Tea Vampire

I feel called out ... but also <_<

Dang that looks good!

TTRPG systems, at their core, are frameworks of creative restraints, posing imaginary exercises you wouldn't undertake otherwise.

House-ruling games out the gate avoids the confrontation of expectations & robs you the opportunity of switching frameworks, making you default into a "standard game".

Just curious — how do you delineate Blades vs Forged? Is it just a personal label by the author or is there some internal heuristic you use? (I ask as I'm curiously adding some stuff up for the totals pie chart)

Despite it's flaws, the widespread popularity of that show really gives me hope for a new generation of little pirates ^_~ If you need a show with a protagonist who channels that bugs-bunny energy and punches the system ... it's not a bad example.

This may depress you more — but the jester role these days is usually filled by late night comedians and the like. Honestly some of the better reporting is being done by a few of them.

Sadly not as many in this archetype in the kids section of things. Except for Luffy. No, I'm not joking.

I was going to say #2 because (maybe) 3 and definitely 4 are superhero games and #1 may involve hunting vampires ^_^

I have a third kind of day, the "made it to the weekend and all I can do is sleep and try to remember how to be human" day.

It was a small novella my friend. Good news though, there are more of them ^_^

These are incredible. Not only are they so full of life and color I'm laughing so hard at the second one.

This is a fairly long arc, with a significant set of payoffs including for Usopp. Enjoy the Lucy/Moo-cy puns, be stunned that utterly ridiculous chars (like folks in baby outfits) have complicated sad backstories, and 'Trust' that these friction points are setups for payoffs later.

But ask your heart how many such people you need. Pick an actual number. Is one too few? How about 10? I think you'll find it's far fewer than the fear whispering in your ear. Then look at the folks that supported you, and are in your comments here. It's probably more likely than you think. ^_~

So keep doing what you love. And keep putting those rad colors in. And find joy in spaceships and robots. And if that joy comes through (and I'm here to tell you peeking over your shoulder it does) trust that one person will smile and have as much fun as you. If there's more? Amazing! ^_^

But if your game truly affects someone deeply, that's an accomplishment few manage in their lives. And all we can do as designers is realize how powerful that is and make things we love, and show them to people, and hope that in turn they love them too. That's art.

Some people will simply put it on a shelf. Some will trash it to make themselves seem smart. But some will truly love it: and while you may never meet most of those people ... it matters. For some it will be their first game. For others, their last. You never know who will end up playing it or when.

Those of us that write these don't need the books. Our groups have been playing with us without it. Making a book is for all the others. The book is an immense amount of labor you're doing for literally everyone else.

Hey, here's the thing. I can't define success for you. Only you can. But I can tell you that when I've had to think about this I realized that I didn't care if if twas 10k, or 1k, 10, or (and this is serious) 1. If someone truly gets it, and truly loves it: one is enough for me.

You're doing fine fren. No apologies necessary.

There are a shockingly few that actually go through the marathon that is putting out a full book. To quote Dogma — finishing a book "... is like an endurance trial". Last 20% and all that. ^_~

I love seeing these pretty updates though!

Suddenly this seems a lot more relevant <_<

Did you happen to need another tester to kick the tires?

You know... while Blood Bowl is not the kind of football I saw (BB is not the kind you play with your feet), I think you're onto something.

Gaming and wargaming (like 40k type things) are not far apart. And 40k is huge in england which makes the next step pretty reasonable.

Zoomed in pic of the website which looks like a cloud map. This one is TTRPG Creators & Community, where the user is just up and left of the middle.

Somehow I'm not super shocked where I fall!

This is a cool site (bluesky-map.theo.io) as much for seeing where you fall in clusters of interest, as to see which groups are close/related.

Color me surprised that football (aka soccer) is so close to the TTRPG space — I wonder where the overlap is?

I love this piece.

I know it's such a minor thing, but I really enjoy how you use the same but more dense lines on the right of the shield to give it depth/shadow.

What brush did you use for the background?

Thanks so much for the kind words! They really mean a lot!

Sharing games is both my favorite thing, and how I ended up being a game designer. So hearing you get a chance to do the same thanks to something I wrote is amazing! ^_^

Well good luck ^_^ I'm curious to see what you make! LMK if you post it anywhere.

I just got linked this today. ^_^ It's amazing!

Seeing something you made inspire and and bring joy to others is what reminds me that there are very good reasons to make games (aka art) even in the apocalypse.

I guess I remain surprised to hear folks are still playing my games, and how much they mean to them.

Dizzy The Bard - The Black Frontier | Spaceship Engine Thrust Visualizer YouTube video by Dizzy The Bard

As a game designer most of the time the folks playing your game have no idea who you are, and vice versa.

But sometimes, if you're very lucky — you can stumble across some strangers joy and creativity tied directly to your game.

Someone made Scum & Villainy music: www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIg8...

Steven. STEVEN. Whyfore are we not playing Steven.