Hi! My name is Max Hervieux, publishing as The Logbook Project. I'm a tabletop rpg designer, and I'm going to use this Pinned thread to make a little guide to my existing stuff to check out.
Website: buff.ly/OZH9fA9
Patreon: buff.ly/g7gYwt7
Tumblr: buff.ly/0vxHWUR
Itch: buff.ly/zBqsvcz
My thoughts on Bioware's recent games are complex, but their sudden and frankly disrespectful end is honestly offensive. While they haven't always been at the heart of my gaming history, they've produced a few of my greatest moments. Those memories have made them ever-reliable to me as a designer.
If Montsimmard 9:38 is to be my passionate send-off to Bioware, I don't think I could do much better. There's some really clever stuff in there -- I'm particularly enamored with my transformation of the Spectre into the Tal-Vashoth.
Also btw M9:38 is free/PWYW, so no barrier to curiosity there :3
So once more: thank you Bioware. The Shining Void and Montsimmard 9:38 are my love letters to your legacy.
tSV ($7): buff.ly/BG73vrs
M9:38 (Free): buff.ly/5qjZxoG
My thoughts on Bioware's recent games are complex, but their sudden and frankly disrespectful end is honestly offensive. While they haven't always been at the heart of my gaming history, they've produced a few of my greatest moments. Those memories have made them ever-reliable to me as a designer.
I'm also now a Dragon Age person. I'd played DA:I twice and DA:V once by the time I did DA2 and it astounded me. So... I wrote a hack of Urban Shadows 2e to do DA2-style play, called Montaimmard 9:38.
buff.ly/5qjZxoG
It's the most niche thing I think I've ever made. There's a canon primer included, but this is for people who like DA2 and love urban fantasy ttrpgs. I put a frankly absurd amount of thought into it for a free project that like 4 people will ever play, and I won't even get to be among them.
My thoughts on Bioware's recent games are complex, but their sudden and frankly disrespectful end is honestly offensive. While they haven't always been at the heart of my gaming history, they've produced a few of my greatest moments. Those memories have made them ever-reliable to me as a designer.
Story-time: I have Level 1-20'd a single OGL game, and it wasn't D&D3. It was the original d20 Star Wars. My high school friends with SWEU nuts, and one of my typical players stepped into the GM chair. (ftr he hated the Disney canon massacre)
We played a little fast and loose with the rules (the xp rules especially) but it was the most passionate game my hs group ever played. And it was UNDENIABLY built on a KotOR foundation.
My thoughts on Bioware's recent games are complex, but their sudden and frankly disrespectful end is honestly offensive. While they haven't always been at the heart of my gaming history, they've produced a few of my greatest moments. Those memories have made them ever-reliable to me as a designer.
Specifically, I've made two games anchored on Bioware projects, and have one further experience rooted in their work.
For one, I have The Shining Void, a PbtA experiment based deeply on Mass Effect. ME2 is a top 3 game for me, often flirting with #1.
buff.ly/BG73vrs
It was my second project, developed mid LotE, and I loved experimenting with half-playbooks, authority vs rank, and free-play harm. Not every experiment worked, but I learned tons, and I have a couple lifelong friends from con games of tSV.
My first 5 TTRPGs in the order I played them (NOT read them, that order is v different)
1. dungeons & dragons 3e/4e
2. lady blackbird
3. homemade 3:16 hack for Left 4 Dead
4. dogs in the vineyard
5. apocalypse world
If you follow me, there’s a 99% chance you also follow Ben, but for that 1% slipping through the cracks…
🚨 Microscope 2nd Edition is on Kickstarter! 🚨
M-Scope is a galaxy-shaking game that is a must-play for literally everyone who enjoys storytelling, roleplaying, or being creative. Go get it! 🔬
Hey, it's my birthday!
