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thecastlebuilder.bsky.social
paul
@thecastlebuilder.bsky.social
65 followers 310 following 210 posts
he/they. perhaps not just another software guy. newbie ttrpg designer. I blog about video games and ttrpgs weekly

blog: https://thoughtsabout.games/
games: https://thecastlebuilder.itch.io/
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thecastlebuilder.bsky.social
I tragically couldn't fit this screencap into the post but it's too good not to share. This is campaign slogan material right here.
Screenshot from The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay of a weathered concrete wall with a graffiti scrawl in plain black writing that reads "FUCK TO YOU ALL"
November 11, 2025 at 6:29 PM
thecastlebuilder.bsky.social
Local bookstore chain is having a warehouse sale at one of their locations and the boxes are peppered with probably 20+copies of this book and I *have* to imagine that these were ordered because of a misreading North Carolina as Northern California
Photo of a book titled "50 Hikes in the Mountains of North Carolina"
November 8, 2025 at 7:25 PM
thecastlebuilder.bsky.social
Is it possible that the incompleteness was related to my insistence on making silly drawings of every silly space plant? Mind your own business!
A photo of a whiteboard containing the plants listed in the game linked in the previous reply, but with crude whiteboard drawings of each one.
October 31, 2025 at 7:02 AM
thecastlebuilder.bsky.social
The prompt for day 22 of #ttrpgpromptober is "Summoning circles", so I made a solo journaling game about summoning a demon to enact a terrible revenge. It's a bit thin in some places but I had fun with the flavor writing and the prompt system!

link: thecastlebuilder.notion.site/promptober-D...
Page 1 of 3 of Emissary of Vengeance, a solo journaling game about summoning a demon to enact your revenge. The full text is linked in the body of the post. Page 2 of 3 of Emissary of Vengeance, a solo journaling game about summoning a demon to enact your revenge. The full text is linked in the body of the post. Page 3 of 3 of Emissary of Vengeance, a solo journaling game about summoning a demon to enact your revenge. The full text is linked in the body of the post.
October 22, 2025 at 11:07 PM
thecastlebuilder.bsky.social
I was really happy with the little block building engine here! Here's some little sample creations (feat. Calypso in the last one) using the rules provided.
October 21, 2025 at 3:02 AM
thecastlebuilder.bsky.social
Day 20 of #ttrpgpromptober was "Lost book/lost knowledge"; I originally had an idea for a game about building things without instructions, but instead I landed on a game about exploring procedural ruins in a post-apocalypse.

link: thecastlebuilder.notion.site/promptober-D...
Page 1 of 4 of Among the Ruins, a game about exploring a post-apocalypse by procedurally building ruins out of block tower blocks. The full text is linked in the post body. Page 2 of 4 of Among the Ruins, a game about exploring a post-apocalypse by procedurally building ruins out of block tower blocks. The full text is linked in the post body. Page 3 of 4 of Among the Ruins, a game about exploring a post-apocalypse by procedurally building ruins out of block tower blocks. The full text is linked in the post body. Page 4 of 4 of Among the Ruins, a game about exploring a post-apocalypse by procedurally building ruins out of block tower blocks. The full text is linked in the post body.
October 21, 2025 at 2:58 AM
thecastlebuilder.bsky.social
My creation for #ttrpgpromptober day 17: "blood" is exceedingly stupid and very unrefined. But it was also an excuse to talk mad shit, which was good fun. Maybe it's at least fun to read???

link: thecastlebuilder.notion.site/promptober-D...
Page 1 of 4 of "CRACK OPEN A BOY WITH THE COLD ONES", a dark comedy game for 2-4 players about CEOs bantering while they get transfusions of youthful blood. A text version of the game is linked in the post body. Page 2 of 4 of "CRACK OPEN A BOY WITH THE COLD ONES", a dark comedy game for 2-4 players about CEOs bantering while they get transfusions of youthful blood. A text version of the game is linked in the post body. Page 3 of 4 of "CRACK OPEN A BOY WITH THE COLD ONES", a dark comedy game for 2-4 players about CEOs bantering while they get transfusions of youthful blood. A text version of the game is linked in the post body. Page 4 of 4 of "CRACK OPEN A BOY WITH THE COLD ONES", a dark comedy game for 2-4 players about CEOs bantering while they get transfusions of youthful blood. A text version of the game is linked in the post body.
October 17, 2025 at 11:23 PM
thecastlebuilder.bsky.social
Day 14 of #ttrpgpromptober is "stars". This game idea is a lot rougher than I hoped and I have a lot of adjustments I'd like to make, but I think there's some fun big ideas to it. I'm looking forward to coming back to this one.

