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It's caused quite the stir over on the TTRPG side of Bluesky. I certainly have my own opinions on Obojima but was curious to see what Reddit thinks since I haven't seen it discussed here yet.

"As soon as you humanize the faceless monster, now, you got a huge problem. It ceases to become fantasy adventure. Keep monsters monstrous 'cause you need to have things to kill. If you keep it cinematic and cartoony, you'll have a good time killing monsters. If you start getting into simulation, where - 'what is the Howler culture? What is the nature of intelligence? And like, do they have a soul?' And like, you're done playing fantasy game and now you're into the moral nature of our world and existential stuff."

Link: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Sxd-p2Gaj5E

2 years ago, OSR author Noora Rose was caught plagiarizing Ultraviolet Grasslands, Vaults of Vaarn, and 17th Century Minimalist in her OSR game, Unconquered. This sub had a thread about it: https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/s/h2KB8yEwIC

In the wake of these revelations, Noora had hastily taken down not only Unconquered, but everything published by her company, Monkey's Paw Games.

A few days ago, she put everything back up, including Unconquered, which, according to drivethrurpg, hasn't been updated.

UVG author Luka Rejec has asked people to report this title on drivethrurpg, while he determines what he can do to get it taken down. Leo Hunt, author of Vaults of Vaarn, has expressed disappointment that he wasn't credited, as his work is CC-BY, and therefore can be freely used, even commercially, as long as it is properly attributed.

Over on r/OSR, another user discovered more material stolen by Noora, this time in her game, Intruders. Over a dozen pages worth of tables in that book have been copied, verbatim, from Judges Guild Ready Ref Sheets. I have no love for Judges Guild's current owners. For obvious reasons, but this seems to be copyright infringement as well.

With all the witchy players, I am curious... any rpgs where the focus is on witches? Ala Charmed, or Sabrina the Teenage Witch - maybe less corny even - but definitely focusing ON the witches & their internal stuff going on, not just them as antagonists or saving the world every time per se.

I'm picking out what system to use for my next campaign. I like running, and my group likes playing in, sprawling sandbox worlds with lots of political intrigue and mysteries to uncover and lore to dig into, as well as big bosses to fight.

Right now I'm considering Dragonbane because the combat mechanics sound cool and the progression sounds very conducive to the pace with which I like to run things.

The only thing is, I've heard it billed as a "beer and pretzels" game where "you don't have to take it too seriously." Is there a reason for this reputation beyond the existence of duck people? My preference is for my worlds to be presented as serious, so I'd rather not have to fight against the mechanics of the system to achieve that.

Opening Clarification: Since this is causing confusion:

• This is technically a third-party product.

• The only reason why it is third-party is because Chronicles of Darkness was abruptly stopped by the publisher. The last Chronicles of Darkness product published by Onyx Path was Deviant's own Clades Companion, back in 2024.

• Eric Zawadzki was one of the two leads of Deviant core. He was also the lead for the supplements.

• Eric Zawadzki is now writing almost all of Black Vans. It is still him writing, just under self-publishing.

I would like to talk about the Chronicles of Darkness game line Deviant: The Renegades, or more specifically, one major upcoming supplement. Deviant was released in late 2021, and has had three additional sourcebooks since then. A new supplement, Black Vans, has been in playtesting for a while, and is currently being previewed.

I am not being paid or sponsored to promote this book in any way. I am just very fascinated by it, and indeed, I already ran a mini-campaign using the playtest material.

Deviant is, by default, a game about playing angsty, scarred superheroes who either fight world-manipulating conspiracies or work for them. Black Vans is a toolkit full of variant rules, quick NPC creation, variant character types, and variant genres. These variants range from the minor to the dramatic, completely overhauling what were once non-negotiable, foundational themes and mechanics. Maybe your character is not angsty or scarred at all, perhaps they are a """""regular human""""" like John Wick or Batman, or the campaign might have nothing to do with world-manipulating conspiracies.

These variant genres include cyberpunk, high fantasy, post-apocalypse, space opera, and superhero emergence.

