iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Graham Ward (he/him) ✍️ #HundredDungeons @darkplanedm.bsky.social · 23/10/2024

11. Mothership needs no promotional help from me. My first exposure to it was seeing a mountain of third party content being sold for this game that hadn’t even officially been released yet. It’s simple and effective, and has the best teaching-tool character sheet I’ve ever seen in a ttrpg.

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Graham Ward (he/him) ✍️ #HundredDungeons @darkplanedm.bsky.social · 22/10/2024

10. Cairn is the purest, most distilled ttrpg experience I’ve had. It cuts to exactly what it wants to do in the simplest way to do it. Emphasis is one narration, description, and choices. It’s a verbal folk game that’s largely compatible with other OSR material. Beautiful in its elegance.

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Graham Ward (he/him) ✍️ #HundredDungeons @darkplanedm.bsky.social · 22/10/2024

9. Old School Essentials hits the nostalgia and feel of 80s D&D without making me rely on the brutally inaccessible UX of the AD&D books—but those books can still be pulled out to supplement the game when I want, since they’re compatible. The wealth of games using B/X math make OSE evergreen.

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Graham Ward (he/him) ✍️ #HundredDungeons @darkplanedm.bsky.social · 22/10/2024

8. Ten Candles can’t be beaten for atmosphere. Each character prompt is a special action you burn (literally) until nothing is left but for you to die. The escalation of difficulty plays on your nerves in a way that, for my money, is more immersive than mechanisms like dread’s block pulling.

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Graham Ward (he/him) ✍️ #HundredDungeons @darkplanedm.bsky.social · 22/10/2024

7. Slayers by @gilarpgs.bsky.social of Gila RPGs is a kinetic and highly accessible take on the asymmetrical fantasy party trope. The classes are very easy to learn, but all work uniquely as they seek to hunt down and defeat urban monsters. Slim, sleek game. Lots of fun.

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Graham Ward (he/him) ✍️ #HundredDungeons @darkplanedm.bsky.social · 22/10/2024

6. Knave 2e is a fantastic classless game of old-school treasure hunting and dungeon delving. Great rollable tables and totally supportive of improvised and emergent play. It rocks.

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Graham Ward (he/him) ✍️ #HundredDungeons @darkplanedm.bsky.social · 22/10/2024

5. The One Ring 2e has fantastic art, tracks just the right things, and is nicely streamlined from the previous edition. Especially with the right GM, it makes falling back in love with middle-earth easy. I think the game shines in ongoing play, where things have space to develop and deepen.

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Graham Ward (he/him) ✍️ #HundredDungeons @darkplanedm.bsky.social · 22/10/2024

4. Cortex Prime is my favorite dice pool game. It feels like when as kids we’d gather all our action figures and accessories, pick teams, and stage elaborate scenarios. Cortex is super customizable, works for most genres, and has the feeling of a writer’s room smashing story bits into each other.

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Graham Ward (he/him) ✍️ #HundredDungeons @darkplanedm.bsky.social · 22/10/2024

3. Prequel by @ethanyen.com has such a great premise! Ethan’s done a fantastic job of marrying worldbuilding and a tactical boss battle with an alternate win condition. Very fun, follow the Kickstarter for when it launches! www.kickstarter.com/projects/355...

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Graham Ward (he/him) ✍️ #HundredDungeons @darkplanedm.bsky.social · 22/10/2024

Cthulhu Dark has brought me a lot of fun. I love rules light stuff for horror, especially when I want to give my own spin to a Cthulhu game. There’s basically one rule/mechanism in the game, and it nails the feeling of learning too much from the mythos.

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Graham Ward (he/him) ✍️ #HundredDungeons @darkplanedm.bsky.social · 21/10/2024

Just played Pirate Borg for this first time this past weekend. Its character generation and smooth rules made being a pirate instantly accessible and entertaining to a table of strangers. Really solid game that’s all about what happens at the table between players. A+

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Graham Ward (he/him) ✍️ #HundredDungeons @darkplanedm.bsky.social · 21/10/2024

Let’s get to know each other. Feel free to post games you like here, and let me know what you think of mine. #ttrpg

Get to know my game taste
For every like, I will post one game I love

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Graham Ward (he/him) ✍️ #HundredDungeons @darkplanedm.bsky.social · 14/10/2024

Hundred Dungeons is coming this week to DriveThruRPG and Itch! Dive into a FREE sword-and-sorcery hack of #dnd5e that puts character choices and exploration back front and center. Sleek, streamlined presentation, quick start, and a blend of old- and new-school #HundredDungeons

Hundred Dungeons: a character-forward sword and sorcery refresh of 5E fantasy

Get it free
Explore, develop, change

Behind the title, there's a sleek character sheet and a looming figure of a crowned skeletal warrior with a sword, covered in blood. A vulture is perched on its head pecking toward its only eye: an emerald gemstone.