link: thecastlebuilder.notion.site/promptober-D...
Page 1 of 3 of Scattered to the Stars, an asynchronous journaling game about wandering spacefarers who have lost their home world, intended to be passed between players. A link to the full text is in the post body. Page 2 of 3 of Scattered to the Stars, an asynchronous journaling game about wandering spacefarers who have lost their home world, intended to be passed between players. A link to the full text is in the post body. Page 3 of 3 of Scattered to the Stars, an asynchronous journaling game about wandering spacefarers who have lost their home world, intended to be passed between players. A link to the full text is in the post body.
October 15, 2025 at 6:03 AM
thecastlebuilder.bsky.social
Waffled all day on "Liminal spaces" for day 12 of #ttrpgpromptober but I eventually got to a storygamer's variant of a random encounter table for overland travel. It has ideas for small travel events to get players imagining and adventurers talking

link: thecastlebuilder.notion.site/promptober-D...
Page 1 of 4 of No Empty Spaces, a small module for narrative-driven random encounters for overland travel. A text version is linked in the post body. Page 2 of 4 of No Empty Spaces, a small module for narrative-driven random encounters for overland travel. A text version is linked in the post body. Page 3 of 4 of No Empty Spaces, a small module for narrative-driven random encounters for overland travel. A text version is linked in the post body. Page 4 of 4 of No Empty Spaces, a small module for narrative-driven random encounters for overland travel. A text version is linked in the post body.
October 13, 2025 at 12:38 AM
thecastlebuilder.bsky.social
Kind of a hangover from yesterday's serious one, but today is busy so my post for #ttrpgpromptober day 10 ("moon") is mostly a shitpost. But it was still fun to make! thank you @eash.dev for being an appreciator of the meme format used here

link: thecastlebuilder.notion.site/promptober-D...
page 1 of 2 of "Two Guys on the Moon", a silly little generator with rollable tables that creates a seed of a story for a scifi horror adventure. The text version is linked in the body of the post. page 2 of 2 of "Two Guys on the Moon", a silly little generator with rollable tables that creates a seed of a story for a scifi horror adventure. The text version is linked in the body of the post.
October 10, 2025 at 11:15 PM
thecastlebuilder.bsky.social
For day 8 of #ttrpgpromptober ("spirits"), I wrote a faction for Blades in the Dark by John Harper. Heavily inspired by my first BitD group's crew concept, so @mandkips.bsky.social @behnkecodes.bsky.social @lpg.space also share credit for the idea!

link: thecastlebuilder.notion.site/promptober-D...
Screenshot of "The Rekindled Flame", a custom Faction for Blades in the Dark by John Harper, revolving around a secret drug that can keep ghosts from becoming feral
October 9, 2025 at 3:16 AM
thecastlebuilder.bsky.social
Day 7 of #ttrpgpromptober is "secrets", and I had the idea of a heist falling apart at the last minute as secret schemes and betrayals suddenly came to light. It's a little slapdash but I think it could polish up into something fun and snappy!

link: thecastlebuilder.notion.site/promptober-D...
page 1 of 3 of No Honor, a game about a crew of thieves betraying one another during the final stages of a daring heist. A link to a text version is in the post body. page 2 of 3 of No Honor, a game about a crew of thieves betraying one another during the final stages of a daring heist. A link to a text version is in the post body. page 3 of 3 of No Honor, a game about a crew of thieves betraying one another during the final stages of a daring heist. A link to a text version is in the post body.
October 8, 2025 at 12:09 AM
thecastlebuilder.bsky.social
I've made it to Day 6 of #ttrpgpromptober! This one is honestly very under-informed, but it's a usable foundation for a better-researched game. Inspired by Friends at the Table's Hieron seasons and history-making games like Ben Robbins' Microscope!

