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This is open to the group's interpretation. I'd intended human-sized, but you could easily give them dragonfly steeds and beetle courtiers and the like.

The tagline is "seven strangers and one familiar face", so there's a little bit of justification for it, but mostly I wrote an extra class very late into development and didn't want to change the title.

My work here is done.

Secure your breakfast!

Sort of the opposite. Those games already exist, so I was trying to intentionally write in a different direction so as not to step on their toes. They ended up still being an influence, but more in terms of defining what Strays wasn't going to be.

The Thing About _____ Is is a TTRPG adaptation of the I'm On A Boat music video.

The PDF is 9 pages, with a clean business infographic style layout.

The writing here is uncommonly sharp, burrowing into corporate synergy-speak, parasitizing it, and hatching humor from inside.

Gameplay-wise, this is a solid party game. It has simple turn-taking and guns-and-butter style building yourself up or sabotaging others, but it constructs all of this around having to give weird narrative justifications based on whatever random thing your manager has become infatuated with at the moment, as you try to wrangle your way into an employee of the week vacation.

In terms of layout and usability, this is also a banger. The Thing About _____ Is does a really good job tutorialing its gameplay through a text conversation on the side of each page. I don't think I've seen this kind of running color commentary tutorial in anything else outside of the Dresden Files TTRPG, but it's a really good technique and it works excellently here.

Overall, if you want a small icebreaker rpg for a group that either doesn't play any TTRPGs or that plays a *lot* of TTRPGs, this is an excellent pick. It isn't often that I get to call something a The Office TTRPG (positive), but this is that. It's smooth to play, easy to learn, and produces good comedy and just-sweaty-enough gameplay to make everyone feel like they have stakes. If you're a designer, I'd strongly recommend checking this out. And if you're not but you've read this far anyway, I think you'll like it too.

Yep! There's a few in the indie that are explicitly designed to be played during other games. At the moment, I cannot remember their names, but I've definitely seen some. And there's also a few (specifically fishing ttrpgs) that slot into other campaigns pretty easily even if they're not intentionally built to interact with other systems.

Oh heck I didn't see the link until now. Updating my game page accordingly!

A John Carter game in the engine would be really neat! I feel like it could easily be its own spinoff, in sort of the same way Pharmagothica is. I don't currently have any plans to make anything like that, but I'd love to see it.

I have considered doing something more Conan themed, and I may do a Conan-style Class in the next Seven Strangers, but I have no ideas if/when I would ever get to something like this as a full supplement. A proper hollow earth would be really fun.

You make good stuff! People are kinda inconsistent when it comes to leaving reviews, even on stuff they really like, so I'm always happy when one of my reviews reminds a designer that their rpgs are solid.

This sounds really cool to me! I do have some plans to do supplements that flesh out the existing cults, but nothing in this style or on this scale. I like that it makes the gameplay a little more overtly factional. It's an interesting dynamic for the game.

This is a really interesting concept! I do have some plans to do supplements that focus on wilderness exploration, but nothing this comprehensive, nor anything that focuses on the fae. And I really like the idea of integrating animal PCs more into the game.

This sounds really neat as well! I don't currently have plans to make anything like this, and the closest in what I've already published is Pharmagothica.

Whoah. So the expansions I'm currently considering are one that adds to the Artifacts list a bit, Seven Strangers 3, something that goes into a bit more detail on some of the cults, and then a couple more scenarios.

Mythic Twilight sounds really cool. The idea for legacy play is excellent, and I really like it as a counterweight to how Miseries work. I don't currently have any plans to write anything like it.

You can definitely use that mindset to kill it, as long as it runs out of summons.

As written, this is up to GM interpretation. I'm generally fine with fire damage stacking to an extent, but there's only so much fire that someone can be on. The Meat Seam is also not particularly flammable---molotovs thrown on it will burn for a bit, but it won't take stacking d4 damage per Round forever.

Now, if the players excavate the Meat Seam and pour gallons of gasoline on it and set it on fire, that's different. That would do more significant damage, as would methodically dynamiting it. An organized and determined military could kill the Meat in a day, with some casualties.

Thanks!

Yep! An injected PC is also affected by Graven Repellant, although I would rule they test Stability instead of Morale.

