#tabletop dev

[the-headless-bear]

Hullo hullo hullo! This is Mademoiselle Jefferson, head developer of The Headless Bear Development Team live from the studio basement. This blog will serve as a place for development logs, short stories, art, and whatever the hell else we decide to share ^^

Who are we?

We’re a small indie team of nerds, 8 members strong, lifelong fans of all fantasy works, as well as the broader spectrum of all-things-fiction, working to develop our own tabletop role playing game: Salvation. Individual introductions coming in the next few posts.

What do we want?

Quite simply we want to create a game that can scratch an itch that no other tabletop game has been able to. A game of true creativity, where your every idea can flourish with your friends, or where you can make friends through the whimsy of sharing a story together for a few hours a week.

Through this blog, we aim to get our name out there, and we do truly hope you’ll be along for the ride!

What is Salvation?

Salvation is a high fantasy, steampunk-aesthetic tabletop game designed for all your mage and marksman needs.

Salvation takes inspiration from several of the best works of fiction ever made, including the epic fantasy of Dungeons And Dragons, The Lord Of The Rings, and The Wheel Of Time.

We draw upon elements of the give-and-take dice economy of Edge Of The Empire, and the lethality and character-equality of Warhammer Fantasy.

But, we’re no mere copycats, with brand new monstrous species, an entirely unique modular character structure, and dozens of unique, unobtrusive, roleplay facilitating mechanics.

Ultimately this is a game that will let you tell stories; stories where you wage war for king and country, rise up in glorious revolution, or simply carve your own way to stability in a world so volatile.

Through magic blast and musket shot, though war has changed, we have not.

#ttrpg stuff #ttrpg #gaming #tabletop #storytelling #gamedev #game development #tabletop dev #disabled game dev #ND game dev #queer gamedev #trans gamedev #asexual gamedev

[goblincow]

Here's the big dicebreaker interview with the designers & publishers whose names you know well.

Where do we go next?

I'm advocating for tumblr, and I'm in the PlusOneExp discord (just ask me if you need a link to what I'm finding to be a very welcoming island in the storm).

For now, that will suffice for me. I've tidied up my social links, I've sorted out my instagram and started making good use of the Stories feature, and I've long since given up on twitter. But I'm in a position that I'm yet to release my first project, so I've started at the bottom of the mountain and I won't be hit hard by the loss. I really feel for those who have lost years of hard work & struggle. It must feel like shit.

I appreciate this quote at the end of the article from Jess Levine:

“Every platform wants their walled garden, and the VC money that funded the existence of social media platforms that acted like a public is drying up as they realise maintaining what amounts to public infrastructure isn’t profitable,” Levine said.

“We're basically just speedrunning the neoliberal enclosure of anything resembling a public commons, this time with digital spaces rather than physical ones. As a creator and a generalist that markets their work online—and in some ways, even just as a person—that’s terrifying.”

#twitter #x #ttrpg #dicebreaker #indie ttrpg #tabletop #creator #ttrpg design #indie dev

[efangamez]

Only 10 days left to snag this AWESOME TTRPG bundle!! 💛💛

Hey y'all! All of the help you've given me thus far has been truly amazing, and I really wanted to thank you for that 💛 I have used the money this far as a safety net for emergencies and to just enjoy life, whether that means going to the movies once a month or buying an Arizona each day with my walk as I build my strength back up.

We are, however, falling a bit short of our goal. I really want to be able to afford therapy more than anything right now, and visits cost about 100 per visit out of pocket with my insurance. So, if I'm looking to get expensive therapy and psychiatric appointments and official diagnosis, it will cost upward of 2,000+ dollars.

Also, I would really like to have some money to pay off my taxes I owe from 2022. I owe, still, about 3,500+ taxes, which I pay off each month. I pay the absolute minimum so I don't have to dig too deep in monthly costs. If I could pay off a chunk of it in one fell swoop, I could save nearly $500 a year and could nip interest accrued from my taxes in the bud.

Finally, and not as important, I need a new desktop computer. My current one is slowly dying, and the fans are giving out. My power supply is also a bit wonky, and my graphics card is and CPU is outdated, meaning I can't stream games well, nor can I play some games that give me solace. It's not imperative right now, but to have this as an option would be wonderful.

So please, if you would, could you purchase a game bundle? It's countless hours of entertainment with your friends for only $25, almost a FOURTH the cost of a AAA video game with HUNDREDS of hours of content. Not only are you snagging games, but you're also helping out a person in need. It's a win win!!!

