#13th age

[keplercryptids]

hey! check out these TTRPG bundles currently for sale!

Blades in the Dark bundle (ends 1-11-23)

Non-OGL Fantasy bundle (ends 1-16-23) core bundle includes the rulebooks for: Mythras, The Dark Eye, Advanced Fighting Fantasy, Heroes Against Darkness, and The Oldskull Manifesto

Wicked Ones bundle (ends 1-18-23)

QAGS Collection (ends 1-18-23)

FATE Worlds and Toolkits (ends 1-18-23) includes five dozen books!

2300 AD bundle (ends 1-23-23)

13th Age Megabundle (ends 1-25-23)

please support these games! find all kinds of new ways to play pretend with your friends!

#ttrpg talk #open dnd #opendnd #ttrpg sale #blades in the dark #fate ttrpg #13th age #2300 ad #qags #wicked ones

[daarka]

I'm seeing this response a lot. I want to quickly throw this out there: this is also not an option.

Several other games, such as Pathfinder 1E, Pathfinder 2E, 13th Age, Fudge, and Traveller all use the OGL1.0 as the backbone of their existence.

They, too, will be forced to choose to either cease all production and sales of their products, or sign on to OGL1.1 and give WotC a 25% (gross, not net) royalty to stay in compliance with the new license.

I cannot overstate this enough:

THIS WILL AFFECT YOU.

Again, please go here for all information, and sign the letter in support.

Also thank you to this person, you gave me a snicker.

#opendnd #dungeons and dragons #dnd #dnd5e #pathfinder #5e #onednd #13th age #fudge #traveller #ttrpg #rpg #ogl #srd #wotc #daarka gekkers

[rpgsandbox]

10. Monty Python's Cocurricular Mediaeval Reenactment Programme (Exalted Funeral)

9. Old Gods of Appalachia (Monte Cook Games)

8. Warhammer 40K Imperium Maledictum (Cubicle 7)

7. The Walking Dead Universe RPG (Free League)

6. Shadow of the Weird Wizard (Schwalb Entertainment)

5. Mothership 1e (Tuesday Knight Games)

4. Household (Two Little Mice)

3. 13th Age, 2nd Edition (Pelgrane Press)

2. Dragonbane / Drakar och Demoner (Free League)

1. King Arthur Pendragon, 6th Edition (Chaosium)

#RPG #Monty Python #Old Gods of Appalachia #Warhammer 40K #Imperium Maledictum #The Walking Dead #Shadow of the Weird Wizard #Mothership #Household #13th Age #Dragonbane #Drakar och Demoner #Pendragon

[paperanddice]

Powerfully imaginative minds can draw closer to other realms in their sleep, dreams pulling forth energy and possibly even active minds. When interacting with powerful magic, these otherworldly dreams can occasionally manifest fully, becoming the creatures known as animate dreams. Incomplete, imperfect beings, they feed upon the imagination and emotion of living beings, with sapient creatures providing far more nourishment than mere beasts.

As such, the animate dream can draw forth these powerful emotions for its food. Its touch causes mental anguish and horror that sustains it, but it gains even more sustenance by putting a creature into a state of horror. They prefer infecting creatures with nightmares, whether waking or sleeping, and even just by staying in close proximity to a sleeping creature they can prompt bad dreams. These proximity dreams are enough to keep it healthy, but are weaker than magically caused nightmares and so few animate dreams are satisfied with such feeding for long, nearly always escalating to more delicious terrors sparked by magic. Starvation doesn't kill animate dreams however, just causing ever increasing pain and distress that results in them becoming more aggressive and hostile.

While animate dreams can choose not to cause true harm in their feeding, few bother with such trouble. Creations of pure id and the erratic nature of dreams, they rarely feel proper sympathy or connection with the victims of their feeding, seeing them as nothing more than easily harvested thoughts. Perhaps the transient nature of dreams means they are never meant to take permanent form like this, and that paradox leads to the horrors an animate dream leaves behind.

While animate dreams are around the size of the average humanoid, their exact appearance is flexible and changes as they feed to take on a form similar to the fears and thoughts of the creature they're gaining sustenance from. The more an animate dream feeds off of a single creature, the more stable its form appears, but there's always some variation in what others see as their own emotions and fears influence how the animate dream appears to them.

Originally from the Pathfinder Bestiary 2. This post came out a week ago on my Patreon. If you want to get access to all my monster conversions early, as well as access to my premade adventures and other material I’m working on, consider backing me there!

