#or dungeonworld
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kobolds-in-space · 1 year ago
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And to think I wrote for these folks, back in the day. Never again.
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prettyswellaus · 2 days ago
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Dungeonworld AU
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Genres: Adventure, Fantasy, Comedy
Also Known As: RPG AU
Inspirations: Dungeons and Dragons
Synopsis
Join Edd and his merry band of friends (and Eduardo's too) as they go on all sorts of escapades in the pursuit of gold, glory, and the thrill of adventure!
This AU takes a couple from Dungeons and Dragons (classes, races, the six character stats, etc) but mostly has original elements or elements inspired by other RPGs.
Information Posts
Edd's Crew
Edd (Human Fighter)
Tom (Dragonborn Barbarian)
Matt (Half-Elf Bard)
Tord (Tiefling Artificer)
Blaze (OC) (Fire Genasi Warlock)
Dusk (OC) (Fairy Cleric)
Eduardo's Crew
Eduardo (Half-Orc Barbarian)
Jon (Shade Cleric)
Mark (Vedalken Wizard)
Jordan (Aasimar Druid)
Blade (OC) (Yuan-ti Pureblood Monk)
Dawn (OC) (Changeling Rogue)
Antagonists
To be added later
Back to Directory
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markerslinger · 1 year ago
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THE DECK OF MONSTERS 2
Hello hello brave travelers!
I reach out to you from the ether to announce that the project I am doing illustration for has officially launched! The Deck of Monsters 2!
It's a deck of 53 new and original monsters compatible with Monster of the Week!
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Stop me if you've heard this one. An independent career focused woman gets lured to a small town that's way too into Christmas. She meets a generic, yet handsome, man who shows her the meaning of the season and they end up falling in love. She quits her job, divorces her fiancee, and lives the rest of her life in this happy Christmas town. This is propaganda and these innocent women are his marks. These monsters feast on stolen ambition before forever trapping their victims in a holiday hellscape they can never hope to escape from.
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Creatures that are literally spineless, Yesmen inhabit the highest echelons of capitalist society. They have always infiltrated human power structures to push for, and enable, greater and greater atrocities that cause greater and greater human suffering. It just so happens that in the modern world they choose to be corporate vice presidents to have easier access to morally compromised mortals. They're just so easy to direct towards enacting harm on their fellow humans,  after all. Nothing to read into about that. The system works.
We got a bunch more monsters in this deck that are illustrated by a team of sure shot artists and yours truly!
You can also peruse through the myriad horrors and use them for other tables tops and scenarios! The Kickstarter is live today and at it's top tier YOU can play as horrific creator and work with us to create a monster that is included into the deck!
So what are you waiting for hunters?
Let's go to the Kickstarter and Hunt!
-M
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highintlowwispod · 11 months ago
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Podcast Launch!
Hi-lo everyone! We're super excited to announce our launch!
High INT Low WIS is an actual-play Dungeon World adventure, where the smartest people you know are also the dumbest people you’ve ever met. Join us as we make terrible choices that definitely don’t have consequences. You can find us on all your favorite podcast platforms, and at the link in our bio.
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just-a-kitchen-utensil · 2 years ago
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Here’s Cassandra from the podcast Queer Dungeoneers! She’s super fun, and I haven’t seen any art for her in the night court yet :>
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xirna-art · 10 months ago
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Our protagonist boldly facing what is likely an eldritch being. I won't say more to avoid spoilers, but this was fun to make.
She is originally based on my character in a Dungeon World campaign I'm in. More to come soon!
Art (c) Xirna
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fionnazone · 2 years ago
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MORGAN RATH
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Designed my character for @fallentofable’s dungeonworld game! I’ll be playing a wizard who seeks to discover something about a magical mystery, woah.
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fiercestpurpose · 5 months ago
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Friends at the Table season breakdown
Friends at the Table is an actual-play podcast focused on critical worldbuilding, smart characterization, and fun interaction between friends.
