V.V. 🏳️🌈
@machineheart.bsky.social
Tabletop RPGs, fantasy cartography, comics, cinema, gaming, pop culture and everything in between. They/them. EN • PT-BR
Here's a headscratcher: my blog post on examples of wealth abstraction rules is currently sitting at 1220 views, making it one of the most viewed posts I've ever written. I have *no idea* why it outperformed the vast majority of my posts, though. I barely shared it here and on Twitter. Weird stuff.
November 12, 2025 at 2:58 PM
Here's a headscratcher: my blog post on examples of wealth abstraction rules is currently sitting at 1220 views, making it one of the most viewed posts I've ever written. I have *no idea* why it outperformed the vast majority of my posts, though. I barely shared it here and on Twitter. Weird stuff.
I was looking for a good copy of Mage: The Ascension for a friend on Shopee (the Brazilian equivalent of eBay), and I actually found one! The item's description completely wrecked me, though, as the book belonged to the seller's late husband, and they felt it was time to let it find a new home. ):
![A snippet from a Shopee listing's description in PT-BR that roughly translates to "this copy [of Mage: The Ascension] belonged to my late husband, a huge fan of the World of Darknes and everything else involving classic RPGs. He took great care of his books, and now I've decided to let them find new homes so they can keep inspiring new players and collectors". The second paragraph is a great description of Mage: The Ascension as a game.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:ijpdfwrqecitjj4dwbfiiyex/bafkreid7kfacyrvlhsdyivkq2hcpks6lyrnjubetclq2h4fw57snmp3i7y@jpeg)
November 12, 2025 at 3:26 AM
I was looking for a good copy of Mage: The Ascension for a friend on Shopee (the Brazilian equivalent of eBay), and I actually found one! The item's description completely wrecked me, though, as the book belonged to the seller's late husband, and they felt it was time to let it find a new home. ):
Oh, what the hell.
Judge me based on 4 favourite films, GO!
Judge me based on 4 favourite films, GO!
November 6, 2025 at 11:12 AM
Oh, what the hell.
Judge me based on 4 favourite films, GO!
Judge me based on 4 favourite films, GO!
Here's a story hook connected to this loresheet: a Sabbat Nosferatu with the Patient Zero *and* the Living Nightmare Advantages is poisoning the city's main blood bank with his own Vitae. Vampires who partake of poisoned blood bags get the Ugly Flaw (-1) for d4 weeks. Unless they're Nosferatu. 1/2
November 5, 2025 at 9:09 AM
Here's a story hook connected to this loresheet: a Sabbat Nosferatu with the Patient Zero *and* the Living Nightmare Advantages is poisoning the city's main blood bank with his own Vitae. Vampires who partake of poisoned blood bags get the Ugly Flaw (-1) for d4 weeks. Unless they're Nosferatu. 1/2
The Nosferatu have always been one of my favourite clans, but I still think Requiem did their curse way, way better than any Masquerade edition. To fix that, I made a loresheet that infuses V5's Clan of the Hidden with some of that Vampire: The Requiem 1e flavour!
November 4, 2025 at 3:21 PM
The Nosferatu have always been one of my favourite clans, but I still think Requiem did their curse way, way better than any Masquerade edition. To fix that, I made a loresheet that infuses V5's Clan of the Hidden with some of that Vampire: The Requiem 1e flavour!
These screenshots of a thread I wrote on Twitter a year ago highlight some of my biggest issues with V5's rules/design. Aside from those, I'd cite how unintuitive character creation can feel, the redundancy of clan banes and compulsions, and the gamefied implementation of Blood Resonance.
October 24, 2025 at 5:37 AM
These screenshots of a thread I wrote on Twitter a year ago highlight some of my biggest issues with V5's rules/design. Aside from those, I'd cite how unintuitive character creation can feel, the redundancy of clan banes and compulsions, and the gamefied implementation of Blood Resonance.
Reminds me of a recent exchange I had on this topic. I frankly don't even know how to respond to those absurd takes, nor do I have the energy to. Some players have already made up their minds that the brand is more important than the rules, and that D&D is their "everything game".
