#songbird d20

[noodlesarecheese]

Everytime I see nsbu it looks like a university acronym.

North South Bitch University. Never Stop Blowing University. Not So Bright University. Not So Bold University. Nothing Says Birmingham University.

Anyways put in the tags what nsbuniversity you'd attend.

[thespoonisvictory]

Happy New Year! Here's everything I watched and read in 2023

And also some misc. thoughts on the things that made an especially good, bad, or striking impression. If the thing is in purple, it was a rewatch! books are all rated out of five because there was a reasonable number of them. top five from each category are in the bottom for funsies.

*not including podcasts/dropout content. I'm up to date on make some noise, gamechanger, wbn, and d20 (mostly). I also watched the emily axford guest episodes and chapter 2 of candela obscura on CR

Movies

The Menu

Glass Onion

Romeo and Juliet (1996) (this is one of my fav movies of all time, I'll never get sick of it. just gorgeous top to bottom)

Rosaline (I went into this knowing I wouldn't like it and came out thinking it was just alright. lead actress is good, but I hate derivative Shakespeare works that don't understand the original story)

Hamilton

Tangled

Secret World of Arrietty

Honor Among Thieves (just a damn good movie, love the practical effects)

Mamma Mia!

Barbie and the Three Musketeers

The Three Musketeers (1993)

Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse

The Last Unicorn (rewatched this for the first time in at least a decade, what a gorgeous vibey fantasy film. something about the dark scenery and tone really sticks with me)

Nimona (thought Ballister was a great character and enjoyed the design choices for the world, a good piece of Knight (tm) media. however, I thought the animation was lacking and didn't think it deserved a best picture nom like a lot of people did. it was cute, not lifechanging)

The Green Knight (watch it)

80 for Brady (a request from my mom, surprisingly funny)

The Visit

Sweet Home Alabama (bad)

Barbie!

Sharkboy and Lavagirl

Pride and Prejudice 2005 (another one of my all time favs)

Sleeping Beauty

The Aristocats

La La Land

Red White and Royal Blue

The Princess and the Pauper

Barbie and the Three Musketeers (again)

Howl's Moving Castle

Girl Vs. Monster

10 Things I Hate About You

500 Days of Summer (made me cry, which I didn't expect. can you tell I had a joseph gordon levitt moment lol)

Get Out

Twilight

The Conjuring (I watch this every year, one of my fav horror movies)

Scooby Doo: The Witches Ghost

Kiki's Delivery Service

Barbie and the Twelve Dancing Princesses

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

Love, Actually

Honor Among Thieves (again, but with my DnD party)

The Holiday (I mean. it's Jude Law)

The Boy and the Heron (holy fucking shit this was so good)

Asteroid City

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

In The Tall Grass

Books

Harrow the Ninth by Tamryn Muir: good! I fucking struggled at the beginning getting through but it paid off. (3.5/5)

The Falls by Joyce Carol Oates: a fun gothic romance/tragedy set in Niagra Falls which took an environmentalist angle I was not expecting at all. Picked it up at a Goodwill and enjoyed it much more than I thought I would. (4/5)

A Game of Thrones by GRRM: I mean, it's a classic. The way the plot unfolds at the end really is incredible, but from the first chapter it grips you. (4/5)

The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas: HOLY SHIT if you read one book because of me let it be this one, it is criminally underrated for how well known it is. It is thee action-adventure novel of all time, hysterically funny and easy to read. (5/5)

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern: I took a little dip into YA to bring some autumn vibes to my summer internship. Plot was bad, vibes came through. (2.5/5)

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte: fucking slaps!! anyone who thinks it isn't romantic is dead wrong, I found it much more engaging than Jane Eyre, the other Bronte novel I've read. (4.5/5)

Just Above My Head by James Baldwin: a gripping account of two black families before and during the civil rights movement, of which one son becomes a famous gospel singer. Julia, one of the daughters and a child evangelist, stuck with me long after I finished it (5/5)

Nona the Ninth by Tamryn Muir: enjoyed it more than HTN, Nona asking about her birthday present made me cry, as did Campal :( (4.5/5)

That Summer In Paris by Morley Callaghan: put me in a massive reading slump over a silly little Goodwill read, never have I been less entertained by what was essentially a book of entirely gossip about 1920s writers. (2/5)

