Flesh and Steel

Contributor and fan of the SCP wiki. Also an enjoyer of Deltarune, BTIW, Cultist Sim, and Disco Elysium (they/them)

[imsobadatnicknames2]

One of my longest-standing "maybe someday" projects has always been trying to make an as-faithful-as-possible recreation of the titular ttrpg from one of my favorite modern creepypastas, Escape from Terminus.

I haven't really given it much thought beyond the "I wanna do this someday" level until recently, but I kinda have some ideas about it.

The end result would be more of an art-project than an actual thing you'd probably want to olay, it should be playable but it's explicitly meant to be an extremely archaic ttrpg from 1965 and The text explicitly mentions that Rolemaster was a "simpler" game to play by comparison (although this might be a tongue-in-cheek remark from our point-of-view character and not completely literal) so it should be overcomplicated, overengineered, and extremely cumbersome to actually play.

It should also eschew not only modern design sensibilities, but also a lot of *traditional* design sensibilities. Since it's supposed to be a game that predates the original edition of D&D by almost a decade, any concepts invented by D&D should be either entirely absent (preferrable), or visibly independently invented from first principles.

It should be almost entirely table-driven, with most actions resolved by rolling on a table, and probably with most tables directing you to a different table. The text explicitly mentions "hundreds" of tables modified by bonuses from everything from surrounding rooms to recent player actions, so that's going to be fun to figure out.

The creepypasta mentions that the game uses a 6d7 roll plus a coin flip to generate results with an "inverted bell curve" probability distribution. My first idea for this was something like rolling a 6d7 and flipping a coin, on heads keep the highest result, on tails keep the lowest result, but I realized this was probably going to be hard to work with, because it would result in the roll *very rarely* showing anything other than 1 or 7, and a probability space of 1-7 is kind of limiting for a table-driven game. So my idea rn is doing the same but instead keeping the 3 highest or 3 lowest dice depending ok the coin flip, with maybe some special effects for special results such as matching numbers (1 1 1, 2 2 2, etc.) and consecutive numbers (e.g. 1 2 3)

The thing that I think is going to be hardest to pull off is the spawning of the "exit hex", the story explicitly mentions that there are strategies for maximizing the chance of generating it, but that the reason no one has been able to do it is because any attempt to optimize for it also increases the chance of intervention from a sabotaging presence that the game's play culture has collectively personified (and probably unintentionally brought into existence by themselves through decades of houserules) as "the minotaur".

This necesitates that 1) the chance of spawning the exit hex is influenced by a complex web of factors affected by player actions, and 2) that the same web of factors also influences the "minotaur"'s activity.

Idk just putting some ideas down, probably a project that would take me a few years if I actually decided to commit to it, but I'm at least trying to outline the shape of what I'm aiming for.

[imsobadatnicknames2]

Tables should probably have overly technical names such as "Ceiling integrity index", "Internal obstruction matrix", "Door hinge noise severity" or "Footwear degradation speed"

[imsobadatnicknames2]

Actually if anyone's got ideas for table titles that would be fun. The higher grade of implied needless granularity the better. Shit like "vermin migration table" or "light source reliability" or "writing instrument failure" or "mold growth severity" or "water contamination index"

[thisisnalkan]

Alright, let me take a shot of this because I fuckin love Escape from Terminus, one of my favorite scp tales(along with the tale 1914 and The Foundation eats Babies) so me and my friend shot off some ideas for table titles.

Brick Wall Erosion Level(not to be confused with other type of wall erosions, would probably effect how legible a note written on it is)

Cave Material Type(limestone has different properties than Granite!)

Wild Animal Intrusion Probability(Probability of an animal from outside the Labyrinth, being inside the Labyrinth)

Cistern Water Clarity (How clear the Cistern water is, directly effects or is effected by, water contamination index)

Corpse Decay Stage (self explanatory)

Surprise Defecation Index (if you shit yourself in fear or through stomach problems)

Malaria Progression Stage (Malaria is a real killer if you end up with it)

Cruelty Level(Self Explanatory)

Panic Attack Chance(chance to have panic attack, cause shit scary)

Iron Breastplate Rust Progression(How rust progression effects an iron breastplate)

Scream Volume as Affected by Distance SVAD (how the volume of a scream is effected by the distance from said scream)

[prokopetz]

Look, I'm a big fan of genre emulation as a design goal in tabletop RPGs, and that's definitely an area where a lot of popular games could stand for some rigorous criticism, but we're not going to get anywhere if we keep pretending that the entire canon of Western fantasy fiction is functionally identical to The Lord of the Rings. If I see an analysis of Dungeons & Dragons through the lens of genre emulation that doesn't even mention fucking Conan the Barbarian – much less any more recent sword and sorcery media – I'm going to assume there's nothing of value here, and I've never been wrong yet.

