#Folklore-based RPG

[legionofmyth]

Vaesen: Nordic Horror Roleplaying - Adventure Ideas

🎲 #Vaesen: Nordic Horror Roleplaying: Embark on haunting investigations, unravel dark mysteries, and confront otherworldly creatures in a chilling Nordic setting. #Horror #TTRPG #RPG #FreeLeaguePublishing #YearZeroEngine

Vaesen – [PDF]Embark on haunting investigations, unravel dark mysteries, and confront otherworldly creatures in a chilling Nordic setting with these Vaesen adventure ideas. Step into the Mythic North, a land where real myths come alive. Vaesen – Nordic Horror Roleplaying by Nils Hintze takes you on a chilling journey through a Gothic setting steeped in Nordic folklore. Encounter bloodcurdling…

[namarikonda]

That bloodstained son of Tuoni / struck the man with his sword, struck fear with his hunger. / Threw him to the stream of Tuonela / to the Underworld's underlake. — Kalevala, rune 14, lines 445–8; 451-2.

My rendition of Tuonenpoika, the guardian of the Finnish underworld, Tuonela; This gore-covered son of Tuoni fishes for unwanted visitors downstream, slaying them. He is said to collect the belongings of all the dead flowing down river Tuoni.

[txttletale]

any particular favorite more niche games? trying to take advantage of the spring sale to play new things, and you have really good taste in media that looks extremely cool but that ive never heard of

i have a top 50 list here if you want a detailed list of games i really like -- going off a vague vibes-based idea of what's 'more niche', i'd really recommend:

pyre: the most underrated and best supergiant game. puts you in a visually stunning totally unique world where criminals are banished to an underground wasteland where they play basketball against each other to decide who's allowed to return to the surface. incredible characters brimming with personality and a world that really comes alive.

dujanah: a claymation walkaround rpg about conflict in the middle east. surreal and tonally dissonant and dreamlike. fascinating and thought provoking and really impressive.

if not us: i don't know if this is on steeam actually but it's like. a heartbreaking piece of interactive fiction about five world-saving heroes who fail to save the world. Tragedy in the truest sense

secret little haven: about being a young closeted trans girl figuring herself out on the internet. spoke v. personally to me -- obviously i can't necessarily say the same for you, but it's still great.

the big con: it's like if a saturday morning 90s kid's cartoon with a clearly broadcasted moral had the moral 'stealing is awesome'. cute and fun and pretty funny

black book: a clearly lovingly researched showcase of russian folklore and history cleverly disguised as a deckbuilder

silicon dreams: blade runner simulator. you interview robots to figure out if they're defective or not -- some genuine fucking moral dilemmas and a difficult game with smart dialogue puzzles to boot. you really gotta figure out how these people tick and the process is really fun

these are 'niche' in the sense that even people who talk a lot about indie games and gay shit don't really bring them up in my experience, but if you check out my top 50 i think most of the things on it are 'niche' in the sense of being indie games or low-profile releases

[psychhound]

hey yall!!! new bundle :D

this is my 14 for 14 ttrpg bundle to pay off some of the debt from my top surgery!! you get 14 games and homebrew for 14 bucks, which is gonna run until june 14th (my birthday!!)

my top surgery was absolutely life changing and has made me so much more comfortable, confident, and happy. i dont regret it in the least. i also got hit with some surprise bills afterward that have me pretty heftily in debt because of it

some very kind souls have donated their games to help me pay some of this off, which was just so incredibly generous. which means its not just my games in here!! lots and lots of cool stuff, please check it out!!

in the bundle:

ttrpgs:

[BXLLET> : a game about systems of violence and power in the weird west apocalypse

disparateum: a dream-like reality-bending game where you hop worlds and tell strange stories

little celestial fieldwork guide: a city exploration photography game where you divine hidden spirits and take photos of them

beach day!: a system agnostic party bonding minigame where characters swap gifts and secrets

what they once feared: a solo journaling game where you play a folkloric monster forced to choose your path

the narrator paradox: a one page solo game where you play a storybook narrator whos protagonist has gained agency and is trying to change the story

the fool who got married (extended): a duet epistolary game of female hardship and connection in 1848

explorers of the forever city: a rules-light, fantasy role-playing game about ordinary people making extraordinary discoveries

homebrew:

riders: a pact for moth-light by justin ford, a fitd game. tame, bond with, and ride the terrifying predator moths

witch: a class for d&d 5e. be a con-based half-caster with curses, familiars, and a whole new way of doing spell slots

harmony with the wind: a ghibli-inspired d&d 5e pack with 5 feats, 4 backgrounds, 4 races, 6 monsters, and 3 subclasses

fairytale/feywild: a pack for d&d 5e with 1 background, 2 races, 1 subclass, and unique timekeeping mechanics for the feywild

burger wizard: a d&d 5e compatible narrative rpg about working as magical kitchen staff in a fantasy restaurant

argyth's arcane companion: 4 wizard subclasses, 3 feats, and 17 new spells for d&d 5e

you can get all of this for 14 bucks until june 14th!! it would really mean a lot to me for yall to check it out and also spread the word :D

check it out on itch!!

[elbiotipo]

In my fantasy RPG based on Latin American myth and folklore, you can go visit fantasy Colombia and look for (gringo voice) Eol Douraudou. But instead, you get a mini-quest where you get a tour which patiently explains the culture of the Muisca and the Colombian altiplano to you, all based on historical records and traditional customs. If you touch any item made of gold you get an instant game over screen.