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins: read it immediately after ABOSAS, holds up in its entirety, particularly in the environmental descriptions (4/5)

A Clash of Kings by GRRM: I've already posted about this a ton but holy shit, it's slow getting there but the payoff is incredible. really excited to keep reading bc George absolutely sold me on this web of political and personal relationships. (4.5/5)

A Place Bewitched and Other Stories by Nikolai Gogol: the cap for the year, bleak Russian short stories about weird little tales. would hit harder during fall. (3/5)

Shows

The Last of Us (as good as people said it was. sold me on zombie media as someone who does not like zombie media)

TLOVM S2

You S4 (a decent ending, parts with Love Quinn were the best lolol)

Succession S4

Shadow and Bone S2

Partner Track (CUTE. wish netflix didn't cancel it)

Marvelous Mrs Maisel S5 (a letdown tbh)

Game of Thrones S1

BBC Musketeers (I had a big three musketeers phase this year; this was my fav adaptation I watched. a lot of heart and a lot of silly, I am very biased about it)

BC Strike

Bridgerton - Queen Charlotte (I watched this in French, had a miserable time)

The Terror

The Bear (twice)

The Summer I Turned Pretty S2 (steven and taylor!!!!!)

Legends of Tomorrow S1-5 (rewatching with Roommate)

Yellowjackets S1

Over The Garden Wall (I watch this every autumn)

Gilmore Girls, Seinfeld (continuously)

The X Files S1-2

Blue Eye Samurai (shockingly blunt and visceral in everything from it's depiction of racism to fully committing to animating a boner).

Unfinished: Fionna and Cake, the Fall of the House of Usher. we're working on it.

Top Five Movies (no rewatches):

5. 500 Days of Summer

4. Get Out

3. The Green Knight

2. La La Land

The Boy and The Heron

Top Five Books:

5. Wuthering Heights

4. Nona the Ninth

3. A Clash of Kings

2. Just Above My Head

The Three Musketeers

Top Five Shows:

5. The Last of Us

4. Yellowjackets

3. BBC's The Musketeers

2. Blue Eye Samurai

The X Files

If you made it this far send me an ask telling me what ur favs were this year or thoughts you have on mine :)

[academy-x]

wednesday textbased ttrpg starting july?

you didn't realize it the first time. you thought it was a dream.

you were standing on a road that did not look like a road. it stretched forever in both directions. you could only go forward. you had to.

you thought it was a dream. you kept dreaming it. kept seeing the same faces. kept moving forward.

it's different from other dreams, but the dream isn't real. is it?

q&a

what game? songbirds 3e <3 d20 osr weird fantasy. i will teach you

textbased how? asynchronous chatting once a week on discord. type up what your character does, make rolls, i respond as gm. NOT LIVE. just check in a couple of times (or more) mechanics and rolls only allowed on wednesdays!!

weekly on wednesdays starting july? yes but it can be another day i dont care. and you can take weeks off. starting formally in july but we can chat before then, maybe do character creation and a tiny bit of gaming if i have the time

grammar? i encourage you to use as much grammar you want as long as you arent mean to me when i use no capital letters >:3 also some sort of out of character brackets i think we need

who can apply? anyone even if we dont know each other at all. but i give preferential treatment to friends if somehow 12 people want to join

wtf is the game plot? like a cool shonen about going sleep and waking up in this strange collective unconscious/different world where you work together with other dreamers, travel forward, help people, try to solve the mystery, come into opposition with other dreamers. and then chilling in The City (normal) where you live when youre awake and dealing with any possible consequences slipping over from the dream

is this a campaign? in theory yes in practice my campaign track record is so so bad

how much time have you spent planning this? this tumblr post represents the full extent of planning that i have committed to writing

[ah0yh0y]

tagged by @ribcagelikepiano for the get to know you game!! thx friend !!!!!

