thaumic-hobo

[thaumic-hobo]

you know what? I'm nailing my colours to the mast:

The default rpg that's used as a yardstick, in my view, is not D&D. It's Vampire The Masquerade 20th Aniversary Edition.

It has everything: Action! Melodrama! Politics! Intrigue! Horror! Romance! Bleak Social Realism!

Still want a fantasy game with swords and dragons? We got that, it's called Dark Ages Vampire!

When pitching me a game, the big hurdle you need to overcome is "why am I not running this in Vampire?" Call of Cthulhu? Vampire has plenty of cosmic-horror tentacle monster cults, just throw a hidden baali cell into your setting. D&D? Play a dark ages game and all be members of a vampiric order. Monsterhearts? That's just standard Camarilla Toreador behaviour! Paranoia? The prince is a malkavian, have fun. Rolemaster? That's just dark ages again, and trust me our mechanics are fiddly and pedantic too.

Being picky and don't want to play a vampire? No problem, there's a splat-book for playing as regular mortals, who may or may not have psychic powers.

Seriously, Vampire: The Masquerade has so much range as a game. Even more if you throw in bits of other WoD gamelines or elements from v5. Mage even has sci-fi space explorers fighting tentacle monsters on the surface of jupiter and I am not joking.

This is not a bit or a funny joke. I genuinely, 100% believe that Vampire is a better Default Game that can Do Everything than D&D and its imitators.

[thaumic-hobo]

Crumbling Dens of the Moth-Emperor

The dungeon-crawling thing I've been intending to run for YEARS has finally started. Credit to @maximumzombiecreator for the motivation to finally get it up and running! https://irregularshapes.beehiiv.com/p/crumbling-dens-of-the-moth-emperor

[thaumic-hobo]

18. Mannequin I'll make you all a deal. If any of my drawtober posts gets 100 notes before the end of October, she can have the dress.

[thaumic-hobo]

General murder hobo-ing, while undead.

[thaumic-hobo]

[thaumic-hobo]

Got a mad haul of old ttg out of a dusty shed in the middle of nowhere today

Fuck yeah, the old stuff

[thaumic-hobo]

Chuckles made it at least as far as most of the party, and died going after something he loved: gold.

Introducing the party

So, to pass the time I'm going to be playing some Old-School Essentials solo with the help of Hexroll.

I have done it a couple of times and am already aware of some of the workings of Hexroll, but I eventually realized that since 1st-level characters are so squishy true solo play is very swingy in Old-School Essentials. So I outsourced some dice rolls from the community and got a huge number of characters. For now I've made six. And here they are!

Jimothy @public-trans-it Str 13 Int 11, Wis 10, Dex 10, Con 9, Cha 11 Fighter 1 8 hp Neutral Leather, war hammer, hand axe, rope (50'), grappling hook, crowbar, backpack, tinder box, 1 torch, waterskin, 5 rations, 8 gp

Montgormery @treasonagainstatyrantking Str 9 Int 9 Wis 7 Dex 4 Con 10 Cha 16 Fighter 1 2 hp Neutral Plate mail and shield, war hammer, silver dagger, rope (50'), sack (small), backpack, tinder box, 5 torches, waterskin, 6 rations, 11 gp

Theophany @theresalwayspeng-blog Str 4 Int 9 Wis 17 Dex 10 Con 11 Cha 13 Cleric 1 5 hp Lawful Leather, staff, mace, wolfsbane (1 bunch), holy water, holy symbol, backpack, tinder box, 1 torch, waterskin, 5 rations, 9 gp

Chuckles @arcanehobo Str 8 Int 7 Wis 12 Dex 13 Con 15 Cha 12 Thief 1 3 hp Neutral Leather, sling + 20 stones, war hammer, lantern + 3 flasks of oil, sack (small), thieves' tools, backpack, tinder box, 4 torches, waterskin, 3 rations, 9 gp

Theodore @casualeviliris Str 9 Int 9 Wis 18 Dex 9 Con 7 Cha 15 Cleric 1 4 hp Chaotic Plate mail, mace, sling + 20 stones, stakes (3) + mallet, lantern + 3 flasks of oil, backpack, tinder box, 6 torches, waterskin, 2 rations, 8 gp

Stevelyn @professorscrublord Str 13 Int 9 Wis 7 Dex 10 Con 7 Cha 12 Fighter 1 1 hp Lawful Chainmail, pole arm, silver dagger, hammer (small) + 12 iron spikes, stakes (3) + mallet, backpack, tinder box, 2 torches, waterskin, 5 rations, 8 gp

I modified some stats according to the rules of OSE (a character's prime requisites may be increased by taking away points from other stats at a rate of 2 to 1, but the only stats that can be lowered are Str Int Wis and they can never be taken below 9) and for the equipment I used the quick equipment method from one of the Carcass Crawler zines. I then switched around some equipment between the characters to make it more thematically appropriate (Montgormery feels by his stats to be a nobleman's failson gone adventuring, so it made sense to give him the plate and shield and silver dagger I'd originally rolled for Jimothy, so I switched their weapons and armor rolls around.)

