#diwata games in development

[diwatamnl]

Talked a lil bit about a game I'm making. Check it out if you want!

#over water #diwata games in development

[r-rook-studio]

Barrow Keep Update: Heroes of Cliffside—4^4 Character Creation

The next installment of Barrow Keep is releasing in 2023. This one is a stand-alone game*, though if funding goes well, I may put out some conversion kits.

Barrow Keep was my first entirely self-published project that I took from playtests to crowdfunding to print in 2020. While the original was a mashup of Mercedes Lackey, Game of Thrones, and gaslamp-fueled science fantasy, complete with snazzy tailored coats and plasmic pistols. The first volume, Den of Spies, focused on the young adults who'd grown up in the Keep itself. Heroes of Cliffside focuses on the nearby town of Cliffside, troubled by corruption in the town, bandits on the roads, and pirates in the harbor.

During the playtests this summer (with both my private group and the Gen Con group), we used basic resolution mechanics from Pretendo Games' 24XX and related games. I've got a lot of my own systems out there, so I'd briefly considered shifting back to one of those so I can try and develop a house system, but that'd be a good way to do business, and I really like how the playbooks of Den of Spies and Heroes of Cliffside work with 24XX.

For the first full public playtest, Heroes of Cliffside will start with one of four playbooks, and then make three more decisions (each with four choices): a personal goal (originally called a B plot), a bond with another PC, and "gift" a special ability (whether magical or mundane). Right now, the playbooks are:

Criminal

Performer

Temple Oracle

Third Born

And the gifts expand on the core ideas of Barrow Keep, including the now familiar Beast Bond and Seer, alongside the were-raven and the "Avenging Angel."

The playbook set is with Diwata ng Manila, who worked with Minerva Fox on the cover, for layout, but you can see some early mockups I did for playtesting, as well as a draft text of the four gifts and some draft rules of play.

* Yes, I keep promising to talk about what I've learned (and what I'm just hypothesizing) about when to do a stand-alone game and when it should be a supplement/setting/advnture for something else. I think I got it wrong a little bit when I first published Barrow Keep, and got it wrong a lot when I did Enoch's Wake. I promise, I will eventually get around to putting my thoughts out there, and I promise all the data will be anecdotal, so people can pick it the fuck apart.

#ttrpg #playtesting #playtest #quickstart #barrow keep

[thebraveandthebroiled]

Hi all, if you like TTRPGs there’s a great bundle over in itch.io! It’s 69 games going for $10 and the games are from a mix of indie ttrpg developers included many folks from RPGSEA. The games span the range from fantasy to cyberpunk, from heart wrenching to whimsical, solo to big group, and there’s just so many cool mechanics to explore throughout.

The bundle was created to help out a struggling RPGSEA dev, so if you’ve the coin help a creator out!

“Hey, everyone! Sin, aka Diwata ng Manila, has been struggling with paying off their backlogged rent for a while now. A lot of harrowing personal events that occurred last year accumulated a massive amount of debt between them and their landlord. They’ve been trying their very best to take commissioned work and do more of their game design to pay things off, but there’s still a ways to go.

Paying this off will make sure Sin and the pets in their care isn’t in any danger of being evicted. It will also enable them to focus better on saving up for some of their bigger goals for 2020, like preparing their travel documents for a ttrpgs convention - namely Big Bad Con 2020. BBC is rapidly becoming a goal for many of us RPGSEA designers, given the things it has done for people like Pammu and Mahar

….And of course, purchasing this bundle can, at a minimum, get you some amazing games and supplements from amazing ttrpgs devs!“

https://itch.io/b/433/help-a-diwata-with-her-rent

#ttrpg #indie rpg #diverse games #i need diverse games #itch.io

[iris-sistibly]

4R’s: Encantadia Season 2 (May 8, 2017 episode review)

Episode 209

Recap:

