#gshowitt games

[thedoctordog01]

A Story in Four Parts. The shenanigans of The Goat - the Satanic Goat, and of Vincent Van Goat - the Pygmy Goat. May their friendship last eternally under the blackened, cinnamon roll-shaped sun.

[indie-ttrpg-of-the-week]

Any one page Horror RPGs you’d recommend? I’ve started running honey heist and similar games with flatmates, but we’d love to run a horror one soon

Not too many horror one pagers sadly, and a lot of them are solo/2 player but here's some i could find

this one's by the guy who did honey heist, and its really neat

this one's solo but i've played it and its a blast

no idea about this one but i heard somewhere its good

yeah not a lot of multiplayer one page games nowadays, best of luck if you decide to search for it tho!

[thydungeongal]

There’s a pdf of the new DnD Player’s Handbook floating around…

That really doesn't interest me. I've posted about this a couple of times, but I don't really have any interest in delving into or talking about modern D&D anymore. WotC D&D sucks up all the oxygen in the room from other games and I would much rather talk about other cool games.

I've been running Nice Marines by Grant Howitt for my friends! It's a really fun one-pager and a loving genre parody of 40k! :)

[patchesandco]

Introducing CatScratch! A 1-4 player, GM optional storytelling TTRPG where you play as a cat.

Every cat has nine lives, how will you live yours?

This is our first ever game, inspired by systems like Powered By the Apocalypse, TrashKin by gshowitt on itch.io, and the Warriors Series RPG.

CatScratch explores the lives of your cat, through Going on Journeys and Resting. The main focus of the game is storytelling, encouraging you to explore your cat's lives. Live your lives to the fullest, and pass something on to the next generation of cats. Die rolls are not meant to dictate the story, just to help guide it.

CatScratch is a love letter to those who role-played cats on the playground, on forums, in servers.

Thank you so much for checking it out!

Patches&co.

[ianalunette]

Ok, so this one is a little special for me... I DM'd a game of The Witch Is Dead from gshowitt (https://gshowitt.itch.io/the-witch-is-dead) and I decided to go full in on characterization, as it had been ages since I dressed up as a I wished, or played in a TTRPG. I wanted to heavily inspire myself on a person I admire (@b0tster) and even asked her for permission and tips to do it properly.

Well, boss... here it is :3

PS: Yes, the game was a riot. They all loved it 💚💚💚💚

[mrsluggsthesentientsledgehammer]

On the one hand, DnD is a cultural icon, a much loved piece of gaming history and in recent years responsible for the slow movement of RPGs into the mainstream and out of grandma's basement.

On the other, if WOTC want to try and kill off a reason for DnD's continued success purely for the sake of monetisation then that can only be bad for DnD players, which might actually be good for ttrpgs as a whole. Let's be honest, few people use canon settings, learning the game feels more like work than pleasure and this sort of corporate nonsense has no place in the ttrpg market.

If only there was a sprawling community of enthusiastic games designers churning out absolute bangers on a regular basis so that people had other options....

So let's make a list of them. The easier good alternatives are for people to find, the more likely it is that WOTC and Hasbro get the message.

Like how many rules DnD has? - As above, try pathfinder! The SRD (system reference document) is free on the web, but the core rulebook is a bit pricey at $60.

"Less rules please!" - Have a look at the white hack, you can get the 3rd edition for just under $10. Explicitly marketed as "runs dnd encounters with little to no conversion" and is more or less setting agnostic. 160 pages.

"Still too many rules!" - Fine, try the black hack, its $6 and all the rules fit in 30 pages. You can get all the open licensed bits (i.e. not the art) for free to try before you buy via the online SRD.

Apocalypse vibes? - Mork Borg, the art is... striking, as is the rest of the game. Pretty version costs $15, but the barebones edition is free. It's also drowning in third party content if you want more.

"Dude, I have literally no money" - Have a look at the endless ream of 1 page rpgs from gshowitt on twitter, or hosted at Rowan, Rook and Decard. All free and literally fit on a page.

