itch.io

Jay Dragon's Systems of Relation

https://medium.com/@possumcreek/systems-of-relation-c3b27fc4cc99
"House is a children’s game where kids pretend to be members of a nuclear family and do regular family stuff, such as make dinner, argue over the kids, and repress nascent feelings of gender euphoria. I believe it’s accurate to describe House as existing in relationship to a system just as much as Dungeons & Dragons, but while Dungeons & Dragons is built on a system of mechanics, House (and Warrior Cats, and so many other children’s games) is built on a system of relation.

House doesn’t need a book to frame its system because it’s run on the Nuclear Family itself, a system both complex and omnipresent in the lives of American children, especially those with messy family dynamics at home. Children might debate whether it’s okay for a woman to play the Husband role in a game of House, thus mirroring their own conflict with the oppressive hierarchy of the nuclear family. Some kids might choose to intentionally reject the very premises of the nuclear family within their game of House, but they are still playing within its context. "

The gnome (?) gives 10 XP if you find it and 0 when it gets revealed by the orb item. Is that on purpose or a bug? Because it's a random thing that really ruins a perfect score run.

Is "Inspired by two Bakers and a Dragon" a new PbtA variant? I2B&D?

I was initially very scared, like "If level 1 is this hard, what is the rest like" but it was perfect as a standalone little game!

It is a little expansion-pack for a game (Under Hollow Hills) that is like D&D in that you play characters and create fiction together, sometimes rolling dice. It has a very different focus though. You play a bunch of immortal fae and maybe some mortals who got tangled up trying to put on a circus show.

May be the best thing on itch.io

Sure, here's the link to the blog version.

Hi! I've found this game in the ad section of the Indie TTRPG Newsletter. I haven't bought it but I intend to check it out after it's out of early access. I was thinking about how to make "Fake Artist" into an RPG so the social deduction part of it really interests me. Also the itch page looks polished. Kudos!

I was checking out Sparked by Resistance games to see how far designers have been stretching it, since I've decided to make one myself.  Facade is deeply inspiring! Also I'm cis but I connect to the sense of unmasking and relief here as a neurodivergent person who has gotten a diagnosis at 29 and has only been getting happier, more powerful and more honest since. Thank you so much for this!

I love your stuff though sometimes it's too difficult for me. I'm happy you're back to making games, can't wait to see what you come up with!

Great little metroidyoshia

The "don't play" button is a groundbreaking innovation, also fun game I guess.

Jay this is beautiful and very relevant to what I was planning to do with my friends this weekend, you mage!

This is inspiring, at the table this would inspire dramatic sacrifices, chase scenes, fight scenes, daring escapes, in so few words too! Thank you for this.

I love this. I'm inspired by this. Thank you.

The ending gave me a bit of friction, so I'm interested in what you'll grow it into. Other than that, this was delightful and right up my alley! Thank you!

Got me into the flow so hard. Did not expect.

Tight and evocative. I can see myself using this along with any other game or as a standalone game just as easily. Kudos. I'm inspired.

I thought this would be a less grim counterpart to Libellus Lunae. Quite the opposite. Turns out the sun wants life and gold molten in its name and is a jealous master.

Mankinis

Or like a hose, RP'ing as a dead horse.

Exquisite Horpse

The first PbtA game that made me super excited to play a particular progression of playbooks.

This might be the first Mosaic Strict I'm super excited to play with at an actual table.

Feels so witchy.  The imagery it conjures is very primal and visceral.

It's refreshing in that it doesn't focus on how the spells empower the mage, but how they bind them to the sky and make them weirder. The Lunomancer is not a moon-power exploiter. They're a servant to the moon. The hand of a powerful sky being.

I don't know if I'll ever get to play with it, but just reading it I felt very inspired.

Fun fact: "idman" is an Arabic loanword in Turkish which means "training"

Thanks! I recently found out about the Gauntlet community, looking forward to check this out.

Thanks! Glad you like it.

I didn't really get it at first, but the example set it up perfectly for me. This seems very elegant and exciting. Looking forward to using this approach in future micro-RPGs.

Oh I didn't play yet, but I've bookmarked it to present it this weekend to a game dev community to familiarize them with the weird design moves that are being done by so many awesome designers (such as yourself)

I'd add Fate/Fudge dice under the "You will need" section.

I rejec!

This game gets you into the flow, Success never sounded more satisfying.

Amazing. Couldn't wrap my head around the level design, but it got me in the zone. I'm curious about the secrets too. Thanks for a great game!

It was fun.

Also

Manama namaah bamabaah daah!

I've actually designed tutorial levels for each enemy which we'll be implementing soon and we're working on more distinguishable visuals too. Feel free to check back in over the weekend.

Thanks for playing and commenting!

Thanks for playing, glad you liked it.

We're currently working on ways to distinguish stuff better, so feel free to check back in over the weekend.

I don't get what the developer wanted this game to feel like. The mechanics are well implemented and the game looks and sounds good, but there's no sense of agency, The player does nothing, other than spam z/x, and maybe turn if they can see where they teleported before they're shot. Enemies don't telegraph and there's no way to predict teleportation so luck greatly outweighs any player action.

Perhaps a bit too great for a jam game, in terms of scale. With all those resources and mechanics to keep track of... I'm curious as to what all these nice-looking systems could look like with some playtesting and balancing, maybe keeping the effect of luck in check. I ran out of bullets and ran into a few combat encounters and died of running away within 4 encounters of starting.

The sights and the sounds are absolutely on point though.

This is a downright good puzzle that I couldn't quite figure out at first, but trying sure is fun.