Extremely valid question! I didn't specify in the module, but I would rule that there are two on the first floor, two and a half on the second floor. Similarly, you can assume that there's linen closets, a pantry, and other functional but unexciting rooms in the mansion even if they're not specified in the bullet points.

As a Fool, you have to take Fortune's Fool during creation. I think I'm going to try and patch this, since currently it's better for non-Fools than for Fools.

For the Skinflint, Pinch Pennies causes your max Omens to change as your savings change. So if you gain $1,000, +1 Omens. If you then lose that $1,000, -1 Omens.

These sound cool! I didn't have plans to do the full tarot, but I definitely like the idea!

Yep! You can take any one Specialty when Getting Better, including one of the two core Specialties for a different Class.

Rules as written, Fortune's Fool can be taken later when you have more Hit Points to convert. However, it's possible this might be disruptive to normal play. I am very okay with GMs putting a cap on the number of Omens it can give, or ruling that it is available during character creation only.

Thank you! I'm a huge fan of tactics jrpgs and wanted to see if I could do something bite-sized in that style.

I'm definitely interested in  releasing more Classes, and the ones you've suggested all fit the genre. I've also got some other ideas for Classes that bring in more supernatural elements or that fold in the works of other writers (Poe, Howard, etc.)

There's a lot of Cthork content in general that I want to write, I just need a scheduling window in which to cook on things. I'll try to aim for later this month.

In the meantime, if you're interested in writing your own Classes, I'd be happy to link from this page to anything you create. There haven't been any third party Cthork supplements yet, but I'd love to see the visions other creators have.

Dismiss Into Figment is better at handling small, mortal targets than big complex things. Thus it's not quite a silver bullet for gods (nor can you do something like target the earth and dismiss humanity from its history.)

King In Yellow is also a tricky target for this spell, because he's already got a very loose relationship with reality.

I'd say that you can use Dismiss Into Figment on people or places to erode their relationship with him, and that you could use it on him to temporarily redact small parts of his lore, but also that he can recover from the effects of Dismiss Into Figment over time as his nature repairs the gaps in the fiction.

If multiple casters simultaneously hit him with Dismiss Into Figment while in Carcosa, that would take a serious chunk out of him. Similarly, if a large number of casters repeatedly spammed Dismiss Into Figment on Carcosa itself, they could try to break the association between Carcosa and the King and potentially free the city (even if this wouldn't guarantee the King couldn't just re-take it.)

For the Dusty Sachet, this is open to GM interpretation. I think I'd rule that it has a slower progression than normal pollen lycanthropy, that way the player doesn't finish turning into flowers between investigation 2 and investigation 3. But the disease will finish its course unless cured---whether by drinking the sachet's tea or by some other means.

Dismiss Into Figment is a little weird, since it affects Toughness. You ignore the Toughness part when it's used on NPCs and monsters, since they don't have Toughness, but otherwise it functions the same way. That said, it only affects a piece of a target. You would need to rapidly and successfully cast a lot of it in succession to whittle away at a god. With enough casters and hit points and a chained down god, you could do meaningful harm to it, but you would need a significant population dedicated to the task.

The Briefly Turn On You DR 16 that Haints created with Leash The Departing Soul have is the difficulty for them to attempt to hurt you. So on a 17+ they can throw an object at you or try to terrify you. The GM rolls this whenever they judge appropriate.

These are mostly up to the GM. I'd personally say yes to changing NPC Morales and recruiting monsters under certain circumstances, but different GMs may handle this differently.

With NPCs, their stats are meant to be written in a simple and quick way. You could give them a full PC style set of Abilities, but this would take more work and slow the GM down when they introduce a new NPC. The recommended thing to do is give them specific skills (e.x. Climbs Walls DR 8) when relevant, and then you can modify these further with circumstantial bonuses and penalties when appropriate. But if an NPC is really important, you could give them Abilities instead.

In general, you can only take a given Specialty once. Once you've broken the Heirloom Ring, you can't get another.

For stuff like Miraculous Escape where you do Break but you automatically pass the Stability test, you can still suffer Malices. On the other hand, Languished's Rock Bottom lets you ignore all consequences from Breaking, and this includes Malices.

