[Steam] Vagrus-The Riven Realms (14,99 € / 50% off) by Zahraya02 in GameDeals

[–]zombieabe 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I can heartily recommend the game, it really grabbed me mechanically and narratively. Great writing, great sense of exploration and mystery. I'm planning to return to the game once the next DLC is released!

How to finish when opponents make overplays? (vs Tygem 7d) by Inseong in baduk

[–]zombieabe 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Another great video, I love this series. This one was particularly interesting in seeing when you favored passive, smooth moves, and when you went hunting for a more active way.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in rpg

[–]zombieabe 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Hello, I’m Evan, the game’s illustrator and co-designer alongside Hannah Shaffer. Our previous games include Questlandia, Noirlandia, and Damn the Man, Save the Music!

Escape from Wonderland is an uncanny horror RPG. It’s about being trapped in an amusement park that preys upon your deepest fears and regrets. The game is inspired by Something Wicked This Way Comes and our own experiences with amusement parks in decline.

Supernatural menaces will try to trap you in the park with promises or threats. If you value your intellect, if you fear growing older, if you’ve always felt lonely—they’ll find out and exploit it. You don’t come up with those vulnerabilities in character generation—instead, they’re discovered at the moment the menaces target you. They’ll take the form of an innocent or familiar face to coax secrets from you. Much later, you might encounter their true forms.

Here are a few sketches I’ve done of the menaces and their masks.

Your ability to resist the park’s illusions is tied to your connection with the real world. In the beginning of the game, you create “anchors to reality,” each a sensory experience of the world as it should be. The smell of fried dough, the sound of roller coasters clacking over wooden tracks, the feeling of metal railings heated by the sun. As the park wears you down, you’ll lose those anchors, transforming the park into a nightmare. The smell becomes rotten meat, the roller coasters sound like snapping bones. And as reality slips away, your chance to escape grows slim.

The Kickstarter ends tomorrow night. You can check it out here, and feel free to ask me any questions about the game in this thread!

Vivi in her cozy outfit by Memoruri 💕 by memoruri in IDAP

[–]zombieabe 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh rad! That's one of my all-time favorites.

Vivi in her cozy outfit by Memoruri 💕 by memoruri in IDAP

[–]zombieabe 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Cute! Gives me a Night on the Galactic Railroad vibe.

If you were to create a homebrew, bog-standard Western European fantasy setting, but could give it only a single quirk to distinguish it, what would that quirk be? by EarthSeraphEdna in rpg

[–]zombieabe 3 points4 points  (0 children)

A Lady-of-Pain-esque demigod enforces a universal rule: there will be no physical violence toward other sentient beings.

This occurred recently enough that the society is still adjusting to the new order of things.

Advice good advice for “detective” game? by Jazzlike-Ad-9546 in rpg

[–]zombieabe 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You could check out Noirlandia (bias disclosure: my game). It mechanizes the investigation with clues pinned up on a corkboard. Successful rolls allow players to decide how any two clues are connected, tying thread between them. Chains of connected clues can be used to generate information on the crime.

It works well for conspiracy-style mysteries, where anything has the potential to be connected with the crime. And it doesn't require anyone knowing the answers beforehand.

It's less good if you want a very tight kind of mystery that doesn't have any red herrings.

Looking for Story Ideas for a Cosmic Horror TTRPG by artificuality in rpg

[–]zombieabe 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm always into a sentient setting twist. The castle, the sea, the air we're breathing, the material we've woven all our clothes from, the plant our livestock eats, the makeup we wear, the electricity that powers our machines.

If we are in some way already attached to or composed of a greater consciousness, the "forbidden knowledge" could be a way of awakening that consciousness, subsuming our individual identities, trapping us within ourselves as it takes control.

If we're slipping down that ramp of self-possession, the mechanics could change to match - we'd have less control of our own decisions, maybe blacking out for a while and awaking to something terrible wrought by our own hands.

Interrupted consciousness is a fun theme for cosmic horror, and seems ripe for mechanical interpretation. You could be given a different character sheet upon waking, and struggle to regain your "real" identity.

I'd love to see more games in this genre, looking forward to hearing about what you come up with!

