Here it is, the first draft of my Wretched & Alone hack...Wicked Congregation! It was a really fun exercise writing a solo game alongside themes from a setting I'm working on!
You can download it here (or embedded in this post): https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/13v_9pIZIf3j9w9WL6FTELwtsclP36Kkc?usp=sharing
I'll be sending this to ...
2021-04-24 02:11:10 +0000 UTC View PostTo fight off any anxiety of my new job (which starts tomorrow), I've been working hard on my Bureau of Paranatural Survey Wretched & Alone game called Wicked Congregation!! I'll probably have a PDF playtest document ready by the end of the week for Champion Tier patrons. I just need to finish up one more section and then it is complete!
Will Parks, the graphic designer I worked with on Ross Rifles, w...
2021-04-18 23:29:03 +0000 UTC View PostCW: spiders, violence, horror, gore
Agatha, one of my co-hosts on Asians Represent, suggested that I try playing a solo journaling RPG. I tried The Wretched by Chris Bissette! Normally, this game is meant to be played with a microphone. But, I thought it'd be a really cool writing experiment to share with you fine Patrons! I had a BLAST and will definitely be trying more of th...
2021-04-04 22:24:08 +0000 UTC View Post
I'm currently on a wellness week off from work and have been trying to work on both Chronicles and my BPS projects. I've taken a step back on the BPS to work more on the world lore so that I can take a more informed approach to the game system (Field Manual v. 2 will look very different).
Here's a little sample of how I turned my GM notebook ramblings into something for my game! Now you know a little bit about how my game-prep looks like...
2021-04-01 20:57:15 +0000 UTC View Post
To celebrate the release of Candlekeep Mysteries, I dove back into the random word generator and pulled together...swordfish cage! Rather than being a story prompt, I decided to make this a neat spell compatible with the 5e rules!
2021-03-16 20:37:43 +0000 UTC View Post
I couldn't sleep last night. One of the advantages of my unique experience with depression, anxiety, and ADHD has been my ability to hyper focus on a random task. Last night, it happened to be my very preliminary ruleset that I want to experiment with for the Bureau of Paranatural Survey. I figured you might enjoy it!
At the moment, there is enough information in this documen...
Hi everyone,
It's been just under two weeks since my last post. I've been quietly working on both the Bureau of Paranatural Defence and Chronicles of Spring & Autumn. I've also been struggling with some pretty intense depression. A re-structuring of the company I work for resulted in me being put in a situation where I've become very dissatisfied with my working conditions and am actively seeking new job opportunities to move onto. Things have been hard. I don't feel ...
Just a little sneak peak of something I've been working on. The designer I commissioned to develop the logo for the Bureau of Paranatural Survey absolutely killed it. If you're a Champion Patron, you'll notice I've updated the first BPS-related story prompt/prop in your drive!
2021-02-25 03:35:03 +0000 UTC View PostIt's time for an update! My creative output has been pretty slow lately due to a freelance job that's been taking up a lot of my time. I'm currently under NDA for it, but am VERY excited about the project.
Dare I say, more excited than I was for Candlekeep Mysteries.
Today I sat down to organize all of my content and ideas of Chronicles of Spring & Autumn using MilaNote, an app I started to use for my Bureau of Paranatural Survey project. I'll be diving...
2021-02-21 22:45:13 +0000 UTC View Post
I have a random word generator that I purchased from another creator named Miscast Terrain's Patreon called the Magical Thought Provoker. I periodically open it for inspiration and figured I'd post my experiences with it here!
I feel like the noxious shelf would be a curious centerpiece in a fantasy inn, and not necessarily a centerpiece by choice...
2021-02-05 06:01:41 +0000 UTC View Post
I go through genre phases and right now I'm firmly rooted in urban fantasy/weird fiction right now. I'm in a weekly Delta Green game, re-reading the BPRD, and playing both Control and Resident Evil 7. While working on a freelance assignment (unannounced), I decided to take a break and watch the wonderful SCP: Overlord short film and was IMMEDIATELY inspired to create somethi...
2021-02-03 06:37:28 +0000 UTC View Post
I don't think I've ever shared this, but here's a look at my daily workstation. Things aren't usually this messy (this is only one part of the condo), which has been very difficult for my mental health. My partner is officially moving in with me, so we've been slowly unpacking and sorting all of her stuff. Turns out, combining two apartments during a pandemic is stressful and not being able to escape the clutter is slowly chipping away at my creative output.
Painting gross soldiers ap...
Making some serious progress on my painting skills!
2021-01-22 15:21:43 +0000 UTC View PostIf you follow me on social media, you might've noticed that I've been super busy with some freelance work that I've taken on. Wizards of the Coast recently announced the upcoming release of Candlekeep Mysteries, a hardcover book I'm proud to have worked on! I've also signed on to work on something (under NDA) huge that sits at the intersection of many passions - particularly contemporary Asian representation and action-oriented TTRPGs. While I've been working away at that, I...
2021-01-21 03:52:18 +0000 UTC View Post
For 2021, I decided to try something new for Anything But D&D - a green screen! The results were alright, but I'll hopefully get things sorted from a technical perspective for the next episode (it's mostly based on the lighting in my condo).
We went through a lot of changes with Level Up Gaming in 2020, and the biggest challenge was finding a virtual tabletop tool that was accessible and simple. For this video, I compared my exper...
