GRAVEROBBERS 2026

 Happy new year! 🐎 clip clop motherfuckers

2025 was a challenge. No other sources of income meant that for the first time I had to pay all my bills with rpg work. Somehow I managed it (barely! current bank account balance: £1.17). To everyone who I worked with last year, sincerest thanks.

In 2026, the struggle continues. Same as it ever was. We move. If you're looking for someone to write or edit adventures and other ttrpg bits for a project, zine quest, etc - now is the time to get in touch. I've worked for games big and small, for indie giants and first time self-publishers, and I've always done it well. The email is graverobbersguide [at] gmail [dot] com

As for the Guide:

All my rpg writing being done for hire these days means that I'm not really doing much of the kinds of odds and ends that would once bedight these pages. Don't feel like spending my free time doing my job but unpaid, tbh! However! The blogs remain.

This is, as it always has been, a hobby blog, and my free time these days is spent in fiction writing and miniatures games. That means more Straturdays, more from Nettle & Thorn, and more besides. Various projects I've been lucky enough to work on will also be releasing, so you'll be hearing about those too. Some real doozies in the pipeline, oh baby

A merry twelfth night to thee. Thank you for being here. All the best for another year.

Iglootree Lewisham!

 So a few weeks back I was at the launch of the new physical location for iglootree, a great retailer of cool games and other stuff - which happens to be basically down the road from me (dg chapman doxxes self speedrun record 2025)

I didn't have a "flgs" growing up, nothing like this existed near me. So it's pretty cool to be able to walk into a place that sells not only Games, but the specific weird, indie, punk Games that I'm into, the shit we're all here for. You know, the real nasty stuff. (they've even got some things I worked on which was surreal to see). And they've also got other zines, fun bits, comics and manga. I saw Dorohedoro and the big chunky editions of BLAME! so you know they know their shit. This is the kind of place I'd be spending all my time in if I weren't a little broke boy with no pocket money (then and now).

The reason I only thought to post about all this now is because I'm BUSY and also LAZY but mainly because it's Dragonmeet this weekend. I'm not going to the convention, but I figured if anyone is visiting London and feels like checking out the hottest new Cool Game Shop in town, well here it is.

Come to Lewisham! We're the only inner city borough with no Tube! but we did just get the Bakerloop express bus if you're coming from central. And let me know if you're visiting, I'll give you something maybe if you're not weird

1d6 Pit Trap Backstories

 1. Former nest of an antlion [stat as dragon]. Discarded carapace left behind from when the beast outgrew it and the hole. Antlion chitin makes good armour, but can only be cut into shape by the creature's own mandibles, which are not shed. There will be a larger pit nearby with a freshly grown monster. Antlions eat anything, but favour live sheep and goats. They are always hungry, and may negotiate for food.

2. Once a well for the dungeon's former inhabitants, bucket and pulley discarded nearby but still workable. The water at the bottom is littered with curse tablets, carved stone invocations between petty feuding families. One has cursed the water itself, dooming all who drink to a cannibal's unlife. The dungeon's ghouls embrace any new curselings into their faction regardless of prior actions.

3. Upside-down chimney for the hearth built into the ceiling above. Fires lit there burn backwards, smoke falling down the long shaft into a massive underground reservoir where it dissipates, magical radiation briefly turning the water into a gravity potion. A nearby secret room has a wizard's laboratory on the ceiling, including notes explaining the process, clutched by an old robed skeleton slumped skyward.

4. Wound in the earth left in the trail of a hyper-dense magic comet. The dungeon was built later. The rock still burns at the base of the pit, only stopped from burrowing further into the earth by the blessed shield of an ancient paladin whose tomb its path has disinterred. The shield can bear any weight and shines with a light that compels the undead to speak only in absolute truth. Removing it sets the rock back on its incredibly rapid descent to the world's core, continuing to burrow the pit ever deeper as it goes.

5. Drainage system for the water constantly trickling into this chamber from a hundred little gargoyle throats. Clear and cool, a symphony of tiny splashes, their spittle sloshing at ankle height before rolling silently over the lip of the pit to cascade towards unknown depths below. There is a levered mechanism used to plug it, which causes the room to fill rapidly, the lever now locked in place. Rising with the water allows access to side tunnels high in the sheer, slick walls, but these are currently choked up with rubble. If not cleared before the water reaches them, any trapped in the room will drown.

6. It's a big hole in the ground. The goblins that live here thought it would be nice to have one. They really like their big hole. If you can make a big hole in the ground like this one, they'd be very impressed. Otherwise, what good are you? Down the hole you go.

