cavetalesz

[cavetalesz]

An incomplete taxonomy of esoteric texts:

This text is discussing esoteric subject matter

This text is being deliberately obscure because its author knows they don't have a coherent thesis and they're blowing smoke

This text is written in earnest, but its author has very poor communication skills

This text's translator has misunderstood something that was meant completely literally as a complex metaphor

This text is actually perfectly straightforward in its native language, but every available translation fucking sucks

[cavetalesz]

Cybermosh

In the future, conflicts are resolved through dance instead of violence.

Dance-off!

Standard deck of playing cards. Choose Style which matches the intended outcome of the conflict. GM determines Goals per Ability (Easy: Roll 1d6 - 1 per Ability, Normal: 2d4, Hard: 2d6). Deal 16 cards to players. Draw +2 if your Punk's Style matches. Choose who starts (Eldest). Clockwise, each player tries to play one card in the chosen suit or discards a card, then draws back to full. If total value exceeds Eldest's Ability, each card is +1 to the Goal. End of round: Eldest shifts left. Players may show 1 card per dance-off.

Distribute 11, 9, 7, 5 over your Punk's Abilities:

Voice (Hearts)

Elegance (Diamonds)

Rhythm (Clubs)

Strength (Spades)

Your Punk has a dance Style and a Cybernetic implant.

Style | Purpose

Acro | Intimidate

Ballet | Impress

Breaking | Discourage

Contemporary | Calm

Improv | Understand

Modern | Charm

Cybernetics:

Voice-modulator: Voice +1

Cyber-limbs: Strength +1

Internal metronome: Rhythm +1

Hologram projector: Once per round, play 2 cards

Built-in boombox: Once per dance-off, each player pass 1 card left

Exoskeleton: Once per dance-off, discard entire hand and redraw

Feel free to archive off-site!

This one is incredibly dense and assumes a familiarity with card games. Based on an old idea I had that I couldn't make work as a one-pager but revisited for this jam! I do really like how it turned out, but I did need to leave some things implied, like how you lose the dance-off if you can't complete the goals before running out of cards in the deck. I might do a full one-pager of this some time to flesh it out and make it easier to understand.

200 Word RPGs 2024

Each November, some people try to write a novel. Others would prefer to do as little writing as possible. For those who wish to challenge their ability to not write, we offer this alternative: producing a complete, playable roleplaying game in two hundred words or fewer.

This is the submission thread for the 2024 event, running from November 1st, 2024 through November 30th, 2024. Submission guidelines can be found in this blog's pinned post, here.

[cavetalesz]

i don't care if monday's bleak

tuesday matches wednesday's freak

thursday mispronouncing steak

it's friday, i'm in love

[cavetalesz]

I think it's crazy how Trans misogyny is not exclusive to trans women, this is not a post downplaying how we are the biggest victims of this by a vast overwhelming majority, it's a post talking about how people of color are often masculanized and their features are often seen as less feminine and how that REALLY affects everybody. I'm speaking as a white trans woman, repeating what my black Trans boyfriend has told me about his experience. Back in the day when he still identified as a woman he, has been targeted and harassed by people who hate Trans women; calling him a "dumb ugly tranny", refusing to recognize him as a woman, which obviously at the time really fucking sucked. He is AFAB and my point here is this. Trans women like me, white trans women will never have to deal with having my racial features hypermasculanized, but a black Trans girl? She is the biggest victim in all of this, and it is heart breaking and something I never see talked about on this website. The level of oppression, "gender denial" Trans black women face is scary and it is something always overlooked and dismissed. Trans black women are virtually invisible in our society, art and face the worst oppression. Black lives are beautiful. And worth caring for and protecting, and talking about like any other life. I obviously can never understand or face the same kind of oppression, but you know what I can do. I can say that I love you and care about you and I want you to live and go out there and be yourself. Without you we would not be where we are today, and our queer rights in large part are brought to us by the black women who fought for us. I can support black people and listen to black people and try to understand the biases I picked up over the years of being raised in white supremacist society. Please if you are black it is so important that you exist and it is so important that you create. Put yourself out there, make things, make yourself visible, even if people pretend you don't exist. Please make it all about you.