This is a beefy supplement. For example, one chapter alone dedicates 38,000+ words to playing other monsters of the Chronicles of Darkness: Beasts, changelings, demons, Sin-Eaters, hunters (entirely separate from the variant rules for """"natural"""" superpowers), mages, mummies, Prometheans, vampires, and werewolves. No additional supplements beyond Deviant are necessary; the rules are self-contained, allowing the group to play a monster mash of an urban fantasy setting without needing a daunting 7+ books. And yes, they are supposed to be balanced against one another, so a vampire in the same group as a full-fledged mage is probably some older Kindred.

Then come the variant genres. Most downplay, if not completely do away with, the idea of fighting world-manipulating conspiracies or working for them; the GM is still free to use them if so desired. ~4,800 words are given to general rules on the variant settings.

The cyberpunk genre and its rules are 10,000+ words long. You are either a corp-employed Suit or a Freelancer. Major mechanics include managing and juggling a network of patrons and sponsors, diving into "Iconspace" (the internet, and digital systems in general, in Tron style), and the possibility of having unsupported Upgrades.

The high fantasy genre and its rules clock in at ~9,800 words. While Deviant usually categorizes PCs into five "Clades" (classes, sort of, but much looser), this is much more flexible; players can take whatever abilities they want for their characters, as long as it can be justified by species, magic, or what-have-you. Major mechanics include heroic codes of morals and ethics (every PC has one, even unconsciously) and the drama that ensues from trying to live up to them, interference from "Meddlers" (gods, demon lords, archmages of godlike power, etc.) and the possibility of deliberately invoking them for aid, epic quests as campaign structure, treasure, monsters, and traps.

At ~9,400 words, the post-apocalypse genre and its rules cover what one would expect: scarcity, food, tracking ammo/batteries/food, home bases, and the like. However, Black Vans chooses to approach the genre in an optimistic fashion. Hope and despair are core mechanics. Rather than fighting or working for conspiracies, PCs counteract and neutralize the harsh conditions of the world itself. It may take time, and it may take far more resources than the PCs start the campaign with, but they can make the planet a safer place and give hope to all. It helps that the PCs have superpowers, of course, whether from before the calamity or as a result of wasteland mutations.

The space opera genre and its rules come in at ~10,800 words. Here, the scale is raised dramatically. The PCs do not fight or work for world-manipulating conspiracies; instead, the conspiracy rules model entire space empires, each in control of many planetary systems. Yes, the PCs are very much capable of toppling whole interstellar empires. The bulk of this chapter, understandably, focuses on starships (many of which have Deviant-powered FTL drives) and mechas.

The superhero emergence genre and its rules are ~9,000 words. The theme here is specific: PR. For some reason, the PCs are the spotlight superheroes of the world, with all media attention on them. Their actions are what shift around public sentiment towards all superheroes around the globe. If the PCs raise or lower public sentiment, every other superhero is affected, worldwide. Depending on sentiment, superheroes in general might be exalted as messiahs (yet expected to solve all world problems and put on a tight leash), reviled as horrors, or viewed somewhere in between. The more positive sentiment is, the easier it is to lose goodwill due to unrealistic expectations.

Following these variant genres are rules, guidelines, suggestions, and examples for meshing them together. Maybe you want to run space fantasy, where PCs of all kinds of fantasy species topple interstellar empires while cosmic gods step in as Meddlers. (Indeed, the space opera genre's rules do not cover aliens all that much, and simply instruct the reader to port over the high fantasy genre's rules for nonhumans, monsters, and such.)

So that is Black Vans. I find it very fascinating, and I am eager to see where it goes.

Deviant is, by default, a game about playing angsty, scarred superheroes who either fight world-manipulating conspiracies or work for them. Black Vans can adjust this heavily, removing the angst, the scars, the superheroes, the conspiracies, and more. So for context, what is default Deviant like?

