Lyme
@lymerpg.bsky.social
TTRPG Writer & Game Designer. Known for Dawn of the Orcs, Fear and Panic.
https://lymetime.itch.io/
https://brackish-draught.bearblog.dev/blog/
https://linktr.ee/lymerpg
https://lymetime.itch.io/
https://brackish-draught.bearblog.dev/blog/
https://linktr.ee/lymerpg
Pinned
Lyme
@lymerpg.bsky.social
· Aug 18
Fear and Panic by Lyme
Player-Friendly Horror Roleplaying
lymetime.itch.io
I've finally released the first full edition of Fear and Panic! This is the most focused, streamlined version of a d100 horror system I could build, based on countless hours of playtesting and experience as a horror GM.
lymetime.itch.io/fear-and-panic
lymetime.itch.io/fear-and-panic
Yog-sothoth.com is closing. Already locked except the farewell thread. Those forums got me into RPGs in the first place and were an incredible resource - the internet as it should have been, filled with courtesy and education.
January 3, 2026 at 2:05 PM
Yog-sothoth.com is closing. Already locked except the farewell thread. Those forums got me into RPGs in the first place and were an incredible resource - the internet as it should have been, filled with courtesy and education.
Wait, one more thing this year. Check out this game, Before the Worms by Intrepid Gremlin: intrepid-gremlin.itch.io/before-the-w...
It cuts straight to raw, real core of conspiracy horror. It's as apt a description of reality as it is a game. Worth a read for anyone interested in horror RPGs.
It cuts straight to raw, real core of conspiracy horror. It's as apt a description of reality as it is a game. Worth a read for anyone interested in horror RPGs.
BEFORE THE WORMS by Intrepid Gremlin
An anti-Cosmic Horror game about the cost of resistance.
intrepid-gremlin.itch.io
January 1, 2026 at 12:14 AM
Wait, one more thing this year. Check out this game, Before the Worms by Intrepid Gremlin: intrepid-gremlin.itch.io/before-the-w...
It cuts straight to raw, real core of conspiracy horror. It's as apt a description of reality as it is a game. Worth a read for anyone interested in horror RPGs.
It cuts straight to raw, real core of conspiracy horror. It's as apt a description of reality as it is a game. Worth a read for anyone interested in horror RPGs.
Yeah I don't have a roundup this year. I just have a list of games I want to play next year. Maybe I'll write some. We'll see.
December 31, 2025 at 11:49 PM
Yeah I don't have a roundup this year. I just have a list of games I want to play next year. Maybe I'll write some. We'll see.
I don't even block people and I'm still happy with the discourse I see on here. Y'all are cool. Keep at it.
I actually think the quantity of discourse on here is just fine, it's about the level I want and the right balance with other types of posts and people are mostly polite and reasonable (I do mute anyone who is even a bit annoying though)
December 31, 2025 at 12:28 AM
I don't even block people and I'm still happy with the discourse I see on here. Y'all are cool. Keep at it.
Here, have a blog post where I give surprisingly serious answers to the eternally unanswerable questions of RPGs, like "What's the OSR?" and "how do I get my group to meet on time?"
Answering the Perpetual Questions of RPGs
For much of the early 2000s and 2010s, whenever a TV show wanted to signify that a character was supposed to be a geeky type, they would have them express a ...
brackish-draught.bearblog.dev
December 28, 2025 at 2:41 AM
Here, have a blog post where I give surprisingly serious answers to the eternally unanswerable questions of RPGs, like "What's the OSR?" and "how do I get my group to meet on time?"
Reposted by Lyme
"You there, boy! What day is it?"
I'm going to do everything in my power to make this one of those weekly memes.
December 25, 2025 at 1:14 PM
"You there, boy! What day is it?"
Reposted by Lyme
Looking for a last-minute gift for the gamer in your life? Check out the locally-designed games at your neighborhood book, comic, or game shop!
Here in the DMV, @peoplesbooktakoma.com *just* restocked with indie zines after selling out earlier in the season -- come and get them!
Here in the DMV, @peoplesbooktakoma.com *just* restocked with indie zines after selling out earlier in the season -- come and get them!
December 23, 2025 at 6:48 PM
Looking for a last-minute gift for the gamer in your life? Check out the locally-designed games at your neighborhood book, comic, or game shop!
Here in the DMV, @peoplesbooktakoma.com *just* restocked with indie zines after selling out earlier in the season -- come and get them!
Here in the DMV, @peoplesbooktakoma.com *just* restocked with indie zines after selling out earlier in the season -- come and get them!
Truly a fine and exquisite award!