But this post is for anyone who's ever thought, "What is Friends at the Table actually about?" Well, it's about a lot of different things, depending on the season.
Seasons of Hieron -- Autumn in Hieron (S1), Winter in Hieron (S3), Spring in Hieron (S5)
Using DungeonWorld as its main system, this is closest to DND style high fantasy with adventurers of different races who come together to go on quests
What starts as a series of fetch quests escalates until the dead don’t stay dead, the nature of existence is brought into question, and the world itself is in danger of dying.
Follow a team of morally ambiguous adventurers as they fuck around only to find out!
Starring: an evil woman with an eviler sword, an orc who shows us why true neutral is in fact the evilest possible alignment, a snake oil salesman, a paladin who accidentally serves three different gods, and more!
Counter/Weight (S2)
Giant robot season #1
Cyberpunk/space opera/mecha anime
It’s the Cold War in space. Two long time enemies, Liberal Democracy Land and Corporation Land, recently banded together to stop the Empire of Fish Aliens.
Now, our story is set in space Berlin, on a planet divided between the two reluctant allies
Follow a parking robot, an exiled fish alien, a hacker, and a former pop idol as they try to survive as mercenaries and fight off giant robots with their own giant robots.
Marielda (S2.5?)
Steampunk heist season
A mini-season, set in the ancient past of Hieron, but it works as a standalone.
A group of criminals rob God. This sets them off on a dangerous path that will determine the fate of all of Hieron.
A story about the power of information and the power of access to information. Featuring trains, azaleas, ghosts, divorce, and clarinets.
Twilight Mirage (S4)
Giant robot season #2!
(The giant robot seasons are set in the same universe but several thousand years apart. They're loosely connected but can be enjoyed separately.)
The contemplative, wondering nature of Studio Ghibli films meets the teeming space opera of Star Wars
The Divine Fleet is a great utopia that has lasted thousands of years, powered by their machine gods. But one-by-one, these machines are dying off. Can two teams of specialized government agents save their gods and their way of life? And if they can't, how will all the people of the Divine Fleet find a new way forward?
Featuring the greatest Friends at the Table character of all time: fat, purple-furred, bisexual catgirl in sexy lingerie who rides a motorbike, runs a speakeasy, and can alter reality with her mind
Partizan (S6) (And Palisade, its sequel, is S8)
Giant robot season #3
Twilight Mirage is set explicitly in a utopia. Partizan is set explicitly in the middle of an exploitative empire. The guiding question here is: How do you even begin to imagine the possibility that such an empire could fall?
At the center of a galactic empire made up of rival states, we follow two groups: a mercenary squad that specializes in theft and sabotage, and a group of criminals under the control of a young and spoilt noble. But everyone has their own agenda, and as the empire hurtles towards civil war, who will get what they so desperately want? And who will lose it all?
Also, of course, they are in giant robots
Sangfielle (S7)
Horror fantasy
Sangfielle is a land of sprawling plains crisscrossed by semi-sentient malevolent trains. Strange things from the past or future come out of the mines, old and new gods alike appear in unexpected places, and you are always at risk of losing your life, your freedom, or simply your self
Nature vs. technology horror where both nature and technology can be equally horrifying!!
Characters include: a grotesque eyeball that possesses people but only consensually, a giant goat person whose life's purpose is to kill trains, and a junk mage who keeps taking things he shouldn't
Bluff City (Bonus season)
What if Atlantic City was Even Weirder
A series of one or two shots that are loosely linked by their location and come together to tell the story of the city. Each story uses a different system and so each one has a slightly different feel.
The paranormal, the surreal, the gritty, the desperate, and the outrageous rub shoulders in Bluff City, in stories featuring superheroes, ghost hunters, murder mysteries, and a priceless one-of-a-kind bird.
Things that the show is always about, no matter the season:
Religion — Always. From DND-style gods to robot gods to Catholic God to weird old gods you dig up from the mines, there are lots of gods and lots of people worshipping gods in different ways.
