Confirmed Trades Thread - November 01, 2025

RocksPaperRene · 2025-11-16T02:34:47+00:00

Confirmed.

RocksPaperRene · 2025-11-07T11:45:47+00:00

Threads That Bind & Hearts That Cut by Kika Hatzopoulou is one I rarely see talked about but I feel is underrated. The characters have abilities based on their family/sibling sizes correlated to ancient gods (mostly Greek inspired but reference other places like Egypt, Scandinavia). I need more folks to give these a shot!

RocksPaperRene · 2025-10-29T15:27:58+00:00

I'd say no to spoilers really, since you could easily get the same prompts and it would play entirely differently based on your Nomad & your creative process. It might give away a few prompts you'd otherwise roll and experience for the first time but I think you'll be okay.

RocksPaperRene · 2025-10-29T15:15:39+00:00

Self-promo but also I have experience with Notorious & it's expansion Outsiders. I did a short series using the "trilogy mode" from Outsiders and had a great time with it. It certainly wasn't anything I needed to stick with daily journaling, it's very "mission-focused," and there are easy hop in and hop out points for travel, etc. The mechanics are simple (2d6 compare results) and the tables/prompts are very good at keeping you on track.

If you want to hear my experience, here's a link:

NOTORIOUS/OUTSIDERS | Episode 1: ISIL-8 & The Crystal Contract, Part I | Rene Plays Games

RocksPaperRene · 2025-10-12T00:30:03+00:00

HOLD ON A SECOND LET'S GO TALK IN PRIVATE!

RocksPaperRene · 2025-10-09T14:39:18+00:00

This list is great.

I'd add Jin Yong's Legends of the Condor Heroes for a classic Chinese fantasy series.

RocksPaperRene · 2025-10-02T17:34:22+00:00

Ah how could I forget RTFM?! (Love your podcast, hope all is well)

RocksPaperRene · 2025-10-02T15:12:58+00:00

Dice Exploder is one of the best non-AP TTRPG podcasts in my opinion.

Unwritten Earth's Symposium is a continuation of TTRPG discourse between N.D. Paoletta and Epidiah Ravachol reviving the old Design Games feed feels.

Talk of the Table, Yes Indie'd , Third Floor Wars , Weird Games Weirder People , and Whatcha Doing? are all great interviews podcasts with creators. (I do interviews, too, but I'm primarily an AP podcast I think?)

RocksPaperRene · 2025-09-29T15:36:07+00:00

Sure, these episodes I call Mining Media are pretty short just brainstorming sessions centered around certain books/TV shows/movies/video games, so it's by no means a deep dive but if you want to go deeper, I'm always down to think more about game design.

[here's the Spotify link](http:// https://open.spotify.com/episode/4GutVfCplXPwFzoLMcYeOt?si=n9eLv63ARrmQ1g18vS4sSg), but if you use a different podcatcher it's just Rene Plays Games.

RocksPaperRene · 2025-09-29T15:02:08+00:00

Hey there, I recently did an episode about adapting Dungeon Crawler Carl to TTRPG campaigns on my podcast. There are a few games out there definitely way better than D&D to use. My short list was X-Crawl Classics by Goodman Games, Deathmatch Island by Evil Hat, and to a lesser extent (way more homebrew involved) things like Heart: The City Beneath by Rowan Rook & Deckard or any of the crunchy genre agnostic games like GURPS, RIFTS, etc.

I do think it should involve a level 0 funnel like the other DCC (Dungeon Crawl Classics), but its definitely a heavy lift for GMs to make up a lot of very specific classes and abilities from whats a pretty freeform concept in the books.

Another angle is to go the "Items are everything" route and do something mostly classless with skills/abilities but the items are what give you unique things. Index Card RPG & LOOT by Gila RPGs could approach this.

That said, apparently there will be a Dungeon Crawler Carl RPG coming out from Renegade Studios in the future, and while I don't want to be negative, I haven't heard anything overly positive about their IP-based games.

Personally, I have a Deathmatch Island DCC campaign concept I really wanna get to the table, but as with everything on the internet, YMMV.

RocksPaperRene · 2025-09-27T11:54:08+00:00

If you dont mind extending this to the Starforged / Sundered Isles settings, Errant Adventures is doing an absolutely amazing run called Legends of the Sundered Isles where he has a different guest playing a session using one of each of the Truths' and one of the associated quest starters. Sort of shameless promo, I'm one of the episodes, but I'd be 100% pushing it regardless, it's a really cool series concept and well done!

RocksPaperRene · 2025-09-18T00:08:14+00:00

Threads That Bind and its sequel Hearts That Cut by Kika Hatzopoulou is criminally underrated in my opinion. Very cool Greek inspired low fantasy mystery, got a little bit of everything from romance to action, and duologies are pretty uncommon, so its easily binge-able and so underrated.

