About this blog!!
Hi! This is a sideblog for me to dump posts that remind me of Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy, an excellent system for tabletop mystery games developed by @anim-ttrpgs. Below the cut is information about Eureka, its creators, myself, and what to expect out of this blog.
What is Eureka?
Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy is an indie tabletop roleplaying game by the very talented team at @anim-ttrpgs, focused on providing mechanical support for stories where characters investigate mysteries, as well as allowing for the presence of supernatural phenomena and characters. In my opinion, it is the most elegant, cohesive, and interesting TTRPG system that I have ever read or played in terms of its mechanics, storytelling capabilities, and even its perspectives on society as a whole. This blog is, more or less, "propaganda" convincing people to give the game a shot – I'm not affiliated with its creators in any way other than being acquainted with them through their work and online communities, but I love the game and its community, and I'd love to see it succeed, so I want to share an idea of what it is and why I like it.
What makes Eureka such a great system?
A whole lot! Its systems are deeply elegant, creating a game where players can piece together mysteries alongside their investigators in a grounded world that still leaves space for supernatural intrigue. Combat is swift and strategic, but deadly if you go in without a plan. Investigations can be complex, but even the stickiest of situations don't require railroading to keep players on track. Mundane and supernatural characters alike have access to unique abilities, quirks, and skills that make each character feel distinct in mechanics as much as in flavor. The game interacts with the real world by way of fiction in a way that's refreshing and endlessly fascinating.
Systems like Eureka! moments (which allow investigators to retroactively learn information from a previously failed roll) and the streamlined character creation system allow the game to run smoothly and efficiently without getting overly bogged down, and mechanics like the Composure meter (representing an investigator's energy level and state of mind) and the Success/Partial Success/Failure resolution mechanic create an interesting element of risk where player choices matter a lot.
On top of all that, Eureka includes rules for supernatural characters that beautifully integrate the themes, traits, and abilities of classic folkloric or media monsters, making for intriguing secrets, hard choices, and a lot of variety in the gameplay of different investigators. (Most of this is already true of mundane non-supernatural characters, but it's carried through into the lens of vampires and other monsters very elegantly.)
I'd love to see the tabletop gaming scene as a whole take notes from Eureka's handling of a lot of different problems, and I'm constantly excited to see what their team comes up with next. If you ever want to run a mystery story in a tabletop game (especially if systems like D&D 5e have disappointed you on that front), I would seriously recommend Eureka as the game to use for that purpose, and if you're interested in the hobby at all, I would recommend reading Eureka as a way to get valuable insight into the thought process that goes into game design in the tabletop space.
What can I expect to see on this blog?
This blog is for basically any post I see that makes me think of Eureka. Most of the time, that includes references to the monsters and phenomena referenced in the rules about supernatural characters – posts about vampires, werewolves, witches, and alien shapeshifters, for example, are often right at home here. In particular, posts about these kinds of supernatural beings being normal people and living normal lives tend to remind me of Eureka. Other things that are reminiscent of Eureka include noir and neo-noir aesthetics, which the game owes a lot to, and popular detective media, which is ultimately its core inspiration.
Who runs this blog?
I'm Nora, my main blog is @mc-cookies, and I am just a fan of Eureka. I'm not directly affiliated with the creators (hell, they don't remotely have the budget to make me advertise for them), but they and the rest of the community are super nice people who have a lot of insight about the process of making and playing tabletop games.
Who makes Eureka, and how do I support them?
Eureka is an amazing game, and independent tabletop designers across the board do a ton of work to make art that I enjoy a lot, but unfortunately it's not the most welcoming market to be in. Wizards of the Coast, and by extension Hasbro, has what is effectively a monopoly on the TTRPG hobby in the form of D&D, and it's hard for new creators to break into the space because of that. Eureka is made by ANIM TTRPGs, a very small group of designers taking on a very large project. While they're gearing up for the full release of Eureka and preparing their next projects, any support is helpful to them.
To read Eureka, visit their itch.io page to download a fully playable beta version on a pay-what-you-can basis! Even free downloads can support the game by bumping Eureka on itch's algorithm and getting it recommended to more people.
To support ANIM more, consider subscribing to their Patreon, which will grant you access to more frequent updates of the Eureka beta, as well as concept art, previews of their future projects, and a community discord server.
To give on a one-time basis, use ANIM's ko-fi page to donate to them more directly. Right now they're also taking donations to add custom characters into the rulebook as possible random encounters, and ko-fi is the place to go for that!
If you just want to interact with the team at ANIM and learn more about the work that they're doing, give them a follow here on tumblr at @anim-ttrpgs – their blog has similar content to this one, as well as regularly posting excerpts of the rules, answering people's questions, and discussing the broader tabletop gaming hobby.
And last but certainly not least, ANIM also runs a TTRPG Book Club server on Discord, which is excellent for finding RPGs to read and play and people to read and play them with, and is a great place to interact with other people who are interested in indie TTRPGs (including ANIM's staff and other fans of their work).
What's the deal with your avatar?
That is a "snoop", a stylized human figure serving as the mascot of Eureka! Designed by @theblackwarden, these little guys appear throughout the rulebook to graphically represent various mechanics, and they're very fun designs. This one, in particular, represents the "anime wolfgirl", which is a humanoid form that wolfman (aka "loup-garou" or "Hollywood werewolf") investigators can take, reserving only their ears, tails, and claws.
I have more questions!
My ask box is open! Have fun checking out the other posts around this blog :)
