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Ryan Loos

@ryanloos.bsky.social
694 followers 611 following 148 posts

That classic mix of history major, web developer, and TTRPG designer (He/Him). Owner of GrinningPortalGames.com

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Grinning Portal Games @grinningportal.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
What happens when D&D characters have to face the horrors of a 1950's suburb? Serenity Springs is now available on @rpgtrader.bsky.social! rpg-trader.com/products/900... #Dnd #5e #5.5e #ttrpg
Serenity Springs cover on RPG Trader
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Grinning Portal Games @grinningportal.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
You’ve fought goblins, mimics, and dragons. You’ve explored forgotten tombs, snowy mountains, and dangerous mines. Isn’t it time you settled down? Bought a house? Joined a community? Check out Serenity Springs, a D&D setting and adventure based on 1950s suburban America. tinyurl.com/ytd9w688
Across the top it says "Serenity Springs: Realm of Noxious Nostalgia" There is a man and woman sitting at a dining table talking to each other. Next to the table, a window to the outside shows TV static and a mutant pig monster. The two people and the monster are teal while everything else is in grayscale.
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Grinning Portal Games @grinningportal.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
I love a good mashup and Mad Max but animals fits that bill perfectly. Check out Road Rage by @daggerwoodgames.bsky.social www.kickstarter.com/projects/dag...
kickstarter.com
Coming soon: Road Rage
A high-octane mutant apocalypse TTRPG where failure builds Rage and Rage hits back.
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Grinning Portal Games @grinningportal.bsky.social · 27/04/2026
The Serenity Springs Kickstarter is up for only three more days! Throw your players into a monochrome horror dimension based on 1950s suburban America! www.kickstarter.com/projects/gri... #ttrpg #D&D #5e
kickstarter.com
Serenity Springs - Campaign setting and adventure for D&D
What happens when D&D characters have to contend with the horrors of a 1950's suburb?
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Grinning Portal Games @grinningportal.bsky.social · 15/04/2026
Funded! Thank you to everyone who supported and shared the project! Now back to work polishing and editing. #dnd #ttrpg #kickstarter #5e www.kickstarter.com/projects/gri...
kickstarter.com
Serenity Springs - Campaign setting and adventure for D&D
What happens when D&D characters have to contend with the horrors of a 1950's suburb?
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Grinning Portal Games @grinningportal.bsky.social · 03/04/2026
Want to learn more about Serenity Springs? Tune in to @talesfromelsewhere.bsky.social tomorrow at 10:00 am (PST) where Peter and I will discuss the unique blend of history, design, and offbeat ideas that eventually became Serenity Springs. www.youtube.com/live/DV0GdNv... #ttrpg #dnd #5e
youtube.com
Taking D&D in Strange Directions - Live Interview
YouTube video by Tales from Elsewhere
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Patton Oswalt @pattonoswalt.bsky.social · 02/04/2026
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Grinning Portal Games @grinningportal.bsky.social · 31/03/2026
And we're live! #ttrpg #dnd #5e www.kickstarter.com/projects/gri...
kickstarter.com
Serenity Springs - Campaign setting and adventure for DnD
What happens when DnD characters have to contend with the horrors of a 1950's suburb?
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Grinning Portal Games @grinningportal.bsky.social · 30/03/2026
Major kudos to @excalibird.bsky.social for her work on the two covers for Serenity Springs! The project goes live on Kickstarter tomorrow! #dnd #ttrpg #5e
Two pieces of cover art. The one on the left says "Serenity Springs: Realm of Noxious Nostalgia" and depicts a couple sitting down to dinner while a flying bug/pig monster menaces them from just outside their window. The one on the right says "Freaks from Beyond the Hayze: A Serenity Springs Adventure." It shows a suburban street with several Dnd characters in the mid-ground. The foreground is full of people looking scared and confused.
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Ryan Loos @ryanloos.bsky.social · 27/03/2026
One of my favorite questions I've been asked about my work.
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Grinning Portal Games @grinningportal.bsky.social · 25/03/2026
Here's what Serenity Springs' kitbashed artstyle looks like in practice. We took this (archive.org/details/hous...) image from Household Magazine, and added a hand-drawn Alien getting ready for mischief. #ttrpg #dnd #5e
A woman in 50s clothing standing next to an open dryer and smiling down on it. Behind her is a window and its raining outside. In the corner of the window is an alien holding up a ray gun.
