A little JavaScript dice roller I whipped up released under a CC0 license.

Download: https://adeptus7.itch.io/lovecraftian-inspirations-from-real-life-and-beliefs

This free brochure (28 pages)contains inspiration drawn from the beliefs of peoples who actually inhabit the Earth now or in the past, or from facts taken straight from history or science. Each case includes the suggestion, how given beliefs or facts can be interpreted in the spirit of cosmic horror, emphasizing their appropriate elements or bending them slightly. Sometimes the descriptions are quite brief – a detailed discussion of each topic would take a lot of space and time. These are rather teasers intended to show why a specific thing may be interesting for fans of eldritch vibes and possibly encourage them to take a closer look at the topic.

The article is intended primarily for Game Masters who play games in systems inspired by Lovecraft’s works, such as Call of Cthulhu or Delta Green. However, I hope that other fans of cosmic horror will also find something for themselves here. The interesting facts presented here may also be interesting for people who are not familiar with the work of The Loner of Providence, but some of the references may be unclear to them.

Here are contents:

GREEK MYTHOLOGY

Typhon – a classic but forgotten abomination

Zeus – embodied energy

In his house underground, dead Hades waits in sleep

Apollo – beautiful, deadly light

Hermes is the gate, Hermes is the key

NORDIC MYTHOLOGY

A jotun is not the same as a giant, but it can be made into an abomination

Odyn = Nodens, Loki = Nyarlathotep

Or is Odin an abomination?

Einherjers and Odin the human

POLISH FOLKLORE AND LEGENDS

Jan Twardowski – the first man on the Moon

Silen night, starry night

Church in Trzęsacz – Deep ones do not leave their own, even after death

TRUE (OK, SLIGHTLY FAR-FETCHED) HISTORY

Invasion of the Sea Peoples

Greater Germanic Antarctica

The emperor out of the time

The Indus civilization

TRUE (SERIOUSLY) SCIENCE

Mad mathematicians

Humans like ants, ants like zombies

Halny and other foehn winds – the whisper of the wind brings madness

ABRAHAMIC BELIEFS

Covenant with God and Melchizedek

Succubi/incubi, aliens and a sorcerer-pope

Double faith

Stone from the sky, genies and angels Udostępnij:

Backdrop

• district built out of containers and neglected housing blocks. Container corridors, walls and floors, leaking pipes, gang laws

Context

• in order to be shown the way to the secret lab in the heart of container district characters have to infiltrate, they need to do something for one of three local gangs. I want this to be a kind of Mexican standoff where they have to choose which faction to support
• Their arcs/previous deeds are making spirit of that city to "wake up". They will need its help and I need a way to point them to something like that existing
• Since we are going to play sometime soon, Krampus is a nice idea

Background

• unrest in the city is making people start believing there has to exist some vengeful force of justice. Hence in container district a Krampus started to operate. It randomly appears to flail to death most naughty (adults). So far, mostly without credible witnesses nor survivors. Flees the scene on foot, but can cover impossible distances when not observed by anyone. I don't intend to fully define what this Krampus is
• few days ago a VTOL with shipment of MCT genetically un-modified chickens has been shot down and crashed somewhere in the disctrict. Everyone who knows how to get to the lab wants them
  • Anarchist commune wants them as food source (un-modified means those don't require patented seeds)
  • Wizgang wants them for signing their deals (un-modified means pure auras - mcguffin, just roll with it)
  • small-fry Yakuza officer wants them to return them to MCT for clout (MCT is one of our campaign villains)
  • not many chickens survived, they can't share
  • there was a fourth faction in the area but it got wiped by Krampus. Only a BTL hard user has seen something, but is half terrified, half not completely awake
• Wizgang and Yakuza sent their forces to retrieve the cargo. No-one returned. Unknown to the groups, both parties were wiped by Krampus. But they of course blame each other and maybe even the commune too? Commune doesn't really have strike-force, but definitely has clout in the neighborhood
• Area around the VTOL has become a two-sided conflict zone (Wiz and Yak)

Plan

My idea is that whatever my players decide to do, they will in some way observe the Krampus. Mostly killing both sides of conflict. I want them to later start asking around what could that have been to get to some know-it-all saying "well, maybe it's the spirit of the city"

Do you see some flaws in this idea? Some cool idea came to your mind?

Definitely sounds like one of Grant Howitt's mad one-page RPGs, looks like a fun one-shot!

