#tcc discussion

[thecoppercompendium]

Not sure other people are as feral about fonts as me but I just saw this on Bluesky and had to share here.

That is an insane amount of fonts, right? How much do you reckon the pack is going for, right now?

$19.00.

You can get 1200+ fonts for commercial use. For $19.

[thecoppercompendium]

Dread is excellent. It's been my go-to to introduce new players to TTRPGs for a while now and the central mechanic is perfect for the style of game.

Something to note with Dread is that the rulebook contains a lot more information and rules than are needed to play. There's a free resource on the website (I forget which resource) that includes all the key info.

I'd also put forward Locus, though I haven't had the chance to play it yet. The Silent Hill inspirations are strong here and the mechanics (using playing cards and a unique 3d6 system) are incredibly elegant.

Are there any horror ttrpgs you’d reccomend? I’m fairly new in ttrpgs, and I wanna try out some stuff that isn’t just pathfinder or d&d and horror has been calling me

I wouldn't recommend horror RPGs because they're scary

But serious answer: I haven't played a lot of straight horror RPGs, but one of my fondest gaming moments involves playing the Delta Green scenario Music from a Darkened Room in my late teens. Having since re-examined the scenario I can now see that our GM was actually doing a lot of the heavy lifting, because while the scenario is actually extremely atmospheric and a good haunted house scenario, as an investigation and mystery it largely falls flat because of something of a lack of good mystery structure and issues with the system of Delta Green itself.

But I have since run the scenario in Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy by @anim-ttrpgs and it honestly feels like the best way to run it, because Eureka actually has good systemic support for investigative gameplay while also having the mechanical heft to carry the horror elements. If what you want in a horror scenario is "a bunch of regular people getting in too deep into a supernatural mystery," I heartily recommend Eureka.

Mothership is another indie horror RPG I would recommend: it's sci-fi horror in the style of Alien, Dead Space, and Event Horizon, and I think it does a great job of emulating that genre. It is a very straightforward d100 roll under engine with a few interesting twists, and it does a lot with a little. Very much the sort of game to run for your friends where you describe their characters getting killed by spooky space ghosts inside an abandoned space hulk.

However, there's an underrated horror RPG out there: Dungeons & Dragons. Specifically the older editions of the game.

As @cavegirlpoems has also stated, old-school D&D almost plays like a survival horror game: it's largely a game about survival while navigating a hostile space, trying to make use of what little resources are available. If you want fantasy horror you can do a lot worse than just having your friends create a bunch of level 1 characters and putting them inside a dungeon, with the objective being to escape the dungeon. (For an urban fantasy twist on that: run it in Cavegirl's urban fantasy old-school D&D-inspired Esoteric Enterprises.)

Now to move away from the trad games and into the avant garde: Dread is a game that I have wanted to play for a long time. It is a horror game that specifically seeks to emulate the plot beats and structure of a slasher or creature feature through the use of a Jenga tower. Instead of a randomizer like dice or cards the game uses a Jenga set and pulling blocks out of the tower to simulate the danger that characters find themselves in, meaning that as the tower gets more unstable the more tension there is, and with the tower falling meaning character death (followed by the tower being reassembled) to emulate the tension and release of a horror film. It sounds seriously fun and I would love to try it.

[spookcataloger]

Icemans Victims (2015)

[hyperion-severus]

albus would love legos. i could see him being into the star wars sets or something. he’d be chill about those and maybe take some of those sets apart to build other things but he’d also enjoy the the landmark ones. he’d be very precious about those and no one could touch those and they’re on display on a special shelf in his room. he would absolutely hyperfixate on building the sets until they were done and his family learned at a very young age that he does NOT need any help and he will in fact snap if you touch any of the pieces he’s meticulously sorted out on the table or floor in front of him.

scorpius is very skeptical of the pile of random blocks at first but once he’s seen the process he’s very intrigued and would definitely beg draco for his own sets. he’d show up with like the biggest most expensive set like the death star or something and albus would be like “what. the. fuck. i’ve been begging my parents for that for YEARS. and you got it as on your first time asking??” and they’d build it together but albus is biting his tongue the whole time and internally screaming because he can’t stand doing this with other people usually but it’s scorpius so he’s Allowing it even if it’s slightly painful especially because scorpius is a bit clumsy and knocks already built parts over or sometimes he gets the steps wrong and it takes a lot longer than it would if he was doing it on his own. but it’s all worth it at the end when scorpius is beaming with pride holding the creation. or just staring at it resting nicely on the shelf bc he probably shouldn’t be holding it with his clumsy streak

i think albus, especially having grown up playing and building with legos since he was old enough to not put them in his mouth, would have a lot of intuition on how to build things without instructions too like he could make some cool stuff with random pieces where scorpius is very Left Brained and i think he would struggle with the creative part of it like that. like dont get me wrong i do think he’s a creative and imaginative person but building legos is a whole other level of that and i think he would like. build a mismatched square and call it a house and albus would have like a fucking whole functioning city block built and everything in the same amount of time

