Some free character sheets for OneDice, the ultra-light RPG
A really underrated RPG is the OneDice system from Cakebread & Walton. It's a ultra-light system, ideal for running one-shots. They are various versions of it available - Space, Fantasy, WWII, etc. Each one is a complete game. They're all quite cheap and easy to run.
It's called OneDice because you only need to roll one D6 to resolve anything.
I just used a OneDice book called B-Movies to run an adventure called Beatniks from Planet X. Some 1950s high school kids had to stop a mysterious meteor from turning their classmates into filthy beatniks.
To prepare for the game, I made some custom character sheets and pregens: https://polyhedralnonsense.com/2023/08/10/onedice-b-movies-character-sheets-pregens/
Last year I also made a custom character sheet for OneDice Pulp: https://polyhedralnonsense.com/2022/07/15/onedice-pulp-mini-review-and-custom-character-sheet-for-a-pulp-adventure-rpg/
Thálassa - Free Custom character sheet for the Mythic Age RPG
I've been playing around with Thálassa, the Cairn-based RPG about adventures in the mythic ancient Mediterranean.
I decided to make my own custom character sheet. It's fillable, and available in US Letter and A4 sizes.
You can download it here:
https://polyhedralnonsense.com/2023/08/08/thalassa-character-sheets-for-a-mythic-age-rpg/
Cepheus Journal #14 - Free fanzine for Cepheus Engine
The latest issue of the Cepheus Journal just dropped. It's a free fanzine for the Cepheus Engine RPG (basically OSR Traveller)
It's got an article on cats in space, a mushroom-filled colony world, and a weird mercenary cult.
My contribution is "A Fistful of Spaghetti" - a guide to running Spaghetti Western style games in Cepheus.
Free to download: https://cepheusjournal.com/downloads/
Sadly, over the last few years, most of the Lizard People have been completely priced out of LA's booming real estate market.
I run a group that runs one-shots most weeks, so I usually get to at least try most games i'm interested in.
However, there are a few RPGs more suited to campaigns that i've never gotten around to trying. Two that come to mind:
- Ars Magica
- Pendragon
Ran it once, plan to run it again. It's genuinely wonderful.
It takes the basic Black hack system and adds lots of excellent weird fantasy flavor - demon pacts, weird technology, intelligent cursed weapons. Perfectly captures the whole Elric-style fantasy genre.
It's also got tables for creating a fantasy world and a fantasy city.
It packs all of this into a mere 57 pages.
I'd add the following:
The Black Hack
The Metamorphica - a fun book of tables of mutants, chaos stuff, and weird technology
For more real-world info on magic books, I'd recommend Grimoires: A History of Magic Books by Owen Davies
It almost seems inevitable.
I've seen a lot of old crunchier games from the 80s that somehow seemed like they required a VTT, despite them not existing at the time.
Like a lot of GMs, I've started using VTTs in the last few years. It really does change the calculation on what RPGs I'm willing to run.
I'm a lot more willing to try crunchier games if they're supported by VTTs - Foundry specifically.
At some point, I wonder if designers will start making RPGs specifically designed with VTTs in mind.
The character sheet for the Mothership RPG cleverly has the rules for character creation built right into the sheet.