The Strange Oak - a Companions of Arthur Scenario Snippet

The first of many TAGSessions Story Snippets. 

We here at TAGSessions have designed quick and easy scenario snippets which Gamemasters of King Arthur: Pendragon can toss into their existing games to enrich their sessions. These can also be used as additional content in one-shot games.

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A Strange Oak

There is an oak tree deep within the woods. The tree stands in a clearing, with no other trees or bushes within the vicinity. It boasts a wide lush canopy, providing shelter and shade to those who stand beneath its shadow. But unlike other trees, this one has a strangeness to it.



Get the pdf here!

A Second Moment in print!

 Well, sadly, not yet.  But I received a lovely email one day from Oren who was kind enough to ask permission to make a personal printed copy of my book. Additionally, they had a number of questions about how the game worked and why certain design decisions were done with A Second Moment.

With his permission, I can show the images of the printed personal copy here:

For those who don't know, DriveThruRpg does allow independent publishers to have work in their print on demand options.  However, it does mean needing to have your document laid out to work for print which in itself requires certain considerations.   (If you look at the pic, I messed up in the back cover, not leaving adequate space for the ISBN bar code!) They also allow a test printed copy to be sent to you for checking. 

However, that means spending a larger amount of money for layout which is sadly beyond my grasp.  And given I'm based in the Philippines, this means a much greater cost implication for having the test print shipped to me.  I did have a possible publisher before for this edition, but well, life happened.  And so, I resigned myself to the thought of never seeing this book reach print.

Thank you to Oren and his wife for being kind enough to allow me to see photos of what the book could have looked like!  It truly brightened my day.

A Second Moment is available at DrivethruRpg.
Grab it today if you haven't! 

The Lying City Mysteries are complete

The Lying City Mysteries are finally complete!



All five books are now available on Drivethrurpg.

Book Five, The Door is Open is at PAY WHAT YOU WANT so people can check it out without having to spend.  This book is best for the GM, btw, so please don't spoil it for yourself.  But you can download this, share it with your GM who can then read it and decide if they want to invest on the four other books, or simply use this summarized campaign for free!

Five books, each one can work somewhat as a standalone mystery for Tiny Cthulhu, but overall work best as a campaign for your group.

The Sleep Experiment (Book One)
The Man At the Foot of the Bed (Book Two)
The Beached Thing (Book Three)
Drawing the Silver Key (Book Four)
The Door is Open (Book Five)

SPOILER WARNING FOLLOWS!
SPOILER WARNING FOLLOWS!
SPOILER WARNING FOLLOWS!

Each book touches on a different idea that i wanted to explore:
The Sleep Experiment drew inspiration from the "Russian Sleep Experiment" creepypasta stories.
The Man At the Foot of the Bed explores the concepts of bangugot and death via sleep.
The Beached Thing is a survival horror story.
Drawing the Silver Key is an isekai horror story.
The Door is Open is the finale, tying things together, but also explores the memetic nature of rituals.

Hoping you all like it as much as I did writing them up.

Ending 2022 and welcoming 2023

Looking forward to a good year this 2023.
While generally 2022 was not that bad, there were still those moments that were just exhausting and trying - including a time when this blog, TAG Sessions, was shut down after certain "complaints" and "violations" were cited (and later overruled) - which nearly had me calling it quits on the entire thing. Thankfully, I continue to be surrounded by awesome friends, kind gamers, and critical individuals who handle events in a clearer and more rational manner.

Completed my 12 New Games personal challenge again!  This year, was able to play/run new game systems as well as expand on having some of them as multi-session mini-campaigns to provide a better fulfilling story and experience.  Summaries of such sessions are usually shared in the TAG Sessions Facebook Group (feel free to ask for membership, but please do be sure to answer ALL the questions properly) to be part of the fun.    This year had two mini-campaigns (Pendragon and Night's Black Agents)

Among this year's 12 New include:
1) Praxis: Our Lost Way
2) Star Trek Adventures
3) Praxis: Lambs
4) The Hunted
5) Mashed
6) Hearts of Wulin
7) Horror on the Orient Express
8) Savage Worlds
9) Golden Sky Stories
10) Trail of Cthulhu
11) Reign of Terror 
12) Avatar: Legends
13) Alas for the Awful Sea
14) Cairn

Very happy to have such a robust list of systems and books to have explored.

Targeting a good selection of possible games for this year, including stuff like INVISIBLE SUN which keeps touting itself as a very unique game system (I'm not convinced quite yet) and DIE RPG (which was an amazing comic, but I have no comments for now on the game system). 

