by bryce0lynch

By Greg Gawron
Advanced Fantasy Games
OSRIC
Levels 2-4

Hidden within a long-forgotten cemetery stands an abandoned mausoleum, once a place of grand splendor and solemn reverence. Now it lies broken and rotting — its roof collapsed, headstones shattered, and its glory buried beneath decades of neglect. But decay has not left this place empty. A new evil has claimed the ruin as its lair, and by fate or folly, you have found its resting place… and it now awaits your party of adventurers in The Lost Tomb of Kazcuk Mot the Undying™.

This 28 page adventure presents a small tomb with fourteen rooms that is primarily aimed at tournament play. There is a certain, physicality? to it that I find interesting, however, it’s a bad tournament adventure, with mucho read-aloud and padded out DM text with rather simplistic challenges.

It’s not every day you see someone thanking both Finch AND Taormino in the same breathe, like the credits page to this one does. I assume he went to a con and they both said some kind of Gandhi shit to inspire him to publish? I hope that’s the case. I don’t know, Taormina cranks his shit piles out so maybe it was publishing tips? Anyway, this is a tournament adventure. Tournament adventures need a few things special going on so you can judge them similarly, fairly, amongst different tables. I think that’s all bullshit and it’s like comparing a Rothko to a Picasso. “You get a prize!” Fuck that shit.

And, therein, is the issue, at least with regards to the tournament aspect to this. Let us consider two different scoring systems for a dungeon. In the first, I give you one point for each room you enter. In the second I roll a d6 for every room you enter and if it comes up a ‘1’ then I give you a point. IE: what are we measuring? The ability to penetrate the dungeon by any means possible or are we measuring how lucky the dice are for the party? Further, we must be up front with the players on what we are measuring. SHould they be tearing the place apart looking for treasure, or defeating monsters, or “winning” the plot, or trying to roll as high as they can on their dice? This adventure, of course, does not disclose the scoring to the party other than to say you get a point for accomplishments and lose a point for mishaps. And then it does things like “if you search the room then roll a d6. If you roll a 1 then the party finds a pearl necklace. They get a point.” I seem to recall that some tourney adventures went so far as to have die rolls prepared for the DM in order to make things as fair as possible across tables. Rothko does not approve. So, as a tournament adventure I think this fails to do a decent job with the scoring. The answer is not more prepared die roll and less randomness, but a different axis of scoring, I think.

Ok, so, the adventure intro also says we can use this as a stand-along adventure. How was the play Mrs Lincoln? Not as bad as one might think, given the murder of the president.

I’m not happy with the adventure, or the interactivity as a whole, but there is a certain physicality to the interactivity that I think works well. One of the entry rooms has a door under a sarcophagus that flips up. There’s a grate in the floor to go down. There’s a portcullis to lift. There’s a decent amount of this kind of physical interactivity in the adventure. Or, maybe, environmental? Whatever. There are other classic elements as well, such as yellow mold, the old water monster in a pool of water thing, and so on. They don’t feel tired in this, but I’m also open to this being because the amount of text that surrounds them. Interactivity, beyond that physicality, is generally limited to stabbing. And, even that is a bit iffy. The wanderers are bats, rats, and centipedes and they show up a decent amount. One wonders at the boredom of it all.

Otherwise, the adventure has some of the long standing usual problems with the untrained. The read-aloud can be quite long. And, of course, players don’t listen to long read aloud. It’s not a new thing. You’re boring them with read-aloud. Keep it short. It’s the designers job to figure out how. Further, the read-aloud over-reveals the rooms contents. You want the read-aloud to hint at things for the players to have their characters follow up on, not to just expo dump every little detail. at the party. You want the back and forth.

EVerything here is padded out. Every read-aloud ends with “WHAT DO YOU DO” and then immediately we get a “DM NOTES” heading. Yeah, got it man. It’s not read-aloud so it’s DM notes. Yeah, got it, the read-aloud is over so now the party and do things. The first trap takes like three paragraphs to describe, and it’s a simple stair foot pit. Ok, so, I take it back. Four paragraphs. This is a quarter of a page. For a simple trap. It’s not complex. It’s just padded out. The wanderer text is padded out. “Inside the mausoleum the characters will find ample space to move about and it may appear to be a safe place to rest and take shelter. It is not.” Jesus man, that did nothing for the adventure. It is just worthless text. You didn’t actually say anything. All you’re doing is adding words to the adventure. And these filler words and paragraphs get in the way of the ACTUAL meaningful text that the DM needs to locate in order to run it at the table. The DM needs to be able to quickly scan the text, and right now they have to dig through shit like that in order to get to the stuff that matters.