October 21, 2025 at 8:55 AM
Reminds me of a recent exchange I had on this topic. I frankly don't even know how to respond to those absurd takes, nor do I have the energy to. Some players have already made up their minds that the brand is more important than the rules, and that D&D is their "everything game".
Case in point: I got called a reactionary tourist for not being a fan of what WotC's been doing with D&D, in spite of being queer and as left as it gets.
This isn't a healthy way to approach anyone who says anything remotely negative about your favourite brand.
This isn't a healthy way to approach anyone who says anything remotely negative about your favourite brand.
October 19, 2025 at 4:57 PM
Case in point: I got called a reactionary tourist for not being a fan of what WotC's been doing with D&D, in spite of being queer and as left as it gets.
This isn't a healthy way to approach anyone who says anything remotely negative about your favourite brand.
This isn't a healthy way to approach anyone who says anything remotely negative about your favourite brand.
Oh, this is one hell of a rabbit hole. To sum it up, some big D&D Actual Plays have emphasized a "cosy" vibe in their campaigns, only really interacting with the game's rules as a last resort. This led to the rise of a slice-of-life playstyle, and WotC is coopting that in their branding.
October 18, 2025 at 11:42 PM
Oh, this is one hell of a rabbit hole. To sum it up, some big D&D Actual Plays have emphasized a "cosy" vibe in their campaigns, only really interacting with the game's rules as a last resort. This led to the rise of a slice-of-life playstyle, and WotC is coopting that in their branding.
People underestimate the importance of being able to relate to your character. The fantasy of being something unique is cool, but some of us find it easier and more immersive to play what we know. For some, that's a human fighter. It's not always about escapism.
October 11, 2025 at 12:53 AM
People underestimate the importance of being able to relate to your character. The fantasy of being something unique is cool, but some of us find it easier and more immersive to play what we know. For some, that's a human fighter. It's not always about escapism.
Just messing around with some cover concepts. No reason at all.
April 16, 2025 at 3:39 PM
Just messing around with some cover concepts. No reason at all.
Random musing: considering that Electric Bastionland is the best way to capture Ravnica's spark in a TTRPG, are there any games capable of doing the same for Innistrad?
March 28, 2025 at 6:33 AM
Random musing: considering that Electric Bastionland is the best way to capture Ravnica's spark in a TTRPG, are there any games capable of doing the same for Innistrad?
Throwback to when I came up with this Bloodborne-inspired mechanic for a Lovecraftian OSR campaign and a procedure for generating weird artefacts.
March 26, 2025 at 2:48 AM
Throwback to when I came up with this Bloodborne-inspired mechanic for a Lovecraftian OSR campaign and a procedure for generating weird artefacts.
So, remember when I said I'd make a few interesting, gameable plants for y'all to include in your campaigns? Imma do you one better: I made six d20 tables you can use to generate dozens of cool plants yourself. You can find 'em in my latest blog post!
onezerogames.blogspot.com/2025/03/plan...
onezerogames.blogspot.com/2025/03/plan...
March 8, 2025 at 3:47 PM
So, remember when I said I'd make a few interesting, gameable plants for y'all to include in your campaigns? Imma do you one better: I made six d20 tables you can use to generate dozens of cool plants yourself. You can find 'em in my latest blog post!
onezerogames.blogspot.com/2025/03/plan...
onezerogames.blogspot.com/2025/03/plan...
I love the fantasy and the aesthetics of Marauders, but extraction shooters are generally not my jam, gameplay-wise. Just one of those games I'd be hella into if they were TTRPGs.
February 20, 2025 at 2:16 PM
I love the fantasy and the aesthetics of Marauders, but extraction shooters are generally not my jam, gameplay-wise. Just one of those games I'd be hella into if they were TTRPGs.
I shared Drakönis's character creation rules with y'all last Monday, and, well, Character Creation Monday seems like a fun time to me. In that spirit, here's BREACH's character creation rules!
February 17, 2025 at 11:50 AM
I shared Drakönis's character creation rules with y'all last Monday, and, well, Character Creation Monday seems like a fun time to me. In that spirit, here's BREACH's character creation rules!
