#esoterica rpg

[dungeonofthedragon]

Magical School TTRPG

With the announcement of Dimension 20's Misfits and Magic season two, now is the perfect time for a post about different games for playing out your wizard school dreams, 100% free of TERF nonsense.

(season one of Misfits and Magic used Kids on Brooms, a magical spin on the popular Kids on Bikes. If you're in Aotearoa, you can support a fantastic local business and find copies of the latter here!)

Esoterica, Her Majesty's College of the Arcane

Style: Narrative

Device: Prompts, GMless

The lightest and most whimsical game on this list- also, it's totally free! Grab a friend or three and have your own magical school adventures today.

Our Spell is Steel

Style: Theatre of the mind tabletop

Device: Dice

This game isn't a traditional magic school game, but it can scratch a similar itch if you're looking for a darker vibe. Players take on the roles of neophyte mages born and raised to serve an empire. Tragedy, revolution, and magical drama are all on the cards here, and this game is just as suitable for a one-shot as it is for ongoing play.

Tangled Blessings

Style: Journaling, GMless

Device: Tarot

Tangled Blessings is set in a cursed magical university. The game revolves around a pair of exceptionally talented rivals. It is played from the perspective of one (or both) of these students, who are reflecting on their time studying here before their long anticipated, climactic final duel.

Worth noting is that you and your rival don't have to be enemies! You could also play this from the perspective of siblings, best friends, or even lovers...there are endless possibilities.

Wyrdwood Wand

Style: Tactical grid-based tabletop

Device: Dice

Wyrdwood Wand is a game I've been keeping a close eye on lately. Young wizards attend a magical academy full of danger and intrigue. Monsters and spirits abound, and there'll always be something exciting to get up to!

[windienine]

i want to teach you how to play chuubo's marvelous wish-granting engine...

(diceless rpg released by jenna k. moran in 2011)

... in as few words as i can manage!

there's a person running the game and playing the world (here, they're called the hollyhock god or "HG" for short.)

and one or more other people playing several characters who serve as the game's central cast (the player characters, or "PCs" for short.)

if you're one of the PCs, your main goal is to progress through a storyline by earning experience points ("XP") before play, you'll be given a little card with a set of goals on it. this is a quest. it describes the kind of story you're here to tell with your character today.

a quest needs a certain amount of XP to be completed, at which point you earn a reward and proceed to the next quest.

you can get XP in a few common ways:

completing the goals described on your quest card (major goals can only be completed once and give a large amount of XP, flavor goals can be repeated indefinitely but grant a smaller number)

participating in scenes with other PCs and/or the HG, talking to and working with one another and describing how your character feels. (this is an XP action, and you can take one once per scene)

evoking a specific emotion out of the other players that they reward you with XP for (this is called emotion XP)

a scene involves one or more PCs interacting with one another or the world. once everyone's been in two scenes and taken two XP actions, that is a chapter. you tally up all the XP you earned, refresh your resources, and the session is over.

that is the core loop. you try to progress directly on your quest, you spend scenes interacting with other players, and you play into the archetype you've chosen for a few bonuses. finish a quest, unlock a new storyline.

in other words: you have experiences as your character which give them the will to grow and change.

check out this example ^^^

this one's structured for a loner character-- some mad scientist or mage who knows that the world is in danger and is eager to solve that problem all alone.

but... this isn't really a story about singular great men solving singular great problems alone, though. how much can you tell about this character, their conflicts, and where they're headed, all based on the quest structure alone?

your challenge is to:

do the things listed on the card, when possible. take up burdens, structure the weird ominous dreams and portents your character is experiencing, create scenarios where they have to rely on others against their better judgement (quest XP).

spend time with the natural world and/or the other PCs every scene, having experiences that affect your character personally (XP actions).

act as your character in ways that drive the other players to stunned speechlessness, the usual target reaction for this character's archetype (emotion XP).

be loose and have some fun with it. you'll be working with several quests at a time, so try to chain them together and create openings for other players to fulfill their own goals as well.

... and you've done it! those are the fundamental basics of the game!

[haveyouplayedthisttrpg]

Have you played ESOTERICA ?

