iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

you think that's bad, you should see the dire flail

Pictures of weapons; a heavy flail, light flail, morningstar, and dire flail.

All but the dire flail are what you would expect. The dire flail has a flail head on each end. There is no possible way to use this without injuring yourself.

aryxymaraki @aryxymaraki.itch.io · 18/10/2026

thanks to the spirit of inspiration it's named HARD CURRENCY now i think it's too late at night for me to be allowed to write an intro

Travel. Buy. Sell. Sell. Sell. Oh god not like that. Buy again. Sell. What do you mean wheat futures have dropped 40%. Get me the duke in this room in twenty minutes or you’re fired. What do you mean the guilds are blocking my shipment of iron? Get my good tunic. I’m going to deal with this personally.
You’re not just an adventurer. You’re a trader. And you have some HARD CURRENCY to collect.
This is HARD CURRENCY, a modular trading minigame for adventure games. You’ll buy goods in marketplaces, trying to find marketplaces with high Commerce Ratings so you can trade in greater volume. But you’ll also want to minimize the Friction of your marketplaces, because Friction costs you….you guessed it, HARD CURRENCY. Every part of the Commerce Rating or Friction of a marketplace is always defined, and that means you can interact with them as you would with anything in the world. If the guilds are blocking your shipment (raising Friction), and you go “take care of” the guilds? They’re not blocking anything anymore and your Friction goes down. If the bridge to town is out, lowering the Commerce Rating, and you organize the town to get it rebuilt? That Commerce Rating goes back up. Take actions and interact with the world to support your trading, and you’ll be rewarded with….HARD CURRENCY.

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aryxymaraki @aryxymaraki.itch.io · 07/10/2026

this is just one of the six styles from chromebook 4 (which you can get the pdf of on dtrpg)

Image of the people described on previous page. Alt text continues.

3
Jennifer oozes confidence as she struts her stuff in this striking outfit by Marat, whose designs are all the rage at dance clubs nationwide. Her dare-to-bare garterbelt and hose arrangement belies the durability of her attire: those hose are Duraweave and can stop 9mm rounds (SP6). Her open-buckle jacket is by Alex of Milan, and features illumi strips throughout for stunning effects on the dance floor.
4
Leo is so ready in this bodysuit and jacket affair from ImageFashionware. This suave bodysuit design has relaxed pants tapering to a body-hugging top. The suit has a memory fabric zipper up the front that virtually disappears when closed. His short jacket features illumi strips and a built-in memo-chip with a time and
fo readout mounted discreetly in the lapel. Leo can get paged and log email numbers from anyone he meets in he clubs, all without breaking his rhythm ... And he'll keep the beat wearing those fresh, all-illumi shoes!
JJ I MAKE CLOTHES FOR THOSE WHO KNOW WHAT THEY HAVE AND AREN'T AFRAID TO SHOW IT. THE BODY ITSELF IS PART OF THE ENSEMBLE, PEEKING THROUGH HERE AND THERE TO COMPLIMENT AND ADD EXCITEMENT. PEOPLE COMPLAIN THAT I CHARGE SO
MUCH FOR SO LITTLE MATERIAL. WELL, SOMETIMES LESS IS MORE:'
-MARAT

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aryxymaraki @aryxymaraki.itch.io · 06/10/2026

six hp dungeon: the part where i decided that i don't care, the rule is good when used as intended and you know what the intent is, don't be a jerk