[bogleech]

If you're still taking mortasheen questions - Can you tell us any lore stuff about the ultimate bioconstructs like hestermoan?

Mortasheen's original three "legendaries," Hestermoan, Tormanshee and Mothneaser, all have names that are anagrams of "Mortasheen," which itself is the name of a disease spread by the Nuckelavee in folklore. They were imagined to be three "kaiju" that would be completely frightening and disturbing with none of the whimsy or silliness of other Mortasheen monsters, and also broadly represent their three common categories: a physical attacker, a mental attacker, and a bioweaponry wielder. Hestermoan is the biggest and strongest and basically Mortasheen's "Godzilla," Tormanshee was meant to have a nasty Silent Hill kind of vibe and spreads "madness" while Mothneaser collects your blood and turns it into other monsters. They're so old by now, they conflict with a lot of the "style guide" i have in my head. I know I just said that was kind of their point, but there's other internal guidelines I impose on the setting that I'd like them to follow by the time I introduce them into the RPG, and they might change a bit drastically, but hopefully they'll keep the same vibe.

Tormanshee in particular was based on one of the very oldest Mortasheen monsters, a simple embryo in a floating bubble, which I then brought back as the "tormite" here and tied them together, also giving Tormite one huge open eye so it can also read as a floating eyeball.

Now for the RPG I'm using Tormite again as the lowest-level and most common psychokinetic creature, though I turned it back into a sleeping embryo thing with its eyes closed:

If you liked the "simultaneous eyeball" gimmick, don't worry! I'm doing a thing with that! I don't know what yet, but one idea is that they kind of "wake up" and then they start to evolve various forms from there.

I think Tormanshee will still connect with them somehow, too, like their "termite queen," but my design ideas for it are a whole lot more elaborate. They still have the "silent hill pregnancy demon" vibe but with a whole lot more body, kind of from a "what if this was also an ultraman kaiju or an evangelion angel" angle.

The more current concepts I had for Hestermoan are odd enough I don't want to spoil it, and it was originally going to be included in the first book - sorta - but we're holding off on it for now and may release them as free supplemental monsters. I also kind of like the idea of doing so because it has a similar feeling to Mew and other "secret" legendary Pokemon. Maybe their first release would even be through a really silly and gimmicky exclusive medium, before they get released as free public downloads.

My newer concepts for Mothneaser are all over the place, but it still has nothing whatsoever to do with moths. I just really like the sound of the name. All three still have the lore that they wake up only when the city's existence is threatened. This is monumentally rare because the city is the size of a continent and it's alive enough to regenerate from almost anything.

[mutiniir]

SCREAMING

hey guys if i made a rpg about monster hunting based off philippine folklore would you guys play it asking for a friend

[anim-ttrpgs]

Wait does Eureka have its own established lore for how different supernatural creatures work?

Yes, it does!

(I’m going to preface this post by saying that just about everything I’m talking about here, and more, is available FOR FREE for you to read in the free pre-release version of the Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy rulebook that you can download from our website. Go to Chapter 8 to start reading about the supernatural lore. The rulebook itself will do a lot better job of explaining all this than I will, because it has the exact details of how each one works, and I’m just hitting the highlights and going over what those details mean.)

Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy is a game about very human and believable investigators digging into dangerous (often supernatural) mysteries way over their heads, and sometimes those very human and believable investigators will be supernatural creatures themselves.

These supernatural creatures are every bit as human and “normal” as their mundane investigators counterparts, they have jobs, friends, families, hobbies, etc. They live among mundane society, not outside of it.

Most modern fantasy settings have some kind of separation between normal society and magical society, like you see in Harry Potter where there is normal society, and then a separate, secret magical society hidden away from it, or Vampire: The Masquerade, where vampires all have an agreement to keep themselves a secret from normal society despite acting within it.

In Eureka’s world, there is no “masquerade,” but that doesn’t mean that magic and monsters are well-known and well-documented phenomenons. Supernatural creatures such as vampires, wolfmen, etc. are exceptionally rare. Don’t take this as an exact number, but you can probably assume there’s about one of these per every 3.3 million normal people.

This rarity, as well as the fact that each individual has little to gain and everything to lose by revealing themselves (try “coming out” as a person who regularly assaults people and drains their blood), has led to them going largely undocumented in the modern day. Sure, this is the digital age, there are videos, but viral videos are not exactly scientific evidence. For every real vampire caught on camera, there are a thousand hoaxes and horror short films.

There is no secret vampire government controlling things from the shadows—most vampires don’t even know any other vampires, let alone enough to form a secret society with any effect on national politics.

As for how they work, well, that’s one of my favorite parts to talk about.

There are five playable monster types in Eureka (The Vampire, The Wolfman, The Fairy, The Witch, and The Thing From Beyond) plus two extras that are Kickstarter stretch goals (The Dullahan and The Gorgon), but in the interest of time, I’m only going to really go into detail with one of them.

Most playable monster types in Eureka are very, very old-school, with an emphasis on actual historical folklore over just making up all our own lore. That doesn’t mean Eureka doesn’t have a unique approach to the supernatural, though. Little of it is “new,” but it is certainly unique, because to my knowledge no other RPG has ever taken the old stuff this far before. A PC being a monster in Eureka isn’t just a few +1s here and there and maybe a little extra damage from silver weapons, it means playing by an entirely different set of rules from fellow investigators.

