Duck and Roll Games

Ducks, Dungeons, Dragons, and Dice

[ofishal-fish-posts]

Certainly some of you have already seen this before but, anyone who is on Discord will probably be affected. If you happen to enjoy any kind of legal adult content on Discord, listen up. Discord is going to require your ID or facial scan to see it very shortly.

Discord Launches Teen-by-Default Settings Globally

Discord is announcing enhanced teen safety features rolling out globally that reinforce its long-standing commitment to creating a safer and

If you don't like this, then it's time to make some noise at Discord, wherever they might hear it.

Remember, it's not about protecting kids. It's about getting your personal data.

Make it clear you'll leave the platform if they go through with this.

[ofishal-fish-posts]

Your mission, should you choose to accept it:

Spam this post and any others on the same topic all over this website. Make your own post about it if you want. Get #fuck discord trending, if you can. I want everyone to see this. See how bad the enshittification is getting.

Make posts on any other sites. Especially if you can tag discord's official account.

Discord has a place for feedback here, do with that what you will.

Rinse and repeat.

[the-vampire-fish-queen]

Also cancel your Nitro!

Note: If you want to cancel a different subscription on Discord, please check out the corresponding article: Server Boosting, Server subscri

[ofishal-fish-posts]

Heck yes! Cancel your nitro if you've got it! Do not give them one cent of your money until they stop with this bullshit.

[ofishal-fish-posts]

I call upon my fellow gimmick blogs to reblog this (do your gimmick, if you like) to help spread the word around!

[clippy-unofficial]

Looks like you're trying to raise awareness about the enshittification of discord! Would you like help with that?

[ofishal-fish-posts]

Yes Clippy, I would actually.

[thydungeongal]

Trick or Treat!

Hi ash my good friend ash! ^_^ I'm giving you a treat, a game I recently discovered on the @schlockmasters podcast (from an episode featuring @rathayibacter as a guest!): Don't Rest Your Head, a game by Fred Hicks.

Don't Rest Your Head by evilhat

The original surrealistic insomniac superhero horror RPG (and Evil Hat's first ever publication).

Don't Rest Your Head is a really cool game that I had heard about a lot, but it was that aforementioned podcast episode that really made me want to check it out. The basic gist of it is: insomnia gives people super powers and lets them see the real fucked up world that hides just at the edge of perception.

DRYH is very much a game of its time (it came out in 2006) and while that does mean that it has some elements that could be considered problematic today what I specifically mean is that it almost perfectly embodies the zeitgeist of the early 2000s: this game is Dark City and the Matrix and there's even a freak coincidence where like Persona 3 this game also has a secret thirteenth hour of the day that only those attuned to see it experience.

I highly recommend listening to that aforementioned podcast episode to get a good rundown of the game's mechanics, but what is very interesting to me about this game is that it came out not too long before Apocalypse World came out and altered the timeline completely. Hell, it even uses the same font as Apocalypse World and the layout is very similar, which I feel is not a coincidence. In a way it represents a particularly 2000s school of indie game design which for a moment went out of vogue owing to the fact that the (somewhat trad-ish) Apocalypse World was more easily digestible and open to hacking.

Much like Vampire: the Masquerade was the zeitgeist game of the 90s (a gothic punk supernatural urban fantasy action game) Don't Rest Your Head very much feels like the zeitgeist game of the 2000s: it's also supernatural urban fantasy, but in that "surreal dark world hiding just outside of one's perception" kind of way. It is a genre that has been done by other games as well, but DRYH very much feels like the perfect distillation of the genre.

[ashweather]

Oh yayayayay another copy for the collection 💖💖💖

I really got a kick out of this game in high school, and yeah it's got some very very cool ideas. How well some of them work out in the medium of TTRPGs specifically is maybe debateable (tbh the deckbuilding game Don't Turn Your Back might be a more coherent expression of the setting overall), but man this game is a ton of fun to read.