CHARACTER ADVANCEMENT
When you return to town, you gain experience points (XP). You gain experience points based on the deepest dungeon level you made it to in your last delve; 1 XP if you reached level 1-2, 2 XP if you reached level 3-4, and 3 XP if you reached level 5-6. (Levels 1-2 are Tier 1 levels, levels 3-4 are Tier 2, and levels 5-6 are Tier 3).
You can spend XP to unlock weapons and armor, allowing you to use their techniques. You are still limited by what you can carry, and it’s likely that after a while, you’ll have unlocked far more weapons and armor than you carry on any particular delve.
Unlocking a piece of equipment costs you an amount of XP equal to its Tier. In addition, you can’t unlock weapons or armor of a particular tier until you have reached a level of that tier in the dungeon (for example, you can’t unlock a Tier 3 weapon until you have reached level 5, because level 5 is the first Tier 3 level in the dungeon.) In addition, you cannot purchase Tier 3 weapons in town; you can only find them in the dungeon. Once you’re exploring Tier 3, you may find it useful to ‘bank’ your experience points and use them to unlock weapons after you find them, instead of guessing at what you’ll find. (However, keep in mind that you’ll receive enough XP to unlock an item after returning to town, so this is only really needed if you expect to find multiple T3 items in a single delve.)
SIDEBAR:
Yes, this means that it is theoretically possible to enter and leave the dungeon a million times and start with a million XP. This is clearly not the intent; the intent is that the reason you gained your XP is because you explored the dungeon and did things. Either play the game as intended or houserule it (both fine choices), but don’t feel clever that you found a way to abuse a good-faith rule.

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aryxymaraki @aryxymaraki.itch.io · 03/10/2026

OLD is an OSR game by this standard

The polearms page from OLD of What's Old Is New. Has a wide variety of polearms including but not limited to the bohemian earspoon, the ox-tongue, the svardstav, and the war-scythe.

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aryxymaraki @aryxymaraki.itch.io · 27/09/2026

I'm designing monsters for against the fall of night again

AMPHISBAENA (LEVEL 3, GIANT)
An amphisbaena is a twin-headed snake. Each head acts independently and can take actions in the same or a different phase. The amphisbaena as a whole can move only once per round. Each head also has its own stats and must be defeated independently.
Left Head
Wounds 12, Vitality 18
Armor 0, Aura 3
Combat Skill +0, Magic Skill +3
Toughness +1, Quickness +1, Mind +3
Spells (6 MP total):
Numbing Bite* (0 MP): The amphisbaena lunges with a poisonous bite. 1d20+3 to hit, 1d8+3 damage. A character damaged by this attack reduces their choice of AP or DP by the damage taken in the next round and the Right Head gains that many AP or DP in the next round.
Spears of Fire* (5 MP): Spears of fire rain down on up to five targets. Each target takes 2d6 fire damage (Quickness half).
Defense Techniques (6 MP total):
Poison Shield (1 MP): The attack’s damage is reduced by 3, and the attacker takes 1 poison damage (ignoring Aura). This defense applies to all attacks made until the Right Head takes damage. If Spike Shield is active when this technique is used, it ends.

Right Head
Wounds 12, Vitality 18
Armor 4, Aura 0
Combat Skill +3, Magic Skill +0
Toughness +3, Quickness +1, Mind +1
Attack Techniques (3 AP total):
Draining Bite* (0 AP): The amphisbaena lunges with a poisonous bite. 1d20+3 to hit, 1d8+3 damage. A character damaged by this attack loses MP equal to the damage taken and the Left Head gains that many MP.
Devastating Bite* (3+ AP): The amphisbaena puts its whole neck into a horrific chomp. 1d20+5 to hit, 2d8+5 damage. For each AP beyond 3 spent, add 1 to the damage.
Defense Techniques (3 DP total):
Spike Shield (1 DP): The attack’s damage is reduced by 3, and the attacker takes 1 physical damage (ignoring Armor). This defense applies to all attacks made until the Left Head takes damage. If Poison Shield is active when this technique is used, it ends.
(Note that while Aura and Armor do not help, appropriate defensive techniques can be used to reduce the damage from Poison Shield and Spike Shield if desired.)