[ald0-raine]

was clearing out a bookshelf bc I was bored and found this I can’t escape them

[thecoppercompendium]

Hell yes! Glad you had a good time at Dragonmeet, I so badly wanted to go but couldn't justify it this year. It looks like an absolute blast. (That's quite a stash of books, would love to hear about them!)

Hopefully see you at the next one! (Or UKGE if you're planning on going to that - I at least have a good track-record there, 2/2 years so far.)

Dragonmeet was a blast.

Everyone's lovely. Got to chat with Luke Gearing for ages (whose shoes I tiptoe in on the daily, Melsonia's Fever Swamp was the second TTRPG book I ever bought) and with Melsonia's Andrew Walter (The Weird That Befell Drigbolton was the first TTRPG book I ever bought and we've been emailing for 4 years while working on TPPAPPOP) and so many other really brilliant folks.

I got to finally meet @anarcutie (we don't just exist on the internet isn't that wild) and a bunch of other usernames I've been orbiting for years, and catch up with all the ones I met for the first time last year.

It's such a brilliant indie ttrpg space full of really enthusiastic knowledge sharing and advice, being in the real world is just magical, but I'm also conscious that many people don't have access to a space like that and I want to bring back some of the nuggets of wisdom I gleaned.

I took *so many* notes to write up, probably in my newsletter but as I type I'm thinking about reaching out to the other tumblr users who attended and maybe we can figure out how to do a little shared write up of talks or panels we want to share lessons from?

My big takeaway though: making Indie TTRPGs and getting them into people's hands is so doable!

You *can* make games in a way that works for you, publishers/distributors/retailers all want you to polish and show off your weirdest stuff, there are people who want to support you and figure out what you need to make it happen, and they've all long since accepted that it's DIY for life.

Whatever shape the write up takes it'll also be shared in this space once it's done, and if that sounds remotely interesting to you it's definitely worth hopping in there if you're not already (it's quite lively but not overwhelming):

Other notes from dragonmeet:

The uniform of game designers is overwhelmingly a pair of vans or docs and I reckon if we collectively say it with enough gusto we can absolutely file our nice shoes as business expenses.

Additionally, there is a massive oversaturation of Joshes, Chrises and Matts so I propose that anyone entering the scene with those names needs to change at least one letter (not including me tho I'm last in under my own non-arbitrary cutoff don't worry about it).

And check out these goodies. I traded for most of the small stuff & Melsonia insisted on shoving the entire stack of books at the back into my bag (they're good people but my shoulders disagree).

[retiredbrokeretard]

I have fantasies about murdering Regina that stupid bitch didn't deserve Salvador

Confession #50

[truecrimepromiseversion2]

Disappearance of Frances Tuccitto

Frances Tuccito circa 1953

Frances Tucitto

Physical Description

Full Name: Frances L. Tuccitto

Date of Birth: Unknown

Race/Ethnicity: White/Caucasian

Sex: Female

Height: 5′2″ (62 inches) (157.48 cm)

Weight: 100 lbs - 105 lbs (45.35kg - 47.63 kg)

Hair Color: Brown, graying

Eye Color: Blue

Distinguishing Characteristics

Missing a part of one of her fingers while working at the Russell Manufacturing Company in Middletown, CT.

Her maiden name is Macklin

Family

Husband: Joseph V. Tucitto

Five children

Misc. Info

Lived on the 10 block of Commerce Drive in Portland, Connecticut

Case Information

Age at Disappearance: 45

Missing Since: June 1, 1953 (Missing for 69 years as of May 3,2023)

Last Location Seen: Portland, Middlesex County, Connecticut, USA

Last Location Seen on Google Maps: https://www.google.com/maps/place/41%C2%B034'21.4%22N+72%C2%B038'26.9%22W/@41.5726111,-72.6408056,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m4!3m3!8m2!3d41.5726111!4d-72.6408056

Classification: Missing

Dentals: Unknown

Fingerpints: Unknown

DNA: Unknown

Clothing & Personal Effects

No official description known

Circumstances of Disappearance

Frances last seen at her home and she never been heard since. Few details are available in her case.

