cassilda @InvestigativeSpend@dice.camp
I write, I plot, I make things, I roll dice, I watch the shadows lengthen in Carcosa.
she/her
“The New Age they [faeries] didn’t mind because that didn’t actually have any magic, but once we got the secret of the dank meme that only the fairies had had, now we’re trouble.” I’m enjoying this KARTAS segment.
“Except for Tilda Swinton, no fairy can be captured on film. And she has a dispensation from to Titania I believe.” - Ken Hite reminding you that rare book stealing fae would be an excellent #rpghook
12. How do you get your work out there?
Well, I used to be part of a group blog that's mostly died [partly time and age, partly one of the owners cheating on his partner who happened to be the other owner... eesh right?] and then I kind of have/had my own. But mostly through the publishers I'm lucky enough to write for. Primarily Pelgrane Press.
10. Favorite game to relax with?
Sorry, I'm stalling out on this because I really really don't know. Something someone else is running? ;)
That's it for catchup today! Should be caught up tomorrow?
9. Describe your process
Oh jeez I kinda just did above. Make words happen somehow.
But for scenarios, I try to think of what I want the horror to be, what I want players to maybe learn about (e.g. infrastructure work in the 1910s), what are fun and vivid ideas for things that could happen in combat or frights, etc.
Otherwise I try to organize what I want to get done and work toward it.
8. Describe your routine
Oh this one's pretty easy! Come home, (walk dog if husband living elsewhere), work out, eat dinner. Make tea at 7pm, begin writing. Make words happen in some way. End at 8/8:30/9 depending on how words feel.
Making words happen could be writing, it could be editing, it could be saying "this is what this scene needs to accomplish" or "this is the feeling I want to convey" if Ican't get actual words written
7. My workspace!
Since what I do is writing, it's traditionally been one of my writing spots. Right now that's a desk just off the living room of my home. It's a kind of side-room/side-hallway where we keep bookcases but it's quite wide so it fits a desk too. Lets me be in proximity to husband (when around) and dog but a little apart. My RPG bookshelf is directly behind it for easy access.
(playing catchup!)
#AprilTTRPGMaker
@InvestigativeSpend Maybe you could have a de-escalation die in a 13th Age derived horror game.
The die is a penalty, and each scene/interaction the penalty gets worse. So things get harder and harder for the PCs.
Maybe it resets to zero whenever a PC dies.
6. Favorite game mechanic?
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh so many options here!!!
I think, though, that I'll bring up a simple one which works so well... the 13th Age Escalation die. Can be borrowed for lots of games (though it doesn't fit every genre, e.g. horror). In 13th Age, it's really well-blended with mechanics which ramp up the fight but even just adding it to rolls can make a difference!
(ok, that's today's catchup!)
5. Favorite game you've worked on?
Oh wow I was going to have a moment of being overwhelmed by potentials but then I realized -- it's GUMSHOE One-2-One hands down. Partly because I've done more on that than on other games. Partly because I really really love what it asks of me. One player, one GM, different ways of approaching the investigative game, and hoping I can pull things together in a way that lets a person have their own hyper-focused adventure.
4. Describe your work:
It's primarily scenario design and setting material. I love coming up with problems and puzzles to solve, weird characters for folks to meet, and evocative settings. I want to leave folks feeling like there are unknowns, edges, fractures to their reality which they hadn't realized before.
I also do other kinds of fun or silly or practical RPG writing.
(still playing catchup!)
One thing I'm super looking forward to is the newer edition of the Pelgrane Black Book. It's a way to build characters online. I'm still using the old one to build characters for my current set of players... but I can only assume the new one will be shinier. (The current one has a few known bugs but for managing character creation it's :100:)
Also hey hi, #introductions again I guess. My name's Ruth, I #write #RPG scenarios & additional material, I tend to prefer Investigative (#mystery) type games (primarily GUMSHOE but I do run other things sometimes). I GM about as much as I play any more (womp, but I do enjoy GMing). I'm just getting a group together, which I'm hype about!
I'm into #weird and #horror gaming primarily, though I enjoy sci-fi/adventure/old-fashioned D&D sometimes. Been here a while but lurking.
3. How did you start creating TTRPGs?
Ok, hm, well... I guess what happened was I really really really wanted more of my friends to play Trail of Cthulhu. So I adapted an Eternal Lies scenario to a con one-shot. That went great so the next year I volunteered to run (or Pelgrane asked me?). Me, "oh I'll write my own" (because I have to do SO much to pre-written scenarios to enjoy running them).
Famous last words, now I write scenarios, etc.
(ok, more catchup later!)
2. Where ya at?
PENNSYLVANIA, THANK GOODNESS.
This relates to a lot of my gaming stuff and my horror stuff. I am profoundly affected by trees, forests, mountains... It shapes my favorite scenarios and I am just so glad to be back here. Having lived in DC and Indiana, I like DC but I really really can't with Indiana's flatness and I've learned how much terrain means to me.
(I'm just playing catchup right now!)
1. Who are you?
Hi, I'm Ruth... I'm a librarian, quilter, crafter, and sometimes RPG maker person! It's my favorite form of writing. My second favorite is blog posts. My third favorite is journal articles/academic writing, which takes up a lot of my life right now
Ok, I'm going to do the #AprilTTRPGMaker finally!!!!!! https://dice.camp/media/0kZnbZZFnj4BOn8n7fk
Sorry I haven't been around in literally forever... I'm technically over on wandering.shop and so I've been on mastodon but not here. However!!! I'm also finally getting together a gaming group and I'm just super hype about it. Plus helping edit some gaming materials (not line edits, organizational edits) and gosh it's good to be doing that even though my life is also phew...super busy1!!
So some of the questions I’m asking myself include what systems to do it for. I mean I know where my own preferences lie, but perhaps it’s good d20 setting material as well. Or is it an Apocalypse World thing? AW or DW really.
Also, I would love to see short story editor put together a collection of stories by people who are not me.