[cavetalesz]

The seven deadly sins: wrath, envy, greed, lust, gluttony, pride, and publishing a pixel-art retro game with no option to set the full-screen scaling factor to an integer multiple of the canvas size.

[cavetalesz]

I keep hate-reading plague literature from the medieval era, but as depressed as it makes me there is always one historical tidbit that makes me feel a little bittersweet and I like to revisit it. That’s the story of the village of Eyam.

[cavetalesz]

Block people who make bad faith posts about trans women's struggles by saying trans men do not struggle.

Block people who post on trans men's vents by suggesting they don't suffer as profoundly as their sisters.

Block people who try to make you turn against the women and others who make up our family.

Do not allow yourself to become bitter and jealous, protect yourself and you will be protecting our community.

[cavetalesz]

It was 2019 when Google+ still was a thing and I had just published my first RPG PDF on DTRPG a year earlier.

Unsure of myself I used PWYW. I made a postmortem about my sales showing how much it was not worth it to do it that way. And none other then Kevin Crawford showed up in the comments to share his wisdom with everyone. I copied it and put it into my "RPG Work" folder and had forgotten about it shamefully. Just found it again today and figure it is still worth sharing.

The numbers are likely off these days, but coming from Kevin Crawford this is advise anyone wanting to make a living from TTRPGs should consider. I know I aim to do exactly as he suggest for my first bigger release.

Kevin Crawford: "PWYW is not generally a good idea for most publishers, from what I’ve seen. It has very limited profitability and it seriously decreases downloads because people just don’t want to get involved in the tacit social obligation to judge the product and pay for it if they like it.

In your shoes I would suggest aiming for 32 page products, even if they’re in digest format. At 32+ pages, you can justifiably do a print version, where even at cheap 9.99 print prices you’re going to be getting good profits. A 32 page standard-color small-format product at $9.99 will net you a bit north of $4 for each sale.

Make a few freebie PDF/pay POD products to fatten up your mailing list and cycle it with each new product, mailing your old buyers and pointing to the new release. You could also optionally add a couple pages of bonus content to the POD to give a further prompt to buyers. Eventually, you can start offering for-pay PDFs, but when you do so, I’d recommend a floor price of $4.99. Below that level, buyers tend to unconsciously associate it with shovelware titles or stuff even the author doesn’t think is worth anything.

Getting POD down right does take some practice, and it is a bit more complicated than just doing PDF, but it’s too much of a profit source to neglect on any 32+ page product. I tend to sell about 3:1 PDF:POD ratio, but on a standard 9.99 PDF/19.99 POD softcover supplement I make about 50% more selling paper than I would selling PDF. And as a side note, always make sure to release PDF and POD at the same time; if you stagger the releases, you get the initial wave coming to look at the PDF, but they decide to hold off until the POD is available… and then they never come back. Most publishers have exactly one shot at the front page and can’t afford to waste it."

[cavetalesz]

Paleolithic Fantasy

You are prehistoric people.

Roll 1d4 + 1 per Skill: Hunting, Gathering, Inventing, Care Roll 1d6 under Skill to test it. Test Hunting to deal 1 Wound. Fail = gain 1 Wound. 3 Wounds kill you. Test Gathering to acquire Materials. Test Inventing to turn 1 Material into 1 random Item, or 3 Materials into a Spell or Potion (conceive with GM). Test Care to turn 1 Material into Food, or cure 1 Wound for 2 Materials.

Home (1d3): 1. Cave 2. Tent 3. Hut

1d6 Items at home (2d4): 2. Salve (Heals 2 Wounds) 3. Crystal (+1 Inventing) 4. Hide (Blocks 1 Wound) 5. Food (1 day) 6. Torch (+1 Gathering) 7. Spear (+1 Hunting) 8. Sled (Carries 3 Items)

You can carry up to 2 Items.