> You are a little goblin with a love of baking and big dreams. Dreams of joining the competitive baking circuit and taking home the grand prize: the golden cupcake and a lifetime supply of sprinkles. You’ve spent years perfecting your technique and studying recipes and you know you are ready. There is only one problem: the competition is only for humans.

> Refusing to give up on your dream, you gather a group of your fellow baking enthusiasts and hatch a plan to enter the bake off: a human disguise. Over many hours you created the disguise and crafted a rock-solid identity for your human alias and you have just received word from bake off officials that you have been accepted into the competition! Together, you don the human disguise and make your way to the competition, knowing that you are going to win - by any means necessary.

> The Great Goblin Bake Off is a prepless games about goblins infiltrating a baking competition for 1 GM and up to 5 players. It is played with 1d6 and two stats (GOBLIN and BAKER). Game text includes character creation tables for players and NPC and complication tables for the GM.

...i need a really good bag for about eighty chessex-style dice: any better-suited options out there than the crown royal standard?..

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This is a question for TTRPG GMs. What RPG books, supplements, or accessories do you find yourself using year after year? Which RPG products provide the biggest regular impact at your table?

So, I'm running the original 3e version of Forge of Fury, and my players are about to meet Idalla, the succubus. In the 3e version of the dungeon, Idalla is bound to the room, and just wants to leave. If she's attacked by a Good aligned character, she is free to leave... for some reason. Or, if she's granted permission from a Good aligned character, she's also free to leave.

I'm not at all sure how to run this. I foresee her explaining to the party that she's been magically bound to the room, and that the spell is broken just by giving permission, and then the party just... does. And she teleports away.

That seems totally pointless.

I really like the idea of there being a powerful being trapped in this room, though. It serves my purpose to have some sort of unexpected guardian in this space, and a filter that allows Good aligned characters through is really convenient in its own right.

Clearly, the solution is how I play the character, then, but I just cannot get myself inside her head. How do I make this interesting, and last longer than a single back-and-forth verbal exchange? The module gives her only real goal as being to leave, and I don't have a reasonable, interesting alternative.

Have you run this module before? How have you handled Idalla?

I know–yet another "OSR definition" post. I think this one is especially good though.

My Lancer table was on a break for Thanksgiving, so I only ran my Masks game, Session 1

It was a learning experience for all players, as they're not just new to the game, but to the the system in general. We began with a short sequence of them arriving and waiting at the main HQ (called here the Eternal Spiral) from being called by one of the responsible adults to investigate a threat. They had a little chat together, playing around with their powers, and also discussing what their team name should be.

Shortly after Cheetah (the adult person in charge) arrived and revealed the threat to them; shadow-like constructs were attacking the financial district of Astorro. There were several small foes, and a larger one that apparently was commanding them around, but they still didn't have all the info. Since two of the PCs have shadow related powers, there was both a suspicion of someone close being involved, as well as hope that they could de-escalate the situation.

In the midst of this, Living Shadow, mother to one of the PCs and currently bearing the Legacy of their family, interrupted the call to both berate the PC for - allegedly - losing control of his powers and demanding he uphold their good name while on the field. He wasn't quite able to convince her, instead accepting the call out and promising to do better.

After the briefing was done, the PCs left to the center, using their related powers for mobility. Arriving there, one of them attempted to use his super senses to inspect the threat, and while he could see from distance that the core of the larger construct was actually a person, he felt a feedback from the experience, emitting a large sound and drawing attention to the heroes.

They stand as a team, while the minor constructs advance, and one of the uses his gravity powers to create a field ahead of them to make advancing enemies float. Meanwhile, another one that had telekinetic powers uses it to throw one of the PCs towards the main threat. He manages to hit bulleyes, but doesn't do any damage, just draws attention. While one of the teammates is near the main villain, another PC that has shadow abilities uses his powers to create a bridge of shadows, making it so that the others can cross over the still advancing minions. While they do so, the PC that had been throw takes a heavy attack, but withstands it; as a consequence, he calls out his allies on why they took so long, but his words doesn't hurt them.

They get together as a team once more, and The Invisible Hand (the villain) mocks one of them for not knowing what he's doing, never having worked a day of his life; he talks back, catching the villain by surprise and drawing his attention, as he's not used to people rebuking his words. Meanwhile, one of the PCs channels his powers to create a sentient construct, and it attacks The Hand; taken by surprise and infuriated, he starts digging into the ground, throwing concrete and asphalt at the heroes. The one with telekinetic powers channels his energies into launching those pieces of debris right back at the villain, who flails around in panic, accidentally hitting the telekinetic back, but unable to stop his energies from dissipating.

