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An actual play of my game "Runner of the Wastelands". :)

I recorded it as an introduction to the game and to show my process when I play solo TTRPGs.

I hope you enjoy it!

Here is the game:

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Finally I uploaded "Runner of the Wastelands" to the One-Page RPG Jam !!

Glass tundra: one of the six "types" of terrain that exploration-hexes can have (the drawing is intended to be use as scenery for minis :))

An evolving game:

I want "Runner of the wastelands" to be an ongoing project, and make more art, rules, and tools for it, so that you and I can have the most fun with it. So for every 20 bucks that this game makes, or for every 20 reviews/comments at itchio (about your experience with the game), I will do one of the following:

A new landscape drawing for one of the six possible "types" of terrains on the hex-map to use as a background for your minis.

Small printable "terrain pieces", for one of the twelve "peculiarities" of the terrain on the hex-map (such as crystal, ruins, plants, etc). 

Rules for expanding the game beyond 10 towns.

Spark tables for towns.

Spark tables for the wastes.

Factions and rules for them.

Additional tools for solo playing.

Help me create more stuff for this game :)

I'm making a game for the One-page RPG jam. It's about a courier who transports packages between the last remaining cities in a wasteland.

It's part exploration game, part skirmish game, and part journaling game. And partly an excuse to use my miniatures.

On my blog, I have a “game report” from the first version of the game. Maybe someone here would be interested in reading it?

Anyway, after the first ten tests, the game ended up looking something like this:

I want to try it out some more and do some doodle for it. But if anyone wants to play it, please do. And if you have any comments, I'd be happy to hear them.

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Another Warband ready -> Sisters of Sigmar!!!

For these, I used the "Sisters of Sigmus" by Monstrous Encounters.

Picture 1:

Sister Superior: Sword, Dagger, Sling.

Sigmarite Matriarch: Steel Whip, Sword, Sling, Light Armor, Shield.

Sister Superior: Hammer, Steel Whip, Sling.

Picture 2:

Agur: Hammer, Sword, Sling

Sister Superior: Double-handed hammer, Heavy armor, Helmer.

Picture 3:

5xSigmarite Sisters: Dagger, Hammer, Sling.

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Lately, on my substack, I've been sharing some of the books, games, and music that have been important to my creative process. I thought that maybe someone here might find some of these “monthly recommendations” interesting, so here they are:

"Entangled Life" by Merlin Sheldrake

This is a book I have been wanting to immerse myself in for a long time, as I have been drawn to the magical and strange life of fungi for years. But although they are often on my mind, I only occasionally delve a little deeper into their world.

I have gathered random facts about them, and I have gone photo-hunting for fungi with friends who share this curiosity. I think about them when looking at the lichen beside my window, which a couple of years ago I discovered to be a fungus and an algae in a beautiful symbiosis (in fact, the term symbiosis was born to describe lichen, but now we know that lichens are more than only two organisms on an entangled state, making symbiosis a term that had fallen short to describe lichen).

But I have known for a long time that I need to learn more about them, as every detail I have learned about fungi has opened up a world of possibilities, expanding the repertoire of concepts my mind has when trying to understand life.

So came the wonderful Merlin Sheldrake with his book as a guide to their world. He is a mycologist, and in “Entangled Life: How fungi make our worlds, change our minds, and Shape Our Future” he explores the different aspects that make fungi important and remarkable as a species. He beautifully does this by weaving the connections he has with other researchers, with their discoveries, and his own emotional experiences with fungi. Doing so, he delivers a profound tale of how fungi have been here, as spearheads of evolution, shaping us and the world around us from the beginning.

As an entry point for knowing more about fungi, I think that this book works amazingly. If we are talking about TTRPGs, well, you will find in this book that fungi have a large number of very peculiar behaviours, capacities, and ways of expressing what a living being is, that are perfect as inspiration for the ecology of your worlds, their magic, and the weirdest of creatures you can think of.

"Polygondwanaland" by King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard

Look at this cover, its small details, the way that the different elements are connected and flowing into each other, as if it were the casting of a spell, or an epic tale with a vast lore. This is how this album sounds.

“King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard” is a band that for years had been lurking at the corner of my ears, appearing from time to time on the lists I hear, and on the online radios I commonly listen to. But it was only thanks to a visit from a couple of friends, fans of the band, that I truly understood how great they are.