The vampires and vampire lore you see in movies are not folkloric vampires, they are mostly a 20th and 21st century pop-culture creation. Eureka’s vampire abilities, weaknesses, and other traits are based on pre-1900 vampire legends, with older traits usually taking precedent over newer ones. Thus, a lot of assumptions you might have about vampires going in could end up being very wrong. For instance, in movies, vampires instantly die when exposed to sunlight, but the first ever instance of a vampire in a story being killed by sunlight was in the 1922 film Nosferatu. In Eureka, sunlight is still awful for vampires, it strips them of their vampiric powers, but it doesn’t do any real damage to them. Sunlight is an issue vampires have to deal with, but it is far from instant death. That doesn’t mean being a vampire is inherently easy though, because in addition to having all the powers that folkloric vampires have (which is a TON), they also have all the weaknesses, and it is the emphasis on weaknesses that really makes the moment-to-moment playing of a monster PC in Eureka the most interesting. A few of my favorites for vampires are the refusal to enter homes without a direct invitation, and the compulsion to count large numbers of small objects. I think most vampire media these days considers these to be “silly” weaknesses and don’t want to acknowledge them in the lore of their “serious” scary horror vampires, but honestly I think that the “sillier” vampire stuff can still be used to great effect in horror. Imagine knowing that the only reason a vicious killer at your door hasn’t stormed in to rip your throat out is because they’re being polite.

A vampiric investigator will need to work around these weaknesses, and more, in their daily life, all while being sure not to reveal their true nature to their more mortal friends. It’s something that really changes how a character behaves and goes about problem-solving.

For instance, the rest of the party may be able to break into a house no-problem, but the vampire cannot. They need a invitation. That’s a problem. That’s a puzzle. It makes me excited just thinking about it.

This was originally going to be a much longer post where I went into more of the themes of monsters in Eureka, but I have decided that that would be most cohesive as its own post, an upcoming essay titled "How Eureka Handles Disability." So stay tuned for that.

Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy is kickstarting from right now until May 10th! Back it while you still can!

If you want to try before you buy, you can download a free demo of the prerelease version from our website or our itch.io page!

If you’re interested in a more updated and improved version of Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy than the free demo you got from our website, subscribe to our Patreon where we frequently roll our new updates for the prerelease version!

You can also support us on Ko-fi, or by checking out our merchandise!

Join our TTRPG Book Club At the time of writng this, Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy is the current game being played in the book club, and anyone who wants to participate in discussion, but can’t afford to make a contribution, will be given the most updated prerelease version for free! Plus it’s just a great place to discuss and play new TTRPGs you might not be able to otherwise!

We hope to see you there, and that you will help our dreams come true and launch our careers as indie TTRPG developers with a bang by getting us to our base goal and blowing those stretch goals out of the water, and fight back against WotC's monopoly on the entire hobby. Wish us luck.

[theresattrpgforthat]

Got anything that lets you play as monsters (vampires/monsters/etc) in the modern world in the vein of VTM? Ideally something in the PBTA/FITD area of system, but open to others for sure (: Thanks as always for your recs!!

THEME: Urban Monsters

Friend, the difficulty with this post isn’t that I don’t have recommendations for it - it’s that I’m trying to find recommendations that I haven’t talked about ad nauseam to this point. So I hope you don’t mind a fairly extensive “Past Recommendations” at the bottom of this post, because most of the PbtA games I know of are going to be there. I have limited experience with Vampire: the Masquerade, but I’m a big fan of Changeling: the Lost and other World of Darkness games, so I’m going off of general knowledge rather than specifics.

Bubblegum Vampires / Bubblegum Wizards 2, by Gormengeist.

You're a vampire in an infinite urban cauldron of muck and rot, of psionics and wizards, of danger and shadows. Though you are surely terrible, great, horrifying, (etc.), half the day is an enemy to your people; so set forth through the night to make your coin, secure your dwellings, and vanquish your infinite enemies.

You're a wizard who chews bubblegum and collects trading cards. That is to say, cards with the trapped souls of items and enemies within, obviously. An insignificant wizard in an infinite city has lots to prove and you've got to get help somehow. Break heads, steal money, drive stupid, chew gum, trap souls. Simple as.

Neon-Bright art and d6-based rolls, that’s what’s common across both of these games. This is the same world, but you’re living in two different spheres of it, depending on which game you play. As wizards, you collect spell cards that hold the souls of creatures you’ve vanquished, and use them to get yourself out of sticky situations. As vampires, you accrue vampiric powers through blood sacrifice, and your opponents are usually folks with especially tantalizing veins. Both games have various factions that have different goals than you, so if what you like about Vampire: the Masquerade is the amount of different ideologies that have the ability to fuck you up, you might like this game. Thematically, it looks a little more upbeat and pulpy than your typical V:tM game, but if you like one, you have another game in the same system ready to go.

The Hidden, by Dragons Are Real.

As children our parents read us fairy tales, ghost stories and recounted local myths. We’ve always assumed these stories are told to entertain or scare….what if these aren't just stories….everything you have been told is true. 

