#motw rpg

[whereserpentswalk]

Starting my motw campaign: "Hey, it might be cool to add political intrigue to the magical underworld."

Now, over a year in: "These are the factions that control the former united states."

#motw campaign #motw ttrpg #motw rpg #motw #monster of the week #pbta #powered by the apocalypse #ttrpg #indie ttrpg #ttrpg community #rpg #ttrpg campaign #dnd #dnd campaign #alternate history #map #fantasy map #urban fantasy

[anim-ttrpgs]

Annoucning the A.N.I.M. TTRPG Book Club!

The original idea was from @thydungeonguy, but he let us take care of it provided we do most of the heavy lifting to make it run smoothly.

Message either @anim-ttrpgs or @thydungeonguy and just ask to get an invite! It’s free, you just have to ask! Or, you can visit our website and find the discord link there.

Here’s the short version.

We’re running a club that treats (indie) TTRPG-playing like a book club. There’s a nomination period for RPGs, then a vote to decide which RPG we play, then scheduling discussion, then everyone who can make it(we may split up among multiple groups depending on the number of sign-ups) plays the same adventure with the same RPG(usually a 1-2 session adventure, 3 sessions if it has to go on longer), then we discuss it.

Then, repeat.

The purpose of the club is to play indie tabletop role-playing games that aren't D&D5e, bringing new games to people’s attention and getting to experience how those games work in practice. It’s an encouragement to step out of your comfort zone and try new games with enthusiastic people who love them, and even step out of your comfort zone and learn how to GM a game if you’ve never done it. The way we set up the structure of the club makes it very easy, forgiving, and supportive for GMs even when playing a game they’ve never played before—it’s really not as hard as it seems, especially since we use adventure modules, the greatest GM tool ever devised.

Join up by sending us or @thydungeonguy a message or ask, and maybe you’ll even get to play the full version of Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy for free! That is, if it gets nominated and wins the vote. Even though we’re running the club, our own games aren’t gonna get special treatment.

Despite, and perhaps especially since, our games aren’t getting special priority in the club, and because the A.N.I.M. team is doing everything to organize and support novice GMs and fellow indie TTRPG authors, organizing and running this club is a good amount of extra work for our very small team for no direct profit. We ask that if you enjoy this club, you kindly leave a tip for us on kofi or support us on patreon. It'll keep this server running smoothly and keep us creating TTRPGs, plus with a patreon subscription of at least $5, you get the prerelease rulebook as well as future updates, two horror adventure modules, and two short stories and a novella taking place in the Eureka world!

Join up by messaging either us or @thydungeonguy, or finding the discord invite link on our website!

Even if that’s not your thing, visit our website anyway to pick up a free copy of the Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy demo, complete with a free starter adventure module and pregen character sheets!

This is gonna be a blast.

#rpg #coc #roleplaying #tabletop #indie rpg #ttrpg #dnd #eureka: investigative urban fantasy #eureka #ttrpg design #ttrpg tumblr #ttrpg art #indie ttrpg #ttrpg community #motw rpg #supernatural rpg #fantasy rpg #roleplay #scifi rpg #roleplaying games #indiegames #indie #indie game #indie games #indie designer #dungeons and dragons 5e #dungeons and dragons #powered by the apocalypse #d&d 5e #d&d

[canvas-cat]

Dr. Sykes

A character from a MOTW campaign I run, called "Hunters of Hallowford", which I want to start sharing more of here!

I'll be honest, I've made so much art for Hallowford, that it was intimidating to figure out how/where to start :/

A text post? A cast intro? In the end, I decided it would be best to start with my ol' messy sketchbook/concepts.

I used Dr. Sykes for a character design assignment in college, and man, it was an absolute blast to develop! The older designs/sketches are at the top!

#my art #my ocs #oc: dr sykes #Hunters of Hallowford #motw rpg #motw character #motw oc #motw #ttrpg art #trrpg #ttrpg community #art #sketch dump #college sketchbook #artists on tumblr #plague doctor #character design #animators on tumblr

[oyonok]

Valentine Tarot Card In the spirit of trying something new with color and composition and texture and and and

#motw rpg #valentine ewing #seven miles

[tabletopmonsteroftheweek]

Community Monster #2- The Local Supermarket

A supermarket that seems to have appeared… or has it always been here? It's hard to remember. But Jenny next door said its great; the deals are affordable and the staff is really friendly. She's taking her kids with her to it now, and offered I go with too.She was right though, the staff is really friendly… but I cant seem to remember where I parked…

Type: Bubble (motivation: to keep inside things inside, and outside things outside)

Effects:

Entering the bubble creates an identical clone of the person who entered. The original person becomes trapped in the bubble. This clone has the original's memories but it's only motivation is to get more people to enter the bubble.