Snag the games below, and if you can't purchase anything right now, please kindly reblog!

#ttrpg #indie ttrpg #trans #queer #indie #gamedev #game dev #cyberpunk #scifi #dnd #queer mutual aid #mutualaid #mutual aid request #disabled #visual disability #queer community #tabletop rpgs #tabletop roleplaying

[lorazx]

BABEL IS OUT ON ITCH.IO NOW!

This game has been the last year and a half of my life, and I am very, very proud of it. You can go and grab it on my itch.io page, for $5 USD! A steal for a full 40 page rulebook, including character sheets and playing board.

Hopefully ya'll like it as much as I loved working on it!

Grab it here: https://lorazx.itch.io/babel

#indie ttrpg #ttrpg #babel #indie game dev #tabletop gaming #games #lorazx #tabletop games #new release #itch.io

[devsgames]

Hasbro laid off 1100 people, include large numbers from Magic the Gathering and Dungeons and Dragons teams.

Most of the DnD folks who Larian collaborated with on Baldur's Gate 3 were fired by Hasbro and are no longer working at the company. You know, Baldur's Gate 3? The game that won GOTY at The Game Awards and was so unbelievably profitable that it caught everyone, even those making it, off-guard?

If you can make an unexpected smash hit that blows expectations out of the water and you're still not safe, then who is?

Anyway, start organizing your workplace.

#game development #gamedev #game dev #gamedevelopment #baldurs gate 3 #bg3 #game industry #ttrpg #tabletop roleplaying #tabletop #dnd5e #dnd #d&d

[bugbearstew]

CHECK IT OUT HERE

Need an NPC fast in your Root The Roleplaying Game session? Don't worry, I got you! Click the "Generate" button and you'll get an npc!

You'll see your NPC's age, species, pronouns and some character traits. You'll also get any weapon or gear they have, loot or special items, and a request Finally, you'll see a list of "stats." These are just for fun and jokes but they can help you develop the character even deeper!

Have fun!

Follow me on: twitter- cohost- tumblr- bluesky

Art by Millie @diddgery twitter- cohost- tumblr

Thanks to Meg yyako and Owen esspee for code assistance!

Check out Root The Roleplaying Game by Magpie Games

#game dev #indie dev #tabletop #tabletop games #root #root rpg

[chromegnomes]

today is my birthday. in hobbit fashion, I am giving you all a gift that is also Selfish on some level: 50% off Wizard War! ($4)

Wizard War is a Tradingless Card Game that asks two questions:

What if you could play a TCG-like strategy card game using regular poker cards and other household items

What if the card game War didn’t suck, and was instead complex, layered, and wizard-y

The digital edition comes with a tablet-friendly PDF and a printable PDF, along with a printable sheet of Reference Cards so you can easily keep track of all the rules for the smoothest play experience.

It also comes with a digital version that you can upload to playingcards.io and challenge a buddy, using a custom deck of pixel art wizard cards designed by yours truly

Everything you need to play IRL is included in the digital version, but if you're craving a more hands-on Wizard Experience, you can get the Physical Edition from my ko-fi page, starting at $20, and own the deck and zine for yourself!

You really can't get more Wizards Per Dollar anywhere else. Also: the game is legit fun. You can trust me on this bc I spent hundreds of hours making and playtesting it and still don't hate it

That's all, carry on, I'm off to celebrate being one year closer to looking like the wizard on the cover

#wizard war #pixel art #indie dev #tabletop

[weirdmallow]

The level up section from my new TTRPG 'Warped'! Since you play as a whole host of different alternate reality versions of your character in 'Warped', levelling up gives you more control over the chaotic energy of the Multiverse, allowing you to change forms more often, open rifts in space and time and summon variants from different dimensions to fight alongside you!

The game has been a joy to develop and the Kickstarter is currently live with only one week to go if you want to back and play your part in bringing this manic multiverse to life!

#dnd #indie ttrpg #tabletop #ttrpg #ttrpg community #dungeons and dragons #ttrpg character #ttrpg design #ttrpg dev #dungeonsanddragons #scifi #games #indie games #zine #zine promo #kickstarter #crowdfunding

[makiokuta]

Hey everyone! My big set of 55 character designs for $30 is currently a part of the Palestinian Relief Bundle over on itch.io, for only $8.

