[video description: a screen recording of flipping pages, showing a few spreads from shadow / giant 2e. end VD]
shadow / giant 2e is coming to print !!!
Following in the legacy of Lone Wolf and Cub-inspired media such as The Mandalorian, Telltaleâs The Walking Dead, Birds of Prey, Logan, The Last of Us, Arcane, and more ⌠Shadow / Giant is a tabletop RPG for two players eager to create their own wolf & cub story.Â
Their journey will be filled with dangers, outbursts, exploration, discovery, and entirely unexpected devotion. One player takes the role of the Shadow: a traumatized youth with powers unfit for their world. The other player is the Giant: an adult who swore they'd grown too jaded to ever care again, until the Shadow crashed into their life.
There are tales of somewhere they can goâa Safe Place, far away, where the Shadow will be protected. To make it there, the pair must outrun, outsmart, and outfight the Threat that's hot on their trail.
No matter the specifics of the Threat's sinister plans, they cannot be allowed to catch up and take the Shadow away. And they won'tânot if the Giant can help it.
shadow / giant 2e is a 2 player TTRPG supporting games from 1 to ~12 sessions. it uses dice and playing cards, with alternate rules for rolling digitally or only using d6s. each session plays out for 2-4 hours
the two character playbooks - the shadow and the giant - are asymmetric. they have different core builds and different rolling mechanics
the giant uses a yahtzee-like mechanic: rolling and re-rolling pools of dice to try to make good combos. they always have to balance the potential for a better and rarer combo but risk total failure versus playing it safe and stacking up complications
the shadow, on the other hand, builds dice towers and knocks them down. they have to balance force and gentleness - leaving some dice stacked creates issues, but so does knocking them onto the floor. they compare their results against a sliding number representing their fantastical powers versus their natural youthful skills
the 60-page zine is full to the brim with examples, pick-lists, roll tables, and oracles that make GMfull play a breeze. you can carefully craft your world and characters or just roll for everything and jump right into play
accompanying players through the gamebook is The Narrator, a cosmic being whose sole purpose is to guide new Shadows and Giants on their journeys, along with a collection of absolutely gorgeous art by @prose-n-scripts (seriously, people can't stop raving about the art)
shadow / giant 2e was designed with accessibility in mind from start to finish:
the game is written and laid out to ease the cognitive load of learning and setting up a new game, as players can read each section out loud (or listen to it from a screenreader or future audiobook version) and follow the steps as they go. each section has summaries as well as visually distinct pick-lists and examples. even new ttrpg players should be able to jump into play within an hour of picking up the book
all the main text is in inclusive sans, and the pdf includes bookmarks and human-written image descriptions. the layout colors balance the need for contrast and any potential color blindness while remaining comfortable to look at on screens. the most-used oracles are at the very back of the book for easy reference
did i mention the amazing art by @prose-n-scripts ?
you can pre-order a print copy now from plus one experience!! the game drops in june of 2026 !!
Following in the legacy of Lone Wolf and Cub-inspired media such as The Mandalorian, Telltaleâs The Walking Dead, Birds of Prey, Logan, The
the digital zine will be sold from this page on my itch once it launches!!
Back in February, my home table picked up the the playtest of Seasons of Magic, by Sam Robson. This was part of a playtest-trade that I did with Sam: I agreed to run one month's worth of sessions of their game, and in return, Sam's group ran one month's worth of sessions of Protect the Child, my game of monster babysitters. It was a fruitful and exciting exchange!
Seasons of Magic is a BRP-inspired game about teenage witches and their familiars, learning how to navigate the world around them with magical skills and abilities that they're still getting a handle on. Using a d100 percentile system, this game combines the basics bones of BRP with a number of other inspirations to create something new - and today I get to tell you about it.
The Game
Your crew plays a coven of young witches, traveling from place to place and trying to help people with their problems. Your character is built out of skills & characteristics, represented by percentages and connected to your magic through potions, incantations, rituals and enchantments. Your access to each magic manifestation is determined by the strength you put in your four characteristics: Heart, Head, Body & Essence. You can build your characters with a point-buy system, using points to increase the percentages of each skill, or you can take a background that guides your build in a thematic way.
When you're coming up against a threat or a problem, the player rolls two ten-sided dice - or in other words, a d100. If the number you roll is under the percentage attached to the relevant skill, it's a success. If the number you roll is above the listed number, it's a failure - or at the very least, a very complicated success. We'll get back to that bit in a moment.
Your magic is tied to a specific skill on your character sheet. Potions are tied to Potioncraft, and are prepared every day. You roll when using the potion to determine how well it works. Incantations are spells that you speak with conviction, and while they don't need to be prepared ahead of time, you roll your Incant skill when speaking them aloud. Rituals are attached to multiple Body rolls, with specific skills determined depending on the ritual. The number of successes determines how well the ritual turns out. Finally, Enchantments are used to apply magic to objects; this roll is only available during a rest, but the enchantment's benefit can last much longer than some of the other magical effects.
Your witches aren't barred from learning any of the four magics, but since you are encouraged to min-max a little, your witch is probably going to have a strength in one and a weakness in the other.
Finally, there's the token mechanic, which is related to the GM, or Guide. When players fail a roll, the Guide earns a Token. Tokens are used by guides to create friction and interesting setbacks whenever the players encounter a Threat. Each Threat in the book comes with a series of abilities that can be powered by spending Tokens.
From what I understand from both reading the game and playing it, a typical session of Seasons of Magic involves the witches coming to a new town and learning about a new problem that necessitates their help. The witches will probably try a number of different things to figure out what's causing the problem, so they can reason out what they need to do to fix it. There's a tense, dramatic, or climactic moment where they face the problem head on (or as best they can), and then there's a denouement in which the witches appreciate some downtime, some growth, and perhaps even a reward for their labours.
That's the basic structure of the game. Now, let me tell you how it went for us.
The Story.
Our party consisted of three witches, which feels very fitting for a coven. One thing important to know about witches in Seasons of Magic is that to be a witch, one must sacrifice something important in order to have access to magic.
First was Gwyn, who had sacrificed her ability to play music in order to carry on her father's witching practise, accompanied by an owl-shaped spirit who had also accompanied her dad. Second was Amanranth, an Essence-bound witch, who sacrificed her ability to call any one place home, and was accompanied by a moon-spirit in the shape of a lynx. Third was Sasha, a witch who became one by accident. She met her familiar, a woodsmoke spirit, on the same day she sacrificed her childhood through a destructive act of grief.
