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The headline clearly indicates I'm not entirely sane, but as a Call of Cthulhu player/keeper/writer, isn't that par for the course?
Even so, some of you may wonder why and how I burned through nearly $1300 while writing a community content creation.

It's kind of a long story, so for the impatient among you, there is a TLDR at the bottom. For the rest, it's a tale about my learning curve as a scenario writer, with a few tips thrown in if you're contemplating writing a scenario.

It all began a little over three years ago when I published my first scenario, The Art of Hygge, via the Miskatonic Repository.
And I did everything wrong!

I had no prior writing experience.
Had no real editor.
Didn't have a layouter.
Didn't spend any money to commission artists.
Having any of the above skills and experience can save you a ton of money and time.

Personally, I have absolutely no understanding of how to do a proper layout.
I can't draw a stick figure to save my life.
On top of that, English isn't my first language, and my grasp on grammar and spelling is rudimentary, to put it generously.
What I did have was an active imagination and a substantial vocabulary coupled with a naive assumption that selling the required 251 copies to make it eligible for Print on Demand would be a trivial thing. I later learned that selling copies on DTRPG is NOT trivial at all.

At this point, it would be natural to assume that my scenario was unsuccessful, but the stars were apparently right, so I got LUCKY in several ways:

--I got an amazing cover, courtesy of Ken Robkin, for free. The kind of cover that caught people's attention.
--I had friends who helped out with interior art, playtest, and edits.
--Maverick Haenze wrote a 5-star review of it and told me to keep writing.
--Chaosium showcased the cover on their social media.
Basically everything lined up, and I managed to sell 251 copies to get it into print, and currently it's a Gold Best Seller.

The upside is that it encouraged me to write a sequel, Lost in Cremation. The downside is that I didn't learn all that much from the experience.

So I did almost everything wrong one more time and again got lucky in all the right ways.
Lost in Cremation also made it into print.
I stayed encouraged, but this time I actually learned a little.
Things would be easier if I had better editorial help, and that maybe spending a little money on better art was not such a bad idea.

My third scenario, Mother of a Thousand Young took way longer to write and publish.
It was part of an anthology, The Year of the Goat, which involved a lot of editing by a professional, rewriting parts of it based on said editing and feedback, followed by more edits.

But the wait and extra work were worth it!
The final product looks damn amazing, and at the end of it I had picked up that professional editing, paid art, and a real layouter made a world of a difference.

So I began spending money on the next scenario I was writing. The vision I had for the scenario and the art in it expanded more than once over time, and I ended up commissioning way more art than originally planned.
In total, it came out to 1 front and 1 back cover, 42 pieces of individual art, and 5 maps.
On top of that, I found a real editor and hired a layouter.
And that's how I ended up spending $1279 on writing a scenario.

There is a bit more to the story, though.
I never had to take money out of my pocket.
All the sales I made from the previous scenarios were on my dtrpg account. In essence, they paid for the publication of my latest, The Horror, and I likely would never have spent that much on it if it were money I had to draw out of my budget.

The upside is that the scenario looks just like I envisioned it. Reviews from R´lyeh described it as having excellent production value, praised the cover, and gave it the Reviews from R’lyeh Recommends stamp. I couldn't have asked for more.

The downside is I have to sell 320 copies to break even
I don't expect to do that; I hope to, but even if I don't, I still feel it was worth it.
I didn't have to compromise on what I wanted to produce. I met some amazing people during the project, and even if I only earn a fraction of it back, it gives me funds for the next project, which means that my writing hobby ends up paying for itself.
I wish all my hobbies did that

The takeaway for prospective scenario writers could be:
Don't expect to live off it, don't even expect to make money.
It's worth it to get a good cover.
Editing and layout are important parts of the final look.
Art is worth including.
Have fun writing

TLDR: I was lucky. I made money on previous scenarios. I found it worthwhile to spend them on a new one.

10,000 SWORDS AGAINST HEAVEN is a Dark Science Fantasy Cultivation TTRPG set in the Thunderbolt Materialist cosmos of THE TRICHILIOCOSM. A southeast asian esoteric marxist-leninist technoccultic tropical gothic science fantasy take on xianxia and spirit cultivation. Play as kung fu commies, daoist grenadiers, buddhist gunwitches, digital devil wizards, all against the heavens.

It is inspired by the likes of EXALTED, MAGE: THE ASCENSION, FADING SUNS, ARTESIA, MYTHRAS, and SYMBAROUM. Games that are more simulationist than not, which preoccupy themselves with building mechanics that simulate the world rather than emulate a genre or a story.

Mechanically, it spirals out of the foundation of EXALTED 1E's Quickstart (d6 dice pool, small core number of traits, a track for power), mixed with GODBOUND's Effort system, ARTESIA/FADING SUNS' large number of Traits and Skills (represented through Traits, Gear, and Licenses) and a simulationist-esque style of play that grows out of OSR/NSR world-first gaming.