The proceeds from the bundle are going to the PCRF (Palestine Children's Relief Fund), and comes with a lot of really great games like A Short Hike, Bossgame, Coffee Talk and so many more. I see Ronove's novel Hymn of Memory in there and ub4q's visual novel 'if not us' that I keep meaning to play.

A lot (373 items) of good stuff for a very important cause.

There's 8 days left on the bundle, and it's currently very short of it's goal. Check it out, share it with your friends, and if you can spare $8, please consider.

#Palistinian Relief Bundle #MKart #itch.io #game bundle #palestine fundraiser #TTRPG #Indie Dev #Game Dev #tabletop art #character art #digital art #indie games

[anim-ttrpgs]

Officially Announcing the First Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy Adventure Jam!

The theme/prompt is “Murder Mystery”!

Check the game jam page out here!

Download the free shareware copy of the Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy rulebook here!

Join our patreon to get the full rulebook for $5 here!

This jam will take submissions from November 1st to December 1st, and after that there will be a two-week voting period to determine what submission was the best, with cash prizes for the winner.

1st: $20

2nd: $10

3rd: $5

We made this to be played. We want people to be playing Eureka, free version or not, and the easiest way to do that is with adventure modules, so an exerienced or novice GM can run a deep and intriguing mystery with hardly any prep at all. You can find a free adventure module in the same place you’d pick up the free rulebook, and get two more adventure modules for just $5 on our patreon, but we’d like you to have more options than that to start out. Of course we have many partially-finished official Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy adventure modules on the back-burner, but we can’t dedicate a lot of attention to them until after full release and our Kickstarter is still several months away. So, we’re having this adventure module jam.

This jam is primarily for adventure modules meant to be played with Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy, and you can find a helpful blank template for such an adventure module in the same place where you’d download the free version of the rulebook—but if you submit something else related to Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy, we’ll also consider that too.

(Submissions must follow the guidelines listed on the game jam page.)

#eureka #eureka: investigative urban fantasy #rpg #roleplaying #coc #tabletop #ttrpg #indie rpg #dnd #ttrpg tumblr #indie ttrpg #ttrpg community #ttrpg design #ttrpg dev #call of cthulhu #dungeons and dragons #monsters #monster girl #monstergirl #monster #werewolf #monster boy #game jam #adventure module #horror #halloween #game #jam #ttrpgs #ttrpg jam

[harpsona]

Oh yeah, I started a game studio with my husband! ✨

We’re currently working on a tabletop (card) game and a video game and I’m super excited to share once they’re ready!

In the meantime, we’d appreciate it if you checked out our website: https://little-creature.com

#not harp #game dev #indie games #tabletop #video games #seriously so excited to share once we are ready #in the meantime we do have merch if you want a little creature in your life

[transmisc2]

SURPRISE! Cabinet of Curiosities, my new party-style mini-TTRPG for two or more players, is now available for free/pay what you want.

Using the booklet and a 52 deck of cards, you and one or more friends play a Collector running a mysterious shop of haunted objects (for which you will pay a terrible price), and (a) Customer(s) chasing their heart's desire. Will you survive the Object, or will you be forced to pay the price?

[ENTER THE MYSTERIOUS SHOP->]

#artists on tumblr #illustration #ttrpg #indie rpg #indie dev #tabletop #cabinet of curiosities #haunted objects #cursed object #party game #card game

[goblincow]

CATS or What Is This RPG or Setting The Table

So I just heard about CATS courtesy of the good folks in the PlusOneExp discord server. CATS was written by Patrick O'Leary for the 2016 200 Word RPG Challenge.

It's nice and short (200 words even) and it's a compelling formula for the classic What Is This TTRPG segment that warrants a page at the front of every good RPG book.

I find it particularly interesting that this is imagined as a micro-RPG in its own right, a table activity for the start of game night that sets out to address what I have always found to be the most painful aspect of playing any TTRPG (besides tedious and arcane character creation rituals – I'm looking at you 5e PHB 👀): the friction that arises from players having discordant, conflicting, contradictory or incompatible expectations during play.

We can formulate the basic strucure of CATS in a variety of ways: Concept/Aim/Tone/Subject Matter, What/Where/When/Who/Why/How, Premise/Overview/Goals/What You Need, etc. all of which can be applied in two immediate directions:

In a What Is This RPG section, these are just codified methods for teaching the player/reader (more of my thoughts on the player/reader here) how to read and communicate everything that comes next in a way that's both more focused than a blurb (which might basically constitute the Concept/Premise/Hook) and more comprehensive than an elevator pitch.