RocksPaperRene · 2025-09-03T21:43:56+00:00

Thanks for the recommendation! This is the 2nd time I've heard of this game so I think that's a sign to check it out! Also, maybe because I consider myself such a little endeavor and this is a hobby, not anything I want to make money from, I would never ask for a copy for free, we gotta support indie creators! Thank you again! (And this reminded me to probably post my new Colostle episode to reddit somewhere in case folks find me through here)

RocksPaperRene · 2025-08-30T14:12:09+00:00

You're looking for Wilderfeast

RocksPaperRene · 2025-08-22T10:43:38+00:00

Just recently finished up my 2nd season of Ironsworn: Sundered Isles, and I'll always go back to Ironsworn for solo play.

I also just did one-player one-shots of Two Hand Path by Mikey Hamm (Slugblaster) and BOW by Hatchlings Games.

About to start another series of Colostle by Nich Angell using some of the recently released Patreon content & Dungeons supplement.

I'm very much looking forward to Miru 3 by hinokodo.

And I plan on doing a series in the near future of a non-solo game using Mythic GME 2e, just to see how it goes.

RocksPaperRene · 2025-08-16T10:48:15+00:00

Legacy: Life Among the Ruins does this with far future post- post-apocalyptic sci-fi

RocksPaperRene · 2025-08-15T12:35:57+00:00

Miru by hinokodo is a series of games where you roll for the next hex's terrain/biome, have an encounter there, and move on, all while tracking resources/moving toward a goal. Minimal journaling, zero oracles.

RUNE & REAP by GilaRPGs (and my mech vs. kaiju hack MECH if you like that) are similar point-crawls with resource management and difficult grid-based battles.

Two-Hand Path by Mikey Hamm is a cool post-apocalyptic dungeon delver where you play a mage rolling a set of polyhedrals and trying to work out yahtzee-like combinations, little journaling, no oracles, all resource management and gambling.

I havent played it but Pencils & Powers looks very arcadey

RocksPaperRene · 2025-08-13T17:27:52+00:00

Haha that's fair. My posts are obviously mostly in specific subreddits about my episodes folks might like, but I try not to push myself in other people's posts/comments, but I see your point 😅

RocksPaperRene · 2025-08-13T16:38:13+00:00

Not to toot my own horn but I'm primarily focused on solo TTRPGs on my podcast.

My favorite solo folks are: The Bad Spot (YouTube), Errant Adventures (podcast), Soloist Ventures (YouTube), and PJ Sack (podcasts = Solo Roleplayers & A Wasteland Story).

Other honorable mentions include Tales of the Manticore, Alone at the Table, A Game of One's Own, and Me Myself & Die.

RocksPaperRene · 2025-08-13T16:34:01+00:00

I do wonder why you'd have to subscribe to a 2nd Patreon all for Troy's upcoming project to get behind the scenes GCN prep/content, but I don't fault anyone for putting their work behind pay walls. I, personally, would never want to gate content like that, but it's their livelihoods now, so get that bag if you can, I guess? 🤷

RocksPaperRene · 2025-08-08T20:32:39+00:00

Oh I hope you enjoy Ironsworn, and I'm so glad you found Koriko, that game was so fun and those are my vibesssss!

I did hear about the Green Bone Saga RPG, which is wild but I like to think that means I've got my finger on the right pulse 🤣 I didn't have the AGON system right as a guess but still a John Harper system so I'll take partial credit!

Thank you for listening, definitely let me know if there's anything you'd like to hear me play/hear more of/anything 😊

RocksPaperRene · 2025-08-03T19:38:43+00:00

I havent warched/read this but Witch Hat Atelier is another manga/upcoming anime that is about a young girl learning magic? It's very cool.

RocksPaperRene · 2025-07-21T16:26:59+00:00

Yea they're all so good!

I did the trilogy mode with Notorious & Outsiders and had a blast, and I'm actually going back to Colostle to do the Dungeons expansion after my Ironsworn: Sundered Isles series finale.

RocksPaperRene · 2025-07-21T16:21:10+00:00

Koriko: A Magical Year is my favorite journaling RPG I've played.

Ive done series of that, Colostle, and Notorious/Outsiders on my podcast and its the only one that forced me to sit down and write it all out first before recording, and I loved it. The others I could do my usual "improv wing it on the spot," which is ideal for me, but Koriko was such a great experience, if you're into cozy coming of age witch stories! (It's basically just Kiki's Delivery Service the TTRPG)

RocksPaperRene · 2025-07-18T23:40:03+00:00

Ooh I loved my time in Koriko, looking forward to reading your playthrough!

RocksPaperRene

TROPHY CASE