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aryxymaraki @aryxymaraki.itch.io · 11/09/2026

I have finished the Dungeon (the Ancient Ruins) and the unhinged MMOTTRPG for minimalist jam is almost complete just finishing up the raid left this is the Dungeon Boss

Ancient Ruins: Demonic Prison
If your party has both the Upper and Lower Keys to Ibil’Ka’s Prison, you can free and fight Ibil’Ka, Demonic Presence. This consumes the Keys.
Ibil’ka, Demonic Presence
Injury: 30
Attack: Easy Check: Easy Save: Easy
Drop: 0+ and 2 Lava Infusions
Special: Each time any player succeeds at an Attack, Check, or Save to cause Injury, the difficulty of that approach goes up by 1 step. If you succeed at an Attack, Check, or Save while the base difficulty of that check is Absurd, the difficulty for that approach returns to Easy.

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aryxymaraki @aryxymaraki.itch.io · 08/09/2026

with the completion of the drop table, the included Zone is now complete! now i just need to finish statting out the Dungeon and the Raid, avoid doing any layout because it's minimalist, and ship it

Feral Wilds Drop Table (Roll 1d12)
Item Found
1-2
1 Currency*
3-4
Minor Healing Potion
5
2 Currency
6
Minor Mana Potion
7
Minor Resistance Potion
8
Minor Skill Potion
9
5 Currency
10
Homing Potion
11
Minor Shielding Potion
12
Weeping Heart

*(1 Currency is an amount of money or other item of value sufficient to purchase a sword or sword-equivalent item in your base system. Depending on the monster it dropped from, it may be literal currency, or it may be a valuable item that you can sell.)

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aryxymaraki @aryxymaraki.itch.io · 06/09/2026

at least the monster stats are minimalist

Wolves
Injury: 2
Attack: Easy Check: Average
Drop: 12+
Wolves attack with tearing teeth and cunning flanking.
Gnoll
Injury: 3
Attack: Average Save: Average
Drop: 10+
Gnolls attack with wicked flails and poisonous spit.
Ogre
Injury: 4
Attack: Hard Check: Average
Drop: 9+
Ogres attack with massive clubs and not a whole lot of tactics.

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aryxymaraki @aryxymaraki.itch.io · 06/09/2026

really starting to stretch the meaning of the word 'minimalist' here

With Alchemy, as a Crafting Profession, you can craft potions and oils. You can only craft when you are not engaged in any gameplay layer; not currently in a Zone, Dungeon, or Raid. As with Gathering Professions, when you learn a Crafting Profession, your skill is 1 and your skill tier is Apprentice (maximum 25 skill). When you craft any item, increase your skill by 1, up to the maximum for your skill tier. Crafting items requires both resources gained through Gathering Professions, and a minimum skill level for each item.
You can use a potion at any time while in a Zone or Dungeon. You must obey your system’s normal rules for using a consumable item while in a Raid. After using a potion in a Zone or Dungeon, you can’t use another until you take a 5 minute break (real time). After using a potion in a Raid, you can’t use another until the next Boss. You can’t have more than one potion active at a time; if you have an ongoing potion and you drink another ongoing potion, the newer one replaces the older.

Alchemy Craftable Items
Item Name
Minimum Skill
Resources Required
Effect
Minor Healing Potion
1
Arrowroot x1
Recover 1 Injury.
Minor Mana Potion
5
Arrowroot x1, Mulberry x1
Recover 1 expended ability.
Minor Resistance Potion
10
Angelica x1, Mulberry x1
The next Save you make is 1 Difficulty step lower.
Minor Skill Potion
15
Clover x1, Angelica x2
The next Check you make is 1 Difficulty step lower.
Homing Potion
20
Feverfew x1, Clover x2
Instantly leave the Zone, Dungeon, or Raid.
Minor Shielding Potion
25
Carnation x1, Feverfew x2
The next time you take Injury, you take 1 less Injury (min 0).