It’s just relentless. The editor is the designer, which is either magnificent, if the designer knows what the fuck they are doing, or a disaster is they do not. The designer was not born with some a priori knowledge of how to write an adventure and do layout and what makes it fun and so on. Ideally, an editor, a decent one anyway, can help with some of that. YOU DO NOT KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING. You might be a decent DM. You are probably an ok guy But YOU DO NOT KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING. Seek help. Seek an editor. Learn what makes an adventure a good adventure and also an easy to run adventure.

This is $20 at DriveThru. I think that’s because it was kickstarted. I’m going to, rather generously for me, NOT say this is a fucking cash grab, even though the first thing published was kickstarted at $20. That advice above? Learning what makes a good adventure, getting an editor, etc? You can ignore that. You can go down the path of filthy lucre. Just crank shit out on kickstarter the most efficiently possible and build your market.

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/562629/the-lost-tomb...

by bryce0lynch

By Marco G. Fossati
Self Published
Dragonbane/OSR
I think this is a BRP system
… hear the tale of Ardana, a mage who defied the Dragon Emperor and vanished with her dark grimoire, The Heart of Ardana. Her ruined tower still stands, touched by strange demonic magic.

This eight page adventure features an old wizards tower and uses four pages to describe eleven rooms on like five floors. Long read-aloud, over-reveals, abstracted treasure. It’s really hard for to describe how “lackof adventure” this is.

So I’m out with friends and the chick next to me is like “Hey Bryce, where are some places to go to meet people. I want a summer fling.” So I turn to some stranger next to me sitting alone at the next table and am like Hey man, where are some fun places to go in Indy, Chickula is looking to meet men. And he’s like “I’m gay.” Dude, not you, I’m like 30 years older than her, maybe you, as a young fella, know of a place where the the young women might go other than a fucking D&D convention?! “So he replies: “I know of three jazz clubs …” Dude has missed the point. Oblivious to it all.

Ok man, let’s GET! IT! On! We are Dragonbaning and I couldn’t be more excited this morning. “At the first light of dawn, in the settlement of Outskirt, the player characters came across a ballad sung by a highly skilled female Bard, named Tymolana.” Oh Jesus h fucking Christ. Fortunately, that’s all there is to this. Except the ballad itself. What do they call that? At the cons? Filcing? Felching? Whatever. It then jumps to “The ancient tower, called The Tower of The Standing Stones, lies at the foot of a hill. The player characters will face a hard journey which lasts at least a full day.” So, you get the “highly filled female bard” sentence, the ballad, and then the whole “it’s a hard journey” sentences. I absolutely thought, given that bard line, we were gonna at least mary sue the chick or at least spend an hour having to deal with some read-aloud, but, no. It just tosses in that “it was a rough journey” thing and you’re at the fucking tower. I don’t understand why any of this is in the adventure. The bard has nothing to do with it. The ballad doesn’t matter. The journey clearly doesn’t matter. And the adventure is like this, time and again. This weirdly specific attention to detail and then, quick, abstract everything!

“A weathered stone tower at the foot of a low hill. Its crown has crumbled and the masonry is cracked and flaking; the whole place looks worn-out. A short run of broad stone steps climbs the slope to a heavy, skewed door. Faint chisel-marks and moss stains can be seen on the lower steps and around the lintel. Windows and fissures reveal that it is a 3-story tower. On the top, some standing stones point to the sky. From time to time, some crackles of purple energy strangely illuminate the surroundings.” Over-reveals in the read-aloud. A read-aloud that is too long. Three stories?! Let’s climb to the top! Windows? We’re in! Never use the front door, kids, when doing & B&E. Does the adventure handle any of this? No, of course not

“A narrow stone corridor with damp, flaking walls. Faded paintings of skeletons line the west wall. One skeleton has an oversized skull with purple eye sockets” Where do YOU think the secret door is? Jesus. Ok, so, when you write a description like this you start at the abstracted layer. There are faded paintings on the walls. As the party asks then you tell them it’s of skeletons and the whole purple eye thing. That’s it. That’s the core fucking mechanic of D&D. The DM describes something and the party responds. Why not just fucking say there’s a secret door behind the purple eyes? Fuck me man. Don’t do this. Please. Don’t write descriptions that over-reveal. Keep the game alive. Keep the core mechanic alive.

