iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Szymon @ Nerd Sirens

MÖRK BORG @morkborg.com · 04/06/2026

PEWNEGO DNIA WSZYSTKO I TAK SCZERNIEJE MÖRK BORG in Polish! Together with Nerd Sirens, that catastrophic scenario is about to become reality! Check out the Kickstarter: www.kickstarter.com/projects/ner...

04711

Szymon @ Nerd Sirens @nerdsirens.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

And for our English speaking audience checkout the animation that we made for the Polish edition of @morkborg.com Latopis Nechrubelski / The Calendar of Nechrubel! www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6CZ...

youtube.com

Latopis Nechrubelski czyli MÖRK BORG po polsku!

YouTube video by Nerd Sirens

020

Szymon @ Nerd Sirens @nerdsirens.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

Najambitniejszy projekt lokalizacyjny jaki mieliśmy okazję przygotować właśnie ruszył. MÖRK BORG po polsku! Rzuć k4 1. wiesz co to RPG 2. słuchasz metalu 3. graphic dezajn to twoja pasja 4. Chwała Yetsabu-Nechowi! www.kickstarter.com/projects/ner...

kickstarter.com

MÖRK BORG po polsku!

kultowa gra RPG / artpunkowe zjawisko / doom metal w formie książki - po polsku

031

Szymon @ Nerd Sirens @nerdsirens.bsky.social · 09/03/2025

Nope, but it does look cool, gonna grab it, thanks!

010

Szymon @ Nerd Sirens @nerdsirens.bsky.social · 09/03/2025

I kinda prefer clocks to hp as encounter time trackers but I get that's a personal taste aspect. The funny thing is that Blades in the Dark (if I recall John Harper's vlog correctly) started almost as an osr system with two stats: Blades and Dark ;)

000

Szymon @ Nerd Sirens @nerdsirens.bsky.social · 09/03/2025

The action is focused on characters without many elements that impact the world outside of their reach (like PbtA moves that sometimes target other scenes), the danger stakes are similar (a char can die from a failed roll), both favor improvised play, with written plot as a scaffold not a Bible

200

Szymon @ Nerd Sirens @nerdsirens.bsky.social · 09/03/2025

I think I know what you mean, people want to be creators, not "publishers", we should let them. But also they should get the know-how and know that there are people and companies that can take that load off their back.

000

Szymon @ Nerd Sirens @nerdsirens.bsky.social · 09/03/2025

I think it's the clash between someone knowing that they are not prepared for a large scale project but instead of working the knowledge in their plan they choose to do an impromptu version of damage control. Even if had a limited 1k print run I would still love influential outlets to cover it.

000

Szymon @ Nerd Sirens @nerdsirens.bsky.social · 09/03/2025

That's probably the fault of my way of approaching this but something in me balks at the concept of shunning exposure in an extremely niche space and fear of success. I understand it as a concept but think that it comes from looking at those challenges the wrong way.

210

Szymon @ Nerd Sirens @nerdsirens.bsky.social · 09/03/2025

I get that, but still think it's treating a symptom not the cause. If you know your limits you should plan for them from the start - like set your crowdfunding with limited numbers. Tbh we as a community should talk more about how the sausage is made, so new people don't wrestle with solved problem.

110

Szymon @ Nerd Sirens @nerdsirens.bsky.social · 09/03/2025

Yup, we have the same problem, around 50k £/$/€, but I still think that this is something you should factor in when planning i.e. did you plan your budget to factor in accounting? Are you ready to approach this as full time job? Should you consider outside help at that point?

100

Szymon @ Nerd Sirens @nerdsirens.bsky.social · 09/03/2025

A singular shipment of 10k is still doable at a very small scale operation with limited people if you plan for it. Outside of tabletop this would be a normal week for a online retailer. I think there is a big knowledge gap with logistics and people get overwhelmed with some basic problems. 2/2

100

Szymon @ Nerd Sirens @nerdsirens.bsky.social · 09/03/2025

I don't argue that it's not happening, there is a lot of that going on, I bought a bunch of games stuck in production hell. But I think it's still a problem of not planning for success at the start. Of course scaling to 10k miniature games would be different than doing just books 1/2

100

Szymon @ Nerd Sirens @nerdsirens.bsky.social · 09/03/2025

The main issue I have with PbtA is the concept of "moves". I find it hard to follow during play and have to constantly switch between fiction and trying to match it to my moves. FitD uses more standard skills, they are a fuzzy and you can sometimes match more than one, but it usually is seamless

030

Szymon @ Nerd Sirens @nerdsirens.bsky.social · 09/03/2025

Still, I think you should check the FitD games, I also don't like PbtA but love those. They are really close to the OSR in a way they structure play the main difference is the resolution mechanic.

