IN THIS LETTER:

🧛‍♂️ Sanguis Sanctus is now on Kickstarter
🥇 What Stretch Goals we reached
🌟 The game’s future, featurings, and features

SANGUIS SANCTUS IS LIVE ON KICKSTARTER

This one is going to be a very brief letter, just to announce to you that my next game, Sanguis Sanctus, is crowdfunding now on Kickstarter!
The game already reached funding, and that is thanks to all of your support.
This blackmetal fantasy of an RPG will see the light (or darkness, according to the lore) of day, and I couldn’t be more happy about it.

Okay, but what is Sanguis Sanctus? If you want the long answer, I suggest you read the Kickstarter page, which has a very good chunk of lore in it.
But for the sake of brevity, here’s a quick rundown:

As I said, you can check the Kickstarter page right here.
We funded successfully but I still need a bit of your help:
We reached 3 out of 4 stretch goals, and we are almost at the last one, which will ensure Sanguis Sanctus has all the content I envisioned, but not just that: it will also ensure I can keep working on the world and lore of Sanguis Sanctus in the future!
So if you decide to stop by and back the game, I would be very grateful, but you can also help by spreading the word around!

Kickstarter page

I would also like to take a moment to say a big thank you for all your kind comments on this project.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

STRETCH GOALS

As I mentioned previously, at the time of writing we have reached 3 Stretch Goals:

ADDITIONAL THEATER OF CHRONICLE

Our first goal was adding another Theater of Chronicle to the book.Theaters of Chronicle are locations you can use in your adventures, complete with plot hooks, encounters, and lore.
A new city is being added the original pool that consisted of Hammamet, Pomerania (particularly, the city of Szczecin), and Naples.
While it’s too early to reveal the exact location, we can say that since the previous cities were controlled by the faithful, this time we will be taking a look at how life under the demonic rule is like. So expect quite a big chunk of suffering.

TWO MORE CLASSES

Two more classes are added to the pool of unfortunates, thanks to this stretch goal! While the main classes are a bit more common, like the Peasant trooper, these two will deal with less mundane topics.

SOLO MODE

Third and last of the unlocked stretch goals is the Solo Mode! This small chapter in the book will provide you with a couple of simple tools to have a solo run of Sanguis Sanctus.
Now, do I recommend going solo through a literal 15th century apocalypse? That is whole other can of worms.

Last Stretch goal, still locked at the time of writing will feature another Theater of Chronicle… and nothing more…👀

FUTURE, FEATURES, AND FEATURINGS

Before I leave you, I would also like to thank YouTube channel Dungeons and Dyslexia for featuring Sanguis Sanctus in one of their videos! Really appreciate it, and I’m very glad the owner Adrian liked the game.

Now, it’s a bit early to talk about the game’s future, and I’m always a bit shy when it comes to talking about games that I haven’t released yet. But seeing all of the love the game has got recently supercharged my creative fuel, so I will say I’m working on quite a lot of stuff for Sanguis Sanctus, and probably it will have a bit more than 36 pages as first announced (worry not though, the price tag will stay the same).
Of course, if you would like to know more about things coming in Sanguis Sanctus, be sure to follow this newsletter!

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If I can manage, I would like to share with you the process of creating a faction (one that hasn’t been announced yet, and that it has to do with another real-world religion) and sharing some rules made for the game.

So stay tuned folks, and thanks for reading this letter! See you in the anti-crusade!

February, the month of games!

Ah February! One of my favorite months of the year. Mainly for all the birthdays, and because it’s the month of Carnival, and here in Italy that means eating a metric ton of Lasagna, Chiacchiere, and Migliaccio.
But that’s not all! Zine month happens in February, a great celebration of all Zines. And as such, there’s always a plethora of great games to look forward to.

I picked three great projects that sparked my interest, and hopefully they will spark yours too. Let’s get into it!

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AETHERPUNK28 - WHIMSICAL WARLOCK WAR

Okay, many of you following my BlueSky account may already know I’m a big wargamer. And let me tell you: Aetherpunk28 it’s totally my jam.
In this fantastic wargame the School of Wizardry was a ruling institution, until the Erudite, the resource that fuels magic, started running low. After that, all hell let loose. You play as warband colleges made up of wizards, scholars and soldiers fighting over the control of that very resource.

Sounds fun? Well, let me get you even more into this game:
Aetherpunk28 it’s a great game to start wargaming, because it’s pretty easy, and you don’t need a ton of miniatures to play; as a matter of fact, you may just be good with a single box. Vae Victis is also making very cool miniatures for this game, but if I’m correct the game will be “miniature agnostic”, which means you can use whatever miniatures you like!

This game is written by Narcoleptic Wizard (Al Secolo “Jack Edwards”), and I spotted a couple of artworks of friendo HairicLilRed, and many other great artists.

With all of that being said, I’m incredibly excited for this game and I can’t wait to get into it! You can find their crowdfunding right here!

BLIGHTFALL - AN ACCURSED FANTASY RPG

Next up is a very interesting project called “Blightfall”, a very interesting low-prep TTRPG (which is my whole philosophy) set in a dark fantasy world where you and your friends have to sacrifice parts of your humanity to gain powers, and push back the menace looming over your home.
A very unique premise, coupled with intriguing game design choices, all made by the author Matthew Ayers.

But what has really drawn me to this project is the artstyle. The cover (which if I’m correct is made by artist Sarah Mason) is pure dark fantasy.
Yesterday I joked on social media that I should make up a new fantasy genres for every campaign I make, and make one called “Blackmetal fantasy” for bleak and dark fantasy worlds; if I would ever do that, you can be sure Blightfall would be among one of the pioneers of this genre.

This game looks dark, gloomy, and filled with desperation. However, just like other medias of the dark fantasy genre, amidst the darkness and the black clouds you can always find a dim light of hope. A flash of lightning.
Almost like A Blaze in the Northern Sky.

Alright I’m done with that joke. Please give Blightfall a look, the game is still funding on Backerkit, and it totally deserves your time! Check it out here!

BÖRÜ BORG - SHEER STEPPE MADNESS

Okay, I am guessing that if you are on this blog you know how much I love stuff inspired by folklore. And Börü Borg definitely hits home.
This Mork Borg-based game, made by ONLY VOID, is inspired by Eurasian, Turkic, and Middle-Eastern folklore and it certainly shows in its art and lore.

The Dire Steppe, the world where Börü Borg is set, is a barren and harsh environment, where according to the description of the Kickstarter, being eaten by dog-men isn’t as uncommon as we all wish it wasn’t.

This brutal 60 pages TTRPG sounds like good fun, and I highly recommend you check it out, right here.
You can also get a free teaser which includes some horrible monsters I will definitely drop on my unsuspecting players on my next MÖRK BORG session.
Hooray!

THE BEST THING ABOUT THESE GAMES

We have seen three great games so far. Well there is one great, great thing I haven’t mentioned about them.
They are all, completely and absolutely, AI free. No AI was used in any of the creative processes for these books, and that means that you are getting some sweet home-made and human-made goodness.
For that, I wish to extend a thank you on behalf of all us authors and artists, to all of you which will support these games.
You are making sure that good art survives in this bleak world.
Thank you!

But enough of me getting sentimental! I need to do the obviously blatant self-promotion thing!

MY OWN STUFF - COMING VERY SOON

If by chance these games weren’t enough for your insatiable tabletop gaming appetite, I would like to remind you that my own game, Sanguis Sanctus, is going live on Kickstarter in less than 4 days. That’s right!
The vampire-filled rules-light game about scary demonic vampires, of which I talked about here, is launching on February 17th. You can find its pre-launch page right here, and if you gave it a follow I would be very thankful!

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With that being said, my fellow warlocks, I hope you are having a wonderful weekend filled with all manners of games. See you in the future!

WHAT’S INSIDE THIS LETTER:

🩸Previously on Let’s Make a Setting Together
💀What is an Archenemy
👀Why use an Archenemy
📚Different types of Archenemies
🧛‍♂️How I made Vampires

PREVIOUSLY ON LET’S MAKE A SETTING TOGETHER

Last week we discussed how I came up with the Setting for Sanguis Sanctus, which is my next game, set in a grimdark fantasy version of 15th century, where Vampires have invaded our world.
Vampires, huh? I bet they have something to do with this article…
You can catch up on the previous article right here.

It would also mean a lot if you checked out my game’s pre-launch page on Kickstarter and gave it a follow. Thanks, fellow warlocks!

With that being said, let’s talk about Archenemies!

WHAT IS AN ARCHENEMY?

An Archenemy is not your bunch of goblin thieves or space pirates assaulting your ship. And it’s neither the Big Bad Evil Guy who plots to steal the crown or become emperor of the Solar system.
No, the Archenemy is an anathema. The Archenemy is a tremendous opposing force, that wants no alliance nor armistice, but simply desires to vanquish and crush everything and everyone in its path.
The Archenemy does not want compliance, it wants absolute obedience. That of course, when the Archenemy allows you to live.

The most obvious example I make when I talk about Archenemies, is probably the Orcs, Sauron, and Morgoth in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings books. They are essentially adversary to creation, beings of a dark and adversarial power.
But of course, they are by far not the only (and classic) example, as we will see later in this article.

But before we dive that deep, you may ask yourselves: Do I need an Archenemy?

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WHY USE AN ARCHENEMY

There are a lot of narrative benefits for your Setting to use an Archenemy.

Of course, not all stories need necessarily an Archenemy; if you are planning to work on a strictly political intrigue story, for example, an Archenemy may not be the best narrative device for your setting.

However, the Archenemy is a powerful tool for any setting, even political ones.
Here are some of the benefits it can provide:

TENSION

An Archenemy provides your setting with unparalleled tension. Whether its devastating, like the alien Combine invading the world in Half-Life, or it can be ominous and subtle like the White Walkers in A Song of Ice and Fire books. No matter what, the setting becomes instantly much more grim, and tense. Stakes are raised, and survival is never to be taken for granted.
In addition, an intelligent and calculative Archenemy makes the tension even higher, because it cannot simply be cornered and disposed.

THERE IS NO GREATER ENEMY

This particularly helps when you are making a Setting for an RPG. When the Archenemy is there, you know your readers and players have a corner stone set: there is no greater enemy than the Archenemy.
They may think twice when the morally grey character shows up, but when the Archenemy is present, they know exactly where to point their weapons.
Sure, there are a plethora of morally grey characters in stories like The Walking Dead, but all of them know zombies are their ultimate Archenemy.

This also opens the narrative doors for all sorts of crazy people, from worshipers of the Archenemy, to people using them as an advantage to further their own goals (you can find an ungodly amount of characters doing exactly this in the aforementioned The Walking Dead comic).

BECAUSE EVERYONE AND EVERYTHING GETS WORSE

Here is where the depth comes from. Using an Archenemy makes your setting immediate (which is exactly what we want), but analyzing the consequences of the existence of such Archenemy is what will turn a simple Setting into a rich and intriguing Setting.

First and foremost, everything will get worse. Communication, trade, simple social interactions, will become much more difficult after the Archenemy arrives, and as a result your societies will be immediately shaped by these problems.

And last but not certainly least: Everyone will get worse.
While adversities certainly bring some people together, it also makes some parts of society ruthless and opportunistic.
I was watching a documentary on 1980’s earthquake in Irpinia, Italy. The first scene described how many people came to help and bring food to those in need. Then, another scene described a woman, during the earthquake, that rushed out of her car in panic, and then shortly after some people got inside her car and stole it. During a literal earthquake.
This goes to show, while some societies band together to face the adversity, others exploit it to gain ruthless advantages.

In the case of your Setting, you can create factions and people, and then ask yourself: how did the Archenemy change them? You can also turn that grimdark knob to 11 and make everyone worse. Yay!

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ARCHENEMY ARCHETYPES

With that being said, there are many types of Archenemies. I tried to distill them in 3 major archetypes, but please feel to pick and mix all kind of aspects of these archetypes; as a matter of fact, many of the examples I will provide actually do so!
The three archetypes of Archenemy are: The Alien Horde, The Anathema, and The Cult.