“Treasures: Among the crates and the sacks, the player characters can find treasures equivalent to one treasure card.” I don’t know about you, but I like to show off my treasure cards to the young ladies at the bar. They love that treasure card flash! So, I assume this is some Dragonbane shit, but, still, “treasure card?” The party wants the fabled rose of Amun-Sur or the cape of Verde Tacana, not “a treasure card.” Good treasure makes the party want to keep it and wear it, even if it’s non-magical, instead of melting it down immediately to purchase twelve more torchbearers. Why abstract this? It’s like buying an adventure and opening it to read “Have an adventure” and nothing else. That’s it. That’s a major part of the whole fucking experience.

And this extends. That fucking ballad, which is like eight short lines long, mentions The hEart f Ardana or some shit like that. A spellbook. You ready for it, the reveal, the object of infinite desire, the thing to which launched a thousand ships, The grimoire called The Heart of Ardana: “Grimoire: The grimoire is the Heart ofArdana. The grimoire is trapped (see below).” That’s it. Nothing else. No more description. Not in the text. Not in an appendix (there are none.) No mention of it or its contents. Shall I compare thee to a Summers Day? “Vecna: Seldom is the name of Vecna spoken except in hushed voice, and never within hearing of strangers, for legends say that the phantom of this once supreme lich still roams the Material Plane. It is certain that when Vecna finally met his doom, one eye and one hand survived. The Eye of Vecna is said to glow in the same manner as that of a feral creature.”

Instead we get backstory. “The demon was conjured by Ardana during the siege as her last defense, but the ritual was interrupted before it was fulfilled. It has been in that state since there and looks to be freed. In order to do so, the ritual lines must be canceled” I DON’T CARE. This nonsense adds nothing to the adventure. And it’s EVERYWHERE.

This is absolutely one of the most boring adventures I’ve ever seen of everything that actually qualifies as an adventure. And it’s not because there is, like, five bandits in the tower. It’s because of the writing, the mechanics of handling things “Place hands of altar and make a wil save”. It’s weirdly abstracted method of not tellin you ANYTHING about anything to want to know about but still making sure that the room entries are a column long. And that each one has a section about every exit in the room. Except for the ones that DO NOT have a sections about every exit in the room.

This is boring and inconsistent.

This is $2 at DriveThru. There is no preview.

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/567777/the-tower-of-...

Also, hey, a question for all the eurotrash: I assume each country in europe has a dominant game, aka that Das Schwarze Auge shit. But Italy seems to be the only country in which we get adventures out of. They just crank them out. Something weird in the Italian water, D&D-heavy, or something else going on? Why don’t I see frenchy adventures?

by bryce0lynch

By Ben Gibson
Coldlight Press
5e/Pathfinder/OSE
Levels 4-6

What’s going on in Morpheus’ villa? We’ve not heard anything from them for weeks, outside of the weeping, and the screams, and deep below, some kind of roaring…

This ten page adventure uses a couple of pages to describe a two level villa with about forty rooms in it. Overly terse, it leans hard toward the Vampire Queen style of writing, or perhaps Tegal, than a modern take.

I think I’m missing something here. This is in the OSR section on DriveThru. It’s listed for Pathfinder, 5e, OSE. The cover says “Written for 5e” on it. There’s one set of stat blocks on the back page that seems an awful lot like 5e. Is the assertion here that 5e/Pathfinder/OSE are enough alike that you can just run with it? I don’t know. I guess? Something feels wrong here.

This is a two level “villa crawl.” Some dude hasn’t been heard from and you go in to find him/loot the place/whatever. Blah blah blah, there’s monsters that drain your mental stats to represent ”draining emotions.” The mechanics are simple, you recover a point a day once the big monster is dead and if you reach zero you turn in a monster. Thusly you’ve got former residents and servants now drained of emotions and monsterized and of course the usual assortment of cultists and others looking to cash in one way or another.

