Petty Gods & Playthings – Coming in 2023 (hopefully)

Cover art by Łukasz Piwiński and Title Design by Łukasz Kowalczuk

You are a Petty God, an entity of immense power, great influence, and even deeper sense of self importance. 

You want to exert control and influence over mortals and the places they call home. You want to leave your mark in the Mortal Realms. You want to be worshipped. You want champions to fight for you. You want to be more than those other Petty Gods.

But you are bound by the Ancient Laws of Divinehood. So you use your Playthings.

Petty Gods & Playthings is a fantasy role playing game about ambitious gods, their machinations, and the mortals entangled in them. 

In this game, players assume the role of a Petty God. A supernatural being with great power, greater responsibilities, even greater ambitions, and very little restraint. Luckily, rules bind these entities in a way they cannot freely unleash havoc on the Mortal Realm. But they found another way to exert their influence.

They control Playthings, mortals whose essence has been infused with a Divine Spark, setting them apart from others around them forever. Promising them a destiny they desire, these gods move them as pieces in a cosmic chess set. Sometimes elevating them to such high stands as kings, archnages, and grandmasters, but other times condemning them to their ultimate doom.

And all of this happens primarily at the grandest city of all: KORGOROTH! The City of the Purple Flame. The City in the Middle. The Hive of Scum, Villainy and, sometimes, Heroes. A city with many titles, many more secrets, and infinite stories to tell.

And you are going to tell them with Petty Gods & Playthings!


I am still developing this, but I am truly excited for the possibilities it will bring to the table. Gameplay in two levels, meta gaming turned into diegetic gameplay, shared world building, and exciting sword and sorcery adventures in a weird and ancient city-state!

More information soon!

Rethinking XP for Gold And Why You Should Too (or not)

I love XP for gold. I especially love the effects this rule has on game play, game design, and theory behind much of what we know of the OSR. I am a firm believer that the way the game rewards play seriously influences the way we play the game (yeah, we play to have fun too, but it’s still there, nudging us in the right direction). Basically, earning XP is like “winning” in an RPG that uses them.

However, I’ve been reading a superb book on Game Design called Theory of Fun by Raph Koster (y’all should totally get it), and one of the insights I had, and one of the big lessons in the book, is that games teach us stuff in a controlled space. That’s mostly its main function. Most of the time we don’t even realize it’s happening, but that’s where the “fun” comes from in games, from learning and figuring out solutions to problems/challenges. And game designers can purposefully create games to change specific things. And that’s what I would like to do.

Spot art I made for Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea

XP for gold is great because it teaches us to find better solutions to tough problems. PCs won’t always resort to violence. Violence might very well become the last resort, as we all know our style of play isn’t big on balancing encounters perfectly.

Continue reading “Rethinking XP for Gold And Why You Should Too (or not)”

The Primal World of Thaia – 10 Characteristics of Thaia – Part II

A few day ago I shared the first part of this article detailing the first 5 of the 10 Characteristics of Thaia that sets it apart from other fantasy settings, helping players and Referees get the most of the game setting, and explore its endless possibilities.

Art by Felipe Faria

Today we are back with 5 more! So let’s see what else Thaia can bring to your game table! Remember, all this and more you will find in the first issue of The Primal World of Thaia zine for Old-School Essentials and Primal Quest!

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Iconic Encounters – The “Innocent”

We are back with another installment of Iconic Encounters! This series of posts look into some of the most characteristic encounters in old-school style RPG adventures, and dissect them to figure out how they work, and why they are so cool.

This time we are analyzing that encounter which puts the players in front of an apparent “innocent”, harmless and, sometimes, even apparently helpful creature, who is in reality working towards their demise or worse. Differently from other encounters, this one can be a recurring one, in which they discover the truth of what’s going on slowly over time. This type of encounter has some characteristics that I will list below and then explore in detail.

  • An NPC or creature that appears harmless and even helpful to the PCs.
  • The NPC directs them to accomplish tasks that are to their benefit but that have harmful hidden consequences.
  • They will slowly find out information that will reveal the true intentions of the NPC.
  • In their final confrontation, the NPC or creature is actually stronger thanks to the PCs.
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DS&DS Supplement being funded: War of the Magi!

Hello folks!

The end of the year was a little hectic down here, so the posts stopped for a while but they are coming back. I have more Iconic Encounters to share with you folks!

But today I want to present to you a supplement for Dark Streets & Darker Secrets I am funding right now through GallantFunding, a platform made by my partners at Gallant Knight Games! It’s called War of the Magi.

Continue reading “DS&DS Supplement being funded: War of the Magi!”