questions: last song you listened to, currently watching, currently reading, current obsession

last song: Come Hang Out by AJR off the top of my head by my tabs say Providence by Poor Mans Poison . Come Hang Out feels so nostalgic to me even if i only listened to it recently reminds me of a graduation song (it came out 5 yrs ago so it makes sense. I just really love Poor Mans Poison's vibes generally great fuel for daydream and also matches well with the feeling of revolution (and seeing everything collapse i guess.) (ish) mentally listening to Your Love is All I Need by Sami Yusuf tho at all times lately, probs because i have been trying to wean myself off listening to music for like the 50th time. (its slow going but IM GONNA TRY inshaallah ill be able to do it) (he also took the old nasheed music video off his channel? sad its so good)

currently watching: does d20 mentopolis count? only watched one ep but its good. i havent watched anything regularly besides like school vids for a bit. tried watching the dragon prince s5 when it came out but buffering (the video player i mean) and dissatisfaction at the pacing and characterization kinda stopped me. ill back on it at the end of the yr when everything is settled. if we are talking about podcasts started relistening to wolf 359 and keeping up with the greater gatsby (the latter has SUBLIME noir vibes as it is a noir i bloody love shipwreck's work it scratches that itch in my brain so well) . i may have seen spoilers for wolf 359 so i am anxiously waiting to see if i am proved wrong but im on s4 so its soon prepare for a barrage of reblogs for it. watched s4 of malory towers it was very nice i cant wait for s5 - the pantomime hopefully we get new members for the older years next season i miss the larger cast

currently reading: not much really. fanfic alot. i guess. caught up to the end of the To Make a Legend series on ao3 (pjo) and other fics for a couple of other fandoms (in one false move by Kalidium is really good if your into murder most unladylike - spoilers for A Spoonful of Murder though) also been reading barbie 2023 fanfic? was bored and started hunting for good ones (slim picking at the moments but if you want character study and grief and some bloody good writing def read something in me in you by telm_393 i cant explain it its that good) also reread My Memories Came Back in the Form of Someone Else by Lucy_Luna yes its that really good spiderverse fanfic do check it out

BESIDES THAT THO in terms of actual books. have the audiobook saved for The Valley and The Flood so gonna listen to that later. Have to read The Hate Race for class (not my fave but i need for analysis ive read it like 3 times but I STILL DONT REMEMBER ANYTHING) .

started rereading The Ballad Of Songbirds and Snakes a couple of weeks ago ahead of the movie coming out at the end of this year but never got the chance to finish it so ill have to get on that too.

also dracula ive been reading as well but more on that the next section.

current obsession: re:dracula is the first that comes to mind im so bloody invested in jonathan's wellbeing and his relationship wiht mina and the whole story its insane . i should read more older books its good . re;dracula DOES SUCH A GOOD JOB AT SUCKING YOU INTO THE STORY THE VOICE ACTORS REALLY MADE IT FOR ME i just cant with ti it makes me so bloody happy!! Renfield's voice actor is a standout for me everytime he's there i just have to pause and stare at a wall. also jonathan's actor as well hes SO GOOD i was geniunly worried about jonathan not sending me voicemails into my phone i was THAT endeared to him

besides that PLAY IT BY EAR the musical improv show by dropout is also a obsession of mine i cannot with their talent. the MUSIC so good i want to play it all the bloody time . i am in absolute awe in the performers ability to create a story and TIE IT ALL TOGHETER SO WELL like every piece of information is used whether you expect it or not . DN THE BAND OH GOD I DONT KNOW HOW THEY SO IT THE MUSIC IS SO FUN AND CREATIVE AND FITS THE MOOD AND MADE UP ON THE SPOT???!!! HOW I DONT KNOW (if u ask me who my favourite guest star is at the moment its ross byant hes an absolute delight whenever he is on a d20 show- the improvised shakespear episode blew my mind)

anway THIS SI LONGGGGGGGG soz

no pressure tags: @filmloser04 @mistichallow @charlies-a-thief

@literallymahir @quotidian-oblivion @monochrome-anomaly @suksiili @miseria-fortes-viros and anyone else that wants to join!!!! (you dont have to do a brain dump like me i always go overboard)

[makeshiftcoop]

Misfits - Core Tapes (or my first attempt at game blogging)

Disclaimer: I will update this text with some frequency, and it will be fixed here. I know it's a mess right now, sorry!

So, for a while, im kind of making a game.

Something that can mix my obsession growing up with comics and the newfound success of media that deals with powers and mutations and subverts the "Marvel Style".