Before I hit the encounters let’s talk map. It fucking SUUUUUUCKs. It’s hand drawn on … beige graph paper? The pencil weight vs the weight of the graph paper lines is too similar. You can’t tell where a wall is and where a door is. Level two, the underground, is better, but level one is all “classic gygax” map with thin walls and everything on top of each other. It’s gotta be legible man, that’s always rule number one. Handdrawn can work, but there’s gotta be enough contract that you can tell what is going on.

The encounter writing style here is terse. VERY terse. Like, twenty entries to a page terse. “Outer Patio – Both doors wedged shut. Gives a numb feeling, cold.” It just feels odd to me. Like, it’s a ten page adventure and two and a half are devoted to the room keys. That’s just odd. It FEELS like there is some artificial constraint going on here here. Like “facing pages” or something else that Gibson is trying to do that is just NOT translating AT ALL. In another place we get the room description of “Smells of rot, corpse of a slave who trapped both doors

in here wearing a lucky band (one-use, reroll failed mental save)” That’s the entirety of the entry, so I’m not quoting things out of context. (And, I don’t see anything in the intro/other keys which this could play off of.) The corpse could use an extra word. The traps two more words. It’s just sparse to the point of almost being barren. “Passing between these glyph-etched columns drains all emotion during the walk (mental damage).” I get it. I get what he’s going for. Kind of. I’d prefer this just be a little longer with a few more adjectives. I think I can make a case, also, for it being ambiguous in its effect. There ARE rules for draining emotion present in the intro. “Several traps, effects, and spells inflict mental damage, dealing 1 point of damage to a random stat (1d3 for INT, WIS, or CHA) “ So, if we take that, then … the door traps are, what, these magic emotional traps? I didn’t really get that vibe from the servant body thing. And, for the glyph pillars I’m kind of stuck on the word “all”, as in “all emotion.” Does it mean all? As in this is a death trap? Maybe I’ll chill with that at level six. Or, is it referring to one point?

And then there’s the Big Bad, The Below. The stat block is just a stat block. There’s no real description anywhere, just a reference to a spirit of earth and darkness in the intro.

I don’t want to read too much in to the intent, but it FEELS like this is an experiment to write for 5e/Pathfinder/OSE in a way that makes an adventure possible for all three. And then combine that with this kind of very terse style. Theoretically I think both of these are possible. Nothing REQUIRES a mile long state block for Pathfinder. And it’s all D&D based, after all, so with a little work I think you could do the ruleset thing. Similarly, I think you can get away with those very terse descriptions. I mean, fuck me, Stonehell is the king of this shit, but it leveraged a few pages of context for it’s terse keys. I’m also chill with some abstracted away mechanics, which saves TONS of space. “Poison needle trap-1d6” works for me. But it has to be done in a way that keeps that the enables the evocative. You have to WORK those keys, hard (and possible the layout) to stuff in enough vibe to not have this be a half step more than Vampire Queen. A few more descriptive words. Building a vibe in key after key that kind of leverage each other to create something greater than the individual entries.

If that was going to happen here, if that was the intent, then the keys needed more work. I get that a kind of “basic outline” is a different kind of structure, but I just don’t see that as being as successful in running a game.

This is $5 at DriveThru. The preview is five pages and shows the level one map and keys and intro. Good preview.

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/567820/house-of-the-...

A new episode has been added to the database: Tower of Babel

A new episode has been added to the database: Cult & Roses Chapter 3: The Chapel of Ends

by Paul Evans

Paris is bustling again as the troops return from the summer campaign with loot to spend. And there's a whole new military hierarchy to be filled with suitable (probably) candidates. First, however, Minister of State Rick Shaw fills gaps in his government: he appoints Claude de Nord the new CPS, appoints Ben e'Volence Chancellor of the Exchequer and makes Jacques Hatt a Minister without Portfolio. However, Minister of War then becomes vacant as Camille de Polignac gets the nod as Quartermaster-General. Jobs are allocated down the chain of command with most applicants getting something.

Once all this has shaken out, several characters decide Paris is not the place for them and take their commands back into action. Charles Etfeevor volunteering the 13th Fusiliers may have something to do with his current disgrace.

