1d8 Garages

~ Every day for the rest of August, I'm posting content for the Journeylands mini-RPG playtest! Find out more and get the rules for free right here. ~

A few garages to drop into your game as Points, each offering a unique upgrade. Costs are as defined in the rules unless specified.

d8	Garage	Notes	Upgrade
1	Roscoe’s Chop ‘n’ Change	Roscoe is a burly man with thick, dark chest hair and a well-oiled moustache.	Power d6, also comes with a tow cable, upgrade when rolling to tow something.
2	Secret Swap Shop	A clandestine engineer’s workshop that caters to bandits and the like. The owner is a scarred old woman with a prosthetic arm.	Weapons d8, retractable spikes and a fold-out cannon. Vehicle looks unarmed when weapons are stowed.
3	Jelly Place	A small garage round the side of a diner with a cute jellyfish mascot.	Handling d6. Also get a free jellyfish decal and discount card for ice cream in all Jelly Place branches.
4	Wilson’s	Run by retired racing driver Wilson Merengue. Still wears his classic driving helmet and fabled moustache.	Power d8, upgrade when rolling to outspeed something on easy terrain. Costs 8500 due to name recognition.
5	Bullet Shack	Also sells handguns, swords and other weaponry.	Weapons d8. A huge-ass cannon, multi-gun array, or similarly bombastic weaponry.
6	Turtle Bay Repairs	Soothing surf music plays, the owners wear patterned shirts. Beverages offered while-u-wait.	Handling d6. Also offers Weapons d6, the Shell Shield: upgrade when defending against attack.
7	Magick Motors	Run by a little old man with a long white beard and moon-and-star robes.	Handling d10, can spend 1 Fuel to warp a few metres in any direction.
8	El Grande’s BBQ & Truck Stop	Huge vehicles, huge portions. El Grande is a retired luchador.	Fuel Tank upgrade, up to 15 maximum.

Kaiju in Journeylands

~ Every day for the rest of August, I'm posting content for the Journeylands mini-RPG playtest! Find out more and get the rules for free right here. ~

Other people might not be the only dangers out there for your players. Huge creatures known as kaiju roam the land.

To stat a kaiju, treat it as both character and vehicle – 2 dice for each of its three stats. If a Trait or other effect would upgrade a die, upgrade only one.

Sample Kaiju

Demon Toad

Gigantic, horned and tusked, this beast wallows in mud that cakes onto it like rock. Not mobile, but can charge surprisingly fast when defending its home. Easiest to just avoid its Route, if possible.

A2d6, C1d4/1d6, T2d8, Grit 3. While it is caked in mud, upgrade 1d8 to 1d10 in Toughness rolls to resist attacks (the first successful attack or manoeuvre that would remove the mud ends this effect).

The Sentry

An ancient obelisk, its parts rotating as it magically levitates, giant fleshy eyeballs rolling around in stone sockets, scanning for intruders in the territory it was sworn to protect long ago. Run.

A2d8, C2d8, T2d10, Grit 6.

Storney

Enormous flightless birds that can run at high speeds to catch prey. They defend their nests at all costs, but egg-poachers know that they are stupid and easily distracted by live bait.

A2d10, C2d6, T2d8, Grit 3, Trait: Hunter (skills include attacking, finding food, chasing prey).

Mini Carnival

~ Every day for the rest of August, I'm posting content for the Journeylands mini-RPG playtest! Find out more and get the rules for free right here. ~

A Point, could go anywhere really. Liven up a long journey.

Rides! Games! Food! A ghost train?! Let the players suggest additions to what’s going on if you can’t think of anything yourself. The whole thing is small and a bit run down, but lively enough. If there are other carnival-goers, they will include friendly NPCs the players have already met in the local area.

There’s a Test-Your-Strength game: highest Toughness roll of the day wins, costs 5 coins per try. The prize is the big, cartoon-esque mallet used for the game, which is surprisingly sturdy and could be used as a real weapon.

A wizened old man runs a target-shooting game from the back of his vehicle. Costs 5 coins, hit 3 targets to win a prize! Roll Coordination for each shot of the toy gun – if a player is doing too well, the old man will wiggle the final target by tugging on a piece of string he’s attached to his big toe (contested roll vs the geezer’s d6 Agility). The most observant person watching will notice this, seconds before the final shot is fired. The prize is a large stuffed toy of a local animal/kaiju.

More Hooks:
1: A young girl has lost her father. He’ll be on the other side of the carnival, looking for her.
2: A cooking contest! Players can enter for 10 coins, and win with high rolls and unique ingredients.
3: The guy running the candyfloss stall wants to leave the carnival and set up shop in a nearby town.
4: Low-level bandits the players met before are skulking around. They propose a truce.

If the players drive on by or don’t spend any money, consider having them come across a closed and abandoned carnival next time they’re passing through.

Rockslide!

~ Every day for the rest of August, I'm posting content for the Journeylands mini-RPG playtest! Find out more and get the rules for free right here. ~

A Route, Fuel cost 2.