THE ALIEN HORDE

This is a pretty easy one: the Alien Horde (where “Alien” means not necessarily a creature from space, but a creature who is foreign to our current known world), is a group of creatures who’s only objective is crushing everyone but them. Oh, and sometimes, eat them too, in a way.
The most classic example is the Xenomorphs in the Alien franchise. Although built as some sort of weapon, these creatures went ballistic and started terrorizing humans all around the galaxy.
Another good is example is the Tyranids from Warhammer 40k, an ungodly amount of alien creatures who wish to eat and absorb all life in the galaxy, driven by a mysterious hive mind.
Another pop culture creature I would add to this group is the classic zombie. They are a horde, they are contagious, and they mindlessly eat every creature they find.

The main narrative advantages of the Alien Horde are that they are largely mindless, so literally no one is safe around them.

THE ANATHEMA

While the Alien Horde is mindlessly eating whatever it finds, these guys must have some twisted reason to hate you very very much, almost on a genetic level.
The Anathema is organized to hate. Its only goal is total defeat/enslavement/annihilation of its opponent.
As cited before, the Orcs of the Lord of the Rings are the Anathema to all other ancestries of Middle Earth, and as such make a classic example.
The Locusts in Gears of War are another good example, who wage an industrial war against humans because they view them as usurpers who took their own planet.
One of my biggest inspirations for the vampires in my game, were the forces of Hell in Trench Crusade, who make a perfect example of a complex Anathema: They do not hate humans, they simply despise everything God-related, and as such seek to either gather humans in their numbers, or enslave them.

A big narrative advantage of the Anathema is that they have intelligent plans, and thus become quite difficult to predict, which gives a good amount of despair to those facing them.

THE CULT

The Cult is acting on behalf of a higher being, something so terrifying or so grandiose that led a group of people to say “Actually you know what? Maybe I am going to side with the literal death of the world”.
Prime example of this of course, is every Ancient Lovecraftian monster in the Cthulhu mythos, written by H.P. Lovecraft and other authors. While the original author had… undoubtedly questionable views and motives , its literary legacy makes for a great example of an Archenemy who not only is an Anathema acting like an Alien, it also convinced many people to side with them and worship them.
Another good example are the Covenant from Halo, who basically worship a world-ending ring and managed to convince entire alien races to join their ranks.

Its main advantage is that literally everyone could be converted into worshiping a lovecraftian creature of magnificent terror, so you never actually know who you can trust and for how long in this type of Settings.

THE MIX MATCH

As I said previously, mixing and matching aspects from these three archetypes actually works pretty well.
And one big Archenemy who does this, heck, it is even CALLED the Archenemy by some characters in the universe is…
Chaos in Warhammer 40k.
It takes the Cult aspect in the Four Chaos Gods, the Alien Horde aspect in its many demons, and the Anathema aspect in its structured Chaos Space Marine legions.
And voilà! You can see why Humans in 40k call Chaos “the Archenemy”.

Of course, the narrative advantages of mixing and matching stuff is that you can take more advantages with a single Archenemy, and make it a strong narrative device for your Setting.

I kinda did the same with my own Vampires for Sanguis Sanctus, that I made by mixing mainly two archetypes.

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HOW I MADE MY VAMPIRES🧛‍♂️

As I told you last week, Vampires were a fundamental pillar of Sanguis Sanctus right from the beginning. In the first concept (which you may remember, was for a comic!) I already imagined them as a world ending threat, so I was already considering them as the Archenemy.

With that being said, writing for a comic meant I had to build a “narrower” setting, because of the very limited amount of exposure time you get in that media. You usually need to be explanatory but not very complex.
In a TTRPG setting on the other hand, you have a very large amount of exposure time, but you don’t have to have a narrower approach. In a TTRPG setting, you can build many narrative hooks and build upon those points.

And so my setting’s Archenemy became broader. I decided to pick the Anathema archetype as a base, and introduce aspects here and there of the Alien Horde.
The Vampires in Sanguis Sanctus are intelligent beings coming from a dimension many in the world call “Hell”, but that can be better described as the Realm of Concepts; a dimension where ideas, sensations and emotions take form.
And in a moment of suffering and constant war, a beast craving bloodshed and agony became stronger: the Vampire.
So strong in fact, that they were able to pierce the veil between the worlds.
They are an Anathema because they not only seek to conquer and enslave, they are also the literal standard bearers of the concepts of suffering and bloodshed, becoming stronger each time these spread in our world.

While the Anathema already worked like this, I wanted to add a little bit of nuance by introducing sub-factions. The Vampires are led by the demonic overlords called Matriarchs, and while they all work for the common goals aforementioned, they occasionally bicker and fight between themselves. After all, they are empowered by conflict, all kinds of conflict!
Also, this serves as a good narrative device to provide all sorts of enemies; for example, the Ordo Spinosus uses all manner of thorns in their armament and believe them to be the epitome of bloodshed, while the Ordo Defunctio prefers to use some sort of necromancy to achieve its goals.

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There’s a lot more I could be chatting about, but for the sake of not spoiling the entire book, I will stop here.
I shall see you in the next weeks, where we will discuss other setting-making parts!
Thanks for reading, folks!

In this article we will be talking about:

🧛‍♂️My new game
📚Follow me while I make a new Setting
🩸How I’m making this setting
🎲Putting advice to action

INTRODUCING SANGUIS SANCTUS

Okay, before we begin: I am making a new game of which I’m pretty proud of, and it’s called SANGUIS SANCTUS.
It is a grimdark TTRPG set in an alternative 15th century, where a horde of demonic vampires is conquering kingdom upon kingdom. You will play as survivors cleaving their way through this vampire Anti-Crusade.
The game will be rules light, but “art and lore” heavy, compatible with MÖRK BORG.

You know what “art and lore heavy” means? That’s right: SANGUIS SANCTUS will have its own big Setting! And that’s when I thought that it might be helpful to guide you through how I actually made this Setting, so that maybe who knows, one day you could add your own stuff to this setting…

But maybe later.
So if you are interested in SANGUIS SANCTUS, it would mean the world to me if you followed my pre-launch page here on Kickstarter. The game is part of the Zine Quest 2026 celebration, and crowdfunding will launch around February 17th.
Also, you can already find a quick lore-primer on the pre-launch page, so check it out!

Now that I have introduced you to the project, so it’s now time to follow me through the process of MAKING the Setting of SANGUIS SANCTUS.

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So, how did it start?

Back in 2021, me and my friend Emanuele Parascandolo (comics artist for Mad Cave Studios) had this idea of a grimdark medieval fantasy where vampires were taking over a world,while eating a couple of hamburgers. Originally it was for a comic book, which sadly never materialized (trust me, it happens many times, and I mean many). And so we put that project on a shelf.
5 years later I woke up one day and gave him a phone call, all of a sudden, to tell him “Hey, would you mind if I took that concept we had 5 years ago and I rewrote 80% of it?”.
He said “Go for it” instead of cursing at me for calling him during dinner, and so here we are!

Okay, now that I told you this background info about the idea, it’s time to start working on the Setting.

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HOW I’M MAKING THIS SETTING

Like I described in a previous article about how to start creating your own RPG stuff, the first I usually do is putting my idea to paper, so I bought a small sketchbook (red, because y’know, vampires, blood and stuff). Nothing fancy and costly, because you don’t want something you would have the fear of ruining.
This is your sketchbook.
This is your Wizard Tower, your laboratory.
This is where your ideas go through a series of weird developments and then become magic.
And it helps your brain jelly realize that those ideas are no longer fleeting glimpses of your mind, but real and tangible things.

THE ELEVATOR PITCH

Now, I had to create my elevator pitch, something that would remind me what I’m working on, and something that would me explain the game/setting to other players. This time I didn’t wanted to use a lot of references in my pitch, so I went for:

”A grimdark fantasy RPG where you cleave your way through a vampire invasion”

That was good enough, but I wanted to add more Spice to this Setting, something that would help me make a more personal and distinct work.
I was enjoying playing a lot of the wargame Trench Crusade and the video game Blasphemous, both these grimdark games that are known for taking a lot of inspiration from real world religions and places.
So I said to myself, you know what? I really like doing research on religions and folklore, so why not base my game on this stuff?
And so the elevator pitch became:

 “A grimdark fantasy RPG set in the year 149X, where you cleave your way through a demonic vampire invasion.”

Voilà! This really convinced me to go further. Vampires are no longer a simple menace; they are the antithesis to humans, an adversarial force to mankind.

WE NEED A PLAN

Now, before I started to make stuff, I needed a plan and an objective (remember the P.O.R.C.O. process from this article?). I decided to take the game to Zine Month 2026, the annual February celebration of zines, and that I would hack an existing system.
I needed something brutal, something that told players that escaping death was something to really really celebrate for.
What better choice than the critically acclaimed MÖRK BORG?

And so it was settled: a zine, deadline for the project presentation in February, and Morkish Borgish. Got it.

What’s next?

GATHERING INSPIRATIONS AND DEFINING PILLARS

One big part of working on a project for me is having a good pool of references and inspirations, so I sat down to define those inspirations and make a Pinterest board for visual references.
Of course the first three, since they popped up in the first stages of the project, are Trench Crusade, Blasphemous, and Castlevania.
Don’t worry if you can’t come up immediately with something of inspiration, these things take a little while, and maybe even a little bit of exploration.
I was fortunate enough to have a torrent of inspirations coming to my mind, so I wrote them all down, and started building my reference board.

These inspirations will help developing the Setting later on, both on the visual and the mechanics’ side.
They will also be a good inspiration for pillars.

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Pillars are the foundations of your Setting, the things that make it what they are. Ask yourself: What makes my world… well, my world?

Speaking of which, I already had one pillar: the Vampires are a structured adversarial force of otherworldly beings who invaded our world.

I wanted a couple more, one regarding society, and one regarding faith.
So I defined:
In this world, societies have been fractured and many of them rely on a shared religious or common concept. Life isn’t considered as precious as we consider it.
And:
Faith in this world, especially in battle, can manifest in the real world. Both for faithful and demonic forces.

Now, the last one is tied to a third pillar that … let’s just say I don’t want to spoil yet. But don’t worry, it will surely come up in future parts of this series!

Okay, we have broad concepts, inspirations, a plan, and an elevator pitch. What to do next?

A BUS RIDE PITCH

As I mentioned in this article on making a setting, what I usually do next is writing a longer version of the Elevator Pitch, that I call the “Bus Ride Pitch”.
This will help me explain the game to an audience willing to read around 250 to 300 characters, and to have the theme of the game always present in my mind when I read it.
Here’s what I made:

Okay then! We now have something to work with!
In the next part we will take a look at more in-depth parts of a Setting, like factions, adversarial foes, and more.
But before we leave each other, the title of the article is “Let’s make a setting together” after all.

LET’S MAKE A SETTING TOGETHER

As I was crafting this Setting, it came immediately in my mind that the world of Sanguis Sanctus was going to be huge, but most importantly very open to homebrew content. After all, there must be someone out there thinking “oh wait, but if this is our world, what happened to my hometown in this cursed version of the 15th century?”
And while I am working on including real world places myself (Naples and Hammamet, for example), I thought it would be cool if someone wanted to have their own takes, and make cities, vendors, and foul vampiric creatures.
This is why I am also working on some sort of “Living Setting ” to allow and encourage anyone to make their own homebrew content for SANGUIS SANCTUS, much like you can make your own MÖRK BORG content.
It will probably take a while after launch, so please be patient with me!

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With all of that being said, thanks for reading, see you on the next one!
Oh, before you leave, please check out Sanguis Sanctus’ pre-launch page!

Before we begin, if you are interested in making a setting, I have a few articles regarding “Setting-Making” for TTRPGs, which detail my process of making settings, and my opinion about settings over games.
You can find them here if you missed them, you can find them in this very blog.


