holdenshearer

...One more day of update delay. Update Friday.

Lost another cat today. Fuck panleukopenia.

Wednesday post delayed till tomorrow

After fighting at the vet for most of a week, my best little buddy passed away today. I don't have a post in me tonight. Update will be tomorrow.

Every single one of you gave me the support I needed to give him his best shot and I will always be gr...

Necromancy: The Ghoul

Thursday's almost over but this week's update is here. It's a new playbook preview for Necromancy (told you it was still on the way): The Ghoul.

The Ghoul died, but death isn't quite so sacrosanct as it used to be, and something ca...

Happy August, everyone

If you're new here, welcome aboard, and we'd love to see you in the Discord if you feel like dropping by, hanging out, or just lurking.

The usual Wednesday update's going to be pushed back to tomorrow. We've had family medical emergencies today and...

The Ironside Express: The Barony Suite

Wednesday is here, and so is another chapter of Ironside Express. As with previous updates, this PDF contains the entire story to date, so if you haven't read any of it yet, or you've missed some chapters, you don't need to go hunting back t...

The Renfield Diaries: Chapter Two

Every week I start to type "happy Wednesday" and then I remember it's 2018 and I end up typing "Wednesday update time" instead and please hurry up and open the black apocalypse sarcophagus already.

Speaking of ancient horrible dead things ...

Channel Discord

Since the Patreon has picked up a number of new patrons lately (hello, shining exemplars of the finest humanity has to offer!), and it's been a while since I last tossed up the link, I just want to note that the channel discord is still up, very acti...

The Renfield Diaries

Development of Necromancy is proceeding apace, but it's become pretty clear that getting all the campaign books and monsters finished is going to take a while, and I need something sellable during the fall; so I'm taking a couple of ...

The Ironside Express: The Ironside Express (yes that's the chapter title)

So I pull up the old Patreon, thinking it's time for Wednesday's post, then glance at my computer's clock and realize it's Thursday. Apologies for the day-late update; I may be developing some kind of brain parasite.

New Ironside Express c...

Powered by the Dark: Vampire: the Dark Ages AND the Laibon

As part of an ongoing series of design experiments, I've put together a rules hacks to run Vampire: the Dark Ages on a PbtA rules framework. I've also put together a supplemental hack to support games centered around the Lai...

Powered by the Dark: Mage the Ascension AND Sorcerers Crusade

As part of an ongoing series of design experiments, I've put together rules hacks to run Mage: the Ascension and also Mage: the Sorcerers Crusade on a PbtA rules framework.

These hacks include full support...

The Ironside Express: Words Over a Body

Mo Wednesday mo updates.

New Ironside Express chapter this week. As with previous updates, this PDF contains the entire story to date, so if you haven't read any of it yet, or you've missed some chapters, you don't need to go hunting back ...

Powered by the Dark: PbtA hacks for the World of Darkness

As part of an ongoing exercise in game design practice and exploring the intricacies of the PbtA engine and how it intersects with traditional game design, I've been working on a series of hacks to run classic World of Darkness games using an Apocaly...

Necromancy: The Assassin

Wednesday update! Except it's Thursday! New playbook: The Assassin.

The Assassin knows death more intimately than anyone else here at the end of the world, but finds less and less need for their expertise; the eternal night deals d...

Catching up

Got behind yesterday from dealing with my father's estate and for some reason thought it was Tuesday, and missed the usual Wednesday update. That update will go up later today instead-- apologies!

Powered by the Dark: Kindred of the East

Linked at the bottom of this post is a hack to play Kindred of the East using the Powered by the Apocalypse engine. At present, it includes full support for the all Dharmas (orthodox and heretical), and pretty much the rest of the fu...

Ironside Express: Setting Terms

Wednesday is upon us!

More Ironside Express this week. As with previous updates, this PDF contains the entire story to date, so if you haven't tried any of it yet, you don't need to go hunting back to old updates to get started. If you're ...

Powered by the Dark: Vampire commentary (Part 2)

Bonus update! This is the second part of the developer commentary on the Vampire hack I uploaded last month, covering the hack's special systems and character creation-- the stuff I think of as the "meat" of the hack. This and all other dev commentar...

Ironside Express: Riding to Comumant

New Wednesday, new update, new Ironside Express chapter. As with previous updates, this PDF contains the entire story to date, so if you haven't tried any of it yet, you don't need to go hunting back to old updates to get started. If you're ...

Necromancy: The Thing

For this week's patron update, we've got another playbook: The Thing.

The Thing is angsty, angry, unnerving, and perhaps even undeserving of its lot. But since when has what we've deserved determined who we are?

The Thing is ...

Apologies

This week's Wednesday update is going to go up later in the week. I don't have it prepped yet on account of a death in the family.

Powered by the Dark: Vampire commentary (Part 1)

As promised, here's the first part of the developer commentary on the Vampire hack I uploaded. This and all other dev commentary on the hack is exclusive content for patrons. Enjoy!

Also, as a reminder, anyone who can read this message is welc...

Powered by the Dark: Vampire the Masquerade

Linked at the bottom of this post is a hack to play Vampire: the Masquerade using the Powered by the Apocalypse engine. At present, it includes full support for the 13 clans, Caitiff, and the modern bloodlines of V20.

V:tM is curre...

Necromancy: The Surgeon

Wednesday has come again, and it has brought with it a new playbook for Necromancy: The Surgeon.

The Surgeon is a champion of life. All human life, without discrimination. Life at any cost. Life in any state. Where life persists, after all, there i...

Powered by the Dark

So I'm working on a system conversion in my spare time: Vampire: the Masquerade 20th anniversary edition -> Powered by the Apocalypse, because I am nothing if not a man who has no idea how to use his time wisely.

The big complaint about V20—an...

Necromancy: The Paladin

Happy Wednesday everyone! For this mid-week update, I've got a new playbook ready for your perusal.

The Paladin is a unique and singular being: not only the sole example of its kind in your play group, but the only one of its kind ...

Ironside Express: The Night Road

This Wednesday's update is another Ironside chapter. As with previous updates, this PDF contains the entire story to date, so if you haven't tried any of it yet, you don't need to go hunting back to old updates to get started. If you're up t...

Necromancy: the Infected

I'd say "happy Wednesday" but today's preview's a bit more somber for that. Today we've got another playbook for Necromancy: The Infected. The Infected doesn't get a happy ending, not personally, but that doesn't mean they can't chan...

Ironside Express: A New Job

There'll be another update this week as I get caught up [update: "another update this week" got canceled in favor of "food poisoning" for the week's extracurricular activity. Don't eat undercooked chicken, folks.]. But for this Wedne...

Wednesday pre-update

Got a bit behind on things. There will be an update today, but not until later this evening.