You have superpowers. You might have signed up for them willingly, been tricked or kidnapped into becoming a subject on an operating table, had the seeds of such abilities since birth, acquired them from some freak accident, personally invented some procedure or serum to give yourself superpowers, or had a more complicated origin still. In this setting, the line between science and technology and the outright magical and supernatural is extremely blurry; the differences between lab coats, supercomputers, and operating tables and rune-scribed robes, magic circles, and occult altars are purely academic (and are not distinguished mechanically).

There are five "Clades." Cephalists manifest mind-bending psychic gifts. Chimerics draw upon the might of one or more organisms (animals, plants, fungi, stranger creatures still). Coactives manipulate energies both conventional and esoteric (luck, names, other supernatural powers, etc.). Invasives are armed with panoplies of technological, magical, or technomagical implants; or are more spiritually bonded to great weapons, armor, relics, and such. Mutants are simply built different, and need nothing more than their awesome, often eerie physiologies to achieve the impossible. Many powers are universal, and taking powers cross-Clade is very common.

Later supplements offer subvariants of each Clade; maybe your Chimeric is a Pack Leader. There are also many "Forms," add-ons for concepts. For example, Transitionals exhibit qualities of multiple Clades (good for PCs who do not fit cleanly into any one), Amalgams and Symbionts are two different ways to represent someone fused with another organism or entity, and Summoners' abilities are embodied as external entities in a JoJo-like fashion. Automata are machines, and Uplifts are animals. Outsiders gain powers from their otherworldly origin: different world, different plane or dimension, different parallel timeline, same timeline but from the past or future, and so on.

There are three big catches to being a Deviant.

Firstly, these abilities come with Scars: major weaknesses. You might require long charge-up times for certain powers, they might activate at inopportune moments, you might be harmed by certain substances, you might be significantly more fragile or in poorer health than normal, and so on.

Secondly, above and beyond your Scars, you are bodily, mentally, and spiritually unstable. You must manage this Instability wisely, lest your abilities spiral out of control and enter End Stage, an explosive and catastrophic end. How you eliminate Instability depends on your relationship with the conspiracies who ensnare the world.

So perhaps you were coerced by a cult into forging a pact with a great god of the spirit world. The deity gave you a cursed weapon. You are now an Invasive, forevermore bonded to the armament: metaphysically, that is, such that the weapon is always by your side one way or another. The armament Scars you by draining your memories (Amnesia) and replacing them with a colder, more alien personality (Alternate Persona). Above and beyond that, you must take care to avoid the decay of your body, mind, and soul (Instability). On the bright side, the weapon gives you all kinds of superpowers, including an awesome transformation sequence (Monstrous Transformation).

Thirdly and perhaps most importantly, you cannot go public. A number of conspiracies, collectively known as the Web of Pain, shape the world. They do not want Deviants to be too well-known. Most conspiracies are amoral bastards who cruelly manufacture or forcibly enslave superhumans. A rare, rare handful are more sympathetic.

Like many superhero games, Deviant is divided into tiers. Deviants of Threat Level 1–2 are Local, 3–5 are Regional, 6–8 are Global, and 9–10 are Otherworldly (i.e. cosmic). Those of Threat Level X are generally supposed to either fight (i.e. "Renegade" Deviants) or work for (i.e. "Devoted" Deviants) conspiracies of Standing X. Here are some canonical examples, some from the core rulebook, others from the upcoming Deep Dive supplement:

• Standing 1: "A group of operatives, support staff, and bodyguards who have taken it upon themselves to protect and elevate Gustaw Bernhard, a billionaire celebrity-businessman."

• Standing 2: The Parents of Psychic Children Network. These vloggers, psychiatrists, pharmacologists, and political activists want to help Cephalist kids, but wind up misguidedly abusing and exploiting them.

• Standing 3: Corvalis Chemicals. Your usual super-duper evil chemical company, specializing in supplying other conspiracies who want to manufacture Deviants.

• Standing 3: A collusion between one political party of a city's government, the city's crooked police, the city's criminal kingpins, and a company of A.I. tech bros developing "CopAI."

• Standing 5: The Chinkon Collective, Japan's "order of psychics, mystics, and mediums who act as peacekeepers between humanity and the unseen world. They are investigators and diplomats, advocates and enforcers." This is one of the very few morally and ethically decent conspiracies.

