I make roleplaying games

Motte and Bailey

The conceit of Motte and Bailey is quite simple. You arrive at the fence of a bailey. Beyond it is the Motte Wall. You must extricate the princess in the castle. Why are you here? 

The mechanics of the game are also quite simple. When it is your turn, you can either declare something about your character in the past tense (create a Virtue) or you can attempt to accomplish something in the present tense (an action). You then roll 1d6. The catch is—declaring a Virtue is on a scale between 3–10 based on how likely it is to be true for any random person in a medieval setting (with magic). Players can see what the difficulty numbers represent, so they are not too surprised. Failing a Virtue roll results in a Curse, a potential event in the future tense. Completing an Action always requires a 10 (on a d6) to, and if you fail, the Character dies (Players can still play with a dead Character, but they can’t take any Actions). 

To accomplish actions (and declare increasingly unlikely Virtues), you can Leverage other Virtues, Actions, and Curses. Each point of Leverage gives +1 to the roll. Players can only Leverage Virtues attached to their own Character, but Actions and Curses are shared. You can Leverage a Virtue as often as the Virtue is true, you can always Leverage Actions, but Leveraging a Curse destroys the Curse and also destroys an equal number of Virtues. 

I don’t want to spoil the game too much. It is a simple game to pick up. It is a one-page RPG, and everything to play it comes with the sheet (besides dice and a pencil). Motte and Bailey is also great to play over Discord. 

The overall idea behind Motte and Bailey is to create a game that specifically antagonizes Players who want to make a “super awesome epic hero.” Despite “drink a glass of water” being mechanically as difficult as “blow up the moon,” you will find that the latter is, in all practice, substantially harder (and probably less useful). 

My favorite moment from a Motte and Bailey game is an example of Leveraging a Curse in a very funny way. Earlier in the game, a Player tried to generate the Virtue, “there was magic in the Bailey,” in order to try and be some sort of spellcaster. In the end, the actual method of getting the princess out of the tower was to orchestrate a peasant riot regarding poor infrastructure due to a plague of asiatic beavers and Leveraged the Curse, “there will no longer be magic in the Bailey” as in “the magic, or joi de vivre, so to speak, of living in the Bailey will collapse due to frustration over poor infrastructure.” Hilarious. Very clever.

@teomos can back me up. Based on one of their projects.

Well, work continues on CMT. A Lucha Libre RPG. It's a rules-lite thing, only 3 Skills, but deep customization. Here you wrestle monsters, the media and the masses in a very Mexican setting. You quickly make your Luchador, choose their Patron, and their Moves. Moves are your specialties and apply both in the ring and outside. The "Grab" Move locks joints, but also captivates minds.

It's fun, waddayaknow, and I want to keep at it.

Lucha Libre may seem like a niche thing, but it's not, really, I dare anybody to give it a try and say the contrary. Cheers!

Thanks for the space! We're Unicycle Games and we are currently chewing through a backlog of WIPs but in the meantime, here's our debut title, THE LONG ROAD AHEAD.

THE LONG ROAD AHEAD is about Great Journeys and Great Sacrifices. Take on the role of wanderers embarking on an epic quest. The Road along which you travel cuts through a world of miraculous wonders, ancient mystery, unrelenting terrors & quiet beauty. A world worth saving.

THE LONG ROAD AHEAD at a glance:

Runs on the Apocalypse Engine

2-6 players + Scrivener (GM)

Intended for players 14+ (fantasy violence & themes of self-sacrifice)

Ideal playtime: 3-4 hours per session

Dice used: 2 six-sided dice

196 page PDF

Features 60+ retro-style pixel illustrations!

NEW! Hardcover book + PDF | $60 IndiePressRevolution: https://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/The-Long-Road-Ahead-Print-PDF.html Buy from IPR or ask your FLGS to order it in for you! Digital PDFs available | $25

Itch.io https://unicyclegames.itch.io/the-long-road-ahead 

DriveThruRPG https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/480669/The-Long-Road-Ahead RPG Trader: https://rpg-trader.com/products/1940/the-long-road-ahead 

IPR: https://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/The-Long-Road-Ahead-PDF.html 

NEW: PWYW text-only options! Designed for screen-readers but a great demo copy! Itch: https://unicyclegames.itch.io/the-long-road-again-preview-version DTRPG: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/563712/the-long-road-ahead-preview-version RPG Trader: https://rpg-trader.com/products/1940/the-long-road-ahead 

Curious about how TLRA plays? Check out this AP from @spellbookgaming: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UI68bD-UTwI and this two-part AP from @glasscannonnetwork: https://youtu.be/Cq8HyUPjRvw?si=dIQ7UUaJeSxlP__s & https://youtu.be/4ykPJ8ZlXpg?si=T28R3KdyNAhk7LXK 

Read a review of the TLRA character creation process on Tot’s Character Compendium: https://totscharactercompendium.wordpress.com/2025/01/14/the-long-road-ahead/ 

I made a GMless ttrpg about travelling through wilderness, managing energy, resources and time, and enjoying the alone time among friends.

Motte and Bailey

The conceit of Motte and Bailey is quite simple. You arrive at the fence of a bailey. Beyond it is the Motte Wall. You must extricate the princess in the castle. Why are you here? 

The mechanics of the game are also quite simple. When it is your turn, you can either declare something about your character in the past tense (create a Virtue) or you can attempt to accomplish something in the present tense (an action). You then roll 1d6. The catch is—declaring a Virtue is on a scale between 3–10 based on how likely it is to be true for any random person in a medieval setting (with magic). Players can see what the difficulty numbers represent, so they are not too surprised. Failing a Virtue roll results in a Curse, a potential event in the future tense. Completing an Action always requires a 10 (on a d6) to, and if you fail, the Character dies (Players can still play with a dead Character, but they can’t take any Actions). 

To accomplish actions (and declare increasingly unlikely Virtues), you can Leverage other Virtues, Actions, and Curses. Each point of Leverage gives +1 to the roll. Players can only Leverage Virtues attached to their own Character, but Actions and Curses are shared. You can Leverage a Virtue as often as the Virtue is true, you can always Leverage Actions, but Leveraging a Curse destroys the Curse and also destroys an equal number of Virtues. 

I don’t want to spoil the game too much. It is a simple game to pick up. It is a one-page RPG, and everything to play it comes with the sheet (besides dice and a pencil). Motte and Bailey is also great to play over Discord. 

The overall idea behind Motte and Bailey is to create a game that specifically antagonizes Players who want to make a “super awesome epic hero.” Despite “drink a glass of water” being mechanically as difficult as “blow up the moon,” you will find that the latter is, in all practice, substantially harder (and probably less useful). 

My favorite moment from a Motte and Bailey game is an example of Leveraging a Curse in a very funny way. Earlier in the game, a Player tried to generate the Virtue, “there was magic in the Bailey,” in order to try and be some sort of spellcaster. In the end, the actual method of getting the princess out of the tower was to orchestrate a peasant riot regarding poor infrastructure due to a plague of asiatic beavers and Leveraged the Curse, “there will no longer be magic in the Bailey” as in “the magic, or joi de vivre, so to speak, of living in the Bailey will collapse due to frustration over poor infrastructure.” Hilarious. Very clever.

@teomos can back me up. Based on one of their projects.

"They've got nobody in the Odyssey?"

"No I'm saying they don't got nobody."

"Nobody's there?"

"Nobody's not there!"

"So everyone's there?"

"Everybody but nobody!"