230

Szymon @ Nerd Sirens @nerdsirens.bsky.social · 09/03/2025

Yeah, but I think it comes from an earlier mistake than just the scale increase. If I would take a guess that problem starts at wrong choices with rewards - to many different rewards that make shipping hell; or unrestricted streach goals that end the same way.

210

Szymon @ Nerd Sirens @nerdsirens.bsky.social · 09/03/2025

To be honest, I don't buy the second part. Like, I'm literally shipping 1k+ books/year from my spare room using (mostly) only my own hands with some basic tools (label printer and a barcode scanner). If suddenly our sales exploded 10x I would scale it up without loosing a step with the extra funds

100

Szymon @ Nerd Sirens @nerdsirens.bsky.social · 08/03/2025

I think we talked with Kuba about this when we released his stuff and came to a conclusion that coming from our background (Polish avg pay is around 2k $/£/€) we have one way through if: you can buy the PDF full price or get it for free as a community copy.

030

Szymon @ Nerd Sirens @nerdsirens.bsky.social · 21/02/2025

So today we broke the last stretch goal that adds something to the current campaign. I still feel this is somewhat "wrong" - not to add more stuff *but* it's the smart move. We want to make, print, and ship this zine as soon as possible, and adding things on top would hinder that.

010

Szymon @ Nerd Sirens @nerdsirens.bsky.social · 15/02/2025

Ooooh I really like this and Im kinda jealous that all those years of running Fate combat on zones didn't light this bulb that this can be a separate game! Congrats!

020

Szymon @ Nerd Sirens @nerdsirens.bsky.social · 13/02/2025

Looking at international shipments of books through "traditional" mail gives me funny insights: - Canada refuses to track Polish Post registered mail but seems to deliver them without a miss - New Zeland, literally on the other side of the world is faster and more stable than most of the US and UK

030

Reposted by Szymon @ Nerd Sirens

Kuba Skurzyński @coorac.bsky.social · 13/02/2025

New stretch goals! €6.5k - @majsteremski.bsky.social makes music score for special instrument from the castle! €7.5k - maps made by @brzozenwald.bsky.social put into a castle plan, printed in one sheet (around B3 size) & added to every zine! www.kickstarter.com/projects/cor... #zinequest #osr #ttrpg

kickstarter.com

Castle of the Veiled Queen

Beyond Corny Groń - Other Paths vol. I - an adventure module zine

0128

Szymon @ Nerd Sirens @nerdsirens.bsky.social · 10/02/2025

Need more Karpaki in your life? Kuba has got you covered! Visit the Eren Castle, a prison fortress with more than one secret. Our tour will include some ancient ghosts, trickster fey, some bureaucrats, and quite a few bored soldiers! www.kickstarter.com/projects/cor...

kickstarter.com

Castle of the Veiled Queen

Beyond Corny Groń - Other Paths vol. I - an adventure module zine

193

Reposted by Szymon @ Nerd Sirens

Kuba Skurzyński @coorac.bsky.social · 07/02/2025

Cover art for Castle of the Veiled Queen, made by Aleksandra Czudżak of czudzak.com We'll print it in the same technique as solo game & BCG - silver foil hot-stamped on black background. All I have to do is to add the title without screwing over her great work! www.kickstarter.com/projects/cor...

