#the ttrpg is called

[bennuhne]

Playing a new(er) tabletop rpg with my friends and I named my character P. Brain

They also have a pet monkey stronger than them named Joel

[vforvalensa]

90s indie ttrpgs whip ass

[anim-ttrpgs]

(Exerpt from Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy.)

[txttletale]

'the GM is also a player' is something every ttrpg writer should take to heart. just becase d&d treats their GM as (as i have often said) an unpaid game designer doesn't mean you have to

[appalachian]

The new book has me kinda-sorta planning a Gravity Falls themed Pulp Cthulhu game, and it made me want to show off the DM screen I built a little bit more. The built in monitor works so well, I’m super proud of it.

Made from stained pine with a glow in the dark resin inlay, supercharged for the video with a UV light.

Pardon the lame video. I’ve never really made one like this before.

[strixludica]

@vexwerewolf since you're also a Max0r fan, I thought this would be appropriate.

[silvercompassmaps]

Demonic, Undead, & Vampire Ships

For the longest time, I've been wanting to release a monster ship pack that would be crewed by various nefarious forces of darkness.

Many of these ships were inspired by settings other than D&D. For example, the Otherworldly and Flesh ships were inspired by pulp horror and the Cthulhu Mythos.

 Along with each ship map, I've made a night variant, an unfurnished map, and a PNG token with a transparent background.

You can download the first three maps for free here.

Check out my entire map archive here.

[goatmoy]

I was thinking about a post where someone said that D&D fans will trick out the game to the point of running Dark Souls on Skyrim through mods levels of changes way before touching another system that is literally a much better, easier, and more accessible version of a game either because of Sunk-cost or being stuck in a place where anything outside of D&D has to be imported in where the PHB/DMG is available at Walmart. So I ask the greater Tumblr community of TTRPGs:

[santapau]

This is the promo illustration for a Call of Cthulhu adventure I'm planning to run soon. It's called The Complex, and the pitch is:

The characters are competitors in an extreme survival reality show. They've overcome difficult physical trials, and managed to remain the favorites amidst alliances and betrayals. But things are about to get a lot stranger, in the closed environment of the Complex.

I plan to give special skills to players characters, based on reality TV tropes. I'm seriously considering succeeding by being really annoying as an ability. It should be fun.

[agathielart]

Tonight I DM'd my first Call of Cthulhu one shot and for the first time in my short DM experience I don't feel dread nor anxiety!!!

Turns out that I only needed to find a system that works for me. DnD is too complex and its adventures have too many plot holes for me to manage peacefully, Blades in the Dark requires too much improv for my shy ass.

Please please please if you wish to DM but when you do you feel unsatisfied or unable to run the game, try another system before giving up!

I can't express how happy I feel to finally be the GM for my usual GM (and husband) <3

[monsterfactoryfanfic]

My latest essay is on "Dialect," by Kathryn Hymes and Hakan Seyalıoğlu! I compare the game's inevitable language death to Arkady Martine's "A Memory Called Empire," and discuss how both texts are interested in the ways hegemonic culture consumes everything, even without violence.

Transcript here.

[ritelli-main]

The Bhaal-babe / An Artfight attack for @divorcedwife

[vexwerewolf]

Tabletop Roleplaying Systems as DHMIS Stills

Promethean: The Created

Shadowrun

Vampire: The Requiem

Hunter: The Vigil

Shadow of the Demon Lord

Monster of the Week

GURPS

Dungeons & Dragons 5E/D&D One

Starfinder

Call of Cthulhu

Eclipse Phase

Delta Green

Mage: The Awakening

Don't Rest Your Head

Cyberpunk RED

Lancer

FATE Core

Literally Any Warhammer 40K TTRPG

Transformers RPG

Pathfinder

[anim-ttrpgs]

What to Play Next with Eureka.

So, now that the pay-what-you-want/free Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy beta has over 400 downloads at the time of writing this (wow!) and has been up for about 3 weeks, I’m sure at least some people have already played Horror Harry’s Haunted House, the free tutorial adventure module we included with the beta download, and are excited to play more!

To that end, I’ve quickly thrown together a non-comprehensive list of adventure modules to run using Eureka, and where you can find them.

Adventure modules, if you’ve never used them, are a lifesaver for GMs. (And also they’re a different thing from those railroady “adventure paths” and crappy 5e adventures that you might be familiar with.)

Official Eureka Adventures

You can find official Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy adventure modules on our Patreon page. Supporting us is what makes Eureka, and our ongoing promotion of many other TTRPG creators, possible.

Horror Harry’s Haunted House

This is an official Eureka adventure module that comes free with the beta linked above. It is a super low-stakes “tutorial” adventure that sees the PCs solving a “murder” in an interactive escape room. The point of this scenario is to be a short and fun way for players to learn the mechanics of Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy without risk of their characters dying.

FORIVA: The Angel Game

This is an official Eureka adventure module by A.N.I.M. currently available only to patreon subscribers. Set in the year 1999, this adventure involves the PCs investigating a mysterious threat targeting teenagers.

The Eye of Neptune

This is an official Eureka adventure module by A.N.I.M. currently available only to patreon subscribers. Set on a skeleton-crewed oil rig in the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, this adventure puts the PCs in a tense situation as members of the crew start to disappear one by one...

Free Call of Cthulhu Adventures

Since we have not had the time (yet) to build up a robust library of official Eureka adventure modules, Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy has been playtested the most by using Call of Cthulhu adventure modules, and it is designed to work well with them. In fact, in many cases it actually plays them better and smoother than Call of Cthulhu itself!

Chapter 7 of the Eureka rulebook covers how to convert an adventure module from another game for use with Eureka, and its super easy! The only thing that will need to be adjusted will be the HP values of monsters and we have a formulae for that.

