--with a longer campaign giving space to see more of the juxtaposition (narrative and mechanical) between the spirits and their shadows, a kind of representation of their lingering fears or regrets. More than anything Ink reminded me of a dark and dangerous Spiritfarer - high praise. - ThreadSky

benefiction.bsky.social • 66 days ago

--with a longer campaign giving space to see more of the juxtaposition (narrative and mechanical) between the spirits and their shadows, a kind of representation of their lingering fears or regrets. More than anything Ink reminded me of a dark and dangerous Spiritfarer - high praise.

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benefiction.bsky.social•66 days ago

(16) Pirate Borg, from @limithron.bsky.social. The only d20 game in the lineup, notably! I had never had the chance to try a Borg title before, and managed to get onto a table for "Lost in the Locker," a new module featuring - you guessed it - dead sailors trying to escape the afterlife.

benefiction.bsky.social•66 days ago

Mixed results for me with this one. I loved the character creation, the random tables, the incredible material quality of the book, the opportunity to deploy sea shanties for mechanical advantage. But... I wonder if d20 systems are just losing their luster for me - so many of our maniac schemes--

benefiction.bsky.social•66 days ago

--were squashed anticlimactically by one failed roll after the next, resulting less in high-stakes "things get worse" dynamics and more in daisy-chained attempts to do the thing. It felt less like edgy pitch-black fantasy and more like ineffectual pirate comedy! But here too I'm eager to try again.

benefiction.bsky.social•66 days ago

Honorable mentions to: Epyllion, for which my kid and I made characters but still haven't had a chance to play a session; Hammer of the Earth, another Micro RPG about apocalyptic train crews, which is next up on the roster, and "Frozen Heart," the wee one's first foray into game design--

benefiction.bsky.social•66 days ago

--which we play tested exactly once. Absolutely nothing to do with Frozen: It's a haunted house exploration game-- with different problems in each room until you come across the source of the curse that has turned the residents of the house to scary ice ghosts. It's actually... kind of good?!

benefiction.bsky.social•66 days ago

And that's a wrap on 2024's new games!

So happy 2025, tabletoppers. And remember LeGuin's dictum: "The exercise of imagination is dangerous to those who profit from the way things are because it has the power to show that the way things are is not permanent, not universal, not necessary."

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