Explore your environment twice per day (2d6): 2. Roll twice 3. Lion (4 HP, double damage, 1d6 Materials) 4. Other Tribe (2d10 People) 5. Wolf (2 HP, 1d4 Materials) 6. Friendly Traders (2 People, 1d4 Items) 7. Fruit tree (1d6 Materials) 8. Cave (1d4 Materials, +re-roll) 9. Deer (1 HP, 1d8 Materials) 10. Fae (1d6 HP, 1d4 Potions) 11. Mammoth (5 HP, 1d12 Materials) 12. The Antlered Man

Feel free to archive!

I haven't seen a paleolithic or pre-historic fantasy TTRPG before, and I feel like that's a really interesting setting to explore if you can internalise how clever our ancestors were. Let me know if you know any RPGs set in prehistory!

200 Word RPGs 2024

Each November, some people try to write a novel. Others would prefer to do as little writing as possible. For those who wish to challenge their ability to not write, we offer this alternative: producing a complete, playable roleplaying game in two hundred words or fewer.

This is the submission thread for the 2024 event, running from November 1st, 2024 through November 30th, 2024. Submission guidelines can be found in this blog's pinned post, here.

[cavetalesz]

Hellsquad

You are a group of devils, escaped from hell and disguised as humans. Your objective is to find a Sinner: Someone with a guilty conscience that craves your punishment. You must steal, lie, intimidate and harass to find them, but if you ever hurt someone (except the Sinner) so much as a pinch, the Powers That Be find and take you to hell immediately.

Your Virtue starts at 1d4 + 1 (or choose). When acting virtuously, roll 1d6 under or equal to Virtue, and increase Virtue by 1 if you succeed. When acting in an evil way, roll over or equal to Virtue, and decrease Virtue by 1 if you succeed. If Virtue reaches 0, the Powers That Be notice your evil and steal you away. If Virtue reaches 7, you become so sanctimonious you give yourself up.

Pick your Vice or roll 1d8:

Pride

Greed

Wrath

Envy

Lust

Gluttony

Sloth

Roll twice, pick both

Roll 1d6 or choose Ability:

Smell sin

See lies

Taste crimes

Hear past

Read emotions

Intuit fears

GM: Craft a mystery, lots of red-herrings (sinners with no regrets)

Feel free to archive off-site.

This one came to me in a dream

200 Word RPGs 2024

Each November, some people try to write a novel. Others would prefer to do as little writing as possible. For those who wish to challenge their ability to not write, we offer this alternative: producing a complete, playable roleplaying game in two hundred words or fewer.

This is the submission thread for the 2024 event, running from November 1st, 2024 through November 30th, 2024. Submission guidelines can be found in this blog's pinned post, here.

[cavetalesz]

[cavetalesz]

One of us only ...

One of you is an adventurer, the rest are gargoyles. The adventurer has a sword, 1d6 days of trail rations, a lantern, a map of the dungeon, and his wits. The gargoyles have a riddle: Behind only one door lies the path forward, the others only result in death. Gargoyles each roll 1d10 (hidden only from the adventurer), they can only:

Lie

Tell the truth

Insult the adventurer

State opinions

Explain the premise of the riddle truthfully

Lie about the premise of the riddle

Talk while eating

Make small talk

Speak the truth about the adventurer's past, but lie about their future and present

Whisper inaudibly

Shuffle playing cards equal to the number of gargoyles and designate one card as "The correct door." Every other card corresponds to a deathtrap. Gargoyles each pull a card and can't reveal them to each other. When the adventurer picks a door, the gargoyle reveals whether they picked correctly or have perished. All gargoyles want to kill the adventurer, if the adventurer picks the right door they get to live another day. The adventurer can kill any gargoyle, but it won't help.

Fine to archive off-site!

