📕 Wanna make a bookmark game?! DO IT! DO IT NOW! 🔖 monkeyslunch.itch.io...

In Bug & Claw's 44th #ttrpg #devlog, I dive into some of the Learning and research I've been doing the last year to help flesh out the world of Entomara, the mechanics of the game, and to become a better writer and designer. ⬇️⬇️ 1/2

Never try and make Friday plans with my autistic ass. Fridays are for rotting or fermenting, depending on how the week went, and gathering spoons.

🔎🧩 Codeword systems for TTRPGs • Obtain a codeword after an event or doing a task • Reach a point in the story where if you have a codeword it effects the danger or outcome Learn more ⬇️

In Bug & Claw's 35th #ttrpg #devlog, we look at some of the general items and equipment, as well as some of the rare ones. ⬇️ 🔨🪓 #ttrpgs #gamedev

An interesting mechanic, to me, is the ability to give and take choice. You've got enough loyalty points with the Citadel? You can choose your reward and next objective. Just a newb with zero points? We're rolling random tables and you get when you get, betch.

Have you seen light used in a TTRPG or board game before? I mean literal light, like from the sun, a flashlight, or maybe a candle? In this post I dive into one of my favourite mechanics: monkeyslunch.com/fav...

Grit represents a hero's resolve, fortitude, guts, moxie, courage– their fighting spirit that keeps them going. Once that's whittled away, however, is when that hero starts to have their literal flesh damaged. It may incur severe injuries and penalties. #ttrpgs 1/2

Join the Indy #ttrpgs community on Tumblr. Now over 2200 members strong! www.tumblr.com/commu...

Are you new to tabletop roleplaying games? Whether you're a player or creator, it can be helpful to understand the difference between various game types. This quick breakdown may help!

Titans are arthropods that, on the outside, resemble their original ancestors, except they are much bigger. Much, much bigger. Titans - Bug & Claw devlog 46. bugandclaw.com/titan...

As usual, going back to Bethesda for my downtime gaming and Holy heck the Gate to Sovngarde mod list is excellent. Loving Skyrim again

When a stat or skill is needed: • If the simulation requires it • If it thematically makes sense • If there is a difference that could and should be defined These were lessons I absorbed and re-absorbed when designing the first pass on Bug & Claw's character sheets. 1/2

It's essential to understand that no single game system or mechanic is inherently superior to others. Each has its strengths and weaknesses, and the choice depends heavily on the type of game experience you want to create and the target audience. 1/2

Geez, this person's pixel art is so damned good

Most RPG equipment tables are combinations a designer got bored of enumerating before finishing. Modular tags admit the truth: a sword is just a sword until you staple properties to it. Define the properties. Let the table write itself. One of my favourite mechanics:

The Breach is one of the oldest guilds, its members devoting themselves to preventing the breaking or rupturing between bug-kin land and the infected lands and wastes. 1/2

Happy Father's Day. Today, you are all my daddy.

My wife and I played Codenames Duet for the first time again in ages last night and holy hell this explains so much

Exploring world legacy mechanics in Bug & Claw #devlog 50.

#Saltmarsh and the surrounding areas are ripe for extended exploration, adventure, and storytelling. Why stop at the Ghosts of Saltmarsh when you can spin up new adventures filled with peril, mystery, and treasure? 1/2

Me: I'd really like to try Wingspan Next time I open Steam: Neat, it's showing me a Wingspan DLC. Also me: It says... I have the base game already? WTF Story of every Steam gamer's life

Bug & Claw devlog 45 is all about wisps– chaotic creatures descended from moths and butterflies. bugandclaw.com/wisps...

What do you do when the party has trouble committing? Sometimes you have to "bump" them back into focus. 1/2

We are truly becoming dumber as a species

In The Wilds, games are played by traveling along a path of cards. 1/2

Wonderful spot illustrations by Hodag, featured in Bug & Claw devlog #34 You know you want to see them all!

My new Pokemon starter type is Pride

EAT THEM

Lethality vs balance, grid vs row vs narrative, number crunching vs flow of play? Exploring battle abstractions - Bug & Claw devlog 42

Are you running a Curse of #Strahd or other game set in Barovia? Have some curious players or looking for new ways of keeping things interesting yourself? 1/2

Started carvin a lil piggie

What do you do when players need to miss a session? How do you explain that while they're gone or once they return? Now, you can do so with some interest, explanation, plot hook, and flair! Snag "Meaningful missing sessions" via DM's Guild: www.dmsguild.com/en/... Or Itch: monkeyslunch.itch.io...

tornado warning eating my migraitic brain meats

Did you know arthropods shed their exoskeletons as they grow? It's a process called ecdysis, but most of us just call it moulting. It's also how characters level up, pass time, evolve, or mutate in #ttrpg Bug & Claw! 1/2

Feels so good to be working on Bug & Claw again. #ttrpgs (I had to take a break while jobless to job hunt and seek freelance work.) Art by Hodag.

For years the populace of Patient Watch avoids Stagbay proper because of a giant shrew living nearby, biding their time until they can take it and its kin down for good-- which is where their namesake comes from. 1/2

Most RPG equipment tables are combinations a designer got bored of enumerating before finishing. Modular tags admit the truth: a sword is just a sword until you staple properties to it. Define the properties. Let the table write itself. One of my favourite mechanics:

Hi #PortfolioDay! I'm a french illustrator specializing in landscapes and sceneries. I'm available for freelance work. ✉️ [email protected] 🔗 arthur.baron-clement.com/en/

Let's see your blue art 💙🩵

Very hard to get up to mow the lawn when this is happening

Silkhold is one of Bug & Claw's first main towns in the fiction and #ttrpg campaign. • Pink hue of silkworm silk • A glow worm's mansion lit up brightly • Potholes and dilapidated streets • An emerald-topped commemorative obelisk • A shadowy naval base 1/2

📕 Wanna make a bookmark game?! DO IT! DO IT NOW! 🔖 monkeyslunch.itch.io...

Some of the aimed playable areas at launch for Bug & Claw. These are the Provinces of Western Entomara. They may seem familiar, yet different. Places like: Two-Vash Arthos Bombilly Ganzai New Kinship Shrouded Steppes The Kamerakais Or the dangerous: The Bivarak The Barrens 1/2

🌈💙💜💛 COLOUR 💚🧡🩵🤎🌈 Have you seen colour used effectively as a game mechanic? Used it yourself? How? I talk more about it and games that have employed it, here:

Bug & Claw is being built to be solo-first. Oracles and generators are part of the tools used to make that happen. But what makes a good oracle? What goals guide a generator? 1/2

I’ve done so many things that people told me I couldn’t do, but the thing is that I let those few naysayers get to me enough that I dragged my feet starting out and faced years of doubt and now regret. I don’t want that to happen to other folks. I want to enable you. 1/2

In Bug & Claw's 33rd devlog, I explore: 🫱🏼‍🫲🏽 Exploring character bonds 🎲 Lowering RNG to increase player agency 🪳 And little symbiotic mites ⬇️

When creating Grim Accoutrements I had a lot of fun with the artwork in particular. I was having drawing tablet issues and did most of the art with just my trackpad. Honestly, it helped loosen me up! 1/2

This hotel reminds me of the one in Novac. So far, in an endearing way, but that could change pretty quickly.