And hey, you, don't you think it's kinda cute
That I died right inside your arms tonight?
That I'm fine even after I have died?
Because it was in your arms I died
Each November, some people try to write a novel. Others would prefer to do as little writing as possible. For those who wish to challenge their ability to not write, we offer this alternative: producing a complete, playable roleplaying game in two hundred words or fewer.
This is the submission thread for the 2025 event, running from November 1st, 2025 through November 30th, 2025. Submission guidelines can be found in this blog's pinned post, here.
Hey, I don't want to harsh your mellow but you do have a thing you should be doing right now. And woah, I don't want to pressure you to start or nothing, so let's ease into productivity slowly.
Flip a coin. Tails - keep playing. Heads - decide whether to keep distracting yourself.
If you keep playing, get a new randomizer format (no repeats). If you've used 1D6, you could switch to 2D6 or 1D8.
Same rules: the lower 50% means keep playing guilt-free, higher 50% means the choice is yours.
Each new randomizer adds 1 point to your result. The initial coin flip is +0. Using 1D6 after would be +1. Plan accordingly. ;)
Check in with yourself when you hit high results.
If your brain allows, consider adding a soft cut off - the first win after 10 attempts, let's say.
Quit on a win!
---
Archive ok!
Tragically 150 words and not 200. I cannot in good conscience stretch it further though.
This was written in procrastination of my actual job JUST KIDDING it's 5pm I'm free!!
Each November, some people try to write a novel. Others would prefer to do as little writing as possible. For those who wish to challenge their ability to not write, we offer this alternative: producing a complete, playable roleplaying game in two hundred words or fewer.
This is the submission thread for the 2025 event, running from November 1st, 2025 through November 30th, 2025. Submission guidelines can be found in this blog's pinned post, here.
A group hangout has been interrupted by very loud stomach growls.
You (the cutie reading this) has called the local pizza place to grab an extra large pizza. It seems like it already comes with tomato sauce and cheese, but everyone else is starting to shout toppings. There's only one way to handle this.
Everyone plays rock paper scissors. Anyone who defeats the phone holder should announce what pizza topping they want. Only the first topping announced is added. In case of a tie or if the person with the phone can't hear/understand the request it's not added. No duplicate toppings! A non-player records the ingredients but hides the list from everyone else. A player that asks for something already on the pizza has 2 seconds to justify it or pick a different one before they are skipped. A requester may also declare they are substituting a previous ingredient with their current request. The phone is then passed to the right.
Secretly, players have $15 in toppings to work with. Meats cost $3, Veggies cost $2.
To win, every player must have at least 2 ingredient on the pizza they like, AND toppings cannot exceed the aforementioned cost limit.
Each November, some people try to write a novel. Others would prefer to do as little writing as possible. For those who wish to challenge their ability to not write, we offer this alternative: producing a complete, playable roleplaying game in two hundred words or fewer.
This is the submission thread for the 2025 event, running from November 1st, 2025 through November 30th, 2025. Submission guidelines can be found in this blog's pinned post, here.
The key in your back rotates. Who wound your mainspring?
Your beloved roommate, the mermaid?
Your parent, whose forte is practical assistance?
Your lover?
A cute outfit adorns you.
An understated black dress with simple frills?
Flared jeans and a worn band shirt?
Leggings and a draped sweater, perhaps.
A clue to your emotional state, perhaps.
You were doing something, were you not?
I'd love to know what it is.
Meeting with someone? Doing research? Completing college assignments?
Time ticks on.
(Your mainspring is a D20. Start at 15. "Tick down" to represent time passing. An hour of light activity, or 15 min of intense.)
Don't let it stop you.
(At <4 you can't process input properly. At 1 you freeze.)
Remember you are loved, even if you don't feel it.
(Roll once. Those hours are lost. Feel despair, helplessness)
Remember you are loved, even if they don't say it.
(Roll and add until you're above 10. Cap at 20. Learn about your relationship with the winder via the winding.)
Remember you are loved, even as life overwhelms you.
(Your voice is steam-powered, so drink lots of tea!)
Love yourself, clockwork girl.
------
Archive okay!
A ttrpg adaptation of A Probability Experiment Turned Me Into A Clockwork Girl And I Really Don’t Know What To Make Of It All, as I just finished reading it.
Each November, some people try to write a novel. Others would prefer to do as little writing as possible. For those who wish to challenge their ability to not write, we offer this alternative: producing a complete, playable roleplaying game in two hundred words or fewer.
This is the submission thread for the 2024 event, running from November 1st, 2024 through November 30th, 2024. Submission guidelines can be found in this blog's pinned post, here.
1960 - 2000 vibes.
Some enterprising sales folk just knocked on a rich (vampire!?) family's front door, selling a bonafide Product to an unwilling immortal household!