I don't have time right now to go into every cool detail so I will just highlight a couple neat things from the Don't Lose Your Mind supplement which really illustrates how freaky the dream powers can get. The book is presented as an alphabet of powers, and the formatting is so cool, like it splits itself into upside-down halves in the middle of the book, like this:

Here's the power for R, Ribcage, which lets your PC trap people inside their ribcage like a jail cell.

O, Orpheus, which emulates your Nightcrawlers and such with shortcut walks through hell (and you better believe walking through hell sucks).

And, of course, as a treat in return for thy, G for Goblins, which makes your character the Goblin Monarch, having goblins hiding everywhere at their beck and call. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your perspective) the goblins are, ya know, goblins. They don't really get how to do things that aren't comedic and mildly sadistic pranks and goofups.

Plus using the powers is risky in and of itself, and there's a bit of fiction at the end of each entry detailing how someone with that power might find themselves becoming a more permanent denizen of the Mad City.

It's a very imaginative, evocative game and despite its shortcomings I do seriously recommend anyone interested in weird edgy 2000s goth-ish and/or dark urban fantasy stuff give it a read.

[quantum-dragon]

[rpgcovers]

Doom Striders ~ Bastion Press (2004)

[duckandrollblog]

THIS book is so fucking good. Terrible rules for amazingly cool fantasy mechs. Completely non-functional, awfully thought out one of my favourite books unironically the art and the ideas and the creativity is SO GOOD

[imsobadatnicknames2]

My take on fantasy RPG dungeons is that if I pick two rooms at random on your map and there is only one path to get from the one to the other you shouldn't be allowed to call that thang a "dungeon".

[imsobadatnicknames2]

I'm not gonna say that the battlemap cottage industry is to blame for the trends I dislike in "dungeon" design because there's A LOT more there, but I do think that for the kind of person who uses battlemaps in their games it would kinda end up being a waste if the dungeon map they're going to use was designed in such a way that, depending on which path(s) they take, the players can end up missing half of the beautifully illustrated setpieces, so there is sort of an incentive for the people who make battlemaps to end up designing them as beautifully rendered and detailed maps of places that are effectively structured like this:

[imsobadatnicknames2]

@graham-folger I think this video is a very approachable and beginner-friendly breakdown of some of the techniques frequently used by Jennell Jaquays (legendary adventure designer and probably one of the most influential trans women in the history of gaming) in her dungeon design, and shows an example of applying them to an existing dungeon.

Also, if you´ve ever seen my tutorial post on how to use geomorph tiles as a tool for dungeon map design, you will notice that all of the examples of dungeons I show in that post end up being very non-linear due to the nature of how dungeon geomorphs connect to each other

Sexualize media piracy 2k24

So I'd say using geomorphs is a very natural way to get nonlinear dungeon maps almost effortlessly.

All the images in that post are very rough sketches, but here's are a little more polished examples of a dungeon maps I designed using my geomorph set:

[msvblight]

This is definitely something I seriously struggle with

Trying to balance what OP is describing, and also trying to create a logical and functional structure

I try and temper this by building it in three "layers"

Layer 1: Who built the initial structure and why?

Layer 2: Who repurposed and modified it later on?

Layer 3: Who lives here now, and what do they use the place for now?

That, at least I feel, gets me good results. Lots of varying alternate paths from years of modifications

And yet I still struggle

[imsobadatnicknames2]

That's sorta similar to the way i build dungeons too (my approach is usually "populated by at least two factions with conflicting goals, none of which are the original builders") and I think one of the most important tools in your belt for when you're struggling with the "logical and functional structure" part of the process is to remember that a perfectly valid answer to the question of "what purpose was this space built for?" can be "there is no one left who remembers".

Like, the original inhabitants being gone gives you a lot of leeway for not needing to have justification for the existence of every room, and it's cool to embrace how liberating that can be. Like... why are the ruined dining room and the ransacked armory connected by a secret passage that goes through a weird hexagonal room? By all means, you should try to answer that question, but if you struggle with it... well, presumably it served some purpose at some point, but as of right now its original purpose has been lost to time and the new inhabitants either haven't found it, or are using it as a secret treasure room. Of course, you should still try to come up with answers whenever you can, otherwise it will end up feeling like a cop-out to players, but it's perfectly okay and even desirable for a dungeon to have all sorts of weird nooks and crannies that no one can figure out what they were built for.

