Indie TTRPGs

thank you in advance :D

THEME: Interesting Inventory.

Hello friend! I’ve got a few games here that do interesting things with inventory limit, and I also have some other games that provide limitations on your gear in other ways.

SCRAPPED, by rolomics.

The year is 2124, and 99.9% of the human population is gone. Automatons reign supreme. Homunculi were created by splicing human DNA with other animal/creature DNA to enhance their body structure and strength. Because of this, Homunculi serve as super soldiers for the humans, but even with all their efforts, they still could not stop the automaton take over. 

You are a Homunculus, the echo of a past era and all that remains of humanity.

Scrapped is an original post-apocalyptic rules-lite tabletop role-playing game about scavenging, crafting, and surviving in the unforgiving wastes of a planet obliterated by war. This game was inspired by other post-apocalyptic games from the Fallout franchise.

Scavenging and crafting are at the heart of this game, and that means that Scrapped has paid a lot of attention to inventory. The game comes with item cutouts to help you visualize your inventory, and also requires you to ‘slot” certain items into certain places - if an item doesn’t fit, you can’t carry it! Each character occupation starts with specific pieces of equipment, although you’ll be able to scavenge more along the way. On top of that, you’ll also play around with mutations that affect your character, spending Mutation Points to get beneficial and effective mutations.

If you’re interested in this game, it’s currently free! The designers are eager for feedback and would definitely love to hear from anyone who plays it.

Numenera / The Cypher System, by Monte Cook Games.

This is the Ninth World. The people of the prior worlds are gone—scattered, disappeared, or transcended. But their works remain, in the places and devices that still contain some germ of their original function. The ignorant call these magic, but the wise know that these are our legacy. They are our future. They are the …

Numenera.

Set a billion years in our future, Numenera is a tabletop roleplaying game about exploration and discovery. The people of the Ninth World suffer through a dark age, an era of isolation and struggle in the shadow of the ancient wonders crafted by civilizations millennia gone. But discovery awaits those brave enough to seek out the works of the prior worlds. Those who can uncover and master the numenera can unlock the powers and abilities of the ancients, and perhaps bring new light to a struggling world.

I’ve talked about it before but I really enjoy the way items in this system are used to hold really powerful abilities that are usually only used once. Your character can only carry so many Cyphers at any given time, with a risk of strange or weird things happening if they decide to carry more than their typical limit allows. Cyphers can be found on roll tables, which means that any time players decide to look for loot, the GM can just roll a d100 to generate something interesting - and if you really want to get into the nitty-gritty of customizable inventory, I recommend both the Destiny and Building Tomorrow books to complement your campaign.

Breathless: New Horizons, by The Silent Mage.

Breathless - New Horizons is a game based on a primordial future, where giant technological beasts took over with inexplicable awareness, after a scientific crash down.  This game is freely inspired on the Horizon Zero Dawn games.

As humanity rebuilds itself from nothing, you act as Hunters, skilled member of the Guilds, scouting the world for lost knowledge and mysterious pieces of technology called Echoes. 

In Breathless - New Horizons, your items are nearly equally useful to skills, with a dice attached to each item. As with other rolls in Breathless, the item deteriorates the more you use it, symbolized by the size of your dice getting smaller with each use - but unlike skills, items don’t refresh when you take a break. Use an item too much and it deteriorates to the point of uselessness, which means that getting new items is important if you want to be able to keep adventuring. Fortunately, there are loot check rolls attached to tables, which means that while you might not have a lot of control over what you get, there should be plenty of opportunities to re-stock.

This game also has a special kind of item, called an Echo, which can be carried in limited numbers (typically you can only carry 2). Echoes might require a bit of construction before they’re usable, but have special effects that go above and beyond a regular item, and some of them can even be re-charged.

Dead Meat, by Blind Ink.

Dead Meat is a hack of FIST by Claymore. It is a cyberpunk game set in a brutal, absurd dystopia where man and machine are equally worthless in the eyes of the unrelenting pressure of exploitation. Thrown headfirst into problems beyond their ability to solve, players will have to cheat, steal, and sabotage their way through missions to get by. Put money away in a stash to get out of the life, watching your friends drop like flies.

