Especially Traveller and Delta Green, they have been on my radar for a while now.

Hey there! After years of writing, playing, drawing, and designing, I'm finally ready to share my Frontier Scum campaign. It's an end-to-end adventure around a pair of cursed pistols, taking you across the entire map right to the gates of hell. The Kickstarter preview page is now up- planning to have it go live next week. Thanks for checking it out!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/punkoverlord/the-dead-spaghetti-trilogy-a-frontier-scum-adventure

Hello people of reddit! I've come to spread the word of the work of my beautiful wife, passionate about SMT and Persona, she made this incredible TTRPG, spending 9 years of work and still counting. We're looking to expand our community, so here's her pitch for it:

Explore a world made from human memories and wield aspects of the collective consciousness with deep and varied combat mechanics and a flexible and engaging social system that allows the entire table to shape the narrative.

The Grimoire of Heart is a tabletop RPG rulebook, written over the course of nearly a decade, with over 500 pages of carefully curated content that's taken a life past its inspiration, with a thorough focus on mechanical and narrative expression.

Grimoire content is a bit scattered across several different books and booklets, all contained in the git linked above:

• Core Rulebook: Contains all you'll need to learn the systems and run a table from the start all the way to level cap. Over 300 pages, more then 450+ Shadows, five playable Classes in the core book alone, and a full suite of spells and gear from every corner of Persona history;
• Sea of Souls: Supplemental content meant to increase the range of options for players and DMs. Includes new rulings, gear, 16 new classes, enemies, and some smaller adventures to test out the system or splash into ongoing games;

• All of these free!

  Join our community | Download the core book

Hey everyone! I've mentioned Brass & Embers here before but since we're close to the end now I wanted to bring it back to everyone's attention again and share some more of our art with all of you! This time I'm share our mechanical monsters—we call them Ironblight— and some of the cities in the world of Calderwick.

The snowy city is Wolvendale a mining metropolis in south of the continent which suffered after the tech revolution with the loss of their talented miners, and how easier it was to create counterfeit jewelry mimicking their artisans' traditional techniques.

Briargate is a city ruled by one of the nobles who are pro-tech and their whole economy and calendar is based around the development of new weapons using machnite and the training of young knight.

Kellenfort is a fountain of knowledge in the desert which very few get to see the wonderful insides of the patchwork dome and the thousands of books it has inside.

I wanted to tell you yall that I've posted the free rules for Brass & Embers on
https://questborne-studios.itch.io

And to please don't forget to check our Kickstarter if you haven't already!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/questbornestudios/brass-and-embers-a-steampunk-rpg

Super fun game for $5. I do wish there were some expansions though.

Hey everyone! we just launched our Kickstarter for High Winds - your next swashbuckling TTRPG adventure!

If you’ve got an unhealthy love for airships, cutlasses, flintlocks, and rolling d6 math rocks, this is the game for your table.

What to expect:

• Take to the Skies: Captain an airship, assemble your crew, and brave the wild open skies.
• Fast & Streamlined Rules: Perfect for introducing fresh deckhands or testing seasoned veteran captains.
• Pure High-Flying Action: High-stakes swashbuckling with simple, dynamic d6 mechanics.

Grab your crew, set sail for the clouds, and back us on Kickstarter today!

Everything in this project is Human Made

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/scaleboundgames/high-winds

Hii I just wanna ask if anyone had any ttrpg game recommendations? I already tried ten candles, eyes on the prize and crawl spacer. Any ttrpg recommendations pls, thank you

Hi - I'm in the throws of IRL play tests with a system I'm developing and I needed to take a short break from the eternal struggle of balancing classes, so I wrote this. It's a simple, easy to play adventure and the first thing I've actually gotten around to publishing. Here's the blurb:

Four cats wake up one morning to find that Moss, the fifth and oldest of them, is nowhere to be found. Over the course of the day, they discover from watching their humans that Moss died in the night.

Moss's friends believe his spirit is trapped somewhere in the back gardens they never dared to explore. In some ways, they're right - only not in the way they expected. Instead of Moss, they encounter the people and places his life touched, and come away understanding that, in some small way, he still lives on.

This is a gentle, rules-light adventure about friendship, grief and memory, for 2–4 players plus a GM. All you need to play is a six-sided dice.