Its two main subsystems are SOCIAL PLAY (which is a dance of Leverages and Disposition) and LIQUID STEEL ULTIMAVIOLENCE (which is a dance of interrupts and actions). Both of them I've made effort to integrate into the world rather than be separate minigames that you "load into" when interacting with them.

The game's main aesthetic is something I like to call THUNDERBOLT MATERIALISM. A weird, occult realist esoterick tropical gothic techno-occult vibe that invokes the likes of BOOK OF THE NEW SUN, MARATHON, VAMPIRE HUNTER D, LORD OF LIGHT, BAS-LAG TRILOGY, DISCO ELYSIUM, ARMORED CORE, and GHOST IN THE SHELL.

10k SWORDS eschews narrative-first, story-generating mechanics in favor of a more traditional conceit, where Players play characters that live and breathe in a world, not chained to Narrative Trope, Story Mold, or Dramatic Expectation.

The mechanics themselves are a lot more rules-lite than its forebears, taking a page out of OSR and NSR traditions to aim at the goal of these simulationist games while wielding a different weapon. To come at the same target through a different, player-friendlier means.

I’ve been in the last few years collecting a bunch of what people seem to consider some of the best big adventures/campaigns out there. Some just to read (I get a lot of fun from just reading them honestly), some hope to play with a group (Masks Of Nyarlathotep which I already played partially once and hope to restart with a new group soon, Impossible Landscapes, Curse Of Strahd), some im going to play solo (I’m starting Darkening Of Mirkwood, will eventually play The Great Pendragon Campaign).

WFRP’s The Enemy Within seems to be a legendary campaign that has almost universal praise. But it’s 10 books and quite expensive. I love the warhammer fantasy world and have a bunch of material for both 3e and 4e, but is this campaign really worth getting? I know it’s quite old and the new edition has gone some way clean it up and modernise it but is all the praise mostly from nostalgia blinded grognards or is it genuinely one of the greats that everybody should experience?

After browsing some of the answers in this sub, it may have made me more overwhelmed 😅. Got a lot of ideas (thanks!) but almost too many 🤣🤣

So, I’ve played Dark Heresy, Witcher, and DnD 5e, with DnD being my least favourite system of these. I loved the grittiness, the brutality, and the feel of “just” surviving that Dark Heresy and Witcher offered. Also, the combat for both games was fun, especially Witcher. I’ve found Witcher is definitely my most fun game to play and run.

But I’ve also been looking to expand into other TRPGs, especially as the flaws in Witcher become more and more apparent. It’s a little too killy and the alchemy system is ass among other things. I’m a big Star Wars EU fan so WEG Star Wars has been mentioned to me more than once. I also know there’s some good ones like Ironsworn, Pathfinder, and Blades in the Dark. Any help would be really lovely.

Me and my group want to play a mecha game in the future. LANCER is our first choice, but being honest I'm looking for a lighter RPG at the moment.

While I prefer crunchier games over lighter ones (currently playing Daggerheart & Tormenta20, a Brazilian version of D&D 3.5e), I've been a bit burnout by too many rules.

With all that, which are good Rules Light Mecha TTRPGs? I'm looking for:

• At least a bit of customization that isn't overwhelming (no 100 pages to create the perfect robot, more like 1 to 5 pages and the rest is reflavoring).
• Fun combat, but not complex combat (Theater of the Mind is okay, no rules for complex stuff like flanking and exact distances is okay, but would still have at least one of two cooler things to do beside move & attack).
• Themed of stories told can be happier and adventurous or more dour and somber, but I won't lie I prefer a happier tone at the moment.

Aside that, I'm open for anything suggesteed

One thing I love in stories, is deduction and investigation. One of my absolute favourite kinds of investigations is “figuring out what the threat is”. Like in The Witcher, where you go around collecting evidence, trying to piece together what the monster is so you can prepare for a fight. That shit is awesome to me.

But in TTRPGs, you can’t just put out some evidence and immediately have the character know what’s up. The players wouldn’t enjoy that, they didn’t get to really do anything or think of anything. But putting it entirely in the hands of the players might leave them scratching their heads or coming to the wrong conclusions even when everything is out there (not the worst thing, can breed good stories). As a player, I probably wanna play something I’m not, and that can include being a good detective. So the question is:

How might you make/run an investigation that balances player ability (natural deduction and investigation skills) with character ability (a character’s deduction and investigation skills)?

I just got my hands on three GILA TTRPGs (Loot, Slayers, and RUNE) and was wondering if anyone had any advice on running the first two.

Slayers is the one I am most interested in. I could get a larger group to run it, but if anyone has any experience with the duet supplement pack I would love to hear how it went.

Loot and I am still reading through but it sounds awesome. How does it compare to Slayers? How does the Lumen system work?