The thing that I realized, thanks to these friends, is that their songs are great, but their albums, when listened to from start to finish, are outstanding.

Their albums are storytelling: the way the songs connect suggests the highs and lows of a story. In a way, when listening to their albums, one perceives a world-building that permeates all their musical creation.

Polygondwanaland was the first album by KG & TLW that I listened to from start to finish, and I was enthralled. It made me see a world, made me think of tales, of lore, of magic, and somehow triggered my brain to think of “Runner of the Wasteland”.

If you enjoy pulp fiction, sword and sorcery, or if you play DCC, or you want to run UVG, I think you will find something in their music that will resonate with you.

"Hyper Light Drifter" by Heart Machine

I was looking for a game that, like “Drova”, would immerse you in the story without any guidance, and that placed the discovery of all its mechanics and lore as a central part of the game.

“Hyper Light Drifter” totally scratched that itch for me, but unlike “Drova”, where the mechanics are accessible through gameplay and story, here it was the story and lore that emerged through gameplay, emphasized by its incredible music, and its beautifully melancholic pixel art (some of the best I've seen so far).

The game begins with captivating images and music that quickly draw you in, and from there, you gradually piece together the “story” through exploration and interactions with other characters. And this is something I loved from this game: when talking with other characters, symbols appear in a little “text box”, as if they were talking to you, but they aren’t words to read, but moods to interpret. Here, you will use the musical cues (and sometimes images of the memories of these characters) to build with your imagination what they are trying to communicate to you.

This is a way of presenting “lore/story” that, in my opinion, works very well because it is more personal, since you project yourself into the blank spaces it leaves. It makes the game feel “profound” and, at times, loaded with meaning, as happens with some dreams.

I have taken this as a lesson, something that I have been nudged towards by various stories/games I have encountered recently: Deliberate, well-thought-out, blank spaces can be a powerful tool to make your worldbuilding emotionally connect with players. That’s why, if you are interested in TTRPGs, I recommend you have a look at this game.

If you want to lose yourself in a world that feels mysterious, emotional, personal, and melancholic, with beautiful art and music, I think you will enjoy “Hyper Light Drifter”.

These are my recommendations for this month; I hope that, in some way, even if only minimally, they help you expand the imaginary worlds that live in your head to places you had never thought of before.

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Practicing with ink pens, to maybe make something for my one page ttrpg, some simple landscapes to use as scenery.

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I'm making a game for the One-page RPG jam. It's about a courier who transports packages between the last remaining cities in a wasteland.

It's part exploration game, part skirmish game, and part journaling game. And partly an excuse to use my miniatures.

On my blog, I have a “game report” from the first version of the game. Maybe someone here would be interested in reading it?

Anyway, after the first ten tests, the game ended up looking something like this:

I want to try it out some more and do some doodle for it. But if anyone wants to play it, please do. And if you have any comments, I'd be happy to hear them.

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Some ideas I want to explore

Using this year's One-page RPG JAM as an excuse, I immediately thought of two ideas I wanted to explore: a solo TTRPG where you play as a messenger in a dangerous land, and a skirmish “war game” where combat wasn’t the only strategy to success.

The first idea comes from my fascination with the character of the messenger, as a perfect vehicle for exploration and adventure, without the necessity of conquest and plunder as a drive.

The second idea is inspired by my recent love for miniature painting and skirmish games like Mordheim, Frostgrave, and Death Wizard (I have a soft spot for necromancers, I’m looking at you Harrow!).

<< It is always a good time to share one’s miniatures :) >>

My first thought was to transform these two ideas into two separate games, since a page is a very small space to convey a single idea, let alone two.

Or isn’t?

And with that question on my mind, I decided I had to give it a try.

I wrote driven by the necessity of answering that question, and then, after five or six hours of writing, sketching, and thinking, I had something that looked like a game.

It wasn't perfect by any means, but there it was, on the screen, completed.

When I finished this first version, I thought about what I did to make it fit on one page, trying to figure out if in my unconscious, fast-pacing writing, there was some kind of method I followed. Because even when I was creating it without following a guideline, I had some instincts about what was needed for this game to be fitted in one page.

So here is my attempt to put these instincts into a few words. For some of you, they may be read as common sense, unworthy of being written, but perhaps they will help someone when creating their own one-page game.