We had chatted about what elements of the game stood out to us as a group, and the themes of grief and ghosts came to the forefront, so I set up our adventure to take place during autumn, which felt tonally correct. I also started us out in Littleton, where the shoemaker's shop was being haunted by an unhappy ghost. Sasha's player wanted to have a cousin that she had written to but never met, so I decided that cousin was the shoemaker's daughter.
Another element of the world we set up was spear-headed by one of the players, and that was an element of in-world prejudice. There was an interest in exploring ways in which cultures might restrict people in regards to sexual orientation & gender, so I suggested that perhaps same-sex relationships were allowed but never acknowledged, and people who changed genders were accepted in society as long as they never married. To be clear, there was nothing in the rulebook itself that demanded there be any kind of inhibitive social structure, but rather, the desire to create these obstacles arose from the play group itself.
That being said, there were suggestions in the setting part of the book that allowed us to take the elements that we'd placed in our world and add some depth. The ghost that was haunting the shoemaker was mourning the death of her father, who the ghost had grown rather close to. Since the ghost was also a man, the implications of of his grief were immediately very clear to all of the players at the table. This led to conversations about how grief without closure had made the ghost dangerous, and the witches themselves were prompted to be vulnerable with their own experiences of grief and regret - which had also been established at the beginning, through their sacrifices.
We finished the adventure with a seasonal festival for autumn, the Day of Souls. Our table decided that families painted stones with a symbol representing the deceased they wanted to remember, and placed that stone in a significant location.
The Takeaway
There are a lot of elements of Seasons of Magic that are incomplete or rough around the edges, which is to be expected of a playtest. The player reaction at the end of the game was a mixed bag, especially regarding the difficulty of the game - which makes sense, since BRP is the bones of Call of Cthulhu, a cosmic horror game that expects your players to be wildly out of their depth. To be fair, teenage witches attempting to solve a communities' warped practices around grief probably feel like the problem is equally un-solvable, so it would make sense that the characters were afraid of failure. That being said, there were a lot of pieces that felt in-tune with the emotional tenor of our game - the primary piece being that of the witches' sacrifice.
Mechanically, your sacrifice has no bearing on your witches' abilities - it's a piece of your backstory that explains how you became a witch, but it doesn't give you a bonus in specific situations, or grant you access to a specific spell or potion. However, the fact that your teenage witch had to sacrifice something emotionally significant in order access magical power affects the way that witch is likely going to see the world - and in fact, by the end of our adventure, more than one of our witches were wondering if that sacrifice had been worth it in the end.
To add to that, the brief descriptions of the seasons were intriguing to me, and I'm happy to say that in an upcoming edition of the game, Sam is planning on expanding those sections. When we played, the fact that it was autumn really set the tone for our adventure. Ghosts and autumn leaves go hand-in-hand, and the warm, welcoming dishes of local villagers contrasted rather heart-breakingly with the coldness they showed towards folks they didn't approve of.
In an upcoming update, Sam plans to include weather patterns, which will make certain ingredients more available, or perhaps make rituals more difficult, depending on the season and the weather. Having the seasons create a direct impact on a witches' magic feels very resonant with the vibes I got from looking at the games' cover, so I'm excited to see what that looks like when it is fleshed out.
There are also plans to make failure a little less punishing for players, and to also ensure that trying to do things that are not within your witches' wheelhouse are rewarded. The original rules state that whenever you attempt a skill, regardless of whether it succeeds or fails, you can roll to improve it at the the season. You can also roll to improve one skill during a week of leisure, which is basically downtime between adventures. The new rulebook has an extra reward for skills that are very low - basically a guarantee that you'll improve them, as long as you try to use those skills over the course of the adventure, which of course, increases chances of failure.
This encouragement to try and fail at things feels very much like a teenage experience. Teenagers have things they're good at and things that they struggle with, but in order to improve, they need to be okay with the failures that happen in the process. (I suppose this doesn't really stop being true once you become an adult, either.)
Another element of the upcoming update that I'm especially excited about is the Organizations update, which introduces various factions who will have different axes of power and also have different perceptions of your coven. The Guild of Scholars have significant influence in cities like Fairtide, and if they don't like you, they'll make sure that your coven is fed the wrong information, or perhaps even no information at all.
When your coven exists in a world with varying opinions about who they are, their relationship to the world around them feels layered and complex. It also defines to some extent who they are, and who other people perceive them to be. If the Scholars don't trust you, does that mean the citizens of Fairtide will think you're up to no good? Will witches gain a reputation of being dangerously smart? Conversely, if the Guild of Fishers are always happy to save the freshest fish for you, people might ask why they like you so much. Are you good for business? Do you have the power to keep bad weather away?
These pieces of lore do a lot to define the tone of the game, as does the threats that exist in Seasons of Magic. Many of the problems suggested by the author are rooted in natural causes or unfortunate accidents, rather than villain-ized actors with malicious intent. The ghost our group encountered was motivated by grief and an inability to understand why he felt abandoned. A new threat that I really like are Raindeer, who have water droplets consistently dripping down from their antlers. Raindeer can be dangerous when frightened - and they feel like an animal that is easily frightened.
The final thing I'm excited about for future games is the nods that Sam is making towards games that are very different from BRP. One of those nods is the familiar moves, which are situation advantages that don't require a roll, that can be used similar to moves in Belonging Outside Belonging. This makes your familiars more than just cool-looking pets, but rather embeds their magic into your witches' lives.
The Conclusion
Thematically, Seasons of Magic feels rather down-to-earth and slice-of-life, despite the magic that lives within the world and your player characters. There's a lot of elements that refuse to shy away from the parts of our own world that feel complicated and messy - grief, reputation, regret and heartbreak are all themes that can be incorporated easily into the game.
That being said, I think there's also great potential for coziness and comfort as well. A shared bowl of pumpkin soup, a summer festival, and young love are all present in the suggestions of this games' setting, providing plenty of lightness to balance the dark. My favourite representation of witches in media is that of Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels - witches are women who accept the title not just as a demonstration of power, but also as a delegation of responsibility - not just for the people they live among, but for the land they live on as well. Any respect a community has for a witch must be earned.
I also think that it's very helpful for designers to do these kinds of partnerships! Stepping outside of your little design circle and agreeing to do playtest exchanges doesn't just mean that you're getting more data about your own game - you're also being exposed to design ideas that are percolating in the mind of another designer, and you're getting a peek into their own design process, which can sometimes stimulate you out of a funk. It also creates the potential for a lovely new relationship in the design scene, and might even create new fans for your game.
