#tma ttrpg

[clairebearsparkles]

Hiya, I was just wondering if there were any updates on your TMA TTRPG project because it seems super fun and I am gnawing at the bars of my cage to hear more about it :D

Thanks for asking about it. I unfortunately never found the time to test the system, but I think it’s at a point where people can at least look at it, so here’s my google doc of the PbtA heavily based on Monster of the Week tma system

[eggnoodles0up]

just got my physical Magnus Archives TTRPG book and its SO COOL AAAAAAAGH

[isagnesalive]

TMA TTRPG

So, for those of you who don't have the TMA TTRPG / haven't looked yet.

"Canon" Agnes Montague art on page 207 (in the pdf. book page its 205)

[princefleabitten]

Haunting and being haunted (horror oc stuff)

Since I missed Inktober this year, I made some ink drawings in November:)

[nadg-ttrpg]

Controversial opinion (?)

The magnus archive role playing game (TMARPG) is a good TTRPG. But it's not a good Magnus Archive TTRPG, it's a good TTRPG that happens to be set in a Magnus Archive universe. Hear me out. It's published by Monte Cook Games, using their Cypher System. The Cypher is a good system, used in hits like Numenera or The strange, but it's not adapted to play a Magnus Archive game. They tried really hard to make it work, and they made very interesting changes to the base system. From the health tracking making you more fragile to the eponymous Cyphers being more like abilities than magic objects like in other games. And honestly, yeah, it works! It's a great investigation game, cthulhu style, allowing you to play a crew of archival assistants or a similar group, trying to survive unspeakable horrors and maybe stop rituals. But. BUT.

Magnus Archives, the podcast, isn't just about the investigation. It's an office comedy, and a tragedy, and - most important to me - a reflection on morality, mortality and humanity. It's a podcast that, to quote a tumblr post I saw once, "spend the first 100 episodes showing you irredeemable inhuman monsters... and the 100 next asking you to change your mind on them by showing the protagonist is becoming one". It's a story talking of powers beyond human understanding, but mostly of the humans stuck with them. Asking how far you'll go for a taste of power, how far you'll go to survive, how far you'll go to protect the ones you love. Showing times and times again that getting the power you crave will divorce you from humanity, and that this pull is hard to resist. And that to stay somewhat human, you need anchors, friends, connections. And frankly, there is nothing in the TMARPG to encourage this kind of story. I agree, this is mostly a me problem. My standard is that when I play a licensed RPG I want the original story to be possible with the rules as written. Maybe this is too much to ask. I genuinely don't know. But it's the rule by which I judge a game. When I play an Alien TTRPG, I want the monster horror and the PC betrayals to be encouraged by the rules. When I play a Lord of the Ring TTRPG I want mechanics for travel, honor and temptation. When I play a My Little Pony TTRPG, I want the game to help me with the magic and the friendship. And when I play TMARPG, I'd like the rules to encourage the same themes as the podcast. I could do this freestyle with the rules as is, GM my way out of this, request the help of the players with their backstory and character arcs. Or I could turn to an other TTRPG. Enter Unknown Armies (UA), an occult game about broken people conspiring to fix a broken world - sounds familiar? It wasn't made with TMA in mind, it was published before the podcast even existed. It also have it's flaws, I heard it described as "taking itself too seriously" many times. But despite this, UA drinks at the same source than TMA.

They both embrace a Jungian philosophy gosh that sounds so pedantic, the idea that the collective unconscious of the humanity create archetypes, powers, Fears. They both feature relationships as both something that needs to be cared for and link to humanity. They both have heavy use of trauma and mental breakdown, depicted as realistically as possible. Actually, UA link them directly to your stats. Witnessed violence? You can react either by being hardened and unfazed by it, or traumatised and deeply troubled by it. This will make it either easier for you to fight, or to dodge. I love it. They both have a supernatural system where you can only get those powers by acting in ways that make you an outcast, be it by being an arsonist, someone living their life through a camera lens tape recorder anyone?, or even someone fascinated by the flesh and blood. They both have weird artifacts. They both have ways to become avatars. And you can actually have a power imbalance betwen the PCs! You can have an avatar and an "antechrist's plus one" is the same party. They are made for each other. TLDR: Unknown Armies is a better Magnus Archive TTRPG than The Magnus Archives Role Playing Game. TMARPG is a good TTRPG, but not a game that actually uses the themes of the podcast. If you want to play an investigation team cthulhu-style, by all mean, play TMARPG. If you want to play a tragedy about inhumanity and power, play Unknown Armies. The Magnus Archives is a podcast written by Jonathan Sims and distributed under a CC NC-SA-BY 4.0 license. Thanks for listening.

