Sinful Games

New blog post! In my monthly Far Lands development update, I talk about learning how to rest and the way I think about the energy I have available.

#gamedesign #ttrpgs #indierpgs

sinful.games/far-lands-up...

Vermis 3: old curses and buried horrors

Finished reading Vermis III and I cannot recommend it enough as a TTRPG resource. It has spooky art, creatures, & lore just like the first two, but it also has 3-4 incredible dungeons complete with maps and encounters and two awesome cursed cities you could drop into any dark fantasy game. #ttrpg

Engaging with the Mechanics 2: White space and Green space The secret to making white space work is planting seeds. Prompting players so that by the time they're asked a question, they already have ideas for the answer.

New blog post! I talk about white space in game design. What it's for, the challenges it presents, and how to turn it into fertile "green space" for ideas to flourish

sinful.games/engaging-wit...

#gamedev #ttrpgs #gamedesign #indierpg

A zine named "You found a goblin trinket peddler." The back cover says "a zine for your ttrpg! What weird little goblin trinkets will you get? Pls don't harm the goblin" Written, designed, and printed by Bee Ho. www.weird.works

Got to use this delightful zine by @weirdworks.bsky.social in a game the other day and my players instantly fell in love with Pibb the goblin trader. Really fun lighthearted moment in an otherwise very spooky session.

#ttrpgs #indierpg

The Moon tarot card, depicting a person transforming into a werewolf beneath a bloodred moon, reflected in a broken mirror.

In His Magesty the Worm today, my players fought some werewolves making a sacrifice to a horrible beast, and on the last round of combat I drew this card (The Moon.) With a draw like that I couldn't *not* infect a player with lycanthropy! #ttrpgs

A pair of hand-drawn dungeon maps, one showing a dense underground city

Getting very excited to run His Magesty the Worm. Got a couple of dungeon levels planned out, which is probably way more than I need for session 0-1 but man does the book provide a lot of really good examples!

#ttrpgs

Building a dungeon for His Majesty the Worm and I love the checklist they provide: give the players a reason to: explore, experiment, fight, flee, return, be surprised, and breathe easy. It really helps make a dungeon feel multifaceted and provide narrative ups and downs!

#ttrpg #indierpg

In the last month I've done five months of work on Far Lands, and it wasn't just that my timeline was too cautious (though it was!) I talk about how I did it in my newest blog post:
sinful.games/far-lands-up...
#indierpg #ttrpg #gamedev #indie

Working on my next blog post and hit on a really nice metaphor for what I was trying to describe.
What might look like an empty field actually has seeds of ideas planted under the surface. It might be the same seeds every time, but they grow differently every game.

#indierpgs #gamedev #ttrpgs

Forgot the hashtags. If you worldbuilding and map-making games, Check out Ex Novo, by @sharkbombs.bsky.social and @konstantinosd.bsky.social
#indierpgs #ttrpg

A map drawn on a piece of paper with various cubes and meeples on it, surrounded by index cards with historical events, city districts, and factions detailed on them

Played Ex Novo by @sharkbombs.bsky.social! What an awesome city-building game. The excellent random tables and the mechanic for tracking the sources of influence for factions in the city over time made it a joy to play. Didn't finish the full game, but I love the weird pigment-based society we made

sinful.games/engaging-wit...
I made a blog post about cognitive load and memory in TTRPG design. Check it out and let me know your thoughts on how to make mechanics easier to remember!
#indierpg #ttrpg #gamedev

Two bookmarks with TTRPG tools on them: the Pre-Fight Checklist and the Battle Line

Got physical copies of my RPG bookmarks! Download em for free on my itch store: sinfulgames.itch.io
#indierpg #ttrpg

It also gets wonky when "success with a cost" and "fail forward" can converge to the same thing, which makes the resolution basically binary again.

A spread of random tables laid out by rank and suit for a deck of cards, and character sheets, including the truth-seeker, vanguard, tracker, traveler, scout, seer, mentor, pilgrim, healer, lore-keeper, crafter, evoker, artist, and cook.

First full print-out of the new-and-improved quick reference sheets and player materials! Can't wait to see how these feel in a playtest!
#indierpg #ttrpg #gamedev

*all* the time. Cognitive load is such a huge limiting factor in RPG design and it's something I've been thinking about a lot recently. It's so hard to tell if a mechanic will make it easier or harder to run a game!

I designed mine in Google docs and now doing layout I really wish I'd done it this way from the start. Next time, that's the way to do it!

Far Lands Layout: Timeline, sample pages, & Lessons Learned As we're going into the new year, I've been thinking about resolutions. After a while of putting it off to work on other parts, over the last month, I've built up a good amount of momentum on layout f...

I made a blog post breaking down my planned timeline for laying out Far Lands, some sample pages, and some lessons learned in the process. Check it out!
sinful.games/far-lands-la...

#indierpg #ttrpg #indiegame #gamedev

I do this all the time with "may" and "may choose to." I have to keep reminding myself that players can always choose to ignore the rules- in fact, I can't *make* them do anything! The game is so much stronger if I don't feel the need to make every step optional.

Finally getting my website polished up. I now have a bio page and a games list. Now I just need to actually write my inaugural blog post and figure out colors / theme for the site (the hardest part!)
Oh and maybe a contact form... Though I know how those get spammed.

Ooh now that's a fun character sheet!

Looks like I failed to format the link somehow, but it still works!

The cover art for Far Lands Three explorers look out over a vast landscape. In the distance, a colossal tree grows from the peak of a mountain. The title "Far Lands" emerges from the clouds that gather around the top of the tree.

I built a mailing list for Far Lands!

Far lands is a collaborative GMless game of worldbuilding, exploration, cartography, and growing closer to one another on the trail.

Expect monthly updates as I make progress on the layout!

[Sign up for updates](eepurl.com/jvBlFc)

#indierpg #ttrpg #gamedev

Ooh this has some folks I didn't follow yet! Thanks for sharing!

Reading through His Magesty the Worm by @riseupcomus.bsky.social and just realized I can build a mega dungeon where each level is themed after a different one of my tarot decks. This is going to be so, so fun. Finally a use for my collection!
#indierpg #ttrpg

I love the way you use colors! The job search sucks now more than ever, so best of luck, and take care of yourself.

For the Queen by @helloalexroberts.bsky.social has the best prompts I've seen in a game, and it explicitly enforces taking initiative and when to speak up by just taking turns.

What other games have good systems to help players with these steps?
#indierpg #ttrpga

Thinking about how to get nervous #ttrpg players more comfortable using the author voice:
- remember it's an option (cognitive load)
- take initiative (mechanical rewards)
- know when to speak up (spotlight)
- what to say (prompts)
- fear of judgement (encouragement)
- buy-in (ownership)

Starting to do layout really makes me reckon with just how much text I wrote and weigh the necessity of every word and every paragraph. This is going to get so much more streamlined when I have to fit it all into a physical book!

#gamedev #indierpg #ttrpg

Pre-Fight Checklist by Sinful Games A bookmark of prompts for motivating a combat

The second is a questionnaire to help you motivate your combat encounters that you can insert into a book at a random page to find inspiration: The Pre-Fight Checklist.

sinfulgames.itch.io/pre-fight-ch...
#indierpg #ttrpg #gamedev