*

Been busy lately with some cool stuff which should be coming out relatively soon. In this new era of writing rpg stuff for pay and putting my own personal projects on hold, the kind of art I do in my "just for fun" time is shifting, so that's what you'll see more of on the blog - wargame stuff for Straturdays, and some fiction, which is new

(I hope people have been enjoying the Nettle & Thorn stories so far. They get a lot of views so I guess people like them? They're my attempt to write some very classic, straight down the line, old timey pulp fantasy. I might do different kinds of stories in future too. Let me know what you want to see I guess.)

This work-for-hire stuff is going ok, but still precarious. I'm currently looking for gigs for the rest of this year, this month in particular, so get in touch - graverobbersguide at gmail dot com - and let's make something fun.

Millinery and Miscellania

 With so much going on in the world, it can feel weird talking about silly little games. But on the other hand, do you really want to be going through all this stuff and ALSO have NO silly little games??

With that in mind:

Last year I took a big break from the blog. For some of that I took a break from writing and game stuff in general. Partly burnout, mostly financial, but basically this time last year I was as close as I've ever been to quitting this altogether.

This year I decided to give it another go, and to my surprise I've now been working as a freelance RPG writer/editor full-time since the start of this year!

Yes, unfortunately some of that is due to necessity. I don't currently have any other sources of income, which feels incredibly daunting. This freelance life is precarious. But it's been an absolute pleasure getting back into it and rediscovering why I did it in the first place.

A massive thank you to everyone who's reached out to work with me so far in 2025. Seriously. And everyone else, you're going to start seeing some of that stuff coming out in the coming months, and it's gonna be goooooood

I'm still open for work and I've got a lot of free time now, so please keep getting in touch! Big projects, small ones, writing, editing, all of it. I'd really love to be able to keep doing this a little longer. And also to afford food lmao

Joesky tax, magic hats:

1. Gnomish Hiking Cap. You can survive without food and water while wearing this hat. If it doesn't see direct sunlight between sunrise and sunset each day, it wilts away to nothing.
2. Anosmic Fez. While wearing this hat, you can't smell or smell of anything.
3. The Emperor's Old Hat. To each viewer, this hat looks exactly like the hat, hood, coif or helm they are wearing, and disappears if they aren't wearing one at all. Like all illusion magic this fades in moonlight, revealing its true form - a fallen oak leaf.
4. Cap feather of the whistling-bird. Everyone who puts a tail feather plucked from the same lesser spotted whistling-bird in their hat can communicate verbally with one another across vast distances for as long as that bird is alive.
5. Sea-witch's Sunhat. You can pull the brim of this hat down over your eyes, face, shoulders, body, until you disappear entirely inside it. You then pop out whenever you want or if it takes damage. While you're inside it just looks like a hat and you can't do anything or be affected by the outside world, but you can eavesdrop a little.
6. Candle Helm of the Martyress. While worn it casts a mystical light that all those within 10 feet can see by, but which cannot be seen at all from outside that distance. No eyeholes.

From A Certain Point Of View

Watching the new season of Andor with my partner last night we had a little Leo-points-at-TV-meme moment at a scene clearly shot not far from us. (Hardly unusual. When that "share a film set where you're from" thing did the rounds on bsky recently I had to make it tricky for myself by getting as geographically close as i could manage. "London" is cheating.) Like season 1 and the movie it was based on Rogue One, some of the show was filmed at Canary Wharf.

Canary Wharf is a privately owned development built in the 90s on East London's Isle of Dogs in the hollowed-out shell of its former docking industry. It is a complex of indoor malls and financial institutions housed in some of the largest skyscrapers in the country, a modern temple for the money-lenders, a shining edifice to commerce itself. Its borough's current mayor was re-elected in 2022 after a previous indictment for electoral fraud.

Growing up south of the river, the blinking light atop One Canada Square was a distant north star in a night sky erased by pollution, ominous and beautiful. On my first summer job after school I spent a day doing deliveries around the loading bays and sorting offices in the towers' underbelly. Between the hostile architecture, austere security systems and the dispirit of the fellow shift workers I occasionally interfaced with, I've rarely felt less human.

I've designed two Mothership pamphlets loosely inspired by the location so far. One never went anywhere, one I sold to TKG. Just writing this post is giving me ideas for more, or maybe a short story.

It's a well I keep coming back to, but every time I have the same self doubts.

Because perspective is a weird thing. It's very easy to feel like your own is unremarkable because it's all you know, while the viewpoints of other artists can seem so fresh and engaging by comparison. Even typing this out is tough for me because - well, who cares? This is nothing, this is my normal.

I dunno though. In Andor, the wharf serves as the offices of the fascist Gestapo-analogue the ISB. In Rogue One, one of its transit stations was used as part of the Death Star. This year alone I've seen film crews there for Apple's upcoming Neuromancer series and Edgar Wright's new adaptation of The Running Man.

I guess I could see it as discouraging that other people got there first. Or, maybe if so many other people can see dystopia where I do, there's something in my own perspective worth looking back over.

