iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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David J Prokopetz @prokopetz.bsky.social · 2h

I swear this was the single most challenging table to write in the whole book. Thirty-six location-neutral random events where every entry is pick-two-and-combine compatible with every other in at least potentially interesting ways AND they all have to fit on one line apiece? What Fun We Have Had.

A d66 table captioned "Random Location Events":

11 Something is broken, leaking, or slightly on fire.
12 One of the NPCs present is not supposed to be here.
13 Something of value has been stolen or mislaid.
14 Preparations are underway to mark a special occasion.
15 An expected person or group has failed to show up.
16 Direct access to (part of) the location is blocked off.
21 The location is undergoing cleanup, renovation or repair.
22 A noisy argument, wager, or competition is afoot.
23 The God-eaters' arrival has interrupted something.
24 A crowd has gathered to witness an unusual spectacle.
25 Something normally abundant is unexpectedly scarce.
26 A trap, ambush, or surprise party lies in wait.
31 The location has been besieged, invaded, or occupied.
32 A procedural or bureaucratic obstruction has arisen.
33 Something has gone awry, with evidence of sabotage.
34 A curse, haunting, or weird malfunction has appeared.
35 Milieu-appropriate wildlife has gotten into something.
36 A local rule, custom, or superstition has been violated.
41 Those present are ignoring a seemingly obvious danger.
42 A critical cutoff, quota, or deadline is approaching.
43 Violence breaks out just as the God-eaters arrive.
44 An odd trail or clue points deeper into the location.
45 Negotiations between hostile parties are taking place.
46 An unwanted item has appeared or been delivered.
51 The aftermath of some recent commotion is everywhere.
52 A mundane task has encountered bizarre complications.
53 Someone has broken a contract, deal, or arrangement.
54 An absent NPC has left something important behind.
55 The location's occupants are mourning a recent loss.
56 A crime, conspiracy, or secret exchange is in progress.
61 Ordinarily closed areas appear to be unguarded.
62 An unfair demand or ultimatum has been presented.
63 Something is emitting an obnoxious noise or smell.
64 Outside forces threatens the location's destruction.
65 Security, surveillance, or general anxiety is elevated.

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David J Prokopetz @prokopetz.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

The back half of the 4xxs in the Random Quirks table. This will be the last batch of new entries slated for inclusion in Eat God draft 0.8, bringing the total from draft 0.7's seventy-two to 144. (462 is a personal favourite, and one I was actually a bit surprised to find wasn't already present!)

An excerpt from a d666 table titled "Random Quirks (continued)", displaying entries 441 through 466:

441. You unconsciously imitate the physical and verbal mannerisms of whomever you are speaking to.
442. Some part of your name can only be produced by your unique physiology; others must approximate it as best they can.
443. You recall memories not your own, inherited from something (or someone) whose flesh flavoured the broth that birthed you.
444. You have a habit of rating things on a numeric scale; it is unclear what – if anything – they are being rated against.
445. You possess an unerring empathic sense for a very specific emotion, such as exultation, nostalgia, or existential dread.
446. You were raised in an unusual community – by animals, fairies, or perhaps even humans – rather than among the Folk.
451. You experience a strong urge operate buttons, levers, and switches, especially if you have no idea what they do.
452. You seek a particular mystical treasure, and often interpret innocuous details as signs of its potential whereabouts.
453. You boast an impossibly complicated romantic history, occasionally involving otherwise newly-encountered NPCs.
454. You are seemingly unaware of some conspicuous feature of your appearance, and become confused if others point it out.
455. Your personal aroma is distractingly appetising to creatures of a carnivorous persuasion.
456. Your fighting style is extravagant, much given to showy stances, loud exclamations, and spinning in circles.
461. You swear elaborate oaths of vengeance when slighted, only to forget your vow when the heat of the moment has passed.
462. You feel an affinity for bridges, crossroads, gates, and other transitional spaces; posing riddles to passers-by is optional.
463. You can receive FM radio; if you hail from a milieu that lacks this technology, this will likely come as a surprise to you.
464. You require a specialised assistive device to make full use of one of your Forms.
[two entries omitted]

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David J Prokopetz @prokopetz.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

In "Eat God" draft 0.7, Weaving Webs shared a generic "ranged attack" effortful effect with several other Forms. In draft 0.8, it's been updated to something a bit more thematic. (The astute reader may note that this introduces an abusable synergy with a specific Rebellious Art; this is intended.)

65. Weaving Webs (9 of hearts)

You can produce a sturdy thread; perhaps you draw it from spinnerets, or weave it from your hair. It can be sticky or not, and will support ten times your weight.

* Always: You can spin thread at will. It takes a few moments to spin sufficient thread to span a Near distance, or a minute to span a Far distance.

* With Effort: Fashion a simple structure from your thread, such as bridging a gap or sealing a door. A minute's effort suffices to produce a structure no more than a metre or two across; larger structures take proportionately longer.

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David J Prokopetz @prokopetz.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

If you've given the game a spin yourself and have any particular Forms you'd like to see addressed in the expanded examples, feel free to let me know – we're still finalising this section, so there may be space to slip one in if it's not already on the list!