Another one! This one sprang to mind entirely from the idea that you'd need a third gargoyle to explain the riddle. In case it's not clear: Gargoyles can communicate with each other about what's behind their door, but only in-character and in front of the adventurer, so it's not much use. All gargoyles should know each other's traits, but if you forget that's fine.

200 Word RPGs 2024

Each November, some people try to write a novel. Others would prefer to do as little writing as possible. For those who wish to challenge their ability to not write, we offer this alternative: producing a complete, playable roleplaying game in two hundred words or fewer.

This is the submission thread for the 2024 event, running from November 1st, 2024 through November 30th, 2024. Submission guidelines can be found in this blog's pinned post, here.

[cavetalesz]

[cavetalesz]

On twitter I’m seeing dozens of threads from Black activists warning people against burnout, giving all sorts of useful tips about preventing and managing it for the sake of a long-term, sustainable effort.

On tumblr I’m seeing a hell of a lot of young white kids yelling at anyone who actually follows those steps, and acting like burnout is a moral falling rather than a well-proven psychological phenomenon.

Be careful who you get your information from. Don’t let guilt lead you to make choices that will harm both you and the movement.

[cavetalesz]

BIG LIST RPG

Whenever there's numbers, get a result from the BIG LIST Generate your character: Name: d20 | 20 + d12 Class: 24 + d10 Assign +4, +3, +1, +0 to your Abilities: Fighting, Sneaking, Charming, Conjuring When you test an Ability, roll Ability + 50 + d6, +2 if your Class is relevant.

Enter "The dungeon of the 45 + d10 | 25 + d20"! Each room has 1-4 exits, directions are d4, and contains 33 + 2d6

BIG LIST:

North

West

South

East

John

Mary

Steven

Sue

Aethon

Lyrax

Zardist

Mhanea

Gimli

Balin

Durin

Pippin

Strider

Ranaeril

Elion

Theomer

Baker

Carpenter

Taylor

Messenger

Bishop

Archer

Hunter

Marshall

Merchant

Smith

Ward

Wright

Wizard

Knight

Dragon

Shadow

Drakelings

Mimic

Skeletons

Goblins

Slimes

Giant Toad

Troll

Chimera

Beholder

Vile

Evil

Murderous

Poisonous

Conniving

Horrendous

Terrible

Bad

Disappointing

Middling

Decent

Successful

Good

Great

Amazing

Baffling

World-Shattering

Feel free to archive off site!

If it's unclear, some sections indicate for instance 1d20 | 20 + d12. A vertical bar indicates two separate rolls/results, so if you rolled a 7 on the d20 and a 10 on the d12 you'd get Steven Smith.

This was very fun to work on. I don't know if the title is counted, and I assumed the numbered list would be counted too, bringing this to exactly 200 words.

This work is marked with CC0 1.0, feel free to use and remix and do anything you want.

200 Word RPGs 2024

Each November, some people try to write a novel. Others would prefer to do as little writing as possible. For those who wish to challenge their ability to not write, we offer this alternative: producing a complete, playable roleplaying game in two hundred words or fewer.

This is the submission thread for the 2024 event, running from November 1st, 2024 through November 30th, 2024. Submission guidelines can be found in this blog's pinned post, here.

[cavetalesz]

i think im going to lose my fucking mind actually.

this little make believe game that yall are playing where ur all pretending that we have always been passing as cis men is honestly just really sickening to read. as if trans men have never been sexually harassed or abused because society perceives us as women. im genuinely of the opinion that u all just do not believe trans men face misogyny and thats so unbelievably fucked up and just not based in reality. its actually disgusting and vile.

[cavetalesz]

If I'm metagaming, I don't think there's anything better than the GM messing with my ability to metagame

i do my best to be impartial and fair as a gm and i put my players enjoyment before mine always but all that said i'm going to be entirely real if i catch you metagaming while i'm at the wheel i will in fact start fucking with you at least a little