I'd encourage you to reconsider whether your own point of view is too mundane to bother making art about. Your normal could be our brave new world.

Straturday Hive Creeper

 

Got this big old box for my bday! That's my hobbying time sorted for the foreseeable.

Necromunda is the problem child of the Warhammer world which suits me just fine. I won't do a full introduction here because even GW's nichest games have paeans written to them across the internet that could serve you better if you don't know what this is.

Absolutely still planning on hitting all the many indies I have in my sights, but this looks fun too. I won't comment on the rules until I've played but at the very least I'll have cool minis to play those other games with

Gotta put all the bits together first though! See you on the other side.

This week's shoutout: Magnagothica Maleghast is on sale for 100% off this weekend. This one has been on my radar for a bit, I don't know anything about it other than that the art is cool and I think you play it on a chess board which is fun. But hey it's free, jump on that

A bit of housekeeping: I chatted in my last post about doing some spring cleaning on the old gumroad store. As it turns out I went overboard - the store has closed down.

A few reasons for this. Chiefly, the guy who runs that place is a dick. I know every platform is run by some nefarious CEO, I'm typing this on a google-owned page, but this dude fucking sucks in full techbro fashion and I've wanted to divest for a while now.

Secondly, nothing on there sold any more. That's my fault, I don't self promote or whatever. But I get most or indeed all of my games income through freelance work these days (hire me! graverobbersguide at gmail dot com) and I prefer it that way.

I was only ever a publisher by necessity. I love working with other folks who do that shit way better and just focusing on my writing and design. Some very cool collabs are on their way out in that respect, btw

The unfortunate upshot of me scorched-earthing the gumroad is that some very cool stuff I made over the years is now no longer available. I'm looking for a way to share it that's as accessible and easy on me. I know itch is the place these days but I've heard mixed things and, like I said, I'm not a publisher or store owner at heart. Setting all that up again... eh.

I'll let you know! In the meantime, if you're desperately seeking a pdf of Journeylands, Graverobbers, or a Paradice Arcade game or whatever else, just email me and we can work something out all right PEACE x

Spring Cleaning

 Heyo, been busy this month, back to posting more soon. All kinds of cool stuff coming

This is just an advance notice that I'm clearing out some old clutter from my online store. Things like the original edition of GoGoGolf!, which has been largely superseded by the shiny new PWG edition. Which btw is now available all over - at IPR and Exalted Funeral, itch and drivethru and all the places - so you can choose your fave shop to get it from.

Plus I'm removing some old adventures and things that don't sell anymore or feel kinda outdated. Some time in the next couple o weeks.

So now's a good time to go and get some of that stuff before it goes! Also it was just my birthday so call it a present to me, except it's really a present for yourself. That's a win-win babyyyyy

Ok! Back to work

GRAVEROBBERS 2025

 (once again!) RETURN OF THE MACK (top of the world!)

Took a break for much of 2024. Creative burnout, but mostly the realities of trying to make this hobby work as a career were proving untenable. I'm not saying it can't be done, I know plenty of folks who make it happen and kick ass, but my approach wasn't working and I needed to rethink and regroup.

So here it is - all major personal projects still on indefinite hold. I can fiddle with stuff in my free time or work for hire, but the middle ground of self publishing just doesn't do it for me. Sales from my personal online store have hit pretty much absolute zero

I'm proud of what I did with GoGoGolf! on my own for instance, but since PWG has taken up publishing that game I've had a much better time of it. I love partnering with folks on stuff, the great reception to the Mothership box last year was further proof that this is the way forwards, even if I only had a small role in that one.

Anyway, time to get back to work.

2025:

- New stuff releasing. Bits I worked on last year, some even longer ago. If you like it when I write weird Mothership adventures you will be well fed.

- New new stuff. As in not RPG, early days on this one but your boy's got big plans, stay tuned

- The blog. Gonna try and get back into the swing of posting notes and other bits, no kind of regular schedule but all the sort of stuff I used to post fairly often. If there's anything specific you want to see on here just ask and I'll probably do it at some point

and a couple of other important bits

1. The big project. I've been calling it Odai 57 (and before that it was Odai 47, idk why I changed it, what do you like better?) But it's at the stage now where giving it a name is going to help, so allow me to announce

SPILT MILK
[and other mysteries]

A hardboiled mystery campaign setting for the Mothership RPG.

This is technically just for me so it doesn't count as self publishing, shut up. But I will be posting it in one form or another eventually. if you haven't seen me talk about it before it's basically:

a) a self-contained MoSh setting presented as the phonebook of a remote space station truck stop and the attached retail park. d100 working phone numbers, each attached to places, people, hundreds of new items and things to spend credits on. A hub world or rest stop for your campaign, or a just big load of scraps for you to scavenge from.

plus

b) a neo-noir mystery campaign taking place entirely within that setting. Players are adjusters, corpo detectives for an agency that insures androids. Say one goes missing, or shows up dead. Is it malfunction, or malfeasance? Get to the bottom of each case so that your company can pay out as little as possible.