5th Edition

Animate Dream Medium aberration, neutral evil Armor Class 19 Hit Points 104 (16d8 + 32) Speed 0 ft., fly 40 ft. (hover) Str 2 (-4) Dex 18 (+4) Con 15 (+2) Int 10 (+0) Wis 15 (+2) Cha 21 (+5) Saving Throws Wis +5, Cha +8 Skills Deception +8, Intimidation +8, Stealth +7 Damage Resistances acid, cold, fire, lightning, thunder, bludgeoning, piercing and slashing damage from nonmagical attacks Condition Immunities frightened, grappled, paralyzed, prone, restrained Senses darkvision 60 ft. passive Perception 12 Languages telepathy 100 ft. Challenge 8 (3900 XP) Force Of Personality. The AC of the animate dream includes its Charisma bonus. Incorporeal Movement. The animate dream can move through other creatures and objects as if they were difficult terrain. It takes 5 (1d10) force damage if it ends its turn inside an object. Actions Nightmare Touch. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature. Hit: 40 (8d8+4) psychic damage and the target must succeed on a DC 16 Charisma saving throw or become cursed with nightmares. The cursed target gains no benefits from Long Rests, and it must repeat the saving throw every 24 hours, gaining a level of exhaustion on a failure. Exhaustion gained this way cannot be removed as long as the creature is cursed. The curse lasts until the target succeeds on three saving throws in a row, or its removed by remove curse or similar magic. Spellcasting. The animate dream casts one of the following spells, requiring no material components and using Charisma as the spellcasting ability (spell save DC 16): 3/day each: dimension door, fear, sleep (as a 5th level spell) 1/day each: confusion, dream, phantasmal killer

13th Age

Animate Dream  Double-strength 5th level spoiler [aberration]  Initiative: +10 Cursed Nightmare Touch +10 vs. PD - 30 psychic damage and the target is dazed (save ends). Natural 14+: The save is a hard save (16+). Natural 18+: The target takes 10 ongoing psychic damage and is helpless as it falls asleep (save ends both). R: Waking Nightmare +10 vs. MD (one nearby enemy) - 15 ongoing psychic damage and the target is weakened (save ends both). First Failed Save: The ongoing damage increases by 5 and the target is confused instead of weakened. Miss: 10 psychic damage and the target is dazed until the end of its next turn. Limited Use: The animate dream can only use this attack when the escalation die is even. Fear: Enemies engaged with the animate dream that have 24 hit points or fewer are dazed and do not add the escalation die to their attacks. Feed on Nightmares: The animate dream regains 2d6 hit points if it starts its turn engaged with a creature that is asleep, affected by its waking nightmare attack, or affected by its fear aura. Flight. Ghostly: The animate dream has resist 16+ to all damage except force damage. It can move through solid objects, but can’t end its movement inside of them. AC 19 PD 15 MD 19 HP 104

#d&d #dungeons and dragons #dnd #5th edition #13th age #homebrew #my homebrew #monster #long post #aberration #dnd cr 8 #13th age level 5

[level2janitor]

whenever someone complaints abt a ttrpg being 'gamey' the standard response is "well what did you expect?? you're playing a game, dipshit". but i think by 'gamey' the actual criticism being made is that it feels artificial

5e's always felt gamey to me because of the annoying obligation to balance encounters and an adventuring day. you need to have enough encounters to drain the wizard's resources, they need to walk a tightrope between challenging the PCs and not TPK-ing them, etc etc.

and everyone talks about how hard this is on the GM with the limited tools 5e gives you (which it is) but it also has the unrelated effect of feeling extremely forced from a player-side. the illusion of a consistent world starts to slip because what the PCs encounter has to revolve around the PCs for the game to work.

also i've been seeing a lot of 4e defending on my dash lately and like, yes it's a good game that's very good at the thing it chooses to do. but the criticism that 4e feels gamey (read: artificial) is extremely valid; the strict separation between combat and non-combat results in all flavor basically being only flavor

there's a 4e paragon path you can take called the Entrancing Mystic, whose powers have flavor text describing how you bewitch and ensnare the minds of your enemies. what do the powers actually do? some forced movement in the combat boardgame. what happens if you use them out of combat? who knows! they certainly weren't designed to be used that way, because their actual effect is measured only in terms of the combat boardgame

obviously there's a lot of aspects of non-4e D&D and similar games that are unrealistic. hit points are not how being stabbed works. but certain gamisms bother me more bc they create a clear disconnect between the fiction and the mechanics in a more tangible way.

like, 13th age's resting system (great game but i wanna pick on it here) has you fully heal every 3 or 4 encounters. only had one encounter? no full heal-up, even if you're resting. you have had four encounters? you get a full heal-up. there's a halfhearted sidebar about how the GM should contrive a reason for the heal-up to happen.

as a game balance mechanic, it's great! but i despise it because it's so disconnected from the reality of the game world. HP and fully healing on a rest isn't realistic, but it's an abstract representation of something that happens in the fiction. take a rest -> fully heal is unrealistic but internally consistent with the game world. 13th age healing is not - the in-universe characters can never acknowledge it as it makes no in-world sense.