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Graham Ward (he/him) ✍️ #HundredDungeons @darkplanedm.bsky.social · 10/07/2024

The Last Caravan physical copies are arriving to backers! The book looks beautiful, and I’m dying to get a group together. #ttrpg www.myth.works/products/the...

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Graham Ward (he/him) ✍️ #HundredDungeons @darkplanedm.bsky.social · 09/04/2024

Tomorrow is our rescheduled episode of Old-School Roundup! Join us for D3: Vault of the Drow at 6pm CDT! 📺 twitch.com/ghostlightrpgs #ttrpg #actualplay #dnd #dnd5e

Promo image for Old-School Roundup: D3 Vault of the Drow

Five headshots are paper clipped to a blue gridded dungeon map (cartography by Dyson Logos):

Emma Carter
Graham Ward
Kelsea Botwinik
Justin Barron
Carson Wright

Wed April 10th, 6pm CDT
twitch.com/ghostlightrpgs

A pink Dungeons & Dragons module cover depicts the demon queen Lolth in her spider form webbing up a bugbear (who looks suspiciously like Thanos). A cruel priestess performs magic on an altar surrounded by skulls.

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Graham Ward (he/him) ✍️ #HundredDungeons @darkplanedm.bsky.social · 26/03/2024

We’re back tomorrow for Old-School Roundup, our modern interpretation of the original #dnd adventures! Join us for D3: Vault of the Drow at 6pm CDT! 📺 twitch.com/ghostlightrpgs #ttrpg #actualplay #dnd5e

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Graham Ward (he/him) ✍️ #HundredDungeons @darkplanedm.bsky.social · 10/03/2024

Looking for players! Starting later this month, I’ll be running The Halls of Arden Vul as an open table campaign through Baldman Games, using #HundredDungeons as our ruleset! Tickets are $25. 1-5pm EDT Mondays or Thursdays (drop in/out). DMs are open if you’re interested! #dnd

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Graham Ward (he/him) ✍️ #HundredDungeons @darkplanedm.bsky.social · 14/02/2024

Putting out feelers for an open table #Shadowdark campaign of THE HALLS OF ARDEN VUL, likely running weekdays in the daytime (MST/UTC-7). Tickets will be $25/session. Feel free to respond here or reach out to me if interested. Retweets appreciated! #ttrpg

Cover of The Halls of Arden Vul by Expeditious Retreat Press

Four adventurers face down a dragon perched on a giant ring.

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Graham Ward (he/him) ✍️ #HundredDungeons @darkplanedm.bsky.social · 12/12/2023

Excited to say that @mythworkshq.bsky.social will be publishing #TheLastCaravan! In addition to being on sale in many more places starting in 2024, this means the book is upgrading to hardcover for all backers! #ttrpg

A test print of The Last Caravan by Ted Bushman resting on a wooden table. The cover depicts a rural highway blanketed with snow, a lone car driving toward us--away from an ominous alien spaceship on the horizon. Three travelers stand side by side in the sky: a woman with a baby and a sniper rifle, a man with a woodcutting axe, and a resolute dobermann pinscher.

The Last Caravan: A cars and aliens roleplaying game

A hand opening the book to a page with the header “Wrench.” An image of a Black woman holding a lug wrench backed by a highway map. The facing page shows rules for the playing a Wrench in The Last Caravan.

The Region design for Snake River Ruin, formatted like a park ranger’s guidebook with a map of the post-invasion Rocky Mountain Regions.

Character sheets for the Lookout and Stargazer at the back of The Last Caravan.

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Graham Ward (he/him) ✍️ #HundredDungeons @darkplanedm.bsky.social · 01/12/2023

Also 10 levels of play, so character level and spell level coincide! Also easy and strategic rules for wilderness travel Also more balance across the pillars Also scenario design that eschews box text and helps the GM decide/invent/remember what’s important in the environment #dnd #HundredDungeons

A printed packet titled Hundred Dungeons: a game by Graham Ward, laid on a laptop keyboard

THE PREMISE
Hundred Dungeons is a game with several goals. It was made from the bones of other d20 fantasy games, so the first goal is that it remain familiar to players who like those games.
The second goal is to preserve a place for low fantasy within the 5E sphere. The mountain of available player options makes d20 fantasy a feast for theorycrafting and homebrew mechanics, but can contribute to the game feeling topheavy with rules. Hundred Dungeons takes the focus off of superhuman stunts and puts it on the choices of characters who are real people in exceptional circumstances.
Lastly, this game keeps the rules and the fiction as synonymous as possible while maintaining an intuitive flow. That means if the warrior Dreca picks up a heavy barrel, uses Strength to throw it at pursuing cutthroats, and invokes the memory of her dead mother to make the throw mighty, that sentence is completely intelligible as both fiction and a game mechanism.

