Alex Ward

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dev updates

Dev Log - Week 2

maps

Ironsworn Delve Actual Play Transcript

A full transcript of a Solo Ironsworn Delve play session.

maps

Random Maps 4 - Ironsworn Delve

Alex talks about Random Map Generation in Ironsworn: Delve.

musings

Cascading Consequence in PbtA Games

Please sit back and enjoy some of my thoughts around how you, the GM, can make consequences of failure exciting and spiral your players further closer to their doom - all while making it feel narratively fulfilling.

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nix noctis

Nix Noctis Design Goals

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nix noctis

Dev Log - Week 1

announcements

New Year: New Focus

Work starts today! A Quick update about the state of the blog and projects.

announcements

Welcome to 2024!

Hey everyone, and welcome back! Thanks for bearing with me as I took a brief break over the holidays to rest and recharge. 2024 is going to be a fun year for me and Cthonic Studios - I'll be working on doing TTRPG stuff full time for at

tencandles

It Lies Dreaming in the Deep

Stranded on a mystery island with mind-bending structures, can you repair your ship and escape? Will you wake the dreamer instead?

announcements

Holiday Break

Taking a brief holiday hiatus on the blog.

tencandles

The Last Flame

Take the light of the last flame and save the world (or die trying) in this module for Ten Candles

tencandles

Modern Prometheus

Become a modern Prometheus in this setting for Ten Candles, and escape from a research facility deep on the edge of colonized space.

offline-random-dungeons

Random Maps 3 - Four Against Darkness

The third post in the random dungeons series, looking at Four Against Darkness as a dungeon generation mechanism.

tencandles

Inside the Ancient Castle

Deep in the forests of the Homeland lies your ancestral home, a castle built in a time before memory. Before history. As far as you know, it has always been there. Each stone laid by hands lost to time. Every feature carved with an artistry that borders on the supernatural.

tencandles

It Came from the Sands

On its face, the proposal was preposterous: “An instant oasis, deep in the desert. Just add a single drop of water.” But this wasn’t a hoax, nor an elaborate ruse to gain additional research funding. It was real, and you were there to witness the very first field test.

tencandles

Ye Be Cursed

For centuries you’ve plied the open waters of the Atlantic, eternally seeking ships to drag down the briny depths. Countless vessels have fallen to your predations, consigning their souls to hell simply for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Yours is a name that strikes fear

tencandles

Chionophobia

It started with the weather forecast. A foot of snow predicted over the next several days didn’t seem like much of a problem. Unfortunately, the snow never stopped falling. Ten days ago, the dream of a winter wonderland turned into a climate disaster, as the sky grew dark and

Improv During Sessions

I’ve long considered the core way that I engage with Tabletop RPGs as a form of shared storytelling, and as a part of that my regular group (over many years and some member changes) has established a pattern of play that resembles something akin to something an improv group

offline-random-dungeons

Map Mine: Shadowdark Random Dungeon Generation

Welcome to part 2 of this mini-series where I'm walking through some random dungeon generation methods found in various tabletop game systems! In the previous post, I examined D&D 5th edition's random generation rules. This time we'll be walking through creating a

tencandles

The Proposal

Get ready bachelors, bachelorettes, and non-binary dateable entities! You’re the latest contestants on “Haunted Love”! In this thrilling new game show, 16 contestants will compete for the love of the elusive "Apres Sovereign". No one knows much about them, for the duration of the show their voice

tencandles

Carl: Your Robot Overlord

We have been on the cusp of the most fundamental breakthrough in human history for years now: Artificial General Intelligence. Now, we may have finally broken the barrier and created a being born of our collective imagination, feeding the world's content to it until it awoke to a

tencandles

Sailing the Starlit Sea

You know not when the first ancient ones rose from the depths of the sea. Massive creatures, reminiscent of whales, yet ancient and terrifying. Your ancestors made the pact with them (or perhaps, more accurately, they made the pact with your ancestors). In the centuries that followed the Aspidochel have

tencandles

Sleep Paralysis

The scientific term for those little demons that sit on your chest in the dead of night, holding you still, dripping ruin into your nostrils and stealing your breath is "sleep paralysis", apparently. A trick of the brain, they say. It's not really a hellspawn ready

maps

Random Dungeon Generators Part 1

Hello, and welcome again to another edition of the Map Mine. After a brief hiatus (due to Extra Life 2023, replays of which will be up soon) we're back to bring you some random map generation techniques from various games. In this two (or three?) parter, I'

product reviews

Avatar: Legends

Welcome back again for another review / introduction to a game that I definitely wanted to love, but ultimately had a lot of problems with. This week is Avatar Legends by Magpie Games. I was a Kickstarter backer for this game for the digital version of the game (really, I am