Dead Meat takes an approach to gear that is similar to what I’ve seen in games like Apocalypse World and Monster of the Week. Your gear is determined by your origin, and how the gear can be used is determined through the use of tags. Some of these tags are mechanically transparent - how many times you can use them, or how much they heal or harm - but other tags are more evocative. For example, a vampiric weapon heals you when you use it, while a messy weapon prevents enemies or victims from being identified by police. I have a feeling some of these tags could also bring a narrative downside - perhaps it’s hard to hide a murder with a messy weapon, and a weapon that houses an AI might disregard the wishes of its user.

As with many cyberpunk games, there’s plenty of items that your character can pick up and carry without that much of a drawback - because regular items aren’t what makes this interesting. What you’re really here for, is the Cyberware. In Dead Meat, Cyberware is difficult to get access to, which means that beggars can’t be choosers - if you decide to get chromed up, you’ll take whatever the market gives you, and you’ll like it. As far as I can tell, getting a new piece of Cyberware is kind of like getting a new PbtA move - for example, if you end up getting Advanced Optics, you get +1 to your Chrome stat and you have the ability to pull up someone’s records off the net.

The Grim Odd, by g0ri.

This is a grim world. Any life lived in this world shall be nasty, brutish and short. This is an odd world. From the foul cracks and fissures of the world creeps a strange and omnipotent current – the Odd. Some say the Odd suffocated the gods. Others insist the Odd is the gods. In either case, the Odd animates the living world and it presents opportunities for the daringly ambitious.

The Grim Odd is a fantasy roleplaying game that takes place in a perilous world of unjust dealings and unworldly strangeness. Roll up a character quickly, search for magical artifacts known as Oddities, and delve - as a group or alone - into a role-play experience where rules are mere tools to facilitate the application of the internal laws of the world itself.

OSR/FKR Games often put the lore in pieces of the game like characters or gear and this is a great example. The Odd is a mysterious, powerful piece of the setting, illustrated through Oddities, strange items that grant you power but demand a cost for their use. You can use these oddities to inspire an adventure or mystery, and let the players keep them as they adventure - at great personal risk.

Characters also start with a basic inventory determined by their career, which they should be able to use to solve problems in ways that help them avoid having to roll - and therefore face death or other consequences. If you want a game where your inventory is a fundamental part of telling a story, you might want to check out games like this one.

Convenience Stores & Casinos, by Archangel Studios.

We've all seen those over-the-top, high action heist movies with get-away drivers, explosives, and wild gun fights. Well, what if you took those tropes, typically reserved for the likes of bank, museum, and casino heists, and applied them to just about anything you can get your grubby paws on? I mean, a heist is a heist is a heist as long as you have the right attitude. 

Convenience Stores & Casinos is great for groups that want to go big or go home - even if going big just means an over-complicated heist just to steal a bag of chips. Characters are derived from rolled stats, and playbooks that represent different tropes in heist fiction.

There’s not a lot to do with inventory in this game; the only tables present are the weapon and armour tables. However, weapons and armour are attached to level; you have a chance of getting something good at a low level but that chance is very slim. As the characters prepare for a heist, they can roll to see what kinds of weapons they’re allowed to have, and the higher level they are, the higher chance that they find something that can pack a real punch. Combat is not something you’ll want to get into at the beginning - but as you level up, you’ll take bigger and bigger risks, which will probably lead to more and more things going wrong. I also like the section on the weapon table titled “you just wanted to play D&D didn’t you?”

Other Posts of Mine To Check Out

Markets and Trade

Gathering and Crafting

i had a zoom call with a therapist this past week who was looking for recommendations for potentially therapeutic ttrpgs to play with her clients so ... duet game post to go with the therapeutic multiplayer ttrpgs and therapeutic solo ttrpgs posts!!