By Greg Saunders

Urban fantasy occultism, focusing on the ascension of the player characters, the agents who try to stop them, and the rituals they perform.

[eitherorcollective]

We're really excited to share with you a free five-minute DEMO of GIVE UP THE GHOST!!!

Taking inspiration from Pathologic, Disco Elysium, and Planescape: Torment, GIVE UP THE GHOST is a mystery roleplaying game set in a strange city in the center of the world.

Assume the role of the OVERSEER ALHART, a one-eyed wanderer tasked to investigate the source of a deadly fire. Explore the remains of the BURNT-UP HOUSE at the edge of town, investigate the bodies, and do your best to find out more.

If you’re into narrative RPGs about cities, history, esoterica, and the apocalypse… this is the game for you!! Click the link above to access our DEMO!! And a huge thank you to everyone whose support has made this possible!!

[secretsnowclub]

Snow's TTRPG Class: Lesson #1, a reading list of experimental rpgs

"Go ahead, put anything here," Tumblr says. Well don't you worry, Tumblr. I will put anything here. Just wait and see.

I wrote this article: https://nerves.games/2023/07/26/snows-ttrpg-class-reading-list/

It's got some words in there. Go check it out. OR, just look this list of games and read them. It's your first assignment. These are all games that I think have pushed on the boundaries of TTRPGs and most of them I would consider experimental. They are in alphabetical order.

Adventure RPG (in Need of Translation), Mameli – https://better-legends.itch.io/adventure-rpg-in-need-of-translation 

Apollo 47 Technical Manual, Hutchings – https://thousandyearoldvampire.com/products/apollo-47-technical-manual-an-rpg 

Care for Hecuba, Libre – https://bigstuffedcat.itch.io/care-for-hecuba 

Clay Creatures, Sinclair – https://s-jared.itch.io/clay-creatures 

Disk Horse, Geist – https://fm-geist.itch.io/disk-horse-1-off-to-the-races 

Don’t Lose Your Mind, Baugh – https://evilhat.com/product/don-t-lose-your-mind 

Everyone is John, Sullivan – https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/271276/Everyone-is-John 

Feedback, Slattery – https://adira.itch.io/feedback 

Flying Games, Dragon – https://possumcreekgames.itch.io/flying-games 

Freebase, Thron & Shaughnessy – https://i.4pcdn.org/tg/1411822901179.pdf 

I EAT MANTRAS FOR BREAKFAST, Mison – https://mariabumby.itch.io/i-eat-mantras-for-breakfast 

kill puppies for satan, Baker – https://img.4plebs.org/boards/tg/image/1370/08/1370081361036.pdf 

Lady Blackbird, Harper – https://johnharper.itch.io/lady-blackbird 

Paranoia, Costikyan, Gelber, and Goldberg – https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/224392/Paranoia–First-Edition 

Plot Armor, Black – https://oriondblack.itch.io/plot-armor 

Print Weaver, Morrison – https://nlmorrison.itch.io/print-weaver 

Teen Witch, Adler – https://buriedwithoutceremony.com/variations-on-your-body 

Ten Candles, Dewey – https://cavalrygames.com/shop/ten-candles-pdf 

This Discord Has Ghosts in it, Jobst & Vass – https://willjobst.itch.io/ghosts 

Unusual Esoterica, Unpleasant – https://axesorcs.itch.io/unusual-esoterica-series-1 

We Are But Worms, LaBresh – https://riverhousegames.itch.io/we-are-but-worms-a-one-word-rpg 

Wisher, Theurgist, Fatalist, Moran – https://afarandasunlessland.files.wordpress.com/2018/09/wtf.pdf

If you didn't read the article: this is not a list of best rpgs, or a list of great starter rpgs, or a list of my favorite games! It's simply a list of experimental games that I think pushed the bounds. I think if you're in my internet house (which you are while you read this, welcome in, get comfy, we've got fresh-squeezed water) you should read these and have opinions on them, even if your opinion is "lol, lmao, this is trash." But this is school so you have to put it in a complete sentence of you get an F. Minus.