The creatures from fairy tales, mythology and folklore all exist.  Have you ever thought you saw something strange out of the corner of your eye but when you look again all looks normal. These creatures live in plain sight, unseen by the majority of people, only those who know they exist see them in their true form. Every culture has a name for these creatures but we know them simply as The Hidden.

The Hidden is a modern urban fantasy game powered by the Breathless RPG. It is inspired by such media as Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Constantine and The Dresden Files.

Another pulpy sort of game, the Breathless system that powers The Hidden is great for replicating diminishing resources, putting your characters in more and more difficult situations every time they pause to take a breath. This makes this game great for horror-style stories, and World of Darkness games firmly find a home in the horror genre. If you want something that’s fast-paced and can cover a lot of ground in a short session, The Hidden might be for you.

Tween Wolf, by Ibi Deficit Orbis.

Tween Wolf is a micro-RPG about middle schoolers experiencing both the fantasy of being exceptional, and the fear of being humiliated. As these kids come to terms with their awkwardly developing human bodies, they will also be faced with lycanthropy. And in the process they will experience supernatural heroism and intense shame—and learn to manage both.

It is designed to be played with a bent towards exploring the unforgiving social cruelty of middle school, self-image, and dysphoria. It requires one Game Master, 1 to 4 additional players, a few hours, one six sided die for each player, and two additional six sided dice for the table to share.

This is a very short game, with very few rules and a big focus on trying to keep your wild side under wraps. If what you like about WoD games is the struggle between the monstrous and the human, this might be the game for you. There’s not nearly as many big moral quandaries as there are in typical WoD games - you’re middle schoolers, not eons-old bloodsuckers - but to a middle-schooler, your problems are massive. I feel like the movie Seeing Red might be a good touchstone for this game.

Glamour of Our Youth, by Yuri Runnel.

Glamour of Our Youth is a roleplaying game based on the Forged in the Dark system. Drawing inspiration from media like Riverdale, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina among others, it works to tell stories of supernatural teenage adventures.

Building on the FitD framework, Glamour serves to tell exciting stories with high stakes, putting the youths through their paces as they try to make their way through a strange and hostile world, struggling with conflicts both internal and external, arcane and mundane. 

This game doesn’t cast your characters as specific supernatural beings, but the character options certainly make it possible. You cobble your character together from two different halves: Archetypes and Arcana. Your Archetype hails from classic high school cliques, such as Rebel, Outcast, Socialite and Athlete, while your Arcana details your supernatural ability, including Shapeshifter (which might translate to werewolf), Oceancaller (which you could turn into a selkie) or Shadow (which feels rather ghost-like to me). There’s also plenty of ways to play a teenage mage.

This game is in playtest, but it’s considerably far a long, with recent updates that indicate that the crew is hard at work refining the final product.

Protect the Child, by MintRabbit (that’s me!)

Humans have always been protective of their young, sometimes overly so. Humans have also always feared that which might make their young strange or different, and so insist that only humans can raise their own young. Monsters cannot raise human young. This is known. You have a human baby. You cannot find its parents. What is even worse, is that this child has powers, powers that others covet, and so everyone wants it. If you want to prove that you’re not the heartless monster that everyone says you are, that means you’ll have to raise it, at least until you find someone who is better suited to it than you.  You are creatures of fur, scales and fangs. You have claws that can rend flesh, faces that can crack mirrors, howls that can cause ears to bleed.  And your charge wants a blankie.

Protect the Child is a Forged in the Dark game about monsters caring for a young human, a human who contains strange and mystical powers that make them a valuable asset in any monster crew. The setting and factions present in this game are flexible: you might be aliens in a far-flung future galaxy, fantasy monsters from rival kingdoms, or even everyday wild animals that fear human society. 

So I’ve only just started play testing this game, which means that it’s very much in barely-playable mode. This game is also setting-agnostic, meaning that you can decide exactly when and where your game takes place - including as modern-day monsters trying to take care of a human baby with magical powers. The game is very specific in the themes of the story you’ll be telling - that is, themes about monstrosity, parenthood and responsibility, but if you all want to play different kinds of vampires, you can absolutely do that!

BloodLite, by ruan8000.

BloodLite is a role-playing game (RPG) designed to be played solo, but can be played in a group. In this game, you will create a Vampire following the rules and you will also create the world that this vampire interacts with, as well as the conflicts and obstacles that he will face. The world in BloodLite is like ours, but a little darker and more dangerous, full of supernatural creatures.

This game has no ties to PbtA or FitD, but it cites Vampire: the Masquerade as a direct inspiration, and you can see it in the Bloodline options available at character creation. You have a supernatural gift that give you advantages and also trigger your Hunger, which is your character’s thirst for blood. The goals of the game are represented through an Oath track, which fills when you fight enemies, overcome obstacles, and solve problems. This a fairly stripped-down game, but if you’re familiar with V:tM, then you probably won’t have a problem filling the world with factions, back-alley deals, and political wars.

Hearts of Yokai, by Lowell Francis.

So, this game isn’t out yet. But I can’t stop myself from talking about it a little bit. It’s the product of a Changeling:The Lost PbtA hack that Lowell has been working on for a very long time. I’ve been a bit fan of Changeling: the Lost and I also love PbtA games so I’m really excited to see more of this.

The link in the title leads to the current google spreadsheets that detail the current content of the game and the associated playbooks. The link for Lowell is to a blog post he wrote about the game, talking about the history, the changes he’s made, and the ideas behind what the current iteration is. What really intrigues me is how it incorporates "the actions of the Gentry through the lens of colonialism.” I’m really eager to follow the progress of this game.