Unidentified Person Exclusions (NamUs)

https://www.namus.gov/UnidentifiedPersons/Case#/6279

https://www.namus.gov/UnidentifiedPersons/Case#/6796

https://www.namus.gov/UnidentifiedPersons/Case#/6661

https://www.namus.gov/UnidentifiedPersons/Case#/12683

https://www.namus.gov/UnidentifiedPersons/Case#/5556

Contact Information/Contact Agencies/Investigating Agencies

Portal Police Department

Agency Case Number: 12-1430

Agency Contact Personal: Scott Cunningham, Sergeant

Agency Phone Number: 860-342-6780

Milwaukee Police Department

Agency Phone Number: 414-935-7405

RTI Internation

Agency Contact Personal: Regional Program Specialist Lori Bruski

Agency Phone Number: 817-718-7904

Agency Email Address: lbruski@rti.org

NamUs

Agency Case Number: #MP14289

Agency Contact Personal: Regional Program Specialist Brian Nisbet

Agency Phone Number: 518-713-8438

Agency Email Address: bnisbet@rti.org

Sources/Further Information/Places of Interest

https://charleyproject.org/case/frances-l-tuccitto

https://www.namus.gov/MissingPersons/Case#/14289/details

https://www.doenetwork.org/cases/4317dfct.html

https://whereaboutsstillunknown.wordpress.com/2013/03/12/frances-tuccitto/

https://www.websleuths.com/forums/threads/ct-frances-tuccitto-45-portland-1-june-1953.391905/

[thecoppercompendium]

I thought the exact same thing when I saw itch had been murdered by funko. Excellent work rath.

OOPS

ok meme aside this was (almost certainly) not my doing. but hey im an opportunist! buy my stupid funko pop game when itch comes back

[thecoppercompendium]

So, you want to make a TTRPG…

Image from Pexels.

I made a post a long while back about what advice you would give to new designers. My opinions have changed somewhat on what I think beginners should start with (I originally talked about probability) but I thought it might be useful to provide some resources for designers, new and established, that I've come across or been told about. Any additions to these in reblogs are much appreciated!

This is going to be a long post, so I'll continue beneath the cut.

SRDs

So, you have an idea for a type of game you want to play, and you've decided you want to make it yourself. Fantastic! The problem is, you're not sure where to start. That's where System Reference Documents (SRDs) can come in handy. There are a lot of games out there, and a lot of mechanical systems designed for those games. Using one of these as a basis can massively accelerate and smooth the process of designing your game. I came across a database of a bunch of SRDs (including the licenses you should adhere to when using them) a while back, I think from someone mentioning it on Tumblr or Discord.

SRDs Database

Probability

So, you have a basic system but want to tweak it to work better with the vision you have for the game. If you're using dice, this is where you might want to consider probability. Not every game needs this step, but it's worth checking that the numbers tell the story you're trying to tell with your game. For this, I'll link the site I did in that first post, AnyDice. It allows you to do a lot of mathematical calculations using dice, and see the probability distribution that results for each. There's documentation that explains how to use it, though it does take practice.

AnyDice

Playtesting

So you've written the rules of your game and want to playtest it but can't convince any of your friends to give it a try. Enter Quest Check. Quest Check is a website created by Trekiros for connecting potential playtesters to designers. I can't speak to how effective it is (I've yet to use it myself) but it's great that a resource like it exists. There's a video he made about the site, and the site can be found here:

Quest Check

Graphic Design and Art

Game is written and tested? You can publish it as-is, or you can make it look cool with graphics and design. This is by no means an essential step, but is useful if you want to get eyes on it. I've got a few links for this. First off, design principles:

Design Cheatsheet

Secondly, art. I would encourage budding designers to avoid AI imagery. You'll be surprised how good you can make your game look with only shapes and lines, even if you aren't confident in your own artistic ability. As another option, public domain art is plentiful, and is fairly easy to find! I've compiled a few links to compilations of public domain art sources here (be sure to check the filters to ensure it's public domain):

Public Domain Sources 1

Public Domain Sources 2

You can also make use of free stock image sites like Pexels or Pixabay (Pixabay can filter by vector graphics, but has recently become much more clogged with AI imagery, though you can filter out most of it, providing it's tagged correctly).