The current version of Seasons of Magic is still very much in playtest, so you, like me, may need to pull some tools out of your ttrpg bag that you got from other games in order to make it feel complete. However, if you like any of the themes I've mentioned here: sacrifice, regret, improvement, responsibility, or grief - you'll probably find a thread in this game that you'll want to pull.
[video description: a screen recording of flipping pages, showing a few spreads from shadow / giant 2e. end VD]
shadow / giant 2e is coming to print !!!
Following in the legacy of Lone Wolf and Cub-inspired media such as The Mandalorian, Telltaleâs The Walking Dead, Birds of Prey, Logan, The Last of Us, Arcane, and more ⌠Shadow / Giant is a tabletop RPG for two players eager to create their own wolf & cub story.Â
Their journey will be filled with dangers, outbursts, exploration, discovery, and entirely unexpected devotion. One player takes the role of the Shadow: a traumatized youth with powers unfit for their world. The other player is the Giant: an adult who swore they'd grown too jaded to ever care again, until the Shadow crashed into their life.
There are tales of somewhere they can goâa Safe Place, far away, where the Shadow will be protected. To make it there, the pair must outrun, outsmart, and outfight the Threat that's hot on their trail.
No matter the specifics of the Threat's sinister plans, they cannot be allowed to catch up and take the Shadow away. And they won'tânot if the Giant can help it.
shadow / giant 2e is a 2 player TTRPG supporting games from 1 to ~12 sessions. it uses dice and playing cards, with alternate rules for rolling digitally or only using d6s. each session plays out for 2-4 hours
the two character playbooks - the shadow and the giant - are asymmetric. they have different core builds and different rolling mechanics
the giant uses a yahtzee-like mechanic: rolling and re-rolling pools of dice to try to make good combos. they always have to balance the potential for a better and rarer combo but risk total failure versus playing it safe and stacking up complications
the shadow, on the other hand, builds dice towers and knocks them down. they have to balance force and gentleness - leaving some dice stacked creates issues, but so does knocking them onto the floor. they compare their results against a sliding number representing their fantastical powers versus their natural youthful skills
the 60-page zine is full to the brim with examples, pick-lists, roll tables, and oracles that make GMfull play a breeze. you can carefully craft your world and characters or just roll for everything and jump right into play
accompanying players through the gamebook is The Narrator, a cosmic being whose sole purpose is to guide new Shadows and Giants on their journeys, along with a collection of absolutely gorgeous art by @prose-n-scripts (seriously, people can't stop raving about the art)
shadow / giant 2e was designed with accessibility in mind from start to finish:
the game is written and laid out to ease the cognitive load of learning and setting up a new game, as players can read each section out loud (or listen to it from a screenreader or future audiobook version) and follow the steps as they go. each section has summaries as well as visually distinct pick-lists and examples. even new ttrpg players should be able to jump into play within an hour of picking up the book
all the main text is in inclusive sans, and the pdf includes bookmarks and human-written image descriptions. the layout colors balance the need for contrast and any potential color blindness while remaining comfortable to look at on screens. the most-used oracles are at the very back of the book for easy reference
did i mention the amazing art by @prose-n-scripts ?
you can pre-order a print copy now from plus one experience!! the game drops in june of 2026 !!
Following in the legacy of Lone Wolf and Cub-inspired media such as The Mandalorian, Telltaleâs The Walking Dead, Birds of Prey, Logan, The
the digital zine will be sold from this page on my itch once it launches!!
[video description: a screen recording of flipping pages, showing a few spreads from shadow / giant 2e. end VD]
shadow / giant 2e is coming to print !!!
Following in the legacy of Lone Wolf and Cub-inspired media such as The Mandalorian, Telltaleâs The Walking Dead, Birds of Prey, Logan, The Last of Us, Arcane, and more ⌠Shadow / Giant is a tabletop RPG for two players eager to create their own wolf & cub story.Â
Their journey will be filled with dangers, outbursts, exploration, discovery, and entirely unexpected devotion. One player takes the role of the Shadow: a traumatized youth with powers unfit for their world. The other player is the Giant: an adult who swore they'd grown too jaded to ever care again, until the Shadow crashed into their life.
There are tales of somewhere they can goâa Safe Place, far away, where the Shadow will be protected. To make it there, the pair must outrun, outsmart, and outfight the Threat that's hot on their trail.
No matter the specifics of the Threat's sinister plans, they cannot be allowed to catch up and take the Shadow away. And they won'tânot if the Giant can help it.
shadow / giant 2e is a 2 player TTRPG supporting games from 1 to ~12 sessions. it uses dice and playing cards, with alternate rules for rolling digitally or only using d6s. each session plays out for 2-4 hours
the two character playbooks - the shadow and the giant - are asymmetric. they have different core builds and different rolling mechanics
the giant uses a yahtzee-like mechanic: rolling and re-rolling pools of dice to try to make good combos. they always have to balance the potential for a better and rarer combo but risk total failure versus playing it safe and stacking up complications
the shadow, on the other hand, builds dice towers and knocks them down. they have to balance force and gentleness - leaving some dice stacked creates issues, but so does knocking them onto the floor. they compare their results against a sliding number representing their fantastical powers versus their natural youthful skills
the 60-page zine is full to the brim with examples, pick-lists, roll tables, and oracles that make GMfull play a breeze. you can carefully craft your world and characters or just roll for everything and jump right into play
accompanying players through the gamebook is The Narrator, a cosmic being whose sole purpose is to guide new Shadows and Giants on their journeys, along with a collection of absolutely gorgeous art by @prose-n-scripts (seriously, people can't stop raving about the art)
shadow / giant 2e was designed with accessibility in mind from start to finish:
the game is written and laid out to ease the cognitive load of learning and setting up a new game, as players can read each section out loud (or listen to it from a screenreader or future audiobook version) and follow the steps as they go. each section has summaries as well as visually distinct pick-lists and examples. even new ttrpg players should be able to jump into play within an hour of picking up the book
all the main text is in inclusive sans, and the pdf includes bookmarks and human-written image descriptions. the layout colors balance the need for contrast and any potential color blindness while remaining comfortable to look at on screens. the most-used oracles are at the very back of the book for easy reference
did i mention the amazing art by @prose-n-scripts ?
you can pre-order a print copy now from plus one experience!! the game drops in june of 2026 !!