Games I’ve Recommended in the Past

Urban Shadows 1e, by Magpie Games.

Bite Marks, by Black Armada Games.

Monsterhearts 2e, by Buried Without Ceremony.

Strays, by kumada1.

Eldritch Investigative Drama Rec Post

[tyrantisterror]

No Small Feat Art Pt. 9 - The Bonus Bosses

By request, I’m gonna show off some of the artwork for No Small Feat, a Midgaheim story my friends and I told through the TTRPG system Fabula Ultima. I drew a lot of characters and monsters for it, and my friends - in particular, @dragonzzilla, @scatha5, and @dinosaurana - helped line and color them so we’d have cute little sprites to use on our online battlemaps, which really helped sell the whole “we’re playing an oldschool turn based RPG” vibe that Fabula Ultima’s system is going for.

Before we cover the last two arcs, we're going to look at the Bonus Bosses - optional encounters I placed in the game to give my characters more of a challenge and some additional story if they so desired, which they did!

Bleak Annis played an important role in starting the story, and our heroes realized that if they wanted to truly know what was going on with both the greater conflict and their own personal arcs, they'd have to meet with her. That was easier said than done, though, as before they could find Bleak Annis, they would have to prove their worth to the wicked witch's coven. So they sought out Peg Prowler, Nelly Longarms, and Jenny Greenteeth, three other famous witches from British folklore who are in the same league as Bleak Annis herself.

During their first trip into Fairyland, our heroes stumbled upon a huge and terrifying prison. Locked inside was a Fomorian, a fairy being of such terrible arcane power that its very presence could corrode reality should it escape Fairyland. Worse, the Fomorian's prison was weakening, and should it break free, the gang would have a much worse problem to deal with than the succession crisis and its supernatural side effects that they were already struggling to end. So, like good RPG players, they level grinded by playing the main plot a bit, then went back and killed the fucker when they had enough levels and endgame-worthy gear to do so without too much fuss.

The next bonus boss they saved for later was Katastrophi, a mountain ogre who Prince Goligaunt claimed was his aunt (though perhaps that was more in an honorary sense than a biological). She scrapped with them for a bit to wake herself up fully, then let our heroes go on friendly terms before climbing up the tower to give her punk nephew a good talking to.

Then our heroes went off to chase a sidequest they'd been given a while ago, seeking out the Elemental Masters of the mortal plane: the Royal Ruhk, an enormous eagle who displayed supreme mastery of wind magic; the Sharp Humped Behemoth, a mighty beast who was unparalleled in its domination of earth magic; the Jasconius, a colossal leviathan whose rule over water magic is unquestioned; and the Great Red Dragon, a master of all four elements to be sure, but whose supremacy over Fire magic was mightiest of all. The four masters put our heroes to the test, and rewarded them with materials to make some masterwork armor and weapons to take them through their final arcs of the story. But there was one more bonus boss, the master beyond masters.

The final master and bonus boss was none other than Death Himself - well, a death at least, and specifically the one who had acted as Guard Father and benefactor of Kaboldt von Hubert's grandfather. Foreshadowed in arc 2, Death made his proper appearance much later, and made sure our heroes were truly ready to stop Maelys and reforge the crown of Engelsex.

[vintagerpg]

Romance of the Perilous Land (2019) is Osprey’s other debut RPG. Things here are familiar and new in equal measure. It is obviously a game of Arthurian adventure, but unlike Pendragon, it doesn’t attempt to adhere to any sort of canon. Despite the tag line of the game being about British folklore, it does not conform to the England of reality. There is no map, its a mythic place with undefined borders. This is good, because Pendragon already has the reconstructed romance covered, and this lets us romp in the Camelot of our childhood imaginings. Robin Hood is in here, too! Because even though he shouldn’t be, he should be, if you get me.

Continuing this notion of new but familiar, this is definitely a hack of D&D. It cites the OGL at the end of the book and lists David Black’s Black Hack as a prime source of mechanics. I can’t see specific Black Hack mechanics (I have a hard time parsing the different versions of D&D at this point, official or unofficial) but the class-based, d20, roll under attribute system is definitely smoothed down in ways the hearken to modern hack design. There are lots of nice things that ground the mechanics to the theming — characters are unambiguously good, “race” is mechanically absent, class is supported by trade-like backgrounds, there are armor points and the magic system is points-based as well. Valor points, earned through good behavior, can be spent for a variety of advantages. Its a rare thing: a simpler sort of D&D custom tailored to provide a familiar system for a different sort of game.

(Another mark in the game’s favor: its inclusion of illustrations featuring Black characters and women who are knights really annoyed a certain racist metal musician and maker of shitty RPGs. Fuck that guy).

[legionofmyth]

Vaesen: Nordic Horror Roleplaying - Vaesen

🎲 #Vaesen: Nordic Horror Roleplaying: Utilize the Year Zero Engine to blend investigation, folklore, and horror elements to unravel mysteries and face the unknown. #Horror #TTRPG #RPG #FreeLeaguePublishing #YearZeroEngine

Vaesen – [PDF]In Vaesen: Nordic Horror Roleplaying, Vaesen refers to supernatural creatures that are inspired by Nordic folklore and myths. These entities embody the dark and mysterious aspects of the Mythic North. Vaesen can take various forms and often possess eerie and unsettling traits. They include creatures such as trolls, hulders, draugr, nisses, and other mythical beings deeply rooted in…

[familiaralien]

Giant monster tamer megathread

Decided for the sake of education and my own neurodiversity to make a post including every video game series or stand alone title I know of that focuses on creature capturing competitions that isn't Pokemon.