All about party dynamics and collaberative storytelling? - Try dungeon world, its $10 for the pdf but is based on apocalypse world rules. It has the same generic fantasy flavor as DnD but mechanics which put the players and the GM on the same side to tell a story.

"I really like the grand adventure feeling that comes with DnD" - Try mouseguard, reskin it if you don't fancy playing as a mouse. It includes pacing mechanics to produce that perfect flow that an adventure really needs. Alternatively, if you like Tolkeinesque fantasy then the One Ring RPG might be a good bet. Haven't played it but its well spoken of.

"Done with classic fantasy, I like more horror in my dungeons" - Try Heart from Rowan, Rook and Decard ($15, or free quickstart). Mechanics explicitly designed to drive interesting stories.

"What about doing a revolution?" - Spire, same people, same price, almost the same rules.

"My campaign is kinda crime centric tho" - Blades in the dark, $20. Fiction first mechanics for crime focused industrial fantasy.

"Currently playing a homebrew DnD derivative as a spacefaring octopus with a railgun, its just too niche"- Someone has beaten you to it pal. Eclipse phase, free on the internet courtsy of Rob Boyle.

"I haven't slept in weeks, leave me alone" - Don't Rest Your Head, $5 from Evil Hat. Surrealist horror about how you really need to get your sleeping pattern in order.

"Ah, but can you do a comedic piece of anticapitalist satire, in a fastasy setting with just two people?" - Yarp. Pitcrawler, made by people from the Magnus Archives. Free quickstart available from Macguffin and Co and honestly ideal for new players and GMs alike.

"Mechs?" - Mechs. Lancer, $25 from Massif Press. Similar grid-style gameplay to DnD but with giant robots and better rest mechanics.

"What about cyberpunk?" - You can play the literal cyberpunk rpg (now Cyberpunk RED), but personally I'm a fan of cy borg ($25, Free League Publishing). Its like mork borg but cyber, and frankly just that much more punk than all the others.

If you can think of any other games that might be useful and deserve to be played then start telling people about them. This could actually be a really good opportunity for new players.

So, what is the OGL and why are DnD creators thoroughly screwed?

Tumblr has not been doing a great job at talking about this, but:

With OneDnD, Wizards of the Coast has decided to update the Open Game License (OGL). Said license is what allowed people to create homebrew DnD content and sell it, and even larger companies to use certain sorts of content. Pathfinder, for example, is built on said OGL. This also allows streamers and artists to exist and benefit from said content.

With OneDnD (sometimes called “dnd 6e”), WOTC wants to create a much more restrictive OGL, which will, amongst other things:

Make WOTC take a cut for any DnD-related work (according to Kickstarter, a whole 25% of the benefits)

Let WOTC cancel any project related to DnD up to their discretion

Let WOTC take ANY content made based on their system, and re-sell it without crediting you, or giving you a single cent

And most importantly, revoke the old OGL, which will harm any company or game system that used it as a base, such as Pathfinder. And it means they GET ownership over any homebrew content you may have done for 5e in the past!

It’s important to note that OGLs are supposedly irrevocable. They were planning to use it for OneDnD initially, but they want to apply it retroactively to 5e, somehow. Which is illegal, but lawyers have mentioned there’s a chance they may get away with it given the wording.

This means that anything you make based on DnD (A homebrew item? A character drawing? Even music, according to them?), can get taken and used as they deem appropiate.

These news come from a leak of the OGL, which have been confirmed by multiple reputable sources (including Kickstarter, which has confirmed that WOTC already talked with them about this), and was planned to be released next week.

So, what can we do?

Speak against it. Share the word. Reblog this post. Let people know. Tumblr hasn’t been talking much about this matter, but it’s VERY important to let people know about what is WOTC bringing. 

Boycott them. Do not buy their products. Do not buy games with their IP. Do not watch their movie. CANCEL your DnD Beyond subscription. (Btw, they ARE planning to release more subscription services too!). They do not care about the community, but they care about the money. Make sure to speak through it. 

