Prompt #24 for #RPGaDay2026

Distance

I can say my game is a bit of a distance from our reality.  True, the solid base of it is based off of the real world that we all live in, but in the lore there was an incident that happened which essentially changed the world from what we have now.  There's things that exist that we don't have now, either from the past or the future.  That's one measurement of distance, but not the only one I want to talk about.

When I had originally created this game idea, I was told that I couldn't base it off of real places; that cities were copyrighted.  That didn't stop me from working on the idea.  I wanted to work on something that I could associate a distance with.  Turns out, those people were wrong.  Obviously there's some parts of a city that you can't just blatantly recreate, like sculptures or trademarked logos or even the city name, but overall if I wanted to recreate a city I was familiar with, I can.  In doing so, it gives me a point of reference for events and layouts of things that are encountered in the various expeditions.  I mean, the reality of our world right now and the fictional world of my game would change all of those things.  I want to know the distance to provide my players with on how far they need to run away from the nasty creature that is hunting them.  

Take a real stretch of a road I know, such as Prospect Avenue.  I know where one of the bookstores were, the path it took from that place to the mall.  That distance is about 1 kilometer, so more than enough for them to look at utilizing the various buildings that are along the way provide escape options or maybe even a better advantage to fight.  Now my players have a better idea of what they are working with when I can provide them solid descriptions of what they see in the vicinity.

Links: 

• Patreon
• Ko-fi
• Mastodon
• Twitch 

 

 

Prompt #23 for #RPGaDay2026

Fortune

I know I'm not the only one who wishes for fame and fortune of some type, although I'd rather not have the fame that goes down in history as a bad idea.  The only type of fame I want is to be recognized as the creator of my game.  That's it.  You know, like someone mentions a game or an idea or a comic or literally anything, and a name is tied to it.  That kind of fame is what I want.  If I get it, cool, if not, also cool.  What I don't want is the sense of obscurity.  I'm putting my world out there, little by little, in hopes that it resonates with others.  It doesn't have to cater to the masses, just has to find those like me.  

As for the fortune aspect, as well as the word for today's prompt, that is a bit more of a weird take.   I'm fortunate to have the support from my community in my pursuit of game dev.  I'm also fortunate to have an understanding and supportive husband.  I know I'm not going to make it big with my game, so that kind of fortune isn't happening, and I'm okay with that.

There's a popular saying that "fortune favors the brave," and I feel like that resonates with me the most.  I'm willing to take risks and share my game world before it's even remotely completed.  There have been so many word prompts this month that had me dive into my very being, and I'm honestly not deterred by any of it.  I know there's a lot to my game and I have a long way to go.  A final saying that goes along with the word for today: the fortunes of war.  This is essentially saying that there will be unpredictable events during a war.  The war might be myself, but I know it's worth fighting for. 

Links: 

• Patreon
• Ko-fi
• Mastodon
• Twitch 

 

Prompt #22 for #RPGaDay2026

Grit

I guess one could say I have some grit about my game.  It took me a long time to convince myself that it's okay to talk about my game along its journey.  I figured most people wouldn't find my experience interesting or engaging enough to read, let alone interact.  But none of that matters in the end.  I'm chronicling this journey for myself, and for whoever does want to read about it.  

Making a game isn't easy.  I remember my professors driving home the fact that good games take a lot of time and effort, especially if you're doing it alone.  There's a lot to do, and I'm willing to put in the work.  Right now, I'm building the core foundation of mechanics.  Seriously, without my playtesters I would still be in the very beginning stages of this project.  

That grit got tested a couple sessions back.  I had built the market vendor module, and it worked fine for me as the GM —made sense in my head, it ran smooth when I interacted with it myself, everything.  But once the players got their hands on it, it fell apart.  It turned into a chaotic mess, and I started losing track of everything happening at the table.  I walked away with pages of notes and a lot of feedback.  Most of it I've already fixed.  There's still a handful of things left, but nothing game-breaking, at least not yet.

I probably won't be done with the core foundation until the end of the year, maybe in the first quarter of next year, and I am perfectly okay with this.  I want this game to be exactly as I see it in my head.  My bestiary is kind of a supplement that keeps me going, and hopefully resonates with others who aren't running as playtesters.  I've temporarily closed my Ko-fi shop for the weekend while I revamp my PDFs.  They were originally a temporary look anyway, but now I have a much better concept of how I want those to look.  I aim to reopen the shop on Monday.

I'm willing to put in the time and effort for my game.  I have a pretty strong resolve, and maybe a little courage, to keep talking about it to the world — even if it is to a small few. 

Links: 

• Patreon
• Ko-fi
• Mastodon
• Twitch 

 

Prompt #21 for #RPGaDay2026

Charity

This word is a hard one to discuss.  According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary: generosity and helpfulness especially toward the needy or suffering; benevolent goodwill toward or love of humanity; a gift for public benevolent purposes; lenient judgment of others.  I'm going to be honest right here and now that this post is probably going to be more like word-vomit because I have absolutely no idea how to even tackle this, haha.