From the brilliant mind of Magnolia Keep comes the first annual Lizzies! The best and brightest of the blogosphere comes forward, as decided by your second-favorite blogger with a furry pfp!
magnoliakeep.blogspot.com/2025/12/the-...
magnoliakeep.blogspot.com/2025/12/the-...
The Lizzies 2025
Welcome one and all to the first annual Lizzies , a celebration of all things Liz (that's me)! 2025 has been...a fucking year to be trans in...
magnoliakeep.blogspot.com
December 24, 2025 at 3:36 AM
Truly a fine and exquisite award!
I just wrote a short horror adventure. It's free. You play the aristocrats who try to murder Rasputin. It's a nice low-prep adventure, because the GM's job is mostly listening to the players come up with a plan and then showing them how it goes terribly wrong: lymetime.itch.io/no-easy-man-...
No Easy Man to Kill by Lyme
Murder Rasputin Or Die Trying
lymetime.itch.io
December 23, 2025 at 9:54 AM
I just wrote a short horror adventure. It's free. You play the aristocrats who try to murder Rasputin. It's a nice low-prep adventure, because the GM's job is mostly listening to the players come up with a plan and then showing them how it goes terribly wrong: lymetime.itch.io/no-easy-man-...
Me running a horror game for my friends
The Ghost Story, Alfred Bestall, 1930
#Christmasghoststories
#Christmasghoststories
December 21, 2025 at 9:18 PM
Me running a horror game for my friends
I need some help putting together a list of annoyingly frequent RPG questions. Anyone have suggestions? Here's my list so far:
-"What's the OSR?"
-"Does system matter?"
-"How do I get my group to try something other than D&D?"
-"What's the OSR?"
-"Does system matter?"
-"How do I get my group to try something other than D&D?"
December 20, 2025 at 5:07 PM
I need some help putting together a list of annoyingly frequent RPG questions. Anyone have suggestions? Here's my list so far:
-"What's the OSR?"
-"Does system matter?"
-"How do I get my group to try something other than D&D?"
-"What's the OSR?"
-"Does system matter?"
-"How do I get my group to try something other than D&D?"
I feel like 99% of the time if a game is named after one of its mechanics, it's going to be a good game.
December 18, 2025 at 10:44 PM
I feel like 99% of the time if a game is named after one of its mechanics, it's going to be a good game.
Sure, sorcerer wasn't a playable D&D class in 1987, but they were a playable class in Chaosium's World of Wonder, published 5 years earlier.
December 15, 2025 at 1:07 AM
Sure, sorcerer wasn't a playable D&D class in 1987, but they were a playable class in Chaosium's World of Wonder, published 5 years earlier.
Now this is a neat idea: cowfrog.bearblog.dev/a-mental-inv...
A mental inventory for occult horror campaigns: an HPless system
A character’s psyche is composed of slots into which thoughts of various sizes can be inserted. Interactability stems from your limited ability to move and rotate them.
cowfrog.bearblog.dev
December 11, 2025 at 4:29 AM
Now this is a neat idea: cowfrog.bearblog.dev/a-mental-inv...
Holy cow, Turn It Off is an incredible example of publishing a breathtakingly beautiful RPG adventure with a $0 art budget (and ofc without AI art):
cloud-press-publishing.itch.io/turn-it-off
cloud-press-publishing.itch.io/turn-it-off
Turn It Off by Cloud Press.
A short adventure for Knave 2e.
cloud-press-publishing.itch.io
December 3, 2025 at 11:01 PM
Holy cow, Turn It Off is an incredible example of publishing a breathtakingly beautiful RPG adventure with a $0 art budget (and ofc without AI art):
cloud-press-publishing.itch.io/turn-it-off
cloud-press-publishing.itch.io/turn-it-off
Cool d100 cyberpunk game going into its final stretch on Backerkit: www.backerkit.com/c/projects/s...
Bite The Hand - a Cyberpunk Panic Engine TTRPG
Bite The Hand is a cyberpunk TTRPG built on Mothership's Panic Engine. The Core Rulebook contains all the information both players and game masters will need. It features a catalogue of cybernetics, w...
www.backerkit.com
December 2, 2025 at 1:43 AM
Cool d100 cyberpunk game going into its final stretch on Backerkit: www.backerkit.com/c/projects/s...
For anyone going to #dragonmeet, swing by booth E15 for some excellent horror games by the wonderful @irny.bsky.social social and the renowned @grahamwalmsley.bsky.social!
Sarah miiiight also have a super limited run UK 3-color printing of my game Fear and Panic if you ask somberly enough.
Sarah miiiight also have a super limited run UK 3-color printing of my game Fear and Panic if you ask somberly enough.