Sadly, though, this year, was definitely not as productive as I wished to be. With the blog being shut down for a while, lost tracking some of the stuff I released this year.  But among them are:

The Lands of Voce Luminare - Book 01: War of the Widows Supplement

Buy it at DriveThruRPG: War of the Widows: Book 1: Lands of Voce Luminare

The Sleep Experiment - Lying City Mysteries - Book 01 for Tiny Cthulhu

Buy it at DriveThruRPG: The Sleep Experiment

The Man At the Foot of the Bed - Lying City Mysteries - Book 02 for Tiny Cthulhu

Buy it at DriveThruRPG: The Man At the Foot of the Bed

The Beached Thing - Lying City Mysteries - Book 03 for Tiny Cthulhu

Buy it at DriveThruRPG: The Beached Thing

Drawing the Silver Key - Lying City Mysteries - Book 04 for Tiny Cthulhu 

Buy it at DriveThruRPG: Drawing the Silver Key

Faith Heal Her - Bow Your Heads - Book 01

Buy it at DriveThruRPG: Faith Heal Her - Bow Your Heads

50 Mortal Musings

Buy it at DriveThruRPG: 50 Mortal Musings

And sadly, that was it. 

I did a lot of work on a few other books, including rewrites of the book formerly known as Once Upon a Time in Jianghu, book 4 of Sid's Real Life, unHuman (a Changeling the Dreaming supplement), Bulong (a Changeling the Dreaming novelette), Mythography (a Trinity campaign), Blazing Hearts Revolt, book 3 of the Reconquista Vampire novelette, Diliman the RPG, Dreamscrapers, and even a MODELS quickstart. 

I have no idea if I will succeed in finishing any of them this 2023.
But at least, this year, the Pandemic seems to have giving us all some breathing room.  We have gained some space to reconnect with friends and to find opportunities to step outside beyond our prison-sanctuary rooms.

Here's hoping it goes well.

Miskatonic Repository - Halloween 2022 Collection is live!

This year's Miskatonic Repository Halloween Collection is available!

This year's collection contains 13 titles by various authors and, till Halloween, is on a -60% sale: $19.99 instead of $50.92! You can find the 2022 Halloween Collection in this link:
https://tinyurl.com/mrhalloween2022

Grab it today! 

WAR OF THE WIDOWS BOOK ONE: THE LANDS OF VOCE LUMINARE

Once we lived in cities.  Once we lived in a world where people resided in villages. In subdivisions. In condominiums. The old folk tell stories of how cities were bright and loud places that were visible even from the stars. How great concrete roads stitched the world together and allowed people to travel vast distances without ever fearing the Ferrex.

Prior to the Gathering, the People were not united.  The world was broken up into nations. And while the Ferrex had shattered most of the world apart, there are still fragments that remain out there.  These are some of the places which the Voce Luminare protected. 

Discover how these locations are unique. Each location is described in two ways: As It Was and As It Is.  Each one provides possible plot threads, and story hooks with you can use in your games. This is the first of numerous supplements planned to futher fleshout the Legacy: War of the Widows microsetting.

Book One: The Lands of Voce Luminare is a  supplement for Legacy: The War of the Widows microsetting.  Tiny Dungeon: Second Edition.

This book requires Tiny Dungeon 2e.

Grab the book today:
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/398698/The-Lands-of-Voce-Luminare--Book-01-War-of-the-Widows-Supplement

Faith Heal Her : Bow Your Heads

 Now available on Drivethrurpg
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/397845/Faith-Heal-Her--Book-1--Bow-Your-Heads

Coming Soon: Faith Heal Her - Book 1 - Bow Your Heads

Book one of the Faith Heal Her story should be available online very soon.

Bow Your Heads
A sinister thing is using religious fervor to lure prey into its web of lies. Only a young woman and her ghostly companion, her deceased aunt, are aware of the predator in their city.

The search for the Guest continues. The world grows darker. When facing threats that can accomplish the impossible, how long would it take before one considers finding others to join their cause?

Intended For Mature Readers
Content Warning: Sudden Death, Religion, Possession, Children, Parental Death

Available soon on Drivethrurpg.


Check out the Pay What You Want
Faith Heal Her : Prologue

Currently at
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/313950/Faith-Heal-Her--Prologue

50 Mortal Musings

 

Mortals don't realize how much fun they are having. Or how much more meaning ordinary things can be when looked at through the lens of immortality. Whether it is to relive the mortal moments, or deal with mortal matters, see which ones work best for your group.

Check it out here:
https://www.storytellersvault.com/product/397432/50-Mortal-Musings

Released: 50 Epic Schemes

 Because in Exalted, the enemies always have huge plans.
Check it out today: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/382359/50-Epic-Schemes

ROUND6

Available now: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/377516/ROUND6

Everyone desperately needs the money.

Times are hard. And life is unfair. But each of you had been invited to take part in a game unlike any other. Known as the ROUND6, all thirty contestants are to play through five different games in hopes of being the winner of over 6 million dollars. But when the reward is this high and the stakes are deadly, who will emerge as the winner at the end of the sixth round.

