Tag: WIP

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Petty Gods & Playthings – You Are a Petty God – Part II #WIP

Hello! This is another post on a series I am sharing about the development of Petty Gods & Playthings, The Game about Small Gods, Their Great Ambitions, and The Mortals Entangled in Them! Wow, that’s a mouthful, but it does explain all there’s to it. Well, quite. If you want to understand it a little bit better, I recently made this post with the introduction of the game. I meant, the currently written introduction. Who the hell knows how it’s going to be in the final thing. 

Today’s post is the second in a series I will share about the creation of your Petty God. You can find the first post here.

Below you will find weird, whimsical and kinda silly sphere of the Biosphere, Nature, and Humanity Domains. These what the Petty Gods, the players, will be “Gods of…”. One of my ideas, is that the use of these weird spheres in the game in creative ways, is also a skill players can develop. It’s one of the spaces the game encourages creative thinking, and where player can get better at over time, instead of just buying points of this, or getting more dice here or there.

Also, I loved spending time coming up with little jokes, commentaries, and sometimes philosophical meanings for all those entries. I shouldn’t be concentrating on making these during this initial phase, but I can’t help it.

Again, this is a work in progress. So if you say it’s bad I will pretend I am gonna fix it!

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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!

Continue reading “Petty Gods & Playthings – Introduction #WIP”
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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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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!