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Grinning Portal Games @grinningportal.bsky.social · 15/03/2026
Serenity Spring's artwork is kitbashed from old 1950s magazines. It's not hard to find unintentionally creepy pictures like the one below. She has absolutely murdered someone with that clock and will kill again. Source: archive.org/details/hous...
A woman holding a paint roller in one hand and in another holding up a tiny clock that has a bunch of sharp spikes jutting out of it. She is situated behind the clock giving a mischievous look.
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Grinning Portal Games @grinningportal.bsky.social · 13/03/2026
How does one get in or out of Serenity Springs? A magic item called the Universal Remote teleports you there for petty reasons. This vengeful little contraption exists in some form in every plane, sending all manner of life-forms to Serenity Springs. More shapes in the comments!
A simple old fashioned TV remote with four buttons across the middle:  + volume, - volume, + channel, - channel
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Grinning Portal Games @grinningportal.bsky.social · 09/03/2026
A 1950s suburb isn't gonna have traditional DnD dungeons, so how about a landed Roswell-coded UFO? Notes to my music guy for this part just reads "Theramin ass theramin." Intrigued? Check out the Kickstarter for Serenity Springs, launching March 31 tinyurl.com/3pppxe2h #ttrpg #dnd #5e
A large gridded DnD map all in black and white. Its the interior of a circular UFO. There is one large room in the center that leads out to 8 miscellaneous connected smaller circular rooms around it. In order starting from the top and going clockwise the rooms contain:
- Some navigation equipment
- An engine room
- An armory
- A room full of strange mold that was taken over by a monster
- Cryosleep chambers
- A laboratory
- Storage for captured people
- a space that prints food and spare parts
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Grinning Portal Games @grinningportal.bsky.social · 05/03/2026
In Serenity Springs, walking somewhere always takes 1 hour while driving always takes 10 minutes. Its a navigation challenge for the players, and a parody of the car-dependence kicked off in this era. Intrigued? Check out the Kickstarter, launching March 31. tinyurl.com/3pppxe2h #ttrpg #dnd
tinyurl.com
Coming soon: Serenity Springs - Campaign setting and adventure for DnD
What happens when DnD characters have to contend with the horrors of a 1950's suburb?
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Grinning Portal Games @grinningportal.bsky.social · 02/03/2026
In Serenity Springs, sentient TV static called The Hayze censors all violence and nudity. The spelling is a direct reference to the Hays Code, a real thing that rigidly confined media in the 20th century. Intrigued? Check out the Kickstarter, launching March 31 tinyurl.com/3pppxe2h #ttrpg #dnd
tinyurl.com
Coming soon: Serenity Springs - Campaign setting and adventure for 5E
What happens when 5E characters have to contend with the horrors of a 1950's suburb?
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Grinning Portal Games @grinningportal.bsky.social · 28/02/2026
#SelfPromoSaturday time! Serenity Springs is my biggest project yet, a setting and adventure for 5E based on 1950s suburban America, launching on KS at the end of the month! What other #ttrpg projects are folks working on? www.kickstarter.com/projects/207...
kickstarter.com
Coming soon: Serenity Springs - Campaign setting and adventure for 5E
What happens when 5E characters have to contend with the horrors of a 1950's suburb?
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Jes the human @jesthehuman.itch.io · 09/02/2026
The No ICE in Minnesota Charity Bundle has officially LAUNCHED! There are 1,439 games to discover for a $10+ donation to Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota! Purchase the bundle here: itch.io/b/3484/no-ic...
graphic that says no ice in Minnesota itch.io charity bundle
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Grinning Portal Games @grinningportal.bsky.social · 16/01/2026
This motivated me to finally get my work up on itch.io. I've added my very modest library to the bundle. Fellow game designers: if you can afford it, please consider joining. All proceeds go to the Minnesota Immigration Law Center. #ttrpg itch.io/jam/no-ice-i...
itch.io
No ICE in Minnesota
A game jam from 2026-01-07 to 2026-01-27 hosted by jesthehuman. FAQ Can I submit multiple projects? You are welcome to submit multiple games, free, paid, or pay what you can, including new and existin...
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Grinning Portal Games @grinningportal.bsky.social · 03/12/2025
Hi folks, I've made another GM moves cheatsheet, this one for #masksanewgeneration It re-arranges the GM Moves cheatsheet into a more focused and customizable layout. Free on DTRPG. tinyurl.com/mhandchu P.S. If you think of other #pbta #ttrpg games that could use this treatment, let me know!
At the top it says "Masks, a new generation" in font thats slanted off to the right. In the middle are five icons layed out roughly in a circle, starting with an embarrassed face, then (going right) an alien, then a bomb, then an oustretched hand, and finally two hands clasped together. At the bottom it says "Game Master Moves Re-Generated" in the same font as the top section.