Now with that out of the way, let me make a big disclaimer:

You can totally do these things if you enjoy them, and they make you feel good about your setting. Take everything I say here as a simple suggestion, nothing too strict you should actually follow.

Got it? Great! Let’s begin!

1 - AVOID MAKING “FANTASYLAND”

This one is pretty specific, but it is also the biggest pitfall I see around when it comes to RPG settings.
”FANTASYLAND” is when a setting has the most common and classic fantasy tropes, all together, without any sort of peculiar twist or special thing whatsoever.

We’re talking about worlds where dwarves are classic Tolkien dwarves and elves have the lifespan of a Nokia 3310 (which means: immortal).
We’re talking settings where magic is either shunned or abused, but nobody cares and everybody uses spells and magic items.

In short: we are talking about classic, generic, and flavorless fantasy.

Don’t get me wrong, we all love fantasy (or at least I assume, since you are here), but if your setting is just another plain fantasy with nothing special attached to it, you simply can’t expect people to get excited or involved in it.
From the last 4 games I played with, 3 of them were set in original worlds created by the DM… which were all just FANTASYLAND.

THE FIX:

Fortunately, there’s an easy fix: add “The Spice” to your setting.
Add something that makes your setting not the same old plain fantasy world.
It doesn’t have to be something complex, sometimes just a little twist or peculiarity makes the setting a thousand times more interesting.

I know this may be quite hard to understand, so I’ll make some examples of “The Spice”, that maybe can even inspire you:

- In the D&D setting “Dark Sun” you have a classic fantasy world, but The Spice is that this world is completely ruined and ravaged, making it a scorched almost apocalyptic world, where life is ruthless and people living in it are… well, even more ruthless.

-In the video-games “Pillars of Eternity” 1 and 2, The Spice are these giant green crystals which are PROBABLY interconnected, PROBABLY tied to an ancient civilizations, and have DEFINITELY something to do with souls.

-In the book “Mistborn” by Brandon Sanderson we have a world that’s almost near an industrial revolution, which could also be considered The Spice, but the real The Spice comes in the Mist: a strange phenomena that appears only at night, which isn’t very healthy if you stay in it for too long.

-In the book “Wizard of Earthsea” by Ursula K. Leguin, you have a world where mages follow pretty strict rules like any other job, but magic is quite powerful. However, The Spice to me comes in its geography: Earthsea is an archipelago made up of a gazillion of small islands, each with their own small culture.

I could go on and on about this (maybe we will in a future article), but the main thing you may have noticed is that The Spice is almost always a simple concept.
Simple things make a lot of difference, and let me tell you: they are a blast to work with, because they pose a good writing challenge!
What happens if your world is approaching an announced catastrophe?
What happens if at night all the dead rise again?
These are very small prompts that make your world compelling to explore, both to you as a writer and to your players! Don’t be afraid to get inspired by other media and mix and match ideas!

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2 - AVOID THE NEVER-ENDING DISEASE

Let me get this straight and hurtful for you:
I used to think perfectionism was a quality, instead it’s one of the biggest flaws a creative person can have.
There. I said it.

Sometimes we can spend hours worldbuilding, and that’s fine. Than those hours turn into days, still fine. Then they turn into months, okay. And then years and years, until you are essentially realize this setting is never going to see the light of day.

Of course there is nothing wrong in taking your time to polish your work. However, if this means the setting you spent so much effort on must be relegated to your desk, then you must ask yourself if it’s worth it.

Let me tell you: 90% of the time, it isn’t.
It’s way more worth it to put out your work in the wild, instead of constantly adding things and never letting the setting out of its cage.

THE FIX:

You can do two things to fix this: the first one is giving yourself a plausible deadline, and the other one is making a list of what you need to play your first three games in the setting.
The first one can be “finish it before winter” or “in three months”, and will help you focus. The second one serves to have a clear plan of what you need for the setting to be functional. You can add things later, trust me!

These two guidelines will help you defeat the “never-ending this” disease if you stick to them!

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3 - AVOID HAVING TOO MUCH ON YOUR PLATE

This may look counter intuitive, but while it is great to have a lot of depth in your world, throwing it all in the face of your players/readers in the first session may feel a little daunting.

It’s okay to plan each kingdom and how they work, religions and cultures; some would argue that it’s what makes worldbuilding fun. However, if you do a big infodump on your readers/players, you are going to lose their involvement really quickly.

THE FIX:

Fortunately this fix is incredibly easy: after (or before, however you feel more comfortable) you have written your piece of lore about a kingdom, faction, or religion, make a note near it describing it in less than 150 character.
If this comes up with your players or you feel you must introduce it, read the note, and tell them that if they want there’s more, but this is its summary.

This will not only lower the weight of information they are receiving, it also serves as a great reminder for you, the writer, if you need to check something about your own setting.

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4 - AVOID MAKING THE HOME OF THE GOOD AND THE HOME OF THE BAD

You have encountered them too: those worlds with places where everyone is bad, like, Mordor-level BAD. And then there’s the land of the good guys, where sure there may be some bad apples here and there but this is CLEARLY the land of the good, which of course oppose the bad guys.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s cool to have a region where most of the inhabitants have an allegiance with a blatantly evil faction. However, you should always consider that “evil” is never tied to a region, but rather to a faction dominating that region.
This is true both in fiction, that in pretty much all history of mankind.

This means that the place is also home to up to three categories of other factions:
Those who are neutral or sympathizers, who help the evil faction by not acting.
Those who are oppressed by the evil faction, who may also be enslaved by that faction to further their goals.
Those who wish to oppose that evil faction.

As you can see, there are actually up to four faction in a geographical area, and those are actually great hooks for narrative; like for a quest to support those revolting against their oppressors, or to undermine their support routes, or even to sway those neutral to your side.

THE FIX:

There’s actually a quite simple fix for this: use at least 3 of these factions when you create your big geographical zones, and always give them a strong motive. What does the neutral people fear? What drives the opponents to stand against the dominant faction?
Give these and more questions some answer and you will have quite believable geography and factions for your world.

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5 - BE BOLD

This may sound a little controversial to some, but I feel it must be said once and for all:
Be.
Bold.

I have a feeling that because of very vocal (but quite the opposite of numerous) groups of people, who enjoy spending their time criticizing stuff online (but never ever spent 1 minute creating something), most people feel very timid about writing their own things.

THE FIX:

You should not.
Don’t be afraid of discussing your creations online. As long as you are not being a dick to anyone, you have nothing to fear.
Do your research, get inspired by stuff you like, and create.
Try to reach out to creators you enjoy! I always say that if you enjoy my stuff and wanna have chat about what you’re creating, you can shoot me a DM or a comment wherever you want.

Be bold. Don’t feel too restrained.
Take my grandpa’s advice, who always said a very wise (and italian) thing:

”Do whatever you want, because at the end of the day, while others may criticize you, it’s macaroni that fill your belly, not their opinion.”

I take this as absolute gospel, and it’s pretty true. Don’t be afraid to put out wild ideas or to share them around with your friends or online.
As I said in a previous article, most of the TTRPG community is the most welcoming you will find.

Well that pretty much sums it up. I am pretty sure there may be around other 10 pitfalls in the wild world of Setting-Making, so I clearly may have missed some. If you have one to share, please sound off in the comments!

With that being said, thanks for reading, we will see each other very soon, my fellow warlocks!

Oh and if you want to check out some of my games, you can find them on a sale right now! I suggest you check out the one with the heaviest setting: Hellgreen!

-Novecento

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IN THIS LETTER:

💡A word about inspirations
💡How to find inspirations
💡Avoiding rip-offs
💡Tips on how to use references

A WORD ABOUT GETTING INSPIRED

I think one of the most crucial parts when it comes to making your own RPG stuff (be it simple NPCs or a full-blown campaign), is gathering inspirations and using them to create something unique.
After all, we can say this hobby was born with people who were very inspired by Fantasy literature, so we wouldn’t be so much far off in saying part of this hobby is crafting something out of your inspirations.

But many of us might have been hit by a few doubts when it comes to inspirations: How do we find them? How do we avoid being derivative, or even avoid falling into plagiarism? How can you use your inspirations as references?

Well before we try to answer to all of these questions, I think it’s worth talking how to avoid ripping off stuff.

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HOW TO AVOID RIP-OFFS

Let’s face it: we were all young and we all made that RPG campaign that was “TOTALLY NOT MY FAVORITE BOOK OR VIDEOGAME”, which was, indeed, our favorite book or videogame but in RPG format.
And by all means, there’s nothing inherently wrong with that. As long as you and your fellow players are okay with that, sure, go for it.

However, if you haven’t chosen to play in the world of The Witcher, with The Witcher official roleplaying game, we should assume that you want to use that world as inspiration, and not do a complete rip-off of Andrzej Sapkowski’s creation.

How do we avoid ripping off other people’s work?
While there is not an exhaustive and clear answer to this, I think the best way we have to avoid it, is being respectful, and trying to use more than one inspiration.

Let me use a couple of examples:
There’s this beautiful upcoming game called Chronicles of the Boundless, by FariRPGs. Here you can see that in this setting, the author René-Pier didn’t shy away from its influences; it outright calls it a soulslike horror rpg.
However, let me ask you: can you tell which is the most influential soulslike game for this setting? If you are uncertain, that is because both René-Pier and the art team involved have worked on other influences too, like Diablo and Castlevania.
When I made Hellgreen, I made sure to wear the S.T.A.L.K.E.R influence proudly on my sleeve, but many said they had to dig into the book to find it, because it was set in a completely different environment and a completely different time.

I think this is the reason you should work on multiple inspirations instead of relying just on one, and try to experiment with completely different genres. What if you mix Alien and Game of Thrones?
What if we made Dark Souls about religions… but in World War 1? (The answer is Trench Crusade, by the way.)
This is a good starting recipe to create something unique out of your passions.

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FINDING INSPIRATIONS

Now that we have avoided ripping off our favorite stuff, we may have trouble to find our RPG inspirational fuel, and that’s perfectly fine. While it can happen to have a fully fledged concept come to your mind, with all references to use up and ready, most of the times it doesn’t.
Ideas and concepts need to be cultivated, and to do so, we must nourish them with inspirational media to use as reference.

So before you begin, you may want to flesh out your concept, maybe narrowing it down into a 200 character paragraph, or into an elevator pitch. This will work as a guideline in finding ideas and inspirations for your RPG creations, which we can refer to as we go.

Now that you have your concept fleshed out, you may want to ask yourself these questions:
1) Is there any similar work of art that I enjoy?
2) Is there any work of art that I am enjoying lately that I would like to “steal” some concepts from?

I suggest you find at least one answer to these questions, and chances are you may already have more than one.
Once you do, it’s time to move on to find some new inspirations.

To do so, you may choose between two path: Discovery or Experiment

DISCOVERY🗺

In this path, you should try to discover new media (or revisit one or two you already know of) that are inherently linked to your first inspirations.
For example, if your new setting is a sword and sorcery inspired by Conan by Robert E. Howard, you may want to check Sword and Sorcery Wikipedia pages to find new authors, like Michael Moorcock, or Imaro by Charles R. Saunders.
Another good option is finding them through TV Tropes, although that may require a bit more research and reading.

While this path doesn’t get you extravagant results, it keeps your references solid.

EXPERIMENT🧪

This path instead, focuses on wild experimentation. Sure, if you are making a setting inspired by Bloodborne, it may be a no-brainer to add some Lovecraft mythos books and Victorian era history to the list of references.
However, you may want to add something pretty unusual to your mix.
What if you add to Bloodborne, a gothic horror videogame, something completely different in genre like Alien? Suddenly the unspeakable creatures of Yarnham become horrors beyond comprehension coming from outer space, and you may have something really interesting on your hand.

It doesn’t even have to be that outlandish and coming from totally different genres. Outer Worlds’ setting, was the result of an elevator pitch that went something like “Fallout meets Firefly” according to its creators.

The experimental route is one governed by your taste and your guts, and it stands on your ability to mix well two different sources. It may be hard at first, but it may yield unique results.