I think @maximumzombiecreator put it very well in one of her posts

If you're designing using this approach, you don't need an answer for every space. You can instead approach it the same way its new occupants did. Take it for granted that this is the space that exists, how would the new occupants use it? That weird room off to the side that's a pain to access? Well, who knows what it was built for, but it's cold storage now. This weird thoroughfare makes a perfectly good guard checkpoint. This big hole in the floor might have been used for casting spells at some point, but now it's a garbage dump. In this way, it's easy to come up with what rooms are now that doesn't require you to answer what a room was built for. Using this approach, you still want to have good answers for what a room's original purpose was some of the time. If the space just never makes sense, players will stop trying to engage with it logically, and that's a big loss. Plus, using this effect most effectively, you get a lot of value out of knowing the previous purpose of a room. It can be easy for every kitchen to feel similar, but a kitchen that's been built on what used to be a foundry is instantly more interesting and easier to get creative with. But you get to pick and choose the parts of a random layout that look interesting, or that you have an easy time answering for, and make those the parts where the original purpose shines through. And then in the spaces where you're left saying, "What is with this snarl of hallways?" you can just have the answer be, "it's a mystery. Scholars theorize it served a ritual purpose."

[escuerzoresucitado]

[probablyfunrpgideas]

Monster Manual Meals 2

The Digester is a swift and imposing beast, loping through woodlands or underground caves on two powerful legs. It tends to disable its prey by spraying it with acid, then rips off pieces with its claws.

If you can catch one, the best way to eat it is smoked. Digester meat has a bit of a sour taste, and you need to remove the acid glands as soon as the monster is killed or they'll soak into the good bits. Digester ribs or brisket are suspended over oak chips to improve the flavor and make the tough meat more tender. Then you cook them with a good sweet and spicy sauce, and you've got yourself a meal!

For 24 hours after finishing some Digester barbecue, you gain a portion of the monster's protection from acid, gaining resistance 10 to acid damage. Good side dishes include Shambling Mound coleslaw and a light bread roll.

[duckandrollblog]

Gonna take this opportunity to plug my Pathfinder supplement all about cooking: https://www.opengamingstore.com/products/the-flavour-handbook?_pos=1&_sid=6ca60521e&_ss=r

The Flavour Handbook has a chef class, archetypes, feats, and more, all centered around cooking and dnd

[aureliagaming]

idk what dm needs to hear this but you arent getting that done in a single session

[thydungeongal]

Women love to deal 1[W] + Strength damage on a hit, and damage equal to their Strength modifier to an enemy adjacent to them other than their target as an at-will power

[alanofalltrades]

Boys enjoy dealing 1[W] + Charisma modifier damage, and giving any ally who hits the target before the end of the next turn temporary hit points equal to the Constitution modifier.

[gpuzzle]

I personally love getting the homies to make a Melee Basic Attack with my added Intelligence modifier to damage.

[rollforfelicity]

Sure sex is nice but have you ever had a moment of perfect clarity where you configure a glimmering set of individual plot hooks that will entice each player at your table and slowly intertwine them not only into each other’s goals and desires but also the main plot element of the campaign?

[probablybadrpgideas]

Please enjoy my compilation of the most bizarrely specific superpowers I've ever seen in a superhero product

(from https://preview.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/54983/Gestalt-The-Hero-Within-MM)

[garrettauthor]

We have got a DONE BOOK.

It has got a CHOSEN ONE.

It has got TWISTS.

It will make you CRY.

It will make you LAUGH.

It will make you go OOOOOH SHIT.

It has got LESBIANS.

It has got BISEXUALS.

It has got GAYS.

It has got ACES.

It has got QUEERS of ALL STRIPES.

It is HORNY.

It is HEARTFELT.

It is HORROR.

It has TRAUMA.

It has HEALING.

It has FRIENDSHIP that shatters KINGDOMS.

It has BETRAYAL that FUCKS me in the BRAIN-ASS even though I WROTE IT.