That's enough on that for now but I'll be posting more about it as I continue tinkering. Call it the Odaiaries. I want to get this out in one form or another this year

and

2. Work. I fucking love doing this job folks, and I'm good at it. If you want to hire me, now's the time.

I've worked on huge projects with established companies and little zines from first time solo publishers. I write games and adventures, I edit and proofread and everything in between.

Get in touch, graverobbersguide[at]gmail[dot]com

Happy new year x

GoGoGolf! is out now!

Head over to the Possible Worlds store and pick up a physical copy of my OSR style adventure game that’s about golf for some reason for just $5USD! Click right here

Still working on the Mothership mystery setting - phonebook is about 90% mapped out and 1/3 filled in, and I’ve revised and reiterated the cases yet again, think I’ve got a solid starting adventure down now. Will try to playtest soon, hopefully can get the whole phonebook working by then too! Man, it’s tough writing something that needs so much prep work before you can even start testing it

Conversely, I’m back at work on the miniatures game, which I’m constantly testing and iterating on. It’s pretty good you guys. Very cool to have a game I made that I can just play a bit of for fun whenever I want?? Hope to have more to share on that before too long.

Busy busy! Feels good to be back in the saddle

Inconvertible Currency

 Riffing off this post 

Copper is the coin of the common man. Buy, hoard, sell, barter, clip, forge, steal and render unto Caesar. You’ll find it in pouches on the bodies you loot, trade it in for new adventuring gear. XP, if that’s your system. You can get just about anything an ordinary person might need with enough copper. In amounts only achievable through exploitation it could buy you safety, property, a retirement.

Gold is another thing entirely. Deals done in gold are made in the name of castles, armies, nations. Those who trade in it do so in shadowed vaults, behind grand tapestries, over tournament feasts. For these transactions, copper will not do, no matter how much you save. You may find someone offering gold for copper, or the reverse - the rate will always exceed your means, and there will always be some catch or scam at the rotten heart of the bargain. Gold demands to be inherited, conquered or betrothed. Hoarding it makes you not merely selfish, but a true Dragon.

In game this can be used to transition, wholly or in part, between the phases of play traditionally denoted by levels, the hardscrabble adventurer and the lord of the castle keep. A “gold” session is a banquet to entertain a new ally and sniff out a potential traitor. Then, back to a “copper” session for the journey to the western caves.

Being poor in either gold or copper forces players to resort to their wits, be it in dungeoneering or politicking, and offers a constant choice of two distinct avenues of progress. You could even have two “level” tracks, two types of XP for the two modes of play. And despite the distinct currencies, the two will naturally intersect - this is a single World, after all

(PS hey back my games)

To quest, perchance to zine

 Zine quest / zine month / whatever is almost upon us! Every February small RPG creators gather to fund cool DIY projects and you can get in on the action by supporting your favourite small creators. There’s sure to be a great crop this year, I’ll be sharing my favourites here next month

I’ll also be launching my own project! This is the smallest scale thing I’ve done for zinequest, just one pamphlet, containing three playable tavern games from the world of Graverobbers. Been working on these for a minute and they’re genuinely, actually good. You can insert them into your own games, or just play em for fun. Click here to follow the project and get notified when it launches!

As a side note, the bloggies continue! I was summarily trounced in the GAMEABLE category, knocked out in the first round by the post that went on to win the whole thing which ain’t nothing. I’m also up for an award in the currently running category ADVICE, although I’m up against the likes of Sean’s #dungeon23 so I don’t fancy my chances. Still, you can vote for my post and all the other great contenders right here.

Get involved! I’ll be back this weekend for another straturday ✌️

BLOGGIES finalists!

The finalists for this past year’s BLOGGIES awards, hosted by the inimitable Zedeck Siew, have just been announced! A bumper crop of last year’s best writing by people who write for/about/around games, all free to read on god’s green internet.

And as it turns out I’ve been nominated in two categories! I was basically offline during the final week of December, so I was only vaguely aware it was all even happening. I certainly didn’t think anyone would put my blog up for an award. So thank you!

Voting for your favourite finalists happens throughout this month, in various categories. You should read all the nominated posts anyway, because there’s some good stuff in there!

Full list of finalists and more details here.

GRAVEROBBERS 2024

 Happy new year I’m glad you’re here world is a fuck let’s gooooooo

Last year was difficult, all my own projects (Graverobbers, Breckhelygan, Deadline, Journeylands, etc) are still on hold. It’s a shame, but we move

This year I have some cool projects coming out that I’ve worked on for other folks, not least of which is the Mothership 1E core box! Get hype. I’ll announce other things when I’m able.