My “guideline” to make one-page RPGs

Setting and vibe

Utilize tropes and familiar elements. The space you have for conveying a setting on a one-page RPG is so tight that you will need their help. The more you lean on what is out there in the world, in the mind of those who will read your game, the less you will need to write. Don't be afraid to resort to clichés. Start there, and later, by adding small details, you can make it unique and your own.

If you have access to art, utilize it as a tool to set the vibe and convey your message without words. If you don’t feel comfortable making your own, send a message to specific people or as an open call; sometimes we underestimate the desire of people to help and collaborate.

Mechanics

Ask yourself where the core of the game is, or where is the core of that thing you want to explore with it. Identify this core and cut out everything else. If you have space, you can add to it later, but be careful not to weaken the core idea with these additions.

Be specific instead of general, use mechanics to point to that core that is important to you.

If you want your game to do more than one thing, try to use a mechanic that connects those things—interwound simplicity instead of disconnected perfection. If they are impossible to condense into a unified mechanic, try to have an element that connects these mechanics.

When you find this connective tissue, great, now this is your core! Make it your centerpiece, try to boil it all down to it, so the game feels cohesive in the least amount of space possible.

As an example, my core intentions were: Messenger, Exploration, Skirmish (I really wanted to use my miniatures). The mechanic that I used to connect all these separate cores ideas was a simple meta currency (your energy/mood of the day), that you expend to find packages to carry (messenger), to move from town to town when carrying packages (messenger/exploration), and that worked as your HP/life-point when on a skirmish encounter (skirmish rules). When I had that, I cut everything out and built around this meta currency. This was my new core.

Writing (returning to setting and vibe)

Space is paramount. Be concise and blunt. For mechanics, you should be direct and clear. For setting wise, when expanding beyond tropes and the expected, it is more effective to use exaggeration (some people can be subtle in a very effective way, but it is a difficult art to master).

Also, you don’t have to write it all. Remember that your mechanic has implications for worldbuilding. If you need to express something of the setting, look to your mechanics; perhaps it is already there. If not, you can try to encode this piece of worldbuilding into the mechanics.

Don’t fear blank spaces. If your mechanic is working, and the general vibe of the game works well with this mechanic, then blank spaces can be a fertile ground for players to grow their own worlds from the skeleton that is your game.

And don’t forget tables! If you can add random tables to your game, they are an excellent way to showcase your game’s setting briefly, while still serving as gameable elements.

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I don't think I can overstate the depth of impact trans women have had on indie ttrpgs.

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I made a downtime procedure, something with which I could give a frame for those moments players want to do other things instead of exploring and adventuring. These are bones, a skeletal frame, and some interconnected gameable bits. The idea is that players use it as a space for roleplaying. Ideally, this procedure will encourage them to do things during downtime, rather than constrain them.

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“Black Sun” by Rebecca Roanhorse

This is an epic tale, modern fantasy at its finest. But instead of the more common “european-insipred/biased” worlds that the bulk of classical fantasy offers, this book’s novelty comes from the sources of the cosmology, folkore, and culture that inspired it; the pre-Columbian world of America… and yet, even when I enjoyed it, when I loved seeing the worlds of the Diné (Navajo) and the Inca in it, I missed something.

The thing is that I had huge expectations for the politics presented in this book. Not because of any previous review of “Black Sun”, nor because someone told me it was particularly interesting in this regard. I was just searching for a fantasy world that presented me with alternatives to the social organization of our present-day world, something that diverged from the imperialistic view that most fantasy assumes.

The book does not try to do what I wanted it to do, which is obviously fine. It is totally my expectations’ fault, as the sources of inspiration for the book didn’t suggest anything different from what the book presented. For their part, the Incas were an empire, and it makes total sense that if they are part of the sources of your fantasy world, imperialism will be part of it.

But not all pre-Columbian communities were imperialist, and there is evidence of people who were organized in very different ways throughout the extensive history of pre-Columbian America (for example, Teotihuacan, that for centuries seems to have maintained a somewhat “egalitarian” system, with mechanisms for preventing the emergence of “charismatic leaders” and centralization of power).

One thing that this book did amazingly for my taste was how it introduced its world. There was no info dump, no awkward dialogues to make evident for the reader what this world was like. It was subtle; you were discovering the world through the manners of characters, through the ways they moved in the world, and from how the towns were laid out. And from all the air left between the blank spaces, it felt expansive, a complicated breathing world.

I think if you're looking for a fantasy that isn't “euro-inspired” or have a bit of curiosity about the pre-Columbian world, this could be a very interesting read.

