Humble Bundle - Ultimate Guide to TTRPGs, Worldbuilding & Folklore

I was surprised that I actually had a few of these books in print - review copies sent to me by various publishers. The ones I have aren't bad, but they cover different niches of our hobby.

Honestly, with the Ultimate Guide to TTRPGs, Worldbuilding & Folklore Bundle at Humble Bundle, in for a penny, in for a pound. If you are going to get your money's worth (there looks to be some chaff in with the wheat), you'll be looking at $18 for 27 books. Assume you can use a third, it's 2 bucks a book - if you can use more, the cost lowers.

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Kickstarter - Manon Quarterly (Sinless RPG)

Here's where I reveal connections. I've known Courtney for the better part of a decade. While we may not agree on certain issues, we are totally in agreement with what we consider "a good RPG, and I'm happy to consider Courtney a good friend.

Manon Quarterly is Courtney's current Kickstarter in support of Sinless, his FREE cyberpunk RPG. If you like cyberpunk, this is simply amazing! I'm a backer.

A look at the forefront of magic and fashion in 2090, for the Sinless tabletop role-playing game.

• The Spring 2090 issue of Manon Quarterly is here!
• Unlimited Access
• Insights you won't find anywhere else
• Iconic Celebrity Profiles
• Dive into candid exclusive interviews
• Unlock Your Magical Style
• Expert advice from the global flagship of magical fashion
• Shop Smarter
• Exclusive product reviews, and buying guides for cybertechtronics, guns, and more!

Sinless: Manon Quarterly presents the current state of magic in spring of 2090. 

Sinless: Manon Quarterly is the Sinless magic sourcebook. It has new spirit grids, new spells, magi-tech, new cybertechtronics, information on new forms of magic like technomancy, and expands on the lore and resources for magic users in Sinless. It will also look like a "magazine" (Omnipape Datafeed) from 2090.

Sinless: Manon Quarterly contains approximately one hundred and twenty-eight black and white pages in A4.

What will be in Manon Quarterly

128 pages, black and white softcover containing:

Faction stores, data dogs, abjuration rituals, specializations for all schools of magic, Shadow Spirits and Grid, Galvanic Spirits and Grid, Animal Spirits and Equivalent Grid, Spirit realm maps, Sigil and Ward expansions, New and expanded foci Technomancers, Animal Training, New sector resources, Magical sector features and sector terraforming and development, magic items, magic, magic theory, expanding artificing and enchantment, and new advancement options along with in world grid commentary and advertisements from the corporate interests.

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Kickstarter - Inn To The Deep: Deluxe Edition For Shadowdark and OSE

Hmmm. OSE and ShadowDark. Decisions, decisions.

I'm well known as a Kickstarter Junkie, but I have been trying to cut back on my intake. I'm currently only backing two open Kickstarters - trust me, that's me cutting to the bone.

Looks like you can shortly make that THREE current Kickstarters backed, because Inn To The Deep: Deluxe Edition For Shadowdark and OSE looks very solid. Not saying I need it, I'm saying I WANT it!

Inn To The Deep Deluxe Edition is a collection of four awesome ready-to-run dungeon adventures for low to mid level characters, contained in a sturdy box along with some other goodies! The box's contents include:

• 5 saddle-stitched books ranging in length from 36 to 60 pages.

• 6 11"x17" battle maps for 25mm-32mm miniatures, folded twice so as to fit in the box.

• 6 player handouts.

GM-friendly The adventures are written with brevity and designed with bullet point descriptions and a clear, user-friendly layout. Room descriptions are presented on the same spread as relevant map locations, dispensing with the need for the GM to flip back and forth between pages.

Annotated Maps The AMAZING maps are annotated with notes on saving throws, NPCs, monsters, and traps! Even the direction doors swing open is on there!

The Bog Inn The dungeons are all linked by The Bog Inn, a ramshackle establishment that caters to adventurers and hirelings. PCs can return to the inn after their adventures to savor their victories, replace dead hirelings, and find new adventures. Each time the PCs visit the Bog Inn, the referee rolls on a table to see what changes have taken place since their last visit, and to see what is happening at the very moment they enter!

Replayability Most dungeon rooms have at least one random element, including number of monsters present, surprise occurrences, and when certain events will occur. Each time the referee runs a given dungeon, it will play out differently from the previous time!

