A red satin background, a black mirror, the shadow of dead raven. It's Gothic season on The Raspy Raven!
It's #gothic writing season on The Raspy Raven (see link in bio). We've been tasked by @groewe.bsky.social to write a #TTRPG game or scenario by 31/Aug.
But what is Gothic? What are the key tropes? How do you make it gameable? What system? What genre?
Any thoughts? Please share this post 🙏
@morkborg.com and its cousins make perfect one-shot #TTRPG games, right? Here's how I hack them to improve the experience
burnafterrunningrpg.com/2026/04/17/h...
a mad prisoner runs at your with a broken table leg, what do you do? The amazing Russ Nicholson. Not the prisoner, the artist.
There's a mad rush for @elevatedpachyderm.bsky.social's OSR III Season on The Raspy Raven (link in bio). Games are filling up fast...
#TTRPG
Pic: Russ Nicholson
I don't want to give any spoilers for the Goblyn Market Nightide Carol Affair, but part of our success involved (Victorian) vinegar cookies, which were (or are) a thing. I realized there is no better cookie for a wrathful baker goblyn to make.
Played a delightful game of Goblyn Market run by @jerodleupold.bsky.social himself. Our three goblyns — I played Snowball, aWrathful Cat Baker who is well-rounded and a pickpocket — were tasked with changing Scrooge's heart of coal into a heart of gold. We succeeded.
That would be @jwmuk.bsky.social who named the server. He’s done a great job building a community.
I’m slacking apparently. Only game in the schedule that I’m GMing is Yazeba. Anyway, the Raspy Raven, a great server. And this reminds me I need to schedule some more Paranoia.
In terms of use at the table, I have never seen a better quickstart/playtest rules document or a better written scenario.
I'm really looking forward to the other playlists and for the full game.
Normally, when I run a published scenario, I tear it apart and rewrite the information so I can run it easily. I started to do that with the scenario and realized I didn't need to. Just a few annotations on a couple of pages. In terms of usability, it ran smoothly right off the page.
As for the playtest scenario, it's an excellent tutorial mission with the first half scripted just enough to introduce mechanics and the second half wide open but with enough information and guidance to improvise.
Each page is dedicated to one topic. All the mechanics needed to handle Stress are on one page. So too Damage, Skill and Luck rolls, etc.
From a technical communication/information design perspective, the playtest rules packet is one of the best designed QuickStarts I have ever seen, and incredibly usable at the table. Excellent use of headers, bullet points, formatting, and concise writing.
I've now run a second group through the playtest of Arc Dream's The Black Company RPG. Both groups did very different things, and both groups loved the scenario and the mechanics. I had a blast and can't wait until this game comes out.
If you liked the dramatic interplay of Hillfolk but struggled to get a group together, Pelgrane’s latest might be the solution.
Front side of the Cthulhu Eternal Elizabethan Age character sheet.
Reverse side of the Cthulhu Eternal Elizabethan Age character sheet.
The rules PDF is supported by some spiffing Elizabethan character sheet designs (below).
We know there are other great Elizabethan RPGs out there (especially Just Crunch's awesome Dee Sanction RPG, an indie fave), but this fills a hole in our range of rulesets. Plus I guess you could mix the two.
I have several games on DTRPG and Itch, including my own systems as well as a few Sanction Genre Setups. My most recent release is an adventure for the Dee Sanction "The Roots of Evil". I am currently working on a 2nd adv for TDS.
www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/5...
New Swords of the Serpentine article about building foes from scratch — in this case, giant killer sharks!
Lordy, I’m predictable.
pelgranepress.com/2025/12/22/b...
StoryGraph screen shot summarizing my 2025 book reading. 75 books, 15,713 pages. The first book I read was Fireside Warmers (a cookbook) and the last book in finished was the Night’s Black Agents Dracula Dossier Director’s Handbook.
Some of last year’s reading.
Want to game with me? 👀 I’m happy to run Traveller, Shadowrun, Necroscope, D&D 3.5, Palladium Rifts or pretty much whatever you’re itching to play.
🎯 Join the Patreon, pick a tier, and let’s roll some dice.
Your table, your game.
#TTRPG #ActualPlay #TabletopGaming #Patreon #GameMaster #IndieRPG
I had the pleasure of being introduced to Cole’s Darkened Hill and Dale by playing one of the investigators in the “Fatstock” scenario run by @jwmuk.bsky.social.
Most TTRPG content I engage with begins with me as GM, so running a PC was a delight.
TERMINUS is part of Sara Cole’s This Blighted Isle series of system-neutral horror TTRPG scenarios. I love her Darkened Hill and Dale, so I jumped at backing this.
www.patchworkfez.games
A small book wrapped in red tissue paper. Sealed with a black and white sticker of a skull and the words”This Blighted Isle.”
The cover of the TERMINUS book. The cover is an image of a mosaic. The title TERMINUS dominates the middle of the image, tilted about 45°, with the T in the lower left and the S in the upper right. The lettering is black, the background is mostly white, and a multi-colored border frames the title. In the upper left of the cover has the front of a train in a circle.
About a week ago, @irny.bsky.social’s TERMINUS arrived, so beautifully wrapped I was hesitant to open it. I did start to unwrap it, stopped, and tried to put it back together to photograph it.
There's a conspiracy theory about the serpent people having a tunnel complex beneath Denver International Airport.
This probably isn't helped by the inexplicable fake ruins that look straight out of "The Two-Headed Serpent" Pulp Cthulhu campaign in Terminal C like the Lost Continent of Mu.
My "Font of All Evil" is the @drivethrurpg.com Deal of the Day! Not just a deal, but 80% OFF until tomorrow.
#RiversOfLondon heads out to investigate a gruesome murder scene in Ealing. Hoarding, a troubled type, and a foreshore trip.
@chaosium.bsky.social
www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/4...
I’ll note that both Darkened Hill and Dale and TERMINUS are lovely.
One final seasonal RPG scenario recommendation: if what you really want is a classic ghost story taking inspiration from the works of M. R. James, A Winter Haunting should be just the thing. Written for Cthulhu Dark, and adaptable to other horror games.
www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/4...
Have you joined the Company yet? It’s not too late, you can still enlist in the #BlackCompanyTTRPG playtest! ⚔️🎲 Don’t get left behind...your feedback can help shape where the game goes next. Fall in, soldier. #ArcDream
When introducing theirself, one player said they’re into odd games and said their favorite was Skyrealms of Jorune but they’d never played it
I got to announce that I’ve not only played Jorune, I’ve got the 2e books.
Now I’m thinking of digging those books out.