(I’d like to work on more stuff too! Maybe you’ve got something you’re doing for zinequest and you’d like me to write or edit on it? Or some other cool project later in the year? Get in touch! graverobbersguide at gmail dot com )

As for this blog, it’ll continue to be a space for my hobby, which in case you’re unaware is games. I want to work on more stuff! I want to play more stuff! And you know what? I’m gonna fuckin do it

That’s it I think? The current social media is dgchapman.bsky.social so give me a follow over there. Excited to see what’s to come in 2024!

Speak soon. Let’s roll 😤

Dungeon Immune Responses

 aka reactive dungeons, aka Dungeon No Likey

This is a type of adventure game location I’ve done a few of, and there are many more out there. The basic idea is that the more the players delve, the more the space itself reacts to their intrusion.

Most dungeon crawling games loosely mechanise this to some degree. Spend too long exploring in classic D&D and you’ll trigger a wandering monster encounter. My own Graverobbers makes characters lose the game’s HP equivalent when they make too much light or noise.

Right now though I’m thinking about more specific ways in which individual adventures can model reactions and some of the possibilities for fun and interesting play you can get out of them

For instance, we can consider what triggers might cause the response in the first place. Graverobbers is a stealth game so one of them is being un-stealthy. And I feel like the general default trigger is “being here”, which is a good one when you’re delving in places where people Were Not Meant To Tread.

Stuff that adventure games tend to disincentivise, like combat, make good triggers. In my Mothership adventure The Horror on Tau Sigma 7, the dungeon reacts when damage is done to the structure itself (like breaking through a door instead of unlocking it) or its inhabitants. The forest from The Postbox in the Woods likewise reacts to violence and destruction.

Thinking up more specific triggers can help flavour a dungeon and force creative solutions. Maybe the wizard who built this tower despises the colour yellow, or the titan whose navel you’re exploring is allergic to gold.

The dungeon’s response should be clear, even if it starts subtly and builds over time like in TS7. Players have to be clued into this being a cause-and-effect or they won’t be able to use the information practically. A low rumbling sound or cold wind every time a player starts to unsheathe their sword that abruptly cuts off when they put it away again would be easy to understand, even if the specifics haven’t been discovered yet. The response, like the best traps, shouldn’t shut off options but force new ones

Like all the best curses and mutations though, the response doesn’t have to be all bad. If there’s an upside the players are encouraged to use the information creatively and game the system. In the most recent episode of Into the Megadungeon, Miranda Elkins talks about how there are places in Nightwick Abbey that are inaccessible without triggering the dungeon’s geomorph rearranging mechanic.

You could even reverse the concept, have specific actions or events the dungeon wants and rewards. If players figure out the right offering to bring they can open secret doors in the cultists’ lair, for instance. These kinds of interactions are more like typical lock and key, call and response mechanics, but having a sliding scale of just how appeased the dungeon is could be interesting.

These kinds of dungeons benefit from being large, thereby encouraging exploration and letting the response build or even ebb and flow over time. For smaller dungeons a pitcher-plant structure can be useful, or a simple depthcrawl, where players want to go deeper for cooler stuff but going further makes coming back that much harder.

Anyway, just a concept I’m thinking over at the minute, trying to see if there are new fun places I can take it. If you haven’t used something similar in an adventure before I’d recommend it, and if you know any great adventures that do this well then let me know!

The Old Graving Dock

When the House closed down the docks, they scuttled the cargo ship Gilt Fawn and left her here to rot. By day, folk still congregate in search of work, forcefully dispersed by the local House guards. By night, the abandoned shipyard falls silent.

I. DRY DOCK

The ship has settled into the silt, its upper deck six yards up. A hole in the hold is too choked with muck to fit through.

A winch controls the dock’s huge sluice. Roll a die to see how many rats are about. A grate leads to Smocklehythe sewer.

II. UPPER DECK

Six yards above the dry dock dirt. Bare masts, one lifeboat. Doors leading to the captain’s cabin and crew’s quarters.

III. CAPTAIN’S CABIN

Locked. Vial of rum (6d), hand mirror (£1&1d), spyglass (£6).

IV. CREW’S QUARTERS

Cramped. Amongst old rags are six yards rope (1d/yard) and a dagger (£2). Door to upper deck, stairs to lower deck.

IV. LOWER DECK

Long since looted. Stairs to the crew’s quarters and hold.

VI. HOLD

Corpse in fine clothing (£2), a key around its neck and dagger in hand. It is haunted, attacking if any dare take its treasures. A half-filled hole to the dry dock, stairs to the lower deck.