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aryxymaraki @aryxymaraki.itch.io · 05/09/2026

"What happens if you die" is a very important and vital piece of information to get set down and clearly understood usually it doesn't vary based on what you're doing at the time, though

Sidebar: What Happens If You Die?
When engaging in gameplay, you may take Injury, and depending on your system, this may even lead your character to die. But death in a solo activity is different from death in a raid. By default, the effects of death vary based on what gameplay layer you’re on at the time.
Zone: If you are exploring a Zone and you die, you are kicked out of the Zone and can’t come back until the next (real-time) day.
Dungeon: If you are in a Dungeon and you die, you are kicked out of the Dungeon and can’t come back until the next (real-time) week.
Raid: If you are in a Raid and you die, this causes whatever would normally happen upon death in your system to happen. In most TTRPG systems, this means that your party will need to resurrect you or you’ll need to make a new character.
As is standard for a Seared by the Meta-Dragon game, you will need to interpret these results as appropriate for the world and system you are using; the fact that your character mechanically ‘died’ does not mean that you diegetically ‘died’. For example, in a cyberpunk game, perhaps ‘death’ in a Zone simply means that you were injured and had to get a medevac.

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aryxymaraki @aryxymaraki.itch.io · 03/09/2026

watch this space for this year's minimalist jam entry

World of EverDragon
a proof of concept MMOTTRPG
Seared by the Meta-Dragon

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aryxymaraki @aryxymaraki.itch.io · 19/08/2026

sometimes tier 3 weapons are silly (ricochet occurs if you deal no damage with your attack, it's the mechanic for thrown weapons)

Moosearang 3 Ricochet: All Horde enemies in the same zone as the target die.

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aryxymaraki @aryxymaraki.itch.io · 11/08/2026

full page of maces and hammers

MACES AND HAMMERS
Weight: 1
1-Handed Melee Weapon
No one even bothered to put an edge on these weapons. Their wielders don’t need one. Someone who makes their living beating iron won’t have much trouble beating you.
Mace and Hammer Techniques:
Wide Swing
Hammer Blow
Sideways Smash
Overhand Club
Front Jab
Weapon Tier Passive
Club 1 Advantage on attacks against Skeletons.
Spiked Mace 1 Advantage with Wide Swing, but disadvantage with Front Jab.
Frying Pan 1 Advantage on your first attack after you cook Ingredients.
Flanged Mace 1 1/combat, push an enemy hit from Melee to Ranged zone.
Knobbed Mace 1 Can target up to two Horde enemies with Wide Swing.
Gada 1 Can be wielded in two hands to gain advantage on Sideways Smash.
Jian 1 1/combat, inflict disadvantage on an enemy attacking you with a blade.
Cudgel 1 If you roll Power 1 while attacking an armored enemy, it’s Power 2.
War Hammer 1 Advantage with Hammer Blow against armored enemies.
Shillelagh 1 Enemies composed largely of wood have disadvantage to attack you.
Blacksmith’s Hammer 2 1/rest, while Resting, can convert T2 items into equal Weight of T1 items.
Waterfall Hammer 2 Whenever an ally deals Overflow, they deal 1 additional Overflow.
Truesteel Mace 2 All attacks are Power 3.
Blackwood Cudgel 2 Slashing attacks against you have their Power reduced by 1 for that attack.
Disrupting Mace 2 Deals Radiant damage.
Battering Rammer 2 Power of enemy Defense used is reduced by 1 until end of combat.
Armorbreaker 2 Advantage on attacks against enemies wearing medium or heavy armor.
Spectral Mace 2 Power 1 and 2 defenses from armor do not reduce damage.
Bladeshatter Jian 2 Power 1 attacks with bladed weapons against you break the weapon.
Spiritcrusher 2 Can pay 1 HP when attacking to increase Power by 1 for that attack (max 6).
Sharur 3 Intelligent. Can fly, speak, and wield itself.
Gorz-e Mithra 3 All attacks can be Ranged. Allies (not you) with 0 HP cannot be harmed.
Yagrush 3 Always has advantage on attacks agai…

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aryxymaraki @aryxymaraki.itch.io · 10/08/2026

while doing research on mythical weapons for six hp dungeon I discovered that Kaomadaki , as a name for Vishnu's mace, is sometimes believed to derive from kumada, Sanskrit for the blue water-lily or blue lotus (same plant, two names) anyway it's an owl now @sprintingowl.bsky.social

Kaomodaki 3 Wielder can turn into an owl, gaining flight and night vision. Owl can Sprint as Combat Action, allowing any number of allies to change Combat Zone.