0123

Szymon @ Nerd Sirens @nerdsirens.bsky.social · 06/02/2025

Alright everyone, @coorac.bsky.social has done it again! This time it's a stand-alone module that happens to take place in those beautiful Karpakian mountains. It's about an old castle-prison with spirits and specialty tobacco blends! Don't miss out www.kickstarter.com/projects/cor...

kickstarter.com

Coming soon: Castle of the Veiled Queen

Beyond Corny Groń - Other Paths vol. I - an adventure module zine

0138

Reposted by Szymon @ Nerd Sirens

Kuba Skurzyński @coorac.bsky.social · 06/02/2025

Hi folks, Corny Groń first ZineQuest project is coming soon - an OSR module based in Karpakian universe, but easily adaptable to other settings to be used as a - well - plug-in module with @brzozenwald.bsky.social EXCELLENT maps! Hit follow and spread the word! www.kickstarter.com/projects/cor...

kickstarter.com

Coming soon: Castle of the Veiled Queen

Beyond Corny Groń - Other Paths vol. I - an adventure module zine

02312

Szymon @ Nerd Sirens @nerdsirens.bsky.social · 30/01/2025

I mostly play those as an introduction to ttrpgs and depending on the gaming literacy of the group: - Ten Candles by Stephen Dewey (for people who don't know *anything*) - The Hunted by @loottheroom.bsky.social (one-shot that has PC growth and simulates campaign play) Bonus: ECB by Eli Kurtz

030

Reposted by Szymon @ Nerd Sirens

Perplexing Ruins @perplexingruins.bsky.social · 30/01/2025

My name is Perplexing Ruins. I make art & illustrations, and have been published in a good handful of products. If you like the work I make, you can support me for as little as $1/mo. For higher tiers, all the art is usable, royalty free, in commercial publications www.patreon.com/c/perplexing...

06417

Reposted by Szymon @ Nerd Sirens

Kuba Skurzyński @coorac.bsky.social · 25/01/2025

It's my birthday and I'll cry if I want to Cry: "BEYOND CORNY GROŃ IS 36% off on DTRPG and itch!" (36% off because it's 36th birthday) (also, BCG became COPPER BESTSELLER on DTRPG, so there's double reason to rejoice!) www.drivethrurpg.com/pl/product/4... nerd-sirens.itch.io/corny-gron-g...

nerd-sirens.itch.io

Beyond Corny Groń - Adventurer's Guide by Nerd Sirens, Kuba Skurzyński

system-neutral toolkit and sandbox generator for role-playing games

64127

Szymon @ Nerd Sirens @nerdsirens.bsky.social · 18/01/2025

The dumbest part is that it's not even a money issue. Nowadays you can grab a person on social media who will make your gore-skeleton cover for a few hundred bucks (budget is: everybody in a band chips in) faster than you'll write some dumb prompt.

040

Reposted by Szymon @ Nerd Sirens

Chaoclypse (Brandon Yu) @chaoclypse.bsky.social · 15/01/2025

Just released a video where I do a deep dive into Beyond Corny Gron by @nerdsirens.bsky.social and why it's one of my new favourite TTRPG books! www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGzJ...

youtube.com

Beyond Corny Gron - An Incredible Fantasy RPG Setting based on Polish Folklore

YouTube video by Chaoclypse

2279

Szymon @ Nerd Sirens @nerdsirens.bsky.social · 15/01/2025

I'll officially link your video everywhere because you explain those interconnected generators better than Kuba does ;) @coorac.bsky.social

130

Szymon @ Nerd Sirens @nerdsirens.bsky.social · 25/12/2024

Currently I've adapted it to run The Lady Afterwards so chtuluesque 1920s but I have a wip of a mythical fantasy in the vein of 80s/90s Arthurian-like tv/movie/books: Excalibur, that Robin Hood series that had Clannad theme.

010

Szymon @ Nerd Sirens @nerdsirens.bsky.social · 25/12/2024

So I spent quite some time in the last few years to find a system that ticks all my boxes, allows me to roll dice and is not older than 5 years. Right now I run a heavily hacked Breathless system by @rpdeshaies.farirpgs.com and daydreaming that in 2025 will write it down into a real game. 8/8

250

Szymon @ Nerd Sirens @nerdsirens.bsky.social · 25/12/2024

I've run most of my games for about 20 years using d6s (or d10s, looking at you World of Darkness) and I have a huge bag of those fun looking dice that I'm not using and people love to roll fun looking dice as @caseyg.bsky.social said in Space Wierdos (buy it along with the Sword ones) 7/8

130

Szymon @ Nerd Sirens @nerdsirens.bsky.social · 25/12/2024

That's why I love BitD rolls for them - anything they do can overcome an obstacle and push its clock, but still result in complications and it's really easy on my brain to manage this. Today I'm moving away from the FitD games and the reason is I think, really funny. 6/8