anyway the reason i'm grumpy abt this lately is the MCDM game has a taunt mechanic that's just straight-up called taunting and it irks me so so bad. again, great game, super fun, but taunting leads to so many situations where an NPC does stuff they wouldn't do

y'know, like a videogame! where the dialogue and personality is just a skin over a set of game mechanics. and when NPCs start behaving out of character with no in-world justification (cause taunts aren't mind control ofc, it's just a guy... taunting you) they feel gamey. artificial.

i like all of the games i brought up (except probably 5e) but i had to get that out of my system thanks for coming to my ted talk

#ttrpg #d&d #5e #d&d 5e #d&d 4e #mcdm game #13th age #game design

[orcanist]

Art to celebrate the end of a successful 13th Age campaign. Clockwise from top:

Aldrich, a half-orc half-aasimar Commander

Zerym, a tiefling Warlock

Rask, a dragonborn Sorcerer (+ the group mascot Fred, a stuffed dragon toy given life)

Jevin, an orc Monk

by taoren

#dnd #ttrpg #13th age #art #gay monsters #orc #tiefling #dragonborn #taoren

[nerdnag]

My TTRPG group is restarting tonight after over a year with no sessions 🙌

We're playing 13th age which might be my fave system that I've tried so far. I'm a human wizard called Abigail who's the daughter of a pirate and a ship's wizard. She's left the pirate life behind and is trying to make ends meet by substituting at an underwater magic academy (and by selling magical contraband to students). Also she is friends with the hellspawn beast that lives under the seabed, because she nursed it back to health when it was a tiny baby

#13th age #nagnerd #TTRPNerd #Maybe I'll make some art if things go well

[itspapaz94]

From now on, since they are not a spoiler for my players anymore, I'll post the designs for my last completed tabletop campaign! I named it "La Città Inversa" (The Reversed City), it's a city plunged deep into a crater when the ruler of the empire of which it was the capital was killed. Time is almost still in the city and the dead return to life, their soul trapped inside its borders, every reincarnation with less memories of their former life and more gold to bound them to the City. Some souls are twisted by the rulers of the City, the Guardians, and become monstrous enforcers of the Guardians' will. Stay tuned for more!

#ttrpg #ttrpg art #d&d campaign #d&d ideas #13th age #fantasy #theReversedCity

[shaddy24]

Camazotz

Pathfinder 2e

Camazotz (Lord of Bats and Fire) 

Camazotz was once a simple nabasu demon with great ambition and drive. Among the many nabasu born, he fought his way to greater power, fulfilled his hunger, ascended to become a vrolikai, and then grew even more powerful. He became a nascent demon lord focused over bats and vampires, becoming more and more bat-like as he went, but it wasn’t until he managed to steal the fire aspect of another nascent demon lord that he managed to break through the threshold and become a true demon lord. He solidified his place in the Abyss in one fell swoop, claiming a section of it as his lair and quickly began spreading his following deeper into the material plane among primarily derro and goblins.

Once only found in darkness, his newfound connection with fire and light has bolstered his confidence, and he is becoming more confident in daylight; a confidence that is also spreading to his cults as he recruits more beings comfortable in the day.

Areas of Concern bats, blood drinking, fire Edicts feed on blood and aid creatures that do so, spread fire, proclaim your victories Anathema refuse your ambition, Divine Attribute Constitution or Wisdom

Devotee Benefits  Cleric Spells 1st: breathe fire, 4th: vapor form, 5th: moon frenzy Divine Font harm  Divine Skill Intimidation Domains ambition, darkness, destruction, fire, Favored Weapon dagger

Created even before his rise to true demon lord, skin bats are one of Camazotz's favorite creations. The flayed skin of a victim sacrificed in his name, fed into a vat of flesh, and granted horrible unlife, these creatures fly in great flocks in Camazotz's Abyssal realm, and he teaches their creation to his followers. They feed on the skin of other beings to replace the constantly rotting components of their own body, peeling it off in horrible strips and fusing it to themselves. They typically have an 8 foot wingspan, despite the relatively small size of their body, and over time its coloration shifts based on the color of the skin it feeds on.