One big exception: the game has to be a reasonably playable state. So no games that are effectively or literally lost media (like Micromon) or games that only playable state is currently a short demo (like Bestieball). With that in mind here we go:

Digimon

This one is pretty obvious. While more of a multimedia franchise it has tons of games to its IP. The one that probably would appeal most to Pokenerds is Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth and its sequel as they're turned based RPGs with a monster capture mechanic.

Monster Rancher

Another one I think a lot of folks have heard about or least millennials would remember. I haven't personally played any of these titles myself but from what I gather they're raising sims with tournament combat. For a while their availability was mostly limited to emulation but Monster Rancher 1 and 2 have been ported to modern systems like the Switch.

Yo-kai Watch

A mid 2010s franchise that had a whole lot of initial success in Japan. Its an RPG series that doesn't take itself very seriously with cute and goofy monster design based on the Japanese folklore creatures called... well yokai. Has real time combat instead of turn based and more luck based capturing mechanics than Pokemon.

Palworld

Brand new game that's only in its alpha release as of now. Its effectively a parody of Pokemon where you're stuck trying to survive in the wilderness so you must build a base and farm resources to survive. Game did have some initial controversy due to some of its designs stepping a little TOO close to being outright ripoffs of existing designs. Also you can capture and enslave humans which may not vibe with some folks.

Temtem

Basically Pokemon meets a MMO lite. The game can be played mostly as single player campaign but does unfortunately still require a constant internet connection. Battles are turned based but 2 versus 2.

Shin Megami Tensei

What could be consider the original monster tamer game. The series is aimed at a somewhat older audience and the plots tend to be more philosophical then like "gotta be the best *insert title here* ever". Focuses a lot on fusing monsters as well as trying to convince them to join you. You actually battle alongside your monsters.

Dragon Quest Monsters

Monster Capturing mechanics do exist in the mainline DQ games as well (at least since DQ5 I think?) but its these games have them as the main gameplay. Much like SMT it focuses on fusing monsters as one of the main ways to expand your library off available species.

Nexomon

Franchise that started its life as a mobile game but has since gotten ports to other systems. Its very similar to Pokemon in terms of creature designs and combat but the worldbuilding is quite different as is its tone being a lot more comedic.

Coromon

Indie game with visuals similar to Pokemon Black and White. Its story was originally kinda so-so and its ending pretty abrupt but its since gotten a free patch that smoothed that out quite a bit. Also has a sorta unique "shiny" system where alternate colors are associated with higher potential which can actually be altered once. Also has a built in randomizer and "nuzlocke" mode.

Cassette Beasts

A pretty recent indie game. Unlike all the others you don't capture or hatch monsters but rather record them to transform into them yourself. Battles are always between you and a companion which there are multiple to befriend throughout your journey (including a dog!). Has some really interesting quirks with its type chart that adds a lot of extra depth. Will soon be releasing a mutiplayer update for anyone that's into that kind of thing.

Monster Crown

A game with visual based on the Gameboy era. It has some pretty fascinating breeding mechanics and a somewhat darker tone than Pokemon. WARNING: DO NOT GET THE SWITCH PORT! For whatever reason its especially glitchy and I have genuinely gotten entire save files ruined by game breaking bugs (such as my player character getting stuck in walls or clipping out of a bounds). As far as I'm aware the PC version is not nearly as much as a mess though.

Monster Sanctuary

Monster collecting meets metroidvania. Has a really fun skill tree type move learning system that allows for quite a bit of strategy. Also the monster designs are way less Pokemon and more inspired by traditional roleplay monsters (so there's like Goblins and stuff). My only gripe with the game is how you get monsters involves getting specific scores in battle which makes getting 1 of each monster way more tedious than it needed to be.

Fossil Fighters

Franchise is maybe dead since there hasn't been a new entry in it since the 3DS but its still easy enough to these games. Anyway this series involve reviving dinosaurs (and some other ancient animals) into new lifeforms called vivosaur and using them in 3 on 3 combat. Vivosaurs are obtained with a fossil digging minigame which is kinda neat.

Spectrobes

Another franchise that's been pretty dead for a while (it last entry was on the Wii). Spectrobes has a more sci fi like setting with its monsters being aliens you revive from fossils. Combat is real time and you participate alongside a couple of your monsters. I'm btw describing only the first game because I haven't played either sequel!

Evocreo

Mobile only monster game with a style similar to Pokemon Black and White not unlike Coromon mentioned above. Has a lot of focus on split path evolution. The devs are apparently going to release a sequel soon but its been in development hell for years so I'll come back and edit this if that actually happens.

Monster Hunter Stories

I have not played nor watched gameplay of this one so I can't really describe it that deeply all I know is its a spinoff of Monster Hunter involving befriending and using the titular monsters in combat.

Telefang

Its sad this game series is most famous for being badly translated and repackaged as a Pokemon game. Anyway these are Japanese only titles though fan translations exist. The gimmick of this game is that you call monsters up on your cellphone to get them over to participate in combat. This series this sprout out when cellphones were consider newfangled and hip so it makes sense.

