A Continent of Banalities

(There are many rules like these, but these are mine). Doing things In Passing Strange you do things by announcing your intent. If it is a trivial thing you want to accomplish, the GM will generally allow it, but if the outcome uncertain it comes down to a roll of the dice. Roll 1D6 and add the relevant stat.  Soon this man will have to make a roll. Stat Rolled for Prowess Fighting. Shooting guns, swinging bats, pushing knives in between the ribs. May sometimes be used to impress upon others that you are bad news. Physique Purely physical tasks. Running, jumping, lifting, swimming and enduring physical hardship. Brains Mental tasks. Keeping focus when cracking codes, researching, noticing patterns or other cognitive challenges. Also resistance against thought- or emotion-altering magick. Luck Leavi...

The next stage of character creation is rolling up a background.  Roll 1D20 to get your character background I like the random backgrounds from Electric Bastionland and Honey Heist . This is me amusing myself, and hopefully making something interesting in the process.  01: Ascension blacklist You’ve done the ayahuasca, the psychic alchemy, the seven stages of orgone release. You’re READY. When you gotta rise up you’re helium man. Except that there are people out there who won’t let you. A shadowy group using electromagnetic radiation to influence your inner calm. The Prison Warder Consciousness is what some people call it, a fearsome being huddling jealously in a higher plane. Some say it’s agents of the Vatican or Silicon Valley. It doesn’t know who it’s dealing with. Lower your Luck by 2 points, as something is clearly working against your spiritual progress. Pick two spells from the sŭrtse (heart) list. You don’t think of it as magick, of cou...

Because I can I'm working on a(nother) game. The working title is Passing Strange. I'm kinda ripping myself off here, since it is another game about being strange and magical but having no clout or cash. I guess it is a heartbreaker, but I wanted to take a stab at making my own system, simple though it may be. In the end why do we do anything bro?  Character creation I want some combination of randomness and choice. I think randomness is good because it throws you curve balls. It irritates your creativity, and makes you unable to go for the things you always go for. Choice is good because it gives you a measure of ownership and a bit of control.  Roll 1D6 for each stat, then distribute 8 points among them. No stat can start higher than 10 or lower than 2. The Stats: Prowess Covers all the fighting you’re likely to get into. Physique Your fitness, agility and constitution. Running, jumping, climbing trees. I wanted to separate being physically fit from being good ...

This post is based on a piece of art by Evlyn M . They call her the Bramble Granny or just the Crone. She was old when the old folks in their recliners were fat babies. Used with permission In the trailer parks and the low rises they will point her in the direction of where she used to live. She may live there still, in the place on the corner, the double-wide drowned in roses. Few will have seen her, and almost none have learned from her. These are the magicks of the Crone. 01: Tales of lovers lost at sea and drowned in fountains,  tales of babies lost in woods and lost on mountains This is a short song whose words will come to you as you sing it. First you must bind a handkerchief that has absorbed the tears of seven people. One must be dead, one must be broken-hearted, and one must be an infant. One of these must be you. You must carry the handkerchief at your throat for a week for the magick to take root. The magic makes one person weep. No one is immune, be they ...

This is a hack of TROIKA! (and Fighting Fantasy in general). You play the part of a creature serving an evil overlord. The war against the Forces of good isn’t going as planned, and it may be time for some hard decisions. Do you stay and fight or desert? Do you try to switch sides (as if the Forces of Good would ever trust or shelter you)? Or do you maybe have some crazy scheme which might turn the tide in your favor, and visit doom upon the armies of elves, dwarves, humans and warrior angels. This hack is inspired by Fighting Fantasy books (particularly The Warlock of Firetop Mountain , Citadel of Chaos , Phantoms of Fear and Creature of Havoc ). Thanks to Eric Nieudan for letting me borrow his crowblins! It's all literal with these guys CREATING A CHARACTER Roll for SKILL, STAMINA and LUCK as described in TROIKA! Roll d3+3 to determine Skill Roll 2d6+12 to determine Stamina Roll d6+6 to determine Luck Roll d66 on the Background Table and record th...