Keros’ true colors

Kahlil was captured and was brought to Keros who has been keeping track of Emre and Cassiopeia’s progress. Kahlil reminded Keros of his friendship with Emre and if he can really let someone who treated him fairly down which hit Keros’ conscience. Being unable to withstand Emre’s struggles anymore, he appeared before the two with Galatea. The latter holding a platter of fruits from the tree of life—the antidote to Ether’s poison, Keros is not a really a bad god and only wanted to break free from his curse of being the god of destruction, Ether and Arde promised to help him which prompted him to join their side. Emre tried to make Keros see the good in his powers but the latter refused to listen, he couldn’t break his allegiance with Arde and Ether anymore, he urged the two to eat the fruits and leave Devas. Emre and Cassiopeia were finally cured, Emre initially wanted Cassiopeia to go back to Encantadia but the latter refused and stood firm on her decision to stay by his side until he wins Devas back. Emre admired Cassiopeia, truly she deserves to be a goddess.

Ether and Arde returned to Devas and noticed that a part of the tree of life is burned and some of the fruits were missing. Ether began suspecting but Keros quickly bluffed and walked away. The goddess knew he was lying but for now, they have to eliminate Emre and Cassiopeia first who has finally broke free from her curse.

How to get the diwanis back

The sang’gres were relieved that Deshna has returned to Lireo especially her older sister Pirena, Deshna realized how bad their father was and apologized for being angry at the diwatas, but she wasn’t planning to stay for long because she was planning to look for Lila Sari, Alena assured that they will help her but asked Deshna to stay in the palace for it was still dangerous outside.

Pirena who was initially warned by her sisters not to do anything impulsive sneaked in Hagorn’s camp to save her daughter and niece. Hagorn sensed her presence after noticing that his guards were missing (they were all killed by Pirena), Pirena showed up and demanded for Mira and Lira, Hagorn refused to hand over the two without Pirena and sisters surrendering their gems, Andora and Deshna. Pirena refused to do that and attempted to rescue Mira and Lira, she found them, but failed to take them away for Hagorn casted a barrier to prevent Pirena from getting them. Pirena threatened to kill Hagorn’s Mashnas but he was willing to sacrifice the lives of Asval and Andora for power and went ivictus, Alena, Danaya and Ybrahim came and aided Pirena after finding out what she did, they succeeded in battle but failed to rescue the princesses. Lira and Mira were taken to Old Etheria where Hagorn was planning to lock them up and make sure that the sang’gres will never find them. The sang’gres were placed in a predicament on how are they going to save the diwanis without the sisters surrendering their gems, Alena came up with a plan, a risky one but worth the try, Pirena thanked her and volunteered to carry it out. Ybrahim praised her for changing to much over the years, she’s no longer the weak and fragile sang’gre but a strong and smart one, truly, Alena also deserves to be a leader.

Rave/s:

💚Yay Alena has once again proven that she can be a leader, is this a sign that she’s going to take over Adamya and become it’s queen? I would love to see that. Also, cheers to AzPiren for making me kilig tonight, what will this show do without love teams? (Insert sarcasm). The only thing I am wishing right now is for Mira and Lira to at least prove themselves worthy for their titles as sang’gres and destined keeper of the water and earth gems.

Rant/s:

