Monique Franzsen

Path

I love to imagine the paths not taken in the stories we tell.

Especially as a GM you see every place the roads diverge, and, as way leads on to way, some things are lost forever.

Or of course you just bring them back in later and the players never know - that's fun too!

#RPGaDay2025

Burning Lands

#RPGaDAY2025 Day 13: Darkness

I'll admit, I don't like super bleak settings. I repeatedly complained that Elden Ring was too depressing. I'm learning to appreciate horror, but at my core I rejoice in heroic fantasy. I like there to be Jedi pushing away the darkness. My RPG tables are usually light.

#RPGaDAY2025 Day 12: Path

This prompt makes me think of the Kingmaker Adventure Path, I ran it back when Pathfinder first launched. It was the first time I had ever run a hexcrawl. The players were so invested in the town they built, they created in-universe charters, proposals and meeting minutes.

Review: Interstellar Megachef by Lavanya Lakshminarayan Interstellar Megachef, by Lavanya Lakshminarayan The cover art for Interstellar Megachef immediately caught my attention, a pink space donut! It was bold and whimsical, perfectly reflecting the boo…

I reviewed Interstellar Megachef by Lavanya Lakshminarayan on my blog. Some mixed feelings, but I did appreciate the cool sci-fi worldbuilding and highlighting of the politics of food. The cover is brilliant, too. #booksky #FantasyBookSky 💙 📚 🪐 lensandledger.wordpress.com/2025/08/12/r...

#RPGaDAY2025 Day 11: Flavour

Each GM has their own style. I've been primarily a GM for so long that I now am looking forward to opportunities to be a player again, to sit at other tables and be inspired by other GMs' flavours.

I'm also thinking of Delicious in Dungeon and dungeon ecology. 🍖

We can’t let the market decide what we remember and forget Emily Friedman and Evan Torner on why gaming histories matter.

This is a great discussion with @friede.bsky.social and @guyintheblackhat.bsky.social about RPG history, and particularly the online element of it. You need to be supporting @rascal.news with your dollars -- nowhere else on the internet is publishing stuff like this. www.rascal.news/we-cant-let-...

Florashoppe by moontomes A solo/co-op TTRPG about running a magical garden centre.

It's alive!!!!!

Florashoppe is finally out! My drawing/journaling co-op/solo TTRPG. It's a submission for the @onepagerpgjam.bsky.social . It was a lot of fun to work on, even if you don't play it consider reading it. I am very very very funny. Also it's free!

moontomes.itch.io/florashoppe
#update

YouTube video by Channel 4 News Hundreds arrested at protest in support of Palestine Action in London

I think anyone who has any form of platform who is not saying anything about what happened in London yesterday is saying a great deal about the world they will accept

m.youtube.com/watch?v=H0-V...

Blackout poetry created from the memories of people's first #ttrpg experiences. I love this!

As the TTRPG media sphere contracts, we're expanding -- Rascal is hiring a news writer!

We're running a short 2 week pledge drive, offering a 6 month, 25% discount, celebrating our Diana Jones Award... nomination... in order to support this new hire.

#RPGaDAY2025 Day 10: Origin

My RPG origin story. I had played RPG video games for years, but assumed that actual RPGs were something for 'other people', far away from me. When I got to uni, I saw a flyer advertising the Gaming Society's beginner RPG day. I started playing then and never stopped.

Look you just have to make the cool weird shit that excites you. You must. In this world besieged by bland, scrubbed boring, computer slop, you must. Make the thing you’re embarrassed to make, the thing that feels “too much” because otherwise we get drowned in a sea of cowardly work made by a button

All this time, I've been awkwardly storing my zines next to my big books, and your photo showing yours stored in those labelled open files has blown my mind. Thank you for sharing.

With ChatGPT completely flunking, I think we should all start sharing resources for our interests and how we learned skills we love to use
Positive encouragement seems the best way to win back people's hearts, convince them to fall in love with creativity again, and this really is great timing!!