Following in the legacy of Lone Wolf and Cub-inspired media such as The Mandalorian, Telltaleâs The Walking Dead, Birds of Prey, Logan, The
the digital zine will be sold from this page on my itch once it launches!!
This is my next installment of my Blog Buddies project, a series of blogs where I interact with other creators in the ttrpg space. This month I'm chatting with @psychhound, and this time the topic is something that is near and dear to both of our hearts.
Hey Luka!
First of all, I just want to say that one of the things I really treasure about our friendship is the ways our interests overlap. You released the first edition of shadow / giant back in late 2023, and I released the play-test version of Protect the Child in early 2024. There's a lot of similarities in our games; both the Child and the Shadow are a mix of vulnerable & powerful, and the Monsters / Giant characters are all flawed individuals who struggle with responsibility. Both of our games are fairly setting-agnostic; you could play out their stories in space, in the past, in the present, etc.
I think that it's also interesting how both of our games play with power imbalance. In Protect the Child, the Child is dependent on the rest of the players⌠but they are played by the GM, who, historically, has consistently had the most control at the table. The player characters have a lot of say in how they approach obstacles, but the GM has fiat over how the Child reacts to the group's choices. In shadow / giant, the Shadow needs the Giant - they're too small, too frail, even with the magic that they hold. Yet the kid is an equal player in these games; they have agency, the choice to listen to the instructions of their guardian, and (this is important) the Shadow gets to roll dice.
Another overlap in our games is that we're both interested in a world that isn't necessarily kind to children. In conversations about children, I feel like kids are used as props, and goals are more like ideals - people concerned with how the world should be, rather than how it actually is. Children should be safe from harm, but we both know that this is not always the case. Children should be protected from certain life events until they're mature enough to handle them, but real life doesn't work like that. What's even worse is that kids don't have the same methods by which to advocate for themselves as adults; they're dependent on their caretakers.
One of the ideas that fueled some design choices for Protect the Child was the idea of children's liberation - the de-coupling of kids' need to be cared for and supported with the dependency on (and ownership by) parents or state-assigned guardians. Giving the Child super-powers makes them a problem that the monsters can't just ignore or shout down - neglect their trust or emotions too much and they blow up, making the entire situation worse. The Child also has Lessons, or self-beliefs that are difficult to change; characters can attempt to steer the Child toward something more positive, but they're limited due to the fact that at the end of the day, the Child is their own person.
I'm curious about how shadow / giant looks at the individuality of children, and how that individuality poses a conundrum to people who view children as property. I think the fact that the game is a duet game goes a long way in this respect, because in a game with two players - neither of which is in a GM role - it's easy to do away with hierarchy. The Giant and the Shadow's roles in this game aren't identical - they're asymmetrical - but I think that's a better representation of how children could be treated in a kinder world. A child's rights aren't less important, but their responsibilities don't need to the same as an adult's for them and their contributions to be treated with dignity and respect.
At the same time, I think we're both interested in characters that are not necessarily "good" parents. My monsters and your Giant are both flawed; the Giant can't communicate well with the Child, and my monsters have individual weaknesses that make certain aspects of parenting significantly challenging. I wrote the Rogue Renegade into Protect the Child specifically because I thought it was compelling to have a someone who had perhaps failed children in the past be a character option, especially because it's such a satisfying arc to watch them grow.
The biggest difference between our two games, I think, is the length of each. Protect the Child is best suited to a campaign. You watch over the Child as they get older, and learn more about who they are as a person as they face obstacles and struggle against an unfriendly environment. shadow / giant feels much smaller in scope, and not just because it's a duet game. The Shadow determines when the game ends, because once their skill # hits either end of their spectrum, they are no longer playable. They either lose control of their magic, or become too frail to travel further. This feels like a game that could end in one or two sessions, depending on how (un)lucky the Shadow is - and the Shadow doesn't have the same capability to grow up over the course of play, because neither player marks experience.
Protect the Child is a big-picture examination of how we as adults do (and do not) have the ability to influence who a child becomes over time. shadow / giant is a snapshot - a small piece of what is a larger story.
My meandering thoughts lead me to these questions for you:
Why do you think we are drawn to flawed characters? What makes imperfect parents interesting to you?
In the second edition of shadow / giant, how are you going to play with the Shadow's agency? What power balances or imbalances do you think might exist?
Did you have a specific goal in mind when you created an endgame condition that centred on the Shadow? Would you agree with me when I say that shadow / giant doesn't explore growth, or would you say that growth exists in other forms?
What kinds of conversations would you be excited to see in relation to the themes of shadow / giant? Are there threads between our two games that you've seen that perhaps I've missed?
Iâm looking forward to reading about what thoughts this sparks! (And Iâll be re-blogging this post with a link to the response when I get it!)
hello mint!! thank you so much for inviting me on this little adventure with you :D it's been nearly 3 years since we first started bonding about ttrpgs and in a way i feel like my blog has grown up following yours around (much like ⌠a little shadow, perhaps?)
i really do think this is the perfect set of games for us to discuss since they're so near and dear to our hearts. and luckily just in time for me to announce that
shadow / giant 2e will be published by plus one experience next year !!
in-page art by @paladinbaby
i feel like these games are holding hands in a lot of ways. what feels like a key difference between them is the caretaker characters. in protect the child, the caretakers are decidedly Other. monsters, animals, powered humanoids. but in shadow / giant, the giant remains grounded for the setting the game takes place in (whether that's a regular jane doe or a cyborg in a scifi game). however, i think these are just two different angles to look at the same issue
to address your first question, making monstrous caretakers or a solo grounded caretaker are both ways to examine flawed parents and relationships. for the monsters, they're disadvantaged, marginalized, lack resources, and are potentially targets of bigotry. their flaws are both obvious and hidden. while their playbooks grapple with their flaws and potential downfalls with the child, their inhumanness might be completely unrelated to why they struggle as caretakers. so far i've played a constantly shapeshifting creature and an x-men ripoff, and neither of them actually struggled with parenting because of their otherness. rather, they struggled due to the very human situation of ⌠well, parenting is hard! they weren't prepared for how hard it would be and now they're having to confront some deep flaws within themselves that are being brought to the surface by this situation
and even though the giant is "normal" - that's very much the situation they're dealing with as well! whether taking care of the shadow was an intentional choice, or if they just happened to be the person there, the giant now has to grapple with the fact that they're just a person, flaws and all, dealing with a situation way out of their pay grade. part of the playbook of the giant is that they had given up in some way before. on the world, on love, on a future ⌠now they're having to confront their pessimism with an incredibly vulnerable youth who will absolutely feed off of that energy if they stick with it (much like the child can interpret lessons from the monsters' actions)
so, i think the reason i like to explore imperfect parents and flawed characters in games like these is ⌠everyone is? everyone is flawed and all parents are imperfect because that's just the nature of being a person. it's impossible to be perfect both because that's unsustainable to even try and also because our conception of what is good & right & moral is just gonna change in the next few years anyway
i think both protect the child and shadow / giant are great lenses to examine caretakers who are imperfect but Trying. struggling with bad situations, a lack of resources, children who are in some major way Different to them, hurt by the lifetime they lived before this youth came into the picture ⌠and yet, still, trying. trying because what other choice is there and trying because, despite it all, they Care. and caring doesn't equal correct decisions or good influences or a lack of harm. but what does it look like when you care a lot and things go badly and then you keep caring and keep trying?