Bye,

Snow

[rpgsandbox]

Beyond The Pale is a tabletop RPG adventure inspired by Jewish history, folk tales, and mysticism. This setting aims to highlight the unique folklore and beliefs cultivated by the Jewish people, presenting them in an old-school RPG format. It explores themes of oppression and persecution alongside hope and love, set against a backdrop of idyllic country life. 

Azazel, King of Scapegoats

To ensure the authenticity and sensitivity of this portrayal, the core development team (including the writing, art, and layout) all identify as Jewish. Members of the religious community were consulted throughout the development of this book to ensure that the themes and images represented in the text were not perceived as offensive or derogatory.

The adventure was written with Cairn in mind, but is close to being system-neutral and easily adapted to other “Old School” roleplaying games. The book will be about 94 pages. A5 size. 

Explore the Tree of Life

The events of this module take place during a week-long celebration, the Days of Remembrance, during which the PCs will need to gather information, solve mysteries, and overcome threats to prevent a great cataclysm. 

A map of the region

The places in this book are based on an actual territory in the western part of the Russian Empire known as The Pale of Settlement, which existed from 1791 to 1917. For over a century, Jews were restricted to this region. Jews often lived together in small, market towns called shtetls. During that time, hundreds of thousands of Jews were killed as a result of pogroms. Even with these restrictions, Jews in Europe were able to cultivate a rich culture and language. The village in this adventure, Kest, is based on one such place.

A groschen, the local currency

The village of Kest and the surrounding countryside is populated with all manner of folk: erudite scholars, scheming politicians, jealous tricksters, lumberers, labor activists, folk witches, and many, many more! As they move about the countryside, characters will explore ancient ruins, dark forests, and broken lighthouses in their efforts to prevent - or assist - in a cataclysmic event.

Rifka. She carries a secret.

The setting of Beyond the Pale is populated by all manner of creatures, beasts, and monsters. The vast majority of these creatures are the result of meticulous research and study of Jewish folktales, myth, and legend. As the PCs explore the town, the forest, and the dungeons of the Pale they will encounter beasts unfamiliar and wild: an unrelenting dybbuk, a vengeful mazzik, the malicious Alukah, and many more. 

Some of the creatures you'll meet in the Pale

At its core, Beyond the Pale is still an old school adventure. Characters are expected to explore deadly dungeons, surviving on wit, critical thinking, and a bit of luck. The book will feature two distinct dungeons for the PCs to explore, each designed around a real symbol of Jewish identity.  

All of the magic items in Beyond the Pale are sourced directly from Jewish esoterica, belief, folk tales, and mysticism. Two years were spent researching and writing this book, great care has been taken deciding how to represent some of the symbols, imagery, and personalities include in the book.

Some of the relics the characters may discover

Kickstarter campaign ends: Thu, December 21 2023 10:00 AM UTC +00:00

Website: [Lost Pages] [twitter] [instagram]

[s-che]

for the tarot rpg ask game! The Fool, The Empress, The Hierophant, The Chariot, The Hanged Man, The Devil, The Tower, The Star, The Sun

This is so many questions!! I am gonna have to go a little shorter for each of them, but thank you for your interests lmao.

from the RPG Designer tarot ask game

The Fool – What do the earliest stages of work on a game look like for you? OR How did you get into game design?

Games start one of two ways for me: either I think "there should be a game that feels like X" or I think "I want to write about Y and I think for one reason or another a game is a place to do it." That second option is usually just the first option wearing sunglasses, anyway — since the main reason I might write something as a game (rather than a poem, short story, etc) is to try and get that experiential edge, where I'm not just conveying what I'm thinking to you but you the reader/player can dig around in it (and see why I feel a way about something). Then I start writing. Usually pretty freeform. Lots of lists of things. Lots of stream of consciousness "I want it to do this so therefore it must include that" until I start to get a better picture of what the game is going to be.

The Empress — Where do your ideas come from? OR Do you seek out or avoid inspiration while working on an idea?

I love nothing more than to dig into an inspiration while I'm working on a project. I like to surround myself with as much aligned stimuli as I can — recently I've been reading Piranesi and Doug Cowan's Cyberhenge and Drawing Down the Moon and listening to a lot of wizard themed hyperpop, for example. You can guess where I might be going with that. Let me drown in the thing I am thinking about, please.