While The Invisible Hand is throwing a tantrum, the Doomed telekinetic has a vision from his nemesis, congratulating him from winning their first round, and warning him to expect more. With the district safe, the session ended with the heroes watching as the failed businessman complained about his investments, wondered what caused him to gain such power.

What about y'all, had any interesting games?

> Spellbook is a solo journaling RPG about finding and deciphering magical spells from the books that are all around us. It uses the page numbers, words, and information about whatever book you are currently reading as a "roll table".

> RUN & HIDE is a rules-lite horror game. It pits players against a powerful enemy attempting to kill them. The rules are intended for asymmetric gameplay where the predator is much, much stronger than the prey.

> Mörk Sol is a grimdark sci-fi TTRPG about found family, survival, and finding adventure and purpose in an uncaring universe.

I'm currently running two campaigns, one for Lancer and one for Masks.

In Lancer, my players just finished their first series of combat. They had opened up with making a supply raid against a convoy, taking out their escorts and then seizing it. Now, for the second half, they held back against enemy reinforcements while their transport made away with the supplies. They now have enough materials to perform maintenance and upgrade their mechs, clone themselves in case of emergency, and have retrieved some mysterious black crates that seem to emit an unusual wavelength. For our next session, I'll be showing them about leveling up, as well as providing information on the narrative mechanics of Bonds.

For Masks, we had our Session 0. All players are new to both the system (PbtA) and the game, but they're interested in learning and have dedicated themselves so far. The 4 playbooks they chose were Doomed, Nova, Legacy and Transformed, which give me a lot of leeway into presenting extra-powerful threats and letting the sword of collateral damage hang over their heads - as well as promise power at a cost to a few, if they're willing to pay. We are playing on a world that had a type of "No more mutants" tragedy happening, and 95% of all metahumans/superpowered folks have disappeared, leaving the remaining teams to "promote" teen heroes to the front to deal with keeping peace. Next week they're going to face their first threat, as well as deal with their internal turmoil over being handed such responsibility.

How about y'all, what have you been into?

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I recently played the amazing Mothership RPG with a group of friends, and boy was it fun! It inspired me to make a one shot adventure so I could introduce another friend group to this great RPG system, and for shits and giggles I though to put it on itch as well for anyone that might be interested :^)

Here is a short description of the one shot adventure I made:

Bio scientist Aisha, Graduand Marine Miguel, Translator Tim and spaceship pilot Aiko have been hastily assembled for a classified mission issued by their employee, the Ministry of Intergalactic Relations. Tasked to retrieve a mysterious offering—a "gift"—from an unknown alien species to humanity's Empress, the crew descend on a strange, jungle infested planet . What seems like a simple drop in, drop out mission soon spirals into a harrowing nightmare as they discover the dark secret behind the ancient artifact that is The Gift.

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The Gift is a Mothership RPG one shot adventure designed for 4 players and one game master. It blends elements of exploration, investigation, and survival horror.

Check it out here if you like: https://coen-balkestein.itch.io/the-gift-mothership-one-shot

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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/22796007

> Ben Robbins (the creator of Microscope RPG) has laid out a few problems they see in the current state of scenes and recently some ideas to tackle those perceived problems (https://arsludi.lamemage.com/index.php/3449/a-microscope-for-the-people/). > > Has anyone tried these yet? How did these changes affect gameplay? Did you like the effect of those changes? And did you make any changes to dictated scenes (I'm asking this because the blog post seems to be mostly focused on acted scenes)? > > This is also an opportunity to give your thoughts on the current state of scenes and what could be changed. > > (I hope discussion about a specific game is allowed in this community)

In High technology setting, the hacking skill is incredibly powerful, and a shortcut in many investigation scenarios. By hacking the CCTV camera, I could see that Joe did it, by checkin [insert social media] I know were the evil gad guys live.

Either you go old shadowrun-style with a whole mini game where decker can be killed by AI but it's pretty heavy and weird, or you end-up with 3 success on my roll and give a lot of info for just one roll.

What are your trick/house-rules to prevent that ? And how would you actually protect from panopticon. Especially looking how stupid people are in today's real world

Let's Make Better Rpg Currencies

@rpg

https://youtu.be/VADntQSNMB4?si=VUw999G0yZ0x52IW

I'm curious what currency systems my fellow #ttrpg GMs have dreamt up when #worldbuilding.