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HOW TO USE YOUR INSPIRATIONS

So you have gathered some great works of art, and we are ready to use them all to craft some memorable RPG stuff.
How can we use them?

First off, to use them efficiently you may want to divide your references in three different categories:
-Visual References
-Narrative References
-Mood References

Visual References are inspirations that help you describe how your work looks. The aesthetic aspect of your creation may be helped by these touchstones. Saying to someone “they wear clothes like the Fremen in Dune” instantly paints a picture, so you may want to gather as much as you need to give both a reference to your audience, and to mix and match to create something unique.

Narrative References refer to concepts regarding aspects of your creation. For example, you could have as a narrative reference the way metals work in Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson, or have the world be 90% islands and water like in Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. LeGuin. These are the touchstones that help you forge your concept, and you may want to experiment on these as much as you can. Suddenly the world is 90 % water… but it’s frozen!
Pick a narrative reference, and go wild with your imagination!

Mood References are the all inclusive. They are basically a strong reference for your creation, because they combine both a Narrative and a Visual reference. You may want both Fallout’s story concept and its Raygun Gothic aesthetic, for example.
While it’s a good thing to be so moved by an artwork to feature both its visuals and narrative, I strongly advise you use these references carefully, because if you lean too much into them without mixing in something different, you risk to rip-off your reference.

Now that you have your references categorized, you may want to organize them as well to work quicker.
For Visual References, build a moodboard or a Pinterest board by finding interesting pictures of your reference that you may want to use and describe to your intended audience.
For Narrative References, note down what concepts you really like from those inspirations. I suggest you do this on a real piece of paper, both for easy referencing, and so you can carry it around and think about it while you sip a coffee or do some chores, and you can come up with ways to improve those concepts and make them yours.
Mood References… well, they go in both the previous entries.

For how you can practically use your inspirations to craft some cool RPG stuff, since there is no correct way set in stone, here are a few tips on how you can approach it.

TIPS ON HOW TO USE YOUR INSPIRATIONS:

• Take some time to describe the outfit of a character from your inspiration. Then force yourself to make at least two changes to that outfit.

• Find a narrative concept you really like from your inspirations, and try to mix it with a totally different narrative concept, maybe even from a slightly different genre. Like “What if I mixed Dishonored’s Gaslamp Fantasy with the world from Metro 2033?” or “What if I made One Piece, but Sci-fi and much more dark?”

• Pick one of your references you really like, and find another work recommended by people who enjoyed your reference work. For example, many Conan readers enjoy Elric by Michael Moorcock. Give it a try, you aren’t obligated to finish it, you just have to enjoy it and see if you can gather some more inspirations.

• When you are out of ideas, look at your reference for a narrative or visual clue, but instead try to turning it on its head. Make the protagonist into the villain, make the snow outfit fit a sunny climate.

• Sometimes you find yourself stuck in how to develop further your RPG material, even after consulting your references. This may be a good occasion to try something different, in a different media. For example, if you have among your inspirations Elden Ring, maybe you could try reading something from George R.R. Martin, or Berserk by Kentaro Miura.

• Don’t get caught into the “reference gathering limbo”. If you are spending more than a week on it, it’s always too much. Stop gathering references, and get to actually working on this! Via!

• Once you get the creative juices flowing, don’t feel bad for looking less and less to your references; it’s the symptom you are developing your own creature.

And lastly, a special one:

• The perfect balance is easy to find once you start. Your inspirations are your touchstones. Let your players and audience know it. Let them also see how much effort you put into developing your influences into your own thing.

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My fellow warlocks, I hope you have found something useful in this article. If you did, please tell me in the comments, and feel free to share.
If you would like to support me for free, you could follow my next game’s page on Kickstarter right here. Old Golden Skull is the game where I learned to use my references properly, so you maybe you will find some!

I hope to see you again in the next letter, now go and do your magic!

IN THIS LETTER:

✍ The importance of creativity in RPGs
🎨 How to start making your own RPG stuff
🐷 The P.O.R.C.O. method
📚 Building a plan
⚒ Getting resources

CREATIVITY IN RPGS

I think no one would beg to differ if I said that inherently all tabletop RPGs are a creative endeavor. Even in the most railroaded pre-written adventure, you are engaging in creative activities when you take decisions, build your character, and imagine how it looks, and what color is his very fashionable bandanna.

And for those of us who really enjoy creating stuff and imagining all sorts fantastical lands and characters, there is quite nothing like tabletop RPGs.

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Creating your own stuff is also at the base of an RPG itself if you think about it: the first thing you see most of the times in RPG books is the “how to create your character” section.
So overall, I can safely say this:

When you play a Tabletop RPG, you are engaging in a creative and narrative experience.

Now that this is out of the way, what if you wanted to take a step further and start making your own RPG stuff, like dungeons, factions, adventures, and heck, even settings?

🎨HOW TO START MAKING YOUR OWN RPG STUFF

Now, I am assuming that if you clicked on this article you probably have an idea for something RPG related, like an adventure or a dungeon, but you are struggling to do what seems to you the most basic thing (that truly isn’t): Start.

Starting can be very very difficult, especially if you have never made stuff for RPGs before and you feel intimidated. So before we begin, let me start by the only fundamental rule you must absolutely follow, no questions asked:

No matter what you think of the result, it’s gonna be worth it.

Trust me, no matter if you are a beginner or you do this as a job, you are always going to feel a little bit intimidated by your project, but overall remember no matter what comes out of this, you have made a thing, a real thing that lives in this world among us, and this is always going to be worth the effort, no matter what you or others think.

I can’t go on the details of how to create every single aspect of RPGs, of course, but I think I can share some humble advice with you that may help you get started in making your own stuff, even if you have little time. So with that out of the way…

HOW DO YOU START MAKING YOUR OWN RPG STUFF?

I start when I have an idea, and I am assuming you already got there. If you haven’t, feel free to come back here later.

Next up, we must make the idea come out of our brain jelly goo, and bring it to life on paper (or virtual paper, if you are using a computer).
This is another fundamental truth, even though this is a pretty harsh one for some:

Ideas you are not putting in paper (virtual of physical), aren’t a real thing.

Trust me on this one: ideas you let marinade in your head for a long time, eventually rot and decay, and you’ll never actually make them into a real thing. It’s better to put them on paper, rewrite them if needed, rather than never actually realize them.

So the first step is:
🎲Get a sketchbook or notepad, or open up a new document, and write that idea in a sentence.

This will help both visualize, and remind you that your idea exists in the real world, and not just in your head. This is why I personally prefer the physical sketchbook or notepad; because it’s tangible, and reminds me that idea is there, ready to be explored.
But you are welcome to use whatever medium you feel more comfortable with.

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Now comes the real process, and I like to say all you need is the P.O.R.C.O. process (Which is italian for “Pig”, don’t ask why) and it stands for:

🐷Plan
🐷Objective
🐷Research
🐷Consistency
🐷Organization

These are not really steps, as I think they should all go hand-in-hand when you start making stuff for RPGs. So let’s analyze each one:

📖PLAN: You need one

This is probably the most important point in my opinion. You came up with a cool idea, you have written it down on your new cool sketchbook. Now what?
What you should make first?
You need a plan.
Let’s say you are making a new adventure; ask yourself “What do I need to make this adventure playable?” and take a piece of paper and write down each content you would need to make it playable. Don’t worry yet about all the embellishments, just focus on what you would need to sit down and use this with your friends.
This checklist is your plan. Even if you don’t follow the other points, this one is going to be the difference between an idea you’ll never turn into reality, and a real, working RPG content.
So if you made the plan: hooray!

👁OBJECTIVE

Very similarly to Plan, you should define what you actually want from this. Are you making an adventure, or a just a fun single dungeon to use with your friends? Perhaps you want a fully fledged setting?
Whatever you’ll choose, try sticking to it. This will help you better define your “Plan” and invest your time on what you really need to finish what you are working on.
In case you feel too constrained or you feel this project may become something bigger, feel free to switch your objective to something more fitting.

📚RESEARCH

Let’s say you want to make a small RPG setting, but you are struggling to come up with your Plan because you can’t figure out what you need to make it playable.
It’s time to research!
Grab a copy of an RPG setting, and try to read it through, try to grasp what makes the setting work, take notes, check out the index for inspirations on what you may need in your setting.
Take all the time you need to build up your gaming and cultural references, they will come in handy very soon!

✍CONSISTENCY

Now comes the hard part.
It’s easy to get lost into an idea, and then work on it loosely, until you eventually forget about it and abandon the project. But no! Not on my watch!
Whatever the scale of your work, you need to be consistent. Perseverance gets the thing done, so even if it’s just an hour in the evening, or perhaps a couple in the weekends, remember to be consistent and never skip.
If you persevere, you’ll make A TON of RPG stuff, trust me!

🧹ORGANIZATION

You have probably already made a plan and nailed down your objective, done research, and you are confident you can be consistent.
My last step is always organize everything so I can easily access to my resources, my plan, and all the stuff I am making for this RPG project.
I know it’s easy to say “it’s a hobby, who cares if my files are not in the same folder” but trust me, even if you are just making a dungeon, you will regret not organizing your stuff before.
So take a couple of minutes and tidy up everything, because this will help all your process to work seamlessly and you will be able to make more stuff in less time.
As I said previously, I like using a sketchbook because it helps me contain all my project in one singular object, that I can come back to, even when I have to do the layout for a professional product!

Now that you have all the points in handy, you know how to get down and create some RPG stuff.

But what if you need some sparks for your RPG ideas? What if you need some guidance in creating adventures, dungeons, planets, or maps? What if you simply want someone to talk about this?

It’s time to talk about RPG creative resources!

RPG CREATIVE RESOURCES

Something to spark your creativity

I cannot stress enough how GOOD is the Warden’s Guide for Cairn 2e, by Yochai Gal. I see it as a guide not just for Cairn, but also for everything RPG related.
It features a wide variety of random tables to spark your creativity, and also details the processes you can use to create factions, NPCs, dungeons, even entire settings!

It’s also incredibly easy to recommend because, well, it’s free.
That’s right, what I consider the best GM Guide out there is free on PDF and print-at-cost on physical. Go grab it now and do yourself a favor!

Somewhere to talk about this

While I encourage you to find the discord/facebook group relative to the system you are actually creating stuff for, I think a great over-all discord server is the NSR Cauldron.
I sometimes write here and there on that server, alongside many creative people who enjoy RPGs.
Find the invite to the discord here.

You can also find the same community in a web version right here!

Somewhere to find artists

Now, let’s say you created a damn fine piece of RPG stuff. And you decide “you know what? I am going to slap on here a nice piece of artwork, and make it beautiful”. But you don’t know any artists to commission that art piece!

No worries! I compiled a curated BlueSky starter pack list of freelance artists who accept commissions. You can contact them and ask their price and if they would be interested in working with you! I selected all the artists so you can be sure you can find trusty and talented workers!

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BEHOLD… MY STUFF!

This pretty much sums it up for now!
Hey, if liked this article and you would like to check out my RPGs, you can find them on sale right here!

If you would like to see what my next game Old Golden Skull is all about, you check the previous article here, or follow the pre-launch page right here on Kickstarter.
I made it with these very notions!

Thank you, and see you next time, fellow warlocks!

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Hello fellow warlocks!
It’s June, my birthday month! To celebrate I wanted to make a series of articles about the importance of creativity in RPGs. Or, “Why making your own RPG stuff is cool”, if you like.
Before we start the series, though, I wanted to ask you a little favor: can you help me make more games, please?👀

IN THIS LETTER WE WILL DISCUSS:

🎲 Help me make more RPG things, please!
💕How you can support
😮The importance of supporting creators

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🎲HELP ME MAKE MORE RPG STUFF, PLEASE!

As you may have read in previous letters, I am making a new game, Old Golden Skull. (A huge thank you to all of you who followed the pre-launch page!)