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aryxymaraki @aryxymaraki.itch.io · 31/07/2026

I put entire campaign forced retirement in Against the Fall of Night it is not just possible for the characters to 'fail' and the campaign to end without their explicit choice, it is inevitable, and that inevitability is a big part of the point

Endings and Epilogues
Conditions that trigger the epilogue:
If there are 4 or more Nightmares on the same island.
If a Nightmare grows to a Base Level above level 10.
If you reach five ticks after Midnight on the Night Clock.
If all characters are slain at once.
If there are 8 or more Nightmares active.
If it is Midnight at the start of the Growth Phase and no Nightmares are active, it becomes Dawn. This is

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aryxymaraki @aryxymaraki.itch.io · 31/07/2026

this sounds like the kind of thing I'd say in Cosmic Star Knights 1992

An ultrawave message embedded in the cosmic background radiation carries the cryptographic key that you were given before heading out on this mission, and so naturally you scan it. Ultrawave is a method that compresses a message into a zero-dimensional string, which allows it to exist in all places and times simultaneously, but is hell on data loss and so it is text-only.
Ultrawave: Cosmic Star Knights! This is Captain-General Rex Bankoff of the Galactic Guard. Your provided coordinates should have sent you near PLS-938-317, commonly called Newton, but what couldn't be said over insecure communication was that it is not just a landmark. It's not even a pulsar, knights. Twenty years ago we sent a team over there and we discovered its terrible secret. Newton is the corpse of a cyborg neutron star, and you need to get its heart. The heart should be in the core of the star. The stellar material has mostly been removed, but you'll still have to deal with its robotic remains. It's a real maze in there. Find the heart, and come back as fast as you can. We can see the fourth-dimensional shadow of the Chaos Portal already starting to form. If those Super Void Cruisers make it here before you get back, we're finished. When you get back here, get that heart through the Chaos Portal. If you don't make it in time, that portal will consume the galactic core and turn our entire galaxy into the Dark Lord's personal hell dimension! Good luck, Cosmic Star Knights. We're all counting on you.

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aryxymaraki @aryxymaraki.itch.io · 30/07/2026

in against the fall of night, having and defending a torch to hold back the darkness is of vital importance when facing creatures warped by Night (which will not be everything you face in a Nightmare, but will often show up in climactic areas)

THE NIGHTFALLEN TEMPLATE
To create an ordinary monster that has been warped by Night, apply the following changes.
Reduce their maximum Wounds by 2, to a minimum of 4.
If their Magic Skill is less than +1, increase it to +1.
They gain the Darken ability and the Home in the Dark passive.
Darken* (2 MP): The monster attempts to extinguish a torch, lantern, or similar light source that it can see. If a creature is holding the light source, that creature may make a Quickness test; on a failure, the light source is extinguished. If the light source is unattended, it is automatically extinguished.
Passive: Home in the Dark: In total darkness, the monster gains +2 Armor and +2 DP. If the monster has Aura above 0, it gains +1 Aura. The monster never considers darkness a disadvantageous circumstance.
If the monster is Large or Giant, reduce their Wounds by 4 instead of 2. They gain the Sudden Darken ability instead of Darken. (It’s the same as Darken, but does not require a Main Action). In addition, add the following to their Home in the Dark passive: “The monster regains an additional 1 MP each round in total darkness.”