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David J Prokopetz @prokopetz.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Another common thread in playtesting Eat God 0.7 is difficulty devising Expressions for some Forms. The next draft will included expanded discussion, and examples for at least a solid majority of available Forms. (Discussion and examples in this section co-written by @curatrix-ribston.bsky.social.)

Creating Expressions

Should you struggle with choosing Expressions, consider the following advice: find a mirror and look at yourself. Observe how you move when you enter the frame. Your body bears marks of the past that only you can see, for all that both you and outside observers share a common humanity – and the Folk are not human. Ask yourself how much wider that gulf in understanding must be for a creature unlike any other, livng in a world made for beings so much bigger than itself.

Looking at each of your Forms, ponder how one goes through life with a body like that. How have others reacted to your God-eater? Did they fear you? Admire you? Seek to make use of you? What did they say, and what did they do? Ask your fellow players how they see your God-eater, and let their responses feed your imagination. With this image fixed in your mind, find the words to describe how it makes you feel.

Examples of Expressions which might be associated with certain Forms follow. This list is not prescriptive; if your God-eater relates to one of their Forms in an unusual way, simply jot down a brief explanatory note as shown here.

Bottomless Belly
* Gourmet of the Strange – Your gustatory expertise extends beyond literal food; you have a favourite “flavour” of practically every experience.
* Self-Denying – Having been unfairly accused of gluttony one time too many, you habitually force yourself conceal your needs from others altogether.

Deep Digger
* Claustrophilia – You work best in close quarters and shrug off pressure with stoic aplomb; circumstances that others might find suffocating are your time to shine.
* Sunlight's Number One Hater – The open air is too hot, too bright, too loud, making you prone to outbursts; you have learned to ride the wave of that righteous ire.

Defensive Dermis (Slippery)
* 'Twas I! – Your secretions make it hard to conceal evidence of your passage, so you rarely try; sometimes you confess to offences you could not possibly have committed.
* Catch Me If You Can – You enjoy the chase, whether physical or conversational, and often make yourself obnoxious purely to goad others into having a go at you.

Dexterous Digits
* Demonstrative – Words are fine things, but hands can say so much more. You never tell when you can show, ideally with as much dramatical flair as you can muster.
* Highly Sensitive Instrument – Your light touch extends to an overall delicacy of disposition, one which attracts both sympathy and scorn.

Extra Organs
* How The Sausage Is Made – Self-study has led to an encyclopedic knowledge of bodily workings, and a concomitant obsession with the gross and unseemly.
* Heedless – The possibility that you might be in danger often simply does not occur to you. To some this looks like courage; those who know you know better.

Fast Feet
* Efficiency Expert – It takes a lot to sustain a metabolism like yours; you have honed the art of knowing the shortest path between two points, figuratively or otherwise.
* Fast Talker – You think and speak as fast as you run, much to the confusion of others – confusion which you have no qualms about turning to your advantage.

Flowing Form
* People Pleaser – You bend and twist yourself to suit the sensibilities of others; if you could tie yourself into a knot for them, perhaps you would.
* I Go Where I Wish – If others do not want you around, that is no concern of yours. The very notion of being “not allowed” to be somewhere is offensive to you.

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David J Prokopetz @prokopetz.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

If your game is going to have a long-winded "Principles of Play" section, of course the GM needs one too. (Standard disclaimer: first draft, all text subject to change, typos are deliberate unless they're not.)

Principles of Gamemastery

Keeping pace with a passel of reality-warping misfits is a big job. Fortunately, you are not expected to figure out how from first principles; just as players have their guidelines, so do GMs. These entries are high-level summaries; in the following sections, each principle will be discussed in greater depth as it becomes relevant.

The GM Also Plays

Eat God's “rules are toys” ethos extends to the GM as well. Calamity thresholds and impact constitute one such toy; NPC and location qualities, another; complications and disasters, a third; and above all, outside of character creation, random lookup tables are the GM's domain. When in doubt, pull a game-mechanical lever or roll on a table and see what happens.

Play In Front of the Screen

Some games make the GM a secret-keeper, even obliging them to roll dice behind physical barrier in face-to-face play in order to keep the exact outcomes hidden from the players. Eat God is not one of those games. Unless otherwise noted, its rules explicitly assume that dice rolls, NPC stat blocks, the state of the Calamity Clock, and so forth are public information.

Roll With the Dice

Owing to the previous principle, there will be few opportunities to “fudge” the dice – that is, to adjust their outcomes after the fact – without making it obvious that you are doing so. This is by design; many tools in the God-eaters' toybox hinge on manipulating the dice in various ways, and those tools will be dulled if players lack confidence that the outcomes of their rolls will be respected.

Present Situations, Not Scenarios

Eat God works best when the God-eaters are given a situation to bounce off of, rather than planned scenario to play out. Both God-eaters and NPCs can and should have goals, but your ability to make assumptions about how the former will react to the latter is limited. This is a game where “I eat the Moon” is a plausible – and sometimes even reasonable – problem-solving tactic.

Share the Load

Eat God's emphasis on random outcomes may leave you stuck on how to interpret a given outcome. This is especially likely to be the case when a player's test would introduce new information and you have nothing specific in mind. When this happens, throw the question back to the group for a quick brainstorm; as GM, inviting players to assume the narrator's role is your prerogative.