“Blasphemous” by The Game Kitchen

I played this game some months ago, but I wanted to recommend it because it informed a lot of what I did for Dead-Holy-Wheeled-Towns.

The game is a “metroidvania” (2d platformer of non-linear exploration), but with a touch of “Dark Souls” on the way its combat flows (a lot of parrying, sliding, and jumping around).

The world and its art are heavily inspired by Spanish Catholicism, a body-horror twisted version of it (although real Catholicism does not fall short in that regard).

In the game, you play as “The Penitent One”, who searches for the “Final Relic” during “The Miracle”, a supernatural event that changed the world, manifesting as blessings and curses on the living and the land.

"And thus, guilt, repentance, mourning and every pain of the soul of all kind were visibly and tangibly manifested, everywhere and in all of us. Sometimes in the form of blessing and grace, sometimes in the form of punishment and corruption. That divine will, equally pious and cruel, which we could not and will never be able to unravel, was called The Miracle."

If you think that this sounds like “Vice Incarnated” or “Sentient Relics”, you are right.

Also, you fight your enemies with a sword called “Mea Culpa”, and you are accompanied by a soundtrack that relies on “Spanish-style” acoustic guitar, making it all feel dark, esoteric, and meaningful.

Kudos to Juan Miguel López Barea, the artist behind Blasphemous, and Carlo Viola, composer of the soundtrack, as well as the team of “The Game Kitchen” for this amazing game.

“Mestarin kynsi” by Oranssi Pazuzu

This is an album I’ve been banging a lot this month. I discovered it a couple of years ago, and for me, it opened the door to more extreme corners of metal, especially black metal.

It is dynamic, it is dark, it has a psychedelic feeling to it, and I think that “psychedelic black metal” may be a good approximation to what its sound is.

It’s dynamism —mixing hypnotic loops of short motives, ghostly effects on the background, bass-heavy grooves (that may even be akin to triphop bass lines), a voice in eternal pain, chaotic build-ups that reach powerful climaxes— all of it gives the feeling of a journey to the depts of a twisted dimension, be it a dungeon of infinite corridors, or the darker corners of outer space.

I think that this is why it has become the soundtrack to much of what I've written for “No Peace for the Heathens” over the past few weeks.

I hope to see them live in autumn and cross in communion with others the gates to the strange dimension they summon with their music.

You can buy “Mestarin kynsi” and listen to it on Bandcamp.

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Hey! I leave here two mechanics that I have developed for my OSR/NSR-like game that may be of interest to some of you (?)

Dominance and Maneuvers.

They are very easy to implement, and they may help you to give mechanical weight to those amazing narrative moments that you and your players have in combat.

Dominance represents the strategic, psychological, and violent dominance that a character has in combat. And it increases when characters do things to better their “position” in combat.

Maneuvers represent actions you do that affect an enemy when they or you are attacking/defending. They are expressed as a change in the enemy, but require an effort from you.

The idea of both Dominance and Maneuvers is to increase the possibilities that PC/NPCs have in combat. Making combat more dynamic, and giving options different from “I just attack”, but with a simple expression on the mechanics of the game.

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Settings are a tricky thing to present in TTRPGs, and although I like to get immersed in the extensive worldbuilding of some games, recently I have felt more attracted to games that present their setting through gameable elements: tables, rules, character choices, items, locations, etc.

One of these gameable elements I love is “The Calendar of Nechrudel” from Mörk Borg, which shows through random events (which could or not occur every dawn) how the world is falling apart.

This is something I wanted to translate to “No Peace for the Heathen” (NPFTH), as a tool to show:

A world that is perpetually changing its landscape through earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanic eruptions (in Chile, all these are “common”, and in the folklore of Chiloé, the island was forged through these events, under the wills of the great serpents Caicai Vilu and Tretren Vilu).

The decay of the island and its people under the invasion of the conquistadors.

This is my take on “The Calendar of Nechrudel” for NPFTH, perhaps, it will inspire you to make your own “calendar” to show the changes your world experience. Also, if you want to use these two in your game, you are welcome to do so. :)

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MAKE ZINES! poster by zine maker / artist @CortHartle.

Download the free high res version here (PDF).

Printing and distribution encouraged by the artist, so please print it, fly post it and spread the word!

Text:

NO ONE CAN TAKE SELF PUBLISHING AWAY FROM YOU.