So, Misfits is my Post-OSR-Resistance attempt to that. Inspired by stuff that i like from the OSR and Post-OSR corners of the ttrpg designsphere (like Bastionland, Mothership, Songbird 3e, Eco Mofos and Lost Bay), by things from Rowan, Rook and Decard and they Resistance games, and by a myriad of other influences on rules lite games like 24XX, Offworlders, Lumen and etc etc etc

I expect to post more about it here soon but, for now, those are the bones of Misfit. I have to shout it to the void before making other stuff. Hope someone enjoys it's initial vibe:

1. MISFITS MUGSHOTS (Character sheet):

Stats (1 point each and assign 5. No Stat can get to 6):

- Body (Physical experiences, agility, strength, throwing punches, jumping between buildings) 

- Vibe (Social experiences, charisma, etiquette, flirting, bluffing) 

- Weird (Unreal experiences, spirit, soul, sixth sense, your PWRZ, searching metaphysical insight, harming extracorporeal entities)

- Brains (Intellectual experiences, logical thinking, riddle solving, not falling for bullshit)

Moodboard: Pick a few and expand on it's vibe (coming soon, but it's basically a style section. it's important to look cool and pretty) 

Stuff: Important stuff to use or carry around. Things that cause harm have a stress die attached. Other stuff can be used contextually to gain an extra die, success on a action, clear stress, etc.

PWRZ: Cool powers. They usually have a stress (damage) tier, a flavor description and a mechanical effect. (Pick a passive PWR and one for each weird point) 

- Passive

- D4 

- D6

- D8

- D12 

- D20 

Quirk (Some different mechanics of the Mugshot):

2. ACTING

- When attempting an action with uncertain outcomes or where complications could be interesting, roll d6s with the most approriate stat (I think as ways of doing or feeling things).

- Always roll at least one dice. If in advantage or disadvantage add or subtract dice as seem fitting. If disadvantaged below zero, start to roll and pick the worst.

- Stats are meant to be flexible and open to creative problem solving.

- Misfits can throw a knife with their Body, their Brains or even with their Weird after using the knife for years, getting attached and naming it Poco.

- Stuff and people can have complex relations with Stats (seeing status as ways of feeling) that may allow creative interpretations.

- Nothing just fails. Something always happen in the world.

- If an action is too complex to be solved with a single roll or take space and time to develop it's a PLAN. A complexity will be defined in a CLOCK format between 4 and 12 segments, where the Misfit will be able to act to advance those segments until completion. Failing in actions related to the PLAN can start an opposite clock with consequences, expand it's segments or even collapse the entire PLAN with approriate (and possible disastrous) consequences (I see PLANS as a way of extending actions into sequences, helping to streamline the play and also raising the stakes. It's a way I enjoy to play especially solo)

3. DICE RESULTS:

1-3: A failure. But more than that, an outcome that didn't met the expectations. Some complications arrived, the competition was fiercer than it looked like, the stakes are now higher, the context changed. Stress can be suffered. 

4-5: A success with complications. A twist, new element or context can enter the situation as well.

6: Success. Clean success, the narrative moves forward as intended 

More than one 6: Critical success. More stress dealt, more favorable circumstances, sunshine and rainbows.

4. STRESS:

A track that goes to 10 that stores all the Misfit's misfortunes. Everytime you receive stress from any source unless your PWRZ (be it physical harm, a very embarassing interaction or mental overload from a paracausal entity) fill the track and roll a D10. If the result goes under the current stress value, the Misfit suffer a Strike. A concrete manifestation of consequences related to one of the stats. 4 Strikes and you are OUT. If the stress comes from your PWRZ you just fill the track withou rolling for strikes. Your PWRZ themselves can't take you out but they will make you frail.

5. HURTING THINGS (AND GETTING HURT) 

- The combat is dynamic, focused on player facing rolls. 

- The Misfits always go first, unless taken unprepared. 

- Enemies attacks come with results of Failures or Success with complications. 

- The turn goes on in Vibe order. Any action can be attempted. Failing actions in combat usually leaves the Freak exposed to being hurt. 

- Foes have particular behaviors as described on UNEASY THINGS (future zine with threats). When the resistence of a foe hits 0 it's dead. Most will not fight until that point. But some will.

6. THE EVERYDAY AND THE SANDBOX (It's in a new post!):

- What you do?