What's In The Cellar, a super short adventure where the PCs will investigate a mysterious cellar.

Scritch Scratch, there's rats.

The Derelict, set in the modern-day in the icy waters of the North Atlantic, the thought of a substantial salvage reward drives the investigators to attempt to rescue the a stranded ship, but in doing so they attract the attention of a strange and deadly monster. 

The Lightless Beacon, the ivestigators are unfortunate passengers on a ship heading for Rockport, Massachusetts, on Monday, April 12th, 1926, the night of the new moon. Due to a malfunction at the lighthouse on Beacon Island, their ship founders on nearby rocks, forcing the investigators to take to a small lifeboat and head to Beacon Island for refuge in the growing storm.

Dead Boarder, a murder investigation, which centers on the discovery of a body in a locked room.

Paid Call of Cthulhu Adventure Modules

Even though they aren’t exactly “indie,” just about any non-WotC company that makes TTRPGs is an ally against the monopoly crushing the entire hobby and art form of TTRPGs, so we would love it if you could support them as well as supporting us. Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy wouldn’t exist without Call of Cthulhu, and especially not without Call of Cthulhu adventure modules! In fact they’re like one of the only “big” names out there that still regularly puts out adventure modules, which seem to be a lost artform seemingly everywhere else despite once being being absolutely synonymous with GMing. They’ve been making new official Call of Cthulhu adventure modules consistently for like forty years, and buying and playing these will encourage them to keep doing that.

New Tales of the Miskatonic Valley (pack of adventures)

The Reeling Midnight, by Tom Lynch. introduces Investigators to Arkham's truly decadent party scene. (I've played this one, pretty good.)

Wasted Youth, by Christopher Smith Adair, explores the roots of juvenile delinquency, culminating in a wild chase through the wilderness.

Spirit of Industry,by Oscar Rios, takes Investigators to the village of Dunwich, where they explore old murders and an ancient mystery.

Proof of Life,by Keith Herber, is a tale of extortion and madness in the Lovecraft Country town of Foxfield.

Malice Everlasting,by Oscar Rios, expores Kingsport and old grudges.

The Night War,by Kevin Ross, sees the author of Kingsport, City in the Mists, revisit his creation when a veteran of the Great War is suddenly haunted by deadly nightmares.

A Mother's Love, by Seth Skorkowsky, author of the Valducan series, takes us to the hidden town Innsmouth, with all its squalor, dangers, and dark corruption in a brand new scenario for New Tales of the Miskatonic Valley, 2nd Edition. (I've played this one, pretty good.)

The Things We Leave Behind (pack of adventures)

Ladybug, Ladybug, Fly Away Home, by Jeff Moeller. The investigators search for an abducted child in suburban Cleveland, Ohio, where time becomes a serious concern.

Forget Me Not, by Brian M. Sammons.  An accident in a TV truck in rural Michigan sees the investigators awake in a ditch with no recollection of how they got there.

Roots, by Simon Brake. Inquiries into a missing teen will teach the investigators that some mid-west communities prefer to be left alone.

Hell in Texas, by Scott Dorward. After a suicide at a church's east Texas Halloween haunted house, strange events threaten the lives and sanity of all those in the vicinity, including the investigators.

The Night Season, by Jeff Moeller, shows that fandom in Anchorage, Alaska, can go too far when reality begins to shift.

Occam's Razor (pack of adventures)

A Whole Pack of Trouble - a group of film students have gone missing while shooting a found-footage style movie over college break. 

Eye of the Beholder - five days ago, a young woman disappeared while working on an art project.

Frozen Footsteps - A Wendigo-obsessed professor heads off to Michigan's Upper Peninsula for some rare (for him) fieldwork and discovers far more than he bargained for.

Dark and Deep - A snuff film is making the rounds in which a woman is mauled to death by a Deep One. Are the film's establishing shots enough to track down the lighthouse was filmed at and get to the bottom of things?

Visions from Beyond - A late-night voicemail left by a friend/relative in need of immediate help followed by them not answering their phone 

The Watchers - the investigators are contacted by a single woman who lives alone and is being watched by unknown people.

A Cleansing Flame - Bodies are being discovered, burned to death, with no known fire starter/accelerant present.

Does Love Forgive? (pack of single-PC adventures)

Love You To Death, Chicago: February 15th, 1929. It’s a cold winter’s day when the investigator’s good friend Hattie May appears in their office at the detective agency. Her beloved pet dog, Highball, is scheduled to be destroyed later today and she needs the investigator’s help getting him back from the Chicago Police Department. It doesn’t sound like too difficult a task, does it?

Mask of Desire, New York: September, 1932. The investigator, together with their two close friends Anna Konrad and Lucas Reston, has been invited to a party at wealthy—and notorious—socialite Madame de Tisson’s swanky apartment on the Upper West Side. Anna is somewhat distracted by her audition tomorrow for Nancy Turner, the famous jazz orchestra conductor. What is the link between the audition and a mysterious parcel that arrives the next day? And, why do so many people seem to be interested in the contents of the parcel?

Night Mother's Moon (stand-alone adventure), investigators are New York City’s street homeless who come together to solve the mystery of something that is stalking and killing the members of their community. (Playing this one with Eureka right now actually.)

[bathylychnops]

Dr. Marley, the villain headquarters’s main doctor guy hes got healing powers but makes youisit there and answer pointless questions that waste your time and have nothing todo with your actual ailments (just like a real doctor!)

hes really boring and normal he has a workplace crush on the receptionist Angie

[za-ra-h]

Dr. Adam Walker, a character from our Call of Cthulhu game