Check out my games, lots of them are free! And if you've ever enjoyed something I've written, I'd love to hear about it <3
thelogbookproject.itch.io
Additionally, there's a special Expansion to the game now available too, containing a bonus Mission to recruit a new Soldier named Ward, the Exo Pilot. It's a Titanfall set introducing a weird high-risk high-reward style of play. It's cool, and it's free!
buff.ly/797VvFw
The PDF is $15. On DTRPG, the softcover is $30, while a premium version is available on Lulu for $35. Lulu won't let me bundle a ZIP or PDF, so email me if you get it there and you can have the files. Similarly, if you buy it on one site and want it in other libraries, I can help with that.
Inspired by Halo Reach and ODST amongst a number of other things, this is my independent take on a campaign structure for FitD, playing with anti-canon and shared control of the squad ideas that I started playing with in The Unity of Skovlan, with a bunch of new innovations.
The Oleander Daemon is released! My squad-based FitD campaign of military sci-fi action about a guerilla force fighting back against an occupying invader is available in both PDF and softcover POD.
tLBP: buff.ly/797VvFw
DTRPG: buff.ly/67gBMOl
Itch: buff.ly/GCKR8XF
Lulu: buff.ly/5duEpis
The Oleander Daemon is released! My squad-based FitD campaign of military sci-fi action about a guerilla force fighting back against an occupying invader is available in both PDF and softcover POD.
tLBP: buff.ly/797VvFw
DTRPG: buff.ly/67gBMOl
Itch: buff.ly/GCKR8XF
Lulu: buff.ly/5duEpis
The Oleander Daemon is released! My squad-based FitD campaign of military sci-fi action about a guerilla force fighting back against an occupying invader is available in both PDF and softcover POD.
tLBP: buff.ly/797VvFw
DTRPG: buff.ly/67gBMOl
Itch: buff.ly/GCKR8XF
Lulu: buff.ly/5duEpis
The PDF is $15. On DTRPG, the softcover is $30, while a premium version is available on Lulu for $35. Lulu won't let me bundle a ZIP or PDF, so email me if you get it there and you can have the files. Similarly, if you buy it on one site and want it in other libraries, I can help with that.
Additionally, there's a special Expansion to the game now available too, containing a bonus Mission to recruit a new Soldier named Ward, the Exo Pilot. It's a Titanfall set introducing a weird high-risk high-reward style of play. It's cool, and it's free!
buff.ly/797VvFw
The Oleander Daemon is released! My squad-based FitD campaign of military sci-fi action about a guerilla force fighting back against an occupying invader is available in both PDF and softcover POD.
tLBP: buff.ly/797VvFw
DTRPG: buff.ly/67gBMOl
Itch: buff.ly/GCKR8XF
Lulu: buff.ly/5duEpis
Inspired by Halo Reach and ODST amongst a number of other things, this is my independent take on a campaign structure for FitD, playing with anti-canon and shared control of the squad ideas that I started playing with in The Unity of Skovlan, with a bunch of new innovations.
Late night team! I need YOU to make some noise about Cinderella Smile.
It's an asymmetrical gothic horror TTRPG where you're courtiers trying to fend off a wedding before it destroys the land.
It's got stuff like lying about your dice and it's full of that art.
www.kickstarter.com/projects/rod...
15 years ago when Apocalypse World was new and people were beginning to understand and work with it, it was seductive to look at "acting under fire" and see, not one basic move of several, but the template underlying all the game's moves.
Like @kierongillen.bsky.social 's classic gag:
Side note: a deep thank you to whoever bought Blood/Lust on Itch today, I hope you love it, enjoy spooky season
Everyone else should also check out my romantic-but-not-quite-erotic gothic romance vampire duet game, it's definitely one of my most niche experiences but it's super intense and fun
Not gonna have this opinion tagged into that announcement post, but Sufficient is all I'm gonna get from Lightningsource through DTRPG. Are the costs down? Sure. Is the quality down relative to my personal Lulu copy? Yupppp. Wish I could offer 80# coated pages on DTRPG, but the Premium is too much.
Alrighty, got my DTRPG proof of The Oleander Daemon, which was my last limiting factor on the release of the game (POD was a mandatory element). It's sufficient! The game will release within on the next couple weeks!