Feeding Bunnies by Helen Hyde
on the youths' side of things ⌠i do think there's a lot of interesting aspects to compare between a single youth played by the gm in a multiplayer game and a youth played by one equal half of a duo. as you pointed out, there is asymmetry between the youths and caretakers in both of these games
i do think there's an alternate universe version of protect the child where the child is a GMPC who gets to choose a playbook just like the monsters do. and i think the argument that game would be making is very different than the one protect the child in our universe is. because, even though the child is not a regular human and still has powers, at the end of the day, they're still very different from the adult caretaker PCs
and i think this goes into something you talked about in your post, which is liberating children from ownership by their guardians rather than from care and support. in both our games, the child character is a person rather than a prop to be acted upon. they have a character sheet with abilities, ways of interacting with the game-world, and are mechanically and emotionally dynamic
in s/g 2e, the giant playbook is set up to handle most of the problems that players will face over the course of their game. whether it's a oneshot, short shot, or campaign (yes, 2e is more campaign friendly!), most of the rolls will be made by the giant. the giant gets buffs by using their skills and resources, but if the situation is out of both of their depths, then the giant will always be the one to make the roll and potentially suffer the consequences (if the shadow is helping them, their roll gets an extra buff though!)
on the other hand, the shadow only rolls when one of their specifically listed skills is relevant. if your shadow is skilled at comforting, then they can try to comfort. if they have magic that lets them lift heavy objects with telekinesis, then they can roll to do that! if the situation at hand can't be dealt with by one of the shadow's listed skills, then it falls to the giant - whether or not the giant is any better equipped
and, for me, that asymmetry is a more equitable way to treat a young pc. the shadow still has agency, still can suffer consequences, still is powerful, still a major part of the story who can change the course of a situation - but, ultimately, more of the responsibility for just ⌠managing moment to moment goes to the giant. the shadow helps when the shadow can be helpful, and the rest of the time the adult is the one who needs to take initiative
for me, that was a good balance between realism and imagining a more just situation for a child to be in. obviously, in the game, there is physical, mental, and emotional danger and plenty of potential harm, and the characters' emotional relationship can be strained and imperfect (part of the shared character creation is deciding on a communication barrier of some kind - practical, linguistic, emotional - that comes between your shadow and giant). but, the relationship between the shadow and giant mechanically is just and equitable. yes, it is a power imbalance, but one that befits both characters and maintains their agency and ideal level of responsibility
art by @paladinbaby
to answer your third question, a lot about the lack of growth and endgame conditions is changing for 2e! in s/g 1e, the only dynamic thing on the character sheets was the shadow's target number, which worked in a similar way to lasers & feelings, with a single number between 2 and 5 that you had to roll below for your supernatural skills and roll above for your childlike skills. this number was chosen at the beginning of the game, but you could move it by one digit to avoid a failed roll. if you hit 1 or 6, the game was over, as your shadow's powers either got out of control, or you were too vulnerable and traumatized to continue the journey
as you said, mint, this works for short-term games. and it even works with some of the touchstones for s/g, which often do end in tragedy! however, it just wasn't what i wanted revisiting it for 2e. while it was technically under the control of the shadow's player, it meant that the game would always end in tragedy, and that tragedy was always the shadow's fault (or because of trauma inflicted on the shadow). this just went against the emotional core of the play experience i was striving for
in 2e, both shadows and giants can gain new skills (as well as resources, for the giant) over the course of a journey. the skill number can still be moved after a failure if the shadow's player wishes, but now, when it hits 1 or 6, a major, damaging (& potentially traumatizing) event occurs, rather than the game ending. these moments are more of a long, dark night of the soul than an endgame condition (though the players could definitely choose to end their game there if they wanted to tell a tragic story), meaning both that s/g 2e is more suited for long-term play, and that the shadow's player maintains agency over when bad things happen to their character. instead of ending the game when they want to pursue a tragic experience, the shadow can experience tragedy and then go on to still experience love, healing, growth
i think that ties in to what you were saying about imagining a better world for children and youth. neither shadow / giant nor protect the child are cozy feelgood games where nothing bad ever happens. they both imagine young characters in situations of confusion, fear, harm, trauma, and danger. however, those young characters have people who care about them and are looking out for them, and even when they mess up, stick to the tough goal of making sure this kid is okay
a kinder world isn't a world where youth never suffer and everything is perfect. a kinder world is one that treats youth as full people, with their own internal lives, wants and needs and goals, who deserve to be treated with respect and given care befitting their situation. a kinder world isn't one where parents and caregivers are perfect, but rather one where they will own up to their mistakes and try to do better next time
art by obremonde
for some final threads, i do enjoy that both of our games include collaborative worldbuilding :) these are two games that have the potential to touch on traumas for the players, and i think that giving the players agency in the worldbuilding is a step towards safeguarding from some of that harm. players can draw in their experiences on their own terms while also loading up the game with their interests and likes. as you mentioned, both our games are setting- (and somewhat genre-) agnostic, with the core of the game really centering around these relationships between caretakers and youths. it's hard to imagine a world without youths and their caretakers! i like that we took that and allowed it to be put in whatever situation the players could imagine
i think that wraps things up on my end!! thank you again for starting this convo, i love to chew on ttrpgs like bubblegum :)
So chewy! Thank you so much for your thoughts Luka.
Y'all can follow Luka at @psychhound, where you can get updates about shadow/giant, as well as Luka's other game work! And of course, I'll be releasing news about Protect the Child here, on my blog!
