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One of the ways to escape: destroy Vhulkurh, source of the Countess's vampirism.Emily (playing Sibil):Does my power work on gods? Sibil...

One of the ways to escape: destroy Vhulkurh, source of the Countess's vampirism.

Emily (playing Sibil):
Does my power work on gods? Sibil goes to Vhulkurh and says: 'DESTROY YOURSELF.'

Nova (GM):
This works only if I pull Death from this tarot deck.

She shuffles, then shows us the card she pulls.

DEATH

The god of blood eats himself. The valley's mists lift. The Countess perishes (?).

And we leave:
Sibil a burgeoning vampire of a different sort;
Vero still tailed by a gross dog ew.

4/4

Vero keeps her eyes on the prize. She asks Ovakl'ke, god of knowledge, how to escape the valley."Let me eat your most precious...

Vero keeps her eyes on the prize. She asks Ovakl'ke, god of knowledge, how to escape the valley.

"Let me eat your most precious memory."

Vero agrees. Now she knows all the ways to escape.

She also has a stinky dog in her arms. Ew, whose dog is this? Gross. She yeets it away.

3/

There are other gods here. We hope to bargain with them, for power, and a way to leave this benighted valley.We come to a chamber full of...

There are other gods here. We hope to bargain with them, for power, and a way to leave this benighted valley.

We come to a chamber full of sarcophagi, holding powers the skeletons call "chaos cancers".

What could go wrong?

Vhulkurh, "cancer of blood". Working theory: this is the power that turned the Countess into a vampire, and cursed the valley.

Sibil speaks to Dideresh, god of decadence. The bargain:

1: Your commands will be obeyed.
2: You can never refuse pleasure.

Sibil says yes.

2/

🚨 BRIDEWELL PLAYTEST, FINAL SESSION🚨 Bridewell, a "Curse of Strahd, but good" adventure by Nova / Idle Cartulary /...

🚨 BRIDEWELL PLAYTEST, FINAL SESSION🚨

Bridewell, a "Curse of Strahd, but good" adventure by Nova / Idle Cartulary / https://playfulvoid.game.blog/

Our party:
- ratcatcher Vero (plus ratting dog Pig);
- prone-to-Faustian-bargains nun-on-the-run Sibil.

We breach a prison of "lost gods".

We encounter skeleton scholars extracting divine juice from Khumush, a dragon-like nature god.

Obviously we smash the skeletons and free Khumush!

1/

" This was the least violent game I've played ... considering what I thought I knew about the nature of SWN and rambunctious...

" This was the least violent game I've played ... considering what I thought I knew about the nature of SWN and rambunctious teenagers ... Players displayed an unexpected level of devotion to Jaina nonviolence from 1st session and this was really consistent "

" We just started handling more and more stuff by talking it out, as a way to reduce the amount of recordkeeping I was doing, but it became the norm over time. Barely rolled at all in the last session! "

6/6

" Religiosity became a central aspect of the game ... students playing monastic-mediums frequently had to return to their most ancient...

" Religiosity became a central aspect of the game ... students playing monastic-mediums frequently had to return to their most ancient texts (a diegetic excuse for us to scour the [Jaina] books I assembled in prep as a group) or cautiously borrow aspects of local ritual "

" we played through a hiragasy performance in game, with a player freestyling in place of the kabary "

Hiragasy performance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1XVXy8iWlE

2/

Enziramire played a Stars Without Number game (featuring Jains in space, and inspired by the Malagasy context!) with high-school students....

Enziramire played a Stars Without Number game (featuring Jains in space, and inspired by the Malagasy context!) with high-school students.

These kids are the BEST TTRPG PLAYERS IN THE WORLD.

" My attempt to use this game as an experiment in teaching colonialism succeeded ... exquisite blend of cutthroat pragmatism in service to the home power and dreams of uplifting the benighted foreigner ... "

https://majesticflywhisk.blogspot.com/2023/07/spirits-without-number-SWN-in-review.html

(CW: post has heavy intro involving missing family member)

1/

🐊 BUNDLE OF HOLDING🐊Behind the brass door, in the crocodile's belly:The Hydra Cooperative catalogue is on sale at Bundle of...

🐊 BUNDLE OF HOLDING🐊

Behind the brass door, in the crocodile's belly:

The Hydra Cooperative catalogue is on sale at Bundle of Holding: https://bundleofholding.com/presents/HydraCoop

A veritable world of adventures: Chris Kutalik's ground-breaking Hill Cantons; Trey Causey's "Mortzengersturm". And "Lorn Song of the Bachelor", my croc-themed river + dungeon!

(Art by Nadhir Nor)

🚨 COOL BLOG POST ALERT🚨 The three types of "I search the room", according to Ty / Eldritch Mouse / Mindstorm:1) Your mum...

