Laughing Leviathan

 I've always loved the outpouring of creativity thanks to Inktober and its many incarnations, so you can imagine my glee when I came across this post:  https://sunderedshillings.blogspot.com/2020/09/glogtober.html Here's my start, and hopefully I can keep this going for the rest of the month. This is a background for a Troika-hack I've been toying with in the shadows for a little bit.  Art by Calum Alexander Watt (@CalumAWatt) Universal Soldier You were engineered to be the perfect soldier for every combat zone imaginable to man and machine. Even though that was a lifetime ago, those skills are still razor sharp. Anything is a weapon, everything is an opportunity, and nothing stands in your way for very long. Possessions A DXR-6 Disruptor Rifle A MK 22 Plasma Pistol A Concealed Shock Knife 3x Krak Grenades Plasteel Tactical Exoskeleton (As Heavy Armor) Sealed EVA Mask Advanced Skills 3 Shooting 3 Explosives 2 Survival 2 Navigation 1 Close Quarters Combat 1 Languages If yo...

Here's the first draft of the first phase of D&D backgrounds I'm making for a home Troika game. I've had players mention wanting to try something a little more vanilla and more in line with what they were used to after trying out Troika for the first time, so here's my attempt to bridge the gap. Some things I wanted to keep in mind when making these conversions: Making the items as flavorful and evocative as Troika backgrounds Blending skills from both games Only use Spells from Troika Taking a page from GLOG, and giving a template choice for Special Abilities to the player, with carry over from 5e abilities but translated into Troika rules Let me know what you think, if you have any suggestions or recommendations, and how you feel I should continue on. First Draft of D&D x Troika! Backgrounds   Preview:  Note: Art and flavor text is directly from the D&D PHB. I plan on replacing both in the future, this is just for my reference.

 This is the last part of my series of posts covering a playthrough of the two-player roleplaying game A Single Moment. You can find the Chapter 3 here. I might make a postmortem looking back on this session and covering my thoughts about the game itself. If that's something you'd be interested in, please let me know in the comments below, and post any specific questions you might have and I'll do my best to cover those as well.  The Finale is broken up into two parts. Over the course of the game, both players accumulated a meta-currency called Hatred, and help bridge the gap between the last chapter and the moment of the Duel through a series of events per how much Hatred that player has accumulated. During the Finale, the players take turns narrating as either Attacker or Defender, and roll to see the results of their attempts spending Edges and accumulating Scars. Enjoy! CHANNELING YOUR ANGER Artrail stewed on what Virgil had told him for weeks.  They've accomplishe...

  This is Part Three of my pbp playthrough of A Single Moment RPG with a friend. One player is in green, the other in red. Check out Part 2 here .  CHAPTER THREE  Virtue / Justice Key Focus / "The Moment You Crossed The Line" This is about doing what must be done, making the hard choices.   I remember that which you did that began all this… After a few years of searching, we had finally found the Balrog that had killed my brother. Artrail, Tristan, and a few others had blocked off this large abandoned cathedral on the outskirts of the city. It was impressive, it had large stained glass windows outstretched to the heavens, now tarnished with cracks and broken glass. The pristine white paint on the large stone walls now flaking off and discolored, and the stone itself cracked and falling apart. The door, nearly ten foot tall of solid oak reinforced with iron plates, worn down but holding strong.  Artrail and Tristan stand at the main entryway. Wearing th...

 This is Part Two of my playthrough of A Single Moment RPG. Check out Part 1 here.   Artist: Vincente Segrelles CHAPTER TWO  Virtue / Pride  Key Focus / "The Promises" This is about honoring oneself and one's achievements. I remember the promise you made to my family. It was a solemn morning, thunder rolling in the distance and the skies dark and pouring down rain. The entire city mourned as one, and prepared for the Funeral of Leopold, the Sword Saint. We met that morning, in the Temple, while preparations for the Funeral March were still underway. "It's been awhile, Artrail. How are you handling things?" Tristan begins. It had been a while.  At least four years in fact.  Sure, we've seen each other while passing by, but that's all it was... a gentle exchange of words between associates.  Artrail stands tall, chest poked out, watching as some of the other members of the Legion of Judgement begin preparing for the march. Without directing his gaze up...

 This series of posts is going to be a direct copy / paste of my first game of A Single Moment . It's a roleplaying game designed for two players that tells the story of how two Samurai have come to odds and what awaits them. Check it out here . For our game, instead of samurai, we've gone with knights in a fantasy world.  The rest of this post and the series are going to be directly pulled from the game, and I'll note which players entry is from whom. The game begins by setting up a Duel between the players. Each chapter that follows reveals a moment in the past that has helped build towards this climax. Both players gain what are called Edges, Hatred, and Scars, and those fill up as Choice Tokens are awarded during each chapter at pivotal moments in the fiction. Each chapter highlights specific Virtues shared by the players. At the end of all the chapters, the players use all they've gained throughout the chapters to play through the final battle.  OPENING SCENE My na...

Please don't actually burn any books. It's just a dumb metaphor. So What Is This About? For awhile now, I wanted to alter how I run both magic and magic items in Knave. I love the level-less spells. I love that they take up an inventory slot via a spellbook. However, as much as I love the trope, I wasn't in love with the idea of magic being restricted to the bookworm archetype who is forever bound by the weight of having to lug around an entire knapsack worth of books (I mean come on, that is pretty awesome). So, as a quick fix, and to open up magic spells so that any young adventurer can get their hands on them, as dangerous as that may be, I've done a little ritual of my own and conjured up this button:   Generate Magic Item Items in the Future This is just the first iteration of my magic item button. Hopefully, when I finish my  Squirepunk    full Knave hack in the future, I'll have an even shinier button to present with that. For this versi...