However, I would like to make even more RPG stuff.
I have some ideas I would really like to develop into games, RPG settings, and more. I have been scribbling and drawing on some sketchbooks, and I dare say some things are coming out pretty nicely, I think.

However, to further develop these ideas into fully fledged products, I need a little help.
Turns out they lied to us; making games isn’t just being a funny rules-wizard, it requires all manners of mortal expenses!

So, how can you actually help me make even more RPG stuff?

💕GET RPG STUFF; HELP ME MAKE MORE RPG STUFF!

Now, I am one of those persons who really feel teary-eyed and unworthy to ask for donations. While there’s nothing wrong about it, I just feel like I can’t ask you to blindly send your gold coins to my wizard tower for no reason.

Instead, here’s the deal:
If you get my RPG stuff... I’ll make more RPG stuff!
That’s right, you get my games for a discounted price, and I get to use the funds to make even more RPG stuff. MOAR!

For the month of June I will have a sale on itch.io (and a kofi page), with a specific goal: all the funds gathered through this month will be the fuel to make new RPG content. I have set an ideal goal of 250 €, but anything will be more than appreciated.

These funds will help me get new equipment for making art and layout, so thank you!

You can find the HELP ME MAKE MORE RPG STUFF sale here on itch.io.

You can also get the games and artworks here on Kofi, where you can also make a donation (even though is not really necessary, but thank you if you do!).

itch.io sale

All the games on Itch.io will be discounted, 25% off! So if you missed either STRIGA, Hellgreen, or MEKKAKOMPLETE, it’s your chance to get them!

If we reach the goal, as a token of gratitude I would like to give away a small solo-game I made two years ago, CUCARACHA, which was also included in the Dead Horse Anthology by Amalara Game Studio - completely for free for everyone!

I would also like to share with you my journey and progress with this new “RPG side-adventure”, so if we reach some goals, I would like to make some sort of “dev-diary” both here and on socials like Bsky and Threads, showing the new equipment and all the “work in progress” material of this new project!

Ko-fi page

WHY “IF YOU GET A GAME, YOU’RE HELPING MAKE MORE GAMES”

Making games and RPG stuff like adventures, modules and settings is pretty hard, but it also feels very rewarding. It’s almost like climbing a mountain: climbing is hard, but when you reach the mountain top you will be glad you climbed it.

The main problem with making RPGs is that between the climbing and reaching the mountain top there is a period where you will lack supplies for that very climb.
Sure, you could make a Kickstarter without having the full game, and make your backers wait for years before delivering it, but I don’t like it and I feel it’s not very honest towards my readers and players.
Plus, I suspect you would inevitably run into the same problem.

To solve this, the best way is to sell more copies of the game after its launch, and use those funds to fuel even more projects.
Get the game on platforms, try to sell it to stores (shout out to stores like Ratti Incantati and Tabletop Bookshelf, who carry a lot of indie titles).

I always say that buying a game is not only supporting the game itself, but also supporting all the RPG stuff coming after.
When you get a game, you are showing interest and implicitly telling the author “please, make more stuff!”.
In addition to that, you are also providing the authors with funds to keep this career going, buying new equipment and getting better and better.

So if you are considering getting my games (or the ones of other creators) thank you kindly, from the bottom of my heart.
You are not only supporting my games, you are also supporting all my future creative endeavors! ❤

I hope I get to make even more RPG stuff to share with you all!

Tune in next week, because we will be delving into the importance of DIY in RPG stuff!

In this letter you will find:

👁What is Old Golden Skull?
📚The world of Old Golden Skull
💀A brief overview of the game

WHAT IS OLD GOLDEN SKULL?

Old Golden Skull is my next TTRPG, which will crowdfund on Kickstarter soon here.
It’s a “Nobledark Fantasy” RPG where you and your friends play as the Uncorrupted; heroes (and anti-heroes) living broken tales in the Ravaged Lands. In this rules-light game, you will face the constant menace of the Three Gods of Despair. But, through the nobility of your willpower, and maybe even with faith in the Old Golden Skull, you will take the fight to their field this time.

If you enjoy Berserk, Warhammer Fantasy, Dark Souls, The Witcher, and Lord of the Rings book series, or any other work of art with a dark world where fate can be changed by individuals with tremendous willpower, I think you will enjoy this!

You can follow the pre-launch page here, so you know exactly when it drops!

THE WORLD OF OLD GOLDEN SKULL

“"It’s been 1000 years since the three Gods of Despair landed on our Ravaged Lands.
They brought famine, plague, and mad conflict with them, corrupting our once beautiful home.
But the Old Golden Skull still protects us.
Still the light is dim, and the corruption grows strong.
To be an Uncorrupted today is to live in a harsh and cruel world, struggling against death and wickedness, while the three gods laugh at our fates.
Yet companies of brave souls still storm underground fortresses, dungeons, and castles belonging to our hated arch-nemeses.

And yet hope in our hearts simply refuses to die."

This is the intro you will find on the first pages of Old Golden Skull, and I think it paints a bleak picture of the world of the Ravaged Lands.
Here, the Gods of Despair have maimed the very soil you walk on. The only light is the faith in the Old Golden Skull, the benign entity who has been guiding the Uncorrupted for centuries of oppression, by the hand of the Gods of Despair.

Now it’s time to reclaim your lands.

Form a company of Uncorrupted, and liberate the Ravaged Lands, from each dungeon to each castle.

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A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF GAMEPLAY

Old Golden Skull is based on a new game system, designed by yours truly! It uses all the classic dice in the d20 set, but with a small twist: the majority of checks are made with a d12 this time! This works on a “equal or higher" check system, that will speed up considerably gameplay.

OGS in fact is designed to be very quick in gameplay, to favor narrative. You could say that Old Golden Skull is under the OSR/NSR philosophy of gameplay, which favors exploration, narrative, and rulings over rules.

I will be joined again by V.A. Mitio, Martina Chilardi, and Emanuele Parascandolo, the artists that worked with me on MEKKAKONKRETE, STRIGA, and HELLGREEN. They have done a lot of artworks for this game, so get ready!

I would like to share more on classes, backgrounds, and the Companies system, but I will leave this for a future update!

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So, what do you think? I hope you enjoyed this first preview, and I absolutely cannot wait to share more about the game in the next updates!

Without further ado, let’s delve into it!

HELLGREEN IS OUT NOW🌴

As the header says - Hellgreen is out now for everyone! You can grab a copy on itch.io right here!

In case you missed it, Hellgreen is a game I designed using the Songs and Sagas ruleset by FariRPGs, and it’s a solo-first RPG where you play as an Operative soldier delving into a cursed jungle, filled with anomalies and abominations. If you enjoy stuff like Metal Gear Solid 3 and the STALKER videogames, I think you’ll enjoy it!
It also has a free demo, so you can try it before you buy it.
Hope you like it!

Hellgreen is one of the games I’m most proud of. Not just because of the artworks me and my pals have drawn, or the rules I’ve designed for it.
But because it’s an anti-war game, coming out in very turbulent times.
And I hope that delving into this fictional paranormal jungle maimed by war brings you some joy.

If you get the game and enjoy it, please consider leaving a review on Itch!

Now, since Hellgreen is out… what’s next?

WHAT’S NEXT? NEW GAMES 👀

Now, since I finished Hellgreen (and basically left you all in the jungle), I am now working on new projects.
Yes, plural!
A couple of weeks ago on my social medias I teased two new upcoming games I am working on.

One is the biggest project I have ever done, and I have shown it to some friends of the TTRPG space and they said it’s coming out pretty nicely, so I just told myself hey, why not show a sneak peak?

All I can say right now, is that it has a very expansive dark fantasy setting. I know it’s not much, but bear with me, I will tell you more in the future!

Now, I said previously I was working on two projects, right? Well, I may have lied. I have been working lately on a THIRD (smaller) project! But fear not, this is not going to slow the production of the previous two projects.
And that is because the “three eyed thing” project is 80% done. That’s right! I made all the writing, and I would say around 70% of the artworks. This means, it is closer than you think, so stay tuned for further updates!

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NEW ARTICLES ARE ON THE WAY✍

As I said previously, I have been making a lot of TTRPG stuff lately and I have been enjoying very much. While delving into the cryptic dungeons of making settings and rules, a few ideas for articles came to my mind. So if you found this newsletter because of my “Make a setting not a system” articles, stick around because there are more on the way!

Lastly, I would like to give this final space of the Digest to games I find interesting!

GAME OF THE MONTH: DINKS & DONKEYS🎣

Not the D&D you expected, huh?
Dinks & Donkeys is a beautiful solo game about relaxing fishing, made by Sunzenaut. The game features some very cool pixel art aesthetic, and a solid game loop of fishing and upgrading fishing gear.
This game looks like the ultimate cozy experience, so if you want to grab it, head over to the Kickstarter page right here, and support it!

Before we begin, I have to make two premises:
The first one is that this article is part of a series, so I recommend you read the first and the second articles if you wish to have more context.
If you’re here just to see what’s my Setting-making method, please feel free to skip both!
Second, and as said in the previous articles, this post is not saying rules don’t matter at all and that you should play every setting and idea in the same system. As a game designer myself, I think rules are important, and I would never tell you to play Cyberpunk 2020’s setting in D&D 5e.

With that out of the way, I think it’s time we take a look at…

THE IMPORTANCE OF SETTING

I do think we should focus more on Settings, rather than rules. Sure, rules are important, they are the tools that help us convey the Setting, after all. However, I think we should emphasize more the Setting, rather than the rules.

After all, think about some good memories you have of playing RPGs; I bet they are all about epic deeds, tragic deaths, and mystical lands you explored, rather than how good it was rolling a d20 and adding the modifiers.

Don’t get me wrong, I think a good system is necessary to enjoy a good setting, and that’s why in the previous article I listed some narrative-focused RPGs (that are also easy to hack).
However, ultimately, what gets me excited the most in a game is always the Setting, the vibes, the world I am thrown in. It’s the narrative.

Also, whether you pick or make your own narrative setting, you can use it on whatever system you prefer. You could even use it in different genre of games; nothing stops you in playing a wargame set in the same world you play your RPG!

So how do you focus on making a narrative Setting?
I think we first should analyze some super-good settings.

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SETTINGS I FIND SUPER-GOOD

What makes a good setting?
While it’s always up to the one who enjoys them, I tried gathering some settings that I find very good, to find out what I like about them and therefore “what makes a good setting” to me.
Let’s first analyze these settings.

KAL-ARATH

Lately I have been reading Castle Grief a lot, and I could not talk about settings without mentioning Kal-Arath.
Kal-Arath is a sword and sorcery setting, a savage steppe where blood-magic, demons, and the clashing of steel are business as usual.

Castle Grief wears its Conan and Frank Frazetta influences on a sleeve, and it really shows in Kal-Arath. You can sense it in the artworks, and you can sense it in the ruthless lore of the world.

One thing I really like is that the game itself tells you that if you want you can use just the setting (alongside its procedures and random tables) in whatever fantasy TTRPG you want.
Brilliant and honest.

DESERT MOON OF KARTH

The desert moon of Karth is a dusty mesa, where the only cities are surrounded by dangerous wastes where dreaded sandsquids terrorize the “Karthians”.
If your plans involve riding through the sands, drinking whiskey at a saloon, and discovering ancient orbital defenses, you’ll find yourself at home in Karth.

Silver Arm Press did an amazing job with this Mothership “space western” setting, and it shows beyond the cool artworks.
Once again, the game’s page suggests that this setting is perfectly usable with other TTRPGs that are not Mothership.
Cool, huh?

VERMIS

Now, off to something weird. Like, really weird.
Vermis takes place in dark, damp, and horrendous setting, that feels like a nightmare in old PC game graphics.

Vermis could not even be classified as a TTRPG setting in the first place, since it doesn’t feature any rules or tables.
It is however, a splendid artbook and world guide that can be totally used in whatever TTRPG. Hollow Press defines the book as a “lore game book”, and I think it fits, since you could use the lore inside the book as a base to run whatever narrative game you want. The effort in making this worldbuilding project by Plastiboo is phenomenal, and it shows.