[kaz-oooo]

God! The second I catch a whiff of a TMA TTRPG my entire brain halts all plans and completely fixates on writing a fucking campaign!!

Just gotta figure out how to force this on my friends and life will be great aha!!

[emmelineart]

some sketches from a tma ttrpg oneshot i was in recently!! turns out lydia is a good fit for the vibes of that universe.

[toddnoy]

The illustrations in the TMA ttrpg are actually fucking fire in this essay (it's not an essay) I will...

Show side-by-sides of art from the book and the genre-defining illustrators of grimdark and horror ttrpgs they feel evocative of

Left: Ron Spencer for Werewolf: The Apocalypse

Left: Tim Bradstreet for Vampire: The Masquerade

Left: Jason Chan (as far as I can surmise from cross referencing from the credits of) Vampire Requiem, Invictus Clanbook

Bonus: Joshua Gabriel Timbrook for Vampire The Masquerade

Just because he looks like Gerry

I would do more but I need to get myself ready for bed 😌

[field-cryptobotanist]

Look what just arrived!!!

So excited to read it!

[jester-writing]

funniest shit ever is that there's a buried avatar ability in the new tma ttrpg, that just temporarily sends a person into so much debt they start taking damage due to a company now hounding them for money.

[clairebearsparkles]

Anyway I am absolutely loving this so far

[alukardtheabysswalker]

Good news everyone! I made a Magnus Archive TTRPG Form Fillable Character sheet! (What a mouthful lol)

[roseeblue]

remembering earlier this year when instead of updating my actual real resume (something I really needed to do) I painstakingly put together a fake resume for my tma ttrpg character instead complete with actual university degrees and previous workplaces

[princefleabitten]

Now that the magnus archive ttrpg is out meet my and @ritelli-main s pcs

Linda Wagner is an unpaid intern who’s having a really bad time ok;;

And Dr Natalie Siebenschuk is an artefact specialist who loves to make cannibalism jokes

[the-lonely-crow]

Guys holy shit

[deafeningcolors]

bout to traumatize these bitches 👁️

[ID: a digital drawing of 4 figures on a light grey background. the first on the left in a young white man, dressed in a collared shirt, a beige vest, black slacks and brown oxfords. he is wearing a light brown peacoat over the top. he has wavy brown hair, light green eyes, with gold wireframe glasses. he is walking with a wide stride, he is carrying a brown messenger bag with a single white pin, a determined expression on his face. the next figure, second to the left, is a white young white man wearing a cream coloured hoodie with a drawing of a ghost on it, with small letters on top reading ‘wtg?’. on top, he wears a pair of black overalls and a pair of light blue converse. his hair is ginger and in a mullet, with the front dyed a light blonde. his dark brown roots are showing. he stands with one arm over his chest and the other extended, as is expecting something to hit him. his green eyes glance right. second from the right, is a young white woman, with very pale skin, wearing a dark brown lacy top with a button down black vest over it, and a mid-length black skirt with a blue swirling design on it, as well as dark brown chelsea boots. she has chin length curly black hair, tinged a dark blue, with light grey eyes that stare to the right, as if rolling her eyes. her arms are crossed and has her right leg slightly bent. the final figure, to the right is a young brown woman, with square shaped red glasses. she wears a chunky beige turtle neck, a pair of light blue jeans, with patches of dark blue denim over the knees, with a cream tote bag over her shoulder that reads ‘university of toronto’ in blue letters. she wears a pair of red converse. her black straight hair is pulled into a high ponytail with a red scrunchie. she looks off to the left, with a determined expression, eyebrows furrowed.]