NO ALGORITHMS OR OLIGARCHS CAN CENSOR YOU.

NO GATEKEEPERS CAN TELL YOU WHAT YOU HAVE TO SAY IS NOT IMPORTANT OR VALUABLE.

NO GRANT FUNDING CAN BE WITHDRAWN FROM YOUR WORDS.

NO INSTITUTION CAN BAR YOU FROM ENTERING.

NO KNOWLEDGE IS UNAUTHORIZED.

THAT IS WHY YOU MUST MAKE ZINES!

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Today I realized that this month marks one year since I started working on this game. Maybe too much for something that was supposed to be a side project :S

Here are a few things about this game I called “No Peace for the Heathen”.

*I made two new oirgings (“classes”) :), they are at the end of the post -> “Survivor” and “The sorrow of many”.

Is Isla Chica at the end of your life? Or is it real land to grab with your hands? Or maybe a lie you tell yourself to do what you do? Would you do anything to reach its shore?

A very rough first take on the character sheet and how each part of it relates to the rules of the game. Just to give an idea of the game and in what context these eight origins are used.

THESE ARE THE ORIGINS YOUR CHARACTER MAY HAVE:

Half-Ivunche

You are half human, half aberration. You were kidnapped as a newborn by the witchcraft order “La Mayoría” to be bred into an Ivunche; a legendary creature protector of the caves of witches, magically mutated, of extreme force, resistance, and fury, with one of their legs bent and tied to their neck from behind.

You were rescued by a free witch and grew to become a titan among humans, taller and stronger. Because of the magic that mutated you, you lost one of your legs, which has been replaced by a beautiful wooden carved prosthetic made by the witch who rescued you.

You are unable to use magic and you are immune to it.

Your compulsions is: Violence or Fear.

You are better at being: Strong (+3), Resilient (+3)

This is what you believe you have to do to find Isla Chica (choose one):

Rescue a newborn from being an Ivunche to clear your debt with fate.

Kill the ones that kidnapped you when you were a newborn.

Find a worthy place of power to bury your adoptive mother's ashes.

Rescue your mother from Prime, the Inquisitor's city.

What one more thing do you believe you have to accomplish? (Create one, now or in-game, or choose one more from above).

Ash revenant

Your family was burned to death by one of the many groups of conquistadors that had arrived from the north. You don't remember which king or which god they were serving. Every year is someone new, some new flag that has come to replace the previous one. For you, all of them are just the same. You are alive by something that some call a miracle, but you know it to be a curse. You woke up from the ashes of your town. Your body healed from the burns. The memory of the pain as a white, high-pitched light in your mind. Your eyes and hair are gray as ash. Your blood is pumping with a voracious desire for revenge.

You are immune to pain, and your flesh can’t be burned.

Your compulsions is: Cruelty or Martyrism.

You are better at being: Resilient (+1), Agile (+1)

This is what you believe you have to do to find Isla Chica (choose one):

Kill someone of importance to the conquistadors.

Burn to the ground one of the conquistador’s towns.

Engrave the names of your family in the walls of Port Salvation, the first conquistador fortification, with the blood of one of their generals.

Ransack a dead-holy-wheeled-town, then burn it to the ground so it becomes forgotten.

What one more thing do you believe you have to accomplish? (Create one, now or in-game, or choose one more from above).

Mutilated Artisan

You were a master artisan, an artist. Conquistadors enslaved you to build a giant idol in the name of their man-king-god. You refused, and so they cut off your hands. You were thrown like a dead rag into a common pit. But you were faintly alive. You built two weapons to replace your hands. You became a weapon forged by their cruelty.

Your hands are weapons that do damage like short swords. They are your hands, not something you carry. You know how to forge and repair your weapons.

Your compulsions is: Vengeance or Superstition.

You are better at being: Sneaky (+3).

This is what you believe you have to do to find Isla Chica (choose one):

Burn one valued idol of the man-king-god.

Craft one last beautiful thing.

Cut the hands of those who cut yours.

Steal and destroy a relic from a (dead or not) holy-wheeled-town.

What one more thing do you believe you have to accomplish? (Create one, now or in-game, or choose one more from above).

Exiled Witch

You were a witch from “La Mayoria”, the society of witches that inhabits the Underbelly. Hungry for power and knowledge, you revealed your book of flesh to an Inquisitor for the promise of an old scroll from his lands. He assured you that it concealed secrets beyond the grasp of “La Mayoria”. You sold the secrets of witchcraft for this promised power.

