Graham Ward (he/him) ✍️ #HundredDungeons
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darkplanedm.bsky.social
Graham Ward (he/him) ✍️ #HundredDungeons
@darkplanedm.bsky.social
490 followers 190 following 230 posts
AEA Actor. Award-winning GM at Baldman Games. TTRPG designer/editor (half of Greywild Games): Free League, D&D Adventurers League, Gary’s Appendix, Darkplane.com, TheLastCaravan.com, Hundred Dungeons, Blood Magic. Content Manager at Ghostlight RPGs.
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darkplanedm.bsky.social
Repost with a favorite book from childhood.
The White Mountains by John Christopher, cover featuring an alpine setting with a massive robotic tripod scooping up a human with a metal tentacle, two other humans hiding in the foreground.
April 9, 2025 at 3:39 PM
darkplanedm.bsky.social
11. Mothership needs no promotional help from me. My first exposure to it was seeing a mountain of third party content being sold for this game that hadn’t even officially been released yet. It’s simple and effective, and has the best teaching-tool character sheet I’ve ever seen in a ttrpg.
October 22, 2024 at 11:06 PM
darkplanedm.bsky.social
10. Cairn is the purest, most distilled ttrpg experience I’ve had. It cuts to exactly what it wants to do in the simplest way to do it. Emphasis is one narration, description, and choices. It’s a verbal folk game that’s largely compatible with other OSR material. Beautiful in its elegance.
October 22, 2024 at 2:28 PM
darkplanedm.bsky.social
9. Old School Essentials hits the nostalgia and feel of 80s D&D without making me rely on the brutally inaccessible UX of the AD&D books—but those books can still be pulled out to supplement the game when I want, since they’re compatible. The wealth of games using B/X math make OSE evergreen.
October 22, 2024 at 2:24 PM
darkplanedm.bsky.social
8. Ten Candles can’t be beaten for atmosphere. Each character prompt is a special action you burn (literally) until nothing is left but for you to die. The escalation of difficulty plays on your nerves in a way that, for my money, is more immersive than mechanisms like dread’s block pulling.
October 22, 2024 at 2:05 PM
darkplanedm.bsky.social
7. Slayers by @gilarpgs.bsky.social of Gila RPGs is a kinetic and highly accessible take on the asymmetrical fantasy party trope. The classes are very easy to learn, but all work uniquely as they seek to hunt down and defeat urban monsters. Slim, sleek game. Lots of fun.
October 22, 2024 at 11:27 AM
darkplanedm.bsky.social
6. Knave 2e is a fantastic classless game of old-school treasure hunting and dungeon delving. Great rollable tables and totally supportive of improvised and emergent play. It rocks.
October 22, 2024 at 7:36 AM
darkplanedm.bsky.social
5. The One Ring 2e has fantastic art, tracks just the right things, and is nicely streamlined from the previous edition. Especially with the right GM, it makes falling back in love with middle-earth easy. I think the game shines in ongoing play, where things have space to develop and deepen.
October 22, 2024 at 5:58 AM
darkplanedm.bsky.social
4. Cortex Prime is my favorite dice pool game. It feels like when as kids we’d gather all our action figures and accessories, pick teams, and stage elaborate scenarios. Cortex is super customizable, works for most genres, and has the feeling of a writer’s room smashing story bits into each other.
October 22, 2024 at 1:58 AM
darkplanedm.bsky.social
3. Prequel by @ethanyen.com has such a great premise! Ethan’s done a fantastic job of marrying worldbuilding and a tactical boss battle with an alternate win condition. Very fun, follow the Kickstarter for when it launches!

www.kickstarter.com/projects/355...
October 22, 2024 at 1:51 AM
darkplanedm.bsky.social
Cthulhu Dark has brought me a lot of fun. I love rules light stuff for horror, especially when I want to give my own spin to a Cthulhu game. There’s basically one rule/mechanism in the game, and it nails the feeling of learning too much from the mythos.
October 22, 2024 at 1:47 AM
darkplanedm.bsky.social
Just played Pirate Borg for this first time this past weekend. Its character generation and smooth rules made being a pirate instantly accessible and entertaining to a table of strangers. Really solid game that’s all about what happens at the table between players. A+
October 21, 2024 at 10:11 PM
darkplanedm.bsky.social
Let’s get to know each other. Feel free to post games you like here, and let me know what you think of mine. #ttrpg
Get to know my game taste For every like, I will post one game I love
October 21, 2024 at 9:44 PM
darkplanedm.bsky.social
Hundred Dungeons is coming this week to DriveThruRPG and Itch!