I also rolled alignment randomly by rolling a d6: 1-2 Lawful, 3-5 Neutral, 6 Chaotic

As these idiots meet their untimely deaths I will be replacing them with more characters rolled in that thread. But for now, let's see what happens!

Also, if everyone has a good idea for a tag I could use for this, let me know. EDIT: Have decided to go for "thysologirl"

[thaumic-hobo]

(I am also @arcanehobo, and I am very gratified by Chuckles. I hope he lasts at least a short while.)

Introducing the party

So, to pass the time I'm going to be playing some Old-School Essentials solo with the help of Hexroll.

I have done it a couple of times and am already aware of some of the workings of Hexroll, but I eventually realized that since 1st-level characters are so squishy true solo play is very swingy in Old-School Essentials. So I outsourced some dice rolls from the community and got a huge number of characters. For now I've made six. And here they are!

Jimothy @public-trans-it Str 13 Int 11, Wis 10, Dex 10, Con 9, Cha 11 Fighter 1 8 hp Neutral Leather, war hammer, hand axe, rope (50'), grappling hook, crowbar, backpack, tinder box, 1 torch, waterskin, 5 rations, 8 gp

Montgormery @treasonagainstatyrantking Str 9 Int 9 Wis 7 Dex 4 Con 10 Cha 16 Fighter 1 2 hp Neutral Plate mail and shield, war hammer, silver dagger, rope (50'), sack (small), backpack, tinder box, 5 torches, waterskin, 6 rations, 11 gp

Theophany @theresalwayspeng-blog Str 4 Int 9 Wis 17 Dex 10 Con 11 Cha 13 Cleric 1 5 hp Lawful Leather, staff, mace, wolfsbane (1 bunch), holy water, holy symbol, backpack, tinder box, 1 torch, waterskin, 5 rations, 9 gp

Chuckles @arcanehobo Str 8 Int 7 Wis 12 Dex 13 Con 15 Cha 12 Thief 1 3 hp Neutral Leather, sling + 20 stones, war hammer, lantern + 3 flasks of oil, sack (small), thieves' tools, backpack, tinder box, 4 torches, waterskin, 3 rations, 9 gp

Theodore @casualeviliris Str 9 Int 9 Wis 18 Dex 9 Con 7 Cha 15 Cleric 1 4 hp Chaotic Plate mail, mace, sling + 20 stones, stakes (3) + mallet, lantern + 3 flasks of oil, backpack, tinder box, 6 torches, waterskin, 2 rations, 8 gp

Stevelyn @professorscrublord Str 13 Int 9 Wis 7 Dex 10 Con 7 Cha 12 Fighter 1 1 hp Lawful Chainmail, pole arm, silver dagger, hammer (small) + 12 iron spikes, stakes (3) + mallet, backpack, tinder box, 2 torches, waterskin, 5 rations, 8 gp

I modified some stats according to the rules of OSE (a character's prime requisites may be increased by taking away points from other stats at a rate of 2 to 1, but the only stats that can be lowered are Str Int Wis and they can never be taken below 9) and for the equipment I used the quick equipment method from one of the Carcass Crawler zines. I then switched around some equipment between the characters to make it more thematically appropriate (Montgormery feels by his stats to be a nobleman's failson gone adventuring, so it made sense to give him the plate and shield and silver dagger I'd originally rolled for Jimothy, so I switched their weapons and armor rolls around.)

I also rolled alignment randomly by rolling a d6: 1-2 Lawful, 3-5 Neutral, 6 Chaotic

As these idiots meet their untimely deaths I will be replacing them with more characters rolled in that thread. But for now, let's see what happens!

Also, if everyone has a good idea for a tag I could use for this, let me know. EDIT: Have decided to go for "thysologirl"

[thaumic-hobo]

Inkwarren Devlog #2: Welcome to Cairnadal!

