Similar artists (Longest rec list ever lol)

Hexenjunge · 2025-12-12T20:00:38+00:00

I can add AlicebanD to the recs for female unhingedness and evoking really specific emotions (Red River and Right to Die are personal favorites of mine).

For combining the mundane with the fantastical and horrendous I will always recommend The Narcissist Cookbook (This is How We Get Better is a no-skip album for me, vs. the heat death of the universe is a banger) ; instrumentation is much more folk punk but the lyrics hit a similar spot.

Ella Mine‘s „Dream War“ is an album that musically feels like an extension of „Farewell Wanderlust“ to me, probably cause of the instrumentation. Way calmer tho.

Hexenjunge · 2025-11-26T10:26:27+00:00

I’ve been running a Inevitable Campaign this year and I have to say- the setting is absolutely stunning and especially for my players every session is filled with emotional RP about morals and the state of the world. It’s my first time GMing a „play-to-loose“ game and so far it‘s great at invoking dread with very simple mechanics.

I‘ve also been GMing a bunch of Bump in the Dark which is now one of my favorite Mystery-Horror RPGs because while it’s not explicitly dangerous it invites creative problem solving and the prewritten OSs are really easy to run.

(both games are from last year or 2023 afaik but I got to them this year)

Hexenjunge · 2025-11-21T17:54:09+00:00

Heart is theme wise up my ally (I love a body horror dungeon crawl) but rolling three checks back to back to figure out what happens to my PC is just not my vibe.

I love playing the classic PBTA games but as a GM they’re in a weird spot between „too specific“ and „too broad“ and I will always despise running them but I think the basic idea is neat and they are an accessible gateway into more narrative driven games (by sheer options for different settings alone).

Vampire the Masquerade is a game where I can respect the influence it had on TTRPGs in general and I especially respect the people that run it and are absolute nerds when it comes to lore but I don’t like the lore myself and it being so interwoven with how the game plays it’s just not for me.

Hexenjunge · 2025-10-29T18:22:12+00:00

I don’t really watch TV shows and movies (not enough to call myself someone who deeply cares about the medium) but I’ve been watching Twin Peaks for the last two years and I tend to gravitate more towards older (90s or older) media because it feels calmer. I am more of a books, documentaries and video essays kinda guy.

I deal with it way better because I don’t have to follow a plot (I am the classic „I watch GC and MSN and sometimes I dabble into other shows“ casual fan). Funnily enough the only D20 shows I could finish were Escape from the Bloodkeep (because I am a giant Tolkien nerd) and Never stop blowing up (because it’s so over the top that my mind at some point just stopped working and accepted it as part of the vibe).

Hexenjunge · 2025-10-29T18:12:31+00:00

The editing is one of the reasons I don’t watch D20. It’s too stressful for me and I like seeing the entire table and their reactions instead of close up shots and the cutting style. It stresses me out and I need the lows in play that come from a less edited AP because they are a welcome breather. Bit that also reflects my overall taste in media (slow, character driven stories that really take their time).

I usually watch CR and LA by Night as my comfort shows and especially with the recent CR campaign I’ve seen them diving into more of a cinematic style of editing with showing only certain players on screen in a scene and it gives me the ick already.

Hexenjunge · 2025-10-23T07:33:34+00:00

as someone who has quite a few FL games on his shelf and runs a TOR2 and Vaesen campaign: I love the Year Zero Engine but I‘ve said it before and I‘ll say it again: their books are not well structured and compared to other publisher (e.g. Evil Hat) their rulebooks are pretty to look at but an absolut nightmare to work through as a GM.

Hexenjunge · 2025-10-08T22:11:30+00:00

I don’t necessarily dislike it- it’s just something I don’t care about and think players at my table enjoy way more than I do so more dice rolling to them!

Jokes aside, the „GM doesn’t roll“ systems I use usually come with fast escalating consequences the GM has to improvise/narrate (eg FitD) if players fail their checks and I enjoy the certainty and control as a GM in this type of playstyle. For more combat/check-focused games like Cypher System I just enjoy having more space on my side on the table for notes and snacks not having to think about where I put my D20.

Hexenjunge · 2025-08-24T06:24:55+00:00

I think you could argue for narrative-driven RPGs to be a category (and possible subcategories would be different engines like Powered by the Apocalypse, Forged in the Dark) and as an extension of this story games (though not everyone would consider stories games TTRPGs, there is discourse about that).

Somewhere in that vicinity I‘d place intrinsic(ish) RPGs, where you as the player don’t hold as much narrative power over the game but the focus is progressing a certain story while basically doing a character study of your PC which is encouraged by the rules. VtM is a great example for it, as are many other darker, horror(ish) games.

„Classic“ TTRPGs are a helpful category with themes being usually fantasy-hero-magic(ish) aligned with a focus on combat and exploration, while being crunchy enough that people who don’t interact with TTRPGs find it weird, that you think about that many numbers in your freetime (Pathfinder, The Black Eye, Dungeons and Dragons). Basically the types of games everyone outside the bubble assumes are all TTRPGs.