(check out the multiplayer post for some general guidelines & recs on therapeutic play)

this is the list i came up with, in alphabetical order ...

dragon keeper by @rollforthings

"Dragon Keeper is a ttrpg about a dragon keeper and their newly-hatched baby dragon, who are thrown into a fantastical journey of discovery, magic, friendship, and growth. These two characters use simple but asymmetric rules. The Dragon starts small and grows in power from trying new things, and from their Keeper's care. The Keeper starts skilled but needs to rest and catch their breath -- which may be a challenge when a baby dragon is such a handful." (itch page) the therapist i spoke to works with a lot of youth, especially autistic kids, and so this rec is in here especially for them. i added this in here because it's a cooperative game that encourages altruistic play and mechanizes the benefits of rest, while still keeping stakes & adventure

golden & rascal by kodi gonzaga @jaztice

"Golden & Rascal is an asymmetrical two-player roleplaying game about two siblings in a cruel place, one desperate to love and be loved, the other determined to free and be freed. One player will play as Golden, the favorite child with a vacillating sense of self, and the other will play as Rascal, the black sheep with a rebellious nature. Together, you will create your world and characters, build out and play through scenes, and find out what happens to your siblings as they discover who they are—with and without each other." (itch page) this game is built on the badger + coyote engine, which uses asymmetric playbooks in a gmless duet format, and i think that really sings in this game. i think this would be really meaningful to play for those processing childhoods that featured parental mistreatment, abuse, and parentification, especially with the capacity to abstract the situation into popular genres like boarding school and fantasy

hearth & home by meguey baker

"Over the course of a few hours, using objects in your home, explore themes of connection, challenge, support, and facing your fears." this game is a really lovely one to play with people of all ages, in a physical space with objects and knickknacks around (like a therapist's office). each round you will choose one or two objects for another player, representing things like an aspect of them, a struggle they're having, tools you think they have at their disposal, etc. you can let the object speak for itself or discuss why you chose that object and what it means. i think it's a great one to start meaningful conversations

HOME by alxlinear

in HOME, one player is a person with amnesia wandering through a house. the other player is the house itself, the objects within it, and any npcs who may be present. you go room by room exploring the house while the pc exploring unlocks feelings and memories i think this is a really good game to explore past events (like trauma), feelings, and difficult (or difficult to access) memories. therapeutic play would have to be very intentional and careful (like the rest of the games on this list), but i do think this one has the potential to be really powerful, and also can be played within an hour long session

shadow / giant by @psychhound (that's me!)

"Shadow / Giant is a duet roleplaying game about finding care, safety, and family amidst a malicious and unaccepting world. In it, one player will play as the Giant – a gruff and jaded adult who thought their care for the world was long gone – and the other will play the Shadow – a child with magical abilities who now relies on them for protection." adding one of my own games to this list because i think it fits :) like golden & rascal, it's built on the badger + coyote engine, featuring asymmetric rules and mechanized miscommunications between parental figure and child. i thought this one is also good for exploring childhood familial trauma, but from the angle of "what does a more caring and compassionate relationship with a caregiver (who is far from perfect!) look like" rather than mimicking a relationship pattern from childhood

also once again plugging my thesis #mythesis which is all about therapeutically applied ttrpgs ...

i'm going to type all the recs up and put them on my website as well!! will link on this blog when i do :)

If you're looking for groups to play with, I recommend finding game designers you like and checking out their Discord servers! There's always plenty of people there who are looking to play.

Here's some specific designers who write games (not their entire catalogue, but some!) that I would consider whimsical:

Kurt Refling (Sock Puppets has you make actual puppets)

Possum Creek Games (Yazeba’s Bed & Breakfast)

Pandion Games (Banda's Grove, Midnight Muscadines)

Stout Stoat (Scurry)

If you're looking for groups to play with, I recommend finding game designers you like and checking out their Discord servers! There's always plenty of people there who are looking to play.

Here's some specific designers who write games (not their entire catalogue, but some!) that I would consider whimsical:

Kurt Refling (Sock Puppets has you make actual puppets)

Possum Creek Games (Yazeba’s Bed & Breakfast)

Pandion Games (Banda's Grove, Midnight Muscadines)

Stout Stoat (Scurry)

If you need help finding your reps/need a script:

THEME: Duet Games Part 3

Hello friend! I know of quite a few duet ttrpgs, many of which you can find in my duet tag. Here's a few more for you to noodle at, some of which have a GM/Player dynamic, others which have asymmetric roles, and one or two that give you both a similar experience.

A Hymn For The Odd-Host, by Glyphtide Games.