It's always annoyed me how #dnd's gp/sp/cp currency resembles the USD system so much in the way it is used, despite the fact that IRL a single gold coin would be worth more than my car. Does #WotC think my backpack is worth $8k? That makes no sense to me.

Whilst working on my free RPG system Tellan I've been illustrating 20 additional simple black and white battle maps to use with the system, or any other RPG adventures, if you like you can check them out here: https://coen-balkestein.itch.io/map-pack

The maps included:

• Castle wall and tower
• Tavern
• Village road and houses
• Throne room
• Small alley
• Graveyard
• Tomb
• Old ruin
• Cliff rope bridge
• Mine
• Ship on sea
• Swamp
• Jungle
• Forest pathway
• Maze
• Hallway with rooms
• Dungeon floor
• Circle room
• Hexagon room
• Square room

Curious to hear your thoughts and if anything essential is missing! :^)

(For anyone interested, recently I also released a matching token pack that matches the style of Tellan and the battle maps).

Knave 2E recently had an adventure jam and the resulting adventures were ranked and many sold on Drive Thru. There's now a half price bundle which includes the three highest rated adventures as well as other highly rated entries.

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/488167/knave-2e-adventure-jam-bundle?affiliate_id=459455

I am the one behind War Dwarf Salad!

As a little side project I've illustrated 120 tokens for VTT and print and play use in RPG adventures, you can check them out here: https://coen-balkestein.itch.io/rpg-token-pack

I really enjoy illustrating these in my free time, so if you have any suggestions of tokens to add I'm curious to hear!

Currently the pack includes:

• Aristocrat female
• Bard female
• Beholder
• Big dragon
• Bird
• Black knight
• Bear
• Bom
• Book
• Carpet
• Cobra
• Cat
• Cleric female
• Cleric male
• Chicken
• Construct
• Chest
• Crab
• Cube of jelly
• Clouds
• Cyborg
• Cultist
• Dog
• Demon
• Diplomat male
• Dragonborn male 1
• Dragonborn female 2
• Druid
• Dwarf male 1
• Dwarf male 2
• Dwarf male 3
• Elf male 1
• Elf female 1
• Elf female 2
• Emperor
• Ent
• Fairy
• Fighter female
• Fire elemental
• Fish
• Flaming skull
• Goblin male
• Goblin female
• Goblin witch
• Golem
• Griffin
• Grey face alien
• Giant fly
• Ghost
• Hobbit female
• Hooded figure
• Horse
• Human male
• Human female
• Jester male
• Jester female
• King
• Knight male
• Knight female
• Key
• Lich king
• Lion
• Little dragon
• Liquid
• Lizard cultist
• Masked female
• Mermaid female
• Merchant male
• Minotaur
• Mimic
• Monk male
• Mummy
• Mushroom
• Ninja
• Ogre (two heads)
• Orc male 1
• Orc male 2
• Orc male 3
• Orc female
• Orb
• Pirate captain
• Pirate male
• Pirate female
• Plant creature
• Queen
• Rat
• Robot
• Satyr male
• Scientist male
• Scientist female
• Seaweed
• Skeleton
• Snake
• Spider
• Sword
• Tall neck female human
• Tentacle
• Observer
• Tiefling female
• Tiefling male
• Torch
• Tree
• Unicorn
• Vampire lord
• Water elemental
• White knight
• Witch
• Wizard male 1
• Wizard male 2
• Wizard male 3
• Wizard female 1
• Wizard female 2
• Wolf
• Worm
• Yeti
• Zombie

Expansion pack for both MAGNAGOTHICA: MALEGHAST and CAIN

>Mud Ghost Estate is a spooky tabletop role-playing game inspired by Hong Kong folklore and urban legends. You play as a group of daring teenagers exploring a haunted public housing estate in the 90s.

Looks like it needs playing cards and jenga bricks to play

I’ve spent the past few weeks working on an introductory one-shot adventure for my free RPG system, Tellan! You can check out the one-shot, A Simple Delivery, here: https://coen-balkestein.itch.io/a-simple-delivery

The adventure is written for Tellan, but it can easily be adapted for other RPG systems. Tellan is available for free here: https://coen-balkestein.itch.io/tellan

All feedback is warmly welcome, as I’d love to keep improving it! :^)

Tons of interesting stuff in here that reflects evolution of the game since its original release. I'm definitely going to be using the new downtime and harm rules. Replacing Action rolls with Threat rolls seems interesting but might be too big of a change for my taste.