And maybe consider other TTRPG systems for the time being, Pathfinder’s Paizo has been much nicer to the community, their workers are unionized and are far more healthy overall

[fatt-twitter-updates]

Amanda the Ninth 💀 @anyagee:

Art/Duvall: describes getting a new power that lets his bugs eat him and reconstitute him somewhere else.

Me: ok, someone on @Friends_Table has had to have read @KameronHurley right?

(If you like this season of FatT go check out Kameron's books!) #sangfielle

5:03 PM PST • 21 September 2021 (Source)

|

Friends at the Table @Friends_Table:

Can't speak for Art, but can say that in this case we also can't take any creative credit. This is just how the ability in question in (the excellent) Heart: The City Beneath works!

[Image description: Screenshot from the game Heart: The City Beneath. The header is "Hiveborn" and the text beneath it reads, "You were reborn in one of the Great Hives; your body, though still mortal is waxen and papery. Gain the Warren domain. You can fit yourself through any gap small enough for a bee by having your swarm chew up and reform your body on the other side. This process takes upwards of six hours. You can rush to get it done in an hour instead, but mark D8 stress to Blood as a result." End image description]

5:36 PM PST • 21 September 2021 (Source)

|

Grant Howitt @gshowitt:

I've not read it either, I just like bees a lot

1:29 AM PST • 22 September 2021 (Source)

[ihopesocomic]

What the other anon (the one talking about D&D) was trying to ask was if there will be a D&D-esque game based on the world of I Hope So. Like an I Hope So themed D&D.

OH like an I Hope So tabletop RPG. That would be pretty cool. But coming up with a system like D&D would be really complicated. I'd probably use a system like Monster of the Week or something like one of gshowitt's homebrews instead of making a completely new homebrew or using 5e. Maybe I'll look into something for more text based RP like Anna Is Missing. It'd be fun to do, but I got other stuff I wanna do first. Like a Picrew. - Cat

[rpgsandbox]

This is Spire: a mile high city, crumbling from within and without. A metropolis that splits the sky where a thousand gods vie for dominance, where red-mawed sacred hyenas stalk the streets and eat the dead, where a great cursed train network punctures the flesh of the city and bleeds unreality into the stonework, where cruel and beautiful high elves rule from glittering palaces and dark elves, subjugated, worship an illegal goddess and plot revenge and rebellion.  

Spire is a roleplaying game, and Strata is the first full-length physical sourcebook for Spire.

                                        Mock-up of the book

Strata is the ice-rimed carpeted streets of Amaranth where high elf dilettantes fund revolutionary cells for sport. Strata is being blessed by the Spire Herself and watching, helpless, as ash-grey roses burst from your skin. Strata is a pulp author with a gun who knows the occult power of purple prose. Strata is a drow so deep in service to the goddess they have burned their identity on a funeral pyre as tribute to her.  

Strata is rescuing thirty drugged and mutilated drow from a wicked sculptor-surgeon. It is fighting for what little you’ve got when the police try to take it away from you. It is stumbling blind through the backstreets of Pilgrim’s Walk, hoping your handler doesn’t sell you out to your enemies as a bargaining chip.  

Strata is higher highs and lower lows. Strata is the next evolution of Spire, digging deeper into the secrets of the city, and offering more ways to fight for what you believe in.

     Representatives of the noble houses of Destera, Aliquam and Quinn

WHAT IS STRATA?

Strata is a full-length, full-colour, hardback sourcebook for the Spire RPG. (If you’d like to learn more about Spire, you can check out the summary on our website, or listen to Rusty Quill's actual play series of the system. In short: you play a cell of dark elf revolutionaries caught up in a secret war against your high elf colonisers in a weird, labyrinthine metropolis.)

It contains:

Five scenarios. (At least!) Written by a mix of established and new authors, these campaign frames and adventures for Spire are written with the system and setting in mind. They’re evocative, inspiring, and most importantly open-ended, allowing gamesmasters to weave their own narratives within the boundaries presented. (You can learn more about the scenarios below.)