I haven't really posted any WIPs all week, so here's the most recent map I made for an urban fantasy campaign. I also made a printer-friendly version for quick referencing at the table, and I can't wait to print it and put it to good use!
February 17, 2025 at 7:46 AM
I haven't really posted any WIPs all week, so here's the most recent map I made for an urban fantasy campaign. I also made a printer-friendly version for quick referencing at the table, and I can't wait to print it and put it to good use!
This masterpiece legitimately got me into Spelljammer. Hodag's art is a wellspring of inspiration, and a gift that keeps on giving. Browsing his work never fails to cheer me up and get me excited to run some games!
February 17, 2025 at 12:36 AM
This masterpiece legitimately got me into Spelljammer. Hodag's art is a wellspring of inspiration, and a gift that keeps on giving. Browsing his work never fails to cheer me up and get me excited to run some games!
Casually dropping Drakönis's full character creation page on a Monday.
Got big plans for the PT-BR release! I'm even meeting an artist buddy of mine later today to discuss a potential collab on this. Just sayin', Drakönis would look pretty neat as a set of cards in a cool box.
Got big plans for the PT-BR release! I'm even meeting an artist buddy of mine later today to discuss a potential collab on this. Just sayin', Drakönis would look pretty neat as a set of cards in a cool box.
February 10, 2025 at 3:59 PM
Casually dropping Drakönis's full character creation page on a Monday.
Got big plans for the PT-BR release! I'm even meeting an artist buddy of mine later today to discuss a potential collab on this. Just sayin', Drakönis would look pretty neat as a set of cards in a cool box.
Got big plans for the PT-BR release! I'm even meeting an artist buddy of mine later today to discuss a potential collab on this. Just sayin', Drakönis would look pretty neat as a set of cards in a cool box.
Some early (slightly botched!) printing tests. If everything goes well, every Drakönis page will actually be presented as two double-sided cards, which should even fit inside a normal-sized wallet. Tiny game time!
February 8, 2025 at 7:36 PM
Some early (slightly botched!) printing tests. If everything goes well, every Drakönis page will actually be presented as two double-sided cards, which should even fit inside a normal-sized wallet. Tiny game time!
Here's another snippet from Drakönis's character creation page, the background tables. I can't get enough of the weirdly flavourful combinations you can get from these!
February 8, 2025 at 3:50 PM
Here's another snippet from Drakönis's character creation page, the background tables. I can't get enough of the weirdly flavourful combinations you can get from these!
Coolest starting gear tables I've ever made, no contest.
February 7, 2025 at 8:07 PM
Coolest starting gear tables I've ever made, no contest.
So, here's a look at the dungeon crawling and dungeon creation procedures I cooked up for Drakönis, my tiny Mörk Borg hack.
The biggest quirk here is the absence of random encounters, which are replaced by encounter rooms. Yes, I've been getting into pre-rolling, lmao. 🧵
The biggest quirk here is the absence of random encounters, which are replaced by encounter rooms. Yes, I've been getting into pre-rolling, lmao. 🧵
February 6, 2025 at 9:16 PM
So, here's a look at the dungeon crawling and dungeon creation procedures I cooked up for Drakönis, my tiny Mörk Borg hack.
The biggest quirk here is the absence of random encounters, which are replaced by encounter rooms. Yes, I've been getting into pre-rolling, lmao. 🧵
The biggest quirk here is the absence of random encounters, which are replaced by encounter rooms. Yes, I've been getting into pre-rolling, lmao. 🧵
I went and made some character sheets for what I've been calling Mörklite, my unholy mashup between Trophy Gold and Mörk Borg (currently a PT-BR-only project).
Don't know if I'll ever be legally allowed to share the game itself with y'all, but I really like how these turned out!
Don't know if I'll ever be legally allowed to share the game itself with y'all, but I really like how these turned out!
January 30, 2025 at 7:37 AM
I went and made some character sheets for what I've been calling Mörklite, my unholy mashup between Trophy Gold and Mörk Borg (currently a PT-BR-only project).
Don't know if I'll ever be legally allowed to share the game itself with y'all, but I really like how these turned out!
Don't know if I'll ever be legally allowed to share the game itself with y'all, but I really like how these turned out!