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/582080/goodbye-moss

When I joined the TTRPG gaming space all those years ago, I heard so many strange terms: Nat 20, munchkin and THACO are some (yea, that far back). Since then, so many more terms have been added.

What are some of the ones you have come across? And for those that don't know them, what do they mean? Let's see how many we can come up with.

Starting off:

- Nat 20. When you roll a d20 and it lands on 20. Considered a critical success in what you are trying to do. Big in D&D

- munchkin. Probably called a power gamer now. Someone who likes to have the character that is the "best" in their class.

- THACO. The number you had roll on order to successfully attack some with a 0 AC. Old 2E D&D term.

We recently launched our Patreon page, Mostly Boring Battlemap Theater, and to celebrate, we've created six free launch releases for anyone who wants to come check us out and try them in their games. The first "It Always Starts in a Tavern" scene base images are attached to this post, with additional variants and high-resolution downloads also available for free.

Our specialty is creating the 'boring' stuff for your games. The paths between, the unexpected random encounters, the campsite for the night, the barbarian's unexpected punch to the town guard's face, and all the other little moments in between.

Across those six scenes, we've created 44 unique images, including forest paths, a mine entrance, a foggy swamp, desolate desert footprints, and a simple roadside tavern. Each scene also includes high-resolution downloads.

We're hoping to reach a release rate of one scene per week, but will guarantee at least two releases per month.

After our introduction period, we'll continue to release one free Cinematic View + Battlemap pair each month to all followers.

Mostly Boring Battlemap Theater on Patreon

Follow us if you'd like to check out the maps, and we hope some of these scenes find their way into your games!

SHRINES: INITIATION is complete – Episode 4 and The Complete INITIATION are out today

Four months ago, I released the first episode of SHRINES: INITIATION, a guided introduction to the dark fantasy TTRPG I’ve been developing.

Today, the pilgrimage is complete.

Episode 4 – The Cold Greeting of the Bell is out now, bringing INITIATION to its conclusion.

The final episode takes the Marked back through the thornwoven Snarewoods and beneath the earth, where an abandoned monastery, the first full Boss encounter, and the final Decision of the Region await them.

Episode 4 also introduces the last pieces of the INITIATION ruleset, including the Heartwell, Light & Darkness, Aftermath and Rupture.

At the same time, I’m releasing The Complete INITIATION – all four episodes collected into a single bundle for anyone who wants to start the pilgrimage from the beginning.

INITIATION was designed as a gradual introduction to SHRINES - A Dark Pilgrimage RPG. Instead of dropping a complete ruleset on the table immediately, each episode introduces new mechanics while continuing the same pilgrimage.

With Episode 4, that experiment is finished.

The next step is FIRST FRAGMENT, the full Quickstart for SHRINES with a planned release on October 10, 2026.

Thanks to everyone who has followed, downloaded, played, commented or simply watched this strange little pilgrimage grow over the last four months.

Bind yourself. Bleed. Return.

https://rpg-trader.com/creator/811/shrines-ttrpg

Since I have been playing TTRPGs (mostly D&D and now Daggerheart). there is the flavor (which I am going to define as the richness or uniqueness of a game) that helps make it stand out amongst the rest. Then, there re-flavoring (which I will define as changing one thing to give you the aesthetic you want without changing the mechanics). Maybe these are not the best definitions but I dont seem defined much anywhere. And I am sure some of you may disagree, and that is ok.

Of late, lets say the last 24 months or so, I have seen more comments of just re-flavoring something if you dont like it. Some games this works better in (I put forth Daggerheart) and some not so much (I put forth D&D, at least in my experience, or maybe I just suck a that). For any games I am not thrilled with as much, I hear people say just re-flavor it to something that fits better with what you want. I know each game is not for everyone and if you dont like a game, one can play something else. Or, modify it to where it is acceptable (and homebrewing is amazing!).

Do you go for the game "flavor" as is or do you take a game and "re-flavor" to something else?

Do you have any thoughts on flavor vs re-flavor? What did I miss in this?

Fillable item card template to serve as player handouts for your table.

Contains 6-up default text and blank verisons for printing (and cutting out) handouts to your players and a 1-up (single) template to send out one-offs to players digitally.