Yesterday's post was about "promise", in which I mentioned that I don't rely on Patreon and Ko-fi solely for the monetary exploitation of others.  Those platforms are more for providing a gateway for people to become involved with my game, joining my community, and even partake in feedback for creatures.  I never wanted to be viewed as a "charity case" for my passion project, and I refuse to have that happen now.  

I am genuinely a person who likes to help others, regardless of any return.  It hurts at times, but it is what it is.  I've been in the dark recesses of humanity, and I rarely judge others because I've had to make decisions I wasn't proud of.  Some aren't as bad as what others have experienced, but for me it was pretty awful.  I won't go into the details, since that could be a plethora of situations listed, but I've made it out of those dark places and am doing much better now.  There are people in my community who are battling their own monsters, and sometimes they just want someone to listen to them.  Thankfully, having ADHD can be a bonus.  Sometimes I don't retain a damn word they say past that conversation, but then there are times I remember a lot and just kind of dismiss it, shoving it back down into the filing cabinet of theirs.  

My game kind of reflects this part of me.  Depending on what kind of interaction an NPC or even a creature has with a player, it could change a lot of future situations.  I believe I touched on this in another post earlier in this month, but if a player chooses to be nice to an NPC, that NPC could influence interactions with other NPCs.  If a player chooses to be nasty, then obvious repercussions are on their way.  Another example is the Calamivox Ingratus interaction that both parties were involved with.  Both befriended one, and I can't wait to see what they say once they realize that being charitable to it was a great decision.

In the end, charity goes both ways in my game.  Players can be good or bad, and they'll have to deal with their choices later on.

Links: 

• Patreon
• Ko-fi
• Mastodon
• Twitch 

 

Prompt #20 for #RPGaDay2026

Promise

Okay this is a good word for today's post.  As many gamers have come to know, promises made by big game companies can be a hit or miss.  I can think of two video games right now that fell short on their promises: No Man's Sky and Cyberpunk 2077.  For No Man's Sky, that game was epic in falling short of everything they had shown the audience.   We were shown true multiplayer, cool fleet battles, various wildlife ai, and the various planetary physics in showcases that led up to the release date.  Once that day came, all we had was a really minimal deliverable.  What we got was nowhere near the expectation.  For me, personally, I was really interested in the procedurally generated planets but my experience was mid at best.  Yeah, they were cool but it became very repetitive very quickly and I noticed how assets were reused in some of the most uncreative ways possible.  I never played Cyberpunk 2077 but a lot of my friends were upset about the initial release of it.  Every week, more complaints about what they were expecting versus what they were sold.  Thankfully, both No Man's Sky and Cyberpunk 2077 earned their brownie points back through years of fixing their games.  

As for TTRPGs, I haven't personally had any interaction with any that fell short on broken promises.  I'm not saying there haven't been any, because I'm pretty sure there have been a decent amount.  Let me explain.  A lot of TTRPGs in the past decade have been crowdfunded.  One of my many reasons why I will never put REDACTED up on a crowdfunding site such as Kickstarter is because of the reputation games have there.  I've seen so many video games and RPGs and TTRPGs gain a lot of support and traction, just to see it all come crashing down on the supporters.  I like mech kind of things and two of the ones that caught my interest were Mekton Zero and Robotech RPG Tactics.  Thankfully, I was broke at those times and couldn't support them but I did follow their progress.  Needless to say, promises were broken and it hurt the supporters.  I don't want to be like that.

Which is where I'm at now.  This is going to make me sound like an absolute lunatic but here I go.  This game of mine is a passion.  It's been with me since 2010 and I'm now working on making it a reality.  I'm not going to stop working on it, even when times get tough.  Right now, I've got milestones and goals to reach.  Real life is a thing and I am only one person.  I've got my fantastic playtesters, running my expeditions and giving me solid feedback.  I've also got support sites like Patreon and Ko-fi, which I know usually get side-eyed as money grabbing platforms.  That isn't how I use them.  On Patreon, anyone who pledges is actually part of making something for my world.  It isn't an empty promise, because I give back in the form of the game itself.  This is either a creature they designed/inspired or an NPC.  Ko-fi is more about giving supporters a usable creature for their own games.  There isn't a lot of math involved yet, since I'm still working that part out, but they get a lot of info on the creature, like attacks and stuff, so I guess it's more like a template right now.  And there's a milestone on Ko-fi too, for anyone who's just nice enough to donate and support without needing anything back.  Every week is a new creature for my world.  This week has been falling a bit short because I'm redesigning my deliverables and I might have to bite the bullet and post the older formats.  This game is being tested as a TTRPG first, working out all the issues and the kinks.  Eventually, it will be a video game.  If I haven't quit on this since 2010, I'm not going to quit now.  I want to share my world with others.  This is my promise.

Links: 

• Patreon
• Ko-fi
• Mastodon
• Twitch