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Grinning Portal Games @grinningportal.bsky.social · 28/11/2025
I've recently had to explain #ttrpg adventures to folks outside the hobby several times, so I wrote a blog post I can point them to in the future. Feel free to send it to folks in your life who want to know more about your hobby. grinningportalgames.com/blog/ttrpg-101
grinningportalgames.com
TTRPG 101: An Outsider Crash Course
Don't know anything about TTRPGs? start here!
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Grinning Portal Games @grinningportal.bsky.social · 21/11/2025
My newest #ttrpg project lives! Gabaghoul: A Sleazy Symbiosis is a #monsteroftheweek adventure where the hunters race against the clock to stop a clan of ghouls from resurrecting (via human sacrifice) the enormous comatose mimic beneath the city. Check it out on DTRPG tinyurl.com/45zajwbk
In the upper left at an angle it says "Gabaghoul: A Sleazy Symbiosis." Below that is the key art showing a barrel in a cellar that has sprouted a green toothy mouth, a long tentacle, and several beady purple eyes. Beneath that it says "A monster of the week mystery", followed by the logo for Grinning Portal Games.
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Hank Green @hankgreen.bsky.social · 18/11/2025
I don't know why the "Piggy" thing is bothering me so much. It's one more unforgivable thing in a list of 20,000 unforgivable things, but I've been mad about it for like 12 straight hours.
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Grinning Portal Games @grinningportal.bsky.social · 31/10/2025
Hi folks. During my recent Monster of the Week campaign I made a resource for myself that I'd like to share. Introducing Keeper Moves Re-Typed: the same move list you know and love, but organized by pacing/story beats. Free on DTRPG tinyurl.com/2b5ev6r3 #ttrpg #monsteroftheweek
A re-organized list of the keeper moves from Monster of the Week. The categories are: Foreshadowing & Tension, Surprise!, Simplify Hunter Goals, Complicate Hunter Goals, Threaten Physically, Pursue Monster Goals, Multipurpose. Each move type has a glyph next to it to indicate its original sorting (basic, location, bystander, minion, monster)
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Grinning Portal Games @grinningportal.bsky.social · 17/10/2025
Looking for a time loop ghost train mystery for Halloween? Thats a weirdly specific ask but fortunately my adventure No Time for the Wicked is exactly that and currently 30% off! www.dmsguild.com/product/4937... (Stay tuned for my next adventure featuring The Bagman) #dnd #ttrpg #dnd5e
View from the inside of a train looking out the window. There is no one in the seats on either side. Outside the window the view is all misty other than the reflection of a skeletal figure. There is a title across the top that says "No Time for the Wicked: Trapped on the Cyre 1313." On the top right there is a badge that says silver bestseller. On the bottom left is a small icon that says "A Ravenloft Adventure". At the bottom of the image it says "Trap your players in a time loop on a doomed lightning rail"
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Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 08/10/2025
#WarRavagedPortland
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Ryan Loos @ryanloos.bsky.social · 27/09/2025
I live and work in Portland. We have our problems, but we're far from "war torn." Americans, regardless of political affinity, should be horrified by a President occupying home soil. Especially when said President is so clearly driven by cruelty, selfishness, retribution, and pursuit of power.
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Ryan Loos @ryanloos.bsky.social · 15/07/2025
My ghost train timeloop adventure, No Time for the Wicked, is part of this amazing Bundle on DMSguild. Check it out! www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/5... #ttrpg #dnd #5e
Cover art for 8 different adventures, banner across the bottom that says "5e Adventure Bundle - 56% off"
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Ryan Loos @ryanloos.bsky.social · 09/05/2025
Check out my latest blog post on making time loops in ttrpgs. Special thanks to @drew-makes-games.itch.io for inspiring this post.
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Ryan Loos @ryanloos.bsky.social · 08/05/2025
Just happened to schedule a game of Eat the Reich for today without realizing it’s VE Day 😂.
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Commander Sterling @commandersterling.bsky.social · 01/05/2025
The dismantling of games journalism exactly mirrors the dismantling of the industry it covers. It’s a very deliberate disassembly - media in general is being actively killed off by myopic and utterly useless vandals. I sincerely wish ill for those who *indulge* in causing layoffs.