Build a World of Hostile Architecture

God-eaters are both social and metaphysical misfits. The world is not built for them, nor they for the world; often, they will find challenges where others would not think to look. Eat God models physical locations using the same rules and qualities as NPCs for several reasons, and allowing the inanimate to play the role of antagonist is one of them.

Be A Little Bit Mean

The framework of Eat God is not failure-oriented. Players have the tools to push their odds of success well above ninety percent on nearly any roll they please – provided they are indifferent to the prospect of accruing Calamity Points. One of your jobs as GM is to give players a reason to keep an eye on the Calamity Clock, and complications are your blunt instrument to that end.

[begin sidebar] Familiarity with other games may lead you to expect an encouragement to ignore the rules as you see fit. You will not find it here; while Eat God is not complex, it has enough moving parts that incautious changes will often make more work rather than less. As such, you are encouraged to try it as written; if, having done so, you see fit to tinker, this text has no power to restrain you, so you need not seek its permission. [end sidebar]

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David J Prokopetz @prokopetz.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Just did a quick editing pass on the WIP of the revised "Inventing Your Own Forms" section from playtest draft 0.8 of "Eat God" in response to a playtester request; figured I might as well post it in case anyone else planning a game had the same questions!

Inventing Your Own Forms

If you wish to venture beyond the Forms presented in this text, there are several approaches to creating your own.

The first and most straightforward is to take a Form which offers a range of options, like Defensive Dermis or Primordial Power, and invent a new sub-type. These Forms are designed to accommodate a range of attributes which can be represented with the same rules, so reasoning about what Defensive Dermis (Rubbery) or Primordial Power (Psychic Force) can do should pose few challenges.

When taking this approach, consider whether the Form's rules reflect the proposed addition. For example, Creaturous Ken should grant some sort of surface-penetrating, vision-like perception; Superior Sense, conversely, grants an enhanced sense mainly characterised by its acuity and range. This is implicit in each Form's attached rules, and may produce counterintuitive outcomes in play if the added sub-type is a poor match for the parent Form's mechanics.

Second, you will often be able to accomplish what you want by “reskinning” an existing Form while keeping its rules effects intact. A God-eater who exerts their own gravity and can pull objects into orbit around them, for example, can handily be represented with Hundred-handed; similarly, Extra Organs can represent a God-eater who is immune to noxious environments by virtue of having no metabolism at all, rather than a super-powerful one.

As an extension of this second approach, some very flexible attributes may best be represented by combinations of Forms. For example, a God-eater who is actually a pile of smaller creatures stacked on top of each other might combine Flowing Form and Mobile Members. A terrible hypnotic eye might combine the effects of Bulging Brain and Languorous Lure. Such combined Forms should make a note of their components, and are treated as multiple Forms for all rules purposes, including assigning Expressions.

Finally, if none of these approaches suit, you can invent your own Form from scratch. When going this route, you should carefully study the existing Forms as examples, and additionally consider the following guidelines:

* Start with what your Form does, not what it is. In rules terms, each Form is a packet of special permissions; the particulars of its mechanics should flow from what it gives your God-eater permission to do.

* Acting beyond Touch range should usually be effortful. Exceptions can be made for Forms which enhance something that your God-eater would be able to do at longer range anyway (e.g., Dizzying Display, Languorous Lure), or which operate by extending the range of a particular, narrowly defined act (e.g., Menacing Missiles).

* Forms should avoid tinkering with Calamity Thresholds or impact modifiers in ways that give the GM extra things to keep track of. Hearty Humours and Polycephalous do so as declared abilities (and only once per scene, in the former case); this puts the onus on the player to invoke such tricks, and should be taken as precedent.

* Persistent changes to the game's basic rules should also observe the “not making the GM keep track of extra things“ precept. Granting an extra inventory slot is a safe choice; in principle, a Form could also passively increase a God-eater's Stress Limit by up to three points, though no Form in this book actually does this.

* Forms should never cost Obstinacy to activate or offer new ways to generate it. Eat God's resource economy is a temperamental beast; provoke it at your own peril.

* Curative Corpus and Modal Morphology are just weird. If you wish to build off of either one, think carefully about what they are actually doing.

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David J Prokopetz @prokopetz.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

A proposed rewrite of the Art of Utility for playtest draft 0.8 of "Eat God". After Ascension got a touching up, several folks remarked that Utility now felt like the weakest pick; this rewrite is mostly clarifying intent, but hopefully it highlights just how annoyingly abusable it's meant to be.

65–66. The Art of Utility

Refute the lie of purpose.

* You must be touching a creature or object no larger than an ox-cart to activate this Art; a creature must consent, be Stressed Out, or have no Stress Limit to be affected.

* While you sustain this Art, you (and only you) may carry its subject without becoming overloaded, regardless of its size; make effortful use of it without interrupting this Art; and use it as a tool for any task you wish. If it has Traits, you may tag those Traits as though they were your own.

* The subject retains its normal dimensions, but otherwise behaves as though it has the physical attributes required for any task you set it to, adapting as needed to each new task. It is not permanently altered by being so used.

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David J Prokopetz @prokopetz.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

It looks like if I'm very disciplined I may be able to limit Eat God's essential glossary to a mere fourteen pages.

