The Fiction Hoard

I’m Timon and The Fiction Hoard is my blog about worldbuilding and tabletop roleplaying game design.

Projects

Ruins Primeval

Ruins Primeval is a classic fantasy game focused on supporting mega-dungeon play. Sharing many similarities with systems from the Old School Renaissance, Ruins Primeval is a tactical and skill-based game. The game uses a dice-pool system for checks where players change, add, and remove dice based on their attributes, skill, abilities, and the conditions in which they are acting.

This is my longest-running project and I have conducted multiple small-scale playtests, however, there is still much to rework including the magic system and weapons.

Mosaic

Mosaic is both my strangest and most recent project. Built upon dream logic, the players cycle through the role of game master, each providing their own setting for characters to traverse as they avoid Nightmares that haunt the spaces in-between.

I use this project to experiment with many mechanics. Rather than using dice, Mosaic uses two decks of cards, one for the players and one for the acting game master.

Project Marduk

This is my sci-fi fantasy setting consisting primarily of three worlds, two of which orbit a hot-Jupiter analogue. Its current name is temporarily, likely to be changed once my first sapient species arises.

While I have concepts for a storyline spanning the rise and fall of multiple species, starting as hard sci-fi and covering the emergence of magic, I am currently still designing the plate tectonics of the worlds using GPlates.

Background

I’ve loved tabletop roleplaying games ever since my father introduced me to AD&D at age 5. According to my parents, I was modifying games (often to benefit myself) long before that.

Why This Blog Exists

As implied by my projects, this blog covers both worldbuilding and TTRPG design. I record my journeys as I work on my projects and share the information and advice I’ve gained over the years. While I may post smaller tidbits more often, I’m aiming to make a major post once every two weeks. My current series include:

Designing a Game: Here I cover general advice using my own games as examples of how to apply the techniques I describe.