The Copper Compendium @thecoppercompendium - Tumblr Blog

An overdue reintroduction

I've been here a while and, to be honest, my original pinned post is a touch outdated at this point. I've made a tonne of stuff since then, for a start.

So, hi! I'm Daniel (he/they) an indie TTRPG designer. I've made 7 original games to date, as well as several supplements for D&D 5e and some that are system agnostic.

I'm based in the UK, am interested in pretty much anything TTRPG-related (and adjacent areas, too), and love to hear about the awesome stuff people are designing! Seriously, there are so many talented people on this website.

I'm a member of UK TIN (UK Tabletop Industry Network), and cannot recommend having a bunch of people to talk to about TTRPG design with enough (if you're UK based, go join the TIN discord!). I'd love to discuss design and people's games here, too!

Right, on to my games! I'm only going to put my original games on this post (for the pretence of brevity), but I'll put links to my itch.io and DriveThruRPG above the cut if you want to check out everything I've made. For the rest, delve below the divide!

thecoppercompendium

I have a website now!

If you want to hear my thoughts in more detail (and permanence) than you get on tumblr, go have a look!

I posted the first blog post there yesterday, plus there are designer's notes for every game I've published, as well as a few in-progress!

Hi, I'm Daniel, the designer behind The Copper Compendium. Here I'll be designing tabletop games and TTRPGs to tell stories, bring people to

#introduction #reintroduction #tcc discussion #tcc creations #indie ttrpgs #ttrpg community #there's some games talked about over there that I've yet to introduce here #so if you like what I make #go check it out

gendercensus

The 2026 Gender Census is now open!

[ survey.gendercensus.com ]

The 13th annual international gender census, collecting information about the language we use to refer to ourselves and each other, is now open until 13th August 2026.

It’s short and easy, for most participants it takes 5 minutes or less.

After the survey is closed I’ll process the results and publish a spreadsheet of the data and a report summarising the main findings. Then anyone can use them for academic or business purposes, self-advocacy, tracking the popularity of language over time, and just feeling like we’re part of a huge and diverse community.

If you think you might have friends and followers who’d be interested, please do reblog this blog post, and share the survey URL by email or at AFK social groups or on other social networks. Every share is extremely helpful!

Survey URL: https://survey.gendercensus.com

The survey is open to anyone anywhere who speaks English and feels that the gender binary doesn’t fully describe their experience of themselves and their gender(s) or lack thereof.

Thank you so much!

[ Link to survey ]

#tcc reblogs #not ttrpgs

uktabletopindustrynetwork

UK TIN is delighted to announce that we will be tabling at Canterbury Gaming Convention on 15th-16th August 2026 at Kent University Tennis. It'll be packed with events, gaming sessions, special guests and indie RPG creators! Learn more here: https://canterburygamingconvention.co.uk/

#tcc reblogs

toothandshore

incredibly excited to announce my new project and share this preview! Kraldum, my solo fantasy mudlarking TTRPG, will be funding on Gamefound this autumn as part of RPG Party 2026. click through to read more and follow its development:

Go down to the shore below the city. Collect what you can. Survive what lurks there and beat the rising waters to make it home.

this game has been forming over the last 4 years in notebooks and spreadsheets and pub conversations, and the time has come to bring it into the world as a real book. lots more to come!

#tcc reblogs

crackerjackalopegames

DEWIN IS LIVE ON GAMEFOUND

A healing journey through a haunted country

My next game, Dewin, is live on Gamefound right now! A dark fantasy solo RPG inspired by Welsh ghostlore, Dewin sees you travelling around a haunted country, helping the ghosts that reside their to move on. It's built on the system I designed for my previous game, A Witch's Pilgrimage, which you can check out here:

A witch's familiar is like a second soul

#tcc reblogs

psychhound

don't mind me doing new baby photoshoots with my game...

have u checked out shadow / giant 2e yet? my new 2 player TTRPG in the wolf & cub trope a la the mandalorian, the last of us, logan, arcane, telltale's the walking dead, stranger things, and as one middle aged mom enthusiastically added, brother bear?

critics* are raving about it, if you consider critics to include local grandmothers and non-nerdy neighbors who ask "that's a videogame thing right?"

you can find digital copies on my itch page or get the physical 60-page full-color zine online (or in person at gencon!!) from plus one experience

you'll even get to see art by @prose-n-scripts ... plus it includes digital downloads like trifold character sheets, safety worksheets, a digital set up randomizer, a digital prompt card puller, and even an npc trait table bookmark (some of these downloads are even free on itch)

and if all that isn't enough: sales go directly to keeping my dog in supply of treats and so she doesn't level the block with her psychic powers**

*fr tho if you are a reviewer hmu and i'll gladly get a copy to you

**this is true, i am doing a public service

#tcc reblogs

mortalityplays

here's a secret: whatever you're doing, you have to root for your peers with all your heart because it forces you to root for yourself too. I've seen people in various spheres of my life (workplaces, education, art, activism) fall into the trap of envy and resentment when they see others succeed while they struggle, and it always always goes hand in hand with them pulling back and giving up and stagnating.

when you let yourself get sour grapes about shit, you tacitly give up on yourself. when you sit around hoping other people will flop and fail so you can catch up to them, you stop trying. it's a fantasy of mediocrity, the vain wish that other people would walk so you could take the gold medal at a jog. wouldn't you rather come last place at 27mph?