Skin Bat Creature 0 Rare, Small, Mindless, Undead Perception +7; darkvision Skills Acrobatics +5, Stealth +5 Str +1, Dex +3, Con +0, Int -4, Wis +1, Cha -2 AC 15; Fort +4, Ref +7, Will +5 HP 15 (negative healing); Immunities death effects, disease, mental, paralyzed, poison, unconscious Speed 10 feet, fly 40 feet Melee fangs +7 (finesse), Damage 1d4+1 plus attach and critical paralysis Attach [1 action] When a skin bat hits a target larger than itself, it attempts to attach it to that creature. It makes an Acrobatics check against the target's Reflex DC. This attempt neither applies nor counts towards the skin bat's multiple attack penalty. This is similar to grabbing the creature, but the skin bat moves with that creature rather than holding it in place. The skin bat is flat-footed while attached. If the skin bat is killed or pushed away while attached to a creature it has peeled skin from, that creature takes 1d4 persistent bleed damage. Escaping the attach or removing the skin bat in other ways doesn’t cause bleed damage. Critical Paralysis (incapacitation) On a critical hit with fangs, the target must attempt a DC 12 Fortitude saving throw. Critical Success The target is temporarily immune to Critical Paralysis for 1 hour. Success The target is unaffected. Failure The target is slowed 1 for 1d4 rounds. Critical Failure The target is paralyzed for 1d4 rounds. Peel Skin [1 action] (healing); Requirements The skin bat is attached to a creature. Effect The skin bat peels the skin from a creature it's attached to and incorporates it into its own body. This deals 1d4 damage and the skin bat regains Hit Points equal to the damage dealt. If it's at full health, it instead gains temporary Hit Points equal to that amount. A creature that has its skin peeled in this way is sickened and drained 1 until it receives healing (of any kind or amount).

13th Age

Camazotz is a newly minted ruler of a Hellhole, having usurped control from his weakening and decrepit predecessor. Formerly a very powerful bat demon, he inherited fire from the balor Hugotha when he devoured the balor's flesh and now wields it with a fascination that borders on reverence. The Hellhole, formerly decaying and falling in on itself now resurges with vitality and power, hordes of bat demons pouring forth in an unending tide to drown out the lax defenders who'd grown used to Hugotha's laziness. Perhaps this was the wish of the Diabolist, to replace a failing minion, or perhaps Camazotz has overturned her carefully laid out plan to limit the impact of any one particular Hellhole to ensure that her power isn't destroyed with all reality, but either way Camazotz prepares for a far greater invasion of the world.

Camazotz Large 14th level troop [demon] Initiative: +19 Vulnerability: Cold Claws and Bites +19 vs. AC (3 attacks) - 70 damage plus 20 fire damage. Natural 16+: The target also takes a cumulative -1 penalty to melee attack rolls (maximum -4, hard save removes the penalty entirely). C: Life-Eating Fire +19 vs. PD (1d3+2 nearby enemies in a group) - 90 fire damage and the target only gains half the hit points from spending a recovery to heal (save ends). Natural Even Hit: The target loses one recovery. If it has no recoveries, it takes the usual penalty for using a recovery. Camazotz gains the use of the escalation die for 1 turn per recovery he eats this way. Limited Use: 1/battle, recharges whenever Camazotz reduces an enemy to 0 hit points. C: Wing Attack +19 vs. PD (1d2 nearby enemies) - The target pops free from Camazotz, takes 2d8 fire damage, and is hampered until the end of Camazotz’s next turn. Hit or Miss: Camazotz can move as a quick action. Quick Use: 1/round, as a quick action, when the escalation die is even. Bat Ears: Increase the DC to hide from or sneak past Camazotz silently by +5. Flight. Heat Mantle: At the start of each of Camazotz’s turns, each enemy engaged with him takes 3d6 fire damage. Summon Bats: As a quick action, Camazotz can summon 1d4 giant bat swarm mooks. They appear in the battle as a new mob, acting after the next 1d3+2 creatures have taken their turns. This ability recharges when the escalation die reaches 6 for the first time. He summons 2 additional mooks when the escalation die is 6, and the entire mob roll a d6 on the demonic ability table. Resist Fire and Lightning 18+. AC 30 PD 27 MD 26 HP 980

Giant Bat Swarm  12th level mook [beast]  Initiative: +14 Vulnerability: Thunder Swarming Bites +18 vs. PD (1d3 nearby enemies) - 30 damage, and after the attack the giant bat swarm engages one of the targets. Natural Even Hit: The target is hampered until the end of its next turn. It can end this effect by attacking the swarm, or if the swarm drops to 0 hit points. No Opportunities: The giant bat swarm can’t make opportunity attacks, and enemies can’t make opportunity attacks against it. Swarming Resistance 18+: The giant bat swarm gains damage resistance against all damage from enemies the swarm didn’t attack during its last turn. AC 27 PD 27 MD 22 HP 100 (mook) Mook: Kill one giant bat swarm mook for every 100 damage you deal to the mob.

#pathfinder 2e #13th age #homebrew #my homebrew #monster #demon #undead #beast #pathfinder level 0 #13th age level 14 #13th age level 12 #long post #tome of beasts

[ijustrllyadorecats]

Girls when they turn 13

#nina sayers #pearl #jennifer check #helen #anna #possession #black swan #jennifers body #notes #movies #13th age

[6fu]

Yuria has been very hard at work, taking it on herself to make Let's Play the 13th Age: Ultimate Edition!

"In September of 2012, a band of scrappy adventurers set forth into the fresh land of the Dragon Empire, where they forever changed the world in a campaign told over four years in real time. Join us as we recount their early adventures, remastered and trimmed, for a fresh retelling of the first chronicles of the Rogue Elements in the 13th Age!"