The phenomenon is centered on the local supermarket. People who go shopping there find that they cannot leave, as the parking lot endlessly loops them back to the store. Everyone who visits is trapped inside, and the store's stock is rapidly running out as panic overtakes the shoppers. Worse, there's more than just customers lurking between the aisles…

Weakness: The people who go missing are taken deep into the store's employee-only area and hooked into a horrific organic computing system, that uses them to maximize the store's profits and consumer exploitation. If the hunters remove all the victims from the system, the store and its clones rapidly deteriorate.

Custom: If a hunters are forced into the machine, they must roll Act Under Pressure to escape. On a 10+, they escape it with no issue. On a mix, they take 1 harm ignore armor the implants dig into their flesh and veins or tear out of them. On a miss, they are restrained and trapped there- the other hunters must free them in order for them to get out. If they try to use any move, they take -1 ongoing until they're freed.

Minion: The Employees

They only wish to keep the supermarket going nice and smoothly. They are overly friendly and seemingly nice, but if anyone attempts to escape they become rabid and almost feral-like. Eventually, they will lead shoppers to the Profit-Taker, a bio-mechanical super computer located in the "manager's office" below the store.

Type: Renfield (motivation: to push victims towards the monster)

Supernatural powers, if any: Stronger than humans, weirdly more durable, superhuman speed

Attacks: Razor-sharp nails (1 harm hand) Thick, rubbery skin(+2 armor)

Harm: 7

Weakness: The Supermarket's main source for maintaining order is its employees. The employees have extra strength and durability, however, are extremely sensitive to heat and flames. This is because they are extremely susceptible to getting fired. Using fire on them causes them to lose their armor.

#monster of the week #motw #monster of the week rpg #motw rpg #community threat #phenomena stat block

[sarielsnowings]

Beyond the Grave

⚰️📚🩸👻

As an official watcher to my friends’ Monster of the Week campaign (@beyondthegrave-archives), decided a bit of fanart was in order, if anything just to thank them for putting up with me screaming about their blorbos and obsessing over a game I’m not even a part of ✨

Characters belong to @/sacrxm @fuitgummybat @/horokyun and @jellywafflesart

Special mention to @totorokipins as the keeper and @dartheritis as my fellow watcher buddy 👁

#seriously you have no idea how deep and intricate every single one of these blorbos is and how invested I am in their collective downfall #sarielsnowingsart #monster of the week #motw #motw rpg #motw campaign #ttrpg character #ttrpg oc #ttrpg art #ttrpg campaign #illustration #queer artist #trans artist #original character #oc rpg #beyond the grave

[ssambrose]

Iris Blackwood, then and now

Another character I've played that has turned into an OC that is near and dear to my heart is Iris Blackwood, originally a fae who wanted to living in the moral world during her teens (Monsterhearts 2) but then realized that she had the potential to become king (transitioned to a MotW campaign).

I'll probably never play her again but that doesn't mean I don't have OC lore to explore :3

#original character #monster of the week #magic #motw rpg #motw oc #motw art #motw campaign #motw character #motw #oc art #faery folk #fae #animatics #animation #tiktok #digital art #iris blackwood #faerychronicles

[indiepressrevolution]

Now at IPR: Monster of the Week: Codex of Worlds!

The Codex of Worlds. The moves are bigger, the stakes are higher, and the world gets weirder in this massive expansion for Monster of the Week.

The Codex includes new content to bring different styles and settings to your Monster of the Week games, including 15 new Team playbooks and 5 new settings.

Requires Monster of the Week to play.

https://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/Monster-of-the-Week-Codex-of-Worlds-Print-PDF.html

#ipr remarks #indie ttrpg #new product #motw #motw rpg

[kristinamarina]

Monster hunting gang hanging out at the diner between monsters 🤍

#my motw group had our five year anniversary game this weekend #motw rpg #ttrpg #monster of the week #oc art #ttrpg art #diner #my art #art on tumblr #artists on tumblr

[monstersplaybook]

Greetings 👋! We’re The Monster’s Playbook, a monster-hunting actual play podcast set in Minneapolis, MN. We use the Monster of the Week game system by Evil Hat Productions.

We may be new to Tumblr, but we’re not new to actual plays! We’ve been doing this podcast for about a year now and have been playing our current campaign for even longer. And that means there’s plenty of content to sink your teeth into.

OUR CAST OF CHARACTERS INCLUDES:

Theo Nessos 🧙‍♀️: a professional sorceress trying to escape the shadow of her powerful magical family.