And then credit my inspirations, of course.

The Hierophant — Who is a fellow game designer you’ve learned a lot from? OR What is a piece of popular wisdom about games you think is nonsense?

This is straying a little bit from the prompt, but: I fucking hate it when people try to frame the TTRPG design world as a family / community / whatever. Shut the fuck up. At TTRPGs best they're a scene and at the worst they're an (unregulated and monopolized) industry. I have communities and families within that, but they're not people I'm going to reach with a tag.

The Chariot — What is the next project you’re planning to start OR What is the next project you’re excited to finish?

I mentioned this in another response, but. I've been thinking a lot about wizards lately. Alchemists. Notetaking. Esoterica. A lot of this is: it's summer and I'm not getting my grad school itch scratched, but I've got something new that I just need to polish up a bit... A game I think y'all sickos would enjoy.

Also a Lemony Snicket thing, but that's another story.

The Hanged Man — What other creative pursuits do you have? OR What current trends in game design are you most interested in?

I think we're due for another hackable and misunderstandable system pretty soon, a la PBTA or BITD or NDNM or whatever. Feels like the cutting edge of design has moved on from those things — while still keeping their lessons in mind — and we just need something to blow up in the right way that we end up coining a new term for it. I can feel it coming, I'm just not sure where.

Oh, and One D&D launch is gonna be a mess. The post-CR D&D boom hasn't had to live through an edition change yet. No idea what that's gonna look like, but I can't wait.

The Devil — What motifs or mechanics do you just keep coming back to? OR What is a game you’ve enjoyed playing in the last year?

I played some Wizard's Grimoire (issue 1, but all of them look cool as shit) with a friend recently. Good game for laying on a couch and daydreaming magic boys.

The Tower — Talk about about a game you tried to make that crashed and burned.

When I was maybe a freshman in college — in fact I can remember working on it in 2017 — I wanted to write a PBTA game about paladins of different creeds slamming into each other. It sucked. I didn't know how to write games yet and it came out looking like worse Dungeon World. I'm glad it doesn't exist anywhere.

Don't write worse Dungeon World, folks.

The Star — Talk about a game you’re working on and what excites you about it.

I've been tinkering with some ideas for a multiple-player one-character Disco Elysium-ish game about plurality and inner dialogues. It's fun to roll around in my head! Not sure if I'll ever end up making it, but thinking about ways to mechanize squabbling for authorial control — i.e. to let you play as several people fighting to front — has been a lot of fun.

The Sun — Talk about a game you’ve made that you’re proud of.

Book of 13 Hours. I did some spells with a friend recently and love them. And I talked to the lake I've been stay next to for the last week or so. Good game. Good magic.

[miraclemaya]

okay so the most i think obvious examples are kult: divinity lost in which the setting is predicated on the fact that the demiurge is real but recently disappeared making things weird. i believe even getting knowledge of the supernatural is how your character gets stronger which given how gnosticism is based off the greek word for knowledge and they were all about learning the like true shape of the divine (i think do not quote me on this) it's doublely there

that's like the most direct one but then you get stuff like mage the awakening where the important thing pf the setting is that reality is a lie made by super wizard fascists sort of and wizards are people who realize that reality is a lie and usually try and fight against them

unknown armies has the idea of the Invisible Clergy made up of 333 archetypes like jungian style archetypes that come together to decide what reality will be once all the seats have been filled. not quite the same but i feel like it's got a similar vibe.

there's a few more im not really familiar with but i believe they have similar ideas like Esoterica

a lot of the other urban fantasy rpgs are just more normal monsters in the dark type horror rather than reality is a lie in some way. though depending on how you view things a lot of cosmic horror is like that, though i guess by then it's really really removed from what gnosticism is and it's just oh we don't know the truth

i feel like a lot of like urban fantasy ttrps take shit from gnosticism

[deliciouslydark]

Artwork from Esoterica RPG

[smash-64]

2020 Game of the Year Countdown #2: Indivisible Nintendo Switch (2020)

Shoutouts to @boner-taunt​ for letting me know about this game like...three years ago or something when it was still being developed. Would have never known about it, otherwise.

