Àpres moi le deluge

~ inputs for creative outputs ~

                February 4, 2024

            Àpres moi le deluge

            This past week was pretty gratifying - the board game I've been designing for work took more steps towards being a physical set of items you can actually hold, and I got back into recording music (in the most amateurish way possible, to be clear). 
The other exciting development was a fresh round of ideas for what could become a standalone RPG system. This stems from my almost finished (the optimistic version of unfinished) #dungeon23 project. I'm thinking about ways to make player turns more engaging for the other players. What would make my turn fun for you, and vice versa?
Do I dare try to make yet another rules system? For Conceit, I want to focus on building a fun setting that's compatible with other systems. Surely you could use another system . . . right?
The Brain Box
~ inputs for creative outputs ~
📖 Some wikipedia tidbits this week:
Randonautica - An app that gives you random coordinates to chase down, broken into three categories: attractor, void, and anomaly.
Les Satanique et Les Diaboliques - Illustrations made by Félicien Rops, a fin-de-siecle artist whose subject matter included the idyllic, the mundane, the pornographic, and the profane.
Jussive Mood - A grammatical mood for verbs that does not exist in English. Used for orders or commands, as wikipedia puts it, "(within a subjunctive framework)."
Ten Floods in Towns
~ natural and otherwise ~
People adapt to their local conditions, so a seasonal flood can inform what makes the next town your party visits standout. Flooding can also be bizarre intrusion upon the ordinary, or a sign of escalating problems.
d10 A flood of . . . What caused it? What's the damage?
1 water The reckless experimenting of an arcane practitioner. Minor. Locals are used to this sort of thing and built their homes accordingly.
2 wine The fickle spite of a divine entity. Severe. Locals are used to some flooding, but this was a deluge.
3 blood It’s a seasonal flood, as predictable as the sunrise. Catastrophic, like a tidal wave resetting the land.
4 quicksilver Unclear, but it fulfills prophecy of the end times. Livestock killed and flimsier buildings flattened. No people were hurt.
5 rotten fruit An escaped prisoner with powers they don’t fully understand. The buildings? Fine. The disrupted supply chains? A serious issue even after the mess is cleared up.
6 children’s toys Another plane of existence has begun intersecting reality here. Horrific. Some property of the flood compelled people to wade into it.
7 psychoactive mist An attack by a insurgent cell, as a distraction. Tragic. Most of the town was unscathed, but the oldest building was ruined.
8 centipedes Symptom of local ecological collapse. Well, the upper class district was fine.
9 breakup letters A young apprentice “borrowed” their master’s grimoire. Minor direct damage, but locals interpret it as an act of aggression from a foreign power.
10 sensuous moans and giggles The protocols that contained a dangerous force are failing. Negligible. It was severe enough to collapse a shed or two. But mostly it was just spectacle.
---
Thanks
Have fun. Be weird.
-Strange Years

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d10	A flood of . . .	What caused it?	What's the damage?
1	water	The reckless experimenting of an arcane practitioner.	Minor. Locals are used to this sort of thing and built their homes accordingly.
2	wine	The fickle spite of a divine entity.	Severe. Locals are used to some flooding, but this was a deluge.
3	blood	It’s a seasonal flood, as predictable as the sunrise.	Catastrophic, like a tidal wave resetting the land.
4	quicksilver	Unclear, but it fulfills prophecy of the end times.	Livestock killed and flimsier buildings flattened. No people were hurt.
5	rotten fruit	An escaped prisoner with powers they don’t fully understand.	The buildings? Fine. The disrupted supply chains? A serious issue even after the mess is cleared up.
6	children’s toys	Another plane of existence has begun intersecting reality here.	Horrific. Some property of the flood compelled people to wade into it.
7	psychoactive mist	An attack by a insurgent cell, as a distraction.	Tragic. Most of the town was unscathed, but the oldest building was ruined.
8	centipedes	Symptom of local ecological collapse.	Well, the upper class district was fine.
9	breakup letters	A young apprentice “borrowed” their master’s grimoire.	Minor direct damage, but locals interpret it as an act of aggression from a foreign power.
10	sensuous moans and giggles	The protocols that contained a dangerous force are failing.	Negligible. It was severe enough to collapse a shed or two. But mostly it was just spectacle.