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David J Prokopetz @prokopetz.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

"Eat God" pointedly does not subscribe to the philosophy that you shouldn't think about the numbers on your character sheet when deciding what your character does. Furnishing perverse incentives is what numbers are FOR.

When in doubt, do whatever lets you roll the biggest number: test your highest Facet, tag the most Traits (yours and other people's), and so forth. Some may feel this is bad form; banish this thought from your mind. Your character sheet is a bag full of hammers and every problem in the world looks like a nail.

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Mags Malarkey @magsmalarkey.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Watching this book come together is so exciting and it’s great getting to see my art slotted into place in the layout!

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David J Prokopetz @prokopetz.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Several folks who playtested draft 0.7 of "Eat God" requested that each of the game's chapters and appendices be given a described table of contents in the same way that the Character Creation chapter has; it's my hope that getting slightly silly with it does not diminish its utility!

A full spread excerpted from the core rulebook for "Eat God", comprising pages 78 and 79. The spread's left side is a full-page illustration depicting a quintet of muppet-like creatures joyriding a green Ford Model T through a modern office building while being pursued by cyborg cops; the illustration is captioned "Chapter 3: Playing the Game". The right side of the spread opens with a boxed quotation reading as follows:

"A man sets out to draw the world. He cooks beneath the sun, settles his fat in winter, sees fine birds hunted and plucked and gutted, fish leap from the sea to the net, mushrooms sprout from graveyards. It passes through him, and draws itself in the lines of his face." – Aleph, Tales of the Middle Wheel

It continues with unboxed text as follows:

This chapter includes the basic rules for getting your God-eater into – and, ideally, out of – trouble. All players are expected to be familiar with this material, though it is structured so that you can start with the basics and work your way out. It is organised as follows:

1. Principles of Play (p. 80) covers the assumptions these rules make about how the game is played.

2. Making Tests (p. 83) sets forth the core dice-rolling procedure around which all else revolves.

3. Time & Distance (p. 94) defines some useful terms governing what you can do, when, and to whom.

4. Effortful Actions (p. 96) explains why you cannot do all of those things at once.

5. Stress & Stressing Out (p. 99) is your reference to bad things happening and how to avoid them.

6. Obstinacy & the Rebellious Arts (p. 105) offers an initiation into the God-eaters' secrets.

7. Limit Breaks (p. 108) explores the Arts' advanced esoterica, for those truly determined to get in trouble.

8. Finally, Your Inventory (p. 118) delves into the material indulgences to which God-eaters are prey.

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David J Prokopetz @prokopetz.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

What's the point of writing one of these fancy Apocalypse Engine style "Principles of Play" sections if you're not going to be a pretentious weenie about it?

Principles of Play

All games, in setting forth their rules, make assumptions about how the game will be played. These principles are offered both as a primer for new players, and as a means of illuminating what otherwise might be obscure. If, as a player, you follow these guidelines, the rules and you will support each other in turn; otherwise, adjustments may be needed.

1. Leap, Then Look: A more sedate game might phrase this principle as “play to see what happens”.
2. Play With Your Toys: The system is a toybox; play consists of mashing rules together to make them kiss.
3. Tell the Story After the Fact: Sometimes a story is just explaining a bunch of weird stuff that happened.
4. Lead, but Help Others Follow: Eat God offers players a great deal of power; with power comes responsibility.
5. Make Good Bad Choices: The best bad decision is the one that seemed like a good idea at the time.

Leap, Then Look

If you have come fresh from preceding chapter, you have doubtless noticed that Eat God provides tools for leaving things to chance where one might ordinarily expect to be asked for a carefully considered decision. This is not merely a quirk of character creation.

Eat God plays smoothest when approached with few fixed ideas about what will happen next. One of its most basic tenets is that the more effort you put forth, the more likely you are to cause collateral damage. God-eaters have goals and means, but their plans rarely survive first contact.

This also extends to the game's attitude toward personal risk. As you will soon see, your God-eater cannot actually die – or, at least, the rules will never dictate that they must. When you pick up the dice, the worst that can happen is failing to get what you want, so why not take a chance?

Play With Your Toys

“What are rules for, really?” is a question tabletop RPGs often feel moved to confront. Possible answers range from simulating a setting's laws of physics, to emulating a particular genre's tropes, to instilling a sense of fairness in their players. Eat God's answer is simple: rules are toys.

Though most obvious in your Forms and Arts, which furnish packets of special rules that apply only to you, this extends to every part of the system. Eat God is a game of shiny levers and big red buttons; if, in experimenting, you occasionally crack the planet in half, this is the system working as intended.

Of course, in order to play with your toys, you first remember where you left them. This might mean studying this book, keeping reference sheets at hand, or making use of the provided print-and-play cards for your Arts and Forms. It is each player's responsibility to organise their own toybox.

Tell the Story After the Fact

To many, the word “story” means a thing with themes and character arcs and well-formed acts: I, II, III. In our daily lives, the stories we tell are something quite different: a bunch of weird stuff happens; later on, we construct an explanatory narrative to help us make sense of it all.

To the extent that Eat God concerns itself with telling stories, it does so in this second sense. The framework of play is a weird stuff generator; the story is what you claim happened after the fact, dramatic license and faulty recollection and casual glossing-over of (to you) unimportant details included.