We can safely say that this one went crazy on the vibes.

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ELECTRUM ARCHIVE

I have spoken at great length about Electrum Archive in the previous articles, and I think it’s mainly because it does Setting very well.
Emiel Boven managed to convey, with his writing and his splendid artworks, a world that feels alive and it has its own identity.

One of its best qualities of its setting is the fact that by reading only a couple of pages you can already come up with a ton of interesting quests for your players.

So, now that we have found some cool Settings…

WHAT MAKES A GOOD SETTING?

I think the answer to this question can’t be set in stone, due to the nature of tastes and opinions.
However, I found that all the Settings that I like have a few things in common:

• Strongly recognizable “vibes”: the themes, the concept, and the vision behind each setting are clear and engaging. Once I have shown you Kal-Arath, I doubt you’ll confuse its artworks with Electrum Archive.

• Easy to describe: Want to describe and get your players interested in Desert Moon of Karth? Tell them “it’s Firefly meets Dune in a spaghetti western”.

• Highly playable: How many quests come up in your mind when you look at the horror-inducing artworks of Plastiboo in Vermis? How many adventure hooks could you place in the world of Orn just by looking at the map in Electrume Archive? My answer is “a lot”.

• Very compatible: Almost all of the settings I mentioned here discuss how you could totally use them in whatever game system you want, and that is because stats are easy to come up with when you have an entire book full of inspirations.

So to elaborate on this, for me, a great setting always has: a good concept, a good pitch, a good playability, and potential compatibility.

But how can we achieve this?
How can we make a good Setting?

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LET’S MAKE A SETTING

I have my own method of worldbuilding (or Setting-making, if you want), which focuses on some of the points we discussed before, and it’s the result of many years of indulging in story-creation, lectures I attended, cool videos I found online, games I played, and all of my other interests combined.
And what’s beautiful about it is that means that my method of Setting-making will never be the same as yours.

So before we start, here’s my biggest advice:

THERE IS NO CORRECT METHOD OF WORLDBUILDING

The ways you can start creating a fictional world are countless. Some start by building a city, some start with the world’s history, while others will tell you that you should start by writing a story and build the setting around it.
And I guess they’re all right. There is no correct way of starting out.
What matters is that you start writing your setting, not where you begin.

Which brings us to my second biggest advice:

YOU DON’T NEED TOOLS FOR WORLDBUILDING

When someone asks “what are the greatest tools for worldbuilding?” online, expecting to get as answers “the greatest book on building worlds”, “the youtube lectures on how to never make a mistake when writing a world”, or “the obscure zine of prompts to build the next Middle earth”, I annoyingly respond with:

”A sketchbook, a HB pencil and some gel pens”.

The reason I do this is because most people get so caught in the web of absorbing and learning, stuck in an endless cycle of research before attempting to write… that they end up never writing anything.
So sit back and relax my friend, and just start.
Yes, there are a lot of interesting tutorials online on how to build specific aspects of your setting, like Hello Future Me videos on creating Religions, or professional lectures on worldbuilding from writers like Brandon Sanderson.
And I do think they are useful.
However, they are in no way “essential” for you to start building your own world. Heck, you don’t even need THIS article to start world building!

It’s okay to research for advice and writing aids, but don’t let that stop you or slow you down when creating a setting.
All you need is pencil and paper. Or Word if you do it digitally.
A scalpel and a cave rock if you are in Prehistoric times.

With that out of the way, here’s my own method of Setting-making.

MY SETTING-MAKING METHOD

As you may have guessed, this is not a series of prompt or a specific method on how to build cities, nations, or religions, since there are already a lot of good resources for that.
But rather a method (or a checklist) I use when I start a new Setting, that helps me keep my focus on the project. Hopefully, they may help you too in starting your own!

0.5) Write down your concept

Did you have an idea for a new setting? Well, then I suggest you write it down somewhere, in under 180 characters if possible. This may sound silly but narrowing down your idea to a couple of sentence will act as a guideline for yourself when you feel like you have lost track of your own objective.
Don’t get too caught up in coming up with something epic; even “Aliens in medieval world” may sound simple, but it actually leads to some great worldbuilding ideas. (It’s OLDMOON by Lupiron Press, by the way)

1) Gather your inspirations

Write down your inspirations for this new world, and they can be from all sorts of origins, from movies to books, from video games to real world events.
If it helps visually, go make a moodboard or a Pinterest board.
You will come back to these anytime you feel stuck and need some additional inspiration. They will also be handy later, when you’ll need an elevator pitch!

2) Themes and Pillars

Define roughly what are the common themes you’ll want to explore in your setting, even though they will not be the only themes featured in it.
You can also expand some of the “Pillars” of your concept.
For example, in Warhammer 40.000 one of the core themes is, you guessed it, war. Alongside that theme there are also tales of brotherhood, ignorance, and courage.
One of the “Pillars” of Warhammer 40k is the Warp, a parallel dimension where psychic powers and daemons come from.
Noting these down help you stay “in the box” of your setting, in case you need to refer to some concepts of your idea.

3) Do an elevator pitch

Elevator pitches are short and descriptive depictions of your setting. Not only they are the stronger version of your initial concept, they help you paint a picture to all of those who are not familiar with your world, be them players or publishers. It doesn’t have to be cool or epic, just descriptive.
It comes in handy to have some cultural references to explain it.
When I had to explain my game Hellgreen to my art team, I used “Imagine the videogame STALKER meets the Vietnam War, in a solo RPG”.
It wasn’t epic, but they immediately got the picture!

4) Do a “Bus ride pitch”

This is some sort of a stronger cousin to the elevator pitch.
Imagine this as the blurb you find on the back of a book.
This is what you’ll need to explain your setting to someone who’s interested in it, maybe grabbed by the tagline concept or by your elevator pitch.
I suggest you keep this from 250 to 300 characters if you can.
Use all the things you prepared until now: Concept, pillars, inspirations, themes. Try to distill everything under 300 characters!

5) Come up with a couple sample quests/stories

I saw this on a very interesting video by the legendary developer Tim Cain on how he builds world for his video games. He essentially asks himself a question:
”Can I come up with interesting quests for this game?”
You can do the same for settings. Come up with a couple of simple quests you would put in this setting. If they excite you, you are on the right path!
They also may come in handy for future random tables, who knows!

6) Come up with a plan

Okay, this may be the hardest one.
You have a world. It may not be very fleshed out, but it’s a world.
Now you need to vaguely plan what you actually need to play in this setting.
The reason I say you need to plan it is because it’s very easy to feel overwhelmed by the amount of stuff you need to do, or even worse you may feel like you are always in need to add something to your world.
Some call this “the worldbuilder’s disease”, I call it the “don’t look it’s not finished yet” problem.

To avoid this problem, you need to realize two important concepts:
-You don’t need to flesh out every single detail of your world.
-Sometimes it’s better if your world has holes that can be filled by Players/Game masters.

Knowing this, come up with a list of 4-5 things you want to detail before playing your games/publishing your setting on the internet.
This is your plan, and be sure to stick with it.

7) Don’t worry about system too much

As we said in the beginning, after all, systems are a tool to enrich and reinforce the narrative of your game. But what you’re working on now is the narrative, which is and will ever be the most important thing in your narrative games.
So yeah, don’t worry about systems too much, okay?

Are we done yet?

This pretty much concludes what I envisioned for this trilogy of articles on settings.
There are countless things I may have left out, like brilliant books filled with prompts and random tables, interesting systems, and useful videos, so pardon me for that.
But after all, one of the joys of Setting-making to me is both discovering and sharing, so I’ll leave you that.

With that being said, now my noble readers, the scepter of Setting-making is in your hands.

Go make a memorable Setting!

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In this letter:

🪐Settings, not systems
🎲 Rules should support settings
👀 Narrative games to make a good Setting

A PREMISE

Before we begin, my fellow witches, let me clarify one aspect:
As a game designer, I would never underestimate the importance of writing a good rule set.
This blog post is not saying you should play a single ruleset and only one set.
So before you bring out your torches, I am not telling you should play Cyberpunk 2020 in D&D 5e.

Rules, however, are a tool. The real player of the game is always the setting, in my opinion.

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SETTINGS, NOT SYSTEMS

As said in the previous Tome of Oddz letter, I believe the reason I keep coming back to some good games is their vibes. I cited the Electrum Archive by Emiel Boven, a good game with an emphasis on its wonderful setting.

Now I want to take a step further and tell you this; the setting should always be the crucial part of your games, not their rules.

I started formulating this thought while I was listening to an interview to Yochai Gal on Dieku Games (which I highly recommend). Yochai Gal is the author of Cairn 2e, one of the games I love the most.
While discussing why he created Cairn, he said this:

”The reason I made Cairn was so I could stop thinking about system. I feel like there’s an emphasis on ‘system, system, system, let’s make systems’. But the FKR (editor’s note: Free Kriegspiel Renaissance) people, they have one thing right: it’s ‘Settings, not systems’ . You just need a basic framework.”

These words struck me, because they resonated a lot with my thoughts lately. As I said in the beginning, the games I like and I keep coming back, are the games with good settings (or vibes if you wish to call them that).

RULES SHOULD SUPPORT THE SETTING

Of course, I do not mean you should absolutely stop writing rules if you are a game designer, that would be silly.

However, if you are a narrative player like me, you should always emphasize the setting, and build rules around them.
No matter if you are a published game designer, or simply the author of a homebrew setting for your group of friends, you should think of rules as a mere tool to achieve the narration of your setting, not as the main aspect of your games.

One of my best friends, which is a long-time RPG player, once summarized this for me in a sentence that I always keep in my mind when I write games and settings:

”As long as rules don’t get in the way of fun and narrative, I don’t really have strong opinions about what RPG systems we are using.”

This, especially from the perspective of a player and not a GM or game designer, is what really matters at the end of the day. It’s the setting, the narrative, the fun.
The rules are just a tool to support those good settings, they are the vehicle you and your players use to explore these fantastical worlds.
As long as that vehicle runs you through memorable narrative moments, does it really matter what engine uses?

Take a moment and think about it; the best memories of your RPG career, do they involve rules, or moments in the narrative and the in the exploration of fictional worlds?

Okay, now that we realized we love settings over rules, what are some tools we can use to run (or make, if you are an author!) a good setting?

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NARRATIVE GAMES FOR MAKING A GOOD SETTING

First and foremost, in my opinion the best game systems to run good settings are the less crunchiest, or if you wish, the “Rules-lite” systems.
As a proof, the wonderful Electrum Archive by Emiel Boven, has just 26 pages of rules in a 68 pages book. There are 42 pages of artworks, lore, and random tables goodness.

So whether you are a seasoned game designer looking to hack a system for your new cool setting, or an author looking for a system to run your setting with friends, here are my top picks:

Cairn 2e

Of course I could not talk about Yochai Gal without mentioning Cairn. Cairn 2e is a fast, simple, and very “functional” fantasy game. It works with a classless system that uses backgrounds as a starting point instead. The second edition adds a lot more material for campaign play, and new interesting backgrounds.
One of its strength is also how easy is to convert adventures from other games for Cairn.
This is also why I mentioned it is very functional; Cairn is super easy to customize and hack, to the point that many games were based on this system and they vary a lot in genre, like Runecairn Wardensaga, or Cyber.

The game is completely free, and free to hack thanks to its license. Best of all, you can get a printed version for dirt cheap at amazon or Lulu!

Songs and Sagas

Do you want an even LIGHTER rules-lite game? Well, look no further than Songs and Sagas by FariRPGs. It uses one of the easiest fantasy game systems I have ever seen, with a focus on narrative play, and it’s played with both cards and dice.
I am a little biased with this one because, well, I used it for a game!
I have hacked the Songs and Sagas rules to make a solo game called Hellgreen, and to show you its flexibility, Hellgreen is set in a modern paranormal setting reminiscent of the Vietnam War era!
You can also find a game that looks straight out of the Borderlands video game,
Wastewalkers!