I want to run a multi-session supernatural mystery adventure in my game. Evil forces are trying to learn the forbidden arts of witchcraft, in order to get the attention of a long-lost god who is considered by many to be "the devil." The PCs will have to learn and delve into witchcraft themselves in order to stop this from happening. A mysterious mentor will teach them how to use a Tarot deck (Raider-Waite-Smith, if anyone cares) to learn the lessons required to be able to use witchcraft. Seven cards of the Major Arcana (this is Tarot terminology) will provide the vital clues on how to do this.

I think I've got the mechanics of this down. I know about Justin Alexander's Three Clue Rule, and so on. What I'm struggling with is how to elicit the athmosphere I want. If you've seen the movie The Ninth Gate, read the DaVinci Code, or seen the Netflix show Archive 81, I think you know what I'm talking about; that sense of "What the f--- is going on here? I just have to know how this all connects together and get to the bottom of this!" The TV show Lost is probably another good example, but I haven't seen it myself.

Things that I think will help:

• Thematic music. Every time the topic of the Tarot deck comes up, some mysterious-sounding specific song should be played. This trick is used in Wagner's The Ring opera, as well as in the Lord of the Rings movies (for example, the ring has its own theme which is played when the ring is mentioned).
• Frequently giving the PCs new little bits of information which seem to lead them to the conclusions they're hopefully craving.
• I think personal stakes will probably help to keep the players engaged, which in turn will perhaps contribute to the "I just have to know more" feeling I want to elicit.

One trick I can't really use is what the DaVinci code did - it used a story that in some ways sounded so plausible that the reader could think "Wait, could what's proposed in this book actually be true?" That worked in that story, because it took place in the real world and was about Christianity which many in the western world take very seriously. I can't really do the same with my homebrew world which has very little in common with the real world.

So - does anyone have any ideas or suggestions on how to accomplish this? Again, it's the atmosphere of mystery that I'm primarily concerned with here, although mechanical discussion would be welcomed too.

I've always dreamed of having my own soundboard as a GM to use during our sessions, so I decided to make one myself! It’s currently a work in progress, but feel free to check it out here (works best on desktop in the Chrome browser): https://oraora.nl/GoblinGrooves/index.html

I'm looking for more inspiration for sounds to add. Are there any sounds you think would be great additions, or are essential to add?

Here are the sounds included so far:

Sound FX:

• Forest ambiance
• Cave ambiance
• Water waves
• Howling wind
• Thunder and rain
• Crackling fire
• Town ambiance
• Tavern ambiance
• Knocking
• Creaking door
• Boiling potion
• Wolf howl
• Monster growl
• Explosion
• Sword unsheathing
• Laser gun shot
• Gun shot
• Rapit fire gun
• Lighting strike
• Wilhelmscream
• Horse running
• Trumpet announcement
• Phone ringing
• Energy charge
• Sinister cackle
• Heartbeat
• Magic sparkles
• Siren

Music (3 different sets for each type):

• Calm music
• Festival music
• Battle music
• Scary music

I make sure only to use music and sounds labeled as Creative Commons 0 or free to use for non-commercial purposes.

Any suggestions for additional sounds or feedback on the website would be very welcome!

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/19191261

> > Newly out from Chaosium, No Time to Scream. This is a collection of three short scenarios for Call of Cthulhu. If you want a little more eldritch horror in your life this spooky season, you’ve come to the right place. These are perfect little nuggets of horror. Each adventure is designed to be played in about two hours or so, and comes with pre-generated characters, full-color maps, and of course, handouts to draw players in. > > > > ... > > > > All of the adventures share a common theme: a racing clock. With that in mind, Keepers will find some extra tools to help keep the game moving, as well as some help for adding more investigators for bigger group play. > > > > Here’s a taste of the three different scenarios: > > > >* A Lonely Thread – Something is wrong with Professor Thomas. Unfortunately, you didn’t know that when you arrived at his charming woodland cabin. Can you act in time your friend? Or will a horrific secret devour all? > >* Bits & Pieces – A doctor’s body lies next to an autopsy table, and the corpse he was examining has vanished! The only clue is a set of bloody footprints. A devilish game of hide and seek ensues – with gory consequences. > >* Aurora Blue – A band of U.S. Treasury agents raid an illegal whiskey distillery hidden in Alaska’s Chugach Mountains. The sun is setting… and that’s when the really bad things come out to play.