Other than those two, I am interested in other GILA products. If you have any suggestions that would be great

Mods can you let me know if this counts as self promotion? I don't think it does, but I'm not the one in charge of the sub.

Either way.

So I did something incredibly stupid, after making a big move about 4ish months ago, starting a new job, and trying to exist in city with three kids and no car in the only city in the south with a metro... I decided to take my game to a convention even when I knew it wasn't ready for prime time.

I've been working on a game called Anime Love Triangle Simulator (ALTS for short) for about 3 years now, I've posted about it on a few other subreddits before, but not here. So I doubt anyone here knows anything about it.

So let's have a three sentence pitch and get it out of the way. ALTS is a competitive 3 player Anime RomCom TTRPG, heavily inspired by Kaguya Sama, Ranma 1/2, and Ouran High School Host Club. It aims to recreate the wild, hilarious, and sometime heartbreaking feelings of the shows and genre that inspired it. It uses simple mechanics to create a depth of play that's fair and balanced for game with competing players, not relying on DM fiat to decide a winner.

Dumb Decisions

Now that the introductions out of the way, let's get into the dumb decisions that lead to running play tests at a con. Earlier this year I moved to Atlanta, and I've been trying to get into the local table top gaming scene here. I was introduced to a con that would let me attend for free if I ran games for it. Southern Fried Gaming Expo is pretty generous with their volunteer hours to free day ratio, a 3 hour game nets you a single day at the con which basically meant i could run my game once per day and attend the con for the rest of the day.

So, not wanting to spend money and wanting to start round 4 of my play test, i volunteered to run my play test after clearing it with the event organizer. At the time my game was functional, but seriously flawed. it suffered from greifing, pacing issues, and having system to fairly track who was winning points during the game. It also had unbalanced math, and mechanics that had major flaws.

It was playable, but it wasn't something that i felt comfortable playing with people i didn't know, and it certainly wasn't ready to be given to another human being. and now i had a month and a half to fix all of that.

The Deadline

I had set up my con application about a month and a half before the SFGE's opening Friday. This was a dumb decision, not for my game, but for me personally it made for an intensely stressful 6 weeks. That being said, i function much better on anything i work on if i have a deadline i have to commit to and can't change. Despite the stress involved I would absolutely recommend people to pull the trigger if they're having similar thoughts about taking their game to a con.

It pushed me to make big changes and work on the game regularly. I was running at 1 to 2 play tests a week during this time and spending my down time at home writing, rewriting, and editing the document I've used to create the rulebook for alts. I've worked more on ALTS in the last six weeks then on the previous 3 years combined.

Play-testing for the Play-test.

I'm lucky to have found Atlanta's robust TTRPG community. They has a web app allowing you to post games you'd like to run for their weekly meetups. Which meant I could just put ALTS up on the website and show up when people took a bite, which was surprisingly often for such a weird little game. I ran a weekly play-test with one group of player and then a sporadically ran a second set of play-tests with another set.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, there's nothing better for a game then for it to played. There are some things I just can't on paper, getting the game to table lets you really diagnose issues. You can see in real time what part of the game is fiddly, slow, unused. I also had the fun of watching the changes i make to fix current problems reignite previous issues and create new ones, it really feel like game design is Hydra.

But perhaps the best thing about the open play-tests was that my audience was no longer the just the people I could bully, bribe, or blackmail. It was self selecting, which meant my game started to find it's target audience. The difference in the vibe of the play-test was night and day when dealing with people who found the concept and theme genuinely compelling.

Rules and Iteration

The most valuable part of this round of play testing was watching the systems finally come together. I wasn't trying to get any one thing right this time, I needed it all to feel right together and that meant 3 major changes, and several small ones. The small ones were rule tweaks to character abilities, rebalancing the math of the characters attributes, hammering out a system to keep track of player rolls and success across a scene, and tweaking the math on the penalties player's received. This was most of where i spent my time over the previous weeks.

The big ones were decidedly easier despite having the biggest impact on game feel, probably cause I'm bad at math. The first one is some thing of a UI overhaul, i had been toying with the idea of introducing tokens and cards to the system for a while and pulled the trigger this play-test. I'm glad I did, nothing impacted game feel more then the introduction of tokens and cards. I know it's not a revolutionary concept, famously Daggerheart introduced cards as being a part of their design UI and trad games have always encouraged the use of tokens. But ultimately they are considered secondary, and they still provide pen and paper methods to play their games independent of having the bits and bobbins.

But for ALTS, at least for right now, the cards and tokens are effectively mandatory core part of the experience. when used along side the play mat, they replace traditional character sheets all together. It's not that you can't play without the cards and tokens, but the game becomes infinitely stickier and fiddly without them

The game has a had stress penalty system in place for certain results, but up until this play-test the penalty was either to fiddly (adding negatives to a result) or to punishing (losing a D6 on all your rolls in a 2d6 system), it's been refined into a fairly unique (to TTRPGs at least) pass and steal penalty system.

