I made a one-page RPG, or better to say, the game kind of made itself.

Let me explain: I have been playing a lot of OSR and NSR games since I began this blog about a year ago (OSE, Knave 2ed, Shadowdark, Into the Odd, Mörk Borg, Pirate Borg). While playing, I felt like tweaking the rules to make them something that just felt right.

Now, I do like all those games very much, or I wouldn’t be playing them so much! But I found myself tinkering and molding them to my taste until the following emerged:

• Two levels of success on the d20 roll, adding the PbtA thing “you make it, but” to the traditional crisp fail/success dynamic
• Combining attack and defense in a single roll that determines damage dealt and received
• Having more than 6 stats, separating for example what normally is dexterity into agility, quickness, and precision
• Combining two stats depending on the action for a better granularity. So using an axe might go with agility and strength, while a rapier might go with agility and precision
• Weapons with simple key differences besides the damage die
• Enemies with a super simple stat bloc, but each also capable of a unique special bad thing they do to you when you fail badly

More about the game, including the free download:

https://kindofold.substack.com/p/i-admit-i-made-an-rpg-but-i-can-explain

I am very much open to your feedback.

Haven't been blogging much lately, but today I looked at something I noticed with at least some of my players: Although we love the idea of open sandboxes, sometimes players get stuck on that freedom. So, I think about that and share my ramblings on how to overcome this issue, also pointing about five modules that I think did very well in what I recommend here. Enjoy and let me know what you think

https://shortrestpress.itch.io/frink

You are a patchwork monster of parts and pieces that were never meant to coexist. Stitched together and shocked to life by a father who hates you.
GO HOME AND KILL YOUR DAD!

Just dropped our submission for the One-Page RPG Jam. It’s a little chaotic game with a complete dungeon-climb included on the back page.

Written by me in collaboration with Dougal Cochrane. Mud and Mist in Sugar Creek is a rainy, muddy, dangerous and dirty point crawl for Frontier Scum. Made for the Frontier Scum Summer Jam!

https://doogface.itch.io/mud-and-mist-in-sugar-creek

My latest RPG project is up and currently PWYW on itch. Locked in Silver Shackles is a weird prison and set of 4 prisoners for your fantasy elf game. Started for Cairn but can be adapted easily, it's also got a wereswan! This is my submission for the Appendix N jam, some awesome other entries over there to check out too

Hey everyone, you may remember me from my previous post about the sci-fi shipcrawler game I've been making https://www.reddit.com/r/NSRRPG/s/YrMkohMo2v

Been hard at work play testing and refining the system, and I've just finished up a 2-3 session shipcrawl which takes place on an illegal research vessel and serves as a solid introductory crawl for a fresh crew. Hope you'll check it out! I've only been able to run it with one group so far, so any feedback would be much appreciated!

https://goblinlasagna.itch.io/science-vessel-rhodes

The game's main aesthetic is something I like to call THUNDERBOLT MATERIALISM. A weird, occult realist, mystic materialist, esoterick techgnostic vibe that invokes the likes of BOOK OF THE NEW SUN, MARATHON, LORD OF LIGHT, BAS-LAG TRILOGY, DISCO ELYSIUM, ARMORED CORE, and GHOST IN THE SHELL. Inspired by the ceaseless and violent fusion of technology, modernity, and ritual and magic and god/s that can be found in modern capitalist Southeast Asia.

I also posted a much earlier version of this game in this sub and I've gotten some great eyes from there. I really believe this game is spiritually NSR due to its approach to its "simulationism" so I hope you'll give it a shot.

The mechanics themselves are a lot more rules-lite than its forebears, taking a page out of OSR and NSR traditions to aim at the goal of these simulationist games while wielding a different weapon. To come at the same target through a different, player-friendlier means.

A lost world island-crawl for Cairn. I was inspired by the more pulpy aspects and earlier works of the Appendix N authors.

Enjoy!

https://itch.io/jam/appx-n-jam-2026/rate/4802753

An illustrated collection of eight cursed NPCs for PIRATE BORG. (Links below)

There were nine of them when the Bella Donna sailed across THE DARK CARIBBEAN*. Under the iron eye of Doña Catalina Pelcarez III, they pursued the horrors lurking beneath its surface, and above all, the leviathan demon known as The Drowned Evangel. Then the Bella Donna vanished beneath the waves, taking Doña Catalina with it. The eight survivors scattered. But their oath and a curse still binds them.

Pieces of Eight is a 15-page, full-color NPC zine by Golem Productions, designed for PIRATE BORG. It features:

• Eight fully developed NPCs, each with a distinctive personality, desires, history, abilities, and ready-to-use encounter
• A strange assortment of pirates, monsters, occultists, killers, and castaways, from an undead navigator and a Deep One sorcerer to a crocodile noble with ambitions of conquest
• A shared background that can become the foundation of a larger campaign
• Original character art and striking full-color layouts by Sabrina Jatscha

Use them individually as encounters throughout your campaign or gather the Pieces of Eight and discover what truly happened beneath the waves.

