Author: Diogo Nogueira

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Petty Gods & Playthings – Introduction #WIP

Cover by Łukasz Piwiński

I’ve been working on a thing between the various work I do on various other things, and guess what? It’s another TTRPG! Yeah, I just can’t help it. But to be fair, I’ve actually start working on this game around September of 2022, and I even playtested it couple of times. It worked all good and well, but it felt it was missing something. I don’t know. I even commissioned a cover but the talented Łukasz Piwiński, so I would be motivated to finish writing it, but things got in the way. Thankfully.

During my trip to Gen Con I played a game in development by my dear friend Steve Albertson, from Mad Dungeons podcast, and Epic Levels, which inspired me in a way that made everything click. We were playing this very cool and very well thought Horror Game with a well known mechanic used in a very singular way. That made me immediately start thinking into all the things I could explore with that mechanic, and in a few minutes, I wasn’t really at the game anymore. Fortunately/Unfortunately I was having idea, after idea on how to explore this, how this could work with Petty Gods, and I haven’t stepped writing since them. Notes, paragraphs, some fiction, some possibilities, planning, adventure ideas. Anyway. I am living through a phase of high inspiration and creativity, so I intend on taking advantage of it.

Petty Gods & Playthings is a game about small gods with great ambitions and the mortals entangled in their machinations. It’s a game I intend on exploring some new avenues in game design, exploring the limits of the magic circle and the limits of representation in the game. It is also a game that is heavily inspired by Fritz Leiber’s Lankhmar stories, and the marvelous world and humor of Terry Pratchet’s Discworld Series. There’s also touches of Neil Gaiman’s Good Omens, and a lot o other stuff. The point is, it’s a game I am exploring another passion of mine. Comedy. And, to complete the mix, it’s a game about gods, religions, beliefs, and the construction of these elements while playing. So it will explore some very interesting things.

I hope you stick with me while I post here on the blog the development of the game, and discover it with me as I create Petty Gods & Playthings!

Today, the Introduction! Or part of it!

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WIP – My Dream(less) Journal – What is it?

I am working on a new game called My Dream(less) Journal (that’s actually the game’s 5th name already in its brief existence). I had a flash of inspiration one day talking to my wife, Raquel, about dreams, about how I wish I could remember them, and about writing a Dream Journal. I suddenly realized all these solo games, journaling games, and generators would be perfect to manually generate dream I could write about!

And thus came to be the idea about a solo journaling game about dreams, where you can create your own dreams, based on your own experiences and memories, and then use it to write your own fake dream journal. A Dream Journal for the Dreamless we called.

What follows is a preview of the part in where I explain what is is in the draft of the game. This means this is not the final text folks, but I am enjoying it a lot so fat!

I daydream so much that when I lay down to sleep, my dream pool is all used up. – Diogo Nogueira

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Describing Scenes to Prehistoric Characters

A cave person carrying a torch and illuminating a cave wall with a weird symbol.
Art by Felipe Maria

The way the characters in the game see and recognize people, objects, structure, and other things is not like we do. We see a small oval vertical smooth placid lake hanging on a cave wall that casts your reflection back at you and we immediately recognize a mirror, they will not.

When we look at something we try to understand it with the library of things we already understand, so as to make it “less scary”. And we know more than any other humans ever knew. The characters in Primal Quest do not have this knowledge however, so they will need to “understand” the things they find in the mythical and weird primal world of the game with what they know, which is not much beyond what they see in the primeval setting they live in.

So when you are describing the world to the players, being their sense in the game, make sure to remember that. Try to imagine you don’t recognize any of these things, and can only rationalize them through the natural world and early technological objects. And then try to explain this to the players. Here are some examples to help you get inspired.

Crashed Plane: A huge creature made of this shining hard rock that makes loud clattering noises when hit. It appears to have wings, but one of them was torn apart from its side, and hundreds of small blank eyes stare at the nothingness. A small mouth on the side lies open, and a furry humanoid is getting in, carrying a sack on their back.

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Primal Quest – Players as Ancestors

Art by Felipe Sarau

In the mythical primal world of Thaia, the ancestral spirits of the world can sometimes  influence the fate of their descendants by interfering with the world and by lending these individuals their talents. Almost like how players do with their characters.

Thus, in Primal Quest, players also act in the role of Ancestors of their characters, watching over them, lending their strength, and granting them benefits from time to time. As their descendants go out into the world and face a myriad of challenges, they grow, change, and earn Ancestral Points (AP). Then, the players can spend these AP either to improve their descendants through Character Improvement or to grant them Ancestral Gifts.

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