Anode Heart

Pretty sure this one is PC only. Takes some inspiration from the Digimon World games and is semi open world. Sadly this one I don't know much about outside of that though it does have a free demo on Steam for anyone that wants to try it for themselves.

Ooblets

Extremely wholesome monster catching and farming game. Battles are actually dancing competitions instead of violent confrontations and monsters are recruited simply by beating them in a fight. Thing is monsters will only fight you if you offer them their favourite food so that's where strategy comes in.

Moonstone Island

I know very little about this one except its also a monster catching and farming game. I've heard that its really good though and I believe its PC only right now but has a planned Switch port.

Timenet

Probably the most obscure ass monster tamer on this entire list. This is a Japanese exclusive set of Gameboy games featuring very cute monster designs... and Hello Kitty. Yes Sanrio made a monster tamer back in the late 90s. I only learned this even existed after scrolling down a comment section on a random YouTube video.

Abomi Nation

I'm mostly excluding roguelike games due to most having nothing but battles an 0 plot but this one does actually has a story! You play as the actual monster as you make your way through somewhat randomly generated maps with lots of other randomized elements. The game allows for a lot of customization including turning off permadeath if you're not a fan of that. The visual style is a bit crude but its still a pretty cute game.

Jade Concoon

Another somewhat obscure entry but at least this one got an English release. Anyway its an old RPG for the PSX with monster capturing and a very fascinating monster fusing mechanic that uses an algorithm to determine the appearance of the fusion. The player character can also participate in battle and the plot is very complex. The game also has a sequel on the PS2 but I know even less about that one.

Robopon

Now if you thought Palworld was bordering on some copyright infringement this game is basically nothing but "Pokemon but the designs are robots". Still worth bringing up I think!

Ni No Kuni

Not sure how I got to mentioning several obscure titles and somehow didn't mention something that really isn't. Ni No Kuni is real time battles between you and 2 party members. You can both battle as the actual human characters or switch into a monster. Wrath of the White Witch's visual style in particular is very whimsical and even has some animated cutscene done by Studio Ghibli. I haven't played any other game in the franchise.

Siralim

I haven't played any entry in this series yet (there's apparently 4 games + a spinoff) but from reading up on the most recent entry these are basically procedurally generated dungeon crawlers with an insane level of depth. The story is apparently not that great but the games themselves apparently also make fun of it so it seems its an intentional dev choice. Battles are 6 on 6 and there's over 1000 monsters to collect.

Disc Creatures

A monster tamer with a visual style similar to the Gameboy and Gameboy Color. It has 3 on 3 combat. Impressively I'm pretty sure it was developed by just one person in the RPG Maker engine (I'm honestly surprised this is the first indie game made with ya know... an engine meant for turned based RPGs).

Monster Harvest

A Dungeon crawler mixed with farming. Its a bit shorter than anything else I've mentioned here and its a bit glitchy but its a cute little game worth picking up on sale at the least. Notably also only about a 1/3 of the monster in the game are combative with the rest being either used for farming resources or as mounts.

Loomian Legacy

A Roblox monster tamer.... yes there's 2 of those in this (I could even have added 3 but I think one is in still a pretty early state). Pretty sure this started as a Pokemon fangame and become its own thing later. It has your typical 1 on 1 turn based combat and all that. I think its free to play and there's like several hours of content on it so maybe worth a gander.

Tales of Tonorio

Pretty sure this is the same basic deal as Loomian (Roblox game, started as a Pokemon fan game, etc etc) though its has its own world building and creature designs since I'm pretty sure its made by a completely different team.

So yeah that's all of them I can think of right now. If I learn of others and/or there's new releases I may expand this.

PS: There is almost certainly numerous typoes in this. This post is way longer than anything else I've ever made on Tumblr so I can't be arse to fix them you're just going to have to deal!

[skaldish]

are you aware of the tabletop rpg called vaesen? it's really cool and I thought you might find it neat :)

In dark forests, beyond the mountains, by black lakes in hidden groves. At your doorstep. In the shadows, something stirs. Strange beings. Twisted creatures, lurking at the edge of vision. Watching. Waiting. Unseen by most, but not by you. You see them for what they really are. Vaesen. Welcome to the Mythic North – northern Europe of the nineteenth century, but not as we know it today. A land where the myths are real. A cold reach covered by vast forests, its few cities lonely beacons of industry and enlightenment – a new civilization dawning. But in the countryside, the old ways still hold sway. There, people know what lurks in the dark. They know to fear it. Vaesen – Nordic Horror Roleplaying is based on the work of Swedish illustrator and author Johan Egerkrans, Vaesen presents a dark Gothic setting steeped in Nordic folklore and old myths of Scandinavia. The game mechanics use an adapted version of the award-winning Year Zero Engine.

Oh man that looks so cool!

[satoshi-mochida]

Turn-based RPG Forge of the Fae official trailer, Kickstarter campaign launches in late September - Gematsu

Datadyne has released the official trailer for turn-based RPG Forge of the Fae, as well as announced that a Kickstarter campaign will launch at the end of September. The game is planned for release across PlayStation, Xbox, Switch, and PC via Steam in 2026.