YouTube video by Wholesome Games MakeRoom Launch Trailer

MakeRoom is out now! ✨ www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUZ5...

The Disaster Preparedness Bundle main flier. Play games, save lives! The charity games bundle runs from August 9th - 24th, and features 22 games from 12 creators! Check the link in the post to get it now! It shows a pug chilling on a beach playing a Switch in a folding chair under a beach umbrella, with a shipping container an a pallet of aid in the background. There's a few cute crabs scuttering about, a drink in a coconut with a lil drink umbrella, and an innertube and beach volleyball on the shoreline. Tropical plants frame the scene.

It's only a matter of time before the next major disaster. Except this time, FEMA might not show up at all.

The @distributeaid.org team has your back. Do you have ours?

Get your game bundle and get our 6 aid hubs in the US filled up before disaster strikes!

distributeaid.org/usa-disaster...

Black and white ink drawing of goblin wizard

Watercolour and ink demon

Various watercolour monsters

Various ink monsters on luggage tags

Hey folks I am opening emergency commissions. My partners ebike was just stolen and they use it for work daily.

I'll draw anything (Not hateful). My strengths are monsters, mice & maps. More examples below.

Varied price points available.

Please comment / message if you're interested.

#RPGaDAY2025 Day 9: Inspire

I find the RPG scene so inspiring, and it keeps getting better. A community of people who iterate and reinvent ideas. I'm in the middle of reading Daggerheart and they had a whole preamble giving credit to past games. When we are at our best, we build on other successes.

The Waking of Willowby Hall - Questing Beast Games | DriveThruRPG Physical copies are available on the Swordfish Islands webstore. "I've run The Waking of Willowby Hall more times than any other adventure. Every time it has been one of the best gaming experiences of...

You can check out the Waking of Willowby Hall here: www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/3...

#RPGaDAY2025 Day 8: Explore

A fun way of encouraging the feeling of exploration is mapping. When I ran The Waking of Willowby Hall, the players got a blank outline of the manor and they tracked their movements and drew each room as they encountered it. The map became a physical record of the story.

Man, I love this game.

If you haven't yet tried out Promise Mascot Agency, this is your sign.

#RPGaDAY2025 Day 7: Journey

I watched Frieren for the first time recently. I was struck by one simple journey scene. The adventuring party use a merchant's wagon to travel, becoming a captive audience for that merchant who proceeds to try and sell his wares to them. I'm going to put that in a game.

#RPGaDAY2025 Day 6: Motive

When I run games, I don't see myself as the enemy of the party. While it can be fun to surprise the players or see how they deal with a problem, I'm not out to defeat them. My motive is to create a fun experience for them - and for me, too.

I loved Heaven's Vault!

Numenera Visit the post for more.

You can take a closer look at Numenera here: numenera.com

#RPGaDAY2025 Day 5: Ancient

I really like the future-fantasy setting of Numenera. All magic items are actually long-forgotten ancient tech, hacked or corrupted to still function. Dungeons contain strange, historic cypher artifacts that you might be able to scavenge and use.

#RPGaDAY2025 Day 4: Message

I remember when I took a player out of the room to tell his character a secret, something that only he would find out.

I don't remember the exact message, but I do remember how his eyes *sparkled* at the realisation that this was something special, a spotlight for him.

A graphic for #RPGaDay2025 presented by www.autocratik.com and www.castingshadowsblog.com

I'm a day late to #RPGaDay2025 but LET'S FRICKIN GO.

Day 1: Patron

I've had an AMAZING time playing @bananachangames.bsky.social's solo games Forgery and Knockoff. You play as a young creative seduced by the power of a demonic artistic patron. The specificity and detail of these stories hit HARD

Photo of FT Weekend supplement with a printing of Lasers & Feelings

Lasers & Feelings in the Financial Times. Let's go