Flavor Inn To The Deep takes its inspiration from the British adventure modules of the 1980s. That means quirky and often deranged NPCs and monsters, lashings of dark humor, and the ever-present spectre of a TPK!

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Free OSR(ish) - Grimwild: Free Edition

Over the weekend, I covered how the creator of today's free OSR (ish) pick ghosted their Kickstarter backers, but the free version of the game actually won an ENnie award this year.

Grimwild: Free Edition is a nice free pick. Run it as it is, or steal it for your campaign.

Grimwild is a streamlined, character-driven, cinematic fantasy RPG. You can also buy the full version with the Extras chapter here.

The goal with Grimwild is simple. Take D&D-inspired heroic fantasy, with its 12 classes and super tropey monsters, and match it up with a super fast, cinematic narrative rules system.

• The rules are concerned with the dramatic over the realistic, and minimizing detailed tracking.
• The game is very low-prep for the GM. The fiction maps to the rules simply, on-the-fly.
• Designed to run in your own setting (or a published one), or use our pointcrawl exploration system and collaborative worldbuilding to create emergent storylines.
• Characters earn bonus dice for pursuing self-set goals, pushing the story in the direction they want.
• The GM is given a clear GM framework of principles and moves to run the game by.
• Get strong player buy-in with the adventuring party creation system and creative freedom for the players.
• The rules create fluid action and gets rid of the mechanical slog that bogs down D&D.
• And all of this with GREAT ART from artist Per Janke, creating a consistent vision throughout the book.

So who is Grimwild for?

• D&D 3.5E, 5E and Pathfinder players will appreciate the low-GM prep, easy-to-learn mechanics, and the focus on character goals and letting players push the story.
• OSR/NSR players will enjoy the straightforward resolution system, sandbox-friendly gameplay, and ease of adapting modules from other systems. Lots of rollable tables help as well.
• Narrative game players will like the fiction-first resolution system, with a focus on player agency, and narrative currency that fuels drama.

Key Features

Grimwild has a lot going on inside, but here's an overview of big-picture stuff. We'll talk about mechanics later.

• All 12 classes from D&D: Barbarian, Bard, Cleric, Druid, Fighter, Monk, Paladin, Ranger, Rogue, Sorceror, Warlock, Wizard. With familiar abilities, re-imagined for a narrative rules system.
• New Take on 100 Classic Monsters: We detail and give advice on creating encounters that make the monsters a part of the story, not just meatbags of hit points to chew through.
• Story Kits: No preparation required scenarios that create evolving situations, not railroaded plots. These are more kits for your creativity than they are storylines, filled with evocative prompts and timers that create developing situations for you to tell your own stories, not ours.
• Homebrew-friendly system: Built on our open licensed (CC-BY) ruleset, Moxie. The game text itself is all licensed CC-BY forever. It's designed to be cinematic, narrative, and most importantly modular. This makes changing rules to your liking simple and the open license allows people to make modules, adventures, monsters, and even entirely new games with its mechanics.

Gameplay Overview

The easiest way to get a clear understanding of the Grimwild mechanics is to download the preview. It has the entire rule system in it. But here are some highlights that show off unique aspects of the system:

• Base system: Roll d6 dice pools and keep the highest die to determine how well things went. The GM adds d8s called thorns to represent difficulty. When they come up as a 7 or 8, it cuts your results down a notch. A critical always beats thorns, though, so the PCs can always gain the upper hand.
• Freeform Magic: Cast magic on the fly—the spell names, god domains, or details of a song give you limitations and permissions on what you can cast. Just say what you want to happen, then use the simple magic rules to cast the spell. No long spell lists, no memorizing, no opening the book to reference it.
• PC Bonds: Form bonds with the other PCs, like playful camaraderie, solid rivalry, or tense mistrust. When your bonds change through play, update them giving the other PC a bonus die called spark!
• Add Story Details: You can declare details to add into the story, about your character's gear, backstory, the elements around you in a scene, the behaviors of NPCs, and more. Particularly impactful details require you to spend spark, points you earn from facing adversity and getting up to trouble.
• Vex: When you get hit with fear, confusion, or other emotional turmoil, you keep control over your PC's actions. A simple system of choosing fight, flight, freeze, or freakout turns previously boring moments of losing control into a chance for you to play up the struggle they go through the way you want.

 

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