But he broke his promise, and he killed as many witches as he could. He hanged them in front of the cathedral of his town, using the book of flesh you gave to him as proof of their wickedness.You know magic, and you have learned the six secrets of “La mayoria”, but you are a pariah among the witches of your land, a traitor.

You can cast as many spells per day as your Imposing. You know as many magical mutations of the blood as your Imposing.

Your compulsions is: Cowardice or Curiosity.

You are better at being: Imposing (+1), Observant (+1)

This is what you believe you have to do to find Isla Chica (choose one):

Recover the book of flesh you gave to the inquisitor.

Kill the inquisitor with whom you made the deal.

Recover the bones of the witches that were killed because of you, and return them to the Underbelly.

Steal the witchcraft secrets that the inquisitors keep in Prime.

What one more thing do you believe you have to accomplish? (Create one, now or in-game, or choose one more from above).

Orphan of the Sea

You are a child of the sea, a sumpall. There was a time when you swam in her embrace, breathing from her, and feeding on her tempestuous might. You were royalty among the beings of nature. But madmen from the north hunted away the ones like you. You stayed behind, stranded on the shore. You lost your scales, and your tail became two long legs. You have a faraway memory of happiness and power. You desire the sea, and you have tried to be embraced by her more than once. But the fear of death was more powerful, and you broke through its surface to return to the island. Now it all seems like a dream from a previous life.

If you sing, your voice is like a spell. You singing makes people be in a dream like state.

Your compulsions is: Lust or Dominance.

You are better at being:Imposing (+1), Sneaky (+1)

This is what you believe you have to do to find Isla Chica (choose one):

Learn the name of the place where your people escaped to.

Build a ship with the name of this place and give it to someone who has lost their home.

Burn a ship of fishermen and take pieces of their bodies to be buried beneath dry earth, so their spirits linger between land and sea, in eternal sorrow, without belonging to neither.

Bring havoc and devastation to Port Salvation.

What one more thing do you believe you have to accomplish? (Create one, now or in-game, or choose one more from above).

Stranded pirate

You were a king of the seas. You sold your people for a bigger and faster ship. You made deals with conquistadors, and you were cursed by the seas for this betrayal. You can’t sleep because when you close your eyes, you see the faces of the ones you betrayed.

You are immortal, and when killed, your body evaporates, reaping naked in the last please where you pissed. But seawater burns your body and if you are killed at sea, you will be gone for good.

Your compulsions is: Greed or Pride.

You are better at being: Sneaky (+1), Observant (+1)

This is what you believe you have to do to find Isla Chica (choose one):

Trick and scam those conquistadors with whom you made deals.

Use the treasures from the conquistadors to forge enough weapons for a small rebel army.

Free from slavery the child of those you betrayed.

Sabotage or destroy the docks of Port Salvation.

What one more thing do you believe you have to accomplish? (Create one, now or in-game, or choose one more from above).

Survivor

NOT DRAWN YET

You are an islander. A wanderer driven by pleasure, adventure and curiosity. You live in the now. You have seen the weapons carried by those invaders from the north, their practices, their cruelty and their violence, and in them you have seen just another change of season, another wave of an immense, impassive sea that has come to pulverize and transform the shore. You change your skin like the great ancient serpents, you take what you need to survive, you learn from the invaders if necessary, you use their violence, their pride and their cruelty to your advantage. Exalted, you witness change.

If you have lived through tragedy, you don't talk about it. If you have suffered, you move on. But it builds up inside you, even if you don't want it to. Because you have ears and eyes, you see the blood on the ground, you hear the screams of those like you. But you tell yourself that it is not your turn, not if you are skilled, if you run with the speed and agility of the great serpents, creators and destroyers of worlds. You tell yourself, “I will endure.”

At moments of conflict between different groups, you have a keen eye to know what side has the upper hand. You have an easy time convincing others that you will betray your “cause” if you have to.

Your compulsions is: Cowardice or Apathy.

You are better at being: Resilient (+1), Sneaky (+1), Observant (+1)

You may not be looking for Isla Chica yet, you may have heard about it, as a haven, as a place of respite and endless pleasures, perhaps, as conquistadors say of it, a magical kingdom of infinite treasures.

But your tragedy has not crystallized, your tragedy is yet to come, and when it does, you will brew your beliefs of what is necessary to find Isla Chica.