Wishing all of you a happy holiday! 2020 has been difficult for all of us and I am SO grateful for your support. I hope you enjoy Tin Soldiers of Wintertide - a narrative prompt for running a holiday themed adventure in any fantasy TTRPG system!
You will also be able to download it from the "Misc OSR Content" folder of my Champion Patron Content Google ...
2020-12-23 23:23:29 +0000 UTC View PostFirst, I'd love to hear which topic you folks would like for the next episode of Anything But D&D! Go vote for either topic!
- A behind the scenes look at my FIRST campaign setting
- A comparison of online tools for playing TTRPGs and my experiences using them for our Level Up Gaming autism program.
Second, I'm making SLOW progress on more Chronicles of Spring & Autumn content. I've written much of the introductory history of the Lunar Kingdom, but ...
2020-12-10 06:15:21 +0000 UTC View PostI've been trying to work through the stress and burnout from my day job to make progress on Chronicles of Spring & Autumn. It's been slow, but steady. As it's a much larger project than my previous three zines (I'm looking to bring on guest writers), I won't be able to release beta material at the rate I previously did. BUT, I'll be compensating for that with the return of Anything But D&D and far more development blogs than before!
Right now, I've laid out th...
Tyler Crumrine, the creator of Beak, Feather, + Bone, has given me his blessing to publish my Chinese city building hack of his game. He's even connected me with Jonathan Yee, the original artist for BFB! While I'm deep in research for more Chronicles of Spring & Autumn work and doing pre-production, would you be interested in me publishing my rules here as a standalone game?
If you don't kn...
2020-11-14 17:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostHi Champion Patrons!
Whether you're a new Patron (thank you!) or a long-time supporter (thank you!), here are some useful links to my work!
My Google Drive with Chinese TTRPG content and micro-RPGs: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/13v_9pIZIf3j9w9WL6FTELwtsclP36Kkc?usp=sharing
My itch.io page, 2020-11-13 05:09:29 +0000 UTC View Post
I'm back with a short episode of Anything But D&D! Things get a bit...spooky!
Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio is a collection of classical Chinese stories written by Pu Songling during the Qing dynasty - the last Imperial Chinese dynasty. It's a collection of short stories that deal with the supernatural and divine. While it features a variety of ghosts, demons, and animals, the author's stories primarily focus on the everyday life of commoners in China and how they are...
2020-11-07 02:31:51 +0000 UTC View Post
Anything But D&D returns this weekend! It's been tough trying to get myself to record any new content. In fact, we canceled our Asians Represent streams this week. With the election looming over everyone, it's been tough to concentrate!
Another update, I found a critical piece of research for the Chronicles of Spring & Autumn campaign setting! It took WEEKS of searching, but I was finally able to track down an American dissertation that will help me craft more NPCs for you fine ...
2020-11-06 01:05:55 +0000 UTC View PostNow that Blades of the Lunar Kingdom and Denizens of Mountains & Seas are complete (Champion Patrons, make sure you check the Google Drive you have access to), I've found myself debating between working on the setting and the NPCs (non player characters) that occupy it. I decided that I would tackle the most difficult one - fantasy NPCs inspired by the history of the lesser known Chinese state of Yue.
As with all design, research is the first step. I wanted t...
2020-10-21 17:22:00 +0000 UTC View PostBlades of the Lunar Kingdom is finally available on my Itch.io store! It features a short setting primer for the Kingdom of Yue, a short history of Chinese swords, and 6 legendary Chinese blades with system agnostic qualities and combat effects for use in D&D, OSR titles, and more!
Champion Patrons will be able to download the final version (with some minor edits) from the Drive I made for them.&nbs...
2020-10-09 14:00:05 +0000 UTC View Post
I'm currently working my way through the spelling mistakes, formatting changes, and minor mechanical changes I need to make before I release Blades of the Lunar Kingdom on my Itch.io page on Friday! Champion Patrons should already have access to an early preview!
Oh, and here's a snapshot of how I worked everything out in my notebook!
Do you want to see more notebook updates?
Here it is! Blades of the Lunar Kingdom is finally available for all of you to read! It features a short setting primer for the Kingdom of Yue (my next project for you folks), a history of Chinese swords, and 6 legendary Chinese blades with system agnostic qualities and combat effects for use in D&D, OSR titles, and more!
You can download the full preview here: 2020-10-04 22:15:36 +0000 UTC View Post
I know I said I was suffering from some creative burnout, but creativity struck me in the middle of the night! Enjoy this preview of Zhanlu, the Noble Shadow - the sentient blade of benevolent nobles! I've made the design choice to keep it as system agnostic as possible. It can be used (with minor modifications) in pretty much any fantasy RPG system!
I've begun laying out "Adventurerâ€...
2020-09-22 19:31:23 +0000 UTC View PostWeird to say, eh?
The past few months have seen me super active on this platform. However, over the past two weeks I had dropped off a bit. Why? Burnout.
Two factors have contributed to this. From March to August, I was supporting my partner as she was looking for a new job. Now that she has one, I've been doing a lot of the heavy lifting around our home to support her as she gets used to working full time again. Since July, my day job responsibilities have changed dramatica...
2020-09-17 15:35:08 +0000 UTC View Post
Denizens of Mountains & Seas vol. 2 is now complete! You can download it in the Champion Patron folder at this link: https://drive.google.com/open?id=13v_9pIZIf3j9w9WL6FTELwtsclP36Kkc
Thank you for your support on this project. It means so much to me!
2020-09-05 15:34:05 +0000 UTC View Post