This will be updated periodically as she works through those early sessions. You can follow along on our website, and the first episode is already live. If you're subscribed to us, you might already know about this!

#6FU #Six Feats Under #Actual Play #TTRPG #13th Age #D20

[bramblesramblesintoshambles]

The Eclipse Dungeon

-Art by Alexey Karelin (Art Station).

Hey everyone, I made a little dungeon for 13th Age. Fair warning I've not had a chance to test this out mechanics wise, but with the second edition being worked on I figured I'd post this. I highly recommend this system for anyone who finds Pathfinder "too crunchy" its relatively simple and abstract but has a lot of cool little mechanics you can use.

To set the scene for The Eclipse Dungeon. Your party (Level 1 recommending 3+ players) have been asked to investigate a dungeon underneath strange ruins which were recently discovered. Unlike other castles from forgotten eras, there are no signs of undead or diabolical intent. In fact, you could scarcely call it a castle. A few mushroom shaped towers connected by a hollow wall, strange mixtures of architecture far older than any of the current icons. Their catacombs lay bear of dead, with only a tunnel leading deep underneath remaining there. At its end, a platform which descends, by magic, into the dungeon your adventurers will face. No monsters, undead, or even ordinary folk have attacked them yet.

So, above is a map with a layout for the dungeon, but I figured I should do my best to explain the key first. A purple heart simply marks the locations where enemies appear, not their quantity. However a larger purple heart does indicate a greater challenge. Gold circles represent key items, which are pieces used in the resolution of various puzzles throughout each maze. The blue squares mark the locations of the puzzles themselves, or more accurately where they can be finished. Red lines indicate barriers which can be opened or locked depending on how they are interacted with. A puzzle or key item will indicate which door is unlocked. The ascent points marked indicate your exit from this dungeon.

Puzzle 1

When the PCs arrive in the dungeon they encounter three barriers and an opening to the South-East maze. Above it is writing which no individual party member can read. To decipher it requires a difficult (16+) Intelligence check from a character, adding background skills if applicable. On a normal (11+) result, Human and Elf characters can each determine part of this message. Human characters read: "Long ago... sun and... clung together... kingdoms into". Meanwhile elves read: "... the... the moon... plunging two... darkness". A character with the Linguist feat only requires a normal (11+) Intelligence check to translate it. If they are an elf or human reduce this to an easy (6+) check instead. The full message is "Long ago the sun and the moon clung together plunging two kingdoms into darkness".

There are two tapestries in this maze, at locations 2 and 3. The tapestry at location 2 shows an army of dark elves wearing silver armour. Additionally, there are empty armour suits being controlled by a Drow Mage in the tapestry. She wields a black iron sword edged in silver alongside her wand. This Drow Queen stands at the back of her people. Meanwhile, the tapestry at location 3 shows human warriors led by a figure in golden armour. These soldiers are surrounded by golden light, fighting despite grievous injuries. The Human King wields a staff of gold weaved with bone white wood from which thorns grow. The Drow Queen tapestry is close to location 1, which contains a golden orb; their first key item. Location 3 is close to location 4, which contains their second key item; a silver disk. These can then be taken to the blue square for this maze.

-Art from the Britannica website.

In the final room, there are two statues. One is of the Elf Queen, the other of the Human King. Both have their weapons pointed at each other, however their eyes are shielded against a pillar between the pair of them. In this pillar is a circular indentation, the golden orb glows warmly when placed in there. After this, they must place the disk over that orb to simulate an eclipse. The disk and orb grow dark, all light within pushed to their edges which hurts to look at. This opens the gate into the Western labyrinth, where they will find the second puzzle of this dungeon.

On their way back out players will find new tapestries at 4.5. Hanging to the left of the exit from this maze is a tapestry of the Drow Queen, to the right is the Human King. Above the head of the Drow Queen is the left half of the eclipse, and she now commands animated armours against a hoard of undead. She now wields a staff which was once belonged to an enemy. In her hand what was once pale wood is silver coiled against gold, their briars curling up and around an onyx disk. Similarly, the Human King is posed beneath the other half of that eclipse with gold bathed soldiers battling monsters of various kinds. He has pierced through the heart of a demon with what was once her sword, which is now golden edged with silver and has an onyx in its pommel. A normal (11+) Intelligence check, including applicable background skills, will inform a PC that the events depicted here are ancient. Specifically, they learn this takes place in the mythic age and depict "The Blinding Night". A decade long eclipse which caused monsters, demons, and undead to become more active. On a 16+ they have heard of the Eclipse Royals, mythic rulers of a hybrid kingdom between a nation of moon worshipping Dark Elves and sun worshipping humans.

This is getting enormous so I'll continue this is subsequent posts. Please follow if you want to see the rest of this dungeon.