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aryxymaraki @aryxymaraki.itch.io · 30/07/2026

this was the most fun part of writing all systems go aryxymaraki.itch.io/all-systems-go

There are five different manufacturers
presented here who make Components, in
addition to the Basic Components. The
manufacturer of a Component has no specific
game effect, but you may notice patterns in
their names, Startup Steps, and Component
effects. The five Component manufacturers
are Okikyuzo Heavy Industries (OHI), Apogee
Technologies (AT), Quality Electronics (QE),
Accelerated Critical Component Organization
(ACCO), and Calloused Working Robotics (CWR).

REACTOR COMPONENTS
Basic Reactor.
Priority: First.
Startup Step: “Initiate the
magnetohydrodynamic chamber.”
QE Secondary Reactor Buffering.
Subtract 1 from your Malfunction Points (min 0)
before calculating the effect of your mission.
Priority: Second.
Startup Step: “Bring the secondary core
buffering system online.”
ACCO Multicore Reactor Process.
Ignore the first time this component is damaged
on a Campaign.
Priority: First.
Startup Step: “Aggregate reactor cores to align
the adverse selection effect.”
OHI High Energy Antiproton Generator.
When rolling to avoid catastrophe due to having
one or more Malfunction Points, roll 1d8
instead of 1d6. When you roll for Component
Damage, roll 1d10 instead of 1d8, treating
results of 8+ as 8.
Priority: First.
Startup Step: “Expand the negative mass
annihilation envelope.”

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aryxymaraki @aryxymaraki.itch.io · 22/07/2026

these are the four cards i search for when i cast gifts

Card Name
Bronze Horse
Mana Cost
7
Type
Artifact Creature – Horse
Rarity
Uncommon
Rules Text
Trample
As long as you control another creature, prevent all damage that would be dealt to this creature by spells that target it.
Power/Toughness
4/4
Illus 1994 Mark Poole

Card Name
Ebony Horse
Mana Cost
3
Type
Artifact
Rarity
Common
Rules Text
2, T: Untap target attacking creature you control. Prevent all combat damage that would be dealt to and dealt by that creature this turn.
Artist
Dameon Willich

Card Name
Workhorse
Mana Cost
6
Type
Artifact Creature – Horse
Rarity
Rare
Rules Text
This creature enters with four +1/+1 counters on it.Remove a +1/+1 counter from this creature: Add one colorless mana to your mana pool. Play this ability as a mana source.
Artist
DiTerlizzi
P/T
0/0

Card Name
Shadowfax, Lord of Horses
Mana Cost
3RW
Type
Legendary Creature – Horse
Rarity
Uncommon
Rules Text
Horses you control have haste. (They can attack and
as soon as they come under your control.)Whenever Shadowfax attacks, you may put a creature card with lesser power from your hand onto the battlefield tapped and attacking.
Artist
Valera Lutfullina
P/T
4/4

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aryxymaraki @aryxymaraki.itch.io · 12/07/2026

but doctor, pagliacci is already a netrunner card

The original Netrunner card "Clown".
4 bits
Program - 1 MU
All ice is encountered with its strength reduced by 1.

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aryxymaraki @aryxymaraki.itch.io · 05/07/2026

as is traditional, we will run on Archives followed by a run on R&D, to celebrate achievements past and future

Custom Netrunner card Mara Day. Card art is a pink cake with chains and spiky balls.
3 credits. Event: Run * Birthday
As an additional cost to play this event, spend [click].
Make a run on Archives. Whether or not the run is successful, make a run on R&D. If both runs are successful, gain [click] and draw three cards.

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aryxymaraki @aryxymaraki.itch.io · 03/07/2026

intrusive game design thoughts about mage retroclone today

A mage's Backlash is governed by their Sins. Mages have three types of besetting Sins, being Hubris, Narcissism, and Oblivion, each rated from 1-5. When a Backlash occurs, the form the Backlash takes (and the table you roll on) is determined by your highest Sin. The power of the Backlash is determined by the sum of your Sins. Each time you increase your Essence (including when you gain Essence 1 as part of character creation), you also increase one of your Sins by 1 (your choice). Your Sins may also increase as the result of gameplay or Backlashes.