There is a ton I could write here because this game has had a very unfortunate history. Basically, the project lead is a POS who treats his team like garbage and who ran his company into the ground, leaving the game essentially unfinished. But, the game that we are left with, while needing a lot of polish, is still really good and it’s so clear that the people who worked on the game really put a lot of effort and love into it. 

It’s an action RPG with gameplay inspired by Valkyrie Profile, so it’s side-scrolling instead of 3D. The visuals are absolutely beautiful, the characters have personality, the voice acting is top-notch (they even got Michael Dorn aka Worf from Star Trek), and the music is really good too. I am partial to a few tracks, most notably Criminal Alley for how it fits its location so well, and Esoterica because it is so peaceful and gives me a feeling of completeness. 

It’s a shame that this game will most likely never see a true “finished” version, given the state of the company that developed it. There is small hope, though, that we might see more Indivisible in the future, since the IP isn’t actually owned by the dude who ran it off the rails. But I can’t say it looks likely any time soon.

[radramblog]

The switch is now on...

Off (or OFF) is a short RPG by solo French developer Mortis Ghost, released in 2008 with a few different translations coming out since. It’s a lot less well known than it was, say, 10 years ago, but seeing as its free and a banger I think it’s still worth talking about.

Off is one of those games characterised more by a weirdness factor than anything else. Unlike other games in that sort of genre, however, Off is ultimately a simple premise- you, the player (the game breaks the fourth wall immediately), are to help the Batter in his mission of purifying the zones of the world through eradication of the game’s enemies, known as Spectres. The gameplay is ultimately fairly simple- relatively basic RPG stuff hidden behind loads of flowery language, to the point where every English translation has erroneously labelled the “skills” menu as “competences”, despite that literally just being the French word for…skills. There’s esoterica to all of the dialogue in the game, particularly that of the Judge- the feline tutorial can make the game hard to approach, with odd vocabulary choices and loads and loads of words right at the start of the game.

Where Off truly shines is in its world and aesthetic. Each zone is largely monocolour, as are all the characters and enemies- this limited style suiting the blunt perspective of the Batter, as well as letting the world have it’s absolutely bizarre makeup without looking too out of place. The first zone introduces the elements that make up the world- Meat, Plastic, Smoke, and Metal, a far cry from the Earth/Air/Fire/Water or similar groupings you’d expect, with these detailed and disgusting diagrams and descriptions of how each makes up part of the lives of the men that inhabit the world. And despite the overworld’s limited palette, the detail that goes into these and other images as well as many of the battle sprites makes them truly stand out.

The game’s sound design is more than worth a mention as well. The soundtrack, by Alias Conrad Coldwood, is excellent, between the hilariously off-kilter battle theme, Pepper Steak, to the eerie background tracks for each zone such as Rainy Day and Meat or Desperately Safe. Later tracks take a turn for the terrifying and the hauntingly beautiful in Not Safe and The Meaning of his Tears respectively. The sound effects are also great, with riding a boat through a sea of meat being exactly as disgusting as it probably should be.

The gameplay is unfortunately where OFF falls... off. As mentioned earlier, the combat is fairly basic, and if you know what you’re doing isn’t ever really a challenge- lategame bosses have way too much health, but don’t resist the comically overpowered poison status, but if you don’t know about that, then they’re extremely grindy. Some of the puzzles in the overworld can get pretty excessive, as well- if you’re going to play this game, pen and paper handy is probably pretty necessary. The minigames of the Mortal Fall and Panic in Ballville are…pretty much pointless, too.

While the game’s twist and ending are relatively well known by now, I’m going to avoid spoiling them, if only because I’d like those who haven’t played it to have a chance unspoiled. The game is free, and only takes about 5 hours, so it’s pretty accessible. I will say that the secret joke ending is pretty hilarious, but also probably not actually worth going for, unless you think spending way more time in Zones 2 and 3 than necessary is a fun idea.

