Welcome, weirdos!

Let’s cut to the chase! Just Make 💩! Manifest/Guide about making the shit you want to make is done (well, it’s first iteration), so I am here sharing it with you!

I also present you a cool collaborative way of starting an adventure, which will appear in Sharp Swords & Sinister Spells - 2nd Edition.

And, as always, I present you some wonderfully weird things I discovered recently, and a link to the latest Weird Games & Weirder People podcast episodes!

Just Make 💩

Just Make 💩 is a manifesto (and kind of a guide) about making the shit you want to make. It has basically 13 steps, which are much more detailed and explained in the actual thing.

1. Make Shit Right Now

2. Make Shit Everyday

3. Make Bad Shit

4. Steal Shit

5. Make Your Shit

6. Get Shit Done

7. Keep Making Shit

8. Make Weird Shit

9. Try New Shit

10. Make Shit With Your Hands

11. Follow the Shit

12. Talk Shit

13. FUCK THIS SHIT!

You can get the whole thing on the project’s page below for FREE in text version. There is also a fancy paid, laid out, zine version (which Weirdos’s Cool Club members got for free). It still need a few editing passes, but once it is done it should get a small limited print run (which Weirdos’ Cool Club members will get a discounted price on).

Get “Just Make 💩” Now!

I Know What You Did Last Adventure

I love the evocative names of pulp fantasy stories. They have this mysterious yet very imagination fermenting way of being that just gets my creative juices flowing. I read “The Abode of the Thousand Eyed God” and my mind is racing with ideas.

Thus I made a Sword and Sorcery Adventure Title Generator for my first ever TTRPG, Sharp Swords & Sinister Spells. You can download it for free on the link below (this will also features in the new edition of the game - with improvements, of course).

And with SS&SS - 2nd Edition, I am bringing a new way to start adventures using exactly that, and some collaborative storytelling! It’s called “Previously on…”

Previously on…

A friend of mine came up with a cool way to start the game using it and making the players do all the work. His name is Filipe “Pep,” and he calls this the “I Know What You Did Last Adventure” method.

When the game starts, the Referee and the players randomly generate an adventure Title using Appendix T - Title Generator. The resulting name was the characters’ previous adventure, and the game starts after the events of it.

The premise is that it did not go that well. Something has gone wrong and now they have to deal with the consequences. Maybe they failed to defeat the villain of the adventure, and now they are trying again. Maybe the villain is now after them. Maybe the treasure they took from the Lost Citadel is cursed, and now they need to get rid of it. But how?

With the title generated together and in front of the players, the Referee asks questions, possibly using some of the following: 

1. What were you trying to accomplish in that adventure?

2. How did it go horribly wrong?

3. Whose fault was it?

4. What good did you take out of the adventure?

5. Did you make an enemy?

6. Did you make a friend?

7. What were the consequences?

8. What are you going to do now?

9. Where are you now?

Depending on the players’ answers, other questions might become important. This is a collaborative effort between the Referee and the players. The group may choose to answer some or all of these questions using the many generators of this book as well.

Let’s suppose the Adventure Title generated was “The Citadel of One Thousand Eyes,” and the Referee asked the nine questions above. We could have the following answers.

1. What were you trying to accomplish in the adventure?

We had hired the crew of the Centurion Falcon ship to follow a treasure map we bought from a crazy old man in the city’s bazaar, but a strange storm of green lightning destroyed our ship, killing most of the people in it. We survived and swam to a nearby island that didn’t appear on the map. 

There, deep in a primeval jungle, we found a Citadel made of pinkish marble. No living soul could be found in that eerie place, but hundreds of statues lined its avenues and streets. Inside the marble manors we found riches beyond our wildest dreams. We filled our pockets, sacks and backpacks with gold, jewels and silver, not realizing we were carrying our own demise. As we collected our treasures, we felt like a thousand eyes were observing us, eyeing each of us as thieves, heretics and unworthy. 

It didn’t take long before the first sailor lost his mind and attacked us, accusing us of thievery. One by one they fell into madness, and we had to flee. By the will of the Gods, we found a small boat on the beach on the other side of the island, and we sailed into the ocean until we were found by a merchant vessel.