Also:

I hope you’re already listening to Ben L’s excellent ongoing podcast Into the Megadungeon, in which he interviews great writers and GMs about how they do All That. Latest episode with Luke Gearing is here.

One of the original and still one of the best megadungeons, Caverns of Thracia, was of course written by the legendary Jenell Jaquays, who is currently raising funds for medical treatment. Please help if you can.

This Mothership module on Kickstarter has a crack team behind it and less than a week to go. A sci fi adaptation of the Demeter chapter from Dracula, so pretty much the platonic ideal of MoSh.

Update

 With all the Weapons Test 023 zines well on their way to backers and my desk and head finally clear I thought I’d do a little post-mortem update on where things are at for my projects. I’ve talked about some of this but the gist is this. If you’re not concerned with how the sausages get made skip to the end for what’s next.

At the start of this year I posted about how this year was going to be a bit of a turning point for me, transitioning from hobbyist into full time rpg guy. I’ve had some lucky breaks already and figured that I might as well make a go of turning this into a career - despite all the doom and gloom about the industry, much of it warranted, I know many people who do ttrpg and adjacent work for a living.

The plan was to take savings from previous jobs and projects, put those into a new project up front, then take the profits from that and pay myself a wage, using any additional funds to start the next project, repeat, etc, and so on.

And it worked! I had a successful KS campaign for zinequest, and was on track to use that money to get everything out to backers but also slipstream into the next thing. Unfortunately, things didn’t go as smoothly as all that!

As well as general delays (to be expected with any project, especially working with more people than I had done before and doing a physical release for the first time), I found out in July that my Universal Credit (the UK’s super fun catch-all benefit for people who need help with housing, disability, etc) for the month would be zero. Never did find out the reason, but while I scrambled to get rent together the current project had to take a back seat, and some of the funds meant to get the next thing going had to go on bills. I was lucky enough to get some work and help from friends which meant I still had a place to live, but I still had zines to print and ship, and once I finally got signed back on to UC the algorithm decided I’m now eligible for a whole lot less.

So, a couple of months of bad luck later I can say the project is finally done, but it’s left me in a bit of a sorry state. The next thing I had lined up, my Pokémon Go style rpg Demon Watch, as well as the new updates to GRAVEROBBERS that I’d hoped to get out around Hallowe’en/Guy Fawkes Night, as well as some Mothership stuff I had in the pipeline with some cool folks, are all shelved.

Not all bad though! I do have some work to keep me going (but am very much looking for more still, graverobbersguide(at)gmail(dot)com), and despite this year’s setbacks I’m still hopeful. The brief taste I had of doing this full time convinced me that I really don’t see myself doing anything else.

So, what does all this mean? Well, don’t expect many blog posts or updates on projects for a little while. I’ll be working in the background, seeing what I can get done by myself and doing some very cool paid projects for other people that I hope you’ll be hearing about soon.

In the meantime I’ll be launching a kind of side thing, a way to keep the juices flowing and get some cool regular game stuff out to you all. Far from feeling burned out, I’m energised and ready to do some good shit 💪 So that’ll be coming out tomorrow, pay attention to this blog and my socials if you’re looking for free Mothership compatible stuff! I’m also still working on the Odai 57 ashcan, and looking at ways to get low-budget Graverobbers releases out too.

Social(s), yes, I’m on Bluesky now. Had avowed myself away from new platforms but if I’m going to keep in touch with folks, up to date on cool stuff I can’t afford and able to broadcast what I’m doing this seemed like the best bet. I’m on Twitter a lot less as well. You can follow me there, dgchapman.bsky.social

Anyway, that’s all! Just keeping you all abreast of what I’m up to. I appreciate all the support, it really does mean the world. This hobby and this little blog has, without hyperbole, changed my life, and I’m very grateful to all of you who like my stuff, whether that’s pledging to crowdfunding things, offering jobs, sharing and posting about things I make, leaving nice comments - or, most importantly of all, playing my games and having fun.

Onwards and upwards! Fun new MoSh-y thing tomorrow.

Cities of Phones

 So in a recent post I had some vague thoughts about laying a city out like a dungeon. This makes the city feel a certain way: lets you spotlight traversal, define areas and position them in relation to one another, use encounter systems to emulate a vibe. This city will probably feel busy, maze-like, claustrophobic and sprawling, with a stable concrete layout made ever-changing by its inhabitants and happenings.

But that’s not all a city can be. I don’t feel like I’m traversing a dungeon when I head out into my city. I’m not delving or dealing with encounters, I’m moving freely and easily. I don’t have to learn complex systems, I have them internalised or handled for me - I can roll onto a bus or train or DLR, zone out and my destination comes up to meet me. I barely think about where places are in relation to one another, except to decide if I should just walk or not. I don’t drive, so I don’t have personal dungeoneering costs or equipment to maintain. Apps and contactless payments handle my journey. It’s not a quest… it’s not a dungeon.