[chicago-geniza]

tl;dr i was talking about the way desirability politics & disgust are used as shorthand in online discussions re: misogyny, & how this intersects with the "men really live like this & think it's okay" type of post, & how both seem to take sites where social control is imposed on women very coercively & aggressively--the body & the domestic interior, re: cleanliness, organization, cooking, "making a house a home," right? (also the blanket assumption re: "weaponized incompetence"--that any man who struggles with seemingly simple tasks is doing so DELIBERATELY, in a calculated move to manipulate women into getting frustrated & doing the tasks for them...i read a dear prudence where a woman was furious because she always had to re-fold clothes when it was her husband's turn to put laundry away even though she showed him how to do it "the right way" & she was like "is he doing it on purpose so i'll just fold the laundry & he doesn't have to?" & prudence was like "...the laundry is still folded, right, just not in Exactly The Way You Want? what if you just let it be & stopped refolding the clothes. if this would drive you insane all week, perhaps consider speaking to someone about your need for control." like there are always going to be gender dynamics but sometimes the call is coming from inside the house! my mom used to scream at me for doing the dishes wrong on purpose & started just doing it herself until i was very gently like "you never showed me how to wash dishes properly? i'm a child? it's not intuitive?" there's presuming competence (good), & there's also presuming a passive-aggressve weaponized motive behind regular old incompetence, especially when gender relations are afoot, more so when you factor in disability.)

MOVING ON--so like, re: desirability-- 

someone will upload a photo of a stranger from a niche subreddit or something. say, a fat guy in sweatpants with a neckbeard & greasy hair, smiling & showing off his collection--magic the gathering cards, warhammer figurines, some genre of detail-oriented, time-consuming-to-make-or-accumulate tabletop gaming esoterica. 98.9% guarantee at least one comment will be something like "big incel energy." this usage is interesting to me because it strips the word of denotative signification--i.e., to denote a member of a specific subculture & political (or politicized) movement (acknowledging here semantic drift from the term's original coinage, by a woman, to very thoughtfully describe her own loneliness; pour one out for the vile twisting of her neologism, because "involuntarily celibate" is a clear, concise phrase that would be neutral if it hadn't been co-opted; it doesn't inherently imply any entitlement to sex). anyway--my imaginary commenter, instead, makes it a recursive statement about themselves--"i find this person too disgusting & weird to fuck, ergo, he must not be fucking; he's a man, & here i reveal my own essentialist assumptions, so he must *want* to, & he hasn't changed himself, so he's angry at women about it."

there are a series of assumptions happening here: 1. this person's body is so repulsive--and personality so offputting--that he MUST be a virgin; he's a man who collects niche toys (for a tabletop game played by mostly men, that can be fairly sexist in the way fantasy RPGs often are) & does not adhere to adult standards of grooming or dress, so he must be immature & unable to take care of himself; 2. ergo, immaturity plus virginity plus (probable) autism = this man is angry at women for not sleeping with him (instead of taking initiative and making HIMSELF more desirable. Men Really Live Like This & Think It's Okay)

the sexual schema & desirability politics are nowhere to be found in the photo itself! it's not a profile pic on a dating app; he's not trying to make himself sexuslly appealing; he's not even wearing a fedora or any signifiers associated with incel ~subculture (he's not showing off his my little pony collection, for example!) it's been distorted through the viewer/commenter's disgust about this guy's body and hobbies (again: This Whole Thing Smacks of Autism), and projected back onto the image so that a fat guy with unwashed hair & an elastic waistband who's showing off his figurines to the figurine forum gets perceived as a violent redpilled misogynist. "incel" just means "Unfuckable, but i'm making my disgust your problem by preemptively ascribing to you resentment & rage about me not wanting to fuck you, because you're fat, weird, & have bad hygiene, & i really want to call you disgusting schlub in public but i need to do it in like, a feminist way, & you have a neckbeard, so."

NOOOOO it cut off my tag essay :(

[eitherorcollective]

GIVE UP THE GHOST - a new mystery roleplaying game is now LIVE On KICKSTARTER!!

GIVE UP THE GHOST is a dialogue-based roleplaying game set in a strange city at the center of the world. Assume the role of Overseer Alhart, a one-eyed wanderer tasked to investigate a grim and prophetic fire. You’ll explore the weird, haunted corridors of the city Forde, and in your search for answers -- you will come to know the heart of the city as well as your own. 