2. How did it go horribly wrong?

The treasure we took is cursed. Anyone who sees it wants to kill us for the heresy of stealing it.

3. Whose fault was it?

I don’t know, it isn’t really ours. Or maybe it is? We took what wasn’t ours.

4. What good did you take out of the adventure?

Well, we did spend a lot of gold and bought nice things and a little comfort, but now people want us killed.

5. Did you make an enemy?

Many. Anyone who sees the gold wants us dead. That means everyone is a potential enemy?

6. Did you make a friend?

Since we can’t trust anyone, our bonds of friendship and companionship are stronger than ever. But a new friend is hard to make under these circumstances. Especially when you can’t spend a coin to buy them a beer at the tavern.

7. What were the consequences?

We can’t spend the treasure we found, and can’t get rid of it unless we want everyone out there to draw their blades on us.

8. What are you going to do now?

We need to find that mysterious island again and return all the gold there. Do you think we need to get back the gold we spent already?

9. Where are you now?

At the docks of the Great City, trying to decide whether to steal a ship or try, somehow, to hire a crew to take us on this perilous adventure.

As an exercise, at the end of the game, come up with a title for the adventure they just played based on the last one!

Want Some More SS&SS 2E?

Join the Weirdos’ Cool Club and get immediate access to the whole Sharp Swords & Sinister Spells - 2nd Edition text draft!

The document has more than 550 pages, including the same rules light system you know, but infused with a lot of resources, tables, and tools to help you run the game smoothly, and with little to no prep. There’s also robust generators, two adventures, and a bunch of other stuff!

What are you waiting for? Join the club!

Weird Discoveries

I got some really wonderfully weird stuff to share with you my friends!

One Path

I recently saw that on social media (I can’t really remember where) and I took a look! It’s just an amazing graphic novel of this weird stone and sorcery world with dinosaurs, cave people, arcane rituals, and otherworldly horrors! It’s as close as I have seen to what I imagine Primal Quest can be! You gotta check it out!

Boreal Frost Lands

Games Omnivorous put out the third of their hexcrawl toolkit mini-settings, now set in the cold lands of the Boreal Frost Lands! A customizable and dynamic hexcrawl setting that is different every time you play it, and is compatible with a bunch of other hexcrawling stuff they make! You should totally get them all!

Monty Python’s Curricular Mediaeval Reenactment Programme

I am a big TTRPG nerd as you know, but I am also a comedy nerd! And Monty Python, come on! Genius stuff! This RPG is just what I have been dreaming of, and will be a great inspiration for Petty Gods & Playthings (I will talk about this project somday…) I am sure!

Pack Pal

I google searched, kind of as a joke, “bagagge calculator” and I got this. It’ pretty useful. You input the weather of the place you are going, how long are you staying and other stuff and you get a customizable list of stuff you should take with you, including some “for safety” medicine. Really useful if you have trouble organizing this stuff like I do.

Get Weird with WG&WP

I had a few more fantastic conversations on the podcast I believe you weirdos will love!

Kyle Jameson

Kyle is a human being experiencing this life in Northern Minnesota. He has a lot more creativity than artistic talent, but he is doing the best he can with what he has. Kyle says he is more interested in the experience of doing something creative than the results. He is currently focusing on supplements for the Weird Heroes of Public Access RPG under the moniker of Vampyre Cinema.

Mark Diaz Truman

Mark Diaz Truman is the ENnie award-winning co-founder of Magpie Games, a co-founder of the Indie Game Development Network, the designer of Cartel and Our Last Best Hope, and the co-designer of Urban Shadows, Zombie World, Root: The Roleplaying Game, Avatar Legends: The Roleplaying Game, and more. Since 2011, Mark has led tabletop game projects that raised over 12.5 million dollars on Kickstarter, and he has served as a developer on many award-winning roleplaying games, including Firefly, 7th Sea: 2nd Ed, Masks: A New Generation, and Bluebeard's Bride. He currently manages a team of more than ten full-time creators and support staff as CEO of Magpie Games.

That’s All Wonderful Weirdos!

Thanks for reading Weird Tales from the Old Skull! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. If you have any coins left from your latests adventures, please, consider contributing to this newsletter by joining the Weirdos’ Cool Club, and get even more wonderfully weird stuff!