Hundred Dungeons is filled with traits: descriptions that attach to story elements, such as a character, location, item, or action. While you’re inspired, you can call on a trait to help you at any point, turning over your inspiration to the GM to:
- Reroll a die
- Add something fitting to the scenario
- Rally with your companions

Likewise, while you’re not inspired, the GM can hand you inspiration to invoke a trait — and more often than not, this will make your situation worse.

Whenever you roll a 1 on a d20, choose one player to become inspired.

Rerolling a die is what it sounds like. Pick one die you just rolled and reroll it. This can be after the GM says you failed, but it should be before the story moves forward or someone else acts.

When you add something fitting to the scenario, you take the reins of the story for a moment, adding a useful item, location, person, or circumstance. The GM approves your description and integrates it into the scenario.

REALMS OF PLAY
There are four “realms” or modes of play in Hundred Dungeons: the Wild, the Dark, Conflict, and Recuperation.
The Wild hosts journeys over large distances in which characters explore, endure, and supply. In the Wild, a round represents 8 hours of activity.
The Dark is home to mystery, danger, and strange encounters. Characters investigate, delve, and pursue specific objectives. In the Dark, a round represents 10 minutes of activity.
Conflict is where life, death, and honor hang in the balance, where characters attack, intimidate, negotiate, or otherwise confront hostile forces. In Conflict, a round represents about 20 seconds of activity.
When there’s no urgent goal or tracking of time within a scenario, players can enter Recuperation and describe their activities more flexibly.

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Graham Ward (he/him) ✍️ #HundredDungeons @darkplanedm.bsky.social · 01/12/2023

Back in January, I tweeted this pitch, and it’s becoming a reality today with the first Hundred Dungeons playtest! I’ve torn out Inspiration, BGs, and Ancestry — replacing them with a freeform, FATE-inspired mechanic that lets players decide when and how their ancestry matters. #HundredDungeons

Screen cap of a tweet by Graham Ward (@darkplanedm):

Have an equation to share

#dnd5E under CC
+ streamlined character building
+ martial classes
+ freeform proficiencies
+ deadliness at high levels
+ exploration and crafting
– gridded combat
– combat slog
– 150 less pages

= Hundred Dungeons, a #ttrpg by me coming this year

#dnd

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Graham Ward (he/him) ✍️ #HundredDungeons @darkplanedm.bsky.social · 30/11/2023

Heading to #PAXUnplugged with two games in tow: most recently printed and most recently written. #ttrpg #dnd

A laptop with a printed packet laid over it titled in bold “Hundred Dungeons.” Beside it is a full-color test print of The Last Caravan: a cars and aliens roleplaying game.

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Graham Ward (he/him) ✍️ #HundredDungeons @darkplanedm.bsky.social · 15/11/2023

Part Three of the book (the setting, region guides, and GM advice) are modeled after a park service ranger's handbook. As an avid backpacker and former Boy Scout, I love this look. 🙂 #TheLastCaravan

Last Caravan layout design: Chapter 8, Shaping an Odyssey

Layout spread from The Last Caravan: Region Stages

Layout spread from The Last Caravan: Great Smoking Crest

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Graham Ward (he/him) ✍️ #HundredDungeons @darkplanedm.bsky.social · 15/11/2023

The layout for this book started out with a clean, simple look, but we quickly decided to swing harder. Part One (the player guide) is a crowded dashboard with handscrawled notes, maps, and sketches of the journey. Part Two (lore and NPCs) shows off star charts and alien tech. #TheLastCaravan

The Innocent traveler imprint from The Last Caravan

The Last Caravan page spread: Record Your Name and Appearance, Starting Inventory and Gear, Traveler Imprints

Part Two of The Last Caravan: Two Month's War, The Invasion

The Last Caravan page spread: The Republic of Saint Francis, The Greatest Minds

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Graham Ward (he/him) ✍️ #HundredDungeons @darkplanedm.bsky.social · 15/11/2023

Huge thanks, of course, go to John Harper for not only creating one of our favorite #ttrpgs but also opening it up for third-party creators to riff on the concepts and design around this awesome Forged in the Dark style. We're in your debt and so honored to have had your input!