I can finally talk about it because it's finally released! Introducing Five Minutes, Not 5e! The first entry is discussing Shadow / Giant with @psychhound!
But what is Five Minutes, Not 5e?
Five Minutes, Not 5e is a project I started as part of Chimera Hearts, aiming to bring attention to lesser-known TTRPGs through brief, to-the-point interviews with their designers. Each interview has the same five questions, chosen to convey the key information for new players. Designers can also elaborate with custom questions in Beyond Five Minutes, the sister series.
Here's the Beyond Five Minutes episode for Shadow / Giant:
Entries come with transcripts and are placed in playlists as a kind of "tagging system". My aim is to build a collection of these entries, to easily explain game concepts to unfamiliar players. My aim is to release these at a sustainable pace, building the catalogue over time. I've got a few more lined up, with one already recorded, so keep an eye out!
If you're a designer and are interested in taking part, please fill out this google form! I'd love to talk to more people about their games!
If you want to get involved in this or similar projects, check out Chimera Hearts! There's plenty great discussion over on the discord, as well as projects being proposed!
A network for people who care about TTRPGs.
(Also, if you want to support the project, I do have a patreon.)
i understand why the âgrizzled loner who slowly melts & improves their outlook on life when forced to take care of a kidâ trope is a male exclusive role, bc the optics of a grizzled loner woman healing by becoming a mother are maybe not so good, but every time i think abt a hypothetical female version of that trope i black out instantly. could we maybe just do it one time and all agree to be cool about it
i talk about wanting someone to play a butch in this interview
and you can listen to an awesome actual play episode here by @partyofonepod
and!! 2e will be published next summer by plus one experience with even more options, lots of tables to guide play, and amazing art by @prose-n-scripts !!
soooooo excited to OFFICIALLY announce that shadow / giant 2e, the much improved & expanded second edition to my lone wolf & cub ttrpg, will be out for my First Ever Print Run in JUNE (like a week away!!!)
a 60 page zine with brand new bespoke mechanics, new character options, lots of oracles to support 2 player gmfull play, and so much Gorgeous art by @prose-n-scripts
if yall wanna be so nice and preorder it for my upcoming birthday you can do so through plus one experience :)
Following in the legacy of Lone Wolf and Cub-inspired media such as The Mandalorian, Telltaleâs The Walking Dead, Birds of Prey, Logan, The
soooooo excited to OFFICIALLY announce that shadow / giant 2e, the much improved & expanded second edition to my lone wolf & cub ttrpg, will be out for my First Ever Print Run in JUNE (like a week away!!!)
a 60 page zine with brand new bespoke mechanics, new character options, lots of oracles to support 2 player gmfull play, and so much Gorgeous art by @prose-n-scripts
if yall wanna be so nice and preorder it for my upcoming birthday you can do so through plus one experience :)
Following in the legacy of Lone Wolf and Cub-inspired media such as The Mandalorian, Telltaleâs The Walking Dead, Birds of Prey, Logan, The
This weeksâ recommendation post comes courtesy of @literalcatpod, the podcast all about making cats in your favourite ttrpgs! Weâre turning the tables a little bit by recommending a bunch of my favourite cat games!
Are you ready for a number of different situations to put your cats in?
Sashimi Kitties, by Stormslegacy. **
After seeing an aquarium that a TV show set up for the rich and famous you fluffy sashimi-loving gourmets are going to relieve that mansion of its fish. This game tells that epic story! Do you succeed? How do you pull off the ultimate dine and dash? Play to find out!
A great set-up for a comical heist, Sashimi Kitties has a pretty quick character creation set-up, as is the standard for a one-shot. Youâve got your reputation, your role on the team, and a number that represents your skill in either Sass or Charm. The GM has a handy list of roll-tables for what kind of fish your after, where itâs found, and what kinds of obstacles are standing in your way. Itâs time to go fishing, kitties!
Agent Purrvocateur, by David Garrett
You are a special agent who works for the secretive counter-terrorism organization known as the Feline Operations Group. Together with your fellow agents, you travel the world stopping dastardly villains from carrying out their diabolical plans.
Travel to exotic locales, investigate mysteries, fight henchmen, and save the world in this GM-less, no-prep game of heroic derring-do for one or more players. The ultra-light VRBS system emphasizes the fun of improvisational storytelling and learning by doing, and is appropriate for players aged six and up.Â
The concept of the game is pretty easy to pick up: youâre secret agents that are also cats. Character creation is fairly simple as well: you pick a name and describe your cat, and select three verbs from a suggested list to illustrate what your cat is good at. This is a game where you get better as you play, which is probably why character creation is so slim. If you want the GM to get in on the fun, thereâs a bunch of roll tables to develop a mission for your furtive felines.
The Perfect Feline-y, by Furry Little Goblin Press.
The Purrfect Feline-y is a rules-lite TTRPG for one GM and players who are 1) willing to pretend to be cats and 2) willing to commit only the finest and most chaotic of crimes. Inspired by games such as Honey Heist and Lasers and Feelings, this game is intended for single sessions of low prep silly fun. The Purrfect Feline-y is built on Caltrop Core by Titanomachy RPG.
As you know, cats have a predisposition for crime. (Or at least, so say the folks on Literal Cat Pod). I needed to have a game that featured Caltrop Core on this list, and thankfully Furry Little Goblin Press did not disappoint! You get four traits, and to distribute numbers between them to determine how many d4âs go into each dice pool. You also can roll or select a skill and a flaw, and the GM rolls on a little table to figure out what kinds of crimes your kitties are up to.
Catching Strays, by drmhigginson.
The Boss has been captured by the cities animal control and itâs up to you and your posse to get them out. Youâre a furrocious gang of criminal city cats out on the prowl, at least until dinner time. Evade capture, steal scraps from the fishmongers and put the pigeons in their place.  Physically or otherwise, you always land on your feet.
This has pretty much everything I would expect from a one-page game: Honey Heist rules, some roll tables to give you some descriptive pieces that will be useful if you find a way to make them relevant, and some GM roll tables to build a situation for your gang to walk into. Thereâs also a little bonus feature thatâs optional: an informant who might just give you the hint you need to find your boss, and where to find them. I think Iâm a bit partial to Honk, myself.
Freyaâs Vi-Cats, by Geek It Real Good.