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Grinning Portal Games @grinningportal.bsky.social · 16/04/2025
#WIPwednesday #ttrpg #dnd Working on the adventure that will come with Serenity Springs, my upcoming suburban 1950's themed horror setting. Current question: What does the statblock for a classic Roswell-style alien look like? 👽 Intrigued? Follow along here: www.kickstarter.com/projects/207...
kickstarter.com
Coming soon: Serenity Springs - Campaign setting for 5e DND
Serenity Springs is a new TTRPG horror setting based on 1950’s suburban America.
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Grinning Portal Games @grinningportal.bsky.social · 15/04/2025
Looking for a dose of RPG sillyness? Check out my first blog post where I introduce my longest-running NPC. Special shoutout to @thefuzzyslug.bsky.social for the art. grinningportalgames.com/blog/tale-of... #ttrpg
grinningportalgames.com
The Tale of Trunk
The first NPC I ever created, and long-running mascot of my games.
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Ryan Loos @ryanloos.bsky.social · 11/04/2025
Hello #ttrpg world! Introducing: Grinning Portal Games! This will be the central place to find all of my future publications, blog posts, and more. Check out the site here: grinningportalgames.com And please follow on Bluesky: bsky.app/profile/grin...
grinningportalgames.com
Grinning Portal Games
Grinning Portal Games is a small TTRPG development studio focused on creating unique and engaging games.
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Ryan Loos @ryanloos.bsky.social · 19/03/2025
Hello pile of new followers out of nowhere and old followers! Apologies for being real quite lately. I've been heads down on a personal project which I will announce here soon! (hint below)
A hand-drawn purple oval with a slight smile and two sharp teeth
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Ryan Loos @ryanloos.bsky.social · 14/02/2025
🎉🥈🎉 No Time for the Wicked has gone silver! Check it out if you haven't already (shorturl.at/qoB7W). Once again I'll do one #thankaTTRPGcreator every day for the next few days to celebrate. This time around it'll be mainly for folks who helped my adventure get this far 🧵 #dnd #ttrpgcommunity
View from the inside of a train looking out the window. There is no one in the seats on either side. Outside the window the view is all misty other than the reflection of a skeletal figure. There is a title across the top that says "No Time for the Wicked: Trapped on the Cyre 1313." On the top right there is a badge that says silver bestseller. On the bottom left is a small icon that says "A Ravenloft Adventure". At the bottom of the image it says "Trap your players in a time loop on a doomed lightning rail"
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wobblerocket 🎲🎮 @wobblerocket.com · 10/02/2025
Good morning, friends and fiends! The Weekly Wobble has just gone out to subscribers with a discount code from @ryanloos.bsky.social We've also got a new game review by @reyesraine.itch.io for You're Elf by @ratbastardgames.bsky.social #dnd #ttrpg #indiettrpg Read Reyes' review here:
wobblerocket.com
You’re Elf by Rat Bastard Games Review – A 36 Word Game –
You're Elf by Rat Bastard Games is an entry in the 36 Word Game Jam in which you play a dying elf reflecting on a long life.
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Ryan Loos @ryanloos.bsky.social · 09/02/2025
Friday was the finale of my 2 year Ravenloft DnD campaign. It's such a strange mixture of feelings when something that long ends. I'm both relieved and sad that its over. Excited to try new games, and grateful for the old one. Special thanks to my players for sticking around ❤️. #ttrpgcommunity #dnd
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wobblerocket 🎲🎮 @wobblerocket.com · 09/02/2025
Monday morning, 57 subscribers to my Weekly Wobble newsletter will receive a discount code for @ryanloos.bsky.social's Eberron adventure, No Time for the Wicked. You're gonna miss out if you don't hit the link and sign up: www.wobblerocket.com/subscribe/
Cover art for No Time for the Wicked, a Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition adventure by Ryan Loos. The image shows the inside of a train car cast in shadows.. Outside, the window is foggy and covered in condensation. A skeletal figure can be seen outside the window.
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Liam @tomahawkbunny.bsky.social · 01/02/2025
AND WE’RE (I’m) LIVE! My first crowdfunding project ever for #zinequest and #zinemonth is a zine for @melsonia.bsky.social’s Troika! with backgrounds of the last survivors of the dying universe, including Pi, Starving Diety and Apocalypse Stenographer! Back now! www.kickstarter.com/projects/tom...
kickstarter.com
Sometimes, We Were Infinite: A Troika! Zine
Sometimes, We Were Infinite is a Troika! zine collecting backgrounds from the last peoples of the dying universe.
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Ryan Loos @ryanloos.bsky.social · 03/02/2025
Thanks for the review! @phdnd.bsky.social has a lot of other great videos on his channel if you have any interest in Ravenloft antics.
