Nicholas: It sounds like a lot of fantasy, role-playing nonsense.
Ted: [leans in] You wanna know what it is? What it's all about?
Ted: John 9:25. 'Whereas once I was blind, now I can see.'
dec
2025
the Graverobber
It seems the ruined Moathouse is more than merely a den of bandits. After defeating the brigands, Ivar and Nikolai, joined by the steel of Lord Kent, descended straight into the fortress’s lightless dungeons. They discovered a chamber in which screams of agony had once echoed, liberating Lunara and Isolde from their cold cells and a cruel fate. This site of misery held a narrow, unsettling pit, a void that remains unexplored as the group of five pushed forward. Their path brought them face-to-face with a misshapen, giant monstrosity. Together, they slew the beast and claimed its blood-stained hoard.
Yet, even with the beast dead, the air remains thick with dread, and the halls have not gone quiet. The discovery of a Serpent’s Head sigil suggests a sinister cult has taken refuge within these walls. The mystery of the Moathouse only grows more elusive; for every secret revealed, only more questions arise...
dec
2025
Telling tales like a Souls game...
A confluent narrative is comprised of pieces of authorial narrative seeded throughout an experience with no explicit direction as to how those fragments of story are meant to fit together.
Why do we like the stories of the Souls games that much? Hell, you might even say there is no story! Its all about that theory of confluent narrative, as the youtube channel Tale Foundry calls it.
In other words: its show, don't tell. Well, actually puzzle, don't show. And by puzzle I mean: you might find a couple of pieces of narrative, or you won't. And even if you do, the pieces might belong to another jigsaw altogether. Fascinating stuff, really!
I'd like to do that in our little game. So discover many pieces of the puzzle and create your own narrative!
Do you want to know more: https://narrativedesignaut2019.wordpress.com/2020/05/26/week-7-confluent-narrative/
dec
2025
the Graverobber
The Well of Frogs hides many secrets but a witch is not one of them. Isolde's adventure in the Well of Frogs turned into a tale where three very different women played a part: Isolde, a prostitute and the Collector.
The road down the well is an easy one: just follow the light. The ancient knight was willing to let her in. Was it her blood offering?
Men stood in line to marvel, eager to enter the gilded cage. Beauty, riches and wisdom for the taking, if one paid the right price. Isolde didn't pay; she received pain, fear, healing and youth.
nov
2025
the Graverobber
A young rogue called Marten tried his luck in the Well of Frogs. He gathered many rumors about this dark place but none of them contained a witch.
The adventurer did find some hidden doors in the shaft of the well. An ancient knight guards the gate of someone called the Collector down there, granting access only at an unknown time.
And there is even a huge tomb of a fallen legion deep underground. Their bones - and treasure - might be dangerous to disturb...
nov
2025
the Graverobber
Rumor has it that three fortune-seekers by the names of Otto, Ivar and Nikolai entered the old Moathouse to the east. They discovered the upper level of the building was occupied by a band of lawless brigands. The adventurers put an end to them after a rough skirmish. A smoke column has been seen rising from the watchtower, which now stands charred and hollow.
The cellars beneath the ruins, however, remain unexplored. The trio is said to be resting in the upper halls, gathering their strength before deciding whether to venture below. And did one of those brigands mention Lareth..?
nov
2025
Bounty hunters,
listen up!
"Look down at me and you see a fool, look up at me and you see a god, look straight at me and you see yourself."
Those are the words of Lareth the Beautiful, more or less. That charismatic basterd started in town as a prophet, a baken of hope. Now he has fled town as a cult leader. With some sons and a lot of daughters of our honest citizens.
Hunt him down and I'll pay you 80 Thaler, being large silver coins!
nov
2025
Concerning dungeons...
Dragons are awe, and dungeons are process. The dragon asks, “Can you kill me?” and the dungeon says, “Can you survive?”.
Or so I read on the rpggazette. I never thought about it but the horror in D&D is actually in the dungeons, not in the dragons. Dragons are high fantasy, dragons are 5E. Dungeons are the origins of our hobby. The horror around the next corner, the fear of the unknown.
Do you want to know more: therpggazette.wordpress.com/2025/10/21/dragons-without-dungeons-when-dd-forgot-its-own-name/
oct
2025
What it's all about?
Old man Stauf built a house and filled it with his toys. Six guests were invited one night, their screams the only noise.
Or so they say. I am going to fill these pages with my toys and my reflections on the game. You are free to play with my toys, free to join in the Cognition Game.
Start by understanding what the game is. What is the westmarsch campaign? How does one dungeon delve?
Then get yourself acquainted with the important faces on these pages: the towncryer and the guard captain.
And then there is you: the graverobber.
oct
2025
The Westmarsch?
West Marches is the name of a long-running game created by game designer Ben Robbins. It is a campaign format designed to accommodate a larger group of players in a drop-in drop-out style where each game session may feature a different assortment of players in a shared world. It kinda feels like an ancient world, doesn't it..?
Robbins: 'My motivation in setting things up this way was to overcome player apathy and mindless 'plot following' by putting the players in charge of both scheduling and what they did in-game. A secondary goal was to make the schedule adapt to the complex lives of adults. Ad hoc scheduling and a flexible roster meant (ideally) people got to play when they could but didn’t hold up the game for everyone else if they couldn’t.'
oct
2025
Dungeon delving?
Dungeon delving is about putting death back into dungeons. OSR games, or Old School Renaissance, encourage a tonal fidelity to Dungeons & Dragons as it was played in the first decade of the game's existence - less emphasis on predefined endings, and a greater emphasis on player choice determining the fate of characters. OSR games provide play where wrong decisions can easily become lethal for characters and do not guarantee satisfying endings to character arcs. Characters live and die by player choice as opposed to the story's needs.
Tone of the game: grim dark, cosmic horror, low fantasy.
oct
2025
the Towncryer
Hear ye, hear ye! I am your most reliable source of the latest rumors. Well, more or less. In the bygone era of the eponymous D&D Red Box every adventure started with rumors, some false, some true. How to discern fact from fiction? There is only one way to find out: let's look for adventure. Knowledge is power, you scoundrels!
Look for me to get adventure hooks.
oct
2025
the Guard captain
First of all, l ask the questions here, OK? And second: we don't want people like you here in our town. Drifters.
Before you know it there's a whole pile of people like you. That's why!
Besides, you wouldn't like it here, it's a quiet place. Some would even call it boring. But we like it that way. l get paid to keep it like that. Boring.
Drifter, murderhobo, it's all the same. I might pay you for killing dangerous wildlife or hunt down outlaws. There's some good coin in serving the law!
Look for me to get bounties.
oct
2025
the Graverobber
This is you. Actually, it is all of you! Whenever you see the portrait of the graverobber some unlucky - or lucky? - soul went on an adventure. Read the report to find out if there is loot remaining...
Be careful though: if you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you. But you know that. We all played Baldur's gate... I mean read Nietzsche.
Now it's time to create your first graverobber and send him into the funnel. Prepare to die!