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Matthew Andre

@gugg.bsky.social
281 followers 1.1K following 788 posts

My blog about ttrpg layout - matthewkjandre.blogspot.com Malazan hack and Necromancer path for Grimwild - matthew-andre.itch.io

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Matthew Andre @gugg.bsky.social · 1h
Static damage kept more diversified tactics, so I like it more, but it reduces variance between PCs and options for one PC. Grimwild has roll for action -> GM rolls HP pool, which detaches damage from PC, but keeps both rolls, and damage random. It's very interesting, and mostly works very well.
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Matthew Andre @gugg.bsky.social · 1h
I like all types of ttrpgs (OSR included), and found I don't like either of them nearly as much as roll to hit, roll for damage. Automatic hit was disastrous with my group, where every fight involved zerging the enemy, and the GM introducing armor to stop that nullified rolls same as to hit would
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Matthew Andre @gugg.bsky.social · 6h
I could also recommend Grimwild Community Edition, which I worked on, as a far more narrative version of D&D. It has all the D&D classes + more, but no initiative, no HP, no turn-order, easy free-form magic, any class can take talents from any other class (except core talent), and simple stat blocks
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Matthew Andre @gugg.bsky.social · 6h
None of them will work for every table, but they're all fantastic games! All of them require a bit of a different style of thinking from the GM, but learning them will teach a ton of important skills to a GM wanting to learn.
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Matthew Andre @gugg.bsky.social · 6h
If Victorian London doesn't call to you, try Public Access from the same creator: A group of adults get together in the small town they grew up in, all remembering a certain channel and TV show they used to watch. Having been drawn back for different reasons, uncover past & present mysteries
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Matthew Andre @gugg.bsky.social · 6h
In the Between, the mystery doesn't have a single pre-made answer. It's more like a real life mystery where the players work together to fit all the clues together, and come up with the most likely explanation, then roll to see if their theory is correct or they need to go back to the drawing board.
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Matthew Andre @gugg.bsky.social · 6h
Court of Blades - Navigate scheming nobles, court magicians, and duels for honour in a fantasy renaissance city. Battle with words through ballrooms and backrooms. Uses Blades in the Dark more narrative system. The Between - Create a horror mystery in Victorian London headed by a dark mastermind.
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Matthew Andre @gugg.bsky.social · 6h
Triangle Agency - 50% The Office 50% SCP. Work for a giant (likely evil) corporation, going out on missions dealing with supernatural mysteries. Try to bring the monsters at the heart of each mystery back alive (using your wild powers), let them go and bond with them, or kill em as a last resort.
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Matthew Andre @gugg.bsky.social · 6h
Blades in the Dark - Oceans 11 style heists in a Dishonored like dark steampunk/magitech city. Builds up improv GM skills + factions and downtime play! Forbidden Lands - Survival-focused hexcrawl where the players have to hunt/forage while traveling to stay alive. Tons of events. Easy to GM!
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Matthew Andre @gugg.bsky.social · 6h
Yeah I'm more just trying to get a feel for if anything would make your group go wild with excitement, or if they have pretty solid ideas of what they like already! The games you've listed are pretty trad style, but your group seems up for new stuff, so I'll give recs that play pretty different:
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Reposted by Matthew Andre
The Logbook Project (Max) @logbookproject.bsky.social · 9h
The Oleander Daemon is released! My squad-based FitD campaign of military sci-fi action about a guerilla force fighting back against an occupying invader is available in both PDF and softcover POD. tLBP: buff.ly/797VvFw DTRPG: buff.ly/67gBMOl Itch: buff.ly/GCKR8XF Lulu: buff.ly/5duEpis
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Matthew Andre @gugg.bsky.social · 7h
There are thousands upon thousands of ttrpgs at completely different places on 20 different spectrums and genres. What genre and themes would your table be most excited to play out? What level of crunch and rules mastery do they look for? Do they want tactical combat, or no?
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Matthew Andre @gugg.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
I don't think either group necessarily grew all that much due to their mechanics, but rather their shared ethos, which went against much of what the big dogs were publishing at the time. But PbtA mechanics, such as moves and playbooks, are a quick way to test gameplay. They're mechanics in a box.