Labor issues and political issues surrounding control, propaganda, surveillance.
Weird body stuff/weird identity stuff — clones, consciousness transferred into different bodies, robots that influence your thoughts, robots that bond to your body, being seven thousand bees in a trench coat, etc
Having fun with different ttrpg systems! They use a lot of different systems on the podcast
Aesthetics, just like generally, and especially fashion. Action stops for twenty minutes while everyone goes around and describes what their character is wearing in exact detail. It’s fantastic.
Fun, silly, or unique names, ranging from "Lazer Ted" to "they marked scars of light in pitch; born in fiercest purpose, and beheld as the signet sealed upon our pact"
Critical worldbuilding, smart characterization, and fun interaction between friends!
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theklaapologist · 2 months ago
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I think I blasphemed during a dungeonworld session accidentally jshsjshskshs do I ask for forgiveness or is it me being paranoid
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insectsys · 1 year ago
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Get to know 9 people ask game
Tagged by: @teddytoroa (Thank you!)
Last song listened to: Hot Faced - Margaux (Now I'm thinking about it... Eli if you're reading this, this is sort of a Sybelle song)
Currently watching: Killing Eve (I've seen all the other shows with toxic gays so it's time to complete the lineup. Liking it so far but I don't watch TV very often so it's taking me a long time)
Currently reading: Rhythm of War by Brandon Sanderson. Fourth in a series with some outstanding worldbuilding. I'm also reading a bunch of essays on different iterations of the Faust myth and portrayals of the Devil in Victorian literature for my Masters dissertation.
Sweet/spicy/savory: Teddy wrote "why are we pitting three bad bitches against each other though theyre girlfriends and kissing" and he was so right for that. But gun to my head I'd have to say savoury
Current obsession: The Vampire Chronicles. I literally think about these insane little bisexuals constantly. Also I'm going through a bit of a Christian theology hyperfixation and I'm also thinking constantly about my party of OCs in my girlfriend's homebrew Dungeonworld game and the insane story we've got going on. It's the best campaign I've ever been in hands down and my sweet son Lariat is probably my favourite OC I've ever made
Relationship status: In a happy open relationship with my partner of 7 years!
Last thing I googled: Priscilla (2023). I saw a clip from it floating around and wanted to find out when it was in my local cinema. It looks very triggering/intense but I'm glad it's coming out especially with the overwhelmingly positive response to that romanticised Elvis biopic last year
Currently working on: The Master's dissertation I mentioned earlier. The title is Faust in the Victorian Imagination. I'm also working on several PhD applications!
Gonna tag: @autisticstannis @complicitsacrilege @eeriedeer @ldpdlesbian anyone else who sees this and thinks 'hey I wanna do that!' just pretend I tagged u. Also no pressure to the people I did tag!
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baladric · 2 years ago
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Ohh which dnd alternatives would you recommend? I'm new to all these types of games so I only really have a lil bit of experience with dnd
hmmMM depends on what you're looking for!! the lovely thing about indie ttrpgs is there's a system (or 10) for everything—high fantasy, cyberpunk, steampunk, apocalypse, teen drama!!