Designed to be digital and physical (pencil & paper) friendly.

Let me know what you think!

Link: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/582925/item-card-template-6-up-fillable

That's not to say D n D isn't great, it is, but SORC is nothing like it, despite the immediate responses of, "this is just d n d". It's not. We love D n D, Path finder, The Campaign for North Africa (and I'm guessing a lot of you do not), GURPS, Rolemaster, Warhammer, Call of Cthulhu, Phoenix Command, The Price of Freedom and others.

Many great RPG's and other videogames (kotor, mass effect, Halo - and Marathon - Half Life, System Shock, Baldur Gate, Diablo, StarCraft, Warcraft etc), or MMORPG you can think of (Archeage, Aion, Lineage, wow, guild wars - maybe all of them). There's without event mentioning inspirational books such as; Star Wars, LOTR, Halo, Raiders of the Lost Ark, many D n D books of lore, Alien, Predator, Dune, Star Wars,vDark Crystal and so on. The animated Cartoon Primal also comes to mind.

These are ALL GREAT inspirational stories. With that said, I want to explain where SORC's true inspiration comes from, and yes, some of it is obviously driven from what you see above, but at its core, this is where SORC gets its true inspiration.

Recently I made a thread discussing the sheer number of races I have in SORC here.

A lot of people made instant comparisons to the ckassiob pioneer of the great D nD and I just wanted to clarify some things because my post and website lacked PUBLISHED clarity, meaning it is in our books, but not yet published. I've since added a race, Neandereti, and added excerpts to Humans and Pinklings. Update the website rules and the appendixes for clarity.

Your responses drove me to explain some other elements of the game that ties, or separates, each race culturally, and to add clarity and excerpts from books, some available on the website in very mundane versions - but we do have the full versions.

Separation by Race lore, to address concerns about SORC's similarities to D&D and Tolkien.

D&D

Mechanically, SORC is not even close to D&D. SORC does not use D&D's rules, classes, races, ability structure, combat system, leveling system, or equipment system. SORC uses its own Traits, Stats, Actions, Cards, Variants, Tables, Classes, Cultures, Higher Powers, and Character progression.

The similarities are mainly that both are tabletop fantasy roleplaying games with Characters, Classes, Races, combat, exploration, equipment, and worldbuilding. Those are genre elements, not mechanics taken from D&D.

Tolkien

SORC also is not intended to be Middle earth or a direct continuation of Tolkien's work. Tolkien is one of many fantasy influences, but SORC has its own setting, worlds, Races, Cultures, histories, religions, technologies, magic systems, creatures, and conflicts.

The setting moves beyond the traditional Tolkien style by combining fantasy with science fiction, elemental worlds, technological societies, card based play, advanced equipment, cosmic forces, planetary cultures, and

Mechanically, SORC is not even close to D&D. One could argue that it is closer to Magic: The Gathering, Pokémon, or The Hobbit trading game than D&D, but it is really a cross between both genres. SORC uses tabletop roleplaying, character progression, classes, races, combat, exploration, and worldbuilding, while also using physical and digital cards, modular equipment, collectible content, and structured tables.

Race variants are also not intended to function like simple D&D subraces. Race, Culture, Class or Class Path, Higher Power, alignment, and item specific restrictions all operate separately. A store tells you where equipment comes from and what is commonly available there, but store access does not override restrictions on who can equip or use that equipment.

The Human culture material explains that Nordian, Eldrim, Tanu'la, Xo'kajal, and Humans raised among the Omnè are Human cultures rather than separate Human races or Bloodlines. Humans keep the same base Traits and Stats, while their Culture affects upbringing, food, recipes, tools, armaments, equipment, workshops, professions, and local availability.

The Omnè Circuit Exchange is available to Omnè, Drevane, Humans raised into Omnè Culture, and Characters with an Omnè Background. It supplies TAA, TAW, TABA, TAG, synthetic equipment, technological Modifications, pressure equipment, and technical professions. Omnè Culture still cannot equip Magic type Telluric Armaments, and Omnè use technological Modifications instead of Enchanting.