😪Last two weeks, still no character build up for the new guardians and other characters. I don’t know why the hell are they doing this but only Alena has the most development in this season, I’m still doubting whether they are going to give this show a satisfying ending, based on tonight’s episode, I don’t think so. The thing that I am most annoyed about is that they seem to be making some dead old characters come back to life to become scene fillers, and although I am really happy that Mira and Lira has finally returned, I am still bummed with the fact that they brought them back just to make sure that the show’s ratings won’t flop until the finale, and as much as I hate to admit this, the people behind making the show trend are the shippers who are rooting for their ships to become end game, only a handful are rooting for the story itself which is sad because Encantadia is not just about romance. Another factor that made this show a fail is that they depended on the love teams, I’m not buying the entire plot of this season because clearly it sucks, I’m not even that convinced with the story of the so-called love teams because well, they suck too. It’s irritating af that they did not give Kahlil a chance to become hero even in the afterlife, and was only turned into everyone’s side kick. I am angry at how they’ve written Ariana’s narrative so badly that they have scrapped and murdered every bit of Amihan’s character in Ariana’s existence! The fuck Amihan is smart, courageous, always willing to step up, a true hero of Encantadia! Have you guys noticed how Alena and Amihan switched roles? Alena is being the leader here which I am truly proud of but Ariana just turned into Alena version 1.0 and what’s masaklap is that she has very little to no progress in terms of characterization and performance-wise Arra SUCKS and will always SUCK. I’ve seen the clip of their show with the cast of MVR in EK and although she sings pretty well, her facial expression is suppressed, like she’s not feeling the song at all, idk and I’m not interested at watching her so I didn’t see the whole performance but based on what I saw on that clip, I’m like girl pati ba naman sa pagkanta stiff ka? I don’t know why the hell she made it to Star Struck, I guess the Philippine entertainment hasn’t gotten off the “pretty face” syndrome which is why some people would appreciate a handsome or a pretty girl with absolutely no talent than someone who is clearly outstanding. Pao Pao, Muyak and Deshna? Please, like joining the war would make their characters stand-out, know what? They shouldn’t have introduced some interesting subplots if they are not going to tell the entire story anyway, they should have just focused on the character developments of the sang’gres because there is no doubt that this season is sang’gre-centric and Lira and Mira are no longer part of it. They have taken away Emre’s powers and so is his intelligence which led to many epic-fail adventures, Haliyah remains to be the most useless goddess ever, the story of Asval and Andora were never narrated as opposed to what they have promised to tell the story behind the baddies which is why I will tag this show as TYPICAL. Again, this show is yet to prove that this is better than the original, based on the episode tonight, I can conclude that DMR and the prod failed to keep their promise to make this story a hundred times better than the original.

Best performer/s for this episode: Gabbi Garcia 🌊

Rating: 5 out of 10💎s  

Credits to: GMA network via YouTube and Dailymotion @GMAEncantadia (Encantadia’s Official Twitter account) @GMANetwork (GMA’s Official Twitter account) @GMADrama (GMA Primetime series’ Official Twitter account) Encantadia 2016 (Official Facebook page) www.encantadia.com.ph (Encantadia’s Official Website)

#tv series #encantadia #encantadiadevas #pirena #ybrahim #mira #4Rs

[phgq]

Sta Teresita stages twin festival

#PHinfo: Sta Teresita stages twin festival

STA TERESITA, Cagayan, March 10 (PIA) - - It’s an all systems go for the 5th Namunit Festival and the 8th National Eco-Tourism Festival of this town on March 10-14, 2020 highlighting on water resource preservation and conservation.

Mayor Rodrigo De Graca (center) discusses the theme of this year's 5th Namunit Festival and 8th Eco-Tourism Festival with the members of the press. (by PIA) 

Mayor Rodrigo De Gracia said this year’s festival will showcase the potentials of the town from its water resources to include its rivers, spring, lakes and newly discovered falls that can be developed for tourism activities.

“In the previous festivals, we promoted our caves, our “Bakong” and other resources we have but this year we will highlight our water resources that are gifts from God that bring progress and joy to the Teresians,” De Gracia said.

Parts of the weeklong twin festival is the indigenous fun games, battle of the bands, creative cultural dance competition, trade fair, literary and musical contests, sports events, street dancing, talent show for senior citizens, search for Diwata at Prinsipe ng Kalikasan, and search for Bini Beki for the LGBTQ+ community.

Garcia said the festivals were originally set last month but was postponed due to the Corona Virus-19 (COVID-19) issue.

“We assure you of the safety and security of our visitors. We have enough security forces and we also have our health team to ensure that COVID-19 cannot enter our town,” the mayor said.