Once again, Songs and Sagas is free to download, and free to modify, hack, and create!

Mothership RPG

While the first two games were more on the fantasy side, Mothership by Tuesday Knight Games brings us into the sci-fi realm, and does it with a simple and straightforward system. Despite the main game relying on the sci-fi horror genre, the game system works for all sorts of sci-fi and cyberpunk sub-genres. In fact, you can find all sorts of third party content for Mothership, ranging from sci-fi westerns to gritty cyberpunk modules.

Making stuff for Mothership is easy and fun, I highly recommend it if you are an author who’s building a setting and looking for a game to explore it.

For game designers, making and selling third party content for Mothership is possible, although it requires you to send the product for review at Tuesday Knight Games, so keep that in mind.

Shadowdark RPG

Back to fantasy with one of my favorite games of 2024, Shadowdark by Arcane Library. I absolutely adore the style and gameplay of this one, and I have been loving playing it solo with SoloDark.
Shadowdark is easy, deadly, and super-fun. The core rules are simple to grasp, and there is a ton of helpful material for worldbuilding.
It’s getting very popular in the OSR and NSR scenes, and occasionally you may even see some of my stuff in the game’s Reddit or Facebook group!

You can create a setting compatible for Shadowdark with ease, and as long as you don’t copy-paste the game’s rules, you can even publish them.
As such, you’ll see a ton of creative folks out there making Shadowdark content, and once you read it, you’ll see why!

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I hope these games are a good starting point for creating your own settings and games! I will be gathering even more material for a possible sequel to this blog post, but in the meantime, go make some good settings and have a great day!

In this letter:
🎲Why Settings and Vibes matter more than rules
✨RPGs made great by their vibes
🎲How to Worldbuild with “Vibes-first” approach

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VIBES

Lately, you may have noticed that our world has been going through terrible worldbuilding moments.
True wizards and witches like us however, know the joy of seeking refuge in imaginary worlds born from our imagination, and from the imagination of great authors of worlds.
In such spirit, I delved into various games lately, and I have been loving them a lot. Mainly Electrum Archive, by Emiel Boven, and Shadowdark by Arcane Library/Kelsey Dionne.

While I was reading them I realized a thing: the reason I was falling in love with both games, wasn’t necessarily the great rules both authors have written.
Make no mistake, Shadowdark is really good rules wise, probably my favorite of its genre, at the moment.

However, thanks to Electrum Archive, I realized that the things that really made me say “these games are really good” are the setting, the art, the story.
Or, to put it simply with a modern term, THE VIBES.

VIBES ALWAYS COME FIRST

By reading Electrum Archive (in a very good Italian edition by Nigredo Press), I realized the game is around 68 pages long, and only 26 are rules. The rest of them are pages of lore, splendid artworks and random tables for your games in Orn, the original setting of Electrum Archive.

I was immediately captured by this world.
The clothes of its inhabitants, the strange structures, the way magic worked.
All of that made me say “damn, I really would like to play in this world”.

And that’s the strength of building some really good vibes.

This game has around 42 pages of setting, I would recommend this even if you wanted to play in the Orn setting but with another game system.

See? That is another benefit! No one can stop you from using a good setting in different games.

HOW TO USE “VIBES-FIRST” APPROACH WHEN WORLDBUILDING

So how do you use the “VIBES-first” approach when you are building a world?
When I wrote some of the lore for HELLGREEN, I used some of these tips and prompts.

• Take some inspirations:
  Grab some books, tv shows, video games, and comics that inspire you. They don’t have to be of the same genre. Have them near you when you write, if you can: you’ll want to check them out now and then, for getting in the mood.

• Don’t feel restrained by genre:
  Most of us RPG players enjoy a good fantasy or sci-fi setting. However, don’t feel restrained. You can invent, mix and match all sorts of ideas when making settings.
  You can also experiment with adding new stuff to classics!

• Build a moodboard:
  Similar to the first tip, you can add some photos to a pinterest board (or a physical one!) about all things that inspired you to write this setting, ranging from artworks to historical and cultural references!

• Do not worry about rules.
  If you need more, you’ll find a way to make more. Don’t get demoralized if your preferred game doesn’t feature firearms and you just built a noir setting in 1920s. Improvise! Aren’t guns just glorified crossbows?! No? Okay.

• What type of stories do you want to tell with this setting?
  Do you want some lighthearted adventures about discovery, or some noir investigations? This may help you to narrow down references you could use; maybe, if you are writing a noir setting, going to your bookstore in the noir section may spark some ideas.

• Are there some vaguely similar settings to your setting? This may help both you and your players (or publishers, if you intend to write a story). Saying “it’s a noir setting, but set in an eastern europe-inspired fantasy like The Witcher books” really paints a picture! Writing this down also helps you narrow the idea when writing.
  For Hellgreen, my pitch was “It’s like the videogame S.T.A.L.K.E.R., but in a setting similar to the Vietnam War era.”

I think this list can be expanded, and I will do so when I’ll write my next game/setting using the “Vibes-first” approach.

Until then folks, go build some vibes-worlds!

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My fellow wizards, you’ll excuse me if today I’ll call you “Operatives”. The Hellgreen Kickstarter funded, and it’s now a reality! This letter will be dedicated almost exclusively to Hellgreen, so buckle up, and welcome to hell!

So, in today’s letter you will find:
💚 Hellgreen funded: the details
🎲Turning a solo game into a multiplayer game
⏩What’s next for Hellgreen

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HELLGREEN FUNDED: THE DETAILS

At the moment of writing, Hellgreen is 229% funded! We made it!
A big thank you to all of you who supported the Kickstarter right from the start!
If you wish to support the game and grab your PDF copy (at a lower price than the release price), you can check out the Kickstarter right here.

Now comes the fun part. The game is a real thing, so it means me and the art team (who sees returning the NAPUNK folks, Emanuele Parascandolo, Martina Chilardi, and V.A. Mitio) are now working to polish the game and make the final artworks. I’ll be posting some Work In Progress artworks and Lore in the Kickstarter’s update section, so go check them out if you don’t wanna miss them!

The crowdfunding also reached its stretch goal, meaning that Hellgreen will also feature a… “multiplayer” mode.

Wait, but what’s a multiplayer mode in a TTRPG?
I guess it’s just a TTRPG.

TURNING A SOLO GAME INTO A MULTIPLAYER GAME

As you know, Hellgreen is a solo RPG, one where you write your own narrative, roll some dice and determine the outcome of your actions. You can use it to simply “dungeon crawl” through the forest of Tanguan like you were in a gamebook, or use it to write your own story.
You can do that with almost all TTRPGs in the “Solo RPG” genre, after all.
But what if you want to bring that story to players?

You often see this the other way around, it’s always a classic TTRPG with a Game Master and players that gets a solo mode.
With Hellgreen I decided to go the other way around. I designed Hellgreen to be a “Solo-first” RPG.

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However, I couldn’t resist the urge to write a “traditional TTRPG” with the setting, and so that’s why I am adding “Hellgreen: Front Mission”, a chapter you will find in every Hellgreen copy, detailing how you can play the game with friends and explore the Tanguanese jungle together.

The process of writing rules for converting a solo game into a traditional tabletop RPG was pretty fun, it creates a very interesting challenge that I would like to expand on, one day or another.

WHAT’S NEXT FOR HELLGREEN

Hellgreen is scheduled for release in April 2025. I am confident we are right on track to do so, and I can’t explain how much I’m grateful for the support that made it possible.

I am enjoying a lot drawing and writing for both Solo Spec Ops and Front Mission, and I can’t wait to show you the full game!

-Novecento

“Better run through the jungle!” said a Creedence Clearwater Revival. And yeah, you definitely should in the Hellgreen.

In case you missed the previous newsletters, Hellgreen is my next solo-first RPG, where you play as an Operative sent to explore an Exclusion Zone set in a cursed jungle, where anomalies and abominations are a daily occurrence.
If you enjoy videogames like S.T.A.L.K.ER., you will probably enjoy this one!

You can find its pre-launch page right here, and the game goes live on Kickstarter on Jan 22nd.

That’s right, there’s only two days left until it the crowdfunding drops!

Now that we have done the proper introductions, it’s time to get knee deep into the game itself. Get your “Vietnam War Era Music” playlists going, time to get into the HELLGREEN!

HOW HELLGREEN PLAYS

Hellgreen is based on Songs and Sagas, a wonderful game system by Fari-RPGs. The author, René-Pier Deshaies, created a simple, easy to grasp system based on exploration and narrative, that made a perfect canvas for what I wanted to paint with Hellgreen.

The game needed a couple of tweaks here and there (turns out there are no M16 rifles in the fantasy setting of Songs and Sagas, who would have thought?), and what came out is a rules-light solo game, where you can make a character in no time, and where each weapons offers a different playstyle.

There will be more than 10 weapons in Hellgreen, some inspired by real-world weapons, some completely original for the setting. Each one has a different ability, so you only have to find the one that suits the most the idea of your Operative.

This was part of my main objective when designing Hellgreen; make a game that was simple to play, but highly customizable.
In Hellgreen, rules never put themselves in the way of your fun and narrative.
They exist solely to help you forge your story and explore.

Speaking of forging a story, you have at your disposal many random tables to generate the Exclusion Zone region you’ll be visiting, such as these Random Anomalies.

Anomalies play a big part in Hellgreen’s story, as many private companies and state-backed NANCo (which stands for Naval and Airborne Nations Confederacy) hire Operatives to retrieve these marvels of physics.

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Want to know more about it? Well, I can’t tell you. You will have to find “Documents” in the Hellgreen to grasp what’s going on this cursed jungle.
I suggest that when you play solo, you avoid reading them before finding them through gameplay.

If you are a GM however, I think you should read them before you master your first session, and maybe even print them for your players.

Wait, Game Master? Your players.

NON-SOLO PLAY (MAYBE)

Hellgreen is a solo-first game, meaning it’s fully designed to be played solo. However, if during the crowdfunding we reach the first (and only) stretch goal, I intend to expand Hellgreen with a game mode for “traditional TTRPG”, to play alongside friends.

This will involve a small Game Master’s chapter on how to adapt Hellgreen for…multiplayer? We probably need to find a better term for this…

The same advice could also be used when playing co-op with friends!

ALL DIGITAL

Hellgreen will be released as a PDF and on Itch.io, meaning this time around the game will release digital only!
Alongside the PDF for the game I plan on releasing avatars you can use in VTTs or actual plays. At least 10 can be found as an add-on on Kickstarter.
It’s my first time creating a digital-only RPG, I hope it goes well!

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SEE YOU IN THE HELLGREEN

While I can already tell you that we will delve further into Hellgreen and its details, that’s it for today. See you in two days!

Greetings fellow wizards! In the previous entry of the Tome of Oddz, we discussed the games of 2024, which was a very good year for tabletop stuff.
However, it is time to look forward: what can we expect from 2025?

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Dungeon Bound - by Fari RPGs

Since in the previous article we cited “Songs and Sagas”, how could I not mention today FariRPGs’ upcoming game “Dungeon Bound”?

Dungeon Bound is an OSR-Inspired game where you play as adventurers trapped in a corrupted forest. You’ll have to make your way through loads of monsters and traps, traversing the oily roots of this cursed place.

So, if you ever thought “What would happen if Diablo and Annihilation had a baby?”, here’s your answer: it’s Dungeon Bound.

The game also comes with a printer-friendly version to use when you play around the table, which is super helpful if you are PDF hoarder like me.

If you want to check out the game’s pre-launch page, check out this link.

HEDGE - by A Couple of Drakes

That’s it folks, the Fey have won. We are now in a post-fall world, and the only thing we can do, to cite Sabaton’s song, is to Resist and Bite.

These are the premises of power fantasy RPG “HEDGE” by A Couple of Drakes, and you only have to take a look at the artstyle to know that when they said “power fantasy” they really meant it.