This narrow canyon pass has recently been blocked off by a rock slide. The player characters will have to clear it to pass. Turning back and returning to the Point they started from also costs 2 Fuel.

Also at the rockslide:

1: A bandit captain (Grit 2, ACTd4, Thief) and 1d4 followers (same, no Grit). They are taking advantage of the impasse to harass travellers, or may have caused it themselves.
2: A lone miner with a pickaxe. Their lover lives on the other side. Not making much progress.
3: A food truck. The merchant is annoyed that they can’t make their usual run, but happy to do business.
4: 1d6 wildcats! Hungry and easily distracted. (A6, C4, T6)
5: An old man with what he claims is a magic staff, fruitlessly attempting to levitate the boulders with his mind.
6: Another vehicle full of adventurers just like the players, on a delivery. They’ll turn back and head via another route, advising the players do the same.

Mysterious Village of the Fishfolk

~ Every day for the rest of August, I'm posting content for the Journeylands mini-RPG playtest! Find out more and get the rules for free right here. ~

***

A Point for use in your Journeylands game.

Decades ago, settlers wandering the desert came upon a sundered shrine to an ancient sea goddess. Unable to bear seeing such beauty left forgotten, they decided to build their village around it, cleaning and rebuilding the shrine.

Once complete, its magic was restored and it began to run with clear water. The bounty was blessed, and bestowed favour upon those who drank it. Quickly, the new villagers began to mutate into forms more pleasing to the goddess.

Embarrassed by their new bodies, the fishfolk retreated from society.

Routes to the Village

Fishfolk set traps on all Routes leading to their enclave.

1: Fishfolk in camouflage with rifles at strategic high points. Will flee if noticed or confronted.
2: Two swinging logs that crash together.
3: The ground gives way to a pit filled with stagnant water (not blessed).
4: Caltrops or spikes on the road, little sharp seashells and shark teeth.

Notable Villagers and Quest Hooks

Villagers are generally friendly, if a little meek. If stats are needed use d4s all round, with upgrades in C or T for trappers and able fighters respectively.

1: The mayor is a tall woman with jellyfish hair. Wants books from far off towns.
2: The pub is run by a portly octopus man. Patrons tell of a demon frog in a nearby cave.
3: The general store lacks one important item. Help establish trade with a nearby town.
4: The garage owner is an urchin person. Sells some unique parts (d8 Power, upgrade if underwater).

The Blessed Water

There is nothing else available to drink in the village except for alcohol and whatever the party brings with them. Friendly fishfolk will warn of this, and the side effects.

Should a character drink the water, they can make a roll with their Toughness at the end of each day to resist its effects. 2 failed rolls and the character mutates. Their general appearance becomes fishier, and they must also roll for a mutation below:

1-2: Fins, scales.
3: Tentacles, fronds or shrimp-whiskers.
4: Suckers on hands/arms.
5: Deep sea bioluminescence.
6: Sea urchin spikes.
7: Swordfish nose.
8: Sharp teeth, big strong jaw.
9: Sea slug colouration and general sliminess.
10: Jellyfish or anemone hair.
11: Feet are big ol’ flippers.
12: Crab claw.

The character also gains the Fishfolk Trait, which allows them to upgrade their ACT die when 

swimming or otherwise using their mutation to their advantage.

Player Character Connections

One could be used at character creation if this Point is on your map.

1: Has heard tell of a shrine here with supposedly magical transformation properties.
2: Has a package to deliver to the mayor and a map to the village’s location.
3: Has a map with an X on the village’s location, warning that here be monsters.
4: Is a fishfolk who chose to see the world. Must spend starting XP on the Fishfolk Trait.

Journeylands

"and now for something completely different"

tl;dr: made a game

JOURNEYLANDS
is a modern-fantasy sandbox mini-RPG about travel and adventure. Players journey around a sprawling, magically tinged landscape, in a vehicle that they all share and live in together.

sketch by Krzysztof Maziarz (the final art is bonkers good you guys)

MECHANICS: DO WE GOT EM? WHAT THEY BE?

J'lands, mechanically, IS:
- Fiction first. Gameplay is mostly just talking and cool ideas, with mechanics as a frame to fall back on if needed, rather than a driving force of play. Like OSR stuff.
- Player-driven. Players can customise their characters (no "builds" though), and customise their vehicle, and I guess "customise" their adventure: go where they want, see what's there. Sandbox!
- Light. It's small - nay, tiny. I gave my group the draft rules and they were done reading and basically understood the whole game in a few minutes.
- My kind of thing! I made this game because I want more of this kind of game to exist. No idea if anyone else will dig it, but I'm happy with it.

J'lands, mechanically, AIN'T:
- A narrative game. It's got more storygame DNA in it than, say, B/X, but the influence is subtle. It's basically a traditional RPG.
- Comprehensive. It's bare bones, intentionally so. Do what you want with it, build on it, etc. "Rulings not rules". It's a little mini-game, not a fantasy epic.
- Grimdark Poverty Simulator 3000. Not so much with the impotent characters and resource scarcity and to-the-bone survival of many games in the same sphere. Still deadly enough, tho.
- A game-changer. I didn't design this to blow people's minds with some innovative mechanic that explodes the untapped potential of emergent gameplay. It's just a fun game.