Mark Clayton 👻: a pretty haunted introvert, who just wants to make sense of his powers and the weird stuff that keeps happening to him.

Kira Ashwood 📓: a journalist with a cult past she’s desperate to atone for, and a secret power hidden even from herself.

Casey Davis 🔫: a taciturn secret agent becoming disillusioned with the agency she thought she could trust.

GET STARTED WITH OUR SHOW!

As I mentioned, we've been playing our campaign for awhile now, so we start our show "in medias res". We recommend you get started with our Session 0 (below) and Season 1 recap episodes to get up to speed.

If you like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Dresden Files, or any city-set supernatural story with monstrous threats and messy feelings then come check us out! We’ve got a new episode every other Tuesday on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and your other usual suspects.

Podcast art by the wonderful @carlzsays.

#actual play #monster of the week #pbta #indie ttrpg #actual play podcast #ttrpg community #ttrpg podcast #motw #motw podcast #evil hat productions #motw rpg #ttrpg #Spotify

[thebathtubkeeper]

Sometimes as a keeper(dm/gm/whatevas) you know your players are monsterfuckers, so you intentionally create one of them monsters that is just like an animal but oooh fucked up.

No one is gonna fuck the horse, so I have at least avoided having to figure out how they’d romance my monsters because this one is just a fucking weird ass horse

#ttrpg #ttrpg community #ttrpg stuff #monster of the week #motw ttrpg #i want to make ttrpg pals real bad! #motw rpg #my stuff #lol #monster fucker #don’t worry future monsters will be hot??? #just the first one they can’t fuck #can’t fuck your way out of this one folks

[nyctovoid]

Rewatched Mindhunter

Thinking about my guy again

#art #my art #original character #oc #artists on tumblr #illustration #traditional art #ira glass #sketchbook art #motw #motw character #motw oc #motw rpg #ohuhumarkers

[anim-ttrpgs]

Investigator Traits in Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy

As anyone who has been following this blog knows, with Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy, we really wanted roleplay and rules/mechanics to be strongly intertwined. In any good RPG, the rules/mechanics should facilitate the story, not hinder it, and the actions and behaviors of the characters essentially are the story. Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy allows for and encourages a great many different types of people to be made as PCs, and we never want the players to have to fight the rules to play their character—if you have to do this, you’re probably playing the wrong RPG for the kind of story you’re trying to have, but that’s a different topic entirely—so instead of trying to squeeze a character concept into or out of a “class” or “playbook”, we designed the Traits system in Eureka so that the unique personality of the PC becomes their own unique mechanical gameplay.

This post is talking about Traits, but Truth is another example of this, and we gave that its own post here.

Traits are, well, traits of the PC. Every PC gets 3 of them by default, and they can be mixed and matched in just about any way. Traits can wildly affect the way that a PC plays, because each one changes the way that the PC interacts with certain mechanics in the game. Sometimes they’re personality traits, sometimes they’re physical traits, and sometimes rarely they’re even narrative traits(but they are not backstory traits; knowing a guy is not a trait, owning a car is not a trait, etc.)

Some traits have small mechanical benefits, others have big mechanical benefits that are very situational, and still others have big mechanical benefits balanced out with big mechanical downsides.

Let’s take a look at a few Traits right now.

Bumbling Detective || When this character rolls to investigate using Knowledge skills, always subtract -2 from the roll, but they gain an additional +2 Investigation Points.

This trait is meant to evoke the comedic ‘detective work’ of Inspector Jacques Clouseau, causing the PC to have a significantly higher chance of failing any investigation rolls related to inspecting the scene of an event or crime. However, as their fail, their investigation points stack up real fast, gaining them easy Eureka!s. Here is a post explaining investigation points and Eureka!s in greater detail, but the short version for this post is that they can be used to retroactively reveal clues or increase the PC’s odds in a climactic action roll, like Inspector Jacques Clouseau, they will appear to completely botch the investigation in the front half, but then they will be able to use their huge stock of Eureka!s to serendipitously save the day in the climax, revealing them to actually be an unassuming genius, or just an even bigger idiot than everyone already thought they were, but still not without merit as a detective.

Just One More Thing… || When this character rolls to investigate using Intrapersonal skills, always subtract -2 from the roll, but they gain an additional +2 Investigation Points.

This Trait is meant to evoke the particular investigation style of the recently tumblr-famous Columbo. Like the Bumbling Detective Trait, except for Interpersonal investigation rolls that deal with talking to NPCs, this character will frequently “fail” when asking questions and trying to get information out of people, but in doing so will quickly rack up lots of investigation points. Later on, with the Eureka!s they’ve gathered, they can reveal how they needled and provoked the suspect into revealing just what they needed him to.

