itch.io

Not down, just moved!

https://descriptors.timbannock.com/

Thanks!

There's a variation on it over at my site: look for Treasures Just Beyond - Enter The Nerdom variant.

But the larger update is still in the works. It's undergone a lot of rework though, so it's not something I can share out for a while, unfortunately.

That's fantastic news! Xine and Cortex Lite are extremely nice, and filled with clever ideas, tools, and tricks. I absolutely love what I'm seeing! Thank you for the update.

Thank you!

Is there an updated link to the Discord

Astonishing Super Heroes is a roleplaying game of superpowered action and drama. Streamlining the classic FASERIP system from the ground up via the OGL, Astonishing Super Heroes plays faster and adds dramatic roleplay mechanics to better represent the variety of challenges superheroes face in the comics, shows, and movies we love so much.

Check it out here!

Thank you! I'm really looking forward to trying my hand at creating some styles, but I want to play with what exists first a little bit before I start doing that.

This is in the very nascent stages, but I'm sort of a completionist, so it probably is pretty decent look at where I'm going. Keep in mind, zero of it is playtested at this point, so there may be massive holes that I haven't noticed yet. And for people that love OSR, they are going to HATE that I've ported in the 5e combat chapter, but I'm not sorry for loving that action economy! ;-P

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1kD7HVGDatZI8Tr3PP8NkZGPKqCNOJerDnfWKJvHC16M/...

The free rules (from their online SRD) have everything you need. The "Advanced Fantasy" rules simply add new classes, race class options, and more monsters and treasure. But there's already a lot in the "Basic" form of the game.

Glad I found this! I just got my copy of Old School Stylish, and absolutely love it. Plan to use it in a game that combines Knave with OSE, and was just about to build my own starting style list. I'll go through this one and then see if I come up with anything to add or replace. Thank you so much for such a cool system!

Supplement 1: A Few Dragons More

Gear has been descriptive unless it was part of a trope itself: I think we've had one character with a Elric-style "Soul-powered Swordmaster" or something very close to that. Many of their consequences were described as self-inflicted problems from the sword.

An additional Skill Point use is definitely not going to throw off balance, especially if every player gets access to such things from time to time.

Alternatively, you could have certain gear create new "permissions" for a character. For example, you might assume that there's no grappling a gigantic monster under normal circumstances, but if you have the Net of Entanglement, you can! Or it might be a one-use "clear a consequence" power, which could be simple (Amulet of Healing) or far more interesting (Reset Timewatch).

Thank you so much for your interest and support! I'm glad you noted the crossover with PbtA because that's definitely a handy pool of resources to pull from.

Unfortunately, we don't have any actual plays or examples handy at this time. That said, one of our playtests took A LOT from Final Fantasy, right down to each character having a turn sequence in which they could Attack, Defend, Magic, Item, or Flee, but it wasn't very "mechanical." For example, Defend might mean some epic action that defends a crowd of bystanders. Magic might mean summoning a kaiju that bodyslams an attacking monstrosity. It was all about escalating our actions and their descriptions as the players battled a kaiju-sized worm spewing forth Cthulhu-esque monsters onto a city. Those descriptions and situations would inform the few rules interactions we needed during the session.

Yes, we're hard at work on getting the rules in line across the board, but it's taking a bit longer than expected. Regardless, the website is now and will remain the most up-to-date core rules, at least.

1. Correct. When you spend an adjective to succeed, you cross it off or erase it: it's gone. When you go fishing in a scene, you pick up whatever adjective(s) the Narrator sets as available. (If the Narrator likes to improv, it could be a conversation between the player and Narrator about what adjectives are available. Either way, only the Narrator sets the refresh number, however, usually from zero to three.)

2. Indeed, the starting adjectives may be seen as "core" to who your character is, but in essence, this game says they are not: it assumes characters will fundamentally change by the session's end. Maybe not who they are, but certainly how their relationship with the world and other characters drives them.

In the core rules, only the descriptor is core to the character, though it's perfectly reasonable to create a Variation (our term for hacks, mods, or house rules) where one or two adjectives are part of that descriptor. That'd be the easiest way to ensure some adjectives don't go away, but then you have to consider if someone can double up on adjectives that are in their descriptor. Can a Gruff Detective pick up "Gruff" from Fishing, or as a setback? Seems like it'd be okay: you just spend the Gruff adjective and then it's gone, then you could spend any adjective to trigger Gruff Detective again (as long as you have at least one adjective to spend, that is!). Nothing game breaking in there, but just something to consider.