- Conspiracies and Happenings (to gain Fame)

- Spend FAME to create PLANS and make your Happenings, Factions and know more Faces

- PLANS: Complex actions that require time and multiple efforts (Flirting, Making Friends, Organizing a Party, Creating a Bowling Club, Investigating a Murder, etc)

- MESSY SCENES!: Complex moments with big stakes that deserve narrative spotlight. Like: A Chase, Fighting Big Things, Fucking, Karaoking, Dueling,

- The game can be played with as many complexities as wanted. Some PLANS and MESSY SCENES can be easily diluted to one rolling, simple combat or just roleplaying without dice. But i think those are nice procedures to Solo play and also for some types of Group Play, easing players into narrative control within their MESSY SCENES and framing clearly objectives with the PLANS

7. FAME (you guessed right, coming soon): 

- Solving Conspiracies and helping FACES out in Happenings grants FAME. 

- FAMOUS Misfits can really alter the Everyday, starting factions, throwing up legendary ragers, becoming marketable capers or even starting an revolution. 

8. CREDIT/GETTING STUFF

- Misfits always have enough to get by. Some start with a little more, as can be seen by their Mugshot or Moodboard.

- Credit is abstracted in 6 tiers that follow the PWRZ tiers and can be used to buy stuff, define "loot" and payments.

-Acquiring things that are into your credit tier is mundane and simple. Everything above your credit tier requires either some valuable stuff or you will be In Debt

- While In Debt you can't buy nothing above the misfit tier, and have to get some loot to sell, win some reward for a happening, or go to The Board and find some Job

-To change your Credit tier you don'thave to hoard riches, but get known. The only way to upgrade your credit tier is investing Fame.

TIERS: 1. Misfit/simple (resources with no die value. worthless in trading/selling) 2. Working class (D4) 3. Degree haver (D6) 4. Up and coming (D8) 5. Money mover (D12) 6. Filth rich (D20)

9. WRONGDOING - Every Misfit has already beem accused of some kind of wrongdoing. It can be true or it can be made up. Fact is, a Misfit can't really stay put and live a normal life cause they already have been stripped of the normality.

10. PATH - Also a future exploration here, but the idea is having another layer of personality and a goal beyond "live life, make friends, fight the system" for Misfits. My idea here is to eventually get to something like Beats from The Heart, turning Paths as ways of getting more powerful:

An exploratory list of Paths: - Hedonist - Communitary - Explorer - Revolutionary

[secretsnowclub]

Game Design Diary #2 - Stats??

Image by Wayne Edson Bryan, found on pinterest (that's the aesthetic i'm going for with this project, but with more color)

[[Previous Post]] [[Next Post]]

Hello. It's 1:05am. I'm tired. But today I worked on Euclidean. Mostly I spent time trying to nail down what the stats are.

Since this is a hack of Songbirds, I now there will be four stats and at least 4-5 skills per stat. I'm a big fan of d20+stat just because. It's what my brain defaults too. But I also like it for world building reasons as well.

For Songbirds, I sat and asked myself "what does an adventurer in this world need?" For Euclidean I want to do the same, but the question is closer to "what does a modern, tactical soldier need to do their job?" Or, maybe more apt, "what are they measured by?"

It's important, for me, to think about how the stats and the skills aren't total representations of a character. They are simply the things their job or the world measures them by. So, they speak to a greater understanding of what the world expects from them.

Expectations are key to roleplaying because, if you don't know what the world expects from you, you can't figure out how you fit into all of that. Or, if you don't know how your job measures you, you won't know how well-suited you are for it. Plus a ton of other nuances that are harder for me to spell out in as few words as I want to use in this post.

So here's what I got so far:

My stats are PSYChology, TECHnique, some kind of dexterity, and then another one (I'm thinking of calling it Medical or something?). I have two down, one more's premise but not the name, and then a last one that I'm unsure of.

Psychology is based on psy-ops. It's intelligence in the military sense. Like, gathering intel, strategy, terror, diplomacy, and secrets. Technique covers things like teamwork, explosives, security, recon, and field medic stuff (so maybe not a medical stat? idk yet.)

The dexterity stat handles things like precision/marksmanship, surprise, and stalking (sneaking). I'm thinking of calling it Tactical but i'm not sure if that says what I want it to say. This stat is all about the use of your body with precision. Accuracy. Stuff like that.

The last stat is the one I'm struggling with right now. I'm having a hard time pinning down what else you need to be an operator. My first thought is to have a Combat stat. Like, the stat that kicks in when you're in fight or flight.