#13th age #ttrpg #dungeon meshi #tabletop #homebrew #game master #fantasy #fiction

[trilobyyte]

Hello TTRPG community! This isn’t what I normally post, but a good friend of mine is developing a system and would like some feedback :) You can find it here.

Responses are limited to one per person. Thank you!

#dungeons and dragons #pathfinder #pathfinder 2e #13th age #dnd5e #dnd #ttrpg

[rpgsandbox]

The 10 Most Anticipated TTRPGs For 2024!

EN World's annual vote on the most anticipated titles of the coming year, and yes, some games have appeared on this list in previous years.

10 Tales of the Valiant (Kobold Press)

1st appearance Kobold Press joins the 'alternate 5E' club with this rewritten, non-OGL version of the game! A million dollar Kickstarter last year, and a new one for the GM's book going on right now, Kobold Press announced this as 'Project Black Flag' during the OGL crisis of 2023, but being unable to trademark that name opted for Tales of the Valiant instead. The system, however, is still called the Black Flag Roleplaying System.

9. Mothership 1E (Tuesday Night Games)

3rd appearance On this list three years running, the boxed Mothership 1E game should be coming out this year! This is sci-fi horror at its best -- you can play scientists, teamsters, androids, and marines using the d100 'Panic Engine'. Yep, it's Alien(s), pretty much.

8. Monty Python's Cocurricular Mediaeval Reenactment Program (Exalted Funeral)

2nd Appearance Exalted Funeral made quite a splash when they announced this game last year, which went on to make neary $2M on Kickstarter. And how could they not? It's Monty Python fergoodnessake! A rules-lite gaming system, spam, a minigame with catapults, spam, coconut dice rollers, spam, and an irrepressible Python-eque sense of humour. Did I mention the spam? It was at #10 on this list last year, but it's claimed to #8 this year.

7. Daggerheart (Darrington Press)

1st appearance From the Critical Role folks, Daggerheart is a new fantasy TTRPG with its own original system coming out this year with "A fresh take on fantasy RPGs, designed for long-term campaign play and rich character progression."

6. Cohors Cthulhu (Modiphius)

1st appearance It's Ancient Rome. It's Cthulhu. It uses Modiphius' in-house 2d20 System. You can be a gladiator, a centurion, or a Germanic hero. Did I mention Cthulhu?

5. Dolmenwood (Necrotic Gnome)

1st appearance The British Isles, a ton of folklore, and a giant Kickstarter--Dolmenwood is a dark, whimsical fantasy TTRPG drawing from fairy tales and lets you "journey through tangled woods and mossy bowers, forage for magical mushrooms and herbs, discover rune-carved standing stones and hidden fairy roads, venture into fungal grottoes and forsaken ruins, battle oozing monstrosities, haggle with goblin merchants, and drink tea with fairies."

4. Pendragon 6E (Chaosium)

4th appearance Last year's winner was on this list waaaaay back in 425 AD, and it's still here! Well, maybe not that far back, but it's shown up in 2021 at #4, 2022 at #3, 2023 at #1, and now 2024 at #4! What can we say? People are clearly anticipating it... still.

3. 13th Age 2nd Edition (Pelgrane Press)

2nd appearance 13th Age is over a decade old now, and was our most anticipated game way back in 2013. Now the new edition is coming! It's compatible with the original, but revised and with a ton more... stuff! 13th Age 2E was #3 in last year's list!

2. The Electric State Roleplaying Game (Free League)

1st appearance Free League is always on these lists, and for good reason. This gorgeous looking game is described as "A road trip on the verge of reality in visual artist and author Simon Stålenhag's vision of an apocalyptic alternate 1990s".

1. Shadow of the Weird Wizard (Schwalb Entertainment)

3rd appearance First announced by Rob Schwalb a couple of years ago, this is a more family-friendly version of his acclaimed RPG, Shadow of the Demon Lord. SHADOW OF THE WEIRD WIZARD is a fantasy roleplaying game in which you and your friends assume the roles of characters who explore the borderlands and make them safe for the refugees escaping the doom that has befallen the old country. Unsafe are these lands: the Weird Wizard released monsters to roam the countryside, cruel faeries haunt the shadows, undead drag themselves free from their tombs, and old, ancient evils stir once more. If the displaced people would rebuild their lives, they need heroes to protect them. Finally at the top of the list after being #7 in 2022, and #6 in 2023!

#RPG #Tales of the Valiant #Mothership #Monty Python #Daggerheart #Cohors Cthulhu #Dolmenwood #Pendragon #13th Age #The Electric State #Shadow of the Weird Wizard

[paperanddice]

Clockwork abominations are so named because of the heretical and incredibly dangerous key to their creation. Where most clockworks use purely mechanical systems to power them, winding up springs tight and letting the gears power its functioning, these abominations are powered by a special engine infused with the energy of a bound devil. This creates a construct that can function indefinitely, never requiring rewinding or attention, but it infuses the malevolence of the devil into the construct. While they are still programmed to follow instructions, they are far more likely to seek loopholes in their programming in order to cause death and destruction. If they can ever escape control by way of an open ended order they will attempt to escape, ensuring that no new order can constrain their destructive desires again.