my top recs are:
high fantasy: burning wheel, dungeonworld, world of dungeons, mouseguard
cyberpunk: i've heard good things about shadowrun from the crowd that enjoy suuuper crunchy games (d&d and pathfinder are good examples of what i call "crunchy"—lots and lots of rules and dice rolls, as well as lots and lots of pre-written campaigns and homebrew classes), a lot of avery alder games can be run in a cyberpunk lens (dream askew, dream anew, basically their whole belonging outside belonging system is created specifically for malleability of tone—DMless, table-collaboration games where you build a world from scratch as a table, based on things you're interested in exploring together, and things you want to avoid)
steampunk: the only one i have on mind for this is blades in the dark, which is arguably steampunk—i call it that bc my closest touchstones for it are six of crows and peaky blinders! the world is built up really efficiently for you, like a super vivid, well-developed city and broader landscape, and you build a criminal gang on top of your individual character and then you Do Crimes (can be a gang of thieves, traffickers, creepy cults, assassins—you name it!) easily in my top 3 games
apocalypse: again with avery alder, like god their games are genius and so, so intimate to play, specifically apocalypse world (which is a game system that's suffused the market of indie games, like many writers take the basic mechanics of AW and twist it to their own means, and it RIPS like every single time)
teen angst: monsterhearts!!! monsterhearts monsterhearts MONSTERHEARTS my fucking beloved—you play a teen monster just trying to keep their shit together, and each of the monster playbooks play with various traumas and personal/interpersonal issues like anger, isolation, fawning, performativity, the developmental bent towards manipulation. it's a game that can either go so fucking hard, or be a lovely little jaunt, and that depends a lot on your group—and it's another avery alder game, based on the apocalypse world system, which are all typefied by a dedication to protecting the players at the table And the GM. specifically, you're encouraged to lay out your soft no issues, and your hard nos. eg my group alwasy nixes alcoholism, graphic abuse, and we tend to try to steer clear of manipulative magics (the classic touchstone for this is the d&d spell Charm Person, but monsterhearts' Vampire playbook is largely sculpted around that kind of compulsion/thrall, and we tread very carefully with those). plus they introduce the X card, which you can throw down on the table at any point, for any reason if you run into a surprise trigger or a situation goes too hairy for you to interact with, and you're under no obligation to explain your reasons, aside from like. "can we steer this in a different direction". touchstones: mean girls, heathers, riverdale
urban: monster of the week! think buffy, think supernatural, think charmed, sabrina, etc. you play a team of ppl goin after monsters for whatever reason (personal vendettas, responsibility to protect your town/family, money, whatever) and it's honestly such a joy to be adapting to new monster problems every session or every few sessions, but keeping the throughline of the same characters and the same brewing relationships.
and just for simplicity, my TOP 3 indie games:
Blades in the Dark
Monsterhearts
Monster of the Week
all of these games heavily feature player-character relationships, and lean into the actual improvisational roleplaying in a way that people always want d&d to do, but end up having to homebrew it and fudge rules to make work the way they want—and why bother going through that work as a GM (often arduous and time-consuming) when there's a game for literally every direction you and your table want to go! these games often feature a specific "zero session" in which you build your characters at the table with your group, and often build the world around them, too. and especially monsterhearts and AW systems, you're also defining your relationship to your fellow player characters with prewritten concepts like a desire to protect them because you see them as needing protection, or they saved you from past harm and you owe them your loyalty, or you just think they're shiny—and also you can write your own! it's all a conversation, which to me is the most important part of a game.
like for example, i had a blades in the dark game last night that we tied off in a scene with my character and an NPC which didn't go the direction i wanted it to go, not because of a failed roll on my part, but bc my GM didn't pick up what i was laying down—a miscommunication we figured out after we'd ended for the evening. me: jay just wanted to get her in bed UGH GM: wait were you trying to seduce her me: yes!!!! GM: oh shit ok i did Not put that together, ok we're gonna re-do that scene at the top of next session
because it's a conversation!!! this isn't a guarantee that the scene will go the way i want it to, but it'll leave less of a disappointed taste in my mouth—because i always want shit to either go perfectly, or go completely, utterly to shit, as does everyone i play with, and that scene had landed us in a really boring middleground that would have concluded in a very boring approach to the job we were hired to do (steal from the general i wanted to seduce—og plan was for my character to get her into bed and knock her out w a sleeping agent our alchemist brewed, and then let my crew into the headquarters through a side door—but the way that final scene panned out, we would have just had to regular old stealth our way in, which is BORING and also VERY LIKELY TO GO WRONG in bland and predictable ways.)