The big social event of September is Louis Renault's "jubilant gathering" to toast the army's return. With Maggie Nifisent returned to his arm, Louis welcomes a wide selection of guests, encompassing most of the regiments in Paris. Oh dear. This, of course, prompts a whole load of duels as regimental rivalries are renewed. Camille de Polignac is not at the party, he's at the gaming tables. He loses his first 600-crown bet, cuts the second, loses twice more and cuts his last to end heavily out of pocket. And he's the army's Quartermaster-General...

In less salubrious parts of town, the footpads pounce on two of those visiting the bawdyhouses. Come Asiouar (who didn't bother the ladies) and Henri de Boudeille have spent all their cash, so there's nothing for the bandits here. In Henri's case that's because he lost all three bets he placed.

And the new Army commander, General Count Greg de Bécqueur hits the top of Parisian society's greasy pole.

The full report of the month's antics is on my website: LPBS September 1677.

A new episode has been added to the database: D's Journal: Darth Vader (Abridged Episode 47)

A new episode has been added to the database: Episode 47: Darth Vader

A new episode has been added to the database: [DND3 Pg 258] Hawks Are Heroes [Week 43]

A new episode has been added to the database: System Mastery 329 – Jukebox

by motoyugota

$35.00 for RPG Item: Gamma World Roleplaying Game
Condition: Like New
Location:

by Rachel Carpenter

Happy 24th Friday of 2026, everyone!! And as always on Friday, here are the current Friday links: 2026 Friday on Friday: Play Friday EVERY Friday of 2026 and Friday on Friday, June 2026.

Hello, Level 5! Will this be the week that I manage my first Level 5 victory of 2026?

I made it to the Red Phase!

I survived the Red Phase! And opted to take on the 52 pirate first :arrrh:.

The battle began in earnest...

And I emerged victorious!

On to pirate #2!

Not a bad start...

Wahoo!!!!!!

Victory! We have (Level 5) victory!!!

With, count 'em, 7 (7!) lifepoints remaining! Woot!

My final score was 85 points: 40 points from Fighting Cards, -5 points from Aging Cards, 35 points from lifepoints, 30 points for defeating both pirates, and -15 points from Unbeaten Hazards.

🌴 First Level 5 Victory of 2026!🌴

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Weekly Updates:


Challenge Updates:

:d10-1: 2023 Extreme Numerology Challenge / 2024 Extreme Numerology Challenge / 2025 Extreme Numerology Challenge: Wrapping up. Microbadges for 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025 will be awarded, please stay tuned! 2026 is live: 2026 Extreme Numerology Challenge
:d10-2: Fire in the Library- Summer/Fall 2023 Solo Challenge- Extended!!: Done! Stay tuned for a new series of mini challenges that include some more Weird Giraffe-themed fan promos. COMING THIS SUMMER! (2026)
:d10-3: 2025 Challenge: 25 un(der)played in 25: is Wrapped! If you spot errors or make updates, please geekmail me!
:d10-4: 2026 Challenge: 26 un(der)played in 26: is Active!
:d10-5: A special note on the Friday on Friday challenges: ALL owed microbadges should be system-awarded THIS YEAR. ALL microbadge reimbursements complete! Update: Stay tuned for progress on microbadges!



Designer's Corner:


Published Games:
:d10-1: Charge the Circle: Post-Contest (Revised Edition) Web-published to BGG. 2nd Edition & 2nd Edition (PNP) & 2nd Edition (Altar Decks ONLY!) coming to The Game Crafter in 2026! You can follow along with the ongoing graphic development here: A new edition coming in 2026!.
:d10-2:Eight Elephants: 2nd Edition now available on The Game Crafter! 2nd Edition, Print & Play also available on The Game Crafter! Original WIP thread: here!
:d10-3: Fireworks for the 4th: Semiquincentennial Edition: Now available on The Game Crafter! Revised (Post Contest) Edition remains available here!.
:d10-4: Pumpkin Spice & Everything Nice: 2nd Edition now available on The Game Crafter! 2nd Edition, Print & Play also available on The Game Crafter! Original WIP thread: here!
:d10-5: The United Cards of America: Now available on The Game Crafter!
:d10-6: Lincoln's Cat: Now available on The Game Crafter! Print & Play edition also available on The Game Crafter!
:d10-7: Liberty, DEATH, or TAXES: Now available on The Game Crafter!