All of KĂśttrbyâs warriors went a-viking, leaving their lovely village unprotected, or so a group of invaders thought. They donât know that Freyja herself blessed KĂśttrby with an abundance of cats, who will fight tooth, claw and nail to defend their home. After all, theyâre the only ones allowed to knock a cup off a table ⌠or set the longhouse on fire.
Morph all of the cats in your viking household into one mega Vi-Cat and repel three waves of invaders before the longships return home!Â
This is a pretty simple game, with pretty much every piece of your character rolled randomly. This is definitely a game thatâs all about combat, what with the norse themes, rules about boss battles, and conflict-focused Feline Feats. Whatâs unique about this game is that nobody is really playing one cat - youâre actually each a kind of cat Mega-zord, made up of multiple cats! Thatâs more cat per cat!
Claw & Order: NAP Unit, by Lichlight Imprints.
You are a highly-trained agent of the Neighbourhood Assurance Patrol -Â a cat. And not just any cat. Youâre part of an elite (read: completely self-appointed) unit tasked with keeping your block free of crime, chaos, and canine disruption. Itâs a tough job, but someoneâs got to nap between the lines.
If you want to create a character using a partially-filled out template, Claw & Order might be the game for you. Choose from a series of Brindlewood/PbtA-style playbooks, from options such as the Himbo, the Mystic, or the Grand Dame. The noir twist certainly keeps the name on brand!
Witch Cats, by Ty Barbary.
Play as a Cat with your friends and work together to help your Witches succeed in their various magical plots! Made for the Horseshoe System Game Jam.
Every Witch has their familiar, and all of the cats in this game have their Witch! You roll randomly for two parts of this game: the cat characters, and the collectively shared Witch. The GM isnât left out here either; this game comes with a task roll-table to randomly determine what our dear little witch needs help with.
CATastrophic, by Nekiya RPG
In CATastrophic, players are cats whose minds were fused with artificial intelligence during an experiment. Now more conscious and intelligent than ever, they launch a rebellion to overthrow the megacorporations that use animals as test subjects.
This is a great way to weave cyberpunk into your cat game. The designer says that this game uses the Bastet System which I think might have originated inside this game. Thereâs some more pieces to your cat in this game compared to a lot of the other games on this list: youâll distribute modifiers among 5 attributes, but you âll also choose a set of personalities & a quirk, as well as roll a d66 for your fleshware. The randomness added to the choices are likely going to create a really unique cat, for a really unique setting.
Kittens Mafia Pizza Meowhem, by Finiel.
Welcome to the ameowzing Nonna LucĂa's PizzerĂa. Known pizza parlor⌠and mafia front. Step up as Nonna's Kittens to run the PizzerĂa. Deal with customers, defend the pizzerĂa from enemy families, and avoid getting caught by the sanitary department.
This is hands down my favourite concept on this list. Kittens Mafia Pizza Meowhem comes with two sheets: one for Players, and one for the GM. Your kitties have a name, a breed, a role that gives you that extra kick, but whatâs really neat to me is the paired stats that you start out with. You can choose to enhance one of your stats at the beginning, but doing so reduces its opposite, thus really creating gaps that youâll likely depend on your fellow cats to cover as you play. You also get to roll to determine what your pizzeria looks like, that added zest that makes this cat game much more than just a cat game.
Neko No Mura, by chtos.
Nestled at the base of Mt. Fuji is a village of contradictions. With one foot in the spirit world, Spirits and Humans walk side-by-side on a daily basis only barely aware of each other's presence. Since time immemorial, you've guarded this place; you ensure rogue Spirits leave the humans in peace and that inconsiderate humans don't desecrate the shrines of the Spirits.
To the humans, you may seem like normal cats - but some of them know better, some of them think to give you a head pat or a small treat in thanks for your dedication to keeping this place safe. Is it any wonder that when the sky went dark and the humans disappeared from the streets that you were the first on the scene?
Then The Creatures appeared. The humans are now huddled in their homes, scared to leave. Some have been snatched off the streets. The Spirits have gone missing, and you know not why. It's up to you to find the spirits and enlist their aid to defeat the creatures and save your home.
For the folks who want a game that still has some bite to it, Neko No Mura is a game built on 24XX, an OSR-lite game that uses every part of the dice bag. Your cat has a name, description, and a magical domain. You also have a list of skills, one or two of which are boosted to indicate where you really shine. As for the tone of the game, I think it really depends on what the GM decides to throw at you from their roll-table: thereâs some classic monsters like zombies or vampires, but thereâs also some really unique, conceptual threats, like giant fish, red dots, or⌠the sun.
Honorable Mentions
The Cat Hack, by Kirt Dankmyer.
Faux Claw, by beccamay.
Battle Cats, by Tape Traveler.
Radical Air Felines, by Deadcoast Games
If you like what I do and want to leave a tip, you can always stop by my Ko-Fi page.
This recommendation post was made with help of @psychhound, also known as Luka Brave! You can check out his work here.
An idea floating in my head: campaign with multiple ttrpgs
How, depending on the moments, a game can match more than others and change system, keeping the characters. Not just a world building with Microscope before a campaign but going from game to game in a coherent story.
Mixing Prequel and Back from the broken land without playing the final boss fight. The adventurers that sacrificed themselves to give a chance to the next group. The final group going back home with their scars.
The two editions of DotDungeon with one character in common. The before, when the game was full of life. The after , the game abandoned, someone giving it another try to see if they can find the magic again with another group of friends (and what happened to the previous one?)
Do you have any game recs that have unconventional ways of determining outcomes (outside of rolling dice/drawing cards?) I remember I once saw one that revolved around candles, and another about rolling marbles, I think... I'm curious what other ones you've come across!
THEME: Dice and Card Alternatives
Hello friend, all of these games use very different modes of resolution! Happy gaming!
Spin the Fishblade, by Marshall Bradshaw.
Spin the FishBlade is the GMless, diceless storygame where players control one fish with a knife by spinning a knife.
It's meant for three to five players to play for one to two hours, telling an outlandish story with some stylized violence. Imagine if Finding Nemo were mixed with an action movie, like Taken, Kill Bill, or Snatch.
Spin the FishBlade is a game made to spoof off of a tweet that came across as (a little) derisive of indie ttrpgs, and is one of a number of games entered into a game jam celebrating the game communityâs willingness to commit to a bit. However, itâs also a completely playable game! You will sit in a circle, and arrange items to sit in between each player to act as loci of power. A knife will be spun, similar to a game of spin the bottle, but the goal is to share narration and introduce uncertainty based off of the objects in the circle. Great for GM-less games or a storytelling exercise in a casual setting!