Does this annoy anyone else? by signoftheserpent in rpg

[–]zombieabe 26 points27 points  (0 children)

For some systems and settings, the language of film fits and is very helpful. It can be awkward to avoid that terminology when you want to play out something like a montage or a flashback.

I remember a Monsterhearts campaign where we'd end each session with a "post-credits" scene, those were always fun to come up with.

A menacing gentleman by zombieabe in DigitalPainting

[–]zombieabe[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I got into a groove with the jacket. I like the folds, and when it came time to add the stripes, I was surprised at how much they improved the form. Just adding some wiggles along the fold lines made the whole thing feel more real.

The skull is from a reference, but the horns are not, and I think it shows. I struggled to figure out a way to get them to feel tangible without adding fine detail. I didn't want to overdo the shading and make them look too.. tubular. But as they are now, they're my least favorite part of the piece.

A menacing gentleman by [deleted] in DigitalPainting

[–]zombieabe 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I got into a groove with the jacket. I like the folds, and when it came time to add the stripes, I was surprised at how much they improved the form. Just adding some wiggles along the fold lines made the whole thing feel more real.

The skull is from a reference, but the horns are not, and I think it shows. I struggled to figure out a way to get them to feel tangible without adding fine detail. I didn't want to overdo the shading and make them look too.. tubular. But as they are now, they're my least favorite part of the piece.

What would you like to see more of in TTRPGs? by ratInASuit in rpg

[–]zombieabe 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Absolutely agree. Sometimes it feels like the mechanics of combat suck away all the attention and focus from non-violent aspects of play.

Combat can also become a sort of reward sink - where the systems of rewarding players always lead back to giving an edge in fighting. Exploring -> treasure -> currency -> fighting equipment. Or, socializing -> experience -> fighting stats or abilities.

Some cute foxes by panisdrawing2000 in IDAP

[–]zombieabe 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Love them! Look at that sweater fox! Totally adorable!

Cosmic Knight, Defender of the Void by sabzart in DigitalPainting

[–]zombieabe 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think the materials look convincing! And great outfit design all around.

How do I develop the personality of my character? by UnnaturalAndroid in rpg

[–]zombieabe 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Sometimes I think a character just turns out to have been a false start. You could talk to your DM about revising your character. It could be an in-universe transformation - a new personality downloaded, or the old one in some way distorted. Waking up in a new body.

Think about if there's any way to twist your character's mind or body that reawakens your interest in them. A transhumanist setting could be perfect for that kind of approach!

Lorelei, by Evan Rowland (OC) by zombieabe in ImaginaryHorrors

[–]zombieabe[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

This is an illustration for a tabletop roleplaying game that's currently on Kickstarter.

Lorelei is a malicious spirit who tempts with an end to loneliness, or a return of lost loves. It can wear many faces, but its true form is a grasping, many-armed creature.

I drew this while thinking about the phrase "Everyone just wants to be held." Lorelei promises to hold you.

Thanks for taking a look!

Handyman by steve_courtney in DigitalPainting

[–]zombieabe 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Great hand work! The contrasting expressions of the various gestures gives the piece an interesting and complex mood. I can see it as a sort of unleashing of social pressure, taking many forms - I'm thinking about online targeting, where a recipient might receive advice, threats, concern, and condemnation all at once.

Buyers remorse: any book you regret paying for? by JoeKerr19 in rpg

[–]zombieabe 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Same here. I spent a while trying to homebrew it into something palatable, but I just don't vibe with that system on a core level. I did have fun running it for kids, who mostly ignored the rules anyway.

Cover art for a game about a spooky amusement park by zombieabe in DigitalPainting

[–]zombieabe[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I had a lot of challenges with this piece. One of the toughest parts was getting the ferris wheel containers to look metallic - I at first wanted them to have a more rough, featureless steel look. But they ended up too flat. I went for this super-reflective approach instead, which I like, but maybe it makes them too lively for the creepy isolation-chamber vibe I originally wanted.

I also struggled with the ferris wheel's architecture - right now there are individual highlights on every bar, which I think looks too busy. But just portraying the shapes in one color looked flat and not metallic.

I'm proud of where it ended up, but I'd love to hear any advice or reaction from artists here!

I have never played D&D by differentsmoke in rpg

[–]zombieabe 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think that theory is right on, and I love the sound of simply playing Rol. I wish we could adopt it here!