Here is an overview of the game, via its Steam page:

About

Explore a story-rich, mysterious world inspired by Celtic folklore, use crystals to channel powerful magic, and make impactful choices that change the story’s outcome. A unique Crystal System and battles with dangerous Fae await in this charming, pixel-style, retro modern RPG.

A Complex World

Gear up and join Fiora, a brilliant inventor on a quest to uncover the truth behind a series of mysterious disappearances. Dive into an immersive and enchanting fantasy world, rich with magic, wonder, and danger. As the miners’ strike rages on, tensions run high, and the Mining Company hires muscle to quash the unrest. Amidst the chaos, people are vanishing left and right, and the violence only makes the situation worse. But Fiora won’t let the distractions get in her way. Explore a world inspired by ancient Celtic folklore, full of intrigue, adventure, and endless possibilities. With a diverse cast of fascinating characters, each with their own unique playstyle, you’ll need to stay on your toes to outwit your foes and uncover the truth.

Choice Matters

The choices you make will have a real impact on the story’s outcome, so choose wisely! Upgrade your trusty Mechanical Faerie and use the innovative Crystal System to channel powerful magic from the world of the Fae. With every battle and challenge, you’ll become stronger and more adept at navigating this fascinating world. Immerse yourself in this gorgeous pixel-style RPG that combines retro charm with modern gameplay mechanics. This is a game like no other, full of twists, turns, and surprises at every turn. Get ready to embark on an unforgettable adventure!

Watch the trailer below.

Official Trailer

[dailycharacteroption]

Kraken Slayer (Paladin Archetype)

(art by Fran-Hdez on DeviantArt)

I can’t remember how many times I’ve said it, but I don’t get how D&D and Pathfinder did krakens as a concept.

Giant predatory squid that attacks ships? Check.

It’s also a fully intelligent creature and is almost always a tyrant monster that enslaves and rules over smaller aquatic beings, conjures storms to bring trouble to surface mortals, and so on…. Ok? Why??

Intellectually, I understand, D&D needed a giant monstrous threat underwater which could be like a dragon in not just power level but scheming, but they had already made the classic chromatic dragons all terrestrial, leaving only the bronze dragon, a metallic dragon, as the only one of the core 10 that live in the ocean. (Also, they probably were at least a little influenced by Cthulhu, but were not keen to make a tentacled monstrous overlord too close to it while Chaosium’s Call of Cthulhu RPG had the rights to use those monsters directly.)

But the fact that kraken are such powerful and typically evil aquatic monsters alongside the alghollthu means that to the aquatic peoples living below the waves, they fill much the same role in their folklore, as great evils that heroes must arise to slay on occasion.

Enter the kraken slayer, a form of paladin seen among aquatic cultures that seeks to protect others from the depredations of the evil that lurks in the depths, be they krakens, alghollthu, cults of monstrous underwater gods, and so on.

The tradition originated among the tritons, those goodly aquatic folk that originated from the Plane of Water, which does have it’s own kraken problems on occasion. However, it has since spread to other goodly peoples beneath the waves, (and in theory, above the waves as well, assuming that such heroes have a method of consistently surviving and moving freely underwater.)

As is fitting of their focus, these divine warriors alter their smite slightly so that it is aquatic and water-based evils that particularly suffer when they unleash their divine wrath upon them.

They also gain immunity to poison in addition to disease, useful given how many toxic foes there are beneath the waves.

Their divine bonds also vary, with those that bond with their weapons eschewing elemental damage to instead improve their weapon’s performance in water. Meanwhile, those that choose a mount must bond with a creature suitable for the waves, big enough to cling to while it swims, though they thankfully do not limit you on this as long as it makes sense.

Krakens, like their mundane cephalopod kin and many other creatures, use grappling and constriction as weapons, and so their aura blesses them and those nearby with the ability to slip free of grapples with surprising ease.

With no ability to magically grant freedom of movement, this archetype is pretty much exclusive to the aquatic playable ancestries unless you’re willing to invest a lot in magical solutions. That being said, it’s a pretty good way to alter the abilities of a paladin to better serve being underwater. Definitely consider it if you’re playing both an aquatic ancestry and a paladin, and if the campaign takes place at least a considerable bit underwater.

The lore for the archetype states that these warriors must balance hunting the monsters of the deep with protecting their people from them, but I find that’s primarily what the paladin experience is like: remembering that you are a defender of the people first, and not abandon them to chase down the wicked out of bloodlust and zealotry.

The southern part of Malgalos Rainforest opens up into a river delta where the massive mangrove trees rise out of the silt, and the waters run deep indeed in places. Long have the vanara of that region held alliance with the tritons of the deeper water, and a few have even learned a few arts from them, using magic to join them as defenders of the continental shelf, fighting off creatures from darker waters.

Though he dislikes the facility on principal, the kraken slayer Shophis has agreed to attend the grand opening of Balkas the Inscruitable’s underwater palace, which comes complete with a menagerie with simulated environments where monsters from around the world are kept, such as bloodbrush from the Sanaan Desert, and so on. However, Balkas’ underwater jewel has raise the interest of several underwater powers that seek to either destroy it, or worse, claim it for their own.

For generations, the kraken slayer order of the merfolk city of Angilas has only been so in name only, being no krakens sighted in the region for nearly two centuries. However, just because they are not seen does not mean they are not present, and the recent arrival of a group of adventurers may force the hand of the clandestine cephalopod that has been manipulating their society from the shadows.