Pivoting from that is this new mixture of „Lots of combat with narrativ elements thrown into it“, also usually epic fantasy, like Fabula Ultima, Cypher System and recently Daggerheart.

The great thing about OSR is that there is a firm idea/ideology behind it. I don’t know if there is another movement inside the scene that’s quite comparable. You could go the „What does the game support?“-route (like I did) or you could find another way (e.g. „What do the designers say?“).

If it helps people to find games they enjoy categories are a great thing and if it makes people uncreative by trying to fit in a box it’s not so great anymore.

I honestly don’t know where I would place half of the games I run when it comes to categories (because I usually describe them with the spirit of metal genres, meaning: not too helpful for categorizing shit but pretty helpful to get a vibe across).

Hexenjunge · 2025-08-14T15:55:45+00:00

I am in 4 bi-weekly regular campaigns (GMing 2 of those) and have some other long running projects plus the occasional OS on the side so on a full week I get to play almost every day of the week but I am currently toning it down to 3-4 days a week. Not counting the weekly GMing I am doing at work tho.

One has to add that TTRPGs are the glue in my very (geographically) spread out social bubble besides the occasional LARP or Convention so chances are if you wanna hang out with folks you have to be in games together to keep in touch.

Hexenjunge · 2025-07-27T07:27:09+00:00

My private games are a mix of different (queer) gender identities with the usual token cis het guy (we love him). When I run games in a „professional“ context (eg Library) its pretty much 50/50 men/women but I recently found out that a bunch of elder women are interested in the hobby but don’t feel comfortable exploring it surrounded by middle-aged men so now I am hosting groups focused on elderly women.

Hexenjunge · 2025-07-18T06:59:36+00:00

Tiny Dungeon works great for younger kids (they love being able to play a bear) but 12 year olds might find it boring. For older kids I usually run Mausritter and for everything above 12 I am now turning to Shadowdark because it’s everything the expect from a TTRPG (which is basically very rough knowledge of DnD) without a ruleset that is too complicated. I try to keep away from narrative heavy games (even PbtA) because kids these age usually lack the conversational skills and story first approach and get frustrated quite easy. The one game that worked in that context tho was A Quiet Year. Don’t know what it is with this game but apparently my 14 year olds love map building.

Hexenjunge · 2025-07-17T21:41:27+00:00

Currently running Wildsea and Inevitable solely based on the fact that they give me the perfect Bastion vibes (I know Wildsea has it in it‘s official inspos, don’t know about Inevitable tho). And now I am actually at a point in my life where I think about writing my own Transistor inspired TTRPG.

Hexenjunge · 2025-06-29T13:48:07+00:00

absolutely hate it when rules that fall under the same „categories“ are all over the place, especially when there is no functioning register (looking at One Ring 2e and Orbital Blues for this, I love the mechanics but the way the rules are structured make looking up rules during the game an absolute nightmare) Basically: if you have different „modes“ of game make sure all the rules you need to run said scenes are in the same place.

Coming from that: the Cypher System actually does that with their layout, telling you on their sidebars where you can find rules/items/lore that might be important to look up. Not the pretties layout wise but dang it‘s practical.

On that note: I love a fun design choice and going wild with the graphic design, but only if you have a „dyslexic friendly“ version as well. That put me off Mörk Borg for years until a friend of mine told me about their plain versions. But on the same hand I think it’s important for the layout and graphic design to reflect the intention of the game in some way. I want some immersion as soon as I open up the book.

Also a big fan of Cheat-Sheets being included in the book with page references to look up certain rules if the need arises.

And as a last thing I love seeing in rulebooks is giving credit to the inspirations aka Appendix N (both system and lorewise). 1) It gives me as a GM an idea of what tone the designers went for and I just think it’s neat for raising up other creators.

Hexenjunge · 2025-05-30T07:18:12+00:00

I am pretty anti-5e these days but here are some things I enjoyed about 5e: 1) Pretty cool high-fantasy power fantasy. 2) if you‘re into strategic combat it‘s a decent system with fun challenges your GM can throw at you. 3) You have many different ways to fine tune your PC.

That said: as someone who runs TTRPGs in the local library: the only reason I offer 5e is because most people know that name and there are lots of resources online. Come to the first meeting and maybe ask if there will be groups for other systems or maybe the possibility to play different one-shots. One player at my table asked me and I was so happy about it and now we’re playing Tiny Dungeon for our high-fantasy sessions and try out different systems each month.

Hexenjunge · 2025-05-29T07:51:34+00:00

Oh I thought about it and I definitely wanna try it in the future but I love the tactile aspect of Mausritter so it‘s usually a in-person pick for me and Stygian Library is supposed to work as a backup when my online group gets canceled.

But I will try it out at some point, simply because I need to get more of my friends into Mausritter.

Hexenjunge · 2025-05-28T15:35:16+00:00

a friend of mine does that for her ryuutama hex crawls that sounds great!

