Game Reactions: Blood Lock (Vampire Punk Descended From the Queen)
Link: https://worldchampgameco.itch.io/blood-lock
vampyric punk standoff descended from the queen
Blood Lock was part of Adam Vass' Midnight Marathon collection of five horror zines that I backed as part of Zinequest 2025. I'll likely be posting about each of the five in turn as I read through them, but I wanted to give them all their due separately rather than trying to discuss them all in one post.
Specifically, Blood Lock is a Descended From the Queen game, i.e., it's based on the fantastic prompt-based game For the Queen. For reference, I own For the Queen and have played it a bunch, it's great. Blood Lock also exists in the same world as Adam Vass' Blood Borg game - Mork Borg but with punk vampires. Though, it doesn't require any knowledge of or connection to Blood Borg.
In contrast to classic For the Queen, Blood Lock has four characters - Vampire, Victim, Thrall, and Hunter. Each character corresponds with a particular suit. I should mention, it uses a standard deck of cards and lists prompts by character in the zine. It's a nice way of making a Descended From the Queen game that can still be distributed digitally. I'm not sure if this is an Adam Vass innovation or has been done before, but it's neat. I also just like the concept of having multiple characters in this type of game. Depending on how many players you have, you can either take control of specific characters, so you always answer their prompts, or split things in any way you see fit.
The prompts seem really good. They're well-written of course, and they're specific and evocative in all the right ways. Between the prompt quality, the defined cast of characters, and the strength of the overall writing and presentation, it feels very rooted in a specific world with real characters in it. This is something that I can sometimes struggle with when playing For the Queen, which is very flexible to allow you to tell many types of story, but by virtue of that can fail to give you enough to hold onto, especially if there's misalignment between players.
It's a really cool game, I'll be bringing it to the table with my partner in short order!
As I stated in my last post for the 'EternalJam: VoidRituals' I will be talking a little bit about some of the projects I've released in the past couple of months!
I will be doing it chronologically in order of release!!
All games are 'Pay What You Want' on my itch.io so please take a peak! (links attached to images)
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The very first game I ever felt confident enough about releasing was a small project called 'Magic & Might'! It's a very small Pamphlet game that was built around the idea of being ultra-light & forgiving.
I first ran this game back late last year in 2024 and I felt like it really hit the mark in terms of what I wanted my players and myself to be able to do.
The game pulls heavily from other rules-lite games like Honey Heist, Lasers & Feelings, & Foul Play. The game was made expressly for the purpose of letting my game group come back for a one-shot without having to worry about stats present in crunchier games like D&D, in some way shape or form all of my group (myself included) struggled with either focus and/or constraints so I wanted to make the game as approachable for them.
The game has two stats in it, Magic & Might, which encompass every possible action that could be made. If you're a big fan of soft & loose magic systems or the freedom to just make weird choices I think you'll like this one!
Check it out on my Itch.io for free!
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This next game is a convert for the Pokemon TCG into a TTRPG format! It is intended to let you use the trading cards we've all accidentally or intentionally collected to do battle and go on adventures with friends!
This game was created for my dear friend @aceofhearth for a pokemon campaign they really wanted to run! I took heavy inspiration & meshed mechanics from the Electric State & Tales from the Loop to allow for a more long-term narrative style play.
I don't own any of the content for the game so it will always remain completely for free forever and payments are turned off for this one.
If it sounds fun take a peak!
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This next game is 'On The Will Of Wind' and was my very first submission to the 'EternalJam' back in April of 2025 with the theming being storms & fools/lies.
I managed to workshop this game & produce it in the span of 18 hours so excuse any errors in my text!! This game is meant to be played as a duo with one player & one GM. It's about the lies we tell ourselves when we're running from the past.
It's set in space
It's vibey.
It's rules-lite.
Check it out!!
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This one was super fun to make!! It takes the rule system I established in Magic & Might and gave it a bit of a felt makeover lol. This game is all about making laughs and getting into Mayhem.
The rules in this game are Man & Moppet so you can understand the vibe I was going for. It's also another pamphlet rpg so if you're into those please take a peak!
Get into hijinks!
Make Mayhem!
Commit to the bit!!
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This game like my Pokestop convert is intended to bring something I absolutely adore and get it into pen&paper. This one is super simple, it takes the rules from Citizen Sleeper and converts them into pen&paper format.
Again I will never collect any money from this & payments are turned off since I don't own the rights to any of this, this is purely just cause I'm a big nerdy fan.
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Sorry y'all for such a dump of words!! If you thought any of these games were interesting or think someone that you love or occasionally think about would like these games please take a look!!
Deviating from my usual tendency of playing solo games to rope in my partner for some two-person adventures. We recently (-ish. Time is relative) played Exquisite Biome by Caro Asercion, a game where you create your own ecosystem and populate it with strange yet wonderful creatures. Come join our journey into the wild and whimisical!
(Also apologizing ahead of time because we played this awhile back and some details are hazy, so I can't guarantee specific information like card pulls.)
Let's gooooo!
How to play:
All you need is a standard deck of playing cards (minus jokers) and something to write (and even draw) with.