Pages from The Last Caravan: Are We There Yet, The Gameplay Loop, and Detour Phase

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Graham Ward (he/him) ✍️ #HundredDungeons @darkplanedm.bsky.social · 15/11/2023

Other contributors all added invaluable things to the book. Thank you, Kristin Perkins, Nicole Javannah-Johnson, and Dallen Diehl for what you've done to make this game inestimably better. Riley Daniels's map of shattered North America is one of my favorite things in there.

Map of North America after the Two Months War, by Riley Daniels

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Graham Ward (he/him) ✍️ #HundredDungeons @darkplanedm.bsky.social · 15/11/2023

I also want to thank Mari Murdock and DeAngelo Murillo for their thoughtful and exciting designs for the setting of The Last Caravan. Both brought rich ideas that broadened and deepened the America we depicted--and wrapped it all in action and creativity. #TheLastCaravan

The Valley of Storms, designed by DeAngelo Murillo

A detailed breakdown of what game elements to include in this post-apocalyptic Arizona

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Graham Ward (he/him) ✍️ #HundredDungeons @darkplanedm.bsky.social · 15/11/2023

The character sheets Carson Wright made are a thing of beauty! What an enhancement to the game. I'll be thinking about how cleverly he laid out the visual references and traveler tracking every time I play. #TheLastCaravan

The Last Caravan character sheet by Carson Wright

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Graham Ward (he/him) ✍️ #HundredDungeons @darkplanedm.bsky.social · 15/11/2023

Ted is a creative genius and a joy to work with. Artists Jeff Langevin, Hayden Davis, James Firnhaber, Spencer Hawkes, and Galen Pejeau added so much to the visual identity of the book. I was and am constantly in awe of the art in this game. #TheLastCaravan

Table of contents and credits from The Last Caravan

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Graham Ward (he/him) ✍️ #HundredDungeons @darkplanedm.bsky.social · 15/11/2023

As of yesterday, #TheLastCaravan pdf is out to backers! This has been one of the hardest, most intense periods of creative work I've had. I'm so thrilled for creator/designer Ted Bushman, and incredibly proud of my work as editor, designer, and layout artist. This game's amazing! #ttrpg

The cover and spine of The Last Caravan by Ted Bushman. In a rural highway blanketed with snow, a lone car drives toward us--away from an ominous alien spaceship on the horizon. Three travelers stand side by side in the sky: a woman with a baby and a sniper rifle, a man with a woodcutting axe, and a resolute dobermann pinscher.

The Last Caravan: A cars and aliens roleplaying game

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Graham Ward (he/him) ✍️ #HundredDungeons @darkplanedm.bsky.social · 13/11/2023

If anyone is considering guests for podcasts, YouTube, or convention panels, I’m looking to book more of this in 2024! I’m a GM for hire, content manager at @ghostlightrpgs, #ttrpg designer/editor on #TheLastCaravan, #Darkplane, D&D Adventurers League, and more coming in 2024! I’m a great guest!

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Graham Ward (he/him) ✍️ #HundredDungeons @darkplanedm.bsky.social · 13/11/2023

Blood Magic RPG is coming in 2024. GM-less, heart-twisting, dark fantasy. You have one stat: Blood. The magic it channels will leave you changed, hollow, deathless as you seek your rightful end: apotheosis. If you like Ironsworn, Mörk Borg, or Kult, this #ttrpg is for you.

A gameplay diagram:

D6 Blood roll
D10 Edge roll

Peril, start of session > Scene, action and tension (a ten-step track) > confrontations, twists, the tone (ye or no) > Apotheosis, end of your story

As needed: Artifacts and Malefacts, Catastrophic Consequences, Characters, Encounters, Motives, Names, Ritual Components and Requirements, Threads

Apothecarist
Taster and purveyor
Describe the person you must serve and what it costs you to cater to them.
What signature concoction do you keep for special occasions?
Replenish your Blood by preparing or harvesting something for a future time.

Bloodletter
Physician and attendant
Describe the person you saved and how they saved you in return.
What fell instrument do you employ in your leechcraft?
Replenish your Blood by extracting a part of someone and making it into something new.

Butcher
Warrior, ambitious usurper
Describe the person whose station or home you usurped
What cursed weapon do you wield?
Replenish your Blood by destroying or defiling something of value.

Necromancer
Rituals and divinations
Describe the person whose actions absorb the attention of your divinations.
What grimoire do you guard with your life?
Replenish your Blood by learning or seeing something hideous.