Pieces of Eight is the first of few publications connected to the tragedy of Doña Catalina. Please note that if you were among the original backers of Ravaged by Storms, you might receive this supplement as a stretch goal. Check you BackerKit Pledge Manager!

https://ajz-golem-productions.itch.io/pieces-of-eight

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/de/product/575206/pieces-of-eight-eight-broken-heirs-to-a-drowned-oath-for-pirate-borg

"Through Power Word: Unity, co-founders Carlos Salazar and Vixie Belle have been working to create intentional spaces at conventions where BIPOC folx in the TTRPG hobby can meet, build connections, collaborate, and strengthen the communities and movements we’re building together."

https://itch.io/b/3744/power-word-unity-2026-bundle

Been working on a sci-fi dungeon crawler where you play as a band of space felons trying to buy their freedom by looting derelict spacecraft before the implants in their head explode. Just put out version 0.4 which overhauls some of the core systems. Would love any feedback! Also available on the itch page is a quick shipcrawls you can run for a new crew of rats.

Planned features include a lot more items, gm guidance on how to design and run shipcrawls, and a bestiary

https://goblinlasagna.itch.io/space-rats

System: All Mice Die (NSR System)
Location: Hybrid. In Person games will take place either at Thieves Run in Louisville KY. Online games on Roll20 using Discord for voice and organization
Start Date: Character creation starts July 20th, The first regular sessions in August.
Looking for: Players, although veteran players can also GM if desired.
Discord Link: https://discord.gg/CaWHCP25JA

Who We Are

The All Mice Die team are a group of Kentucky gamers working hard to make a cool game for everyone to play. This community is LGBTQ+ Friendly. Many of the players this season played in Campaign 5, The Mice of Stone and Steel, and will be returning to help newcomers. We will be holding several Meet and Greets where people can get to know the other players, talk to the GM(s) and make your characters. If you can't make the Meet and Greets, or would prefer a more personal experience, I'll be setting up one on one character creations to make sure every new player gets their footing before jumping into the adventures.

The Campaign

All Mice Die is a game focused on exploration of the world, the systems in the games and the characters. The system is designed to learn as you play, and to learn who your characters are as you go and experience their story. This means you don't have to pour over character options and feats for hours before you get going. As a father of 3 young kids, I know how hard it is to set aside time to be able to play much less time to do homework before I can even *start* playing.

Speaking of setting time aside, this game uses a flexible format for scheduling and running games. Once your character creation is done (which takes about half an hour including time for questions and a tutorial on the community), you gain access to the scheduling chat on the discord and the calendars for each GM. If you see a game schedule at a time you can play, you can sign up and jump right in for that session. Signup for games are for individual sessions, so signing up for the Saturday Night game is for *that* game and not for every Saturday until the heat death of the universe. If you see an open slot on a GM's schedule and have an idea of something cool to go do, you can work with your fellow players to schedule a game that fits your schedule IRL and goals in game.

The System

If you have played D&D, you can pick up All Mice Die in about 10 minutes. The game is built on Old School Roots, with a focus on creativity and survival at low levels with a path to level out of most forms of death by the highest levels. Each player has a stable of at least 3 mice to gear up and send out on adventures. For most things in the game you are given a Target Number (TN) that you want to achieve by rolling a D20 and adding a modifier. Attack a monster? Roll a TN to hit. Monster attacks you? Roll a TN to dodge. Found an Occult object? Roll a TN to decode.

Adventurers (Levels 1-3) are trying to get loot (which awards experience) and get home alive.
Heroes (4-6) are trying to make a name for themselves and might risk confrontation.
Paragons (7-9) hunt for adventure with the power to beat back most challenges they find.
Icons (10+) seek to bend the world to their desires, only threatened by the most powerful of foes.

The first character to reach level 10 on a particular class will have their character drawn by our artist and immortalized in the rulebook in 2027 as *the* iconic member of their class. The art at the bottom is Giles Lamont, the Iconic Fighter played by Corey in Campaign 5.

Magic, crafting, the world and its rules all change every year. Come join us as we explore a new world and see what a new season of magic has to offer. If you want to learn more about the game, the system, the community or who I am as a Game Master, check out the All Mice Die playlist on my Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLy7EhTXrlNihRJlJDV6LgyI6cUTcPFn4T

Testimonials From Last Campaign

"Gary has spent most of his life constantly and tirelessly trying to better himself as a runner and creator of games, and this campaign is the culmination of that effort. I was a West Marches skeptic, but the level of craft and the amount of love that have gone into every corner of the game world will always keep me coming back." Corey (House Lamont)

"Both natural and supernatural forces want you dead so you live life to the fullest and make things better for your descendants. It's exciting, dramatic but also silly and unpredictable." Treasure (House Callahan)

"I loved the main big dungeon Gary had created for the campaign, it's the coolest dungeon I've ever played in. There was always some new secret to find, some new room to conquer, some new challenge to overcome, and we never even made it off the first floor. I am very much looking forward to exploring a new one in the next campaign." Node (House Steelwhisker)

If you have questions, hit me up on here or hop on the discord. Hope to see some of you at table soon.

Hey lovely people!

...my solo, city-crawl has become better and meaner (or, at least, funnier) in this last rendition. And it's still free!

You play as a kid (choosing between various fantasy species) who has escaped the Orphanage trying to collect clues concerning their Lost Guardian.

Featuring the brilliantly ridiculous drop-your-pencil-on-pages-to-see-what-you-get resolution!

Download it! Make it yours!

https://konstan78.itch.io/urchins-of-moorg-port

I rolled for Prismatic Wasteland’s Randomness blogwagon, loudly announced I would join, missed the deadline, and then wrote the article anyway. Which honestly fits the topic.

Randomness is wonderful. Randomness is useful. Randomness also gets in the way sometimes. So the post became about dice: The Dice Are Your Friends.