#tcc reblogs

bunjywunjy

occasionally I am struck dumb by the sublime beauty of the world in the small moments, you know?

egg

wraether

i drew it

monstrousregiment2-deactivated2

hey I hope you dont mind I also painted your egg

kiunlo

i also painted the egg hope that's ok

yellow-cat

i heard we were painting egg?

rhube

I love how this shows how real artists drawing a thing aren't just representing the thing, but showing you what THEY found beautiful in it.

geodethecrow

hope I'm not too late to paint egg! watercolors :)

pipsqueaks-human-errors

i too have drawn the egg

sketchyelvenasss

kamil-a

heres my egg

queen-susans-revenge

Love every single one of these eggs. No yeah of course it's still okay to write your vampire story or whatever, even if a thousand people have done it before you. Your art will still be uniquely yours and people will find something fresh in your perspective. Paint your egg.

avalynramsaygames

The same goes for game design! Just because someone has made a game like the one you want to, your own experiences and preferences will shape it into something unique!

#tcc reblogs

dericbindel

Deric 083 Bindel, Now On RPG Trader!

Hey there! This unit has been going through and has put all of its paid games up on to the new, upcoming ttrpg store, RPG Trader! You can find:

weakless universe: a worldbuilding game about making strange connections and esoteric lore

A Good Plan Never Falls: a gmless heist game centered around building up a tumbling tower, all while meeting secret agendas! Has 2 free expansions, offering new archetypes, new rules, and new stories!

NO MORE THAN CODE: a solo or duo journaling game about a computer program going rampant against it's creator's wishes!

The Core - A Setting Guide: a setting guide to the pulpy sci-fi Core, a place of mystery, retro tech, and adventure!

For Steel You Are: a solo journaling game about exploring a vast megastructure and falling in love with it.

Crypt Of The God-Gilded Chalice: a print and play card-based dungeon crawler, with quick fights and mounting treasure as you seek the Chalice!

Go On Make The People Happy: A postcard-sized game about turing into a kaiju and using violence to solve the world's problems!

Drop this unit a follow over here!

Hey there! This unit, Deric "083" Bindel (zey/zem/zeyr), is a tabletop game designer and artist, and an avid enjoyer of smaller indie tablet

#tcc reblogs

paper--machete

it bothers me that you often don't really hear about people having a "favorite album" the way they might have a favorite movie or favorite video game

paper--machete

fuck it. reblog this and tell me in the tags what your favorite album is

#it's kinda 50/50 between 2 #fever by against the current #and #learn the hard way by jordan davis #2 very very different albums #tcc reblogs #not ttrpgs

canonkiller

does anyone know of like a chat or forum or something where people organizing itch.io charity bundles do calls for submissions? I want to be able to put my stuff into more of them esp as I try to work on things more but I haven't been able to really find any centralized space where the call for submissions happens, I only hear of them after they're completed

#tcc reblogs

dericbindel

Itch.io Summer Sale 2026

Hey there! This unit is participating in Itch's Summer Sale, so all of it's games are discounted! Each game is 40% individually, or you can buy all 8 games together for $25 (a 60% discount)!

You can find the sale here!

A bundle by Deric Bindel, $25.00 for 8 games

#tcc reblogs

dungeonofthedragon

RPG Trader: free RPG day bundle

This thing is HUGE! 250 titles in the digital bundle...definitely worth checking out!

Over $1,000 worth of digital and print content from more than 250 creators all across the RPG Trader community.

Some Big Titles in this one, including:

Rosewood Abbey

Bump in the Dark

Spindlewheel

APOCALYPSE FRAME

WYRM

Inspirisles

And plenty of Mausritter, Mothership and D&D supplements!

#tcc reblogs

crackerjackalopegames

A Witch's Pilgrimage - Out Now!

My latest solo RPG, A Witch's PIlgrimage, is out now! You are a witch travelling through the world collecting ingredients for a ritual to bring your familiar back to life.

Roll dice on a sheet of paper to create a map, then travel through each point collecting ingredients (represented by playing cards). At the end of the game, you'll make a hand out of the cards you collect to determine the power of your spell and whether you get to see you familiar again.

The game is available on Itch.io now!

Sample pages under the cut:

#tcc reblogs

psychhound

shadow / giant 2e has a free randomized generator now :) run it online or download it as an html file to run offline

you can randomize:

genre & subgenre of your game

all the mechanical choices for the giant and shadow

the PC's communication barrier

the safe place the PCs are trying to get to and the threat trying to stop them from getting there

like so!

have fun & enjoy :) & please let me know if you spot any errors lol it's my first time using perchance

#tcc reblogs

prokopetz

I find the "rules are toys" framing of tabletop RPG design useful for several reasons:

The idea that system matters is reducible to recognising that toys have affordances; while there is of course no "wrong" way to play with a toy, no amount of open-mindedness will readily fit a bicycle through a basketball hoop.

It puts a line under one of the main objections to the "why not just freeform it?" thing; if folks are discussing how to make or modify a toy to achieve a particular set of affordances, blundering into the conversation going "why bother with toys when you can Use Your Imagination?" is unlikely to be well received!

Sometimes it's helpful to take a step back from a critique of a particular system and ask yourself: is this set of game mechanics really broken or incomplete, or have I mistaken a bicycle for a basketball?

#tcc reblogs

tpwrtrmnky

How to modify D&D 5E to play just about anything

Go to a game store

Navigate to the dungeons and dragons section

Turn your head approximately five degrees either to the left or to the right

The books on these shelves are also tabletop roleplaying games. Many of them already have exactly what you're not getting from D&D 5E

tpwrtrmnky

In online stores, simply uncheck the "Brand: Dungeons and Dragons" box instead of turning your head approximately five degrees

tpwrtrmnky

You may find that some of these games don't have rules for hitting things with swords.

This is because rules for hitting things with swords actually aren't mandatory if the game is about something else. The game system for your "courtly intrigue in space" campaign might actually have no need for melee combat at all.

#tcc reblogs

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