November 28, 2025 at 3:07 AM
For anyone going to #dragonmeet, swing by booth E15 for some excellent horror games by the wonderful @irny.bsky.social social and the renowned @grahamwalmsley.bsky.social!
Sarah miiiight also have a super limited run UK 3-color printing of my game Fear and Panic if you ask somberly enough.
Sarah miiiight also have a super limited run UK 3-color printing of my game Fear and Panic if you ask somberly enough.
I'm calling the next big trend in RPGs as mobile bases that you design together.
Already saw it in Salvage Union, Prince of Hounds, and Endless Green!
Already saw it in Salvage Union, Prince of Hounds, and Endless Green!
November 24, 2025 at 8:50 PM
I'm calling the next big trend in RPGs as mobile bases that you design together.
Already saw it in Salvage Union, Prince of Hounds, and Endless Green!
Already saw it in Salvage Union, Prince of Hounds, and Endless Green!
I won't be at PAX U, but the good folks at Pandemonium will have my games there via the magic of IPR. Look for player-friendly horror engine Fear & Panic and weird worldbuilding game Dawn of the Orcs at booth 3701! Other RPG friends will have their games at the Sidequest Games booth!
#PaxU #PAX
#PaxU #PAX
November 19, 2025 at 12:55 AM
Reposted by Lyme
My experience of running a FLGS that gets mostly locals wandering in suggests that the received wisdom of RPGs being a hard sell as a hobby is not accurate. If you'll run it, they'll play it. Ask Games Workshop how this kinda thing works
November 18, 2025 at 3:37 PM
My experience of running a FLGS that gets mostly locals wandering in suggests that the received wisdom of RPGs being a hard sell as a hobby is not accurate. If you'll run it, they'll play it. Ask Games Workshop how this kinda thing works
I just listened to @itsquinns.bsky.social on Dice Exploder get very excited about the possibilities of Tetris-style inventory in RPGs and really hope he finds out about Celestial Bodies, which does all those things with Tetris inventory!
selkie.itch.io/celestial-bo...
selkie.itch.io/celestial-bo...
Celestial Bodies by Charlotte Laskowski, Binary Star Games
Mecha TTRPG - Titan Edition
selkie.itch.io
November 18, 2025 at 9:27 PM
I just listened to @itsquinns.bsky.social on Dice Exploder get very excited about the possibilities of Tetris-style inventory in RPGs and really hope he finds out about Celestial Bodies, which does all those things with Tetris inventory!
selkie.itch.io/celestial-bo...
selkie.itch.io/celestial-bo...
It was worth reading after the "but..."
When you're writing a tabletop roleplaying game, the mechanics should evoke the atmosphere you want in your story.
A simple example: we're writing a cozy woodland mystery game. What are the combat mechanics like? Well, clearly there aren't any. Combat isn't part of our cozy woodland story.
But...
A simple example: we're writing a cozy woodland mystery game. What are the combat mechanics like? Well, clearly there aren't any. Combat isn't part of our cozy woodland story.
But...
November 16, 2025 at 10:24 PM
It was worth reading after the "but..."
Reposted by Lyme
OSR guys really be like "Games are at their best when they confront the human condition, when they explore the depth of human emotions and pit the rules against the players' desires. Anyway, here's another defense of rolling d6 for initiative."
November 16, 2025 at 4:21 PM
OSR guys really be like "Games are at their best when they confront the human condition, when they explore the depth of human emotions and pit the rules against the players' desires. Anyway, here's another defense of rolling d6 for initiative."
Reposted by Lyme
If you're going to #PAXU, check out @sidequestbooks.bsky.social's booth! They'll be selling a whole mess of great independent RPGs, including my own! I'm terribly grateful to them for the opportunity to get my stuff out there!
November 15, 2025 at 2:49 AM
If you're going to #PAXU, check out @sidequestbooks.bsky.social's booth! They'll be selling a whole mess of great independent RPGs, including my own! I'm terribly grateful to them for the opportunity to get my stuff out there!
If anyone wants to try pushing the boundaries of the horror rpg genre a little, the non-investigative horror jam is still going through mid-December!
itch.io/jam/non-inve...
itch.io/jam/non-inve...
Non-Investigative Horror Adventure Jam
A game jam from 2025-09-04 to 2025-12-13 hosted by Lyme & plasmophage. The Non-Investigative Horror Adventure Jam This is a jam is for writing non-investigative horror adventures. The goal is to write...
itch.io
November 14, 2025 at 10:56 PM
If anyone wants to try pushing the boundaries of the horror rpg genre a little, the non-investigative horror jam is still going through mid-December!
itch.io/jam/non-inve...
itch.io/jam/non-inve...