We have a lot of other traits based on famous TV detectives, but I don’t want to go over all of them in one post, so here’s one more based on Sherlock Holmes.

Elementary! || This character has a keen eye for detail and can deduce a lot about a person just by looking at them, or at least they think they can. When meeting a new person for the first time, this character may choose to have the Narrator make a hidden Social Cues roll for you. Full Success = This character is able to guess two correct facts about this person just by looking at them. Partial Success = This character is able to guess one correct fact and one incorrect fact about this person. Failure = This character is able to guess two incorrect facts about this person. The Narrator will tell the character these facts, but will not tell them if they are true or false, and will not tell them what the result of the hidden roll was. This roll does not grant investigation points.

(couldn't find any .gifs that weren't of BBC Sherlock)

With this Trait, a PC can instantly sus out small details about an NPC just at the slightest glance, though they better hope their analysis is right on the money, or they might end up looking a total fool! This trait is a favorite among certain playtesters.

Hardened Hearts || This character will not have to make any composure rolls for witnessing blood/gore, corpses, or death. Subtract -2 from all Comfort rolls made by this character. If an NPC, apply this to Morale.

Maybe this character has seen plenty of dead bodies, or maybe they just don’t much care about them, either way, they are immune to losing composure points from particularly gruesome scenes that might send others running for a place to throw up. On the flip side, however, this indifference acts as a barrier between themselves and other, more squeamish people, and this can make it difficult to approach them on their level and provide a calming effect when they need to.

That isn’t to say that in real life there can’t be people who are unaffected by seeing corpses but aren’t bad at comforting others—there’s plenty of morticians who see gruesome scenes every day, but and are also very experienced at speaking to grieving families without worsening their already fragile emotional state. For a character like this, the Hardened Hearts Trait isn’t the right fit, instead you’d want to make Corpses a +3 on that character’s Tiers of Fear, which is a mechanic we haven’t really talked about on this blog yet I don’t think, but basically there is a list of Fears in the rulebook and you write them into a chart on the character sheet, ranking them by how much they would distress the character, with +3 being the least distress and -3 being the most distress. This determines the modifier when making a Composure Roll, the result of which determines how much Composure the character loses when faced with particularly harrowing events. (And it is not a measure of “sanity”)

For one last one, let’s look at one of my personal favorite Traits.

Final Girl: When this character is alone against any sort of supernatural threat, add +1 to all rolls made with Physical Skills. Additionally, when this character is alone against any sort of supernatural threat, they may spend one or more Eureka! points on one of the supernatural threat’s skill rolls, adding an extra D6 for each point. The supernatural threat must drop the highest dice.

This Trait allows the character to emulate the narrative trope of the “final girl” in horror movies, particularly “slashers” or “creature-features”. It gives them the little boost they may need to get out alive or fight the creature off, but only when they’re the last one left or otherwise all alone. It also allows them to spend a Eureka! in just the right moment: the slasher’s knife miraculously misses their throat, the creature gets snared up while lunging through the foliage, whatever it is that makes them lucky enough to survive what was certain death for the rest of the main characters long enough to mount an effective defense or make a daring escape.

As you can see, there’s a lot to work with with these traits, 31 of them at the time of writing this, and they can vastly alter the way that a character interacts with the rules/mechanics of the game, all based on their personality and, well, their *traits*. This encourages and rewards characters acting in their own unique way, rather than simply being a “class”, “playbook”, or “archetype”, or just a collection of different skills, while actually supporting this unique gameplay and roleplay with the rules of the game.

We also include guidelines in the rulebook for how to create your own homebrew Traits as well.

You can also pick up a pre-release PDF copy of this game(in a fully playable state) for $5 through our Patreon.

#eureka: investigative urban fantasy #eureka #rpg #roleplaying #coc #call of cthulhu #dnd #indie rpg #motw ttrpg #motw rpg #motw #monster of the week #tabletop #ttrpg #halloween

[canvas-cat]

Dr Sykes (early concept)

The first art of Dr Sykes I ever did! Well, past extremely rough thumbnail sketches (I'm not brave enough to show those!)

This was back when I first started the campaign, right after their official introduction.

Someone got seriously injured after a monster fight, and who would be better to call than the ominous, silent doctor in the alleyway...?