The grief of many

NOT DRAWN YET

You don't know what or who you are, as day by day, your flesh and memories are in danger of changing to something new.

Every time you change, the only thread of unity is the memory of the recent events, perhaps you will remember days, months, but before that, the echos of all of those you have been are a turbulent sea, and your present “self” is just one louder voice in the chorus of the many you have been.

Every time you wake up, there is 1 in 6 chance that you will become someone new. You remember what you have experienced in-game, but everything before that is somehow blurry, and the memories of the person you are at that moment are just a little clearer.

Your compulsions is: Masochism or Kleptomania.

You are better at being: Roll 2d4-4 for each tactic, and then add +2 to one tactic. Do the same every time you change to someone new.

You may not yet be seeking Isla Chica, you may have heard of it, as a haven, as a place of respite and infinite knowledge.

Your tragedy has not crystallized; it may be yet to come, or it may be the reason for your eternally changing nature.

Past or future, when your tragedy reveals itself, you will brew your beliefs of what is necessary to find Isla Chica.

[ultimavela]

Now at IPR: Tether

Tether is a role-playing game for two players that is played through the process of writing journal entries. Each player will take on the role of a character living in the same rural town, during different time periods. The two characters are connected by a journal known as The Tether which allows them to write notes to each other through time. The two players (and characters) will work together to discover the secrets of an ancient being that haunts the town. Players will take turns drawing a card from a deck which is associated with a prompt, then using that prompt to write a journal entry. Over the course of 16 entries, the two will play out a story of suspense, horror, and possibly triumph.

https://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/Tether-Print-PDF.html

[ultimavela]

I updated a homebrew that I shared I while ago in this post.

This hombre was focused on a procedure, accessible to all players regardless of their “class”, to call deities and ask them for guidance and help (something that, commonly, is only accessible for “clerics” in OSR-like games).

Recently, while writing NPFTH (my OSR/NSR-like game), I updated this procedure and added seven extra “spirits of the land” (minor deities). Maybe you can use them in your own games, or perhaps they will inspire you to create your own for use with this simple procedure.

But, what if you want to use this procedure in other OSR/NSR games?

This procedure is mostly self-contained, but in it, I refer to some terms that you may have to change: blood, tint-of-the-blood, conditions, and item slots.

For blood just change it to HP, and forget about the tint-of-the-blood (or you can read it an use it, is simple enough?).

For item slots, if you are playing without them, it is ok, and the procedure will still kind of work. The idea is that item slots help to constrain the number of deities a PC can “successfully” call upon. So you may want to constrain this in another way. Perhaps they can follow as many deities as their WIS modifier. Or all PCs can follow just two deities, and any other deity they pray to, they do it without any bonuses.

For conditions may be trickier, as there are two circumstances when I refer to them.

When conditions are referenced as “to heal a condition”, then you can transform this to “recover HP”, or “fix something that in-game is affecting the person you heal” (broken bone, infected wound, etc).

When conditions are referenced to say “you get this condition”, then you can write it as a note in your character sheet, and the GM may make you take some appropriate penalties when doing things that may be hindered by this condition.You can also choose to use conditions by following this very simple rule (with or without item slots).

Now, here is my reasoning for creating this little system, taken from the post where I shared it in its first version:

I wrote this little piece a while ago to deal with the “disappointment” I had with clerics in the classical fantasy ttrpg that we all know and love(?). The idea that deities were always ready to answer the call of their followers, regardless of what rites they were called by, despite the pride of the deity, always seemed out of character to me. So I set myself to write a small system in which the answer when calling to a deity wasn’t certain. Where the rites, and what the followers use as offerings in them, have an impact on the disposition of the deities they are praying to. A system where if you call upon the deity of peace with a hammer in your hand, there is a fair chance they will be offended. In this “divine magic system” I use conditions, so maybe you should have a look at this post if some things are unclear to you in what follows.

Spirit of the land (minor deities): Miracles, blood tint, and Rites of calling

As an islander, you have lived with this knowledge all your life; that even a grain of sand has a soul of its own, and that this soul, and yours, is connected to something greater. These threads that connect the souls of the world are the spirits of the lands.

Conquistadors have criminalized the worship of these spirits, to impose their one god as an all-powerful, all-seeing king of your land, and while the spirits fade away, choked by your people's grief, you can still see the traces of their power lingering in your land.