In the example of Conan, sure maybe he isn't Mighty any more, but he's now a Radiant Hyborean Warrior, which to me suggests we're taking a clear step towards Conan the King. He could always pick up a Mighty axe at some point, too. Either way, both those scenarios suggest something changed him or his situation, and that's precisely what DeScriptors is trying to highlight!

Thank you for such great questions! Don't hesitate to keep firing away as they crop up!

I should add: the revised rules are simply heavily edited for clarification; they are not, in fact, new rules.

But I figure I might as well answer the questions directly here, just because I have a free moment right now ;-P

* How are “descriptors” used in play? Do they define or constrain the kinds of adjectives or just serve as fictional anchors?

Descriptors are just fictional anchors. You can have any adjectives you want (or pick up during play). The descriptors themselves are "triggered" by spending an adjective, but then using the descriptor in your description of succeeding at the challenge. So it can't be spent itself -- you have to have an adjective to spend to activate it -- but it allows you to always use your character's "core concept" to describe something, and therefore not have to rely on the adjective spent for your description. It's helpful if your adjectives (especially setbacks) just don't really apply to the challenge you want to succeed at.

* Is there a notion of difficulty? Perhaps a certain challenge may require 3 adjectives to overcome?

Tough challenges are a thing: they require 2 adjectives to succeed. Every combat/physical aggression-type challenge is effectively a tough challenge. You could of course have even more difficult ones that cost 3 adjectives, but IMHO, that's better served by offering multiple challenges or even tough challenges to multiple characters in order to succeed, or having different "stages" of the challenge so you're presenting more interesting and varied fictional situations. Like a boss monster with multiple forms that require different ways of defeating them, or complex traps that need to be avoided, disabled, resisted, etc., and so on.

* How do monster adjectives get spent or are they again intended as fictional cues?

Enemies usually don't have adjectives, but when/if they do, those are best used as a list of setbacks. A snake wouldn't have "Poisonous" but might instead give you "Sick" because that's the setback you'd get if you choose to fail at a challenge against the snake.

* Do you have an example of combat to share?

Best to just link you directly to the Example of Play for that! Specifically, look at how the player takes the initiative on spending multiple traits in Scene 3: Bandits, because every combat-type challenge is automatically considered a tough challenge.

Most of these answers can be found in the revised rules and example of play at DeScriptorsRPG.com. Let me know if any remain after that and I'm happy to help out. Thank you so much for your interest in DeScriptors!

Thank you so much for the detailed review!

The Pleasure-not-Business Card TTRPG game jam is going on until Mar 30, 2021, so I took some time to work with my cousin Matthew and create some gaming material!

Two are full tabletop role-playing games you can take with you anywhere in the form of business cards:

• SHARP - Short Hand Adventure Role Playing is a rules-lite OSR-ish type game of fantasy adventure that makes classes super-flexible for weird combinations, and standardizes challenges (traps, monsters, hazards, etc.) in order to make it play very fast, and pretty deadly!
• DeScriptors: I Mean Business is a distillation of the core DeScriptors RPG rules (which you can get for free here), optimizing them for 1-on-1 play and adding a high-stakes relationship drama element!

I've also published two rules add-ons (what we call Variations in DeScriptors lingo) that you can add to your standard DeScriptors RPG games. The first adds a crafting/cooking/recipe-type system and is aptly called DeScriptors: Craft. The second is somewhat related (and can easily be used alongside the crafting rules), adding resource management...with dire consequences if you run out! This is called DeScriptors: Survive, and is potentially  going to be worked into a bigger Variation for the DeScriptors game centered on horror roleplaying in the vein (haha!) of slasher films!

The two full RPGs are $1 each, and the add-ons (which can be used with the free online DeScriptors RPG rules!) are Pay What You Want, so enjoy 'em free or throw us a tip. Notably, if these titles are supported and reach a certain milestone, we'll dive back into them, playtest them harder, expand them, marry them into settings like the ones we've published in DeScriptors: Realms Volume 1, and publish them in a greatly expanded form with guidance and options down the line!

The reclusive Brightwell family has been corrupted by the whispers of a vengeful sorceress-turned-fiend. When this newfound master suddenly grows silent, the madness infecting the household is no longer focused, and cannot be contained. Mayhem spills across the countryside.

Meanwhile, deep below the Brightwell estate, the family’s patriarch Eldon Brightwell inflicts horrifying experiments on both servants and family...