The three Sins of mages are:

Hubris - To Cast Your Will Into the Teeth of the World and Say "Not Thy Will, but Mine, Be Done"
Narcissism - To View The World Through Thine Own Eyes And Deny Any Other View Differs
Oblivion - To Spew Your Will Into the World Without Care For Its Effects.

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aryxymaraki @aryxymaraki.itch.io · 01/07/2026

(I'm not sure if this is actually the right one but it is the closest Crane Clan iaijutsu master that came to mind.)

Kakita Korihime
Force 2, Chi 8
Crane Clan Iajjutsu Master * Samurai * Double Chi * Unique * Soul of Kakita Toshimoko Experienced
Korihime will not refuse challenges. Lose 5 Honor each time Korihime loses a duel.
Limited: Bow Korihime to issue an unrefuable challenge to a dishonored Personality.

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aryxymaraki @aryxymaraki.itch.io · 22/06/2026

Fucked Up Math Zone good luck parsing this spell and you would need to be a very serious archmage to cast it bsky.app/profile/sand...

A whole bunch of runes describing the spell Fucked Up Math Zone. There's a pattern to it, but it is not clearly visible.

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aryxymaraki @aryxymaraki.itch.io · 14/06/2026

this is my MMOTTRPG design Zones are solo content Dungeons are group content Raids are group content which requires a consumable item to unlock (you get the item, or components for it, from Zones and Dungeons)

solo/group rpg inspired by MMO gameplay; when you get the group together, it's for dungeons and raids. to simulate weekly lockouts, you can require a certain number of dungeons be run per raid (make it a 'gathering materials' thing, you need to gather mats to craft the consumable item that unlocks the raid; requires both solo mats and dungeon mats to craft). solo gameplay is farming consumables and crafting and so on, and can include things like rep grinding and other solo content. the best rewards come from raids, but they're the most difficult, so you want to make sure you're prepared and farmed up before going into a raid. this should use flames of the meta-dragon, so you can actually plug in whatever game you want for the raiding portion, and it lets you write the subsystems in meta-draconic ways. (seared by the meta-dragon is the pbta name equivalent) add professions as another layer; any character can have two professions, which are separated into gathering and crafting. gathering professions provide bonus materials, you can still get some of any material without them. crafting professions can make consumables and gear.
a Zone is solo play; when you play a Zone, you can Quest, Farm, or Grind. questing gets you rewards but each reward is unique; you can't get the same reward more than once from a Zone. Quest rewards don't have to be items; they can also be experience or intangibles (like titles). Farming gets you crafting materials, Grinding gets you drops. in general, Questing is more rewarding than Grinding, but Grinding is unlimited.
a Dungeon is group play with no lockout; the first time you complete a Dungeon, you also get that Dungeon's Quest Rewards.
a Raid is group play with a lockout; Raids don't have Quest Rewards, but give the best rewards. Raid lockouts are done by expending consumable items that you got from Zones and Dungeons, so you need to do a certain number of zones and/or dungeons before each time you can do a Raid. items require…

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aryxymaraki @aryxymaraki.itch.io · 11/06/2026

I still have not figured out what led to this huge spike in downloads for godeaters of the astral sea a few days ago anyway if you find the husk of a dead god floating in the astral sea, drink its blood (while watching for astral bullshit) aryxymaraki.itch.io/godeaters-of...

Screenshot of downloads graph from itch.io. Numbers are not labeled, but there is clearly a huge spike that then drops off a cliff.