If you decide to listen, to seek, to ask for help, they will hear you, because your voice carries a sorrow that they share, the grief and fear of total oblivion.

Follower or not

Islanders tend to be most attracted to one or two of these spirits of the land, as they are connected more deeply to their souls, and as such, it may be these spirits of the land that they feel most comfortable calling upon.

Generally, islanders call themselves followers of these particular spirits.

However, there are no rigid dogmas that would make someone forget the other spirits in favor of the one they follow. As all islanders know, the land they walk on, the animals they interact with, the air they breathe, and their fates are intertwined with all the spirits of the land that live on Isla Grande.

When an islander is a follower of a spirit of the land, they take a token of their connection to this spirit in the form of an amulet.

This connection makes the follower able to call upon the mystery of the spirit of the land.

To do so, the follower has to shed blood (2d4 blood/HP points) of a tint that will make the connection with the spirit of the land stronger, since each spirit of the land has a blood tint with which they are attuned. For this reason, followers of different spirits of the land will commonly have different diets (as diet defines the tints of your blood).

Follower or not, islanders can always make a rite of calling, to call upon the guidance of the spirit and manifest their miracle.

Rite of calling and miracle (summary)

The mystery is one minor expression of the power of the spirit channeled through the mortal vessel of one of their followers.To channel the power of the mystery, you have to carry on your equipment with at least one token that marks you as a follower. This token is considered an Offering (see below).The mystery is always at your disposal without the need of a rite, but you must expend 2d4 points of blood to activate it (of the tint to which the spirit is attuned).

The Rite of Calling is a 10-minute rite used to connect with the spirit of the land. It can also be performed as an instant and desperate prayer in a cry for help, however, it is more difficult for a spirit to hear this type of call.The ritual artifacts used to perform the ritual of calling use an item slot. The same set of ritual artifacts can be used to call any of the spirits of the land, however, the offerings that make the spirit more attentive to this ritual are particular to each spirit.

The miracle is a manifestation, or the increase in the potency of a manifestation, of the domain to which the spirit is an avatar. To summon this power, you will need to shed 2d4 points of blood, of the tint to which the spirit of the land is attuned (and to have performed a rite of calling that is extremely successful).

Rite of calling

Anyone who wishes may perform a rite of calling upon any spirit of the land (follower or not) to ask for their favor. As the spirits of the land are elusive (and the strength of the intensity of their will upon the world fluctuates strongly, without pattern or logic), these rites require time, and their outcome is uncertain.

However, there are some offerings that can make a rite of calling more effective. These offerings are particular for each spirit and are related to their domain.

They are written in the description of the spirit. If they are objects to be carried, each offering uses one item slot.

You can add new offerings to your rite of calling, adding to the already written in the spirit description, by appealing to the knowledge of your character and their relation with the spirit. GM and players decide together if adding these offerings makes sense.

As offerings, there also exist their “negative” counterpart, offenses, conditions around the rite of calling that make the connection between the follower and the spirit more tenuous.

These are also written in the description of the spirit.

For any spirit doing the rite of calling, as an instantaneous desperate prayer is considered an offense.

To determine the outcome of a rite of calling, and if it results in a miracle, the GM or player rolls 2d10, adds the offerings and offenses at work, and the amount of Blood (HP) the PC wishes to expend, and then consults the next table.

2d10 + offerings + offenses + HP/Blood Expended

If the player makes the roll, it represents their faith and the strength of their connection with the spirit.

If the GM makes the roll, it represents the mood of the deity towards the character’s approach.

The inspiring cryptic vision is a sign of the spirit's attention, the content of which is impenetrable to the islander. They are a representation of the mysteries embodied by the spirit of the land. They may give inspiration and courage. After experiencing one of these visions, the islander obtains the condition reverie (-2).

The guiding strange vision is a symbolic representation that guides the worshipper towards an answer. This guide can be directed to resolve a specific burden that the islander has explicitly asked for help in resolving, or guide the islander in any matter that they have not directly addressed. After having one of these visions, the islander can cure a condition that afflicts them or that afflicts any other creature.

Spirits of the land

These are some examples of spirits of the land, the blood tint to which they are attuned, their mystery, their offerings, their offenses, and possible miracles.

For offences, the “-X” refers to the value the islander has in the Weak Bond condition. If the follower gets the Weak Bond condition more than once, you add their values (as it is done with every condition).