[prokopetz]

If you're familiar with the history of tabletop roleplaying games, you've probably heard the story about how the proto-RPG that would become Dungeons & Dragons originally just had fighters and wizards as hero units, and how the third class, the cleric, was introduced specifically to provide a game-mechanical hard counter to another player's vampire fighter in a long-running PvP game.

So here's a fun hypothetical: what might D&D's third character class have looked like if that rival player's fighter had been a different sort of goofy 1970s horror movie critter? What does the hard counter to a wolfman or a Frankenstein's Monster or what-have-you look like when generalised into a character class?

[prokopetz]

("Isn't that just a" nope – you don't get to reach into the future and back-port a fully formed character class that hasn't been invented yet. Start from first principles!)

[frustrationinexcelsis]

OK, let's place ourselves. Proto-D&D grew within the Chainmail miniatures game in the 70s, developing eventually into OD&D by '74. So we want our media environment to be early 70s, late 60s. Let's pick a wolfman/werewolf as our hypothetical enemy player character; what's the state of werewolf stories at this point? The big ones are Werewolf of London from way back in '35 and The Wolf Man in '41. An American Werewolf in London won't be out for a few years yet; by 1981 we're well into AD&D 1st edition, by which time the basic core of Fighting-Man, Magic-User, Cleric, and Thief has already become established. So let's take WoL and TWM as our foundation -- what does "a werewolf" look like in popular conception at this time?

Werewolf of London introduced many of the modern common aspects of "a werewolf". They're anthropomorphic wolfmen, and the condition is treated as a form of disease or a physical condition ("werewolfism" or "lycanthrophobia"); the main character catches it in Tibet from a, like, evil Tibetan guy. It is transmitted through bites, and the transformation is induced involuntarily during the four nights around the full moon and can be induced at least partially by simulated moonlight. The transformation be suppressed or undone using the sap of a very rare exotic plant that grows under moonlight, and the werewolf character attempts to use it to self-medicate. When transformed, werewolves are savage beasts compelled to destroy the things they love and only turn back once they kill something, but retain enough intelligence, for instance, to use clothing to disguise themselves. The werewolf is physically fearsome but does not need special implements to kill beyond physical force or a gun; the transformation reverts on death. The impression generally is of "werewolfism" as a very physical, almost scientific thing.

The Wolf Man pivots back to a more mystical take on things. Werewolves again transmit their condition through bites, transform involuntarily, do not control themselves when transformed, and retain no memory of their rampages. The plant element is absent here, and silver is treated as the only thing that can harm a werewolf; this seems to derive from some German legends on the topic. Werewolves also have seemingly designated victims in their hunts, and know them because they can see pentacles on their hands when in their human forms. Magic can be used to temporarily revert a werewolf to human form, and the transformation again reverts on death. There's again an association with "superstitious" "backward" lands, with the idea here being of werewolf legends having a long history in rural Wales and being associated with Romani people also (no, that's not the term the movie uses). This movie is much more successful than its predecessor and is what largely makes the werewolf into a stock horror monster.

We can see the influence of this in the following years, beginning early. "The Werewolf Howls", published in Weird Tales #36-02 (making it November-December 1941, almost contemporary with The Wolf Man) we see much of the same ideas -- werewolves are associated with superstitious foreign lands (this time rural France), have a humanoid appearance, and are harmed by silver. The transformation is involuntary, traumatic, and occurs with the rising of the full moon. Later entries into werewolf movies, besides various Universal crossover gigs, include The Mad Monster (1942, the werewolf is turned into a berserk wolfman by a special serum made by a scientist furious about being ridiculed, does not control himself, dies in a burning house) and The Undying Monster (also 1942, werewolfism is a product of a hereditary curse, werewolf is killed with regular bullets).

So broadly speaking we can say this about what "werewolves" and "wolfmen" are like by the time a bunch of fantasy nerds are sitting down to play customized wargames in the 70s:

Werewolves can range from purely magical (family curses, hexes) to purely scientific (diseases, simulated moonlight, serums).