On a distant habitable moon, a robot crash lands in a wild forest…

One of the forest's inhabitants, a sentient slime that feeds on electrical energy, finds its way into the robot's damaged circuitry…

This is their conversation.

An asymmetric game between a broken robot and sentient slime

A Hymn for the Odd-Host is a two-player asymmetric game that blends elements of strategy and roleplaying. One player plays as a broken robot with a terrible secret, guiding a sentient slime to repair its damaged subsystems. One player plays as the sentient slime, uncovering the truth while feeding off of this stranger's energy.

What emerges is a story of two strange entities and the relationship that grows between them.

A Hymn For The Odd-Host comes in the form of two brochures; one for the player embodying the robot, the other for the one playing a sentient slime. You'll need a deck of cards and 16 tokens to play.

This would be a great option if you just want to sit down for a couple of hours and play through a story once. I like how it gives you a chance to explore the other character, but in a set-up that gives you some distance between your character and typical human feelings. The robot doesn't have to feel remorse; and the slime might not understand betrayal. I'd be curious to see how such a set-up might change how I play.

Summer/Camp, by incaseofgrace.

A group of unwitting campers arrive at a summer getaway camp, where a terrifying threat awaits them…

SUMMER/CAMP is a duet TTRPG that seeks to emulate the thrills of classic slasher movies. One player takes on the role of a fearsome slasher, while the other plays 5 unwitting campers that must attempt to escape with their lives…

Are you looking for a story that might just kill you? Or are you looking for a campy, tongue-in-cheek thrill ride of sickeningly creative kills? The choice is yours-- make sure both of you are in agreement!

A great option for fans of 80's horror, Summer/Camp gives one player the role of the Slasher, and the other the role of the Campers. While it may feel counterintuitive, I recommend the "GM" player to take on the role of the Slasher, and the other person to take on the role of the Campers. While the second player will be embodying multiple people, the Campers have a backstory as a crew; and all of them will be trying to escape the horrors that the Slasher inflicts upon them.

Tacklebox, by Possible Worlds Games.

Step off of dry land and into Tacklebox, where reality shifts with every card!

In Tacklebox, card prompts shift the nature of reality around you. Keeping each prompt to yourself, any time you draw a card you're tasked with roleplaying its change in circumstances to your fishing partner. Prompts can either be kept a secret for the full game, strategically played to guide roleplaying, or revealed when guessed to earn points. Simply choose your rules, grab your cards, and cast your line into the unknown!

This might be a great game to play with someone who is a bit hesitant about roleplaying; it's basically a deck of cards with different prompts that you use to change the situation for the person you're playing with. From what I understand, the initial premise is that the two of you are fishing together. However, when a player draws a card, they must use the prompt on the card to help them describe how reality changes for the other fisher. The two of you might be navigating different realities together, or competing to figure out what's going on!

To get the physical version of Tacklebox, you can check out the Possible Worlds Store.

Rogue Blight, by Junk Food Games.

Rogue Blight is a ttrpg inspired by rogue-lite video games. There are parts of the game rules left blank. When you print it out, you will roll to see what is filled in. So, things like setting and conflict resolution rules will be different between campaigns.

It is meant to be for 2 players, but can be played with more.

Rogue-Blight looks to be a fairly simple fantasy game, although the amount of pieces that you fill in as a player/gm mean that you can likely tweak it to fit whatever setting you like (that is, assuming that you don't use the provided roll tables). It's a piece-together-and-play kind of game, which might be fun to tinker with if you want to figure out what kind of style of game you want to play, or if you want to tinker with different kinds of resolution styles.

Tower of Deviltry, by Ill Gotten Games.

You walk the remaining stretch after your horse falls to the Poison Moors. Weary and aching, you find renewed vigor as you clear the serpentine pines of the Sullen Forest. The Tower of Deviltry now looms before you. In the night sky above the dread constellation burns bright, a shape familiar to the curse-mark borne upon your skin. The gates creak open. Your crucible is at hand.

In Tower of Deviltry, one player will create an accursed noble entering a deadly gauntlet that will test their mettle. The other will act as GM, controlling the tower and its mystical knightly guardians.

