@grinningrat.itch.io
Follow CERTAIN FATHOMS on BackerKit! https://tinyurl.com/Certain-Fathoms i also write about them on a weekly basis grinningrat.substack.com/
Here I am just impressed at having played 101 ttrpgs!
28.09.2025 20:03 β π 2 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0
I genuinely cannot wait to tilt people on magic arena today
25.09.2025 14:44 β π 1 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0
In this issue Welcome to this issue of TUMULUS 04 Assignment: Lifeboat Create a game about being lost at sea using a deck of playing cards 05 Flexible inland sea harvesting system (FISH) A modular rod and reel fishing mini-game by Nate Whittington 16 Maximalist sub hunting Considering two different approaches for games with the same core concept 21 Ship, captain, and crew Spend a coin and win a prize box at the Angry Crab with this traditional dice game 27 D6+D6: Unfortunate shipwrecks and found items Sunken ships, rusty bells, a fish idol, and an odd spyglass to spark your imagination 28 Desperate depths Dive into the waters and grasp in the darkness for treasures by Junk Food Games 32 Builder: A thousand pirate islands Create a random, uncharted, mystery pirate island filled with treasure and danger 39 Tracking ocean madness Exploring linear trackers, narrative, and madness in Deep Regrets 47 The problem of naval games How wind, weather, and an ocean of hexes make sailing games hard to design 07
Tumulus 04 includes contributions by @grinningrat.itch.io and @junkfoodgames.bsky.social!
22.09.2025 11:52 β π 7 π 1 π¬ 1 π 0
π¨ Announcing: Rites of Renewal, a neo-pagan folk horror sandbox crowdfunding during Mothership Month.
With words by @jlcable.bsky.social, fully illustrated with lino art by @pickledpennies.bsky.social, and published by Peregrine Coast Press.
The Solstice is Coming. Will you join the festivities?
Pleased to announce my next project, part of MOTHERSHIP MONTH 2025 - introducing GRIM MERCHANTS! Four new vendors aboard Prospero's Dream. Make and spend your credits in new, sometimes fucked-up ways. Follow to learn more! www.backerkit.com/call_to_acti...
09.09.2025 14:11 β π 9 π 9 π¬ 0 π 2
A copy of the TUMULUS zine, with tentacles on the cover.
Hip hip hooray, itβs TUMULUS day!
If youβre a fan of the gaming inspiration, design theory, and playable #TTRPG content of @exeunt.press, the Tumulus zine has all that and more, including guest pieces. (@junkfoodgames.bsky.social and @grinningrat.itch.io contributed to this one!)
Sometimes you meet some quintessentially interesting folk, and create something amazing together. At Watch Well Games we want to make that alacritous collaborative magic so much more common.
The Quintessential Curios vol. 1. Coming Soon.
We're looking forward to Nate's Mothership module Certain Fathoms! @grinningrat.itch.io is also the multi-talented game designer doing the layout our zine The Quintessential Curios. Follow him, follow us, and enjoy some keen games. #indiettrpg #ttrpg #mothership
bsky.app/profile/grin...
Hi all!
Certain Fathoms is my next big Mothership module. Part of Mothership Month 2025, the module is a depth-crawl through the sunken ruins of an AI research megacorp packed with experimental tech, weird factions, and even weirder secrets.
Give it a follow!
www.backerkit.com/call_to_acti...
Stoked about this upcoming creation from @grinningrat.itch.io : www.backerkit.com/call_to_acti...
09.09.2025 13:55 β π 1 π 1 π¬ 0 π 0
The cover of the zine βThe Quintessential Curiosβ A skeleton sits on a globe with a crown on his head. In front him, various ways of dying are laid out. Daggers, poisons, guns. Nothing can kill him.
Cover reveal!
The Quintessential Curios is a new #ttrpg zine coming to pdf later this year.
Stock full of timeless rpg content from some great indie authors, this collation of quality content will arouse your curiosity and provoke your creativity.
If you've been waiting to check out Tumulus, this issue I provided a contribution in the form of a pretty cool mini game.
Consider subscribing to "sea" what it's all about π
Just read it and I want to read it again. Brilliant stuff. This is exactly what I'm looking for in a solo game I've been picking at.
02.08.2025 23:25 β π 0 π 0 π¬ 1 π 0@grinningrat.itch.io β yo, read your anti-frictionless memo on the Rat, and was already thinking about language because of some new characters to my game.
they rolled in with 5 languages and all I could think was I GOTTA ATTACK THAT.
so I wrote this:
drive.google.com/file/d/1Ec5n...
Did you know that you can fit ~40 standard sized playing cards, five dice, and a rules sheet printed on the back of a J-card inside a cassette case without posts? Do something with this knowledge.
16.06.2025 18:37 β π 667 π 198 π¬ 16 π 25
Today on the blog, I wrote a review for Wolves Upon the Coast by @lukegearing.bsky.social - give it a read if you're interested in checking out what I think is the best hexcrawl campaign in the biz.
grinningrat.substack.com/p/review-wol...
Going on a fall trip up north in Michigan and playing @lukegearing.bsky.social 's Wolves Upon the Coast around a fire. No GM screen, no table, barely even rolled dice. Felt transported!
20.05.2025 23:20 β π 4 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0
What's that timeless TTRPG memory you always think of when asked why you play games?
#ttrpg #indiettrpg #rpg #dnd #gamedesigners #actualplay
20.05.2025 18:32 β π 2 π 2 π¬ 5 π 1
This week, weβre talking about equipment! π
For most players, equipment is just that step in character creation where you pick some random things that might be useful at some point in your campaign. But it doesnβt have to be that way!
grinningrat.substack.com/p/equipment
am I crazy, or has itch.io's payout process been extraordinarily slow the past month or two?
06.04.2025 03:18 β π 0 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0
Think back to the last time you had to sit down and create a dungeon for a game. Map it, key it, everything.
What if you could do that in minutes? What if you could do that every time and practically guarantee that each map would be different, without even trying?
Enter: The Tetromino Dungeon.
whats up gamers
I've got some open slots for layout/design work if you're interested. I work within your budget (I've worked for $5K+ in exchange for literal jars of honey and everything in between).
more tabletop stuff exists on my itch page (link in bio)
natewhittington.design
drop me a line!
A new monthly update for Adamiir is live on itch! π
grinningrat.itch.io/shattered-is...
If you download before Ξ± edition (alpha edition) releases later this year, you get all future updates for free.
Nowβs the time to give it a look, even if you don't plan on playing it till full release!
ADVENTURE! Make Your Own TTRPG Adventure, a guide from Skeleton Code Machine. Art by Evlyn Moreau.
Just exported a completed draft of Adventure! to do some proofing. After some margin/gutter adjustments, it's now 10 chapters and 84 pages plus cover. Considerably larger than the last SCM guide.
Hoping that's the last of the major changes. Down to just catching minor issues now. π
#ttrpg
Itβsβ¦ February? π¨
Either way, January was a busy month for the Grinning Rat. Figured Iβd take the time to update everyone on the status of Adamiir, the newsletter, and other ongoing projects.
grinningrat.substack.com/p/january-20...
was coming to post this exact gif
18.02.2025 14:23 β π 3 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0
Genji from Neon Genesis Evangelion - Anime man, glasses whited out by reflecting light, hands tented
This is how I read blogs every morning
18.02.2025 12:58 β π 68 π 3 π¬ 3 π 1
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