Werewolfism is highly physical, and dealt with using physical things (special plants, silver, fire, good old-fashioned violence) more often than with magical means. Werewolves are also physical dangers. They won't enthrall you like a vampire or make evil magic like a witch, they'll mainly tear you to pieces. The exception is that-

Werwolfism is infectious. Get bit by one, you're a werewolf too.

Werewolfism is transformative -- its defining feature is turning from one thing to another.

Werewolves are tough and scary -- if you don't have the right stuff to take one down they'll just keep coming.

Werewolfism is not voluntary -- you can't control if or how you transform and often can't control what you do when transformed.

So then, what does our hypothetical werewolf PC look like -- that is, how do these things filter through the intent of creating an overpowered player avatar? I think that we can at least downplay the involuntary elements -- that simply does not seem like something you would want to include if you're creating a deliberately overpowered PC. I will assume that the transformation element remains. Let's say then that this hypothetical character is a berserker sort of figure, remaining human most times and turning into a berserk whirlwind of claws and teeth during battle; essentially he gets to benefit from being an overpowered monster slash combat encounter during battle and from being a regular human character in other contexts.

And then, what does our hypothetical PC-countering-PC look like? The weaknesses of the werewolf are generally understood as being materials or sometimes rites, and often serve to control or reverse their condition; this plant or that spell reverts their form, that metal cuts through their toughness. Werewolf-fighting heroes tend to be posses of gun-wielding characters, but they're usually outmatched by the wolf -- you need to know their weaknesses to really get them. So perhaps our character-meant-to-counter-another-specific-character is built to deny the werewolf munchkin his ability to turn into or stay a wolf, and perhaps also to use silver knives/arrows/whatever to harm it directly if that fails.

So generalizing that into a standard class, I propose that this potential third player type to be the Herbalist, a class that emphasizes the use of special plants, reagents, substances, and potions, supplemented perhaps with some magical words and gestures, to provide benefits to allies and to hurt or depower enemies -- what we'd call a buffing/debuffing class today, maybe, but also picking up the "sometimes healer" shtick of real-life cleric classes and being able to do precise but situational harm to enemies. In later editions, this maybe gets generalized into an Alchemist class to be a general potions/poisons/acid bombs type of figure.

[thisisnalkan]

The SCP Foundation's 'top-secret' archives, declassified for your enjoyment.

“Pope Francis, Head of the Catholic Church, O5-1 of the SCP Foundation, has died.”

[thisisnalkan]

MAP OF THE KOSMOS

This is the map for Kosmos, which is a Disco Elysium inspired visual novel I have been working on with my friend. This is the full map of the known kosmos and all of it's major Isoletes. Each one is surrounded by PURE DARKNESS, a dangerous semi liquid substances that oscillates around each isolete, only kept at bay by each of their suns, the only thing bright enough to banish the darkness and bring reality as humanity knows it into existence.

Politically, Kosmos is within PAX OLIPHANTA, with Occipandal becoming a hermit kingdom after losing it's cold war with the United Commonwealth of Oliphanta. The Allanyan Union, as supranational economic and political organization between the Allanyan states, sit as a secondary power in the world, further helping United Commonwealth's stranglehold on international trade. All is right within the Commonwealth's domain.

[deadman-w4lk1ng]

Happy Hades 2 day

[deadman-w4lk1ng]

And with light of the morning sun- all shadow burns away.

[thisisnalkan]

I have reached a critical mass of Disco Elysium brainrot to the point where I cannot interact with normal Elysium fans. 90% of them don't know what a magpie is 😭

How is my ass supposed to discuss the idea that the Innocence are time parasites leaching ideas from the future and accelerating the pales growth! All the insane bullshit from Disco Elysium you should probably take much more literally than you have, cause it's insane how much of the bullshit isn't actually bullshit and Harry was just actually seeing the future with like 90% of his stuff

[thisisnalkan]

I see people writing Disco Elysium fanfic about Harry being an innocence, and they all seem to have this bizarre opinion that he wouldn't be able to talk communism because the moral international doesn't like that. Dawg, if Harrier Dubois was an Innocence the moral international would literally go "yes Comrade Innocence, let us enact the revolution upon the world" If he was an actual Innocence and not just a magpie(Harry Dubois is a magpie btw not an Innocence), the Moral International itself couldn't do anything to stop him. He'd be a material truth and would be privy to the future of the world FAR greater than what we see Harry do in game. Like imagine if instead of seeing just snippets of events, he was able to accurately predict and ascertain full future events repeatedly(this is how Dolores Dei found the other Isolas btw, she saw the future and was able to go from there). The Moral Intern will also canonically, let Innocence Ambrosius(the Seventh Innocence) end the world solely because He. Is. An. Innocence. Like, I don't think people understand just how how powerful an Innocence actually is, and just how much their cult of personality is pervasive in the Occident. Harry would literally be able to impose his history over the world as long as he's not limp wristed about it like Sola.