This is a perfect game for folks who want a typical GM/Player experience, condensed onto 2 pages. One page is very text-heavy, with a an explanation on how to make a character, a list of weapons, combat rules and advancement mechanics. The second page is a grid that you can use for the tower map, as well as a character sheet for the player to fill out. The genre feels like a standard fantasy game, with dungeon levels and a curse to haunt you should you fail to ascend to the top.

Farm Flesh, by Rhodocros,

The land provides. You just need to work for it.

There is blood in the soil. It wishes to feel alive again.

Farm Flesh is a two-player storytelling game about a farmer and the ever-growing mass of flesh that is overtaking their land. Take turns moving around a narrative rondel as you progress through a year of blood, sweat, and tears, weaving together a story of struggle and growth along the way.

Both players in this game are using a similar tool to attempt to progress; a pair of rondels with actions on each slice, which can be navigated by using Haste points as you progress through four seasons. The page with the rondels is very smartly set up, so that you can have the players sit across from each-other at a table and both be able to see the rules that are relevant to them.

For a more typical GM/Player experience, I'd recommend having the "GM" player act as the mass of flesh, and the player act as the farmer. It might also be fun to play the game a second time and switching roles!

Hands Up!, by Luna Rose Manor.

Hands Up is a diceless, two-page crime rpg for two players. One of you is a Robber, stealing a Gem. The other is a Director, helping tell their story. Together, you'll go on a chase neither of you will forget in a hurry.

This is another game where the roles for each participant are fairly clear; one of you is the Director, which feels very much like a typical GM role, and the Robber, who is attempting to win the game by getting away with the diamond they've just stolen.

You play by using rock-paper-scissors, tracking the Robber's Health and Heat as they play. Health is fairly standard; it's an abstract representation of how many hits you can take before you're down and out for good. Heat increases as the Robber engages in bigger and bigger risks, but decreases if they manage to complete a part of the plan without any problems. If the heat gets too big, then your obstacles may become too big to escape, and the Robber is handcuffed and taken away.

Anyways...

Where I learn necromancy to bring the author back to life to see whats the proper interpretation of their work

my dog laika is 11 years old and absolutely loves cats. she's a gentle soul and is in her golden years. she's always been an only dog, but up until now i've always had roommates. i thought it would be good to get her a companion while she's in her retirement age so she isn't lonely when i'm out of the house 

i found a young cat at a local rescue who is an absolute sweetie and is great with dogs. he's also fully blind. i think laika would make a wonderful caretaker to a young, disabled cat and i think it would give her a lot of purpose and love in her grandma years. i'm running this sale to help cover the costs of the adoption fee and pet deposit so these two can be happy together in their forever home 

[ID: two photos. one is of a tan pit bull asleep on a couch. she's wearing blue space-themed pajamas and is cuddled with a blanket and pillow. the second photo is a young orange cat laying down but facing the camera with fur completely covering where his eyes would be. end ID]

i have solo games, two-player games, and multiplayer games!! some highlights:

shadow / giant: a two-player wolf & cub trope game about a jaded adult and traumatized, magical child trying to outrun a threat to get somewhere safe

interstate 10 1/2: a one page multiplayer game about a quirky roadtrip through an eldritch middle america

a heart starts beating: a solo journaling game using dice towers & rituals about a haunted house brought to life by tragic, toxic lesbians

devil x crossroad: a two player game where you play poker against the devil using tarot cards in order to trans your gender

little celestial fieldwork guide: a solo+ game where you divine the disguises of spirits and tiny gods and then go out to photograph them in your real life city

familiar field trip: an all-ages competitive multiplayer game where you play as witches' familiars causing havoc in the village

if any of these sound interesting, there are 17 games total on sale on my itch for the next few weeks!! please check it out!!!

after seeing his picture the pet store employees got me special discount stuff from the back that hadnt been put out yet and gave me a huge coupon book for free. they were so great i obv left a good review

less than a day left!!!

these games wont go on sale again for a while !!!

[ID: six photos of tommy. some of them are cuddling with me and some of them are him next to laika the dog. end ID]

the internet archive is getting sued for a bajillion dollars. you can voice your support for the archive and its services on change.org here or below.