120

Szymon @ Nerd Sirens @nerdsirens.bsky.social · 25/12/2024

And I really like OSRs adventures, modules, campaign books for the creative exploration part of them, but also I play with people that are extremely outside of gaming culture and have and view violence as a last resort kinda thing but want to "beat" stuff. 5/8

130

Szymon @ Nerd Sirens @nerdsirens.bsky.social · 25/12/2024

And *I know* that this is false to some degree and I could make sneaking a series of tests instead of "beat DC16", I know most games have procedures for varying success or social challenges etc. But I'm really lazy about it, I just love if a game I run simplifies and abstracts this for me. 4/8

130

Szymon @ Nerd Sirens @nerdsirens.bsky.social · 25/12/2024

This might sound as heresy but I have such a strong preference for running games this way it makes OSR games not fun to facilitate. If a game has hit-points as a main way to track player facing opposition it signals to me that "okay so combat is the preferred way to interact with those npcs" 3/8

240

Szymon @ Nerd Sirens @nerdsirens.bsky.social · 25/12/2024

Still it was clunky and only after getting a really early beta version of Blades in The Dark all fell into place. It had simplified PbtA clocks to make trackers trivial, degrees of success and the position/effect matrix is for me the most elegant way to frame a test difficulty. 2/8

130

Szymon @ Nerd Sirens @nerdsirens.bsky.social · 25/12/2024

People remembering their first ttrpgs made me think about my gaming journey and how finding and playing FATE 2ed as a high schooler defined my tastes. I had this lightbulb moment when I discovered that anything can have stress tracks and be made into a challenge, not only combat. 1/8

160

Szymon @ Nerd Sirens @nerdsirens.bsky.social · 15/12/2024

It sounds like something Krzysztof Kieślowski would do. He had some stuff with separate/alternate storylines like Blind Chance (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blind_C...). She is Albanian so it's less probable but there is a chance that she misremembers the language it could be a Czechoslovakian production

en.wikipedia.org

Blind Chance - Wikipedia

120

Szymon @ Nerd Sirens @nerdsirens.bsky.social · 15/12/2024

Xhoga stated in a interview that the movie is real, she had seen it in a library in Austin TX but can't remember the title/director. It has to be something more obscure/indie it doesn't ring a bell for me (I'm no movie expert but seen almost all of our "classics"), gonna ask around.

110

Szymon @ Nerd Sirens @nerdsirens.bsky.social · 13/12/2024

I should have known, the lack of huge cleavage should be a dead giveaway

020

Szymon @ Nerd Sirens @nerdsirens.bsky.social · 13/12/2024

This is a joke, right? This shit got so dumb that I genuinely can't tell anymore.

140

Szymon @ Nerd Sirens @nerdsirens.bsky.social · 12/12/2024

That's why we abandoned the idea of black paper/white ink on the endpapers in BCG. They have a rules cheat sheet and after talking it through with our printer it would be too much hassle (and money) to do it *right*, so we just went with the standard paper and black ink.

A print-ready spread for the first two endpapers in Beyond Corny Groń, that have cheatsheets for various tables from the book.

120

Szymon @ Nerd Sirens @nerdsirens.bsky.social · 27/11/2024

I just checked and there is a part of the book about it just not in the faction section or "faction play", had to do a text search for "faction clocks" just to find it. I love this game but it is so convoluted. When I run it live it looks like a preachers Bible with loads of those small bookmarks.

010

Szymon @ Nerd Sirens @nerdsirens.bsky.social · 27/11/2024

I'm so bad with using this app, my reply just dropped at my main feed :D bsky.app/profile/nerd...

010

Szymon @ Nerd Sirens @nerdsirens.bsky.social · 27/11/2024

This way the only bookkeeping I have to track is focusing on our Crew's exploits. I'm kinda lazy when running games (that's why I love FitD stuff), so in downtime I check if something matches the events of the last score. When I'm stuck I just ask the players what they think changed in Doskvol.

120

Szymon @ Nerd Sirens @nerdsirens.bsky.social · 27/11/2024

And you could use them as a response. PCs made a messy score on some Doskvoll official? They would retaliate by arming Bluecoats. And what about the rest of the factions? Well I ignore them until they become relevant to the story that emerges in the city.

120