By itself, each rule is a toy; lined up in a row, they form a whistling, clanking Rube Goldberg machine whose output is the stuff stories are made of. When you engage with those rules – that is, when you you play with your toys – you are turning the crank that makes that machine go.

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David J Prokopetz @prokopetz.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Is there any realistic possibility that "Eat God" is going to be anyone's first exposure to the concept of a tabletop roleplaying game? Not hardly. Do we have to explain what a tabletop RPG is anyway on the off chance that it is? Yes, yes we do.

The Shape of Play

Eat God is a tabletop roleplaying game for three to seven players. If you are reading this text, it is quite unlikely that this is your first exposure to the roleplaying hobby; in the event that it is, however: a tabletop roleplaying game, or RPG, is a group activity in which several participants invent fictional personas and use them as vehicles to explore an imagined scenario. These scenarios may range from introspective slices of everyday life to epic struggles for the fate of the universe; most fall somewhere in the middle.

One participant, by convention called the Gamemaster or GM, is given the special responsibility of setting the stage and giving voice to any suporting characters – customarily termed non-player characters or NPCs – that the scenario at hand may require. The remaining participants each take on the role of a single viewpoint character – a player character or PC, in the hobby's parlance – and drive the action through their decisions. In keeping with its premise, this text treats the term “God-eater” as synonymous with “player character”.

Ordinarily, play will begin with the GM setting forth some unusual situation the God-eaters have encountered, and prompting the other players to describe their God-eaters' reactions. In some cases, the GM will simply describe what happens in response to those actions or provide clarifying detail, as appropriate; in other cases – principally when a God-eater does something that might go interestingly (or entertainingly) wrong – a system of rules involving dice and tokens will be invoked to determine what happens next.

In most RPGs, once the dice have been rolled, the reins are returned to the GM to describe the outcome. Eat God breaks with custom in that favourable outcomes will usually call upon the acting God-eater's player to describe them, with some limitations. Those accustomed to more conventional games should review Playing the Game (p. 76) to familiarise themselves with when [...]

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David J Prokopetz @prokopetz.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Finally giving Eat God's bibliography a proper organisation and layout pass, and in the process adding a few entries which were overlooked the first time around. The extended reading list still has a few lines to spare if you've spotted what you feel is a conspicuous omission!

Inspirational Media

Some titles on this list – particularly the tabletop roleplaying games – directly inform how Eat God is put together; others are simply good points of reference for its tone and themes.

A Better Place (2015–2020) by Harry Bogosian

Part of Bogosian's ongoing The Demon's Mirror trilogy, A Better Place is possibly the long-form work closest to Eat God's thematic heart, telling the intertwined tales of a teenage girl turned disillusioned demiurge and a motley band of strange creatures variously seeking to understand, escape from, or destroy the fallen world she has created.

Among the Beautiful Creatures (2002) by David Johansen

The imaginative character creation system of Among the Beautiful Creatures is the principal inspiration for the Folk. Sometimes described as “Jim Henson does Fritz Leiber”, Among the Beautiful Creatures exists only as an unpublished playtest draft, and is not presently available via any official channel; the Internet Archive may avail the curious.

The Dark Crystal (1982) dir. Jim Henson and Frank Oz and Labyrinth (1986) dir. Jim Henson

Though much of the filmography of Jim Henson and Brian Froud's Creature Shop is excellent fodder for Eat God, these two films come nearest to the game's default tone of classic sword and sorcery meets cartoon slapstick. Care has been taken that every puppet character from these films can be modelled using Eat God's character creation.

Digger (2003–2011) by Ursula Vernon

Tales of small furry things taking on gods – and often winning – abound in Vernon's early works, and Digger is true to form. While it explores a strand of fantasy less rooted in violent spectacle than Eat God's usual fare, its world of talking statues, vampiric gourds and oracular slugs has much to offer, and many of its cast, including the eponymous protagonist, make good models for the Folk.

Exalted (2001) by Geoffrey Graboswki and Robert Hatch

Exalted popularised the “reality-warping martial artists with full sentences for names on a journey to dethrone God” family of RPGs which Eat God sends up, and remains a touchstone for the genre. Several God-eater Creeds are patterned on Exalted's distinctive take on the Fair Folk.

The Far Roofs (2024) and Glitch (2020) by Jenna Moran

Dr. Moran's work is the single largest influence on the tone and style of Eat God's writing. The Far Roofs and Glitch bear special mention, the former being a more straight-faced take on small fuzzy creatures fighting gods, and the latter – a game about retired world-devouring horrors solving mysteries – being a major thematic and mechanical inspiration for Eat God's Rebellious Arts.

Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies (1930–1969) dir. Tex Avery, Bob Clampett, Chuck Jones et al.

Beyond the foundational influence of these cartoons on comedic filmmaking, each of the eighteen Rebellious Arts presented in this document evokes a specific recurring sight gag from the classic Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies short films; see if you can spot which ones.

Pokéthulhu (2000) by S John Ross and Philip J Reed

The core rules of Costume Fairy Adventures, Eat God's predecessor, began as a hack of S John Ross' Pokéthulhu. Eat God has inherited this legacy and added a few twists of its own. Pokéthulhu's marriage of pocket-monster design sensibilities with the Cthulhu Mythos offers a rich vein of inspiration for awful little creatures.