The artworks by Rosario Mendez really depict a beautiful world where the last bastions of humanity face against the worst nightmares coming out of dark fairytales.
HEDGE doesn’t just have the strength of a very fleshed out setting, it also has a narrative approach capable of bringing you inside its world in mere minutes, and it’s all thanks to both the art and writing.

The game was successfully funded on Kickstarter, and it’s expected to release in 2025. Meanwhile though, you can punch some fey with their free HEDGE quickstart zines.

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TRENCH CRUSADE - by Factory Fortress INC

Well, if I didn’t mention Trench Crusade in this article, I would probably lose my wargamer license.

And it’s not surprising. This beautiful wargame raised over 3 million dollars on Kickstarter, and was made by Tuomas Pirinen (author of Mordheim and many other games) and artist Mike Franchina (who worked on the Diablo video game), and many other incredible artists.

The result is the grimmest of grimdark war games, set in an alternative timeline where we unleashed hell during World War 1. I mean literally hell, with demons and all.
This skirmish game looks gritty and very inspired, and most importantly both the rules and models are fantastic.

And if that wasn’t enough, the game is miniature agnostic, which means you can use models from whatever manifacturer you want, including 3d printed.

The game is set to release around June if I’m not mistaken, but you can read the rules and the lore primer right now!

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There you go, three tabletop games to look forward in 2025. There are many more I surely left behind, so 2025 is going to be absolutely jam packed with great titles to play! We’ll dive more into these games in the next year!

Check out Hellgreen pre-launch

Hello fellow wizards! 2024 was a year full of incredible games, so it’s time to look back and find out what made them great. Join me into this delve down the hall of RPGs and Wargames of 2024, and make your hobby nights scheduling even harder with the addition of these great titles!

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Dear wizards, as you may have seen, I have not included the word “Best” before the title “Games of 2024”, for two reasons.
The first one, is that it looked bad behind that beautiful frog in the title image. The second one is that this list is more of a “Recommendations list”, rather than a competition.

However, this is a silly newsletter and we will not be discouraged by such serious discourses, so that’s why we are going to hand out “Awards” to each game we analyze!

Well, without further ado, let’s begin!

“Game you wish it never becomes real” Award

How many times have you said during a campaign “oh how I wish I was inside this world!” ? Well, you definitely will never say that in Mothership.

Mothership is a game inspired by the space-alien horrors of movies like Alien, or games like Prey, and let me tell you: Mothership 1e is good.
Mothership 1e is really, really good.
The game improves on a previous edition (called 0e by fans), and brings it to a fully fledged system. From a very simple character creation to a vast array of skills, this game mechanics feel like the pieces of a puzzle that fit perfectly together.

I had the opportunity to play a small campaign with my friends, and we had so much fun playing it that once it was over we agreed on an "open ending" to allow ourselves to play even more.

Yeah, I'd say it's that good.

Vote: 5/5 skulls

“Best narrative-focused game” Award

I always say that RPGs are games where narrative comes first.
However, in some games, it’s a lot easier than others.
In my opinion, in Songs and Sagas by FariRPGs, narrative comes first, second and third. And I love it.

While I do like some crunchy rule sets, there are moments in which I prefer games with a simpler approach. When I tried Songs and Sagas I discovered a game that does that, while still having fun and innovative mechanics, like the use of both dice and playing cards.
You can teach this game to a friend in less than 10 minutes!

The rules are made for a fantasy game, but they can easily be tweaked for other settings, like the Fallout/Borderlands-esque apocalypse of Wastewalkers by FariRPGs, and this Vietnam war-looking game called Hellgreen, made by… some guy I really don’t know anything about.

Oh, and I didn’t mention the best part. You can get the game for free. It’s pay what you want!

Overall, Songs and Sagas is truly a gem of a unique kind. It’s extremely approachable, user friendly, and best of all, it is fun.

Vote: 5 songs out of 5 sagas.

“Best Fantasy RPG, finally” Award

Old School and New School are two communities that really struggle to be at the same dinner table. It’s true for Punk music, and it must be true for RPGs too.
That is until Shadowdark by Kelsey Dionne sits at the thanksgiving’s head of the table.

Shadowdark is a fantasy RPG where you and your friends play as adventurers that delve into obscure places, sometimes located underground, where light sources and checking for traps is very important.
Sounds familiar? Well think again, because Shadowdark takes many of the classic approaches of OSR gaming and modernizes them to be enjoyable by both the Old and New school crowd.

The game is rules-lite, and extremely functional. I especially like the importance of light and the danger of darkness, which is handled pretty well by the mechanics.

With that being said, Shadowdark is probably the best fantasy RPG to play right now, especially for dungeon fans like me, and I couldn’t recommend it enough!

Vote: 5 / 5 Torches

“Best Ongoing Wargame” Award

Have you ever wanted to play a wargame, but you either are discouraged by the price of Warhammer minis, or by extremely complicated rule sets? Well, I have something for you.

Stargrave, published by Osprey games, and designed by Joseph A. McCullough, is a miniature agnostic game (which means you can use miniature from whatever manufacturer you like-heck, even LEGOs), set in a ravaged galaxy that is struggling to come out of a devastating war. In this setting, crews of independent mercenaries earn their living by various jobs around the galaxy, some more legal than others.
You play as one of those crews, and you battle against other crews, or ally against common threats.

If its giving you Firefly or Han Solo vibes, you’re probably on track.

Wargames are living concepts, that evolve alongside their community, and are nurtured by the authors’ contribution of new rules, artworks and stories. Stargrave is doing just that and the community is getting bigger because of it.
As of writing, the game has around 5 expansion books that add campaigns, solo and co-op, and a lot of new content options.

I absolutely fell in love with it, and I’m loving the community even more.
If you never played a wargame, I would highly recommend Stargrave!

Vote: 5/5 loot tokens

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Well, that’s it for today. We have examined some of the creme-de-la-creme of tabletop, but we are going to delve even deeper next week with more 2024 goodness and… maybe even something to expect in 2025!

Greetings fellow wizards! In today’s letter we are going to discuss about:

✍Going solo: why we enjoy solo games
🎲 Hellgreen: new updates on my solo game

Without further ado, let’s begin!

Going Solo

I have recently realized that what begun as a niche in the niche, is quickly becoming its own fully fledged hobby.
No, I am not talking about tiktoks of people eating a gazillion hot dogs, I’m talking about Solo Games.

I think everyone’s first impression when discovering solo games were a thing was “What!? And how are you supposed to enjoy a thing?”, especially in the case of solo tabletop RPGs.

After all, tabletop games like RPGs or wargames have been for more than 50 years a social hobby, and there was no such thing as a game you could play and enjoy on your ow-

Oh, okay. Fair enough.
Gamebooks!
Books like “Fighting Fantasy”, “Lone Wolf” and “Sorcery!” are essentially the ancestors of Solo Games, and their appeal is quite simple: you can sit down, grab a book, and play and dungeon delve by yourself. How cool is that?

Well Solo Games double down on that. Take Colostle for example. There’s not just the classic “fighting monsters and reading”, there’s a whole lot of new mechanics that help you forge a narrative alongside the classic exploration and fighting.

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And you know what makes these games even better? With a few tweaks, they can become great co-op games or classic TTRPGs.
As a matter of facts, many games today are introducing Solo modes to their games (just like the beautiful Stoneburner by Farirpgs did) and I can totally see why: if you can try and enjoy a game in single player, you will probably consider suggesting it to your gaming group!

Another good example I have found outside the RPG scene, is the wargame Stargrave by Joseph A. McCullough. The game features expansions that can be played solo, co-op, and competitively, all while staying under the same narrative.
Which means you can take your space crew through hellish scenarios and then confront your friend’s crew, who’s probably already been through their own hell.
How cool is that?

I have also been suggested games like Rangers of the Shadow Deep by the same author, and Five Leagues from the Borderlands by Ivan Sorensen, which are definitely on my to-play-list.

Well, to put it shortly, the Solo tabletop scene is fantastic, and the best thing is that it seems to only get better as time goes by and many authors try new approaches.
Speaking of authors, time for a shameless plug about a solo game…

Hellgreen, my upcoming solo TTRPG is now fully-written. Hooray!
That means that we are closer and closer to the launch of the Kickstarter campaign, which you can find right here.

I will now focus on making artworks and checking out everything is okay layout-wise. I don’t usually like setting dates, but I think we could be launching this around January 2025. Hopefully!

Well my fellow wizards, I already hear you saying “but what will I do until January?” and that is why I am suggesting you try out the FREE, UPDATED, demo of HELLGREEN! Available rrright here.

That’s it for today, wizards, if the fight against dark forces of life allows me, next week we will be looking at some interesting games (both RPGs and Wargames) to look out for in the remnants of 2024 and the future of 2025!

Time to get the mutated abominable cat out of the bag: I have a new game coming out and it’s called HELLGREEN!

In this solo-first TTRPG you will be playing as an Operative, sent to explore a cursed jungle Exclusion Zone known as “the Hellgreen”.
Once a beautiful and luscious place, this zone is now home to all sorts of anomalies, abominations, and singularities.
Even worse, the Hellgreen is expanding and nobody can figure out why.

Hellgreen is going to be a solo game that focuses on survival and exploration, inspired by videogames like S.T.A.L.K.E.R., Metro Exodus, Fallout, and works set in the Vietnam War period. If you enjoy exploring post-apocalyptic environments, this game is for you!

Pre-launch page

The game is going to launch in crowdfunding very soon, and you can follow the pre-launch page here so you won’t miss the launch!
It also has a FREE DEMO you can try right now, absolutely for free!

Now, let’s talk about the game itself!

The game uses a modified version of the Songs and Sagas engine by Fari RPGs. I enjoy the fast and easy rules of S&S, and they adapted smoothly to a survival game conversion.

So what’s this Hellgreen about?

In Hellgreen you play as a trained soldier (an Operative) sent to complete missions and explore the Exclusion Zone situated in the fictitious country of Tanguan.
After a bloody war between a coalition of western countries and Tanguan, something awoke deep into the forest. The severity of anomalies and physics-defying events prompted a swift ceasefire, and the beginning of further investigations. A federation of nations named NANCo was formed, and started sending Operative to investigate the Exclusion Zone and retrieve precious singularities.
These object sport unnatural abilities, and have been known to affect the human body as well as their surroundings. It’s no surprise a thousand research institutes and corporations are dying to get their hands on them.

Playing as an Operative you will face both the horrors of the Zone and the horrors of the past Tanguan war, while looking to complete your mission and, why not, find something valuable to bring home.
The keyword however, is always the same: Survive.

You will be able to create an Operative and choose from 6 backgrounds, more than 10 weapons, and specialty equipment!

We will delve into the details of gameplay in future updates here on Tome of Oddz!

Where’s the demo?

For those of you wanting to explore and have a little taste of the Hellgreen, you can check out the free demo available right here!
Let me know if you are enjoying it!

We will get back together in the Hellgreen next week with updates and an in-depth look at gameplay!

See you in a week, Wizards!

FIRST AND FOREMOST: FUNDED.

Yup. The game funded in less than 5 hours! I have so many things of gratitude to say about this, so I’ll just leave them for tomorrow.

What you need to know is that STRIGA is happening, and it is all thanks to you.

Which also means that if you didn’t back the Kickstarter yet, you probably wanna do so before it ends. Here’s why.

FUNDED IN 5 HOURS, LESS THAN 24 TO GO

The Kickstarter ends in less than 24 hours, and we have unlocked 3 Stretch goals! That means that all backers will get an A4 printed One-Page-Dungeon, which is an exclusive to this crowdfunding!
You will also get STRIGA at a discount, so if you plan on getting the game, you definitely don’t wanna miss it now!

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You can find STRIGA’s Kickstarter right here.

Well, that’s pretty much it for today. Like I said, I am saving the words of gratitude for tomorrow. For now, I am going to retire into my wizard tower (my drawing desk) for the next 24 hours.
See you in the Spiral City.