ANYWAY! all this to say! dream big! there's stuff out there for everyone that doesn't involve trying to squish d&d around to fit your desires, and avoids the issue of getting real bogged down in combat. most of these games play by the general idea of combat that lasts longer than 15 seconds putting you at an extreme disadvantage, so you get a couple fast and strong moves and then you have an aftermath of injuries or conflict or success to play with!! and ALSO you're still definitely allowed to like d&d!!!! a lot of indie tabletop ppl love to shit on d&d, and my table does do that, but i personally love that people do what they want w every game—so do what you love! games are meant to be fun and fulfilling, and whatever gets you there is perfect!!!!!!!
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piesa2 · 2 years ago
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digging up the coffeeshop au for our dungeonworld characters with @socoolalright ^^
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libraryofcirclaria · 3 months ago
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08 October 1248
Library of Circlaria
Third Level Society: First Version
Story Two: Meon Bell
So it began. On the evening of Monday, October 2, we began our debates in front of Bookkeeper Mary Willard. Carla Wright came to the stand that night and gave her reason for probating all of us involved in the collective, with the reason amounting to "attempted mutiny of an Administrator from their post." Mordon Cramer came up next and accused me of "leading this conspiracy," claiming that we were attempting to usurp the Administration in Galacia and even speculating that in the midst of this, I was attempting to usurp the Dungeonmaster position. Even Peter Creon took the stand, informing everyone in attendance that I had tried to have my avatar usurp the position of his avatar during the Dungeonworld battle before I reached out to Ensara.
Such claims were ludicrous, so we had to fight back. I, of course, explained our stance, and then put forth a proposition for change: to abolish the Prefects and simply have community accountability for the compliance to Carla's rules. Afterall, we have been striving to maintain the fair balance of power and dynamic through Galacia and the Arturian Realm. But we also hold dear to us the very principle of "administration by and for the body of Membership of the Society."
Tuesday evening, we met again. Mordon Cramer began by arguing that community accountability "leads to favoritism" and that Prefects are needed all over the Realm. Peter Creon supported him by reiterating what Mordon said.
It was at this point that I began to sense that Creon was perhaps being put up to this. He was saying what he was told to say, for it lacked passion. And he seemed rushed, for he was a bit nervous and stuttery.
I met with Zachary, Erica, Sari, and Ensara in the Library again. And we came to the realization of the extent of manipulation carried out by Carla and Mordon, the very same manipulation for which they were blaming us.
Ensara even speculated that perhaps it was Mordon, alone, leading this agenda, and that Carla is simply falling into line with respect to her title. I am not certain of this, but I did agree that Mordon was certainly implementing quite a lot of influence.
Sari was concerned that night, though, after doing a preliminary count on the number of Members that support us versus the number of Members that do not. She decided to do this count when Vera Phane, one of my roommates, came to her, stating that there were a large number of Members gravitating toward Zachary Landon, vowing to leave the Society if Mary Willard rules in favor of Wright. I will never forget Landon's fury at that. "That will destroy the Society and everything it swore to protect!" he shouted.
So Sari did a count. And the numbers seemed to justify Landon's concern. The Society, as it stands, has 147 Members; and Sari counted 59 Members stating that they supported our side. With Vera being quite a social Member and saying that she and "many others" would leave the Society if Mary Willard rules in Carla Wright's favor, I safely felt that many of these 59 people would leave the Society, leaving only 88 remaining Members. With the Statute of Principle requiring that at least 100 people be present for a Caucus meeting to carry every Wednesday evening, and with many Society Members following busy schedules to work on their studies, this presented quite the concern. That was when we came up with a new compromise.
Sari brought news of the impending mass exodus to the Caucus during the Wednesday evening hearing. And I could tell that this caused feelings of concern for prominent Members, especially for Wright, Cramer, and the others opposed to us.