Reaver
Scavenger and skulker

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Graham Ward (he/him) ✍️ #HundredDungeons @darkplanedm.bsky.social · 13/11/2023

My longest-running virtual #dnd group got together yesterday for an in-person game! Really cool to see everyone in meatspace for the first time.

Me overlooking a setup of dungeon terrain with devils and undead filling the map. A Descent into Avernus DM screen with images of the blood war serves as the backdrop.

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Graham Ward (he/him) ✍️ #HundredDungeons @darkplanedm.bsky.social · 24/08/2023

I had a hard time settling on one. Currently going with the Thayan wizard in exile, but I’ve done some hours with the others.

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Graham Ward (he/him) ✍️ #HundredDungeons @darkplanedm.bsky.social · 08/08/2023

Put down Baldur’s Gate 3! We’re hopping back to 2003 and doing a playthrough of the iconic CRPG Neverwinter Nights: Shadows of Undrentide! #dnd Come hang with us—1pm CDT at twitch.tv/ghostlightrpgs

Let’s play Neverwinter Nights: Enhanced Edition
Ted Bushman and Graham Ward pictured in front of the iconic image of Aribeth de Tylmarande and the sigil of the eye with three tears

Ghostlight RPGs

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Graham Ward (he/him) ✍️ #HundredDungeons @darkplanedm.bsky.social · 07/08/2023

10/ If power is relative, threats vary in lethality, and protagonists can win, #dnd starts to look like a perfectly acceptable game for horror. Heroes venture into a dungeon and work their way to confronting an overwhelming monster that reflects deeper themes. Sounds like D&D.

Illustration of a lot trap with a swinging scythe blade, beyond which lies a crypt with an emerging mummy

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Graham Ward (he/him) ✍️ #HundredDungeons @darkplanedm.bsky.social · 07/08/2023

7/ We don't associate disempowerment with #dnd, where power growth is a major part of the game. But let's consider that power is relative. Ripley and the marines in Aliens are pretty capable people you'd want for a dangerous mission. They're only weak compared to the xenomorph.

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Graham Ward (he/him) ✍️ #HundredDungeons @darkplanedm.bsky.social · 07/08/2023

I have a thread from Twitter that I end up linking a lot, so here’s the content copied over to bluesky, in case it’s helpful! How do you run a horror game in #dnd? Whew this topic gets me fired up. What makes a real horror story? Can D&D do it, or should you always choose a different system?

An adventurer wrapped in tentacles, being dragged toward an amber monolith

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Graham Ward (he/him) ✍️ #HundredDungeons @darkplanedm.bsky.social · 07/08/2023

6: Favorite RPG you never get to play. I’ve owned FATE for a decade and have never gotten a chance to play it! #ttrpg #rpgaday2023

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Graham Ward (he/him) ✍️ #HundredDungeons @darkplanedm.bsky.social · 06/08/2023

5: Oldest RPG you’ve played. Not a hard one. AD&D.

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Graham Ward (he/him) ✍️ #HundredDungeons @darkplanedm.bsky.social · 06/08/2023

4: Most recent RPG bought. I picked up CAIRN last week, but that was free. So instead it’s Mörk Borg! #RPGaDay2023

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Graham Ward (he/him) ✍️ #HundredDungeons @darkplanedm.bsky.social · 04/08/2023

Which of my longtime #dnd and BG1 characters should I play in #BaldursGate3? This character creator is amazing. I'll be spending the weekend making VTT character tokens from the screenshots.

Nine characters created in Baldur's Gate 3:
Telicarna, high elf cleric
Lugh McCian, ffolk human bard
Ya'aur, half-orc rogue
Morgur, tiefling paladin
Woalvor, half-elf ranger
Gunnie, duergar paladin
Grokka, dragonborn barbarian
N'ur Qelin, githzerai monk
Sharet-ka, thayan human wizard

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Graham Ward (he/him) ✍️ #HundredDungeons @darkplanedm.bsky.social · 04/08/2023

Me running home to my fully installed Baldur’s Gate 3 after two shows and a rehearsal.

Me playing Wadsworth the butler in Clue, running panicked across the stage while Colonel Mustard, Miss Scarlet, and Mr. Green look on in anticipation

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Graham Ward (he/him) ✍️ #HundredDungeons @darkplanedm.bsky.social · 04/08/2023

3: First RPG bought this year VAESEN: Nordic Horror Roleplaying This is one I had wanted to check out for a while. I’ll be playing my first game soon! #ttrpg #RPGaDay2023

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