The trees around your village are tall, and they are old. As you linger on the edge of the cobblestone path, you consider the forest beyond. You have heard of what lurks in the Deeper Wood- old beings, older than Inkwarren, and pale things that hate the things that lurk in the light. You look back to the flickering golden light of your village's tharian, admiring briefly the iron-wrought and rune-laden shape of the lamppost. The Abbey says tharians are shields against the deep and the dark, but doubt lingers at the back of your mind. What if they're wrong about the Wood?

Hello again, y'all! Sorry for a little while with no updates, it's been a crazy and long week in Matt World. I'm here for another update for Inkwarren, my in-development dark fantasy TTRPG of swashbuckling tactics and storybook intrigue, to talk about the game's setting: the ancient and magical woodland of Cairnadal.

Cairnadal

Cairnadal is a massive, realm-spanning woodland that encompasses all of the Known World. Ancient and beautiful, Cairnadal carries with it an odd and bewitching beauty. Woodlanders, the intelligent animal inhabitants of Cairnadal, most often live amongst the roots of the tall trees that make up the woodland around them. Sunlight comes in narrow beams that gracefully dance across the forest floor, and the soil is rich and fertile after centuries of greenery and other things that live amongst the woodland.

Woodlanders

Cairnadal is primarily inhabited by woodlanders, a society of intelligent animals that have built stone cities and little villages that dot much of Cairnadal's breadth. Woodlanders are small mammals, birds, amphibians, and reptiles, that form into societies and communities amongst each other where they create art, research knowledge, wage war, and consolidate power. There's good and bad in woodlanders, just as there is in us. The current society of the woodlanders is the vast and expansive kingdom of Inkwarren (oh look, the game's title!), which spans across five of Cairnadal's great six regions.

Beasts

Arthropods, fish, mollusks, and other animals are called beasts, and take the place that animals do in our world that we live in as humans. Woodlanders fish for food, ride stag beetles from city to city, send messages via trained dragonflies, and keep ladybugs and rollie-pollies as household pets. Wild beasts, like large hunting spiders or common crabs to be found on beaches, are approached with some measure of caution or respect for Cairnadal's many lifeforms.

Other Beings

Other beings inhabit the vast woodland of Cairnadal. Dead things return to life as lyches, animated by the weird magicks of the Deeper Wood, and massive, gentle stone giants with no name wander the wood, a remnants of the unknown civilization of That Which Came Before. Other animals, massive things known as the Old Masters of the Wood, can be found deep within the Deeper Wood. They have different languages, different gods, and different conceptions of the world than woodlanders do, and rumors are that they abound in a strange and ancient magick at their command.

Inkwarren

Inkwarren is the massive kingdom that spans most of Cairnadal, established over nine-hundred moons ago after a massive, woodland-spanning conflict known as the War of Red Flowers. Inkwarren is ruled by House Greyfell, a house of cats currently led by Alys II, who has served as King Crowned of Inkwarren for thirty-nine moons.

Inkwarren is made up of five major wards, each led by a powerful noble house called a High House. These wards are the Aerie, the Heartlands, the Yawning Roads, the Waterways, and Winterreach. Culture and language varies from region to region, and the High Houses often clash with each other while skirting the edges of violence.

Daily Life in Inkwarren

Every settlement in Inkwarren is protected by a magical lamppost called a tharian. Tharians glow with a light akin to faint sunlight, and ward away magicks and other beings that come from the Deeper Wood. The Abbey, the principle religious entity that dominates most of Inkwarren, professes that tharians are necessary for the peace and safety of Warrenish settlements, but there are those who would whisper and say otherwise. No one knows exactly where tharians came from, and the art of creating them has been lost to history.

Each settlement in Inkwarren is often governed by a noble house, represented by a reeve (which is somewhere between a mayor and a sheriff). It is common to have small chapels for the Abbey in many settlements, where the tharian lies at the center. Most woodlanders carry common professions such as smiths, scaleworkers, weavers, farmers, or messengers between settlements.

The Five Great Regions

Inkwarren is made up of five massive regions of Cairnadal, each governed by a High House, with their own languages, religions, and cultures.

The Aerie is a massive section of woodland where the towns and settlements are built from wooden platforms around the trunks of trees, with bridges or simple ropes connecting each platform-town. The tharians of the Aerie grow their wrought-iron poles around the trunks of trees, twisting into the platforms that settlements are built around. The Aerie is mostly inhabited by flying woodlanders, although climbing coats of woodlanders such as squirrels or possums have been known to make their home amongst the trees. The Aerie is ruled by House Ddur-Adain, a vulture house.

The Heartlands are the largest region of Cairnadal, built between the massive roots and tall trees that make up the woodland proper. The Heartlands is the home of Inkwarren's capital city, Gwydir, and is a center of commerce for the rest of Warrenish society. The Heartlands are the seat of House Greyfell, the cat house that rules all of Inkwarren.