That's when I noticed that Peter Creon was not there. There are two matters of speculation that I conceived that would serve as the reason for his absence. First, he was perhaps anticipating the compromise that we were about to deliver, or that we would deliver something of that matter at least. However, given the stubbornness of the other side, I reasoned that perhaps my thoughts on that were a bit cocky, leading me to my second speculated reason: that perhaps Peter was being propped up to his public stand by Wright, and moreso Cramer, and that he had become overwhelmed. I remembered his stance yesterday, and how he seemed a bit uncomfortable.
Regardless, though I was the one who mostly crafted it, our side had Zachary Landon take the stand and present my proposed compromise: that we would have the Members in each Legion vote in a "compliance figure" to take the place of a Prefect, and have these figures carry out Administration policies as fit for the Members, but also confer with each other on how concepts like "fair dynamics and compensation" would be carried out.
This was a radical idea. The reason we had Zachary Landon speak was because of the charisma he demonstrated the night before. And I knew this would provoke quite a reaction from the opposition. A great deal many Members who supported us sent us passionate cheers loud enough to be heard in the University Planetarium had our chamber actually been occupying the actual space in the Planetarium attic and not in the granular plane currently preserving us.
Nevertheless, the opposition, as expected, took the stand. Mordon Cramer argued that my idea would result in the appointment of "so-called compliance figures too closely tied to the entity they represent, thereby resulting in dangerous favoritism." 
"There MUST be Prefects who are IMPARTIAL!" Cramer declared.
Where the Caucus stood that night, I, at the time could not determine. But Mary Willard did remind us that the deadline for a final decision would be on Friday night; so we had two more nights to resolve this. Sari, afterward, came to me voicing concern. She overheard Mordon telling Carla that he had a strategy to bring a Caucus to a quick vote in their favor.
And I understood the concern. If the Caucus agreed to expel me, the near-forty percent of Members supporting me would leave and found a new Society, presenting a danger to the ability of the original Society to carry out basic policy functions. Dungeonmaster Ogden understood this as well, seemingly; before the end of Wednesday night's debates, she had assured the assembly that in accordance to the Statute of Principle, if Membership fell below 100 persons, that requirements for the Caucus to function would be to have more than half of existing Members be in attendance.
But this, combined with Ogden's departure at the end of this year, which she stated she would carry out despite the outcome of this current issue, would present forboding circumstances for the Society. With the presence of a new and separate Society, many more people would be likely to it, reducing Membership in the original Society even further, and lowering morale. At a certain point, Membership of both Societies would be equal, but then there would be rivalry, which would potentially lead to chaotic dynamics that existed with the old TableQuest sessions that Ivella Ogden tried so hard to render obsolete.
Why Ivella seemed so unconcerned about this drawback, even tonight I cannot comprehend.
Regardless, I urged my friends, Sari, Zachary, Ensara, and Erica to meet in the Library again, despite the late hour, and come up with yet another compromise.
And so on Thursday evening, Zachary proposed to the Caucus our new idea: that we would have each of the five sub-Realms and each of its jurisdictions and sub-jurisdictions appoint democratically-elected Prefects in order to carry out the desired policies of Administration but also to serve as intermediary figures in support of interest of the remaining Members. Where and how Members would vote would, in this case, be based on the points of origin of each Member's respective avatar. Furthermore, these Prefects would report to Administrators, as Administrators report to the Dungeonmaster, and would be subject to being dismissed by Administrators if the occasion arose.
The most important check on this, however, is that Adminstration decisions could be countered by collective petition of Members, with such counters being facilitated by the Prefects.
To my surprise, Carla Wright actually welcomed the idea as a good balance. Mordon Cramer silently rose from his seat and exited the Chamber. And then Dungeonmaster Ogden voiced approval for us, the first time in this entire debate that she took a side.
Bookkeeper Mary Willard, after asking for any other speakers to take the stand, considered the debate over and called for a vote between our side and the opposing side, calling for the results to be counted Friday night.