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chelsea g. summers @chelseagsummers.bsky.social · 02/02/2025
I'm digging how this WWII guide is basically "gum up fascism by being an energy vampire." Let Colin Robinson be your guide in the fight against fascism. The link: www.404media.co/declassified...
From a WWII handbook on being a bad at job to roadblock fascism. Here's the text: “Bring up irrelevant issues as frequently as possible.”
“Haggle over precise wordings of communications, minutes, resolutions.”
“‘Misunderstand’ orders. Ask endless questions or engage in long correspondence about such orders. Quibble over them when you can.”
“In making work assignments, always sign out the unimportant jobs first. See that the important jobs are assigned to inefficient workers of poor machines.”
“To lower morale and with it, production, be pleasant to inefficient workers; give them undeserved promotions. Discriminate against efficient workers; complain unjustly about their work.”
“Hold conferences when there is more critical work to be done.”
“Multiply paperwork in plausible ways.” 
“Make mistakes in quantities of material when you are copying orders. Confuse similar names. Use wrong addresses.”
“Work slowly. Think out ways to increase the number of movements necessary on your job”
“Pretend that instructions are hard to understand, and ask to have them repeated more than once. Or pretend that you are particularly anxious to do your work, and pester the foreman with unnecessary questions.”
“Snarl up administration in every possible way. Fill out forms illegibly so that they will have to be done over; make mistakes or omit requested information in forms.”
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Daniel Abraham @abraham.bsky.social · 29/01/2025
OpenAI says it has proof that Deepseek used its work without permission to create something meant to undermine and destroy its product. On behalf of all the authors whose novels and stories were taken as training data, oh no that must be so hard for you.
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Ryan Loos @ryanloos.bsky.social · 27/01/2025
Live footage from inside OpenAI, Meta, Google, Nvidia etc. today www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJng...
youtube.com
Tony Stark Was Able To Build This In A Cave With A Box Of Scraps | Iron Man (2008) Movie CLIP HD
YouTube video by marvel clips
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Dr. Z's Tomb of Terror @zigmenthotep.bsky.social · 17/11/2024
Reskeet if you're a TTRPG designer and/or publisher and are happy to provide digital copies for actual plays and reviews.
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Jason Bowers @phdnd.bsky.social · 23/01/2025
Playing Ravenloft in other systems! youtu.be/eSrrtB-YlZo
youtu.be
Ravenloft in Other RPG Systems!
YouTube video by PhD&D
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Ryan Loos @ryanloos.bsky.social · 08/01/2025
Hi I'm Ryan, and I feel like a #ttrpgcommunity outlier because I DON'T do extensive world building. I build the parts of the world that I think are cool, and the parts that I know the players will interact with, and thats it! For instance, I've never customized a pantheon in for a campaign.
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Blair, The Crimson Crest(0$/200$) @blairingmysoul.bsky.social · 30/12/2024
One of the most frightening things I've ever heard is when someone pointed out that the existence of the "Uncanny Valley" implies at some point there was an evolutionary reason to be afraid of something that looked human but wasn't.😬 You're welcome~😘
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Gina Susanna @ohheyitsgina.bsky.social · 03/01/2025
Hey did you know ☝🏼 that leaving your favorite creator or artist a 5-star review, sharing their work, writing kind comments, and/or telling them to their face is an ✨absolutely free✨ way to help them start the New Year off right!
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The Agency of Narrative Intrigue and Mystery (A.N.I.M.) @anim-ttrpgs.bsky.social · 02/01/2025
"Lover," investigator Trait from #Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy. Every investigator has 3 to 6 Traits! #lover #ttrpg #ttrpgs #rpg #rpgs #indierpg #indierpgs #indiettrpg #indiettrpgs #detective #mystery #urbanfantasy #investigation anim-ttrpg.itch.io/eureka-urban...
Lover || This investigator has a +1 Base bonus to Charm. Additionally, their Charm or Seduce rolls against potentially hostile NPCs may reduce Morale the same way Threaten rolls do (i.e. a Failure raises Morale by 1, a Partial Success reduces it by 1, and a Full Success reduces it by 2), representing an NPC hesitating to attack someone they’ve grown attached to or don’t find threatening. Once per Scene, as long as they take some appropriate action, they may even roll Charm or Seduce to make a good impression on another investigator. On a Full Success, the affected investigator is forced to make a Composure roll at -2 if they attempt to harm this character during that Scene.

[There is also a picture of a stylized guy in a trenchcoat and fedora laying seductively on a bed with a rose in his mouth.]
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