly, @johannohr worked magic on that book)
So Into the Odd we went! Two ex-privateers & an Arcanum Econ major needing to find artefacts to pay tuition fees left Bastion & were promptly swept up in the spooky, strange & silly procession that was a non-stop ride of chaos & camaraderie, involving a perfect dance battle with a paladin question their gender, a morbidly absurd puppet trial, three-headed goblin wolves, a snarky skeleton catgirl, an eldritch feast with ridiculous speeches crashed by a blob, a beggar king, a merchant who
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we barely scratched as there is so much in it with loads of replayability, flavorful tables & @EvlynMoreau's gorgeous art at it's peak creepy cool adorable and weird! I can't recommend it more strongly! It's statted for OSE, but it's great for & easy to run with any system, & though I had read it when it released, I did play it unprepared at the table with no troubles. Wonderful stuff!
Definitely need more Odd & Ev in my life!
https://evlyn.itch.io/the-great-all-hallow-eve-procession
4/4
Game 24. Goon City: Troika! (Playtesting) by @RatgrrrlGames
Last couple of weeks I have been playtesting a #TunnelGoons #Troika! hack that brings the Goons & the simplicity of TG to the big City & general vibes & backgrounds of T! & I have been having the best time! Been doing a lot with @BRIARMONEY, @Sapling & Co, including tonight, which saw a Trash Wizard, Keeper of the Burnished Bibelot by GrimblGrombl (2nd player created background during testing!), &
Also, playtested with @huffa & @ToreNielsen together & solo in-person with my partner, running my hotel adventure with incredibly fun & drastically different results. I adore the different players approach everything from backgrounds & skills to NPCs, encounters, & particularly the Word Den, which is a bizarre & entirely semantic space everyone seems to have wildly different perspectives on & interactions with. This is only heightened by the TG & T! of it all & that's why this game was
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Entwife Experience (Brina)
Huffa
✨𝑩𝑹𝑰𝑨𝑹𝑴Ø𝑵𝑬𝒀💙
Armanda
Evlyn Moreau
GustavRPG