Hiya folks, just to let any of you who don't know, that the Queer Games Bundle for 2025 is live. Just Ignore the fact that it is 2 months late, and go an support queer creators (including myself)

There is a $60 version here: https://itch.io/b/3062/queer-games-bundle-2025-with-10-option

And a $10+ pay what you want/can version here: https://itch.io/b/3063/queer-games-bundle-2025-pay-what-you-can-edition

Milk Bar: Cut Your (Milk) Teeth Edition is a 52-page condensed version of the full roleplaying game containing everything you need to get started playing immediately. There are only 200 copies of this one out in the world so get yours as soon as you can!

The Cut Your (Milk) Teeth Edition features:

Quick, simplified rules in the old school tradition.,

32 Character backgrounds, including vibes-heavy descriptions and burdens.,

Unique city setting in a retro-futuristic, alternate-timeline post-Soviet Communist Poland.,

Artifacts from the Belt. You can't have a condemned government research base without weird artifacts.,

Progression system tied to basebuilding. Want to stitch up those wounds? You better build an Infirmary and find a Doctor. Your Milk Bar is your home base.,

Logistics. Building a community isn't easy: set up trade routes and gather vehicles to set your Milk Bar up for success.,

Rules for exploring supernatural, changing spaces. Steel nuts in hand, stalk the wilderness.,

A Bestiary featuring robotniks and supernatural creatures.,

Pierogi. How many other games have a favourite pieróg table as part of character creation?

Milk Bar is inspired by Roadside Picnic, Annihilation, Stalker, Control, Pacific Drive, Disco Elysium, and Death Stranding.

Full edition coming soon.

You can also grab a text-only, entirely free version at the link below if you want to check it out!

How the Wildsea Produces Culture [TTRPG Setting Analysis]

My latest video is on Felix Isaacs' "The Wildsea!" I borrow inspiration from the work of scholar Stefan Ekman, who is particularly interested in "critical worldbuilding." I think Ekman has some really interesting perspectives on how texts create their worlds, intentionally or otherwise--In particular I loved his piece "World-building through garments and accessories in dungeons & dragons illustrations."

I took inspiration from that kind of setting analysis and tried to apply it to The Wildsea, a game which I've heard a lot about and knew I would love based on the fiction alone. When reading the game, I was thrilled to see how much work Isaacs put into imagining the cultural implications and norms of the setting, and had to focus on that.

Spine of Eternity is a part of the amazing Queer Games Bundle 2025! get it and another 600 products from from more than 300 talented queer artists for a minimum price of ten dollars!

Patchwork World by @aaronmfking

For those who don't know, YouTube will be adding AI age verification for US-based users starting August 13th. This will attempt to use "the types of videos a user is searching for, the categories of videos they have watched, or the longevity of the account," to determine their age, regardless of what birthdate they have entered. If an adult is incorrectly determined to be a child, they will need to give YouTube a government-issued ID or a credit card to verify their age. As with many such things, YouTube claims it is for the children's safety. Obviously, I am all for protecting children, and I don't want them to be exposed to things they shouldn't see, but this is most likely more about data collection. Even if it was about children's safety, this was the logic used for creating YouTube Kids, and we can all see how "safe" that is.

If you don't want to directly send your driver's license to Google, you'll need to deal with "age appropriate product experiences and protections," such as "digital wellbeing tools" and disabling personalized ads. The second part is because in the US, it is illegal to collect certain information about people under the age of 13. Now, the people at Google (which owns YouTube) love collecting information about their users, but they don't want to get in trouble, and they believe AI moderation is the answer. Not only can the AI work around the clock, but if anything goes wrong, they can say it was the machine that made the mistake, not them. And, as with any moderation, there will be mistakes (again, look at YouTube Kids).

Because of this, creators and viewers alike are planning to stop using the site starting on August 13th. I personally doubt YouTube will care much, at least at first, but if they lose enough ad revenue, they might reconsider their decision. YouTube says they'll be rolling this out to a small test group first, so it might not affect you right away, but if nothing is done, it will soon. If you're an American who uses YouTube regularly, I encourage you to join, whether just for a day, or as long as it takes. And if you have kids, please teach them internet safety and monitor their internet access so that companies can't make this garbage excuse anymore.