(I kinda expected it to take a week or more from now to get it, so I'm calibrating all the simultaneous posts for it now. Also I got covid traveling for a wedding last weekend despite precautions so I'm taking it at whatever pace I can. I'm really excited to release though)
Y'know, I've felt doubt every now and then that my upcoming Oleander Daemon release is actually going to resonate right with anyone
Then I listen to Halo soundtracks for ten minutes and, uh, I nailed it. The vibes are immaculate.
(.hack//SIGN is Starglow, Phendrana Drifts is Under Forgotten Stars, Agni Kai is and always has been LotE, Chrono Cross is an underpinning element of Sacred Sandglass, and Copper Ganglia is a cross between Amos Roddy and Elemental, a 2013 indie with an inordinate hold on my ears for a many years)
Y'know, I've felt doubt every now and then that my upcoming Oleander Daemon release is actually going to resonate right with anyone
Then I listen to Halo soundtracks for ten minutes and, uh, I nailed it. The vibes are immaculate.
Idk if I'm ever going to be able to play or listen to Halo again without being overcome with Oleander thoughts, and imho that's the perfect feeling after finishing a project, the feeling that it has permanently entrenched itself into your brain and your connection to its inspirations.
(the song that activated me for this thread was On A Pale Horse, and the H3 version Behold A Pale Horse is one of my top 5 vg music moments all time
i swear that's meaningful, vg or anime music moments have been guiding the last 4 or 5 of my game projects)
Oleander Daemon side note: my partner and I just finished a full Battlestar Galactica rewatch (I actually saw the ending this time, but that's a different thread) and I have to mention that core Oleander Soldier Celadon is based on a different Tricia Helfer character.
Veronica Dare, the ONI spy who commandeers the team in Halo 3 ODST, is directly the personal inspiration for the Soldier Celadon. Dare is played by Tricia Helfer, at the height of her Model Six fame. The "spy embedded in a SpecOps team, perhaps with secret instructions" idea was v compelling to me.
Okay, that's me committed
THE OLEANDER DAEMON releases in October, PDF and POD.
I don't have a final date (I need to receive my POD proofs to hit the button, so it's not 100% in my hands) but I'm targeting the 11th or 12th (the latter is my birthday)
So now, I'm just gonna start releasing things. Not willy-nilly, I'm doing it with intention, but I'm not holding myself to a standard of driving a huge-feeling campaign.
Anyway, to end this thread with fun news, I've also written new bonus content for The Oleander Daemon -- a bonus Soldier and Mission inspired very directly by Titanfall 2. Some of the best new content I've written in months!
Okay, that's me committed
THE OLEANDER DAEMON releases in October, PDF and POD.
I don't have a final date (I need to receive my POD proofs to hit the button, so it's not 100% in my hands) but I'm targeting the 11th or 12th (the latter is my birthday)
I've been ruminating on this for a while now, and I just don't have the right disposition to make this a Kickstarter, or to pursue crowdfunding in general for a while. Building hype and doing the marketing requisite to the process is literally stopping me from working on things.
I love my games, and I think they deserve the attention that comes with a full campaign, but I'd rather they be out and readable and playable than stuck in my head, waiting for me to work up the spirit to build a crowdfund.
Now on my Patreon: the first draft of THURSDAY NIGHT TELEVISION, a storytelling/worldbuilding game for 1-5 players about generating the history of a fake cable channel. I'd love your thoughts!
Check it out: www.patreon.com/u216570/post...
So in The Unity of Skovlan, there's a late-Period Mission where you assassinate an Akarosi general
I adapted that one to Oleander Daemon, a scifi Halo-like game
But I'm realizing in the adaptation, I basically wrote a mission where you assassinate Darth Vader
Also I love both versions of this Mission, The General is one of my fav tUoS missions
And though I left it vague for broader text principle, if you play it and your Teaves is not a woman, you're a coward. That character was written to be Olivier Armstrong but maybe even bigger