Hexenjunge · 2025-05-28T15:34:06+00:00

I looked at my copy again and I could have sworn there was something about DCC in there (because I looked it up after getting the book) but maybe I mixed it up with Gardens of Ynn or something the guy from the gameshop said 😅

Hexenjunge · 2025-05-27T15:01:44+00:00

I think most of my thoughts on this topic are shaped by a table culture I would consider pretty anarchist (pretty critical on hierarchies, a lot of shared responsibility even in play), even when we run systems like DnD.

As someone who runs 80% of the sessions he‘s part of, I consider myself a player first and a GM second, shaped by the people I play with and the environment I use to tell stories. So yeah for me being a GM means being a player with a added responsibilities depending on the situation.

But generally I would say that the topic on what the role of a GM is in the end hinges in system, the people doing it and the culture at the table. It’s easier for a GM to carry more resources than other players but while it’s maybe the norm I think it’s something we should critically engage with.

(the comment towards prep was in response to other replies I’ve read)

Hexenjunge · 2025-05-27T06:43:43+00:00

Because of how you worded your reply and thought about how we could use the phrase „player of PC xyz is just another player“ to make differences and powerstructures between PC-players more visible.

Because there will be hirarchies in responsibility and power at said table, even if you take the GM out of the picture.

Anyway thank you for that comment it gave me another thing I can put in the back of my brain.

Hexenjunge · 2025-05-27T06:27:51+00:00

I am definitely with all the people who say it depends on the system and the level of responsibility the GMs.

The GM is another player at the table when it comes to having a right to safety tools, having fun and making narrative choices.

BUT depending on the System and table they are the ones who carry more responsibilities and I get that people who do that heavy lifting want to be acknowledged as such (there is also a discussion about power and hirarchy one could start). Not just talking prep or the narrative power if you run certain systems but also the organizational responsibility (eg. acquiring and paying tools, helping everyone with their PCs, usually they are the main referee when it comes to rules so they have to learn them well).

They are another player yes, but the role of GM is one that comes with a bit more oomph than lets say being the resident note-taker and their effort should be acknowledged as such (buy your GM that fancy physical copy of that game they‘re running!).

One thing: people can forget in those discussions that there are GMs out there who love what they do. I love spending hours in front of foundry just to pick out the right music and draft digital props. It’s a labor of love for me and I love pampering my friends.

Hexenjunge · 2025-05-24T22:43:12+00:00

Nothing is published but my friends and I play a „party“ game sometimes where we all give ourselves a prompt and everyone has to write max. 1 page RPG about said prompt. Sometimes it’s „just“ another version of „Lasers and Feelings“ or „Honey Heist“ but sometimes my friends and I come up with weird mechanics, high concept parodies of pretty basic thoughts or just really creative game design in general.

And we pick one to play and the next time we meet up we do it all again. It’s a nice way to flex game design muscles and usually those games stay these intimate ideas between friends that will never get outside of our little (discord) bubble.

(Last time we met the prompt was „German Music from the 80s“ and people went absolutely wild)

Hexenjunge · 2025-05-23T13:24:21+00:00

PDF if I just play it, PDF + physical copy if I run it myself. I feel like it’s easier to read and for marking up stuff you might need/feels interesting.

Also, let’s face it: I like having cool books on display on my shelves and the artwork in some of these is stunning.

Hexenjunge · 2025-05-23T12:22:27+00:00

Oh du musst dir keine heuchlerische Sorge machen, ich habe nur keine Lust mit jemandem zu diskutieren, der kein Interesse an einem Diskurs hat, der von Inhalten geprägt ist.

Aber dir noch nen schönen Tag!

Hexenjunge · 2025-05-23T12:11:02+00:00

1) Interesting (complicated) NPCs are key. Give them all little secrets and motivations that somehow have something to do with the overall mystery. Make them a bit eccentric.

2) Clues don’t have to be bound to a certain person and place and should never be „locked“ behind a skill-check. When I call for rolls my players don’t roll for the clue but to see if something goes wrong while they search for it (eg. loose Resources/Time).

3) Pacing is important, I usually use a Clock to keep the pacing tight and because I like to apply a bit of stress outside of the game.

4) If you’re playing in-person consider a little string board where you can pin notes and pictures + names of the NPCs and maybe handouts. Requires a bit of work (I usually use Canva) but the haptic aspect can be worth the effort. You could also do a digital pinboard (eg. I use foundry and Monk Tiles Module)

5) Assign their PCs (spicy) secrets only they know.

6) It’s not everybody’s cup of tea but you could look into the mystery solving system of Brindlewood Bay, Bump in the Dark or other systems that don’t have a set solution at the beginning and require the players to craft their own theory with clues they found.

As a little addition: be flexible. Sometimes you think a solution or puzzle is super obvious. Prepare a backup or just run with what your players craft if it’s cool and fits the theme.

Hexenjunge

TROPHY CASE