He further said that they are expecting the presence of some key government officials during the festivities  to inspire Teresians. (BME/OTB/PIA-Cagayan)

***

References:

* Philippine Information Agency. "Sta Teresita stages twin festival." Philippine Information Agency. https://pia.gov.ph/news/articles/1035728 (accessed March 11, 2020 at 10:02AM UTC+08).

* Philippine Infornation Agency. "Sta Teresita stages twin festival." Archive Today. https://archive.ph/?run=1&url=https://pia.gov.ph/news/articles/1035728 (archived).

#Philippines #News #Filipino #Pinoy #Tourism #Politics #Culture #Editorial #Environment #Society #History

[iris-sistibly]

4R’s: Encantadia Season 2 (May 9, 2017 episode review)

Episode 210

Recap:

Getting the heiresses back

Pirena went back to Hagorn’s camp, the latter has been expecting her. Pirena “made up her mind” and has finally decided to surrender the fire gem to Hagorn, and even though she “failed” to convince her sisters to do the same, Hagorn already has three gems in his possession, two gems are better than three. Hagorn was suspicious at first, careful not to fall for the same trick Danaya once pulled on Avria. Pirena proved him wrong by showing off the gem’s wonders, Hagorn was finally convinced, but Pirena demanded for her beloved sang’gres in exchange. Hagorn took her to Old Etheria where they tied up the princesses. Ybrahim and Alena who apparently has been keeping an eye on Pirena from afar followed Hagorn and Pirena all the way to Old Etheria. Pirena was ecstatic to finally see her daughter and niece alive and well. Just as agreed, Pirena surrendered her fire gem. Hagorn thought he gained the upper hand, he was wrong, for the fire gem will never follow his command if it is not whole. Apparently, the sisters used Lira’s sword, through the sang’gres’ blessing, Lira’s weapon gained enough power to cut a portion of Pirena’s fire gem and this portion was used to deceive Hagorn in order to win back Lira and Mira without sacrificing the powerful brilyantes. They casted a protective spell using Mine-a’s scepter to prevent Hagorn (or perhaps Ether) to find out about their plans. Hagorn was enraged, a battle ensued, Alena and Ybrahim aided Pirena and successfully rescued the diwanis. It was a huge slap to Hagorn’s face that he was outsmarted by his own daughter.

Meanwhile, Manik who found himself guilty for betraying the diwatas which led to the deaths of many decided to make it up by avenging those who have perished, he encountered a group of vidaljes where he single-handedly fought them. In the end Manik perished, his dying wish was for Emre to forgive him for everything he has done. Muyak and Azulan found his corpse later on, they knew Manik chose the good side in the end and sacrificed himself to serve justice to those who suffered because of his treachery. Azulan paid respect to him, Manik will now be remembered as a hero. Azulan and Muyak immediately ordered to prepare a proper burial for Rehav Manik.

The destruction of Destruction

Emre has been training himself at handling Haliyah’s weapon, one of it’s many wonders is that it is able to sense of an enemy is nearby. Ether and Arde appeared, Emre and Cassiopeia challenged the two in battle, Ether and Arde “merged” and became a two headed beast. Emre and Cassiopeia would have been defeated if two ivtres didn’t come and rescue them, the ivtres brought Emre and Cassiopeia to safety. Turned out, it was Alira Naswen, the former Mashna of Sapiro and Gamiel [?] (me: I didn't get his name but sounds like it, sarreh!), a former Lirean soldier and father of Mira. The two narrated how they were able to escape: when the evil gods took over Emre, Ades became worried for Kahlil was nowhere to be found, turned out he was able to escape, and through the help of Ades who bravely sacrificed herself, Alira Naswen and Gamiel (?) were able to escape. The trio’s plan was to free the ivtres who hailed from the royal clans since they are much stronger and more powerful, wise decision as it seemed, but Kahlil was captured once again, Alira and Gamiel (?) was on the verge of giving up but was relieved that they have found Cassiopeia and Emre. Through the de-jar, Emre was able to cast a protective barrier to prevent Ether and Arde from finding them, Emre had high hopes that Keros will finally change his mind and take their side. Unfortunately, something happened, Cassiopeia saw the corpse of Keros in her vision, he was killed by Arde because of his treachery, Kahlil who saw his lifeless body in the flesh lost all hope for Devas’ future.