The Waterways are river-laden hills and marshes where the trees of Cairnadal become fewer and farther between (but still cover most of the land). The Waterways are dotted with settlements populated with woodlanders that make their homes near water: ducks, otters, frogs, and snakes that hunt, fish, and forage for their daily living. The Waterways are ruled by House Wynne, an snake house.

Winterreach is a vast region of pine-covered mountains and snowy bluffs. Winterreach is scarcely populated, and its few settlements are made up of woodlanders comfortable with the cold and ice of that realm. Winterreach is ruled by House Castledown, a snowy owl house.

The Yawning Roads are a massive network of caverns that spans under most of Inkwarren, where cities are carved out of rock and stone. Here, strange 'roots' of the tharians above light caverns and protect from things that lurk under the dirt. The Yawning Roads are inhabited mostly by burrowing woodlanders such as moles, voles, or rabbits, as well as bats, salamanders, and burrowing owls that are commonly found underground. The Yawning Roads are ruled by House Sare, a salamander house.

The Deeper Wood

The Deeper Wood is the section of untamed woodland of Cairnadal not dotted by Warrenish settlements or protected by tharians. Strange things are said to lurk within these woods, magical things that existed before Inkwarren existed as a kingdom. Both the Crown and the Abbey forbid travel into the Deeper Wood, but braver wanderers have been known to wander off the cobblestone path, and your mind lingers on what might be out there...

That's All For Now!

Thanks for reading! I'll be back soon with another devlog to talk about Battle and how Inkwarren approaches its philosophy to combat and violence. Thanks for reading!

[thaumic-hobo]

DIE is a move in a similar direction. Sort of?

Has anyone ever made an Understanding TTRPGs book in a similar vein to Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics?

So like an exploration into what TTRPGs are in the form of a TTRPG? I don't think so. Sounds cool as hell though.

[thaumic-hobo]

Geology of Natural Disasters and How to write them into your fictional universe.

So, you want to write about a natural disaster to advance your plot and torture your players/characters even more? Let me tell you how, accurately.

I feel like unless it is a volcano, natural disasters are a pretty slept on plot drivers, and some of them are really cool and unique! Today, I will talk to you about land slides, earthquakes (And earthquake related disasters), and volcanoes.

Landslides: Probably one I see the least in stories, but one that would be incredibly interesting to write into a plot where they believe in curses. Landslides can happen along ocean bluffs, slightly hilly areas, and highly mountainous areas, this means it is something that can happen in most landscapes. But what can trigger a landslide? Mostly all you need to trigger a landslide could be just abnormally large amounts of rain, excessive deforestation (with a little bit of rain), or an earthquake. If you don't want to use deforestation or an earthquake as a catalyst, a really cool indicator that the land is slipping and may be prone to a collapse is J hooked trees.

This indicates that there is soil creeping slowly over time, and it may lead to a major landslide.

2. Earthquakes: Probably one of the easiest things to write, earthquakes can happen anywhere, but they are most common in places that are tectonically active areas. There are about three types of environments you can expect earthquakes to be common. The first is just rugged mountains, if your landscape looks like this, you should write in earthquakes. Associated hazards could be landslides, avalanches, and large falling rocks.

The next landscape could be a thin mountain range, next to the ocean, very scenic, but very dangerous. Essentially, I am describing a subduction zone environment.

Earthquakes in these areas could equal a couple different associated disasters. Scenario one: A very large earthquake happens, and the ocean begins to recede. This is a tsunami, enough said. If you are writing a tsunami though, please, please, do not write it as a large wave, thank you. Also, a common way people are hurt by tsunami's are from them going into the ocean because they don't understand a tsunami is going to happen.

Scenario two: A large earthquake happens, your characters are in a valley and suddenly the ground begins to liquify as the ground shakes, once the shaking stops, the ground becomes solid like nothing ever happened, except everything has suddenly sunk into the now hard ground. This is called liquefaction and it typically happens in areas that have loose dirt or lots of saturated soil.

Scenario three: There are a lot of small earthquakes, they do not cause a lot of damage, but you begin to notice that one of the isolated mountains has a plume rising. Earthquakes can indicate lava moving underground and the filling of magma chambers.

The next environment that can host lots of earthquakes would be regions that have a lot of really deep valleys and small mountain ranges (not cone volcanoes), but overall seems pretty flat.

This indicates a transform fault like the San Andreas. If you want to hint at there being earthquakes in the area, you can show fence posts that are suddenly several feet out of line at a dilapidated farm or something similar.