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Matthew Andre @gugg.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
PbtA-inspired designers, along with the burgeoning OSR, were the two most visible groups championing the ideas of 'play to find out', 'to do it, do it', not prepping plots, providing a ton of system-agnostic advice on how to most efficiently run and prep ttrpgs, and blogging/posting about this all.
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Matthew Andre @gugg.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
this is a thoughtful thread on why players can shy away from ttrpgs with fewer repetitive rolls than in systems like 5e.
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Matthew Andre @gugg.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
The traditional answers to both these questions are why tactical ttrpgs are ultimately unsatisfying to fans of tactics games (board/video/card) Permanent character death is absolutely NOT the right answer. That might be the answer to a different question posed by somebody who isn't a tactics junkie
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Matthew Andre @gugg.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
I thought I'd love Daggerheart, but I found the exact same problems when I ran it. There is also just soooo much tracking and translating numbers to other numbers all over the place. They've definitely made a lighter game than 5e, yet it has more tracking and more numbers on every roll to deal with.
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Matthew Andre @gugg.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
The suspense pool from Grimwild really helped me with this sort of thing, because it is an issue for me. Essentially, any time you are prompted to give a player a consequence, you can instead just bank it for later, and use it to provide a consequence when you have a good idea or a perfect moment.
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Matthew Andre @gugg.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
FWIW I prefer Sword World 2.5 and its large variety of fan translated material you can find free online easily, over Fabula Ultima.
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Matthew Andre @gugg.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Sword World is very similar to D&D in a lot of ways, simpler in some and slightly more complicated than others. It's not a great window into what Japanese ttrpgs do differently, but I like it! For that I'd look into games like Dracurouge, Tenra Bansho Zero, Princess Wing, Kedamono Opera, Maid
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Reposted by Matthew Andre
thoughtcrimegames @thoughtcrimegames.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Run the Set is a love letter to fighting games and the communities that form around them. Play as a one-shot or as part of their own "weekly tournament". Get in as many sets as you can before the venue shuts down for good! Grab the Free PDF below! #ttrpg #OnePageTTRPG thoughtcrimegames.it...
Run the Set from Thoughtcrime Games.
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Matthew Andre @gugg.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Hime has been making fantastic content around solo ttrpgs for years!
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Matthew Andre @gugg.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
and the best part is they stated "maybe my GM wasn't supposed to run the game like that" so THE PLAYERS EVEN HAD AN INKLING SOMETHING WAS VERY WRONG Ended up changing the order of information, so the first thing you see is a statement to please mix all the types of damage to get the right lethality
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Matthew Andre @gugg.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
grimwild discord went into a meltdown recently because somebody on reddit posted about how the game was too deadly. Then proceeded to explain their GM did literally everything in the book the book tells them not to, several times, in various text styles and in various places.
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Matthew Andre @gugg.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
how am I just finding out about this
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Matthew Andre @gugg.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
They're related, for sure, but not the same, and people do not engage with them for the same reasons (though there is a LOT of overlap). Mostly, I want to try to impress upon designers that if a situation is only there because there's a chance of failure, that situation may not be truly interesting
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Matthew Andre @gugg.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Nah usually not games, though they can sometimes have elements of gameplay. They're more free-form roleplay over text like people used to do on forums, in mmos, and on discord probably these days. I know somebody who plays D&D inside Conan Exiles RP, where it goes between free-form and rules-based.
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Matthew Andre @gugg.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Obviously text-based RP and ttrpgs are similar, but different mediums, so we can't compare too directly, but this is still people improvising stories and having characters overcome challenges that they are in full control of Success should be interesting. Just as interesting as failure, if not more
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Matthew Andre @gugg.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
I would have maintained this position up to a year ago, but I've completely flipped on it. I think to text-based RP where characters don't need to mechanically succeed at challenges, but still overcome or fail them based on the improv and narrative. Why can constant success be interesting there?