• Standing 6: The Society for Cultural Preservation, who started as an arm of the British Empire. They heartlessly take advantage of indigenous peoples across the world, recording and "preserving" their mystical lore and rituals.

• Standing 6: The Abyssal Pioneers, a vast circle of cultists who operate from the deepest deeps of the ocean floor. They can send kaiju-sized krakens to attack coastal cities.

• Standing 7: The centuries-old cult of the great devil Lisedifen, who feeds upon enmity and atrocities inflicted upon anyone who could be considered an "outsider." They can spur a powerful nation into an all-consuming, xenophobic frenzy. They sacrifice or otherwise execute immigrants in droves.

• Standing 7: The Onachus, "an old and powerful conspiracy whose talons reach far across Europe and the Middle East." They own a great many foundations, corporations, sects, and cults. They relentlessly study and exploit gateways to otherworlds, and crack open human souls to infuse them with alien power.

• Standing 9: The Old Boys Club: extremely powerful, millennia-old, immortal super-billionaires who rule and steer the world mostly for their own whims.

• Standing 9: The Stargazers, the harbingers of an outright alien invasion.

• Standing 10: The Symposium, humanity from the far future: an all-powerful intergalactic empire, traveling backwards in time to bootstrap the invention of transtemporal technology to an earlier point.

Some campaigns will be one-and-done within a single Standing and Threat Level. Others (i.e. the kind that takes dozens of sessions, requiring a really dedicated group) will be more zero-to-hero. It depends on what the GM practically thinks they can manage.

And that is default Deviant. It is an interesting game, I think.

Addendum: As far as the expected "power fantasy"-ness of Deviant is concerned, even lowly Threat Level 1 characters stand to vanquish whole rooms full of mooks. This is due to two factors. Firstly, the goon rules allow the GM to field large numbers of run-of-the-mill combatants who are taken out very instantly (and probably nonlethally, too). Secondly, Black Vans' quick NPC creation rules are specifically set up such that, yes, regular combatants really are trash compared to even moderately optimized PCs, even before the goon rules come in.

Hello there.

Short disclosure: I posted this in r/MorkBorg as well to get more input.

I am about to run "Crown of Salt" and I ran into several issues. Today I believe I have found a solution and would love to know what you think about it and if you could see any drawbacks that I might not be aware of.

"Crown of Salt" was an adventure I really wanted to run cause I love the artwork, the story and the creativity behind it. Sadly two major problems surfaced:

1. There is plenty of Lore and it says nowhere how the characters could learn these storys. They are just flavoured in and I think they are essential to the adventure. But I could not grasp how the party could possible learn all of that.
2. It's too deadly. And my group would like to play the whole adventure with the same characters instead of making news ones each other sessions. It's not about avoiding consequences but we don't want these consequences to be death. It should be the story of this specific party discovering the Crown of salt.

I know especially the second point might be heretic to some folks who love the deadliness of OSR and would advise me to play something else if I cannot handle it. Problem is: I really like the Mörk Borg System. I choose it cause it has a great flow so please don't be offended.

Here is the solution I came up with

My idea was to put everything in a framing story: An old man telling the tale of the adventures you went to find the Crown of Salt to his grandchildren. The grandchildren are played by the players at the table and the Grandfather by the GM. Both can always choose to return to the framing story to adjust the adventure.

It seems perfect to me because the adventure deals a lot with the topic how legends get passed on and become differnt meanings over time. My frameing story would take place one generation after these events with the premise: "When I was young people told the legend of the crown of salt - today we tell a different legend. The legend of the adventures who found it."

We can hop back into the framing device whenever the right point is to dish out crucial lore. The Grandfather just incoroprates it.

Furthermore whenever somebody is dying a child can ask "Is that really what happend, Grandfather?" and the Grandfahter asks back "No, not really. What do you think?" And the players themselves come up with narrative consequences.

Even one step further: If an enemy is getting to tough a child could ask "That's too scary! Let's skip ahead." and then just narrate the consequences.