The Inksmith class. The Inksmith is a black-market, black-magic occultist who channels the power of pulp fiction into spells. They can knock out adversaries with a single haymaker, introduce schlocky details into the story, embody the fears of a community and, if things are moving slowly, magically summon a man holding a gun through the nearest available door.

The Shadow Agent class. Devotees of Our Hidden Mistress, the Shadow Agent risks their own identity to receive covers - semi-mystical fake identities that they can embody to further the revolution. At higher levels of power, they can “leave” injuries and madness in their cover identities, and put aside a broken leg as easily as shedding a disguise.

Lots of extra advances. We have rules for: all nine of the noble houses of the drow, giving players the chance to take on the role of disaffected aristocrats; playing a Druid of the Living Spire, and letting sacred plants grow through your skin; becoming a gazetteer and distributing illegal pamphlets through Spire; devoting your character’s sorcery to a particular artistic movement in Ivory Row, and more besides.

Reams and reams of setting info and plot hooks. More than 40,000 words of engaging writing on the highest and lowest parts of society in Spire, illustrating the volatile city that’s waiting for the players to show up and change it. Aelfir blinding parties, undercity folk tales, the secrets of Bound god-prisons, Silver Quarter heists, drug-dealing speakeasies, fashion, music, art, madness, magic, and ravenous, unknowable gods - they’re all here.

Full colour artwork by Adrian Stone. We’re lucky to work with Adrian Stone on Strata, as we did with Spire, and as you can see he’s continued to define the aesthetics of the city and its inhabitants. We’re offering A3 prints of his work as pledge rewards and add-ons, too.

THE SCENARIOS

Derelictus, where gangs of children guard the secret true name of the drow goddess

Strata will contain at least five scenarios - or more, depending on which stretch goals we hit - written in the same open-ended, improv-led style as our previous campaign frames such as Eidolon Sky or Kings of Silver. While some of our authors have experience in the RPG industry, some don't - we held an open call for submissions for content, and from over a hundred entries, these are the ones that really stood out to us as capturing the spirit of Spire. We're really excited to work with these authors and share their work with you.

The first five scenarios, included if we fund, are:

Line in the Dirt by Pauline Chan. The cell’s safehouse - and home - is in the god-forsaken district of Derelictus, amongst the lowest of the low. But as they wake up one morning, they discover that aelfir-owned companies are threatening to destroy their apartment block to make room for new housing, and evict them in the process. Can the players keep hold of what little space they’ve managed to mark as their own, or will their fellow residents sell them out for a chance at a better life?

The Forgotten by Laurence Phillips. The players aren’t Ministry operatives - instead, they’re people with disabilities who were, until recently, under the care of a kindly minister in the cut-throat district of Pilgrim’s Walk. When their guardian is abducted, it’s up to them to take matters into their own hands to find out what really happened - and try not to get exploited by the Ministry in the bargain.

Dark Harvest by Chris Farnell. The cell’s last job went wrong. So wrong, in fact, that the Ministry have shipped them off to a quiet backwater village in the Garden District until things calm down. But when an aelfir goes missing, the guard start knocking on doors, and the players must conduct a clandestine investigation to prove that they’re (sort of) innocent.

In the Garden District, valuable predatory moss is lured onto statues and farmed

Eye of the Beholder by Christine Beard. The height of fashion in aelfir society is to surgically modify a drow employee to make them more beautiful, useful, or graceful. In this scenario, perfectly suited to one-shots or a short series of linked games, the cell are tasked with extracting a group of drugged, mutilated dark elves from an eerie auction in one of Amaranth’s most elegant gardens, and bring the justice of the Ministry to the surgeon who scarred them.

Better the Devil by Grant Howitt & Chris Taylor. The drow noble house of Starys has long been accused of wickedness and cruelty - indeed, hundreds of years ago, most of the family line was drowned in the river that ran through the old drow city of Fathom as retribution for their crimes. But now they’re back, bringing strange and forgotten technologies, and they have their sights set on control of Spire. Will the players side with the newly-ascendant house, or will they be forced to find unusual allies to ensure that the aelfir aren’t replaced with an even worse class of oppressor?

All these scenarios, and all those unlocked as stretch goals, will be printed in the book and included in the PDF.