Active Projects:
:d10-1: Finders Keepers: No new progress.
:d10-2: Bears love bows: Very Merry Trashmas edition: now available for playtesting AND formally entered in Bad Comet's Cozy Game Design Contest here on BGG! Next up: video!
:d10-3: Really Retail: No new progress.
:d10-4: Barricade Brigade: Tentatively coming to The Game Crafter in late 2026. Still needs a lot of work and a new coat of paint :geek_grin:.
:d10-5: The Boxcats of Meowazon : No new progress.
:d10-6: Read the Runes: Check out the updated TTS! I need playtesters to help me continue refining this one. I like the current art direction, but this will need more if I decide to go The Game Crafter route... There's also the drift problem... As much as I hate to say it, this might have to stay a print-and-play for now...
:d10-7: 10 Minutes to Midnight: THIS WILL BE COMING TO THE GAME CRAFTER IN 2026! In fact, it's likely to be the main game in my 2nd batch of releases :geek_grin:. Work continues... lookin' like the play mat will be the way to go...
:d10-8: Surfboard Stealin' Sea Otters: Contest complete! #2 Best Family Game and #8 Best Overall Game! Woot! Video still on the docket. Then I do plan on pitching the otters and seeing if I can catch some waves... and ... in the meantime, yes I am now committing to a Game Crafter release in 2026! Rules revisions continue! Box almost done!
:d10-9: Tricky Treats: Game considered complete and officially Ready for Pitching! I still need a video... no progress on that project this week.
:d10-1::d10-0: Squirrelly (formerly Woodland Warriors) : Contest complete! #3 for Best Art! 2 mini expansions available! Ready for pitching! Video still on the docket...
:d10-1::d10-1: Composer's Cat: 2024 In-Hand Game Design Contest: 5th Best Multiplayer Game; 6th Best Innovative Mechanic; 7th Best Use of Theme; and 4th Best Low-Ink Printing! Major revision complete, new video live, Print & Play Assembly Guide now available, and while entered in the 2026 Cardboard Edison, it didn't place as a finalist. I got good feedback, but I'm not sure what's next for this kitty... I did take some more video footage for the Cat last month.. and I'm still seriously considering re-jigging things to at least get the original starter set on The Game Crafter...
:d10-1::d10-2: Librarian's Cat: formerly Palm Library. formerly Littlest Library. 2025 In-Hand Game Design Contest: contest is complete... but I've got plenty of unfinished business to see to and I intend to see it all through, eventually. Please stay tuned!
:d10-1::d10-3: Elements: Coming to The Game Crafter in mid-2026! New cards, done! New rules posted to the WIP thread, take a look and let me know what you think! Just waiting 'til I've got more proofs ready to order...
:d10-1::d10-4: Knick Knacks: Shaker Showdown : Contest complete! #3 Best Solo Game, #3 Best 2 Player Game, and #4 Best Family Game! Not bad, not bad at all, especially since I fell woefully behind on the comments... I do plan on addressing all of the feedback. And I do want to continue to refine and improve the game. There's a decent little game here and it's worth pursuing.
:d10-1::d10-5: Critter Calls: Ready for pitching! I'm happy with the TTS and sell sheet, but do want a video. Not a high priority for pitching, but if I see any calls for party games or icebreaker games I will 100% submit it for consideration :geek_grin:.
:d10-1::d10-6: Unlucky Spirits, Revised Edition: Uncooperative Spirits campaign in-progress. Revised Edition formally entered in 2026 Two-Player Game Design Contest, which is now complete. No wins for Unlucky Spirits , but that's okay. I'm keeping on keeping on. And that's why I need you, players to help me get this game off the ground! The PNP files are serviceable. The TTS is functional and up-to-date. I just need some players to help me put the base game through its paces while I continue to write the campaign!