I added a sixth stat to the attributes that characters use to gain bonuses. Then frustrated myself for two plus weeks trying to find a good name and verbs to go with that attribute. I unintentionally locked my self into alliterative names for my stats, and had find the new sixth stat fit into the naming conventions of the game and the genre.

And finally I went digging into my character creation systems and cut a lot of content and replaced it with stuff that both better fit the theming and played better and smoother, a lot of darling killing unfortunately as I trimmed back about 5 character choices down to 2. Aiming to make those two choices more meaningful and to give more options to pick from. It also meant I could fit those choices and their abilities onto playing cards, making it so players don't have to write down their abilities on the sheet.

I walked away with a game that was more thematically and mechanically cohesive, a game with simple mechanics that build on one another, creating a system with a more depth.

Making it playable

One of the things I made myself commit to for the con was to having a functional starter guide that I could hand to people at the con and they could take home and play with their friends. For me that meant it needed to have the Rules, in readable and well organized English. It needed to teach them how to create a character, and it needed to teach the GM how to run the game. ALTS doesn't play like a trad game, or even like a narrative game. It's competitive nature requires it to have pretty rigid structure or else it can become unfair. It's also resistant to DM fiat, no fudging dice rolls or shrinking/extending encounters.

It also includes some small flourishes, like a short list of common Japanese names and surnames. some best practices.

But beyond the actual rules, the most important part is that it has a pre-made one shot included that can be played right out of the book, literally. It has progress bars and trackers printed into the pages for the Host to write on during session. I only got to test this out at con proper but it worked really well from my end.

I'm excited to be able to hand it to people... and expect to get torn to shreds since it's the first pass on this particular part of the project.

Taking it to the Con

Logistically, this was a nightmare for my ADHD brain. late nights spent rewriting the rules last minute for the con ready game, finishing the cards with simple readable designs that included Verbs used in play, making sure to print out character sheets and having the games booklets get printed out. It was a mess right up until I sat down to run my first game...

Then it smoothed out, each game flowed well, we stayed within our allotted time, and the people who sat down to play with me enjoyed their time with it, even if they weren't anime people. One guy sat down at the table only because his bros dared him to play the "Flirt with your homies game," he had enough fun to take a copy home with him to inflict upon said homies.

That doesn't include the other benefits of the con, I player games i wouldn't otherwise have had the chance to (Huckleberry, VTM5, Daggerheart, Mythic Bastionland, and a few play-tests that don't have names yet), got to meet more of the local community, and even did bit of networking. There are apparently quite a few people in Atlanta working on indie Tabletop games.

In the end all of the late nights, the hard work, and tedious fiddly stuff paid off... Anime Love Triangle Simulator just works. That's not to say it's done, there are tweaks to balance to still be made, not every character ability has been used in the play-test, and the starter guide needs both to be rewritten and to be expanded into a proper rule book, then layout, and maybe art someday. But for now... and for a little while at least, it's done. Feature complete and ready to play.

The Take Away

• Game Design is work, a lot of sleepless nights getting things ready, being away from my family in the evenings, and the burnout that comes at least in my case from hyper-focusing on a project
• Get plugged into your local community, run games for people, ones that are your play-test and ones that aren't. I regret not giving more back to the RPG crowd in Atlanta and once i done with my hiatus I'll be running more games that other people want to play.
• Write your rules down, my first rules book was just a players guide I could give to my friends before my second play-test, they didn't read it, but it was the start of a document that would eventually morph into a functional starters guide.
• Play with people outside of your friend group. You and the people you play most with will eventually become nose blind to the problems with your system as you internalize how to play and run it.
• Go to a local con, it'll be fun, and you can probably get in free or really cheaply if you sign up to run table top games you probably would have ran anyway.
• Be better prepared for the logistics then I was... don't print your booklets at an office depot an hour before your supposed to be running the game.
• Network and get to know other people in the hobby space.
• Have fun.

Still to much, Here's your TL/DR, play-test your games, find good communities, go to cons, make rulebook that someone else can actually use to play one day without you sitting over their shoulder. Don't buy con food if you can help it. And if your at a con and you see some one testing their weird little game/scenario, give it a shot if your even remotely interested. You'll make somebodies weekend, the people who played my game definitely made mine

Edit: I didn't think i needed to say this, but no Ai was used to write this, the garbage formatting and typos are all my own.

Hi everyone.

I'm looking for recommendations for an app that will help me catalogue all my RPG books.

Any suggestions?

Thank you in advance

I would like to back the DC RPG that's coming out, but I'm concern about delivery of he final product. I backed Heroes United and CMON is basically standing in the corner rocking. Does any know anything about D20 Culture and their reliability?