Because, if I think about what I have so far, psyc is the mind of an operator, technique is the, well, technical part of being an operator, like, the tools you need trained in and how well you can use those tool. Dexterity is the reflexes and accuracy of the operator. What else do they need?

Tactical thinking, tools, honed body, and??? Maybe the last one has to do with luck? Or, like, the things that training can't account for. Or maybe one that deal with the body more specfically. With skills like guts, nerves, resilience. It's what you roll to not go into shock when you get shot, or the one. you roll to push through a lot of pain.

I don't know. But it'll come to me.

That's all I have today. Plenty more noodling to do. But next post I can talk about the basics of the system and finally loop back around to the gif i posted last diary entry.

Till then...

[ahcoffeebeans2]

🌠!

🌠 A game with a mechanic I love

oh, man. would it be a copout to say every game has a mechanic I love? FitD's Devil's Bargains, Fathom's reworking of the stress system of SbR games and Heart's setting specific fallout system... hell, I even love the "take action, putting yourself at risk" move bog-standard to BoB games!

but let's take a wander down indie alley, shall we?

snow is one of my favorite game designers/artists, period. she has such a wonderful spin on ttrpg classics - I truly believe she's perfected the d20 system.

songbirds (3e) is a queer, punk as fuck dungeon crawl system, inspired by OSR games but doing something a bit stranger. my favorite mechanic in songbirds is "Darkness." besides the need for rest, there's very little incentive for characters to actually fear the night. snow does something amazing by making darkness actually harmful.

amazing! what better way to maintain the horror of a death-touched world than to make the genre standard "oh its dark in here" into a mechanically enriching experience.

the other favorite is her game the wizards and the wastes. you play as a bunch of wizards who can exchange pieces of yourself to cast spells. why cast spells? well, you have to roll a d20 and get under a four in order to be successful at an action. succeeding means increasing the DC by 1 -- making things easier over time! but as a wizard, time is not something you have a lot of... though you can certainly trade it to cast a spell!

thx!!!!! will be working on more of these!!

[gay-flyboys]

Get To Know Me

I'm a little late to this I think, but tbh I kinda forgot I was tagged in it fdhahlkjfs. Thanks you @read-and-write- and @happiness-of-the-pursuit

Two sets of question, below the cut <3

First Set

Last song: Ghost Of You - Live, 5 Seconds of Summer (MYT tour, not RAH)

Last film: Uhhhhhhhhh that's a great question but I do not remember

Currently reading: The Picture of Dorian Gray and The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

Currently watching: Rewatching Voltron (bc I haven't since it originally ended), FMAB is always on loop, SVU and D20 Fantasy High (Sophomore Year)

Currently consuming: Cheeto Puffs and Airhead Bites (the gay bacon bits)

Currently craving: Could go for some chicken nuggets

Next Set

1. Were you named after anyone?

Not my first name, but my middle name is from my grandpa's name

2. When was the last time you cried?

January 9, 2024 from like 1 am until like 2:30 am

3. Do you have kids?

No, and I don't plan on it

4. What sports do you play/have you played?

Swimming! I don't do it competitively but I like to use it to keep in shape

5. Do you use sarcasm?

An unhealthy amount

6. What’s the first thing you notice about people?

Eyes, maybe? I don't think about it too much

7. What’s your eye color?

Blueish greyish depending on lighting

8. Scary movies or happy endings?

Happy endings, only because I don't watch a lot of scary movies

9. Any talents?

Uhhhh not that I can think of

10. Where were you born?

Bay Area

11. What are your hobbies?

Writing, drawing, reading, scrolling on TikTok. Napping. Encouraging other people to nap

12. Do you have any pets?

My son the love of my life my service dog Sumner, and his brother who's technically my mom's, Knight

13. How tall are you?

5'6/168 cm

14. Favorite subject in school?

Nowadays, any health sciences, but in high school probably ASL

15. Dream job?

Certified Diabetes Educator! Though I'd also love to get a license to become an ASL interpreter at some point

Open tag (should be expected) I have NO IDEA who else has done this, sorry

[dungeonofthedragon]

Ooh a fun challenge! I haven't created non-D&D d20 content myself, but lemme dredge up some d20 games that aren't D&D/Pathfinder.