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aryxymaraki @aryxymaraki.itch.io · 28/05/2026

I want you to know this has been added to my ideas file for a ttrpg deckbuilding game where literally all conflicts, whether physical or social, are resolved by card game (my ideas file is hundreds of ideas deep this will probably not go anywhere)

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aryxymaraki @aryxymaraki.itch.io · 28/05/2026

ok but I have a reason for it (my mother is a librarian)

Senshi from Delicious in Dungeon thinking about feeding the young ones, but the text has been crudely edited to say "I have to protect them. I must protect the books."

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aryxymaraki @aryxymaraki.itch.io · 26/05/2026

there's always options with other injury systems pic unrelated

The Severe Injury Table for Against the Fall of Night.

Injuries range from minor inconveniences up to instant death.

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aryxymaraki @aryxymaraki.itch.io · 04/05/2026

have you ever seen Deathscythe?

Deathscythe from Gundam Wing. A mech carrying a glowing energy green lightsaber scythe.

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aryxymaraki @aryxymaraki.itch.io · 24/04/2026

the axe is just a little guy

Deepwoods Feller 2 When you deal overflow with Cleaving Strike or High Cleave, apply it to another monster of the same type in the same zone.

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aryxymaraki @aryxymaraki.itch.io · 10/04/2026

maybe not in 5e as designed (they were crazy OP in playtest when they worked like that) but a game where that was just how combat worked would be a better-designed game I'm not biased at all of course, pic unrelated

ATTACK POINTS AND DEFENSE POINTS
Attack techniques cost Attack Points (AP) to use. Defensive techniques cost Defense Points (DP) to use. Unless modified by something else (such as dual-wielding or a defensive or brutal weapon), characters have AP and DP each equal to their Combat Skill. (For example, a character with Combat Skill +2 has 2 AP and 2 DP.)

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aryxymaraki @aryxymaraki.itch.io · 08/04/2026

I've only read the first one (so far), but it did immediately make me take some notes on implied rules of magic because it's so very stealable. I don't know if these are actually canon truths, but they're the things that it made me think about in the context of stealing for an RPG.

tyrant philosophers magic:
1) magic is fungible - magic is a kind of power, of energy, and it can be stored and removed from storage. enchanted objects can be disenchanted and the magic recovered for your own use.
2) magic is traditional - it is tied completely to the way you view the world, the way you believe things are and should be, the way things work. it always follows rules of cause and effect, even if those rules do not match science. in this context, science is just a kind of magic; it is a way of looking at the world to predict results from certain things being done. if you believe that nothing but the physical exists, for example, your magic will never be able to have a non-physical effect.
3) all magic requires a circle, no matter what, and can only directly affect things in that circle. this doesn't mean that you're safe if you're not in a circle; they can launch energy or objects at you, for example, or destroy a building you're in. but if they want to mind control you, they need to get you inside a circle to do it.
4) divinity is different. divine power comes from gods, who get their magic from worship and possibly other sources. gods have restrictions the way that humans have organs; they are a part of them, and in some way the restrictions are what keep them alive and vital. they cannot simply ignore the restrictions any more than a human can ignore the beating of their heart (and even if they could, what happens if you stop your heart from beating? yeah, that's what would happen to them, if a restriction were breached like that). the more limited their restrictions make them, the more power they can apply to the situation.

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aryxymaraki @aryxymaraki.itch.io · 01/04/2026

I use Breadth and Depth like this. (from aryxymaraki.blogspot.com/2024/01/this...)

Design elements can carry both Breadth and Depth. Roughly speaking, Breadth is how many different choices you can make, and Depth is how much each individual choice affects your gameplay experience. A game that is Broad can be easily replayed in a lot of different campaigns, while a game that is Deep supports a long-term campaign with a single character. When designing your game, you should think about this, and what kind of play structure you want your game to have. Is it a beer and pretzels game that people will play one-shots of repeatedly? Make sure it’s Broad. Are you designing to support 20-year campaigns? Make sure it’s Deep. (It is possible to be both, if you add all the rules to support both.)

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