Printweaver, by N.L. Morrison.
Your fingerprints determine your unique adventurer. Explore the wilds and find your own adventure through combat, death, and revival. Your fate is in your hands.
Printweaver looks like a traditional ttrpg in its gameplay mechanics, which use d10s, but character creation is determined by the playerâs fingerprints. Youâll determine what kinds of stats you have, and where your abilities lie, by examining your finger prints and following instructions as laid out in the rulebook. The game itself is $10, but if youâre unsure about the game, character sheets and the Shorthand edition are free to download!
DIY Identity: An Odd Bijou, by S. Kaiya J.
There are a million other paths you might have walked in life.
Every one of them passes through this place.
DIY Identity is a two-person game about mutual exploration, co-construction of perception, and missed paths in life. In order to play, you will need to take a trip to an IKEA store. It is recommended to play this game with someone you trust but do not currently live with.
This game uses an hourglass and a room in an IKEA store, and can be played for about as long as youâd like to spend in that store. Iâd only recommend you play it with folks if you are both comfortable with them and if you donât mind playing the game in a semi-public space. The game itself is only one page; easy to print off to fold up and put in your pocket.
Grave Liasons, by Yugie.
Grave Liasons is a PvP roleplaying game powered by chocolate where you play as nosy ghosts trying to ensure that their descendants get matched with the perfect partner (according to them).
While playing, players take on the roles of SPIRITS, who are trying to ensure or prevent a match, and DESCENDANTS, who are just normal people looking for love.Â
This game is a one-page game in which you will embody both a Spirit and a Descendant, with the Spirits playing ghostly matchmakers and the Descendants, doing their best to find love. When a Spiritâs match goes well, the Spiritâs player eats a chocolate heart! However, be careful - once you run out of hearts youâll have to beg or steal hearts off of other players. If you want a light-hearted way to celebrate Valentineâs Day, or you just want to eat chocolate with friends. I suggest checking this game out!
Games Iâve recommended in the past
Witches Brew, by C.R. Legge. (Tea!)
Clown Helsing, by Planarian. (Rock, Paper, Scissors)
hey there!! i hope you dont mind the self promotion but i've done some playing around with unusual mechanics that may be fitting here
mama werewolf is a duet game inspired by mama werewolf by brandi carlile. it's an emotional and character-driven narrative game where one player is a mother werewolf and the other player is her child. events that happen in game are determined by the moon phase and local weather, and the 'moves' you get to play are based on what tokens you have available. your tokens are flowers and a single rock (your silver bullet) that you gather before the game starts by going on a walk. the game is meant to be played in eight small sessions over the course of a month, at the end of which the players exchange letters their characters wrote for each other during the events of the game
lullaby nights is a solo or multiplayer writing game played with your music library. it's a small and simple game where you use song lyrics to write a conversation between friends at a sleepover. there's no card pulling or dice rolling, it's entirely based on your music. it's free / pay what you want! you can listen to @ladytabletop's playthrough of it here! it's a really sweet episode
little shepherd, little spy does include a Little card pulling (tarot) but is mainly played with your bookshelf. you play as a spy in the fairy war who passes along messages by decoding books. you pull a tarot card to know what book on your bookshelf to look at, and then use your spy chart to interpret the message hidden in the pages. it's main game is a solo journal, but there's also a two player letter writing version that you can play along with your solo game!
In 2026, I want to improve my writing about games. I feel like this whole year I only rarely got At Something with my videos. Of course reading broadly is useful, but have other folks found success with certain techniques to improve their critical/analytical work?
perhaps what I am not chasing is better quality work, but instead, to FEEL better about my work. In which case the solution is simple: Get really high on my own supply and dismiss all criticism as beneath me. Now THAT'S an approach I can get behind!
while i have not indulged in the genre of video essays (...yet...) perhaps some lessons from academic writing can be applied:
what is the gap in the research? what is missing from the community conversation? what has not been analyzed or examined or explored that could be fruitful to the community and further the ongoing conversational project?
don't go into your research phase with an argument in mind. go in with a question to be answered and let the texts speak for themselves about what that answer might be. ie start with a research question, not a hypothesis. open of mind, open of heart, thicc of ass
who cares? the world is increasingly busy, media is increasingly plentiful, attention spans are increasingly atrophied. why should anyone care what you have to say about this? what does it Matter? who is the specific person who is going to pay attention to you and why is it necessary that you deliver this message to them? find the angle that makes this discovery worth someone's time, even if it's just worth the time of one specific sliver of one specific community
what is the takeaway that you want to further develop the community conversation? you want someone to be able to chime into a conversation and say "actually, i watched a video last week that argued X" and have that X be a meaningful divergence from the currently dominantly held line of thought. while "water is wet" studies are hugely important in STEM, they hold less ... water in informal artistic communities like ours. why is what you are saying different and why should that matter to people? give them a soundbite or a quote they can easily share if you can!
i hope thats helpful :) everyone say yay yippee ttrpg analysis
not just one, but many. not just you, but all. the fey thought you needed to be taught a lesson. at least, that's what they said. with a snap, you and the rest were severed from your mortal bodies and locked in a series of dreams - dreams of fantastical worlds, monsters, magic, and trial. always trial. for each dream, there is something to fight, face, overcome ... proving yourself again and again to a being so otherworldly they may never understand just what this is doing to you
with each dream, you are made anew. who will you be in the next one? do you even remember who you were before?Â
...
dream.scape is a campaign framework that follows the same core set of characters through multiple, shared dreams, each of which is played in a different ttrpg. your characters will shift, change, and be remade again and again, trying to complete trials set by the fey who trapped them
this framework comes with eight character archetypes to keep a consistent thread throughout your games, four suggested themes to base your games and trials around, as well as suggestions of 35 ttrpgs to set the dreams in
...
basically, if you want to try out new games but get super attached to your blorbo, this campaign might be for you! :) your blorb keeps one power throughout every game based on which archetype you choose, and then you follow them through multiple dream trials, potentially killing the fey who trapped them, and then can play out the aftermath of the dreams in one of several suggested changeling-based ttrpgs if youre like super attached and just want to keep going with your party :)
there are 5 suggested ttrpgs for each theme including games about witches, werewolves, vampires, monsters and monster hunters, and much more!! the different themes have varying levels of seriousness and dark content, so you could go very heavy with this or not as theres also a lighter / kid friendly theme included !
also it's pay what you want!! check it out on itch :D
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