Rave/s:

💎Finally! An episode worth the rave! So glad Alena’s plan worked, but I guess happiness will be short-lived, I am kinda predicting that if Arde dies Lira and Mira will definitely back to being corpses once again thus they have to make the most difficult decision ever, I think Lira and Mira will really die for real in the end and Cassiopeia will become goddess and this will pave way for Cassandra’s creation and then cliff-hanger in the end. The possibility of an AleBarro come back is still there because like what you bessies said, even if the relationship Ybrahim and Alena has is platonic, maybe it’s the writer’s way of developing AleBarro, honestly I don’t like this idea because it really seems like Ybrahim is no good without an other half, and that he wasn’t being truthful when he claimed that he will always wait for his reunion with Amihan. And I would really like to see Ybrahim develop as a sole character, but oh well, like I mentioned before, Encantadia 2016 to 2017 is dependent on love teams no one can deny that fact. I won’t be surprised if they pushed through an AleBarro end game since Ariana’s character didn’t have that much development and Ybriana is an epic fail as well. So sad that Joross’ Manik had to die before the grand finale but I enjoyed every bit of his good guy-baddie role, truly an actor worth raving.

Rant/s:

🤔The conceptualization of the gods was far from what I have been thinking, after watching the episode tonight, I concluded that Emre is nowhere near the god I was expecting him to be. He is no different from his creations which is why his characterization is such an epic fail. The problem I see in this narrative is the way the writers incorporated the concept of gods in paganism and Christianity. It is said that the five gods of Encantadia came from heaven, the home of God (the real God) and they were banished for being neutral in the war against the “dark forces,” therefore, since heaven only has God and Jesus as well…Gods, Emre and co can also be considered as “fallen angels” except that they didn’t got stuck in hell or something like that. Which explains why the gods of Encantadia aren’t as powerful as what I was expecting them to be, if that’s what they have been trying to convey then they shouldn’t have addressed Emre as the “most powerful god,” he is powerful but he can be defeated just like Ether and Arde, they should have tagged him as king of the gods instead, because if he is oh so powerful and if he does see everything he should have known about Arde and Ether’s plans in the first place, may live streaming sa Devas diba? Also I don’t think it was a good idea to think that the existence of gods came from a Supreme God, the existence of gods in reality is based on someone’s belief. Encantadia believes in Emre but not God, the therefore he doesn't exist in the Encantadia universe. There should be a separation between two realities, they should have made Emre and God co-exist in two different realms instead of “coming” from the same God because this is what basically is the story of the gods is all about. And since Encantadia tackles more about Filipino myths, then the story of how the Encantadia universe was created should have been more…mythical, like the existence of Ma’at (Order) and Isfet (Chaos) and how it brought fourth the other gods and how these gods created the earth and blah, blah, blah (Egyptian mythology). I don’t know if I am making myself clear but it’s just that I have very different views when it comes to the concept of gods being incorporated in a story. I don’t know if you guys get my point but if you happen to be a fanatic of the Percy Jackson series and the Kane Chronicles Trilogy, you’ll know what I mean.

Best performer/s for this episode: Everyone nailed it 💎

Rating: 9 out of 10💎s  

Credits to: GMA network via YouTube and Dailymotion @GMAEncantadia (Encantadia’s Official Twitter account) @GMANetwork (GMA’s Official Twitter account) @GMADrama (GMA Primetime series’ Official Twitter account) Encantadia 2016 (Official Facebook page) www.encantadia.com.ph (Encantadia’s Official Website)

#tv series #encantadia #encantadiapagbawi #pirena #ybrahim #mira #4Rs