Creating a clockwork abomination is a risky process, and many attempts to properly infuse and integrate the infernal power source fail, meaning that when it succeeds the construct is often a bit rushed. Rarely as polished and perfect as standard clockworks, they often look almost like scrap metal when at rest, though in motion they are deadly. Most are designed with insectoid appearances, four legs and two forelimbs with some kind of grasping appendage at the end. Their forelimbs reach shockingly far, pistons within extending them to lash out unexpectedly, and a large head with many eyes shining like dim lanterns perches atop a long neck.

Inspired by the Tome of Beasts 1. This post came out a week ago on my Patreon. If you want to get access to all my monster conversions early, as well as access to my premade adventures and other material I’m working on, consider backing me there!

Pathfinder 2e

Clockwork Abomination Creature 5 Rare Large Clockwork Construct Devil Fiend Unholy Perception +11; greater darkvision Languages Common, Infernal Skills Athletics +15, Stealth +10 Str +6, Dex +1, Con +4, Int +0, Wis +0, Cha +1 Agile Legs The clockwork abomination ignores nonmagical difficult terrain. AC 20; Fort +15, Ref +12, Will +9 HP 78; Immunities death effects, disease, doomed, drained, fatigued, fire, healing, necromancy, nonlethal attacks, paralyzed, poison, sickened, unconscious; Resistances physical 5 (except adamantine or orichalcum); Weaknesses electricity 5, holy 5, orichalcum 5 Self Destruct (divine) When the clockwork abomination is reduced to 0 hit points, its infernal power source detonates with a 10-foot emanation, dealing 4d6 fire damage (DC 22 basic Reflex save). Speed 25 feet, climb 25 feet Melee jaw +15 (reach 10 feet, unholy), Damage 2d6+6 piercing plus 1d6 spirit Melee slam +15 (agile, reach 15 feet, unholy), Damage 2d4+6 bludgeoning plus 1d6 spirit Breath Weapon [two actions] (divine, fire) The clockwork abomination unleashes fire from its infernal power source that deals 4d10 fire damage in a 20-foot cone (DC 22 basic Reflex save). The clockwork abomination can't use Breath Weapon again for 1d4 rounds.

13th Age

Clockwork Abomination  Large 3rd level wrecker [construct and devil]  Initiative: +6 Vulnerability: Lightning Piston Arm +8 vs. AC (2 attacks, can target nearby enemies) - 14 damage. C: Breath Weapon +8 vs. PD (1d4 nearby enemies in a group) - 15 fire damage. Limited Use: 1/battle. [Special Trigger] C: Self Destruct +8 vs. PD (all engaged enemies) - 12 fire damage. Scuttle: Enemies attempting to intercept a clockwork abomination must roll a saving throw; on a failure, the clockwork abomination slips past them and reaches its intended destination. Devil’s Due (Infernal Power): When you choose to add the escalation die to an attack against a clockwork abomination, one clockwork abomination in the battle can recharge its breath weapon. Resist Fire 13+. AC 18 PD 17 MD 14 HP 90

#pathfinder 2e #13th age #homebrew #my homebrew #monster #construct #pathfinder level 5 #13th age level 3 #long post

[ramblingzombpossum]

So, I have several new characters despite not 'joining any new games'.

It's failed, horribly.

My husband and I have started several games, one he is running is an open game that anyone is welcome to join called En Garde! Via a Discord server.

I have 2 characters in the game, after retiring my first. (He hit his end game, got to SL 10, married his mistress, was a King's Musketeer for a few months, debt free, and is now running an inn that'll be used as a backdrop for other things.)

Second character is Serge de Bordeaux, the bastard of an impoverished Comte, he is looking to make a name for himself, and prove he's not his father (he's better.) He is a cock sure 18 year old, and he currently needs a good bit of money to get out of debt, and then begin climbing the social ladder.

Newest character is Solitaire Énveré (real name Soléne Anouihl), a 'married' 16 year old, Sol goes by her childhood nickname and 'married' her best friend Céline Beauchamp (alias Alizee Énveré). They are both very new to Paris, and they are not in fact a real couple. Sol has no interest in being a man, but they both understand how much is closed to single women in the likes of 1626 Paris due to social norms, so they set out to make their life a bit better and see the City for themselves. They've made some friends, and make a big show of 'just being married', with Sol being a bit more quiet as she tries to keep up her charade.