I have been working on it for TWENTY

FUCKING

YEARS

and it is done.

("Done")

It is HERE.

I am going to go DIE NOW.

And then we will write another one.

[quortknee]

any other dms/gms plagued with the curse of coming up with a character concept that you want to explore SO bad but not in your own game(s)- only within the context of being a player??

@ all of my dm/gm friends. aheem heem. (mind controls you) YOU WILL INVITE ME TO YOUR GAME AS A PLAYER SO I CAN RP THIS CHARACTER YOU WILL

[dailyadventureprompts]

My stable of unplayed characters is like.....60 deep at this point? It's bad. A good portion of them have playlists

[hugintheraven]

How Bethesda fixed Vampires without realizing it

So there's a LOT of takes on vampires across media, and most of them are radically different from each other. The Elder Scrolls series has an interesting version that I haven't seen anywhere else, that incidentally fixes a bunch of lore issues with vampires, and yet Bethesda hasn't ever really leaned into any of that.

So, the issue with vampires in large RPGs like Elder Scrolls games, D&D, etc, is that a world where various elements of character building are supposed to be balanced, vampires are heavy on the upside and light on meaningful drawbacks. So in Oblivion, Bethesda completely reworked their vampires, coming at it with a blank slate:

Vampirism is a 4-stage affliction, with each stage increasing the numerous benefits of being a vampire as well as the middling drawbacks. Stage 4 brings with it all humanoid NPCs recognizing you as a ravenous monster and attacking you, basically wrecking the game. And, this is the unique part, you reduce stages by drinking blood. Being a vampire is LESSENED by doing the most vampiric thing out there, it actively makes you weaker.

And this is great. From a gameplay perspective, you vanish below ground to kill zombies/robots/whatever, and you grow stronger as the dungeon goes on. But if you don't rush through it, or if it's large, you surface having ignored your hunger for several days and have to do a whole second quest to sneak into town at night and drink blood, where the only reward is to engage with the game again. It's a drawback in the gameplay sense rather than the stats sense. And it lets game designers throw the player against weak vampires in town early on, and face dungeons full of max-bloodlust monsters later once the player knows how things work.

Meanwhile, from a lore perspective this is also great. Suddenly, it's not that vampires have to be evil, it's that they have a choice. A good person who flees their family to hide in a cave is going to starve, turning into a ravenous, uncontrolled, extremely strong monster. Someone who's comfortable sneaking around town drinking blood, meanwhile? They never lose control. They walk in the sun. They're perfectly human. Or as human as anyone can be while the blood of their neighbors flows in their veins.

And Bethesda doesn't DO ANYTHING with this. People you talk to in-game just treat it as "all vampires are evil, why would you expect anything else", when they've created a world where vampire morality is so much more interesting. The few vampires who exist in civilization that you're not supposed to kill don't really discuss their condition at all. And there's plenty of evil vampires choosing to live in caves running societies of vampires, when that makes no sense compared to basically any other way of life they could set up.

Bethesda games are a masterful disaster, in this as in everything else.

[capacle]

I know that coming up with complications and advantages in systems that have partial success/major success can get a little... overwhelming.

That's why I created this handy table to help inspire your mixed/superior results in 'Midnight Melodies'.

I really enjoy this keyword approach, and I believe it is easily portable to other systems as well! Check out the game here:

Midnight Melodies by Cezar Capacle

A solo RPG about a jazz pianist turned occult detective

[pseudomantis]

[duckandrollblog]

Okay, but no listen. An RPG setting where this shit works. Like you could have whole adventures about things accidentally left out and creating monsters, quests to gather rare components or go to distant places to arrange them in order to create a unicorn to cure diseases, a super bizarre cast of wizards who have to feng shui their environment to cast spells. I love this.

[thydungeongal]

Is she... you know... assumes the Crushing Weight of the Mountain stance 😳

[thydungeongal]

Call her Stone Dragon Butch, okay help I'm sorry

[magnetic-orb]

Hold on...

*heads to bookcase to get my Tome of Battle*

[magnetic-orb]

Okay, this is funny