:d10-1::d10-7: Abydos: Contest complete, game did not place... I'm disappointed, but I'm still committed to getting this game out there. And, yes, it is coming to The Game Crafter in mid-2026. I've figured out a way around the drift issue that works well for Abydos. There's still more work to do, but I'm actually happy with how this is going now. Work continues.
:d10-1::d10-8: Nine Tails: Ready for pitching! This one will be coming to The Game Crafter! Art for full color edition done! Now working on the coloring book version, print-and-play files, and box!
:d10-1::d10-9: Put a bow on it! The new lease on life continues! The game is getting bigger and maybe a bit too complicated for Bad Comet's Cozy Contest... we'll just have to see how this one continues to develop...
:d10-2::d10-0: Eighteen Eggs: Contest complete, game did not place. *sigh*. Rain, Rain Mini Expansion and Player Aids available. The future of this little game... I don't know. It's cute, but it's too kiddie for The Game Crafter. Period. And I haven't come across any publishers looking for solo games for kids... That said, if you see a call for submissions, please let me know! Not writing it off, but pivoting to a more-Game Crafter-friendly design... see Last Leaves below!
:d10-2::d10-1: Snow Squall: In the vein of Eight Elephants and Eighteen Eggs, but a bit bigger, no timer, and more Game Crafter-friendly art. Again, not much progress this week. In fact, I'm putting this on hold for the moment and pivoting to a new take on Last Leaves...
:d10-2::d10-2: Monk's Cat: The Book of [Pawprints]: The third game in the Cat Companion Card Game series, sequel to Composer's Cat and Librarian's Cat. Contest now complete! I'm happy! #1 Best Graphic Design for Visually Impaired Players; #8 Best Use of Theme; & #7 Best Low-Ink Printing! I've still got feedback to address and I'll get there- I promise! But, overall, I'm happy with the game, with its reception, and I'm looking forward to continue developing Monk's Cat... possibly for future publication on The Game Crafter... 😜
:d10-2::d10-3: Unnamed Puzzle Game: multi-level campaign puzzle game in the vein of Abydos, Read the Runes, and Charge the Circle. Fuzzball-inspired. Backburner. Tentative entry in this year's Solitaire Print and Play Game Design Contest...
:d10-2::d10-4: Nine Lives: I haven't heard anything, so I'm assuming this is a no-go. Still, I might revisit this idea down the road...
:d10-2::d10-5: Who's ready for the owlidays?: Might be my entry/one of my entries in this year's 54-Card Game Design Contest! No new progress this week.
:d10-2::d10-6: I sits!: Didn't make the FFF Contest, but watch this space!
:d10-2::d10-7: Caturday @ the cattery: Didn't make the FFF Contest, but will still happen. Eventually. Again, watch this space!
:d10-2::d10-8: Elements 2: Will be 1 of my entries in this year's Solitaire PNP Game Design Contest! Sequel to Elements, draws on the setting/visuals/narrative of Elements and builds on the gameplay of Pumpkin Spice & Everything Nice with an added rock-paper-scissors-like overlap mechanic. Stay tuned! WIP will go live sometime this month...
:d10-2::d10-9: Time's up! : Probably my 2nd entry in this year's 54-Card Game Design Contest. Playtesting has gone well, now I'm fine-tuning things, actually locking down the rules, and starting work on the graphics. WIP thread won't go live until July to preserve eligibility.
:d10-3::d10-0: Last Leaves: old name, new game. This is a cozy, cute, Game-Crafter-friendly solitaire matching game that builds on Eighteen Eggs. The original Last Leaves may still happen down the road, but it'll need a new name because the name fits this little game better :geek_grin:. Card done! Rules done! Box done! Now waiting with Elements for my next order of proofs.
:d10-3::d10-1: A Walk on the Beach: Solo-only, play-through-the-deck set collection game. Unsure if for Solo PNP Contest OR 54-Card Contest... Continuing to play around to figure out where this game needs to go.