No, you're good! I'm happy to answer any questions.

Regarding whether Revelation advancement is automatic or you have to use the artifact, it's automatic. Just keeping the artifact in your home or in a vault you own will still advance its Revelations.

Optionally the GM might rule that picking an artifact up and then immediately throwing it away is safe, or that storing an artifact in some kind of spiritual containment / salt circle nullifies its current benefit and keeps it from advancing in Revelations---although the feeling with artifacts is that they're supposed to be dangerous, so I think I would probably make the players work to keep one contained.

With artifacts, they work like this. Say you have the Battered Packet Of Spiced Cigarettes. At 0 Investigations, its Revelation is -1 DR to Stability tests. If you trade it to your buddy at the end of the investigation, you lose that benefit and they gain it instead. If your buddy carries the packet around for a whole investigation, they advance to the next Revelation (+1 Stability) but lose the benefits of the 0 Investigations Revelation (-1 DR to Stability tests.)

Basically, permanent effects like changes to Abilities and Hit Points and money stay with you even if you lose the artifact, but temporary effects like bonuses or penalties to DR or Social Standing or the Jeweler's Loupe's 0 Investigations Revelation don't.

Also you can definitely stack effects from artifacts.

The only thing you can't really do is indefinitely preserve a 0 Investigations Revelation by constantly swapping an artifact between owners. The investigator that used the artifact always advances to the next Revelation at the end of the investigation.

(This means that an investigator who carries the Battered Packet Of Spiced Cigarettes *will* get the +1 Stability Revelation, and this Stability increase will be permanent, even if they trade the cigarettes away at the end of the investigation. Also if they carry the packet around for *another* investigation, they'll get the -1 Stability Revelation, which will also be permanent, making their net Stability gain across all Revelations 0.)

By default Abilities can't be increased over +6 from any source. You can stack lots of modifiers apart from Abilities, though. So you can have +6 Ability and -5 DR from specific bonuses and that's functionally a +11 on a roll.

For Faith Healer and Malices, I'm inclined to say yes, with the caveat that Malices generally count as life-threatening/life-changing, and so Breaking is required to treat them. Also Faith Healer may not work on all Malices---it's the GM's call as to whether things like curses and psychological issues fall under the purview of the Specialty.

The Flutist is difficult. You could reach it at the edge of the universe, or maybe through the Pale Country.

The King is easier. You can reach it in Carcosa. One of the investigations in Five Nasty Little Homes has a way there, and the King's cult has ways of getting there as well. The trick is in doing so without racking up a ton of The Play's The Thing tokens and turning into fiction.

This is one of those things that's going to be up to the GM, and very much dependent on whether you're running a more pulp or more purist game. By default, the gods are all somewhere on a spectrum between rational independent entities and innate cosmic forces. And killing a cosmic force (even the personified expression of a cosmic force) might be a bad idea to begin with. However, engaging a god in its home (where it isn't manifested and has full power,) or finding a way to bind it, or pulling it into a fight with another god could all work.

In purist cosmic horror, winning against the gods---even in the short term---is generally treated as impossible. I tend to lean more pulp, with the gods as impossibly powerful and uncaring monsters, but still capable of being outplayed sometimes. In cosmic horror stuff I've run, players *have* worked out ways to kill gods---usually at great cost, and with immense risk.

Again, this is ultimately going to be up to the GM. For me personally, if the players come up with a means of attack that I can't imagine the god has sufficient defenses against, and they deliver it in a way that the god can't distance itself from, it'll work. And if a god falls, its Miseries are repealed---although they might be replaced with other ramifications from killing it.

Thank you! Glad you liked it!

Absolutely! I'll reach out by email!

That would be great!

I haven't played Dredge yet, but I think this is as simple as reskinning and renaming stuff. Change the Animals to monsters, maybe tweak Making Camp so that it's Making Port, change the Equipment to boat upgrades, and I think you're in the right ballpark.

My understanding of Dredge is that a lot of what makes it work is its atmosphere, and it's easy to change Rodreel's atmosphere without having to also change its mechanics.

This is extremely cool!

+13 Archivist Points, and +80 Archivist Points for creating such a detailed and immersive site for your archive