Inspired by Koushun Takami’s Battle Royale, Takashi Miike’s As The Gods Will, César Charlone; Daina Giannecchini; Dani Libardi; Jotagá Crema; Philippe Barcinski’s 3%, Haro Aso’s Alice in Borderland, Kazutaka Kodaka’s Danganronpa, and Hwang Dong-hyuk’s The Squid Game. 

• With 9 different games, all inspired by Filipino children's games, to play and survive in
  Patintero
  Sawsaw suka
  Langit Lupa
  Ten-Twenty
  Tumbang Preso
  And more
  
  
• 21 different quick character concepts you can play
• Rules for Cinematic, No Keeper, and Survival Horror game styles
• Generous guides on how to keep the tension high and recommendations on running the game.
• Handouts
• Maps

The Lost Symbol : The Fall of Man

 
Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol is now streaming at https://www.peacocktv.com/

Based on the novel of the same name, The Lost Symbol, the story is set many years before the events of The Da Vinci Code, revolves around a young Robert Langdon, who is hired by the CIA to solve a number of deadly puzzles when his mentor goes missing.

(Information from the wikipedia page)

I'm quite a sucker for these kind of thrillers to the point I took my own stab at writing a multi-part adventure in the same feel of secret conspiracies hidden in artwork and world-spanning secrets.  For those looking to run a similar game, I wrote The Fall of Man for 7th Sea, Second edition.


Free teaser:
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/291961/The-Fall-of-Man--Free-Teaser



The Fall of Man, Book One
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/289285/The-Fall-of-Man--Book-One


The Fall of Man, Book Two
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/293662/The-Fall-Of-Man--Book-Two


The Fall of Man, Book Three
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/301017/The-Fall-Of-Man--Book-Three



The Fall of Man, Book Four
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/310779/The-Fall-of-Man--Book-Fou

Hope you all like it!

OMG didn't expect this! Thank you!!!

 

Didn't expect this.
Thank you so much.

Now Available:
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/372248/Jovian-Moon-Deep

This Halloween, try these free games!

 Here's a bunch of free games to try this Halloween!


That Night Out : Grab this free game today 
A GM-less Survival Horror game using cards.  A game the likes of Cabin in the Woods and Nightmare on Elm Street.



Sunlight: Pay What You Want edition :  Grab this free game today
Designed for play-via-webcam, this game has one player trying to communicate and save a number of others who are trapped in space.  Science fiction drama awaits!

Speak to me. The Voices Are Too Loud.  Grab this free game today!
Also designed for distant play.  Inspired by the prison scene from V for Vendetta, a pair of players are prisoners, but one might not be all that they seem to be.

Finally, coming very soon via the Miskatonic Repository (not for free though)...

ROUND6 : Miskatonic Repository

Everyone desperately needs the money.

Times are hard.  And life is unfair.  But each of you had been invited to take part in a game unlike any other.  Known as the ROUND6, all thirty contestants are to play through five different games in hopes of being the winner of over 6 Million Dollars.  But when the reward is this high and the stakes are deadly, who will emerge as the winner at the end of the sixth round.

Inspired by Koushun Takami’s Battle Royale, Takashi Miike’s As The Gods Will, César Charlone; Daina Giannecchini; Dani Libardi; Jotagá Crema; Philippe Barcinski’s 3%, Haro Aso’s Alice in Borderland, Kazutaka Kodaka’s Danganronpa, and Hwang Dong-hyuk’s The Squid Game.

Coming Soon.


Happy Halloween!

Jovian Moon Deep : Miskatonic Repository

 

Only Horrors Lie Ahead

There is an ocean of ice beneath Europa.

The Lighthouse Nautical Company seeks to plumb the depths of this uncharted ocean. The Investigators are UN scientists sent to LNC Far Horizon, a research station in geostationary orbit above Europa’s largest ocean. The Investigators are to explore the frozen ocean, chart their findings, and report back to the UN. But many secrets hide in the frigid waters and out there, in the silence of outer space, madness awaits the unprepared.

Jovian Moon Deep is a game of exploration, madness, and survival as Investigators seek to uncover the secrets locked within Europa’s depths.
-----------------
Pre-generated Investigators included

Now Available:
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/372248/Jovian-Moon-Deep

Sid's Real Life - Book 3

Continuing the romantic comedy hijinks of Hoyd'nis Sid and Cathak R'sel, the two are at Arjuf Dominion and find themselves the center of attentions of three of the Realm's Dominies.  Will they or won't they end up together?

And will the Lunar Hunter Sisa understand what is really going on?

Now available:
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/362050/Sids-Real-Life--Book-3

While waiting, why not get started with Books 1 and 2?