Songbirds is an eldritch fantasy d20 system. Play some messed up adventurers! Flirt with death and undeath!

Daggerheart is a d12 based fantasy game, with a fun mechanic called Hope and Fear (dice that are used in different situations.)

Shadowdark is old school dungeon delving.

Farsight is a sci-fi rpg that uses the Double Twelve system.

d12GO! is a very simple and flexible game using (you guessed it!) d12s.

When the Wolf Comes is a game set during a futuristic Ragnarok. It uses a d6 and a d12.

Spirit & Steel is minimalist fantasy that uses only a d20!

Coyote & Crow is science-fantasy storytelling in an uncolonised vision of America. It uses d12s.

Explore a Mythical Age Mediterranean in Thalassa! This game uses a d20 system, but instead of rolling high like in D&D 5E, you want to roll low in this one!

Mausritter uses almost a full polyhedral dice set, including the d20. Play as an heroic mouse adventurer! The art is so so good too, worth checking out the link for that alone.

Indie ttrpg designers

We seem to be back in the “dnd sucks why don’t you just play Other Games (yours)” and I have a single question for you in return

Do I get to roll a d20?

Because I like the d20

That shape pleases me

I do not wish to roll a random amount of d6s or d8s or any of them other fuckers

I wish to roll the d20 because icosahedrons please me

I will also accept d12 but the other shapes all have less mouthfeel so if that’s what your game’s based on, it is not for me

I’d also prefer more than four stats but I’m not gonna lie it is the shape of the math rocks so like

Rec your d20 based indie ttrpgs friends cuz every single one I’ve opened is them little cube fuckers or the double pyramid and I Require Round

[figayda-rights]

I remember watching the figayda kiss live and how the next like 6 days afterwards people were scrambling to assemble the in-canon descriptions of Ayda because there hadn't been an official illustration of her yet! It was still the live season! And the couple names, before people settled on figayda there were songbird/firebird and I think fayda? It was such an exciting thing to see happen in real time! It was so fun to participate in that!!! I want to see if I can refind some of the earliest Ayda art on here... If I can remember who made it I'll reblog it

[merziggy-printworks]

Inktober Day Six. The first thing that came to mind as I pondered this prompt was Lady Chirp Featherfowl and her African Grey. ACOFAF 5eva.

06 - Songbird

[jerreeeeeee]

brennan literally describing the mice as a swarm… i’ll be so disappointed if rosamund doesn’t end up a swarmkeeper with woodland creatures

[hangvan]

Fuck YEA it actually happened I love it so much

Ps: click for better quality

[jacklefay]

I made a phone background using art by @cloudmancy with his permission!

[mythicandco]

Dungeons and Dragons Adventures (Part Two, but there was never a Part One)

My character is a 13 year-old tabaxi wizard named Bird on a Bush. She’s really smart and charismatic but also extremely dumb. 

There’s also Mirage (also thirteen), a tiefling wizard with a raven familiar named Sinzile; Tirion, another tiefling (except he’s a paladin) who is basically the unwilling chaperone of the group; and Chad. He’s a six-foot tall living rock. The party calls him Bastion or “The Rock” depending on who you ask because no one actually knows his name. He doesn’t talk. Everyone relies on him to wreck our enemies because half of the party is just teenaged wizards. And wizards... are wizards. 

Anyways, the session started off right after a particularly bloody battle. Chad had just smashed an enemy into a wall with his hammer, and internal and external organs were everywhere. And I do mean everywhere. 

Tirion’s player (bless his soul) decides it’s a good idea to “look at it to see if it’s a map.” This is the very first action anyone takes in this session. The DM, already knowing this is going to be a chaotic session, sighs and tells him to roll a d20.

Natural 20. 

I could not make this shit up if I fucking tried. 

The entire group starts cracking up, save for the mildly horrified DM, who quickly thinks of a way to salvage the situation. Tirion squints closely at the splattering of blood and guts on the wall and can make out the outline of a map. Apparently somebody had drawn a map on the wall earlier and when most of it was watched away, some parts are slightly stickier than others and some of the shards of bone and brain matter from our fallen enemy stick to the places were the outline of a map used to be. Tirion hastily scribbles down his findings to show to the party. 

The “meat map,” as I’ve begun calling it, ends up fueling the rest of the session. 