Dive into a FREE sword-and-sorcery hack of #dnd5e that puts character choices and exploration back front and center.

Sleek, streamlined presentation, quick start, and a blend of old- and new-school
#HundredDungeons
Hundred Dungeons: a character-forward sword and sorcery refresh of 5E fantasy Get it free Explore, develop, change Behind the title, there's a sleek character sheet and a looming figure of a crowned skeletal warrior with a sword, covered in blood. A vulture is perched on its head pecking toward its only eye: an emerald gemstone.
October 14, 2024 at 8:00 PM
darkplanedm.bsky.social
Hell yes, Ten Candles. Such a fun game tonight!
September 5, 2024 at 7:29 AM
darkplanedm.bsky.social
If you see this show four of your favorite games!
Heroes of Might and Magic IV Baldur’s Gate (OG) Medieval: Total War Amnesia: The Dark Descent
September 1, 2024 at 9:03 PM
darkplanedm.bsky.social
The Last Caravan physical copies are arriving to backers! The book looks beautiful, and I’m dying to get a group together.
#ttrpg

www.myth.works/products/the...
July 10, 2024 at 7:50 PM
darkplanedm.bsky.social
Tomorrow is our rescheduled episode of Old-School Roundup! Join us for D3: Vault of the Drow at 6pm CDT!

📺 twitch.com/ghostlightrpgs

#ttrpg #actualplay #dnd #dnd5e
Promo image for Old-School Roundup: D3 Vault of the Drow Five headshots are paper clipped to a blue gridded dungeon map (cartography by Dyson Logos): Emma Carter Graham Ward Kelsea Botwinik Justin Barron Carson Wright Wed April 10th, 6pm CDT twitch.com/ghostlightrpgs A pink Dungeons & Dragons module cover depicts the demon queen Lolth in her spider form webbing up a bugbear (who looks suspiciously like Thanos). A cruel priestess performs magic on an altar surrounded by skulls.
April 9, 2024 at 10:01 PM
darkplanedm.bsky.social
We’re back tomorrow for Old-School Roundup, our modern interpretation of the original #dnd adventures!

Join us for D3: Vault of the Drow at 6pm CDT!

📺 twitch.com/ghostlightrpgs

#ttrpg #actualplay #dnd5e
Promo image for Old-School Roundup: D3 Vault of the Drow Five headshots are paper clipped to a blue gridded dungeon map (cartography by Dyson Logos): Emma Carter Graham Ward Kelsea Botwinik Justin Barron Carson Wright Wed March 27th, 6pm CDT twitch.com/ghostlightrpgs A pink Dungeons & Dragons module cover depicts the demon queen Lolth in her spider form webbing up a bugbear (who looks suspiciously like Thanos). A cruel priestess performs magic on an altar surrounded by skulls.
March 26, 2024 at 4:32 PM
darkplanedm.bsky.social
Looking for players!

Starting later this month, I’ll be running The Halls of Arden Vul as an open table campaign through Baldman Games, using #HundredDungeons as our ruleset!

Tickets are $25. 1-5pm EDT Mondays or Thursdays (drop in/out). DMs are open if you’re interested! #dnd
March 10, 2024 at 6:14 PM
darkplanedm.bsky.social
We’ve got paint on! #dnd #miniaturepainting
A massive dragon model primed in matte black.
March 8, 2024 at 8:15 PM
darkplanedm.bsky.social
Owlbear done! #dnd #miniaturepainting
A 28mm model of an aggressive owlbear painted in brown and gold with green eyes
March 5, 2024 at 6:02 AM
darkplanedm.bsky.social
Putting out feelers for an open table #Shadowdark campaign of THE HALLS OF ARDEN VUL, likely running weekdays in the daytime (MST/UTC-7).