Run Robot Red (2004) by Annie Rush

Player characters in Annie Rush's game of funny little robots engaging in quiet rebellion consist of modular collections of alliteratively named traits, a framework which those who give Eat God's own character creation a try will doubtless find familiar. Its love for complicated dice tables makes it a game after Eat God's own heart.

Other Inspirational Media

If every piece of media upon which Eat God draws were to be given a full writeup, this section would be much longer. The following list outlines some titles which have contributed in their own ways to making this game what it is.

Film & Television

* The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988) dir. Terry Gilliam
* Double King (2017) by Felix Colgrave
* Invader Zim (2001–2006) dir. Steve Ressel
* Kung Fu Hustle (2004) dir. Steven Chow
* Mad God (2021) dir. Phil Tippett
* The Muppet Show (1976–1981) dir. Peter Harris & Philip Casson
* Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) dir. Robert Zemeckis

Literature & Comics

* Amber Skies (2020–2022) C.T. Kelly
* Deathbird Stories (1975) by Harlan Ellison
* Doom Patrol Vol. 2 #19‐87 (1989–1995) by Grant Morrison (#19–63) & Rachel Pollack (#64–87), illus. Richard Case, Linda Medley, Ted McKeever et al.
* Dresden Codak (2005–) by A. Senna Diaz
* Dungeon Meshi (2014–2023) by Ryoko Kui
* The Gods of Pegāna (1905) and The Book of Wonder (1912) by Lord Dunsany
* Kill Six Billion Demons (2014–) by Tom Bloom
* McDougall's Good Stories for Children (1902–1905) by Walt McDougall
* Problem Sleuth (2008–2009) by Andrew Hussie

Music

* Beauty in the Beast (1986) by Wendy Carlos
* Detachable Penis (1992) by King Missile
* The Hands That Thieve (2013) by Streetlight Manifesto
* Le Tigre (1999) by Le Tigre
* Pawprint Panic! (2023) by NAPCAST

Nonfiction & Esoterica

* Dictionnaire Infernal, 6th Ed. (1863) by Jacques Collin de Plancy, illus. Louis le Breton
* The Garden of Earthly Delights (c. 1490–1510) by Hieronymus Bosch
* Mythologies (1957/1972) by Roland Barthes, trans. Annette Lavers

Tabletop RPGs

* Blazing Hymn (2021) by Peach Garden Games
* Cuticorium (2020) by Ulysses Duckler
* Doll.Bod (2023) by Wendy Ribston Pippin
* Euphoria 2180 (2024) by Lilith Lilac Leviathan
* Mortasheen (2025) by Jonathan Wojcik, Bonnie Saucier, Morgan Mullins et al.
* Paranoia XP (2004) by Alan Varney, Dan Gelber, Greg Costikyan et al.
* Toon (1984) by Greg Costikyan & Warren Spector
* Weapons of the Gods (2005) by Jenna Moran & Brad Elliot

Video Games

* Anodyne 2: Return to Dust (2019) by Melos Han-Tani & Marina Kittaka
* Brutal Orchestra (2021) by Talia bob Mair & Nicolás Delgado
* Hollow Knight (2017) and Hollow Knight: Silksong (2025) by Team Cherry
* Hylics (2015) and Hylics 2 (2020) by Mason Lindroth
* The Kirby series (1992–) by HAL Laboratory

[begin sidebar] No discussion of Eat God's influences would be complete without Costume Fairy Adventures (2016), a previous project by Eat God's lead writer in collaboration with Rebecca Mooney, Jye Nicolson, and Delilah H Smith. Costume Fairy Adventures is the bones on which Eat God is built, and those familiar with one will doubtless recognise many elements of the other. [end sidebar]

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David J Prokopetz @prokopetz.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

The random inventory tables in draft 0.7 of "Eat God" cover a number of commonly encountered milieux. Draft 0.8 adds a few somewhat more specialised options.

Random Inventory X: Belly of the Beast

These tables are somewhat inaptly named, as their contents span many more parts of the Beast than just its belly. What misadventure has led the God-eaters to this inner realm?

[Following are a pair of lookup tables, indexed for both d66 rolls and playing cards. The first, titled "Random Tools", contains the 36 entries listed below; a footnote to this table reads: "Note: all tools from this milieu clear 1d6−1 Stress if eaten." In the second table, titled "Random Food", every entry simply says "meat".]