(No Púcas One Púca was harmed in the making of this campaign, but he's okay now)

#and yes i doodled these during a lecture #these hands cannot be contained #the brainrot was REAL okay?! and it still very much is! #my ocs #oc: Dr Sykes #my art #sketchbook #sketch dump #motw rpg #motw oc #ttrpg art #ttrpg community #artists on tumblr #small artist #plague doctor

[rodeoarts]

happy pride!!! doodle of me and my partner's t4t cowboys

#cowboy #cowboy oc #trans art #transisbeautiful #transgender #transgender cowboy #trans cowboy #motw character #motw art #motw oc #motw campaign #motw rpg #ttrpg community #ttrpg campaign #ttrpg oc #ttrpg art #ttrpg #pride

[tabletopmonsteroftheweek]

This one would of been a phenomenon mystery concept, however none of the phenomenon types really... felt right/fit it to me? It's essentially a big building, so it doesn't move. But having attacks is also weird to give it, idk.

The House always wins

People on the Vegas strip have gone missing, many believing that they got drunk and lost their way. The cause? A casino, the High Roller, has suddenly had a influx on winners, taking a trip to the penthouse suite to "spend the rest of their lives" at... or at least the last of their lives.

Monster: Aspect of Greed

Type: Parasite (motivation: to infest, control, and devour

The aspect of greed has taken over an existing casino, turning it into low stake high reward. It draws in new players with its low stakes and, those at are lucky enough to hit jackpot multiple times (which is once-twice daily), they are brought up to the penthouse. There the Aspect infests itself into the lucky winner, slowly draining them until they are nothing but dry husks. However, if they prove their worth they instead become the Staff, where they lead more people into the casino effectively giving it more prey.

Powers:

Addiction

Game Manipulation

Luck Detection

Weakness: The House Always Wins in the end... except when it doesn't. Much like gambling addicts, the Aspect of Greed will raise the stakes if it means the reward for itself is far greater. This will mean that it will take riskier bets, such as self-banishment if it loses a game. However, you HAVE to build up to it- it will not jump straight to that if it were just a normal game. Raise it over time, let it win some, get its ego up before the big bets.

Otherwise, using Big Magic in the casinos that circle around it will banish it out of the High Roller. However, this will mean the party is split as it sends minions out to stop the ritual once it knows what's going on.

Armor does not take into account for either- when it loses games it takes around 1-10 harm ignore armor depending on how high the stakes are.

Attacks:

Life-absorbtion- 2 harm close far ignore armor

It's a literal building (+3 armor)

Harm: 15 harm

Custom Moves:

Let the Games Begin- When the players challenge the Aspect, they will take turns on which game is being played. Meaning, the Aspect picks the game first, then the hunter, then back to the Aspect. It goes back and forth until theres one winner, and the hunter does have a chance to lose. All rolls will be done with Act Under Pressure because they ARE under pressure.

Only one hunter can challenge the Aspect to the game. However, that does not mean the other hunters cannot help in other ways as well. The Aspect's Staff will try to tilt the favor to the Aspect at any given chance. The Hunters not playing will have to keep an eye out and stop them before they do something to make the playing hunter lose. To the Aspect, so long as it's not the one cheating, it's not at fault. It will be annoyed if the playing Hunter uses that logic as well, but won't block it.

Addiction/Just One More Game...- The Hunters can easily fall under the influence of the Aspect should they play its random casino games. In order to snap out of it, they must roll Act Under Pressure.

On a 10+, they snap out of it. On a mix, they leave it alone but the temptation is there... they have -1 forward if they play another game (yes, that includes the challenge against The Aspect.) On a miss, they cannot stop playing, it's way too addicting! They have -1 ongoing while in the casino, including the final battle with the Aspect. Maybe one more spin will get them the jackpot...

Minion: The Staff

Type: Renfield (motivation: to push victims towards the monster)

People under the influence of the Aspect of Greed that weren't turned into husks. They lead people into the High Roller, scope out who has better luck, and then make sure they win so that they can go to the penthouse above. The richer the soul, the better luck they have.

Powers:

Game Manipulation

Soul Sight

Attacks:

9mm (2 harm close loud)

Brass Knuckles (1 harm hands small)

Harm: 5 harm

Custom Moves:

Game Manipulation: The Staff will turn the tides of a game no matter what, mostly subtly.

Bystander: Gamblers

Type: Victim (motivation: to unknowingly put themselves in danger.)

These are just random players in the casino. They do not know what they have got themselves into. They will more than likely refuse to leave with the hunters to go anywhere unless convinced that this area is not safe. Otherwise, they will slowly fall under the influence of the Aspect, continuously playing games until they hit their lucky streak and head up to the pent house.

#motw #monster of the week #monster of the week rpg #motw rpg #monster of the week mystery concept #motw mystery concept