Btw, only on an RPG blog would I have gone this far in describing the game just talking mechanics. I know that's what you nerds crave: cold, hard FACTS.

Having said that, here's the fluff:

this but it's a truck stop

PICTURES AND STORIES AND IDEAS AND FEEEEEEELINGS

By default, the setting is the dried-out seabed of the Gulf of Mexico, an indeterminate number of centuries in the future.

It's not Mad Max!! This is not a post-apocalyptic wasteland: it's post-post. If you want a harsh and oppressive future, you've come to the wrong place. The world can be dangerous, sure, and mechanically speaking death is as much a possibility as your average OSR if you play your cards wrong, but this is a game about living despite all that: about friendship, about people coping and making a life.

The tone is silly-serious, goofy and heartfelt and hopeful, with all the Gen Z post-ironic earnestness I can muster. (I love making content for this game. It comes easier to me than almost any other game I've written. it's so fucking dumb.)

this but if they all lived in a VW campervan

For reference on the setting and tone? Think something like Adventure Time, that's pretty close. The Borderlands games are a better comparison than most other madmaxian fare.

It's quite... "anime"? One Piece is a huge inspiration: imagine that but someone drained all the water out and you've got a decent image of a Journeylands campaign. Also maybe Cowboy Bebop... actually, no, more like Space Dandy. Early issues of Dragon Ball, Pokemon without the 'mon.

Also feel it's worth mentioning that the setting is COMPLETELY made for the purpose of being played in. It's not some fantasy opus I tacked rules on to, it's my pitch for the ideal setting in which to game with the rules I made.

Travel! People, places, wacky and fun things to explore and find and see and do!

Journeys!

I liked this game

HOW DO WE PLAY IT?


The playtest version of the rules is available now on my Gumroad store. It's free! I'm calling it the Just The Gears version - all the base mechanics are there, but the game content is up to you.

Well, not completely up to you - this is a new world and system, and you might not want or be able to convert adventures into it. And that's a pain for this system since the world and the "fluff" is most of the game (fiction first!).

So I'm sharing some of my home game prep with youse lot: every day for the rest of this month I'll be uploading a small bit of Journeylands content to this blog.

Download the Just The Gears version, use the content from the blog or some up with your own, and GM a game or two for your friends! It's fast and fun and sessions only take an hour or two in my experience.

THEN WHAT?

I'd like to at the very least get some art done for the game!

Then, ideally, I'd write up a cool little 'zine-style booklet: all the rules, several pages of gameable content to start you off with, a GM's Advice Guide... maybe even a Japanese-style "replay"! I envision a fun little product, almost like a kid's comic, full of content and Things to Make and Do.

If you want that to happen, you can:

- use the pay-what-you-want feature on Gumroad to help fund it
- join the fine folks over at the Graverobber's Guild (my recently launched Patreon)
- show your interest online, give me feedback, tell people who you think would like the game

If the interest levels are there, I'll consider launching a small Kickstarter campaign next month to fund it fully. If not, I'll keep plugging away at things in my own time, and put out a slightly more bare-bones product as and when it's ready in the distant future.

Thanks for your time and support! Hope you enjoy the new game :)

PS: "What about the Graverobbers RPG?" Yeah, I make a lot of games. I'm still working on it! Join the Patreon to get more regular updates, sneak peeks and playtest material for that.

and we're back!

Sorry for scuttling off for a few weeks! Moving house is a whole thing. The blog will be back underway in a big way very shortly!

Here's what's been going on in the meantime:

Work on the Graverobbers RPG continues apace. (Refresh your memory with the playtest document right here.)

The fine folks who support this blog and my game-making over at the Graverobber's Guild just got a whole big new chunk of the ruleset, as part of the general updates and behind-the-scenes stuff I share there. Consider donating just $1 a month to become a Guildmember yourself!

Over on Reddit, the peeps at r/osr just added this blog as one of their "favourites"! If you've come our way via that route, welcome. It feels nice to be listed up there, a couple of those blogs are ones I read regularly by proper actual writers and everything.

There's a Kickstarter on for a new edition of Troika! I'm not affiliated with this in any way, it's just a good game.

And just as a little aside, Steve Crompton, who works on Tunnels and Trolls, stopped by my review of their Japan magazine and thanked me for it! I know we're a small pond here in RPG-land, but my lil blog catching the eye of an actual big fish feels nice. The guy is a proper industry vet. Thanks for reaching out, Steve!

I don't think I've linked this here before? On my Twitter I mostly just retweet cool fantasy-ish art, so follow me if you want that and game stuff in your timeline.

*

Other than that, I've been plugging away at a whole bunch of good new stuff that will be with you very shortly. I'm excited for what's to come!

In fact, I think I hear an engine revving in the distance...