Tickets will be $25/session. Feel free to respond here or reach out to me if interested. Retweets appreciated!
#ttrpg
Cover of The Halls of Arden Vul by Expeditious Retreat Press Four adventurers face down a dragon perched on a giant ring.
February 14, 2024 at 4:59 PM
darkplanedm.bsky.social
Excited to say that @mythworkshq.bsky.social will be publishing #TheLastCaravan!

In addition to being on sale in many more places starting in 2024, this means the book is upgrading to hardcover for all backers! #ttrpg
A test print of The Last Caravan by Ted Bushman resting on a wooden table. The cover depicts a rural highway blanketed with snow, a lone car driving toward us--away from an ominous alien spaceship on the horizon. Three travelers stand side by side in the sky: a woman with a baby and a sniper rifle, a man with a woodcutting axe, and a resolute dobermann pinscher. The Last Caravan: A cars and aliens roleplaying game A hand opening the book to a page with the header “Wrench.” An image of a Black woman holding a lug wrench backed by a highway map. The facing page shows rules for the playing a Wrench in The Last Caravan. The Region design for Snake River Ruin, formatted like a park ranger’s guidebook with a map of the post-invasion Rocky Mountain Regions. Character sheets for the Lookout and Stargazer at the back of The Last Caravan.
December 12, 2023 at 5:13 PM
darkplanedm.bsky.social
Also 10 levels of play, so character level and spell level coincide!
Also easy and strategic rules for wilderness travel
Also more balance across the pillars Also scenario design that eschews box text and helps the GM decide/invent/remember what’s important in the environment
#dnd #HundredDungeons
A printed packet titled Hundred Dungeons: a game by Graham Ward, laid on a laptop keyboard THE PREMISE Hundred Dungeons is a game with several goals. It was made from the bones of other d20 fantasy games, so the first goal is that it remain familiar to players who like those games. The second goal is to preserve a place for low fantasy within the 5E sphere. The mountain of available player options makes d20 fantasy a feast for theorycrafting and homebrew mechanics, but can contribute to the game feeling topheavy with rules. Hundred Dungeons takes the focus off of superhuman stunts and puts it on the choices of characters who are real people in exceptional circumstances. Lastly, this game keeps the rules and the fiction as synonymous as possible while maintaining an intuitive flow. That means if the warrior Dreca picks up a heavy barrel, uses Strength to throw it at pursuing cutthroats, and invokes the memory of her dead mother to make the throw mighty, that sentence is completely intelligible as both fiction and a game mechanism. Hundred Dungeons is filled with traits: descriptions that attach to story elements, such as a character, location, item, or action. While you’re inspired, you can call on a trait to help you at any point, turning over your inspiration to the GM to: - Reroll a die - Add something fitting to the scenario - Rally with your companions Likewise, while you’re not inspired, the GM can hand you inspiration to invoke a trait — and more often than not, this will make your situation worse. Whenever you roll a 1 on a d20, choose one player to become inspired. Rerolling a die is what it sounds like. Pick one die you just rolled and reroll it. This can be after the GM says you failed, but it should be before the story moves forward or someone else acts. When you add something fitting to the scenario, you take the reins of the story for a moment, adding a useful item, location, person, or circumstance. The GM approves your description and integrates it into the scenario. REALMS OF PLAY There are four “realms” or modes of play in Hundred Dungeons: the Wild, the Dark, Conflict, and Recuperation. The Wild hosts journeys over large distances in which characters explore, endure, and supply. In the Wild, a round represents 8 hours of activity. The Dark is home to mystery, danger, and strange encounters. Characters investigate, delve, and pursue specific objectives. In the Dark, a round represents 10 minutes of activity. Conflict is where life, death, and honor hang in the balance, where characters attack, intimidate, negotiate, or otherwise confront hostile forces. In Conflict, a round represents about 20 seconds of activity. When there’s no urgent goal or tracking of time within a scenario, players can enter Recuperation and describe their activities more flexibly.
December 1, 2023 at 12:52 PM