So if we don’t want to focus on traversal, or encounters, or even where locations are in relation to one another, how else can we define a space? And why might we want to, what new game modes or vibes could open up to us?

In that post I briefly mentioned a Big Thing I’ve been working on, so I figured I might as well share!

Short answer, it’s a phone book. d100 phone numbers, each with a location on the other end. (Yes these are landline phones, this is Mothership.) Players can use the phone network in-game, but also travelling around between these placers is just as easy as calling. It’s a table of contents, a list of locations they can pick from as and when they want. In the same way that I can just decide to stroll up the high street and walk into any of the shops in any order or combination, the focus here isn’t on movement and space but on an open and accessible list, the points without the crawl.

So here’s what I’ve been working on and a few things I’ve found out so far. Hopefully this is useful to anyone who might want to do something similar!

The biggest drawback as I’ve seen it is that you need all your bits written up front. In a big dungeon-city I can make one “floor” or less at a time, and expand as and when the players get to the edge of my map. Here, every phone number needs to work straight away or it all falls apart. I can mitigate this with generators somewhat - different reasons a number might be disconnected, “filler” entry tables. But it works best with a whole lot of bespoke, specific gameable bits, so that’s what I’ve been doing.

I’ve found it easiest to do what I normally do, small individual adventures, and mosaic those into a complete whole. So one phone number might have its own complete mini-adventure at the end of it, or one adventure could be spaced across a few locations that lead to one another. Each adds a little bit to the city overall, and while I prefer to keep things modular I can sprinkle in some interconnected-ness to keep the space feeling cohesive. And numbers can be reused ofc. I can also fill out more numbers with non-adventure-specific game bits, like some of the item-list vendors I’ve posted here already.

The space, btw, is not a whole city. d100 carefully planned locations is a whole lot of game for me to write but is maybe one road’s worth of landlines in the real world. So this is a high street, a typical commercial/residential space, on a space station to give the space clear edges. I’m folding in some of the “at the gates of dawn” setting stuff I’ve posted here too, but the overall size and shape is something like an airport mall in a Stanford torus.

That means I’ve got more than enough distinct locations to be getting on with, without overwhelming the Warden with millions of phone numbers and characters to keep track of. Keeping things modular in individual adventures with their own relevant subset of numbers helps here too. Also means I don’t have to write as much, so I can focus on those deliberately constructed details over generators to fill things out. Detail makes space in ttrpgs anyway. I don’t even have close to d100 yet and this place already feels huge.

So what kind of a city does all this give us, and what kind of a game? I’ll go into that next time!

Cities of Rooms

Whew, things got shaky for a minute there. Just about levelling out, thanks in no small part to some fine folks offering work, so you’ll be seeing some cool new projects before too long. Thanks all.

Not much chance to go out and do fun stuff in July but I did catch a showing of the Cowboy Bebop movie Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door. I hadn’t seen it not-dubbed before which was interesting, lovely old 35mm print too... you’re lucky this isn’t a film blog. Suffice it to say it’s a worthy accompaniment to the classic series, recommended. (Cowboy Bebop is my touchstone for Mothership. I don’t recall the exact timeline because I definitely saw Alien for the first time that year, but I don’t think I’d seen it when I did The Haunting of Ypsilon 14 - I had seen the homage episode from Bebop though. Anyway.)

In one of my favourite sequences in the movie, we see a montage of Spike doing some on-the-ground detective work around Mars’ Alba City’s Moroccan district. (Ok a little film nerd time - the production team wanted a vibe that set this place apart from their mostly Pan-Asian/European settings in the series, so they visited Morocco and it really shows. Some of the best painted backgrounds in the film here, and that lovely “real”, lived-in vibe that permeates so much of the show. And it’s all set to this, a great 00s-gone-old-school working class country love song, but in-universe! So good.)

Anyway, the next day or whenever I was watching North American urbanism videos on YouTube, which I do sometimes to feel better about my own life, and this popped up. Take what you will from the overall message but the bit about parts of cities being like outdoor rooms with buildings and other features as walls stood out to me. In gaming, granular city maps are often designed this way, but the real world context and application just connected some more dots for me I guess.

So what’s my point? Well like I said I’m hard at work atm, so I don’t have the headspace to come up with new examples for this post, but it got me thinking about laying out a city more like a dungeon. This is nothing new, but I specifically mean a MoSh city as a MoSh style flowchart map. Transit maps like the good old Tube are essentially circuit diagrams after all, and maps as a series of connections rather than a representation of physical space makes sense in a setting where you can just walk anywhere anyway (I have more thoughts on different ways to represent city space but you’ll have to wait for a particular Big Thing).