Your character, the Overseer, was born in this city… but you have never returned until now. Upon your arrival, the tide of history comes flooding back, and you’ll have to stake your share of the waters. Choose how to immerse yourself in this place, this city at the center of the world -- do you remain forever a stranger? Or will you reclaim your name? 

Taking inspiration from legendary narrative games like Planescape: Torment and Disco Elysium, GIVE UP THE GHOST is about choosing how to live at the end of all things. You’ll confront the city’s pain, and work to uncover the traces of beauty still there. 

If you’re into narrative roleplaying games about cities, liminal spaces, history, alienation, worldbuilding, apocalypse, and esoterica…. This is the game for you! 

Consider supporting us on KICKSTARTER, following us here, or sharing this post with anyone you think might be interested! Thank you for reading!!

[best-ghoul]

Like, E.Y.E. was such an experience of a game. Like, a good game will stay with you and, with luck, become a phenomenon, whether large or small, and develop a following, and have people discussing and playing it and doing fandom things for years to come. But it doesn’t have to be absorbing, deep, innovative, or even large in scope or gameplay-hours.

...But E.Y.E. wasn’t good. It was a questionably translated trip into Existential Nihilism, Christian Esoterica, Cyberpunk and RPG spreadsheets, all with an overabundance of nuance, but that also fails so utterly in conveyance and gameplay that it’s hard to say what’s really going on in it, making it impossible levy a fair assessment as to whether it’s deep or fake deep (the translation certainly doesn’t help there).

I’m sure E.Y.E. has a cult following...somewhere, but that following is far, far, from the majority of people who’ve played it.

And TONS OF PEOPLE I KNOW HAVE PLAYED IT! It’s like that one fucked up movie you and your friends saw when you were all stoned that you all kinda remember: a shared experience, that sometimes, years later, comes up in conversation and you all suddenly go “Holy shit, what the fuck was up with that?”

You all remember the gist and some scenes, but you cannot for the life of you, process what the fuck was going on and how the parts relate to the whole. Stuff just happens. It’s this, slightly weird, contemplative experience of playing a game you absolutely do not get, but is so unique you really want to see where it’s going, but by the end, you have less of an idea where it was going than when you started, and that the confusion was absolutely unintentional on the parts of the developers.

That’s an experience.

[medvidekpu]

‣ Other worlds / Jiné světy: Esoterica RPG - urban fantasy https://www.pinterest.com/pin/28710516361404039

[kayawagner]

Kickstarter: Esoterica

It seems Greg Saunders is on a roll! He just started a Kickstarter for Esoterica, his newest Open D6-based roleplaying game. The other two, Exilium and Summerland, were finished in early 2017 and 2018 respectively and were pretty successful considering Greg is not an industry titan like Monte Cook. But when it comes to quality Greg’s products are on par with the ones released by major publishers.

So what is Esoterica all about? The Kickstarter page describes it as a tabletop roleplaying game of occult mystery and the quest for power. Characters are so-called Adepts, people who have realized that beyond the mundane world lies a greater reality hidden by the Veil. They have learned to use the powers that permeate through that Veil. But using these powers cause physical corruption. But there are artifacts called soul jars which can protect from the corruption. So all Adepts are in search of these in order to find the power to pierce the Veil and venture into the reality beyond.

The game will be using a simplified version of Open D6, probably based upon Antipaladin’s MiniSix which Greg has used before. What really sets  Greg Saunders’ games apart from a lot of the competition is that it’s not just about killing monsters and taking their stuff. His games pose questions about life, about the human condition. Exilium was about guilt and penitence, Summerland was about past deeds which are not only a burden but may shield us from losing ourselves. Esoterica seems to be about power and how it corrupts.

The artwork alone makes me want to back this project (I actually did back it while writing this article) and I am very excited for the final product. If you’re at least remotely interested in what Esoterica is about, you should head over to the Kickstarter project page and check it out!

Related posts:

Kickstarter: Summerland

[Kickstarter] The Veil: Cascade

Kickstarter: Exilium–An Open D6 SF RPG

Kickstarter: Esoterica published first on https://supergalaxyrom.tumblr.com