Early Development:
:d10-1: The 7th Seal : A bit of progress :whistle:
:d10-2: Gator Glory! Simmering.
:d10-3: So, you want to be a mage......
:d10-4: Barricade Brigade: At the postern gate: A smaller version of the original. Similar story, setting, and mechanics, but more compact.



On Hold:
:d10-1: Contagion and Calamity: The Philadelphia Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793: formerly Philly Fever 1793
:d10-2: Rolling Runes
:d10-3: Defend your Dreams: (formerly Dreamcatcher Duty)
:d10-4: Trick or Treat
:d10-5: Last Leaves Needs New Name!: This was going to be my entry in the 2026 Children and Family Game Design Contest (family category), but I'm putting this on the back burner instead to concentrate on getting my shop pages up-and-running over on The Game Crafter. Development will continue later this year and you can expect to see this game in the 2027 Children and Family Game Design Contest.
:d10-6: Unnamed design: Involves the Titanic and Jenny the ship cat...
:d10-7: Nine Nopes
:d10-8: Book it!
:d10-9: History Heist
:d10-1::d10-0: Lost in the Labyrinth
:d10-1::d10-1: Dragon's Draw
:d10-1::d10-2: Push to the Peak
:d10-1::d10-3: Cardshop Caretaker
:d10-1::d10-4: Water always wins
:d10-1::d10-5: Sniper, take the shot!
:d10-1::d10-6: Puppy Pile: (formerly Dogpile)
:d10-1::d10-7: Compound It!
:d10-1::d10-8: My Little Fish Tank
:d10-1::d10-9: Knick Knacks: Lovely Lamps : Sequel to Knick Knacks: Shaker Showdown
:d10-2::d10-0: Triskell (or maybe Triskellion): name not final
:d10-2::d10-1: Cursed Cards (Traditional Deck Game)
:d10-2::d10-2: War of the Wilds
:d10-2::d10-3: Scratch-off
:d10-2::d10-4: Reverse the curse!


Professional Projects:
:d10-1: Explosion in the Laboratory/Fire in the Library (2nd edition): Weird Giraffe Games: Campaign wrapped! Campaign fulfilled! Campaign complete!
:d10-2: Dreams of Yesterday: Weird Giraffe Games: Campaign wrapped! Campaign fulfilled! Campaign complete!
:d10-3: In the Shadows: Resistance in France 1943 - 1944: GMT Games: Complete! I still haven't managed to get this back to my table. Gah! In the meantime... see A Solo Sunday Salute - First Impressions - In the Shadows for a preview.
:d10-4: Crumbs!: The Sandwich Filler Game: Minerva Tabletop Games: Initial feedback in. First impressions and some extra crumbs: Solo Sundays- First Impressions: Crumbs!: The Sandwich Filler Game and Solo Saturdays - Continuing to make Crumbs. More formal review posted: Rachel Reviews It- Crumbs!: The Sandwich Filler Game. Campaign funded! Campaign ongoing. Fingers-crossed that Minerva Tabletop Games comes through... it looks like this is finally in the process of fulfilling...
:d10-5: Crystallo expansions and miniature edition: Light Heart Games: Initial feedback in. Previews and additional adventures shared: A crystal cavern at the garage aka mini Crystallo is here!, First Impressions: Crystallo: Untold Fortune, Solo Saturdays- First Impressions: Crystallo: Den of Dragons, and Solo Stories- Playing with all of Crystallo. More formal review posted: Rachel Reviews It- Crystallo: Untold Fortune and Crystallo: Den of Dragons. Campaign funded! Campaign ongoing... AND there's GOOD NEWS: Crystallo lives!- Crystallo's new Gamefound
:d10-6: Lost Adventures: Belltower Games: First Impressions and continuing adventures shared: Two-Player Thursdays- First Impressions: Lost Adventures, Two-Player Tuesdays- Getting Lost with Mom, and Solo Stories - Lost Adventures. More formal review posted: Rachel Reviews It: Lost Adventures. Campaign wrapped! Campaign fulfilled. Campaign complete.
:d10-7: Quirky Bird Games: The zine campaign funded! That's a wrap! Congrats Beth and Angel! Fulfillment ongoing. Keep up the great work!
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Yet again, no new sales BUT I'm mostly still on top of both BGG and my non-BGG socials too. Solitaire Games On Your Table -- June 2026 continues! I'm having a ball. Don't forget to stop by and say "hi". #SaveStargate is still going strong. Gosh, I love our crazy fandom. The plane with a banner IS happening (for realzies) on June 16th. Wow, just wow.

Design work also continues. And I have a few more session reports to write-up, but nowhere near the backlog that I was carrying last week. Monday's Mythic Monday report is actually ready-to-post, which means no rushing or excuses come Monday. And I'm super excited to continue this campaign.

That's my week! How was yours? Any plans for the weekend?

Happy Friday and happy playing!
-Rachel

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