(These earthquakes are different because they are cased from sideways movement, not an up-and-down movement this hint can only be used for this environment). Volcanoes would not be found here, but liquefaction and landslides could still occur here.

4. Volcanoes: If you thought earthquakes had a lot of information, volcanoes do too. First you have to ask yourself, what kind of volcano you want to have, what kind of eruption style? So lets break down the kind of eruptions you can have and what their landscapes look like. Hawaiian Shield volcano: This will produce a smooth fast lava, the landscape typically is pretty flat, but there will be small cones and the rocks can have a ropey or jagged texture and the rocks will be almost exclusively black to dark red.

Stratovolcanoes: These will be solitary mountains, typically, that look like perfect cones (Picture shown in earthquake section). These will have large ash cloud eruptions and pyroclastic flows, they may have some lava, but typically most damage is done from the pyroclastic flows (think Pompeii). Some hints of these, other than describing the cone features (which can be hidden by other mountains), would be to talk about petrified wood! Trees can get fossilized in the ash and I imagine it would be very strange to find this rock that clearly looks to be a piece of wood, but its a rock. Subcategory- Calderas: Used to be a large stratovolcano, but they erupt so explosively that the entire cone collapses and creates a basin.

There are a lot of kinds of volcanoes out there, so forgive me for just putting an infographic and then talking to you about these really rare types of eruptions that I feel like people should know about.

Okay lets talk about blue lava (kind of) and black lava

You will notice the lava is still red in the middle of this image, during the day these would look like a normal eruption, but at night the burning sulfur would make it appear blue. Some cool features other than this, would be that any water in the area would become very acidic and burn the skin due to sulfuric acid. This would again be really cool if you are trying to describe a 'cursed' land.

Black lava: This happens only in the east African rift I believe, but it is a carbonatite lava, but if you are writing in a rift valley (where the continent is tearing apart to form a new ocean) this might be a cool feature. The lava will cool white and will quickly erode, it makes for a very alien landscape!

Anyway as always, this is supposed to be an introductive guide for the basics of writing geology to create cool landscapes/features into dnd or fictional universes, if you are a geologist please understand my oversimplification of tectonics, I didn't want people to run away.

[thaumic-hobo]

Posting the list of Fragments (player backgrounds/classes) that you can pick from in Dark Confluence to remind me to post more about this game tomorrow, and also because I think they're very good :)

[thaumic-hobo]

Throwing Irregular Shapes, New Issue

Another issue, after months of silence, of the gaming newsletter: https://open.substack.com/pub/irregularshapes/p/your-questions-answered

[thaumic-hobo]

[SPOILERS for the RADIANT CITADEL]

Second session in the new campaign!

[thaumic-hobo]

today is my last day at my day job (could you do just one favor for me today?)

I'm making the move to turn Titanomachy RPG into a proper indie TTRPG publishing house! and there's a couple ways you can support me. but first:

a few things to look forward to:

physical copies of my games becoming available via @indiepressrevolution!

consistent game & system releases (i'm cooking up a d12 system right now and then i'll have d4, d8, and d12 under my command)

a patreon where i'll be publishing games early, along with exclusive monthly releases, and much more

seeing more of my work in some upcoming evil hat projects

prints of prayer to curse r*n depantspiss, bunny girl osr posters, and perhaps shirts/hats?

ttrpg workshops IRL in the Maryland area

and much much much much more!!

I'm also moving away from Florida in a few days because the governor is trying to eradicate trans people like my partner and me. so I need your help.

if you could do just one thing on this list today, that would be SO helpful:

reblog this post

let indie TTRPG people know i'm available for freelance work

start making a caltrop core game (caltropcore dot com)

follow me here on tumblr and itch.io

spend money on my itch.io

set a reminder on your phone for january 2nd, 2024 with a note that says "join Titanomachy RPG patreon"

if you can do more than one thing on this list, thank you!!

thank you all for your support over the past couple years. i hope to remain worthy of that support for many years to come.

-Lex

[thaumic-hobo]

[SPOILERS for the RADIANT CITADEL]

I'm getting to play in a D&D campaign for, like, the third time ever. These are my notes from the first session. Benjamin is my character; he's a firbolg wizard. Torvus, also a firbolg, is the cleric from his home village; for Reasons they're both out seeking their fortune. Elsinore is a dwarf rogue who runs a soup kitchen in the Radiant Citadel, and Green is her half-orc barbarian bouncer.

This was an absolutely excellent session, and I am looking forward immensely to the next one.