11 / 2 of clubs: acid gland
12 / 3 of clubs: adhesive clot
13 / 4 of clubs: antibody nectar
14 / 5 of clubs: blood-fed blossom
15 / 6 of clubs: bone club
16 / 7 of clubs: buoyant bladder
21 / 8 of clubs: calcified tendon
22 / 9 of clubs: clawed gloves
23 / 10 of clubs: coiled entrails
24 / 2 of diamonds: congealed teardrop
25 / 3 of diamonds: domesticated tongue
26 / 4 of diamonds: electrified nerve
31 / 5 of diamonds: enormous eyeball
32 / 6 of diamonds: fangcaster (3 shots)
33 / 7 of diamonds: fizzing enzyme
34 / 8 of diamonds: fleshworm eggs
35 / 9 of diamonds: gangrenous gristle
36 / 10 of diamonds: glob of fat
41 / 2 of spades: glowing spores
42 / 3 of spades: living cloak
43 / 4 of spades: muscular cord
44 / 5 of spades: nacreous plate
45 / 6 of spades: nasal-hair net
46 / 7 of spades: pellucid membrane
51 / 8 of spades: reeking gallstone
52 / 9 of spades: regenerating chunk
53 / 10 of spades: sac of spinal fluid
54 / 2 of hearts: sharpened tooth
55 / 3 of hearts: slavering jawtrap
56 / 4 of hearts: spiracle flute
61 / 5 of hearts: squamous hat
62 / 6 of hearts: squirming growth
63 / 7 of hearts: talkative parasite
64 / 8 of hearts: tympanic drum
65 / 9 of hearts: vertebral whip
66 / 10 of hearts: volatile cyst

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David J Prokopetz @prokopetz.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

Sometimes an NPC doesn't need to have an explicitly laid out plan as long as they have something entertainingly wrong with them. (Also previewing a slightly revised NPC stat block layout that opens up a little more breathing room for extra rules toys.)

61–62: The Shifty Timekeeper

SL 7; Threat 2; Snobbish, Smartly Dressed

A City Timekeeper, proud of their very important job. In their satchel is something they should not have, which the God-eaters could not possibly suspect – could they?

Is That What I Think It Is?: The Shifty Timekeeper's satchel contains a unique item (p. 181) whose nature or effect is critical to the God-eaters' present goal.

On Edge: The Calamity Thresholds of social tests targeting the Shifty Timekeeper are worsened by two points.

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David J Prokopetz @prokopetz.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

Sometimes a playtester asks a silly question and the only reasonable response is "sure, why not".

Stressing Out & Cooperative Tests

Stressing Out does not preclude participating in cooperative tests (p. 84), provided all of the following are true:

* you are not leading the test
* doing so does not otherwise violate any of the prohibitions that being Stressed Out imposes
* the way you Stressed Out would reasonably permit it

What this looks like in descriptive terms will necessarily vary based on present circumstances. In a combat scenario, it may involve another God-eater simply picking up your insensate body and using it as a weapon or shield; other situations may demand more creativity. Regardless of your God-eater's condition, you as a player still decide which Traits you contribute to tests made in this way.

[begin sidebar] As the question will doubtless arise, you typically may not employ the effortful effects of your Forms when participating in a test while Stressed Out; you are unable to perform the requisite effortful action, and the test's leader cannot perform it on your behalf. Exceptions may be granted if a convincing (or amusing) explanation is furnished. [end sidebar]

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David J Prokopetz @prokopetz.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

Striking an appropriate balance between "accommodating individual reading styles" and "deploying the warranted level of snark against people who skip the section titled 'How To Roll Dice', then complain that it's unclear how to roll the dice" can be a tricky needle to thread.

Trait Forms
To determine the Forms of a new God-eater's Traits, roll or choose three times from the following table. This is the first of several d66 tables you will encounter in this chapter; as a refresher (and for the benefit of those who skipped the introduction), to roll on such a table, roll a six-sided die twice, reading the first roll as the “tens” place and the second roll as the “ones” place, yielding a value in the range from 11 to 66.

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David J Prokopetz @prokopetz.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

Bonjour. (A layout test for the forthcoming playtest draft 0.8 of "Eat God" [ penguinking.itch.io/eat-god ]. Illustration by @curatrix-ribston.bsky.social.)

A page excerpted from draft 0.8 of "Eat God". It displays the Random Forms table, a 36-entry table of character traits with alliterative names like "Aquatic Aspect", "Bottomless Belly", "Bulging Brain", etc. A black and white drawing of a furry humanoid wearing a broad-brimmed metal helmet with an enormous lit candle perched atop it and brandishing a large rusty hook in one hand peeks from around the left-hand edge of the table.

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David J Prokopetz @prokopetz.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

Wrapping up the front half of the 4xxs, with thanks to certain parties who may recognise a few of their suggestions!

421 You need to be regularly reminded that most creatures are not as resilient as the Folk.
422 You claim to have experience with any hobby or pastime you encounter, no matter what the activity in question is.
423 You become intoxicated from consuming something which does not ordinarily produce this effect, such as eggs or cheese.
424 You are prone to biting when startled, annoyed, provoked, agitated, impatient, or simply bored.
425 People can feel it when you look at them, even if they are unaware of your presence – somehow they can tell.
426 You have a particular physical feature which you believe to be secretly envied by everyone you meet.
431 You give complicated answers to straightforward questions, especially when under pressure to answer quickly.
432 Whenever anyone tries to render you in any artistic medium, the end product looks nothing like you.
433 You enjoy pointing out failures to follow rules and regulations, though you feel no obligation to obey them yourself.
434 You carry a book which you allege to be the most sacred scripture of your Creed; all of its pages are blank.
435 You always have a pipe or rolling papers about your person, and are willing to try smoking anything at least once.
436 Wildflowers sprout from bare earth wherever your feet (or equivalent appendages) touch it for more than a moment.