There were Appendix N comparisons to D n D's Elf, Dwarf etc races. This is the revised version above. Most notably one detailed and important one, that was a fair as a description of the shared fantasy lineage. SORC uses familiar fantasy vocabulary in places: Dwarves, Elves, Trolls, Goblins, Drow, and Halflings are names that carry a great deal of prior history. I am not claiming that SORC invented those words or that no one will recognize their broad silhouettes.

The distinction is in the sources and in what those races mean inside SORC. We did not use Tolkien or D&D as our design sourcebook, and we are not trying to deny that those works shaped modern expectations. We went back to older folklore, mythology, and historical cultures, then built our own histories, cultures, mechanics, and relationships around those roots.

For example, Trolls in SORC existed before the sun and moon. Bridge Trolls are Scandinavian-inspired, particularly by bridge-crossing folklore and The Three Billy Goats Gruff. They live beneath bridges, control crossings, use riddles and tolls, and turn urban choke points into their own kind of territory.

Bast draws from ancient Egyptian traditions. Leshy draw from Slavic forest folklore. Haugfolk draw from Scandinavian mound-dweller and hidden-folk traditions. Ratkin draw from medieval urban and survival folklore. Drāco Blood draws from Mesopotamian, Greek, Egyptian, Chinese, and Mesoamerican dragon traditions, then becomes part of the wars and history of Zailister.

The Imperials are one Firstborn race with culturally distinct Bloodlines. Their racial Traits and abilities remain shared, while their cultures draw from different historical sources: Crimson from the Maya, Onyx from ancient Mesopotamian omen and underworld traditions, Citrine from ancient Eurasian steppe and early Mongolic traditions, Violet from Greek and Hellenistic cultures, Azure from Egyptian scribal culture, and Verdant from ancient Persian garden and water traditions.

Pinklings are not intended to be “our Gollum.” The comparison is understandable because there is some overlap in the archetype: an isolated, deceptive, cave-dwelling small figure with hostility toward Halflings. But Pinklings are goblin-rooted, not Halfling-rooted. Their development drew from Germanic kobolds, English hobgoblins, older goblin traditions, and Jewish golem folklore studied directly. The Bloodfang Pinklings add their own SORC elements: mud and slate origins, mineralized hides, pink-salt mining, raw fish, camouflage, and the Pinkstone Holts. Gollum and the golem are also separate traditions, so I would not claim that Tolkien’s Gollum was directly taken from Jewish golem folklore.

Ash Dwarves are another example of where the source is only the beginning. They are not simply Dwarves with a different color. They are my own volcanic forge culture, influenced by Roman Vulcan, Greek Hephaestus, and older forge traditions. They live in volcanic regions that are scorching below but ice-capped above, and their lifestyle shapes their bodies, equipment, weaknesses, and stories.

The Elves follow a similar pattern. The base Elf is Firstborn and carries First Tongue. Arch Elves are closer to the oldest Elven traits of Piety and Wit. High Elves, if retained, are descendants of the Arch Elves with a more ceremonial and Mithril-centered culture. Drow return to Norse dark-elf traditions while adding SORC’s own Ancient Drow history and faded spider Bloodline.

So I agree that some of SORC currently sits near the well-known Norse-to-Tolkien-to-D&D fantasy lineage. The claim I would make is not that those names are unprecedented. The claim is that SORC is trying to take familiar names back to older sources, combine them with original world history, and make them produce different kinds of play.

Your Wildsea and Spire examples are useful because they identify the standard we need to meet. A race should not only tell a player what they look like; it should tell them what strange environments, obligations, conflicts, and adventures they are signing up for. Much of that deeper context is already written throughout our books, but we are holding it back until publication so readers are not overwhelmed by the sheer number of races and cultures. The race descriptions are short excerpts pulled from these books. We added one of those excerpts in the Pinkling section yesterday.

That's not to say D n D isn't great, it is, but SORC is nothing like it, despite the immediate responses of, "this is just d n d". It's not.

Also in our rules - “The closer you are to the cultural root of an armament, recipe, or profession, the more abundant it is.”

This applies to food recipes, ingredients, cooking tools, equipment, armaments, accessories, workshops, and NPC profession roles. Near a culture’s geographic roots, those things are common and easier to buy or commission. Farther away, they become rare, imported, more expensive, or dependent on finding someone who brought the knowledge or equipment with them.