Creating an ecosystem:
The first thing we did was flesh out our ecosystem. This is accomplished by drawing cards. From our pulls, we established the following things about our biome:
Environmental focus: temperate forest
Current season: cool and wet
Environmental details: volatile weather patterns
Time of day: deep at night
Drawing for animals:
A cool feature about this game is you'll use the same three card spread to determine characteristics about the three animals you will create. The only difference is after each animal, you move the far left card to the right hand side, generating new answers to the prompts.
First Animal:
Here are the details we drew up for our first creature:
Taxonomy: Mammal (we went with a big jungle cat like a jaguar)
Ecological niche: Ambush predator
Distinctive feature: More or fewer appendages (we chose 0--a beast that hovers)
Environmental behavior: Life cycle (for this, we decided that we were mostly focusing on the cocoon stage. Once they reach adult stage, they gain 4 limbs and a pair of sugar glider wings)
Social groupings: This species lives in groups of a dozen or more (we established that there are pack dynamics with a determined pack leader)
Next, we establish the frame for the scene we will be witnessing. This is determined by drawing a fourth card that will be discarded after the pull.
Scene prompt: A hearty meal
Now we will write up our field notes from our expedition using the details we've generated thus far.
Field notes: As we zoom in, it is drizzling. We are sneaking through the forest and trying to keep our cameras dry. We come to a small clearing in the forest where our animal is taking a drink of water (we would never know otherwise because it's so quiet). We have to hold our breath so it or its potential friends in hiding don't spot us. It makes a crying noise like a wounded animal that draws another animal out into the clearing. The prey is then ambushed by all of the creatures hiding in the brush. Half a dozen are in the cacoon stage, a couple are in the baby stage, and a couple are in the final stage of the life cycle. The ones in the final stage are the ones that get the biggest piece of the pie while the younglings fight over the scraps. It has been a successful hunt.
Last detail is to come up with a name. This time, our creature will be known as the Jaglyder.
Second animal:
Taxonomy: bird (we went with a raven/crow and sloth combo, for reasons that will become apparent below)
Ecological niche: climber or tree dweller
Distinctive feature: Noisy (It has a lonely cry that sounds like a woman weeping)
Environmental behavior: Hibernating (It retires when the snow starts to fall and comes out again when it's warmer. Because the weather is so volatile in this ecosystem, it has multiple short hibernations every year)
Social grouping: solitary species (When two of them meet, they rejoice!)
Scene prompt: rest, leisure, or play
Field notes: The weather is clear and warm. We come across one creature hanging upside down from a tree branch. We are quiet so as not to disturb it. A very rare sight: another member of this species comes up to join it. It wakes the other with a gentle nudge and a soft cry. They wake up and make happy chattering noises at each other. One creature plucks a fruit from the tree and they toss it back and forth. The first one to drop it has to pick it up and peel it for the other one to eat. It's a very heartwarming scene.
This creature is known as the Crying Corvisloth.
Since we have established a creature previously, we can also now determine their relationship.
Relationship to other creatures: The Crying Corvisloth is prey for the Jaglyder.
Third animal:
Taxonomy: Reptiles (a bunch of different species for reasons that will become apparent below)
Distinctive features: Bioluminescence (Glowing mushrooms on its spine/back)
Environmental behavior: distinc reproduction method (Reproduction occurs when one member of the species spreads its spores to another reptile carcass. The spores only work on cold-blooded creatures.)
Social grouping: This species lives in very small groups (A found family. One creature creates another one, who joins the group. Groups never reach more than 4-5.)
Scene prompt: biding one's time
Field notes: The weather has shifted to become stormy. A group of jaglyders has hunted and slain an alligator elephant combo ( the elegator). We don't even notice the creature biding its time at first, but it is waiting in the wings for the jaglyders to leave. Once they have eaten their fill, they turn and go back to their home. It is then that we see this creature come out of hiding. The only thing we notice is the multicolor glowing shrooms stalking through the dead of night. The creature comes up to the carcass and shakes its spores all over it. The elegator then rises, returning back to life. The two lumber off into the distance, perhaps to join the rest of the family unit.
This creature is known as the Fungadile.
Relationship to other creatures: The Fungadile requires the assistance of the Jaglyder to "reproduce." They coexist peacefully with the Crying Corvisloth.
Final scene:
To wrap up the game, we construct one final scene of all three creatures interacting in their biome.
Field notes: The weather is cold and snowing as the temperature has dropped drastically. The corvisloth is curled up safely at the top of the trees--out of the jaglyder's gliding range. The jaglyders prowl for prey on the forest floor, following footprints in the snow. Meanwhile, a smaller fungadile--perhaps formerly a chameleon-esque creature--picks bugs out of the slumbering corvisloth's fur with its long, prehensile, glowing tongue. The creatures are coexisting in harmony--at least until dawn.
Final thoughts:
While this game can be played as a solo TTRPG, I think it is probably best enjoyed in a duo or group setting, so you can bounce ideas off of each other. I had lots of fun playing with my partner and collaborating together! This would be a fun game to flesh out a fantasy world.
Also, if anyone wants to draw up the creatures we created (because we didn't have the time/energy), I'd love to see your art!
