SKEIN Issue #1: GADFLYS.

From the inner cover:

GADFLY găd′flī″: One that acts as a provocative stimulus; a goad.

What The Heck Is This?

Good question. This is a loosely connected series of encounter scenarios I came up with. Technically the intended use is to inspire game masters running a TTRPG, but you could also liven up family parties by asking your drunk aunt what she would do. The theme for this issue was people who are technically harmless, but are extremely annoying. Much like door-to-door poll workers, they aren’t going to kill you, just potentially waste your time. (Some could definitely also kill you) You might wonder why the hell anyone would want a bunch of encounters that will annoy their players. Because it’s funny.

But also, a good story needs good characters. Alignment isn’t character depth. What can you really learn if your characters only face objective evils? Character growth (you know, the ark thing) happens in the grey areas. You saved the princess, sure, but did you tell her that she had food on her face?

How Do I Use This?

» Are you a GM? Read through the encounters and gather inspiration for your next session. Steal what you like, toss what you don't. Hack it into something that fits into your theme (A human astronaut becomes a goblin tinkerer, etc.) If you're a total psycho you can roll on the table of contents during your game to generate random encounters on the fly.

» Are you a player? Are you reading this because you saw your GM was and you're trying to cheat your encounters? Are you trying to flesh out one of your characters? Pick an encounter (or roll like a psycho) and ask yourself, "what would [INSERT CHARACTER HERE] do in this situation?" Boom, character fleshed.

Contained Within:

Six encounters with full color illustrations, sub-tables, and background info perfect for inspiring any GM or player.

Future Plans:

Additional issues of SKEIN will be released periodically. Physical copies are in the works. Anyone who purchases the full issue, or downloads the free text version will be notified when future issues release.