[goosec0id]

“God's a house. Which is not to say that our house is God's house or even a house of God. What I mean to say is that our house is God.”

[eldritchbauble]

How many eggs, cooked any style, could you eat at once in a single sitting before it was gross and you had to stop?

None / egg hater

A single egg

2-4 eggs

5-9 eggs

10-12 eggs (a dozen)!

More than 12, less than 20

MORE THAN 20 EGGS (WTF)?

Voting ended onJun 25, 2025

Asking because I overheard a physical therapist say that she uses this question to see if she wants a second date with a guy, and if he says more than like 4 eggs at once it's a red flag.

[eldritchbauble]

I'm gonna say I max at 6 (red flag).

[eldritchbauble]

[changelingfangs]

It would really depend on how hungry I am but I don't think i could eat more than 4 eggs in a sitting.

[a-silly-poll-side-blog-yay]

You just got isekai’d into your most recent hyperfixation, how are you doing?

good

bad

great

awful

results

Voting ended onJun 21, 2025

[thisisnalkan]

DAWG I'M FUCKED! THEY SENDING MY ASS INTO THE HOUSE OF LEAVES

[wormtoxin]

ok. Narrative obfuscation in House Of Leaves. It’s a relatively simple story about a man who moves into a house with his wife and kids, and the house is haunted. That’s it. The core themes are very transparent.

Except, that story is documented by a famous war documentarian, then published as a series of rare tapes, which are discoursed by film buffs, then interpreted from viewings and reading film critique by a blind old man, then his thoughts are transcribed into a manuscript by a series of young women, which is then compiled from scattered notes by the most mysoginistic, damaged, toxic pothead drop-out who won’t stop talking about his life, which is THEN edited and published by some vaguely nefarious agency who soberly refuse to provide any clarification or context.

It’s not simple, but there are so many different hands on the wheel with wildly differing opinions that you can’t discern the truth.

Johnny Truant is such a miserable hopeless fuck up. He has no sense of academic rigor or archival professionalism. Any interference he provides only muddies the waters and taints what would otherwise be a gripping piece of metaphysical film criticism. His neurotic rambling and personal anecdotes cloud an otherwise reasonable story.

If he wasn’t in it, if we could read Zampano’s manuscript directly, WE would be able to understand the truth. We would get it completely, and we wouldn’t have to encounter so much violence, so much miserable graphic detail. It would be a better story.

And fuck it, if we didn’t have to read all of Zampano’s tangents and analyses and interpretations, if we could just find a copy of the famous “five-and-a-half minute hallway” vhs, if we could SEE it, we’d understand. We wouldn’t need endless pontification of what Navidson and Karen’s marriage might entail, or recitations of what a director once said in a Rolling Stones article. We’d see the hallway itself, stretching out into what should be the backyard, and we’d get it. Hell, Zampano is blind in his old age. He can’t even watch the damn movie! But we could. We’d know instantly, the second we saw it. The impossibility of it, the gravity of it, the weight of that dark abyss.

And well, the VHS recording is a little dark, and the quality is poor, and maybe the white balance isn’t so perfect. And actually, VHs tapes could be manipulated. We can’t be sure that Navidson isn’t just using clever videography tricks to invent a hallway. If we were there, if we found the house (it’s in virginia, isn’t it? we even have the address). If we GO there, we could look down that hallway. And it’s dark, so if we just brought a flashlight, maybe took a few steps inside-

[thisisnalkan]

I met God and she's a giant fucking house I'm sorry you had to find out this way

[thisisnalkan]

I'm hyper autistic about my friends TTRPG setting and made this meme but I realized this means fucking nothing to anyone but I think some of the tumblr people would get a kick out of this despite not knowing what any of this means

[thisisnalkan]

I may have done a sin

[thisisnalkan]

The Moth: "That was a really awesome pole dance you just did, really cool how you took off all your clothes. Okay now cut your hair and put it under your pillow, trust me, it'll be really fucking awesome"