....I guess I basically "Princess Brided" Mörk Borg.

That's my train of thought. As I mentioned: I understand if you feel I am cheating the system but that's not up to debate. What I would love to know is if you feel that solves the issues me and my group have with the adventure.
Thanks for the Feedback!

So, let me start by saying I enjoy running games where the players have meaningful choices. This applies to the story level, but it should reflect in the mechanics. One of the meaningful choices I find important is limited resources and choosing how to use them.

The trouble is I think counting silvers coins or credits or whatever gets annoying and on the way of the game. Sure, a new clip of ammo for your blaster costs 50 and a hyperarmor costs 5 000 000.. But when you can actually buy the hyperarmor, what is the point of counting pennies for blaster clips? On the other hand, if you don't keep track of the small purchases, why would you set concrete limits to big purchases either?

So I'd like to give up on keeping track on money and instead move to wealth level based systems. I've browsed through a few, but I think many of them have problems. Some are too rigid, making it impossible to get anything beyond your level. Others handwave the economics too far, removing the chance to make choices.

So, do you have recommendations on a system that works?

My criteria are:

• No keeping track of individual credits, coin etc
• Players still get a choice on what they use their wealth on (so the wealth is not just on/off -thing, either you afford something or not)
• Wealth can change easily based on events in the game
• The system is fast or moderately fast to use, no need to do complex calculations

I don't care whether your recommendations are from fantasy or scifi or whatnot, I can always convert it to the setting.

I am a system horder and a GM to multiple different types of games. I am currently running one shots of different systems for my online group, trying to expose them to as many different types of systems as possible during the holidays. This brought a question to mind.

Which system do you think is the hardest to run and why? What elements make it difficult and could it be made easier?

For me, I havent ran it yet, but the one I fear is Blades in the Dark. Deciding DCs and consequences feels like it takes a lot of nuances.

Edit: I want to add about Blades, it involves quite a bit of setting and lore knowledge too. Maybe im wrong, but it feels like you gotta know the districts and factions pretty well.

Looking for a good campaign Notebook, something digital I can print out. Anybody got a good one I could use?

I am currently not at home, so the resources are constrained, but i got access to a laser printer and paper.

We are thinking about starting a pen&paper game but the only one i know that fits the criterias is "adventure skeletons" and that is a bit to simple.

It can be any setting, not looking for something specific.
But charcter sheets would be nice and if it only requires D6 since we got some.

But in a pinch, we can use a dice app.

Have you ever played a horror oneshot on Halloween night, whether Dread, Call of Cthulhu, Ten Candles or Liminal Horror or even one of the Brindlewood Wood thematic adventures? Have you played an oneshot where you had to save Christmas? Because I did, maybe not exactly on the date, and maybe not exactly the same games (replace BB with Wanderhome haunted carnival and Dread with a haunted golf course in The Warren), but around the appropriate time of fall and winter. And it felt so cozy. I used not to like this kind of activities and find the usual Christmas movies soapy, but getting into the holiday cheer has been so much fun.

I recently dealt with raccoons stealing toys to make MechaGrinch in Magical Kitties Save the World, drank a ton of hot cocoa and discussed proceedings and management of Yazeba's Bed & Breaksfast by a cozy fire, machinegunned a mainframe that was infecting people with a Santa virus in Cy_Bork after we almost died to being wrapped up by sentient Christmas lights. I am going to deal with Elfon T. Shalf, the original elf on the shelf who is pissed about copyright infringement in a Monster of the Week special later today and if everything goes well play a Mausritter special and host my own Wanderhome Chill season session.

I am really excited. I have my own hot beverages and treats ready and the only thing I regretted was that other players got their Christmas hats and reindeer antlers on for Cy_Bork and I didn't own any. Oh no! I didn't even have my fugly sweater on, I was wearing my Houses and Humans hoodie instead. And the print was on the back and it was online and no one got to read what it said. NOOO!

edit: sorry for deleting a min later and reposting, but I am dyslexic and misspelled the title.