On our way to the closest X marked on the map, my character, Bird, starts humming some mindless, mildly infuriating tune. Mirage, annoyed, orders her crow familiar (Sinzile) to shut me up. It works, and the DM doesn’t even make her roll a die. Bird only ends up with a few scratches, no mortal injuries. 

(Note: Mirage doesn’t actually know my character’s name. They keep calling her “cat lady,” “cardinal,” “songbird,” wren,” etc., literally anything other than her actual name.)

Once the party arrives at where we assume the X to be, Mirage sends Sinzile to “look out for anything unusual.” (Remember that wording; the DM uses this vagueness against us on multiple occasions.)

Sinzile comes flapping back frantically, and Mirage uses Share Senses to investigate. It’s a fucking scarecrow. The bird saw that the wind was making it move unnaturally and had a panic attack. The party laughs it off and salutes the DM’s wonderful sense of humor. 

Meanwhile, Bird on a Bush decides it’s a brilliant idea to try to climb up onto the dilapidated farmhouse out front. I don’t roll high enough on the first try, but Bird is determined to give into her cat instincts and tries climbing again. This time, she manages to make it to the top, but immediately afterwards falls through the roof and, because she’s a wizard, knocks herself unconscious and breaks her tail. 

Curiosity had, almost literally, killed the cat. 

Luckily, Tirion comes to the rescue and heals my character right up, along with basically a death threat telling her not to do something like that again. Bird is in too much pain (broken tail, remember?) and too in awe of Tirion’s magic to actually pay attention to what he says. 

There isn’t anything majorly exciting for a while after this, but Mirage comes up with the brilliant idea to climb up onto the Rock’s shoulders, since both Mirage and Bird are very short. Bird, eager to climb something new, has the Rock lift her up onto his shoulders, were she proceeds to become a neck pillow for the next two hours. 

Tirion almost steps into a bear trap when the party investigates the barn, and also witnesses a barrel of wheat turn into rye for literally no reason. There was an inside joke I must’ve missed, because everyone else cracks up. 

When the second battle of the campaign starts, a ladybug that flies onto the table and crawls around a little bit. Like, an actual ladybug. We joke that there’s a rat scuttling around outside. When the ladybug flies away, Tirion sees a rat sprout wings and take off. It’s actually a little worrying, because that’s the second hallucination he’s had in the past twenty in-game minutes. 

Also, it turns out the raven was right. The scarecrow comes alive and attacks the party, plus a ton of ghouls. Everyone panics, and the DM grins smugly as we all wish we’d listened to the bird. 

During the battle, an already-injured Bird on a Bush decides it’s a brilliant idea to use Burning Hands to set a barrel of alcohol on fire. The only issue? It explodes while she’s only fifteen feet away, and she falls prone. The Rock also falls over from the blast, and may I remind you this is the tank of the team. Curiosity (more like plain old idiocy) kills the cat, Part Two. Bird takes some serious damage from a ghoul and nearly dies. Luckily, the rest of the party dispatches the enemies fairly quickly and after a long rest, the tabaxi ends up being okay save for an awkwardly-twisted tail. 

The next day, the party decides they should go to the next X marked on the map. Bird suggests they dig a hole to make sure they didn’t miss anything, and the other party members agree. The Rock spends the next hour digging a twenty-foot deep hole until the DM promises us there’s nothing buried underneath the ranch, so please stop digging. 

We stop digging. Bird goes back to her place on the Rock’s shoulders just as it starts raining. She is no longer a neck pillow, but a wet rag. 

The party comes across a group of civilians just as one of our players has to leave. The session ends just before the confrontation. 

[titanias-stolen-shoes]

Tagged by: @the-ipre

Rule: Tag 9 people you’d like to get to know better

Top 3 ships: Songbird! (figayda from D20), Percabeth (PJO), and Analogical (Sanders Sides)

Lipstick or chapstick?: I love lipstick but I don’t wear it that often 

Last song listened to: I’ve No More Fucks to Give by Thomas Benjamin Wild Esq.

Last film watched?: I can’t remember but I was planning on watching Howl’s Moving Castle 

Currently reading? Undead and Unemployed by MaryJanice Davidson

Tagging: @riz-gukgak @pldubrahs @figueroth-fig-faeth @rougerose @trompe @zeldadonovan @galfast @notwerewolf @esther-sinclair