For another game we have started called Honor and Introgue, I have a youngish (21-22) year old pirate in the Caribbean, she has very little interest in settling down, though is a hopeless romantic. She has been sailing the Caribbean for 3 years, after leaving England originally during the Protestant Reformation. Relocating with her uncle and cousin to Italy, where she found the life her uncle offered was not at all palatable. She ran off, leaving her family behind and learning Italian before meeting a man and his son, who took her in, taught her how to fight the Italian Duel style, she took off once more when the son died and the man threw her out (then died, and she is now being blamed for that, because SURPRISE! The son isn't actually dead.)

Anyway, I am super excited to see where she winds up, at the moment she has done her best to refuse anything higher than First Mate/Quartermaster on a ship. She has been enlisted by the Pirate King of Tortuga as his quartermaster at the moment, as they attempt to get enough treasure to keep his position. (She has an enemy of the Admiral of the Spanish Navy's wife, because of an affair, and she is basically on the run from her brother who is a Captain in the Navy. He's being paid by her to hunt Sybil down and kill her.) Said Captain is backing another Pirate captain who is using fine goods to Garner votes from the others to become the Pirate King himself, and then a puppet for the Spanish Naval Man.

Right now there is a chance Sybil dies, but it all goes according to plan, she is likely to be shoved out by the Pirate King as he announces he's retiring, and throwing her in as the next King. (Which she will absolutely hate, and I look forward to the big climactic battle for this portion, as we will end the story after Tortuga's fate is decided.)

THEN my husband has the audacity to be like "I really want to play Fate." So he kept pitching me ideas, until he suggested what boils down to basically Bridgerton meets Spider-man with Swashbuckling.

I fell on playing Matilda Whitlock, a woman just reaching age to attend the Ton, and be touted about for marriage. Her brother and her are the only two living members of their family, after their parents are killed off for land disputes (we aren't actually sure yet). Nathan, her brother is a gambler, and has been running the family into poverty, he is pursued by debt collectors, and they are at risk of losing everything.

Matilda in our one session played so far, has been very clear in her disdain of being married off, not because she doesn't want a husband. Secretly she longs to find a man she loves and could spend her life with much like her mother and father, however, she has spent the last several years learning to fight, to take on the cities criminals, and slowly gaining insight on who killed her parents.

She is a haughty, stubborn woman of society during the day, attending tea, entertaining visits of men, and doing her duty no matter how much she bucks against it.

At night she dressed in a black outfit, complete with black mask, and has been deemed 'The Black Goat' by the citizens and criminals alike. All believe the Goat is nothing more than a vigilante man, playing at being more than he is. She has proven in her one session a competent fighter, as well as more than happy to use her skills for somewhat selfish reasons. (She went after debt collectors who took her jewelry to pay off her brother's debts.)

I can not wait to see where all these new characters go, especially as we wrap up other games.

Coming to an end are Burning Wheel (Burning Seas), which I have a feeling is going to end with Jerica's death.

Burning Wheel (Burning Stars) with @artbyakikira , who has been a delight as a Roden named Bumper, but we will answer so many questions, will my elf die? Or will she cling to life and keep Galluchanar alive as well? Will my dwarf continue to fight for her birth right? Or will she accept her adopted brother and let him take the throne? Will she die fighting against the corrupted elves, or will she die fighting the elven army marching on Maraknaplana to keep the dwarves from taking the mountain and possibly releasing the stars once more?

We are also wrapping up our Pathfinder for Savage Worlds game coming to an end. I feel Bacun is going to either not make it, or she's going to be lost to rage when she loses another friend.

13th Age with Terach is also coming to an end soon, our current quest to save the ancient Red Dragon Ethridge from the Lich King's poison is coming to an end. Leaving us wondering if our Druid will die to his patron of the Dragon Druid circle, if our Drow will be able to survive as the pair of dragons go at it, and if Terach will make it out of Ethridge's mind alive, or if they're doomed to become apart of a Dracholich.

Once this story arc is wrapped we head into Level 10, and start working on the Crusader's final assault and trying to end him. (I'm really curious what is going to happen, considering Terach is a Chaotic gremlin and could swing either way at the drop of a hat.)

Then we have Beyond the Wall, season 2 coming to an end. This game is a follow up in 5E from a previous game of Beyond the Wall, and is culminating in some very exciting times as we head into the mountain once again, to face off against our former ally and friend, to keep the world from ending.

We may finally get an answer from Amelio, the alf-elf fighter/paladin on who he wants to settle down with as well, the lovely elf who restored his voice, or the loyal and charming Tiefling he has been oblivious to until a big kiss (and mother and friend intervention and they forced him to tell Amelio. :P)

So many games are wrapping, but I'm hopeful to get to know these new duet characters, and explore who they are, what they want, and how far they are willing to go.

#RPGs #TRRPGs #tabletop rpgs #13th Age #Beyond the Wall #DnD 5E #Honor and Intrigue #En Garde! #Sybil #Matilda #Morwen #Korneli #Solitaire #Serge #Terach #Fate #Amelio #Jerica #ramblings #zombpossum rambles