Pluvid

Tag: indie rpg

  • Why This Blog Exists

    Why This Blog Exists

    I’ve spent years creating things for tabletop roleplaying games—miniatures, stories, rules, and worlds—and I’ve often felt like these pieces existed in isolation. This blog is a way to gather them, to share what I’ve made and the process behind it. It’s a space for anyone who loves the sprawling creativity of TTRPGs, the joy of rolling dice, and the thrill of storytelling.

    You’ll find fragments of what I’ve been working on: rules that have evolved over years of playtesting, glimpses into the worlds I’ve built, and reflections on what it means to create something in this space. It’s about sharing the rough edges and the ideas that keep me coming back to the table.

    Whether you’re here for inspiration, curiosity, or just to see what’s possible, I hope you find something worth exploring.

    What is Sunken Stars?

    My journey with Sunken Stars began years ago. At the time, I was running a game that had all the chaos and charm of a high-seas adventure inspired by One Piece. It was wild, full of energy, and steeped in the spirit of exploration. But even in those early days, I found myself leaning towards something darker with edges that cut a little deeper. I’ve always been drawn to the magnetism of fear—the moments when the familiar dissolves into the unknown and the horizon feels like it might swallow you whole.

    The games I ran started to shift. The world became stranger, the seas more dangerous. Characters had to navigate not just storms and sea beasts, but the weight of their own choices. Each iteration of Sunken Stars carried me closer to the vision that had been growing quietly in the back of my mind. A world where the stars could guide you or betray you, where the islands whispered secrets, and where the ocean—vast and uncaring—was as much an adversary as any enemy you might face.

    The Heart of the Game

    At its core, Sunken Stars is about those who dare to venture beyond the light. It’s a game of sailors and survivors, rogues and wanderers, navigating a fractured world of strange islands and open waters. It’s about carving a path through the jagged black and finding out what waits on the other side—if you can make it that far.

    It’s also about the choices we make when confronted with power. The Patrons, ancient and alien entities, offer strength but demand loyalty. Their gifts are double-edged, leaving marks that can’t be undone. The game doesn’t provide easy answers; it gives you tools and asks what you’re willing to risk.

    The World of Sunken Stars

    The world is not kind. The seas stretch endlessly, dotted with islands that hold wonders and horrors in equal measure. Most people live under the shadow of oppression, their lives shaped by cruel hierarchies and systems of power. For many, the open ocean is the only escape—a place where death is likely, but freedom is possible.

    It’s a world inspired by the late Age of Sail, with the faint flicker of new technologies just beginning to emerge. Gatling guns, electric lights, and experimental radios are whispered about in dockside taverns, but these are prototypes, not the cornerstones of progress. Magic exists here too, but it’s not the structured, reliable kind of high fantasy. It’s strange, wild, and often deeply unsettling. The Patrons, witches, and the islands themselves weave a web of powers that defy easy understanding.

    Years in the Making

    Sunken Stars has grown through years of experiments, playtests, and late-night ideas scribbled onto paper. Each campaign taught me something new: how mechanics could reflect the fragile balance of survival, how navigation could become an act of strategy, and how death could feel like a part of the story rather than its end. The game has changed with every phase, but its heart has remained the same: a love of the unknown, of the pull toward what lies just out of reach.

    This blog is another step in that journey. It’s a way to share the fragments that make up Sunken Stars: the themes, the mechanics, the stories, and the process that brought it all together. It’s for anyone who’s ever looked out past the edge of the light and wondered what waits in the dark.

  • Creating a Sunken Stars Island

    Creating a Sunken Stars Island

    Welcome to the World of Sunken Stars

    Some stories refuse to stay silent. They take shape in the quiet hours, nagging at the edges of thought, persisting until they’re told. Sunken Stars is one of those stories—a patchwork of images and ideas that grew into something larger, something worth sharing. A vast sea, unknowable and unkind. A crew, surviving on sharp wits and fraying nerve. And a question: What do you do when the stars start to lie?

    This blog is an attempt to capture a little of the chaos and wonder that comes with making a world. To begin, let me introduce you to one fragment of it: the old chapel on the island of Chapelune.

    Chapelune: Beneath an Eternal Moon

    Chapelune is an island steeped in eerie beauty. Its alabaster cliffs rise sharply from the sea, crowned by a crumbling chapel whose spire pierces the heavens. The chapel is a marvel of forgotten craft, adorned with stained glass windows that depict celestial and alien figures in cryptic poses. Though the building has succumbed to time, the glass remains flawless, casting fractured light across the silver-leafed forest below.

    The island feels heavy with reverence, as though it carries the weight of countless whispered prayers. But there is also unease here, an undercurrent of obsession and transformation. It is the home of the Shaper, a fallen Patron fragmented into shards of stained glass. Banished from the Court of the Moon for aligning with the Sun during an ancient rebellion, the Shaper offers enlightenment that quickly curdles into madness. Its shifting form—sometimes a cloaked figure, sometimes a kaleidoscope of shards—is as mesmerizing as it is dangerous.

    The Shaper, A Fallen Patron

    A fallen Patron, exiled from the Court of the Moon for siding with the Sun during an ancient rebellion. Fragmented into glass, it exerts a pull on mortals, tempting them with promises of enlightenment but offering only madness.

    The Shaper manifests as a constantly shifting figure of stained glass and light, its form fracturing and reassembling with every movement. At times, its form resembles a cloaked artisan, at others, an abstract kaleidoscope of radiant shards.

    A Hook to Begin Your Journey

    The Glass Whisperer

    A merchant offers the party a shard of stained glass humming faintly with whispers, claiming it belonged to the chapel in Chapelune. A wealthy collector hires the party to return it, convinced it holds the key to unlocking “the truth behind the stars.”

    As the party nears the island, they begin seeing fragmented visions of alternate realities through the shard—some hopeful, others horrifying. The shard exerts a pull on the party, forcing them to confront their own flaws or secrets. At night, the shard reflects distorted versions of themselves, showing what they might become.

    Climax: Returning the shard to the chapel triggers a reaction in
    the Vault of Mirrors, where the Shaper appears as a kaleidoscopic figure of shifting glass. It offers the party transformation—physical, mental, or spiritual—in exchange for a price.

    1. The Hall of Steps: A broad hallway that slopes downward, lined with broken pews and aged banners of the Moon Court.
      Each step emits a faint hum as the party descends, intensifying as they near the nave.
    2. The Nave: A grand, open space illuminated by moonlight refracting through the stained glass, creating surreal, shifting colors. The central altar bears evidence of recent rituals: melted candles, smeared chalk sigils, and bloodied cloth. A spiral staircase at the far end descends into the crypt below, hidden by a sliding stone panel that can be revealed with a Sense check (TN 14) or ritual interaction.
    3. The Dreamer’s Alcove A side chamber with stone beds where pilgrims are said to sleep and receive visions. Anyone who sleeps here experiences vivid dreams of descending into light, meeting unknowable beings, and becoming one with the Shaper.
    4. The Vault of Mirrors: A labyrinthine chamber lined with mirrored walls, creating endless reflections and optical illusions, the players’ own reflections may occasionally move independently.
      Hazard A Sense check (TN 12) is required to navigate the maze.
    5. Shaper’s Rest: The final chamber, with the focal point being the mirrored sarcophagus of the Shaper in the center. Three large mirrors are spaced evenly around the room, each reflecting a slightly different version of reality.
      The sarcophagus is guarded by four animated glass golems, each formed of shards from the stained glass windows above.

    If this sparks anything—ideas, questions, or your own interpretations—I’d love to hear it.