link: thecastlebuilder.notion.site/promptober-D...
Page 1 of 2 of a mythic pantheon creation game, in which players take turns introducing deities or adding details to them, their relationships, and their stories. There's a link to the text version in the body of this post. Page 2 of 2 of a mythic pantheon creation game, in which players take turns introducing deities or adding details to them, their relationships, and their stories. There's a link to the text version in the body of this post.
October 7, 2025 at 12:28 AM
thecastlebuilder.bsky.social
For Day 5 of #ttrpgpromptober I'm stretching the theme... "masquerade" implies disguise/misdirection, so I dusted off and expanded a (HxH inspired) 2-player shonen dueling game idea. the escalating one-upsmanship is the masquerade part, to me

link: thecastlebuilder.notion.site/promptober-D...
Page 1 of 3 of "Jajanken Duel", a 2-player storytelling game about shonen duels that's broadly inspired by Hunter x Hunter Page 1 of 3 of "Jajanken Duel", a 2-player storytelling game about shonen duels that's broadly inspired by Hunter x Hunter Page 1 of 3 of "Jajanken Duel", a 2-player storytelling game about shonen duels that's broadly inspired by Hunter x Hunter
October 6, 2025 at 7:21 AM
thecastlebuilder.bsky.social
For #ttrpgpromptober day 4, I made a procedure for modifying a character in a campaign game. As a player, my characters' stories sometimes peter out or change before the campaign concludes. This is one loose idea of how to alter their path!

link: thecastlebuilder.notion.site/promptober-D...
Page 1 of 3 of The Shadow Plunge, a generic procedure for modifying a character's history or mechanics in a campaign-style game Page 2 of 3 of The Shadow Plunge, a generic procedure for modifying a character's history or mechanics in a campaign-style game Page 3 of 3 of The Shadow Plunge, a generic procedure for modifying a character's history or mechanics in a campaign-style game
October 5, 2025 at 6:49 AM
thecastlebuilder.bsky.social
I won't have several free hours tomorrow, so I'll have to reign things in, but today's #ttrpgpromptober got away from me again... Here's Glade of Solitude, a (very rough) game about collaborative potion-crafting with restricted communication.

Link: thecastlebuilder.notion.site/promptober-D...
1 of 4 screenshots of the rules to Glade of Solitude, a GM-less 3 player game about collaborative potion-crafting with imperfect communication 2 of 4 screenshots of the rules to Glade of Solitude, a GM-less 3 player game about collaborative potion-crafting with imperfect communication 3 of 4 screenshots of the rules to Glade of Solitude, a GM-less 3 player game about collaborative potion-crafting with imperfect communication 4 of 4 screenshots of the rules to Glade of Solitude, a GM-less 3 player game about collaborative potion-crafting with imperfect communication
October 4, 2025 at 7:00 AM
thecastlebuilder.bsky.social
I'm afraid that there's a good chance I'm gonna make a whole-ass game for each of these prompts. For day 2 of #ttrpgpromptober, I present to you: WORD WIZARDS
The setup for WORD WIZARDS, in which spelling be contestants accidentally cast an eldritch spell that summons a monster, and must use their newly awakened magic powers to defeat it The gameplay rules for WORD WIZARDS, in which spelling be contestants accidentally cast an eldritch spell that summons a monster, and must use their newly awakened magic powers to defeat it
October 3, 2025 at 6:20 AM
thecastlebuilder.bsky.social
To start off somewhere I'm already at, I made a quick landmark for Heart: the City Beneath (which I've been running lately) for the first day of #ttrpgpromptober
A landmark for Heart: The City Beneath, describing an enormous bramble with vicious thorns that spills out of a great ravine, attracting divers who delve into its depths
October 2, 2025 at 5:35 AM
thecastlebuilder.bsky.social
Another screenshot that I loved, but had no reason to include in the post is this shot of this briefcase full of stacks and stacks of crisp b̶e̶n̶j̶a̶m̶i̶n̶s̶ washingtons
Max Payne stands in a shipping container with a small desk and chair, a dead body on the ground, and a briefcase on the desk filled with stacks of 1$ bills
February 18, 2025 at 7:58 PM
thecastlebuilder.bsky.social
you can even anthropomorphize your cat to be one of your example players!
December 30, 2024 at 7:20 PM
thecastlebuilder.bsky.social
don't mind me, just frantically trying to put meaningful bits of time into all the games I missed this year
screenshot from I Am Your Beast of a first person view of a snowy military encampment and a masked soldier aiming a gun towards the player screenshot from 1000xRESIST of a zoomed-in close-up of the main character's face screenshot from Nine Sols showing several people gathered in front o fa high-tech shrine at dusk screenshot from The Rise of the Golden Idol showing two people on the side of a snowy road discovering a body
December 27, 2024 at 12:44 AM
thecastlebuilder.bsky.social
my cat is very small and good (also a little evil)
November 21, 2024 at 11:06 PM
thecastlebuilder.bsky.social
me in my ECHO chamber (help)
November 20, 2024 at 6:27 AM