Pexels

Pixabay

Fonts

Turns out I've collected a lot of resources. When publishing, it's important to bear in mind what you use has to be licensed for commercial use if you plan to sell your game. One place this can slip through is fonts. Enter, my saviour (and eternal time sink), Google Fonts. The Open Font License (OFL) has minimal restrictions for what you can do with it, and most fonts here are available under it:

Google Fonts

Publishing

So, game is designed, written, and formatted. Publishing time! There are two places that I go to to publish my work: itch.io and DriveThruRPG. For beginners I would recommend itch - there's less hoops to jump through and you take a much better cut of what you sell your games for, but DriveThruRPG has its own merits (@theresattrpgforthat made great posts here and here for discovering games on each). Itch in particular has regular game jams to take part in to inspire new games. I'll link both sites:

itch.io

DriveThruRPG

Finally, a bunch of other links I wasn't sure where to put, along with a very brief summary of what they are.

Affinity Suite, the programs I use for all my layout and designing. Has an up-front cost to buy but no subscriptions, and has a month-long free trial for each.

Affinity Suite

A database of designers to be inspired by or work with. Bear in mind that people should be paid for their work and their time should be respected.

Designer Directory

An absolute behemoth list of resources for TTRPG creators:

Massive Resources List

A site to make mockups of products, should you decide to go that route:

Mockup Selection

A guide to making published documents accessible to those with visual impairments:

Visual Impairment Guidelines

A post from @theresattrpgforthat about newsletters:

Newsletter Post

Rascal News, a great place to hear about what's going on in the wider TTRPG world:

Rascal News

Lastly, two UK-specific links for those based here, like me:

A list of conventions in the UK & Ireland:

Convention List

A link to the UK Tabletop Industry Network (@uktabletopindustrynetwork) Discord where you can chat with fellow UK-based designers:

TIN Discord

That's all I've got! Feel free to reblog if you have more stuff people might find useful (I almost certainly will be)!

[clowninthemorgue]

Re-doing pinned + rebranding

Hello TCC community!! I'm harley and I've been interested in true crime for roughly 4 years. :o)

•

This is the first time I've really participated in the community and I got the idea to use my blog as a documentary of sorts. Psychology is a huge interest of mine, along with premed and crime so I'm going to use my blog to detail about different cases.

Fair warning majority of my blog will be about Andrew Blaze (like 90% probably)

~

Feel free to submit different people for me to discuss and research! :o) Even if you think I may know the person or not, I'm hoping I can spread info on different cases and maybe even facts you haven't heard before.

☆

About me

Interests: true crime (duh), psychology, neuroscience, reading, documentaries, the early 2000s, midwest emo, clowns, plushies, newgrounds animators, pompompurin, turkey tom

•

I'm hoping to major in psychology and premed; specializing as a psychiatrist, forensic psychologist, and general psychological care for adolescents.

~

Video editing is a big passion of mine so let me know if any of you guys would be interested in documentational videos!! :o]

Interacting

I'm fine with most people interacting! Basic criteria applies, just don't be a creep, freak, or weirdo and we're good :o3

•

This about covers everything! lmk in my asks if there's anyone you'd like me to discuss :o]

[thegirlwhowrites642]

Absolutely love your meta on Ginny's loneliness. I would also add that the intense loneliness both Harry and Ginny experience early in life would also make it so that they never took each other for granted. They would truly appreciate the love and support of the other in their life because they know what its like to live without it. The indescribable joy of feeling understood and supported when for years you never felt that way. TL:DR they really deserve each other. 😭❤

[this is the meta being discussed]

Ok first of all, thank you <3

I absolutely agree with you. I think one of the most striking elements of Harry and Ginny's dynamic in the books is how they seem to be in their own personal world when they interact with each other, a concept emphasized by their heavy use of a non-verbal communication style. It's a central element of how they are defined thematically that they have this very deep unique instinctual understanding of each other. They also tend to be narratively very isolated just to be brought back to having only the other to relate to, the whole structure of their parallel storylines in DH is an example of that.

This experience with loneliness would also be very defining of what type of parents they would be (one of the many reasons why TCC is ridiculous). If there are two characters in the books that would be very attentive to their kids not being lonely those are Ginny and Harry. They would be the biggest supporters of their kids' interests and would want them to have various settings in which they can find friends and they would spend time actively playing/having fun with their children. They would also be those parents who end up becoming friends with their kids when they are older.

[thecoppercompendium]

I'll add something onto this, because I'm a fan of everything discussed so far:

In addition to the printable quick reference sheet, a printable summary of the setting can be great.

Less of a layout thing, but I love when games give examples of play. I've seen this recently in Kids On Bikes 2e, Locus and Tales From The Loop and it makes the game so much clearer.

Great points made by all previous here, particularly indexing and order. Nothing makes me want to read a game less than a 300 page pdf with no navigation sidebar and a non-hyperlinked contents page.