🚨 COOL BLOG POST ALERT🚨

The three types of "I search the room", according to Ty / Eldritch Mouse / Mindstorm:

1) Your mum sneaks in to read your diary;
2) Your mum barges in to grab the hair dryer;
3) Your mum confiscates your PC with its alphabetised hentai folders.

https://mindstorm.blot.im/ransacking-the-room

For the past ten months, I have felt empty and foolish and humiliated. But now it is time to move on. I would like to make new things, new...

For the past ten months, I have felt empty and foolish and humiliated. But now it is time to move on. I would like to make new things, new art, new games. I am glad I am still able to.

To my friends, colleagues and fellow-travelers in the TTRPG community: from my hearts of hearts, I thank you. I am glad to see you as my people, and am grateful you would continue to have me as one of your own.

2/2

Due to a disagreement over ownership, Munkao and I have severed ties. I have no further involvement with Centaur Games. I consider A...

Due to a disagreement over ownership, Munkao and I have severed ties. I have no further involvement with Centaur Games. I consider A Thousand Thousand Islands (ATTI) ended, as a project.

+

To the many, many people who supported ATTI: I sincerely apologise if this dampens your enjoyment of the works. Especially the recently-completed Reach of the Roach God. It has certainly dampened mine.

1/

Prayers offered to the Third Mother. With @keropokin , photo by Jun Kit.#localflora

Prayers offered to the Third Mother.

With @keropokin , photo by Jun Kit.

#localflora

The rootfolk offer salutations to the gloaming sun.#localflora

The rootfolk offer salutations to the gloaming sun.

#localflora

A tropical Midsommar sea witch at low tide. @keropokin (Photo by Cassandra Ting)#localhuman #localflora

A tropical Midsommar sea witch at low tide. @keropokin

(Photo by Cassandra Ting)
#localhuman #localflora

ABOUT THE ACTION-FIGURE CAVERN GENERATORStu: "I didn't expect to flip through the book and find Spiderman and TMNT in...

ABOUT THE ACTION-FIGURE CAVERN GENERATOR
Stu: "I didn't expect to flip through the book and find Spiderman and TMNT in it."
Hambone: "That's amazing."
Stu: "A little bit of the philosophy that underlies that cavern-building method is an example of Zedeck's prose:

'The gods fucked and fought, danced and died. Imagine them rotting, leaving cavities where their bodies once were. So are the earth and its passages laid.'

Hambone: Jesus Christ.

5/5

ABOUT THE WRITINGStu: "You should just read Zedeck's writing. And it becomes obvious why I enjoy it. Evocative with very few words,...

ABOUT THE WRITING
Stu: "You should just read Zedeck's writing. And it becomes obvious why I enjoy it. Evocative with very few words, which means he's choosing words to be very specific. He often uses modern turns-of-phrase to explain what you're seeing in the game---it breaks the illusion, but it is such an effective way of conveying what you're seeing, that it's worth it."

4/

ON GAME DESIGNHambone: " 'System agnostic' and 'usability' are mutually exclusive in a lot of cases, but here it does...

ON GAME DESIGN
Hambone: " 'System agnostic' and 'usability' are mutually exclusive in a lot of cases, but here it does sound like a perfect pairing of the two. Also, it feels like an energy that encourages stepping outside the comfort zone of the box."
Stu: "How they encode character information ... I'm translating this stuff on the fly pretty rapidly. Which is different from a lot of agnostic stuff."

3/

Other choice bits:ON THE ARTStu: "Munkao's art. The pages with centipedes I have difficulty engage with because they are there....

Other choice bits:

ON THE ART
Stu: "Munkao's art. The pages with centipedes I have difficulty engage with because they are there. That's how good his art is. Because he is so on his game he pushes the yuck factor so far I'm actually a little uncomfortable and don't know how to run it, because it skeeves me so!"
Hambone: "The barometer of what separates good art from great art is that it evokes a visceral response ... I feel a similar way when I see Russ Nicholson's art."

2/

🚨 THE ROACH GOD, REVIEWED🚨 "This is a real game-changer. There's just so much here. I already thought that with the approach...

🚨 THE ROACH GOD, REVIEWED🚨

"This is a real game-changer. There's just so much here. I already thought that with the approach to worldbuilding- but now we're seeing it in the way they approach the framework of adventure and play."

There's that pull quote!

The @vintagerpg podcast ( https://www.vintagerpg.com/2023/06/reach-of-the-roach-god/ ) reviews REACH OF THE ROACH GOD.

1/

The bark of the bintangor tree, on skin. #localflora

The bark of the bintangor tree, on skin. #localflora