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Matthew Andre @gugg.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
I like this map. It's cute
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Matthew Andre @gugg.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Yeah, I personally have a big problem with most designers just assuming a 40-60% chance to fully succeed at a task is where the bar should be. Especially in games where the players are supposed to be competent heroes, it's just so obviously wrong. But then many HP systems make it somewhat necessary.
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Matthew Andre @gugg.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
the funniest thing is it's truly one of the best 5e supplements I've ever seen. It has everything you'd hope for in a supplement. 50 pages detailing locales with events and NPCs. D100 encounters table, factions, mechanics. Heists, gladiator tournaments, killing beelzebub in the gardens of babylon
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Matthew Andre @gugg.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
The GM doesn't generally get to make moves directly against the PCs unless they roll mixed or lower (or some other mechanic is in play). Challenges don't have their own turn/initiative. A perfect roll means the PCs retain initiative. A failure, the world gets initiative. A mixed is both together.
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Matthew Andre @gugg.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
You have probably already had this shouted at you 10 times, but I like the consequence framing rather than complication, because when a character rolls in a pbta/fitd game, they're rolling to see whose 'turn' it is. If they roll a mixed success, both the character and the world get their turn.
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Matthew Andre @gugg.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
I want to give a shoutout to The Bible 5e, which gives very specific advice on how to present Jesus as an NPC, and gives him a spell list. (honestly it seems pretty tight, and has a bunch of little adventures in bible places, lots of maps of historical towns, etc.)
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Matthew Andre @gugg.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
oh shit this one IS nuanced
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Matthew Andre @gugg.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
I'm coming around to the idea that #ttrpg books pretending there's only one way to run the game is just that; a game of pretend. The creators know it's not true, and they surely have different ideas that could be present. We're cooking to taste here, not building a bridge.
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Matthew Andre @gugg.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
But sometimes I get explicit and point out in the text there are two options here: Option A has (so and so) effect, while Option B is going to provide more (blank). It doesn't matter what you choose at first; try the other option if your initial choice isn't working out.
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Matthew Andre @gugg.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
I think the people who want it to work one way will most often read it that way, and not even think about the alternative. Take my mechanic and have fun with it the way you think it should work!
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Matthew Andre @gugg.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Something I find myself doing when designing mechanics for #ttrpgs is purposefully leaving certain rules vague to a point where two readings could be valid. Both of these interpretations are fun, they both work, neither break the game, but they do result in different experiences. Let the GM decide.
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Matthew Andre @gugg.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Wow this rules if only every ttrpg had art this awesome
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Matthew Andre @gugg.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
haha no, thank you for making it! It made a Pound of Flesh a breeze to dive into and run!
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Reposted by Matthew Andre
Ghoula RPGs @gilarpgs.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
I've got a pamphlet hexcrawl and small dungeon zine coming out for WYRM next month! Get yourself by reading the rules. They are PWYW. gilarpgs.itch.io/wyrm
gilarpgs.itch.io
WYRM by Gila RPGs
OSR style fantasy adventure game
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Matthew Andre @gugg.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
This is a FANTASTIC sci-fi horror ttrpg that does its job at the table really well! Simpler than Mothership, yet no less tense or horrifying.
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Matthew Andre @gugg.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
I was renting SNL compilations from the video store..!
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Reposted by Matthew Andre
Lone Archivist @lonearchivist.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Bookings now open for logo / brand design, editorial layout, crowdfunding graphics, and more! Hit the CONTACT button on lonearchivist.com.
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Matthew Andre @gugg.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Yesss can't wait for my physical books to arrive! The pdfs we have so far seem SO fun to play, but I don't personally love Victorian England as a setting, so I'm super excited for the new books!
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Matthew Andre @gugg.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Oh hey I just looked in my email and found this video from Vincent Baker about the influences on, and the later branches of Apocalypse World! www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8Dm...
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Matthew Andre @gugg.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
are the two genders of pbta and osr just social constructs????
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Matthew Andre @gugg.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
The Wildsea, Triangle Agency, FIST, Stonetop, and a good handful of others have some great prewritten content! It's happening, and quick!
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