Content Warning: Violence, death/dying, blood, supernatural horror, torture

A house of horrors-style adventure for 4-6 characters of levels 10-14 using OSR and retroclone games compatible with B/X and 1st Edition.

Pick it up today! If you play the 5th edition of the world's most popular fantasy TTRPG, get that version here.

It's here! OSR version for 1st edition and B/X inspired retroclones like OSRIC, Swords & Wizardry, Labyrinth Lord, and the like is available now! Check out DD-02 for OSR games here.

It's here! OSR version for 1st edition and B/X inspired retroclones like OSRIC, Swords & Wizardry, Labyrinth Lord, and the like is available now! Check out DD-02 for OSR games here.

The sequel is here! OSR version for 1st edition and B/X inspired retroclones like OSRIC, Swords & Wizardry, Labyrinth Lord, and the like is available now! Check out DD-02 for OSR games here.

OSR version for 1st edition and B/X inspired retroclones like OSRIC, Swords & Wizardry, Labyrinth Lord, and the like is available now! Check out DD-02 for OSR games here.

The sequel is coming Tue 3/23/21!

The OSR version is coming Tue 3/23/21!

Find the 5th edition prequel to this adventure here.

The sequel is out now!

OSR version of the sequel coming Tue 3/23/21 as well! You can find the OSR version of this adventure here.

Game URL : https://timbannock.itch.io/dragons-grave-driven-by-bids
Reddit Handle :  https://www.reddit.com/user/timbannock
Discord Handle : timbannock [he/him]#5357

https://timbannock.itch.io/dragons-grave-driven-by-bids

On sale now for a limited time!

4/10/2020: Updated the art credits.

We have uploaded v2, featuring a landscape layout, a few more monsters, and a lot more art!

Thanks! Hope you enjoy the adventure, or find some inspiration in it to steal for your homebrew!

Upon seeing the Community Jam, I immediately was struck by a thought:

I just released FARM Champions BETA, a (fairly) light-hearted game of young heroes trying to help their community prosper (perfect for this jam!), and it has a job generator, but not an adventure and quest generator.  I would absolutely love it to bring other voices to that project in the form of "not another white dude," because I am just another white dude. That's all well and good for me, but diverse voices create better games IMHO, so why not?

First off, is anyone interested? You can pick up FARM Champions BETA for free on itchio and see if you like it and might have some ideas. (I mean, if you want to throw a few bucks at it, we'd love ya for it, but by no means do we expect it!)

Secondly, if anyone is interested, can I get some diverse voices to submit some stuff for it? The idea is that I'd add a second PDF with all submissions that the author (my cousin) and I like, so it becomes part of the core of the BETA of the game. Any submissions would come with full credit to the author, and the author would retain rights to re-use whatever they write in whatever form they want as well. Since the Job Generator is pretty system agnostic, that should work out pretty well. Since FARM Champions is all about community at its core, having generational games and mostly positive, interesting cultural or social issues featured in its generators seems like an awesome resource.

Thirdly, would more diverse voices be interested if I were to do this as some sort of contest, or for pay for entries that make it into the final PDF? I've got means, just not sure how it'd work best.

I've got a pretty decent following from my DMsGuild and DTRPG releases, so I'd love to find ways to boost other voices and work with a more diverse crowd. If anyone's interested in my work to see if I'm on the level, you can check timbannock.com, and you can also seek out folks like Alicia Furness, Cat Evans, and other folks I've worked with on DMsGuild projects or as part of the RPG Writers Workshop program as a mentor.

If any of this is outside the bounds of the Community Jam, don't hesitate to let me know and I'm happy to remove or close down this post!

An OSR-style fantasy game of young heroes, small communities, and the prosperity (or ruin!) your adventures bring to your home!

In FARM Champions, building your young heroes directly influences building your community. You then perform odd jobs, take on short adventures, or go on an epic quest to bring prosperity to your community, to solve the threats and events that might lead it to ruin, and to chase away monsters...or maybe interact with them, share with them, and bring them into your community!

Designer: Matthew Bannock

Writing, Development & Layout: Tim Bannock

Cover & Interior Art: Misosile Busher(HIZIKI)

Check out FARM Champions BETA here.

With your feedback, we plan to add more content to the game, and possibly create a Powered by the Apocalypse version as well!

I wanted to try something different, so I started pulling it together in Google Slides. Turns out it worked really well for what I want, so I'm sticking with that. Kinda terrible idea, but my InDesign skills are still garbage.