#tttrpg

[toastylicious]

WHERE DO I GET CHEAP DICE.... the only places i can find is places with obhorrent shipping and Amazon, and im NOT GETTING SHIT FROM AMAZON

[txttletale]

bundletober #3: blow up hamlet

today's bundletober is a game i've already read but wanted to reread and talk about because i think it's neat and also wanted to do something easier since yesterday's bundletober diverged midway through into a mini-essay on sex and romance in rpgs. idle cartulary's blow up hamlet is a profoundly silly game, and i say that as deepest praise.

blow up hamlet is played with playing cards (this is not that uncommon for a ttrpg) and the full text of william shakespeare's hamlet (this is quite uncommon for a ttrpg). i often talk about ttrpgs as an excercise in collaborative storytelling and the rules text as a co-author -- i don't think that's a comprehensive or universal definition, to be clear, but it's a lens that's useful to me in playing, designing, and reading rpgs. many people feel like the central activity in an rpg is playing, or acting, or embodying, rather than storytelling, and i get where they're coming from and respect those ways of playing. however. blow up hamlet is in the most literal sense a game about collaborative storytelling (you are telling the story of william shakespeare's hamlet) in which the rules text is in the most literal sense a co-author (the co-author is william shakespeare, whom you may know from his beloved play troils and cressida).

the core gameplay of blow up hamlet goes like this: you and your friends perform hamlet. you're given a hand of playing cards, which you may reveal (sometimes discarding them afterwards, sometimes not) in order to alter your line, changing anything from the tone of the scene to the direction of the plot to whether or not hamlet is a talking tyrannosaurus rex. it's very simple. but that simple conceit is presented stylishly, with several optional setup choices provided to tweak your table's personal performance of hamlet however you personally prefer.

ultimately i like blow up hamlet a whole lot, because it poses really interesting questions. questions like 'can a performance of hamlet be a roleplaying game? what if you change the lines? what if you change the plot? what's the difference between changing the lines and changing how they're delivered? are you roleplaying, or are you telling a story, or are you acting?' because you could, rules-as-written, all sit down and soberly play out hamlet beginning to end without making any changes, as per the rules of this game. at that point, would you still be playing blow up hamlet?

i like games that make you ask these questions and seriously think about them in the process of reading about and playing them. blow up hamlet isn't complex, but it pushes the boundaries of the format in a way that's still fun to engage with directly, and it does it with style.

blow up hamlet can be purchased as a digital download through itch.io

[ranarh]

New GeniusLoci article!

Shapeshifting is the most feared supernatural ability there is after the Splinter War tore the world apart, instigated by, you guessed it, shapeshifters. But times move on: https://jenniferslange.wordpress.com/2025/10/30/shapeshifting-genius-loci/

[thecaptainisdrawing]

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY HAVE ME GOING INSANE ABOUT MY DND OCS

[trashpremiium]

ttrpgs suck so bad. like here’s this incredible story about grief and the power of love of all kinds. it completely changed my brain chemistry and i’ll never be the same again. it only exists in the minds of 3 other people and some recordings with the shittiest audio quality known to man.

[worstsorcererever]

Drew a staff inspired by my Circle of Spores druid Malyev! It smells strongly of mushrooms and stagnant water, and is honestly kinda slimy to the touch.

I should try and homebrew some stats for it at some point, but if anyone wanna use the art in your own game feel free! Just tell me about it and your game/character ;P

[sharktoothslayer]

Luna - Goddess of the Wild Place

The patron of every creature that dwells in wild places, Luna is the oldest and most reclusive of the major deities.

Despite initially being revered by emerging civilizations, their unimpeded expansion laid waste to her sanctuaries, leading many small towns posing threats to their local ecosystem to disappear.

With her power beginning to wane, Luna has staked her essence into protecting what remains of the wild places

[epicisometric]

This is how I draw all of epic isometric, Its all in a traditional sketchbook with pencils. join the patreon and download like.. 5 years worth of content. 

We have built up a community of isometric map enthusiasts that are all super active. I release 4 sets of icons and maps per month.