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David J Prokopetz @prokopetz.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Looking over the existing entries in Eat God's Quirks table, I was actually kind of surprised this one wasn't in there already.

435 You always have a pipe or rolling papers about your person, and are willing to try smoking anything at least once.

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David J Prokopetz @prokopetz.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

Some layout adjustments to "Eat God" based on playtester feedback: * Playset locations, etc. are now prefaced with lookup tables * Tables of page refs now place the page number in a separate column, and the jump link now covers the entire row Hopefully this will make stuff easier to find in v0.8!

An excerpted page from the "Eat God" core rulebook containing a table labelled "The Clockwork City Locations". One row, reading "The Granger Street Distillery (p. 187) is highlighted to display that the entire row is a clickable link.

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David J Prokopetz @prokopetz.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

When playtesting "The Clockwork City", one of Eat God's included scenarios, a playtester pointed out that one of the randomly encountered NPCs makes reference a specific type of item for which the playset contains no worked examples. Whoops! Here are three that will appear in the next revision.

Advanced Clockwork

Beyond the common devices represented by Gizmos, the Clockwork City is also home to singular inventions and cutting-edge protytpes. These can be modelled as unique items (p. 114). They are especially important if the Shifty Timekeeper (p. 195) is in play, but can also be encountered on their own. Several examples suitable for this playset follow.

Key to the City
One of only three in existence, effortful use of this palm-size crystal gear's Trait allows its holder to act upon the City's infrastructure at Near range as though they were at Touch range, as the cogs themselves leap to obey. When used in this way, it softly calls to its siblings, whose bearers will have pointed questions about how it came into the God-eaters' possession. Trait: Catastrophic Plan

Neuropneumatic Telereceptor
A one-of-a-kind prototype resembling a hat with a light bulb on top, this device allows its wearer to spy on the thoughts of others. Its Trait confers the benefits of Bulging Brain (p. 34), though a successful test (and much fiddling with knobs) is required to target a specific individual. The City Timekeepers will kill to keep its existence a secret. Trait: Surveillance State-of-the-art

A.V.E.R.Y.
A bulky pendant containing an experimental cogmind. Its Trait grants its bearer the effects of Polycephalous (p. 42) for as long as they remain on A.V.E.R.Y.'s good side. (A.V.E.R.Y. alternates between child-like wonderment at a world it has never seen and grumpiness that its routine has been disrupted.) A.V.E.R.Y. refuses to explain what “A.V.E.R.Y.” stands for. Trait: How May I Assist You

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David J Prokopetz @prokopetz.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

Getting started on the 4xxs. (If you have suggestions, feel free to chime in; we've got ~100 slots left to fill if we're going to hit the full d666. I've put a PDF preview of the list to date here [ penguinking.games/files/eat-go... ] if you want to avoid suggesting anything that's already there!)

A partial continuation of the preceding d666 table, as follows:

411 Medical or magical tests always come back negative when performed on you, regardless of what is being tested for.
412 You relish the mouthfeel of unusual or obscure words, and deploy them at every opportunity.
413 You refuse to give others power by acknowledging insults, proceeding as if they simply had not said anything at all.
414 You enjoy testing your host's commitment to upholding the laws of hospitality whenever you find yourself a guest.
415 You often construct analogies with an obscure sport or game whose rules only you know; this rarely helps.
416 You adhere to moral and ethical principles only because violating them would be rude; luckily, you are very polite.

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David J Prokopetz @prokopetz.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

Another bit of recurring feedback in the latest "Eat God" playtests is that some NPCs in the example playset left the GM on the spot to come up with goals or motivations. This excerpt displays several stat blocks with additions outlining what the NPCs in question are likely to be up to by default.

A page from the NPCs section of Eat God's first sample playset, "The Clockwork City". The page contains stat blocks for "The Champ and Atlas", "The Clockwork Performers", and "The Corrupt Watchman". Relevant additions from the playset's previous draft are as follows:

* The Champ and Atlas: "Both are inveterate bullies, and are likely to mark the God-eaters as easy targets."

* The Clockwork Performers: "hey usually prefer to distract and rob wealthy nobles, but they are not above targets of opportunity."

* The Corrupt Watchman: "[...] usually found shaking down other NPCs for bribes; they will target the God-eaters if no other prospects are present."

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David J Prokopetz @prokopetz.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

A frequent remark in Eat God's latest playtests has been that the aggressive randomisation can make it hard for the GM figure out what's happening at a randomly drawn location on arrival, or how two randomly drawn NPCs relate to one another. Our solution, of course, is more Big Stupid Tables. (1/3)

A pair of partially completed full-page d66 tables, the one on the left labelled "Random Location Events (roll twice and combine), and the one on the right labelled "Random NPC Connections (roll once per pair)". The contents of the individual rows are reproduced in the post body, below.

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David J Prokopetz @prokopetz.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

So we've been doing some some heavy playtesting "Eat God" lately.

Excerpt of a sidebar from the tabletop roleplaying game "Eat God", reading:

For clarity, “Traits” means the things formally called capital-T Traits that you chose in the first step of character creation, as well as the equivalent qualities of NPCs, locations, etc. Your Features, Creed, Rebellious Arts, name and pronouns are not Traits and cannot be tagged for dice. In the case of [text cuts off]

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