And if our districts and streets are rooms, and our flowchart lines are transit connections, then we get interesting choices coming up around traversal. Do the players take the subway to the other side of town or walk the whole way, triggering encounters? Does the subway cost money or have its own encounters, and how does that factor into decision-making? Are there places they’ve been told to avoid, and what will they see as they loop around them? If a place they need to get to is only two stops away, why not save on travel and walk, thereby triggering a whole other event in the spaces between? If they can find a way through the front of a building in one area and out the back into another, can they establish new shortcuts and routes themselves? What about transit strikes? (Great transit scene in the movie too btw, more inspiration.)

And that’s as much as I’ve got today. Electric Bastionland encourages you to lay out a Tube-style map, which is worth a look. And I will, as always, recommend Cowboy Bebop. tschuss x

Are you living in the real world?

GRAVEROBBERS 2023

 I’m still here and I’m about to make it everybody’s problem

Coming this year:

Mothership: ADSPACE is still on track to be out this month. Next month it’s zinequest/zimo and I’m hoping to have something ready that’s been cooking for a very long time, excited to show you. This is kind of a huge step for me so fingers crossed it goes ok.

In March 1E should be out or imminent and you’ll be able to get your hands on Another Bug Hunt, which I’m very proud of. Beyond that… idk fam I’ve been living month to month my whole adult life, April is a big stretch for me. But yes, more MoSh

Graverobbers: I’m itching to get to the next step in G’robs, a complete starter package. Rules, adventure, tools, extras. Already playtesting and it’s gonna be good

Other projects: Look, I gotta eat so stuff that pays takes priority. But I haven’t forgotten about the likes of DEADLINE and ONSLAUGHT, I have plans for those! Hopefully you’ll be seeing a lot more this year.

This blog: I post when I feel I’ve got something worth posting! I’m doing dungeon23, google it if you don’t know what’s up, so maybe I’ll at least post some of that at some point. When I write stuff for home games that’s not also going on sale you’ll get that too lol

Not to be dramatic, but this year is a big one. Based on how things go, what jobs come my way, whether i can pull crowdfunds off etc, I’m going to see whether the steady growth I’ve had professionally since starting this thing 5 years ago (!) is going to turn into something I can do for the rest of my life, or a hobby I come back to now and again for beer money. it sucks but I gotta pay rent and think about the practicals!

So, here’s hoping. I’d love to keep making things for you all. Gonna do my best this year.

Let’s all work at changing the little bit of the world that’s right where we each are. See where that gets us

Happy new year xox

GRAVEROBBERS 2022

 Hey! You made it :)

This year:

- JOURNEYLANDS #1 will be released soon, backers should keep an eye on KS later this month for info on how to get your copy. I will try and post extra bits for players to use now and then (psssst anyone can do this)

- MOTHERSHIP 1E is approaching. How are you all liking the beta version? I have, uh… like, six? projects in the works for MoSh. Mostly 1st party but I’ll also be releasing my first 3rd party project in 2022, more on that in time I’m sure.

Basically, as if you weren’t already, expect big things from the Mothership. Like… just from the stuff I’m personally working on? Oh boy. You have no idea.

In the meantime have you seen Hull Breach yet?

- THIS BLOG remains a place for me to air notes, work things out and make games in public, ramble when I feel the need. Thanks for your continued attention. I try to only post things I think are potentially useful.

I feel like most people know me for MoSh now, and I haven’t really put much ~content~ on here for that, so this will be rectified. And probably less fantasy bits than in the past? Idk, I write stuff for me first and I’m not currently running a fantasy game so. But hey a year is a long time

- GRAVEROBBERS is still a thing, next stop is a starter adventure but there is no timeline on that. As and when. Free here, always will be.

- Other projects like the d6 duel-clock “souls” game and DEADLINE are still being worked on too, but practically speaking they’re lower on the priority list than things that make money.

- On that - as well as my continued work on Mothership stuff for TKG I would love to work on whatever else you’ve got cooking, get in touch. If you like what I’ve done you can literally just hire me. Graverobbersguide at gmail dot com.

If you can’t pay i will probably still take a look at any serious projects and help, for fun. Especially if you are from any group/identity not typically given platforms. Just hit me up and I’ll give notes on your Mothership zine or whatever it is you’re doing.

- Rebalancing a bit. Less-to-no twitter, everything anyone has ever said about games on there is boring. I’ve always aimed to put real life first and that’s going to continue. Games is just a fun thing to do with people I love, love comes first.

You also might see other artistic projects from me at some point I suppose, like other media, you can ignore those if they’re not interesting to you

I can’t think of what else to say but anyone can just ask me stuff if you have questions! I’m just some guy

I hope you’re spending time/money/energy on worthy causes, chiefly yourself. Let’s show 2022 what true power looks like. Peace and love to all xo