Friday evening, as in last night, the votes were counted with about two thirds of the Caucus supporting our initiative and opposing our expulsion from the Society. Mary Willard granted our new Prefect idea temporarily with the caveat that in the beginning of January, a vote will be held on the resolution to be approved by the majority of Caucus to be in effect permanently.
The outcome was satisfactory and warranted a late-night celebration at the Slack, where a toast to me and my friends was led by, most unexpectedly, Morris Par, who then publicly called for Zachary Landon to run for the Dungeonmaster position. I publicly declared my support for Landon as well.
And so I feel that the Society will, after Ogden's departure, be in good hands.
<- 24 September 1248 <- || -> 08 November 1248 ->
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stevviefox · 1 year ago
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Cool!!
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The full Mind Mine Adventure Seed is up! You guys can download the full PDF for FREE here at my Gumroad, or here at my Patreon!
Special thanks to all of my patrons that made this all possible!
-M
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mystic-imaginations · 7 months ago
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Typically Jason
So this was a joke the dm made when they found this sound and yeah they are correct Jason will do this when needed
Jason my dnd/dungeonworld character against gorus for more like this come to my tiktok : mysticimaginations or my youtube channel
sound : tangled the series
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stevensaus · 2 years ago
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Players Do Not Need The OGL: Truly Independent Fantasy Tabletop Roleplaying
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There is a lot of talk about the new version of the open gaming license that effects everything 3rd party D&D related. And for creators, there's a lot to chew on, and discuss, and mull over. But for players... well, for us, there's two things that I want to remind everyone of. First, you do not need anything besides two or three core rulebooks. The player's handbook, the dungeon master's guide, and maybe the monster manual. That's it. Aside from a runthrough of Strahd, I've rarely had a character in any "official" campaign setting since the original printing of "Keep on the Borderlands." That is perhaps one of the biggest strengths of tabletop roleplaying. The second thing? While Dungeons & Dragons -- and all the D20 variants it's spawned -- are pretty good, they are not the only fantasy games in town, and arguably not even the best, depending on your playstyle. Here's four other independent systems from independent or small publishers that can scratch that fantasy tabletop itch (in no particular order): Swordplay & Sorcery (Unisystem)
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The oldest of these three, this is a modification of the Unisystem that powered the Buffy the Vampire Slayer RPG. Written by Jason Vey, the 19 page PDF is still available for free from his website. You will need the Buffy core system, which is currently on sale from DriveThruRPG for $20 and is well worth it on its own. The Unisystem was well ahead of its time, providing a very cinematic style of play, with streamlined combat and relatively quick character creation. DungeonWorld
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As part of the "Powered by the Apocalypse" family of games (which includes MonsterHearts and Monster of the Week), Dungeon World is a full-fledged system in its own right, and has a whole plethora of extra settings, playbooks, and various content available on DriveThruRPG. The core rulebook is only $10 there right now as well. It won a whole bunch of awards when it first came out, and as a PbtA game, it is definitely cinematic in style and speed. D6xD6
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While I have this system, I've not yet actually tried it out, but it's another interesting and completely different take on game mechanics, with only one main stat - focus. Is your character a jack-of-all-trades, or a highly focused specialist? The system is meant to be able to be used in a wide variety of settings, many of which are included in the full core rulebook ($15 on DriveThruRPG), but there's also a specific "Dungeons RPG Zine Edition" (which contains the base rules) that is also available on DriveThru for only $7.50. Minimus
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The Minimus RPG is four pages long. Four. Written by Ken Burnside, this system has just enough rules to give you some structure, while being brief enough to get out of the way and let you focus on characters and gameplay rather than looking up tables and doing math. It's also easily the most inexpensive of these, and is directly available from the publisher for only $3. So while it's important to push back against the (far more restrictive) update to the Open Gaming License, take this opportunity to try out some really different takes on fantasy tabletop roleplaying with these systems from independent game creators. Featured Image by Ana Carolina Franco from Pixabay Read the full article
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