NEWSPAPERS

                                      Tim's mock-up of the newspaper

Tim Wilkinson Lewis, designer of the Spire maps and newspaper clippings from the previous Kickstarter campaign, will once again create in-character artefacts from the world of Spire - available at certain pledge levels (and as an add-on through Backerkit after the campaign has ended). This time he’s creating a full 12-page newspaper, riddled with the curiosities and weirdness that you’ve come to expect from him - and what’s more, the newspaper will act as an in-character handout that lends support to all of the scenarios contained within Strata. It’s the perfect companion for the book.

                  House Malrique are famed for their fortune-telling skills

              An aelfir souvain parades a gnoll prisoner of war in Amaranth

                                  Tim's ridiculously detailed map

Perch, nailed to the side of Spire, where the inhabitants worship the small gods in their ropes that bind them to the city

The Works, a knot of industry and toil, where drow sell illegal malak in crowded speakeasies

                 Representatives of house Gryndel, Valwa and Duval

Kickstarter campaign ends: Thu, November 15 2018 2:06 PM UTC +00:00

Website: Rowan, Rook and Decard

[blastropodcast]

Pan's Labyrinth pt. 2 w. Grant Howitt

"It's an awesome thing when you gotta do what a bunch of little boys do... Nerf bow & arrow!"

Guest: Grant Howitt

Twitter: @gshowitt

Grant's Games 

Support the show:

Patreon

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Threadless store

Muffed Movies is a work of satire which celebrates cinema through parody.

Check out this episode!

[strangestfantasy]

Review: The Witch is Dead

Review: The Witch is Dead

The Witch is Dead is a one page RPG by \u\gshowitt on reddit about murder- the witch has been killed and her entourage of woodland creatures must kill the witch hunter and take his eyes in order to revive her.  My group had a lot of players out this week so I ran it as a quick old-school revival style bloodfest for the two people who had made it and everyone had a blast. Taylor the witch was…

[2headedhero]

#ttrpg #orcs #kickstarter CHECK OUT THE GAME: http://orcborg.com/ Hey y'all! First of all, thanks very much for 600 subs! Secondly, this is another reason why the Arcanum video is taking so long! Please take a second to check out the campaign page (Which is already over 300% funded in the first few hours!) and follow the contributors: Written by Grant Howitt: https://twitter.com/gshowitt Art by ROLLINKUNZ: https://twitter.com/rollinkunz Killa Space Orc Murda Music Track by Nick Siepmann: https://twitter.com/nsfolkmusic Editing by Bawss Sawss, from 2HH: https://twitter.com/2HeadedHero Rollin's Instagram: https://ift.tt/xG4b0uk ROLLINKUNZ! official site https://ift.tt/Os3Jwil

[thoughtsfromthegm]

JASON STATHAM'S BIG VACATION is a free roleplaying game about trying to make sure that Jason Statham has a nice time on his holidays despite the efforts of a vengeful sniper. Get the pdf here: https://t.co/ehf1qyDNXZ pic.twitter.com/RdWpPKs56s

— Grant Howitt (@gshowitt)

April 23, 2018

Truly, we live in the greatest age of TTRPGs to ever exist TTwTT

[thydungeongal]

Oh and I feel I should specify: it's from Goblin Punks, a very funny one-page game

treat or trick?

Goblin slang

[douglasamongus]

Ever since @critical_role premiered their one-shot, I’ve wanted to run my own #CrashPandas game, and tonight the dream came true! Just me, a zoom cat, and a bunch of wild kids pretending to be furry, racing critters. It was a lot of fun, and you know we’re itching for chapter 2. So thanks @ramsiegel for showing me how it’s done and @gshowitt for writing one super fun game. #criticalrole https://www.instagram.com/p/B_1B0r2J7Nw/?igshid=w584zheu52xo

[cramulus]

HONEY HEIST is a free one-page roleplaying game where you you are a criminal bear with two stats: CRIMINAL and BEAR. https://t.co/qajk6tAyxO

patreon.com/gshowitt