What I look for in a tabletop role-playing game

Just my thoughts on what makes a game interesting.  Not necessarily good or bad, just what I would like to see in a game.  

First off, I want my games to be all in one book.  All you need to get started playing is just a single rulebook.  I prefer physical books but I’ll take both physical and digital.  I want the book to include a brief intro about the game, have the next section go over the game rules, then go over the setting, and the final part of the book will go over character creation.  Referee options, like challenges or bestiaries, can either be with the game rules or in a section after character creation.  I have yet to find a book that puts things in this order, but hopefully with my large collection of books I’ll finally find the order.  

The reason I want the book organized like this is that you need to understand the game mechanics in order to know how you want to build your character.  You also need to know the game setting to come up with a story for your character.  Finally, in most systems, character building takes up the majority of the book.  Especially in more complicated games with lots of character options.  Having the book organized this way will also increase the likelihood of players actually READING THE DAMN RULES.

Last thing about the game book.  Hardcover, paperback, pdf I don’t care.  But make your books easy to read and navigate!  Have a key on the fore-edge of the book in different colors so if you know the colors you can jump to that section.  Also an index!  Have an index please so you can find which pages talk about your special game mechanics.  Use colors and font size to define both hierarchy and sections in your layout, please don’t just have a white page with black text.  Finally, please use sans-serif fonts!  They’re so much easier to read than Times New Roman or Baskerville.

I also like looking for safety tools in my game books.  People who regularly play ttrpgs tend to know about lines, veils, surveys, and x-cards.  But not everyone does!  If a new player picks up your game and you don’t have a safety section you as a designer are depriving them of an important resource.  Also sometimes game designers think up new ones or have an interesting take so I like to learn.  

I don’t care how complex or simple the game system is, I just want it to be interesting and work.  I started with 3.5 and Pathfinder 1st edition so I do have a preference for more complicated games with lots of character options but only if they’re interesting or established.  I also like my systems to be loose enough that you can easily homebrew additional mechanics, change mechanics, or make new in game material.  I like to homebrew, it’s fun.  

[picklelovergirl]

okay helloooo!! so this is the (completely unofficial) zero day archive blog, ran by @01-05-2001. will also include content from elephant/duck/etc.

this is not a TCC blog and is purely informational. anyone is welcome + many posts will likely discuss columbine or similar due to the nature of ZD. my posts do not and will not ever condone, endorse or justify the actions of any real world criminals.

the zero day drive is also available. this includes ZD, BTS clips, and other projects by ben, andre and cal! :)

for more movies like zero day / elephant / duck, see this recommendations list!

current tag organisation:

#zero day 2003 | #elephant 2003

#ben coccio | #andre keuck | #cal robertson

#review | #interview | #bts

#images | videos

#other projects - names of which will be tagged individually

#media - scans/images of any physical media

#contact - emails/messages etc. from

#op - posts from me!

ask box should be open for any inquiries or messages!

[disruptxrr]

so basically school gets shot up 21 kids die all under the age of 12 and the worst part about it to you is ... the shirt she was wearing?

genuine question how does that work

obviously that's not the worst fucking part of it. do you not think that's the worst part of it? does that confuse you? i am not a tcc blog i do not want to talk and cry and mourn what happened. im just pissed because they keep ruining the band's reputation. do you know how many school shootings happen in the U.S. now? they are so many people dont even notice in the news anymore. that won't change because i might try to make a post or have a discussion about it. if you want info posts go look for them, that has nothing to do with me. i dont even know what she did to full extent i just know she killed people while wearing a kmfdm shirt and that is stupid and frustrating.

[reallemonmeat]

INTRO POST [read boundaries at the bottom before following pls]

hello! i am lemonmeat, but you can also call me mirror or gore.

he/it + 17 (i turn 18 in 3 months ^_^ !!)

i am a jack of all trades artist! but i may mostly post digital art or simple trad sketches.

to find my art, search the #my art tag on my blog!

on this blog, i will mostly discuss the POSTAL games, team fortress 2, horror movies, etc.

i am a pyro main, but i sometimes play scout or sniper a lot too :)

[STRAW.PAGE]

@jakelstest for my rblx mugen content

hope u enjoy!! 🫀🫀🫀

DO NOT INTERACT if:

>basic dni (bigots.creeps."proship" whatever)

>(pro)endogenic

>tcc/columbine fan/zero day etc.

>nft/ai bros

ART BOUNDARIES:

>do not repost my art,, at least credit anyway

>credit if you use as pfp/banner.

>heavily referencing is fine but i would love if you mention me, id also love to see the art in general :3