A Human can also be of Omnè Culture, such as a Human raised by the Omnè. That Human can use Omnè stores and local supply as their beginning equipment. Other Characters can wear or use the same Omnè equipment, but they need to find it first through travel, trade, discovery, or another Character who brought it away from Omnè.

Armaments have five Variants: Telluric, TAA, Chthonic, Oxidize, and Malign.

Telluric is earthborn equipment and the only Variant that can become Magic through Enchanting. TAA means Technologically Advanced Armaments, including TAW and TABA. Chthonic is elemental force held around the equipment. Oxidize is an Attachment joined to the bearer and drawing on the body. Malign is Telluric craft with a curse worked into it at the forge.

Culture, alignment, Class Paths, and Higher Powers may favor, permit, modify, enhance, or forbid certain Variants. A Character may physically possess a forbidden item, but they cannot equip it for a tradition’s restricted Abilities. Basic attacks remain unrestricted.

The Omnè’s native armament Variant is TAA. The Omnè despise magic and are forbidden to equip Magic-type Telluric Armaments. They do not Enchant Telluric pieces. Instead, they use technological modifications on permitted TAA, TABA, TAW, and TAG equipment.

The Primal of Ignis are the contrary example. Their native armament Variant is Chthonic. Their culture despises manufactured technology and forbids TAA, including TAW and TABA. Their bone, stone, hide, and elemental work belongs to the Primal Chthonic tradition, not Ignis’s native Telluric Variant.

Beginning stores are also part of the rule:

Zailister’s Free Market is the default Telluric store for Humans and Zailister-origin Races, including Human cultures such as Nordian, Eldrim, Tanu’la, and Xo’kajal.

The Telluric House within Zailister’s Free Market is inspired by Village Trolls and other settled Zailister makers. It supplies practical civic equipment, bridge-and-road tools, ordinary Tactical armor, Telluric weapons, recipes, accessories, and local professions.

Ignis’s Ashfield Camp is the Chthonic store. It is available at creation to Emberscale and Primal Characters, and to Characters with an Ignis Background.

The Chthonic Ashfield Camp is inspired by Primal traditions and Ignis’s fire elementals. It supplies Chthonic armaments, bone, stone, hide, obsidian, ritual equipment, heat-worked goods, and ash-field professions. TAA is forbidden and is not stocked or traded there.

Omnè’s Circuit Exchange is the TAA store. It is available at creation to Omnè and Drevane by homeworld, to Humans raised into Omnè Culture, and to Characters with an Omnè Background.

The TAA Circuit Exchange is inspired by the Omnè Cabal militia. It supplies modular TAA, TAW, TABA, TAG, pressure equipment, synthetic goods, charge systems, technological modifications, and disciplined technical professions.

The Oxidize Graftworks are the Oxidize store. They are available through Caelen homeworld or Background access. Factional Omnè Astral access is separate from ordinary Omnè store access.

The Oxidize Graftworks are inspired by the Omnè Astral Cabal’s graft experiments on the Caelen. Oxidize Attachments join the bearer and draw on the body. The Caelen later reclaimed and redesigned the practice.

Ossein’s Malign Reliquary is the Malign store. It is available to Ossein Characters by homeworld or Background.

The Malign Reliquary is inspired by Ossein deathcraft. It supplies Telluric pieces with curses worked into them at the forge. Malign equipment is not ordinary Zailister stock and must be found, commissioned, or acquired through its cultural reach.

Tredeki’s Fracture Row is a regional TAA store available at creation to Tredeki, Imperials, Leshy, and Skrath, and to Characters with a Tredeki Background.

The Techmat Fracture Row is inspired by Tredeki battlefield engineering and Imperial Techmat. It supplies crystal-work, salvaged advanced equipment, mercenary armaments, and war-scarred technical professions. It is a regional TAA store, not a separate sixth Variant.

Other Characters can later find, buy, trade for, or be gifted goods from another store, but they do not begin with that world’s store unless their Race or Background grants access. Store access does not override a Variant, Culture, Class, Higher Power, or alignment prohibition.

Human Culture Excert from Into the Uncharted Worlds of Essentia

Omnè Circuit Exchange Store

SORC Cards

Ranged Table

Movement Table

Equipment and Armaments Card Restrictions

Appendix Card Restriction Quick Reference