Structure:
Split into two teams - salesfolk and vampires. No GM.
The sellers' watertight sales pitch:
Introduce yourselves, your company, your product. Something tantalizing that demands entrance.
Enter by word, subterfuge, or force. Prepare product demo.
Demonstrate why your product is worth the money spent
Close the deal and leave!
The vampires' code of conduct:
Exchange pleasantries, promote graceful exits
Keep your secrets. Invoke fear/threats without lowering yourself.
Play along but do NOT buy anything
Don't let good food go to waste
Address one paired point per 'scene'.
Mechanically:
Every player has a credit card, right? Four digits are one 'group', use one per scene.
Digit poker: relevant teams/representatives use/add unique digit(s) -- 9+ = 9 (maximum) -- and compare chosen totals simultaneously. Ties cancel. Higher wins 'sub-engagement'. No unused starting digits auto-fail. First to two wins prompts next scene (starts with positioning advantage).
Improv long scenes!
ie.
"With Vacuum Brand, you'll suck like a pro!"
"I need no help sucking"
"7"
"1+5"
"Succ it"
Don't play to 'win' :)
Loser treats the winner :)
Archive encouraged!
Wowee, my first draft got me to 210 words but I've been fine-tuning the wording for hours. Really wanted a non-dice based game because so many sample rpg's required it! Boring!
Best understood if you're aware of Dogs in the Vineyard (poker), and Fiasco (assigning a win/loss result and then improv-ing what the scene would be to get that result, as well as not playing to 'win').
Not convinced the example/ending text is the best use of words but here we are.
Oddly, while writing it I became convinced this could definitely be played in a car on a road trip.
Each November, some people try to write a novel. Others would prefer to do as little writing as possible. For those who wish to challenge their ability to not write, we offer this alternative: producing a complete, playable roleplaying game in two hundred words or fewer.
This is the submission thread for the 2024 event, running from November 1st, 2024 through November 30th, 2024. Submission guidelines can be found in this blog's pinned post, here.
Setup: Record the words SEA/FOOD per player. Min 2D6.
In this ritzy ocean-side restaurant, nouveau riche are treated to the freshest saltwater delights. Tonight, that's you!
Each player plays an edible aquatic being (eg. lobster, salmon, shrimp, etc), in kitchen aquariums.
Other fish are in varying states of preparation - rinsed, gutted, cleaned, smoked, boiled, braised, seasoned, and served. Navigate the kitchen to the ocean-side window, and fast!!
In media res, the tallest player's fish has been taken to the appropriate work station.
Each player - including them - should list how they stay alive and make progress outside.
Anything revolving around being free, fresh, and feisty wages one letter from the word SEA. Anything involving subterfuge, subservience, and salivaciousness wages one letter from your word FOOD.
Once announced, all roll 1 die (unless one plan is agreed particularly daring or fish-appropriate, adding another). Player(s) with the lowest total lose the letter they waged and are appropriately threatened. Everyone else makes progress.
Those who lost announce the upcoming threats. Play repeats at 1.
Lose SEA and suffocate/become salvageable. Lose FOOD and become dinner. Dead fish players always announce an additional complexity at 4, above.
Archive encouraged! Exactly 200 words.
Upon request by my beloved mutual @philosophicalbutts who really liked that one Ratatouille escape scene. We had talked about a L&F hack, but I really liked a recent 200 word rpg that used HORSE as the resolution. Wrote the core resolution on a receipt a few nights ago.
I hope the colors aren't too distracting, hehe. I think this one's my most playable rpg to date.
So I made a ttrpg for Prokopetz's W.T.F. jam (ttrpg jam for any game with a 'WTF' acronym title).
My dad emailed me about asking when he could visit my new place and I couldn't/can't figure out how to put anything into words. I was reading All About Love by Bell Hooks and how often parents can confuse provision with a show of love to their children. And I've been trying to idk... get mad about it? Feel some negative emotion and not just defend the lack of emotional availability? My parents are luckily separated at this point, and all I've been able to work up to is procrastinate talking to him.
So around 10:30pm the other night, when I was deciding how to finish my evening earlier than usual - instead I worked myself up angry and sobbing making whatever this document is. And then spend another hour or two making the format appealing for a non-text only setup (might post a text only version to my website actually). Actually submitted the thing at like 2:30am.
A big part design-wise was from looking at some micro rpg's I read from other game jams. the ones that are like 50 words max. One involved fleeing a monster, where the description was in terms of inevitability and slow miserable decline that the player has to fight at every step. Credit where due.
All this to have some written explanation somewhere that no one has to read. It was exhilarating to write something so emotional and (while dramatized) autobiographical, but I feel rather embarrassed about it now...
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