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Forged in the Dark is a tabletop roleplaying game framework and System Reference Document created by John Harper. Released in 2017, it is the underlying engine that powers Blades in the Dark and has since been used by independent designers to build countless other games, such as Scum and Villainy and Band of Blades. It excels at telling stories about capable but flawed groups of people pulling off daring missions against overwhelming odds. The system it directly evolved from is Blades in the Dark Description Instead of being a single game, Forged in the Dark is an open license toolkit. Players form a crew, whether they are space smugglers, military mercenaries, or rebel outcasts, and undertake dangerous missions known as Scores. The system is heavily narrative and focuses on failing forward, meaning a bad dice roll never stalls the story, but instead introduces a new complication. It completely eliminates tedious planning phases by throwing players directly into the action. System Overview & Key Features The d6 Dice Pool To resolve a risky action, a player rolls a pool of six sided dice based on their action rating. The highest single die determines the result. A six is a full success, a four or five is a partial success with a consequence, and a one to three is a bad outcome. Position and Effect Before the dice hit the table, the Game Master establishes the Position (Controlled, Risky, or Desperate) and the Effect (Limited, Standard, or Great). This ensures everyone understands exactly what is at stake and how much impact the action will have. Progress Clocks The game tracks complex threats and long term projects using circular clocks divided into segments. A stealth mission might have a clock for the guards going on high alert, filling up bit by bit as the players roll partial successes or failures. Stress and Resistance Characters have a Stress track that they can spend to push themselves for extra dice or to assist an ally. More importantly, players can spend Stress to resist any consequence the Game Master introduces, allowing characters to survive deadly situations by sheer willpower. Flashbacks Players do not need to spend hours planning a heist or mission. When they encounter an obstacle, they can simply spend Stress to declare a flashback, narrating how their character anticipated the problem and set up a solution in the past. Phases of Play The game flows through specific phases. Free Play is where characters gather information and choose a target. The Score is the actual mission. Finally, Downtime allows the crew to recover from injuries, reduce their heat, and work on personal projects before the cycle begins again. Additional links bladesinthedark.com - Official System Reference Document and rules database evilhat.com - Official Evil Hat Productions website

Side Character Quest is a fantasy podcast told as an anthology of tabletop adventures, each following a different character.  Quests can be listened to individually, but combined, they tell the story of a peaceful, magical world with something dangerous bubbling just below the surface. SCQ is an one-on-one anthology series, where each short quest is set in the same world but features a new player. Links sidecharacterquest.com - Official website spotify.com - Spotify feed podcasts.apple.com - Apple Podcasts feed youtube.com - Youtube channel discord.gg - Discord server

Overview Obsidian is a free, locally-stored Markdown note-taking application that the TTRPG community has widely adopted as a campaign wiki, session planner, and lore database. Originally designed as a personal knowledge management tool, it stores everything as plain text files on your own machine with no subscription required. Description Unlike purpose-built platforms such as World Anvil, Obsidian was not designed with TTRPGs in mind, which means it arrives without templates, stat block support, or any TTRPG-specific structure out of the box. GMs who want those features need to install and configure community plugins themselves, which carries a steeper setup cost than dedicated alternatives. For those comfortable with that process, however, the result is a highly customizable system with no ongoing fees and no vendor lock-in. A thriving plugin ecosystem has filled most of the gaps, and the tool has become a genuine alternative to subscription-based worldbuilding platforms for technically comfortable Game Masters. System Overview & Key Features The Vault System Obsidian organizes everything into a "vault", a folder of plain Markdown files stored locally on your machine. Your campaign notes are portable, readable in any text editor, and not tied to any server or subscription. There is no proprietary format and no account required to access your own files. Bidirectional Linking Obsidian's core feature is its wiki-style linking. Typing [[The Silver Throne Tavern]] in a session note creates a connection to that location's article, tracked in both directions. You can click any note and immediately see every other note that references it, from quest hooks to NPC backstories. Graph View Every link in your vault is visualized as an interactive network graph. Game Masters use it to see which NPCs are the most connected, which locations have no written articles yet, and where campaign threads intersect. It is a useful overview tool for large, complex vaults. Canvas Canvas is Obsidian's built-in infinite whiteboard. Game Masters use it to map out plot arcs, organize faction relationships, or plan dungeon layouts using a drag-and-drop interface that links back to notes in the vault. TTRPG Plugin Ecosystem Obsidian has no native TTRPG features, but community plugins cover most needs. Fantasy Statblocks renders monster and NPC stat blocks from multiple game systems inside your notes. Initiative Tracker handles combat order. Dice Roller allows rolls directly from the vault. The Leaflet plugin embeds interactive, pinnable maps into location articles. Each plugin is maintained independently, so quality and update frequency varies. Templater The Templater plugin allows you to define reusable document templates. For example NPC sheet with fields for Motivation, Secrets, and Stat Block, or a session template with sections for Recap, Key Beats, and Cliffhanger. New documents can be generated from any template in a single command, which significantly reduces repetitive formatting work. The plugin ecosystem extends well beyond what is listed here, with community tools covering everything from database-style note querying and cross-device sync to interactive maps and combat automation. A full directory is available at community plugins. Additional Links obsidian.md - Official website and download obsidian.md/plugins - Community plugin directory forum.obsidian.md - Official community forum