As a launchpad for table play, these structures guide the conversation to establish the pillars of the shared fiction, and I especially appreciate CATS for the fact that it ends on Subject Matter. It could be the consequence of a tortured acronym, but having set the stage in every other way it seems appropriate to hop into safety tools as the final as the final negotiation before play, once all context is provided but nothing is yet set in stone.

That's all he wrote on CATS.

In THE PERILOUS PEAR & PLUM PIES OF PUDWICK I wrote a conversation guide to the meat of the adventure on pg. 11, following an introductory segment of the game that functions as a session 1 prologue of sorts before delving into the hexflower "dungeon" microsetting, inciting incident et al. It's interesting for me to look back at the way I structured this from the perspective of CATS.

If you're curious about TPPAPPOP and want a sneak peak of what you can expect, here's that segment from pg. 11, Inside The Tree:

Resources: the insects of the tree live in darkness and have varying weird diets – you might decide that tracking resources like light and food is important, or maybe at this scale adventurers can survive on the honeydew, leaves and strange meats that the insects eat. Sights and Sounds: footsteps might sound like earthquakes, voices like distant thunder. What are the twitches and mannerisms of the chittering language of insects? How does artificial light disturb the denizens of the tree? Setting and Tone: to adjust the game to your group's preference, you might lean into the existential conflict of intruding on and potentially dooming these fledgling societies, or downplay the crawling horror of an insect world to allow its cuter side to shine through.

#TPPAPPOP #TTRPG #indie TTRPG #indie tabletop #tabletop #ttrpg design #bugs bugs bugs #d&d #CATS #5e #tabletop design #indie dev #TTRPG dev

[efangamez]

BaN tHis!, an Anti-fascist and Anti-Bigot Game-Thing, is out now!

CW // Bigotry in all forms, swearing. M-rating equivalent.

bAN tHiS! is a story and setting-unspecific game where you fight for a better future against bigots and fascists. Download to have a good time and unpack white supremacy culture and capitalism at the same time. 

NOTE: No nazis, fascists, hyper-capitalists, bitcoin-miners, TERFs, or any other bigot is allowed to play my game. If you've been invited to a table of queer or BIPOC people and you're any of these things, all I gotta say is you better fix your shit realllllllllll quick and get with the fucking program.

And yes. The game is supposed to look like this. Deal with it.

(this game was made in a moment of intense grief for our queer and BIPOC communities, and I wanted to quickly switch my attitude to revel in our capacity for change through fist and feelings, so I submitted it to Pride N' Joy June :p)

#ttrpg #indie ttrpg #queer #trans #indie #gamedev #game dev #scifi #cyberpunk #liberation #rebellion #anarchy #communism #equality #mutual aid #please donate #donations #game developers #tabletop roleplaying #tabletop rpg #tabletop homebrew #tabletop games

[party-in-the-front]

My 2 covers for the TTRPG Blood Neon. Original game above and the upcoming Atomic Shock expansion below. Click pics to know more!

#ttrpg #ttrpg art #ttrpg dev #dnd #tabletop games #tabletop gaming #vaporwave #synthwave #neon #doom #bloodneon #atomic #nuclear #blood neon #atomic shock #fantasy #retro #80s

[impernious]

Hey! So I'm super new to Tumblr, please be kind.

I'm a tabletop rpg designer. I develop games and do freelance writing. Most of my current work is with Onyx Path, but I've done some stuff with Magpie, Green Ronin, and JWP (back when that was still a thing).

Things you might have read and not realized I was involved:

Exalted: Essence (I wrote the social and combat mechanics) The Trinity Continuum (I developed the mechanics for the Core and Aeon, and I developed Adventure!, I also wrote on a ton of other books like Assassins) Avatar Legends (I wrote the Kyoshi era adventure in the companion) Werewolf: The Apocalypse 20th (I wrote on a couple of supplements for this) Mage: The Awakening 2e (I wrote the magic system for the core book) Vampire: The Requiem 2e (I developed almost all the supplements for this before Paradox stopped approving things)

If you want to see a full (not at all up to date) listing of my work, you can find it at my freelance website.

#ttrpg dev #ttrpg #ttrpg community #indie ttrpg #tabletop roleplaying #roleplaying game #developer #but not the software kind #no I haven't written for video games #I fucking wish #I'm also now currently making my own game! #It's called At the Gates #I'll probably post more about it in the future #when NDA stuff allows me