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/262609/Sids-Real-Life--Book-1


https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/277474/Sids-Real-Life--Book-2

A Second Moment is now a Best Copper Seller

Thank you so much for enjoying the game!

I do hope you all enjoy making new moments with your friends.

A Second Moment is now available

We have come a very long way to get this book out. With over 150 pages of content, including:

• "Director's cut" styled write ups on what was going through Tobie's mind when he designed portions of the game.
• Rules on how to approach the game as a solitaire rpg, or as a group rpg system.
• New playsets created by a host of Filipino creators including:
• Card Flippers by Mon Macutay
  Both of you have prepared for this day with blood, sweat and tears. It is the World Championships for the most popular Trading Card Game (TCG) on the planet. From thousands of aspirants, it has come down the two of you. You both have different and distinct play styles and have risen through the ranks. After the dust has settled, only ONE will be World Champion! And it all comes down to this Single Moment... 
  
  
• The Final Ball by Rocky Sunico 
  The crowd roars as the music picks up. The emcee shouts over the din to announce “The category is…” Welcome to the 1980’s New York ball scene as immortalized in the documentary Paris is Burning or celebrated in the recent television series Pose. Players represent rival houses, these being alternative families for Black and Latino gay, gender nonconforming and transgender youth who regularly meet at balls to compete in different categories. After all the drama that has happened outside the ball itself, it’s time to settle things once and for all.
  
  
• Lovecraftian by Lanz Frago-Crisostomo
  We are but specks of dust passing by, toiling every day in hopes to leave a mark in this universe, hoping to leave evidence that we once existed, once we’ve passed. The elder evils are awake, and all is lost--all we’re doing is pushing back the inevitable, just for one more day

Grab a copy of the game today!
Discounted price for the next 44 days (since its launch) as part of celebrating Tobie's 44th birthday.

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/352002/A-Second-Moment

MODELS excerpt: Style

STYLE         
A MATTER OF STYLE

MODELS use an in-game currency called, Style Points.  Players earn Style Points for their M.O.D.E.L.S. by acting in ways that celebrate their two natures: their super model and their super spy sides.   All M.O.D.E.L.S. have Style points which can be used to activate different awesome things in the game. 

Style Points are an in-game currency which the player earns in the following ways:

       Be Super Extra

By choosing to indulge in fun distractions, such as going out for a night of dancing or having a mocha Frappuccino with the guys, the player earns one to three Style Points for their respective M.O.D.E.L.S.  If the action stresses on your needs as a super model, or delays or distracts you from your Mission, then it is an action where you are being super extra. You can only Be Super Extra once per scene.

Alternately, instead of Style Points, you can also use this moment to describe how it “fixes” or “heals” an appropriate Injury.

The GM has the final say on what reward you can avail when you Be Super Extra.

       Being Stylish

Stress the rarity, cost, or beauty of your current outfit during a scene. Highlight why the outfit is notable, whether it is because it was by a name in the industry, or because it is one of a kind. Stress how your outfit bounces the spotlights as you come into view. Or how the world seemingly moves in slow motion as you turn to throw the security guards a smile. Celebrate your style and you are rewarded a Style Point in return. Being Stylish is highly recommended, and if the GM does not reward you with a Style Point, another player might.

       Accepting Failure

Rather than rolling to see if you succeed in a Risky Action, you can earn two Style Points by declaring how – despite your proficiency and reputation – things go awry, and you fail in an action. This is perfect for mid-game scenes where the enemy seemingly gets the upper hand before the heroes, at the end, save the day. You do not suffer Injuries when you choose to Accept Failure.  However, it would be only fair to roleplay how the failure affects your agent appropriately.

       Getting Hurt

Pain is a powerful motivator. Whenever your character gets hurt from forces outside of their control, such as from the hands of a nonPC, or from the environment, or events, the player instantly earns a Style Point.  

 

COLLECTING STYLE POINTS

All M.O.D.E.L.S. can store a number of Style Points equal to their X Factor plus 2. Any Excess Style Points are lost at the end of a game session. 

 

CELEBRATING STYLE

Given this is a game about super styling fashionable spies, players are encouraged to come up with ways their M.O.D.E.L.S. act fabulous and amazing.  

Once per game session, each player can award one other player a free Style Point (taken from the supply, and not from their own M.O.D.E.L.S. Style Points). This is a good way to reinforce fun role-playing, or to award the player for coming up with something pretty cool for the story.

It is completely up to the awarding player to decide why the other player deserves the free Style Point.  Award away and have fun! 

==============

MODELS
Handling missions all around the globe, the M.O.D.E.L.S. will engage in various espionage missions that combine the thrilling tradecraft drama of spy stories with irreverent humor and stylish over-the-top action.

Available now on Drivethrurpg:
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/349402/MODELS