Interview with Game Designer Josiah Mork: Creator of Starset & PEN

Josiah Mork: Creator of Starset RPG and Pen RPG

Transcribed content from our recent YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9In5gaz65s8


Transcription

Jacob Tegtman (00:01.848)

Hey everyone, welcome back to Eternity TTRPG, where we cover really everything tabletop gaming related, Dungeons and Dragons.


Now we're finally jumping into some of my favorite topics, which is game design and getting to spend some time with great game designers up and coming, people who are established. And today we're interviewing Josiah Mork, who is the owner and lead designer for Hoodwink Gaming. So welcome to the show. Thanks for being part of the channel.


Josiah (00:33.142)

Thanks, it's my pleasure. Yeah, it's been great working with you on eternity and getting to swap ideas. So I'm really looking forward to being able to talk through some of that process with you.


Jacob Tegtman (00:44.478)

Awesome, Ben. Yeah, I've been looking forward to talking with you. We always have a lot of fun when we catch up. I think this will be a really good conversation. There's so many parts of your mini games that I've wanted to ask you about for really such a long time. And it always felt like we were working on some project or discussing something. But now I have a really good excuse to just nail you down for maybe about an hour-ish and hopefully die.


Josiah (00:50.028)

for sure.


Josiah (01:04.972)

There's always something.


Jacob Tegtman (01:14.352)

dive into what you've been doing and why you've made some of the decisions you've made, which I think are really interesting. I'm sure, yeah. So do you just want to maybe start by introducing yourself more, know, who you are, what you've done, and yeah, where you're going?


Josiah (01:20.968)

Yeah, well, hopefully I've got good answers for you. We'll see.


Josiah (01:32.756)

Yeah, absolutely. yeah, like you said, I'm Josiah. I'm from Michigan, living just out of DC now. I've been designing and playing board games since my early teen years, I guess I would say. I love creative writing and storytelling. That's just been an amazing way that I've found to connect with people.


My actually my undergrad and my grad degrees were in communication and looking at how communication connects us and strategies and stuff behind it. And so I find a storytelling a really compelling way to do that. But before I had gotten into school and whatnot, you know, I was homeschooled. I was in late middle school and I was reading this cartoon. Maybe you are some of your viewers have seen it. Foxtrot comics. And there are some.


Have you seen it? Highly recommend, highly recommend. It's really funny. But there are these two characters, they're really nerdy middle schoolers and they were playing Dungeons and Dragons in the comic. And I just thought that was the coolest thing. But my parents, know, I'm a Christian, my family's Christian, fairly conservative. And so my parents were more familiar with like the 80s, like D &D scare, very like Stranger Things season four.


And so they were not really like, yeah, not really D &D fans. And so I was like, well, okay, I'll create my own. And that's how it all got started, you know? And then it was a great way to make friends in my Boy Scout troop. You know, we would play, would swap ideas, we would...


Jacob Tegtman (02:51.202)

Yeah.


Jacob Tegtman (02:55.042)

Not too far ahead. Sure.


Yeah, that's awesome.


Jacob Tegtman (03:08.12)

time.


Josiah (03:09.972)

you know, go on crazy adventures with rules that didn't quite work. And then over time, you know, I just realized that there were all of these cool avenues to explore and storytelling that D &D didn't necessarily do. And so I just felt really passionate that this is my way to connect with people and connect people with each other is through writing games.


Jacob Tegtman (03:30.508)

That's amazing, man. Yeah, it's funny, like the ways that we get into gaming too. Like you mentioned those comics. you ever see Dexter's Lab? Okay. Okay. Yeah, was probably a little bit before. Yeah. There was like an episode that was kind of based on Dungeons and Dragons and I saw it when I was like six and that's what got me into it as well. yeah.


Josiah (03:39.616)

Yeah, well, I've heard of it. Yeah, I've seen clips from it, yeah.


Josiah (03:52.972)

It's so funny how it seems like every show, know, Community, Gravity Falls, like, there are all these shows of every different genre, and they all have like a D &D episode for some reason. And I love it, you know, but it's so random.


Jacob Tegtman (03:58.679)

Yeah.


Jacob Tegtman (04:05.302)

Yeah, like all of them.


Me too. Yeah, it is. Yeah. I also like the takes that different shows have on like nerdy board games. I think was like Parks and Rec had, I forget what the game was called. Yeah, you remember it. Yeah. Yeah. That's so cool, man.


Josiah (04:20.81)

The Cones of Dunshire, yeah. Love that, love those episodes.


Jacob Tegtman (04:29.646)

So I want to dive into really all of those things more, but what games do you currently have available then? And your website will post it in the show notes as well, but it is hoodwinkgaming.com for anybody who's interested. But yeah, tell us about some of your games. And again, I feel like I want to go into all of these in more detail, but yeah, give us the summary version at least for now.


Josiah (04:55.05)

Yeah, so it's a little deceptive at the moment. My original titles and kind of most of the games that I do are under the pen brand. So play easily now is the acronym. We have war game and role playing game. But actually neither of those are on the market at the moment. If you go to my website. Yeah, we've got a landing page for the war game and we've got a preview for the RPG. And I've actually I've got.


Jacob Tegtman (05:12.95)

really? I was actually, yeah, I was checking it out like yesterday, so.


Josiah (05:24.422)

know, prototypes of both of those here. But they are still in development because of various different reasons of wanting to refine some ideas or just kind of ended up having to move to other projects. So they're almost launch ready. But those are the ones that they're working on for the longest, just the newest editions aren't quite together yet.


Jacob Tegtman (05:29.506)

Yeah.


Jacob Tegtman (05:39.96)

Yeah, nice.


Jacob Tegtman (05:46.04)

Very cool.


Josiah (05:46.164)

And then the one that I've been working on most recently, and that we actually have a new project launching next month for, is Star Set. So that's a grimdark survival-oriented tabletop role-playing game that we launched initially a couple years ago, and then just did a relaunch for the second edition for, which is much more crunchy, much more mechanical, and much more narrative-based. So really looking forward to building that out.


Jacob Tegtman (06:14.542)

That's exciting. Yeah, I can attest that game is great. I really enjoyed reading through it. Everything from the design of the book to the art to the way that you have, especially character building in that, I find super fascinating. You can just tell, yeah, the amount of attention to detail in there is like out of this world. It really feels like you guys...


Josiah (06:27.148)

Well, thank you.


Josiah (06:34.966)

haha


Jacob Tegtman (06:38.478)

You took the lore of the game and you baked it into every part of the game. Whereas I think a lot of games like, you know, we'll talk about D &D later. D &D is like the game that's everything. So it's like if it's in a fantasy book or movie or anything, like we'll just jam it into D &D somehow. And, you know, that kind of has its place, but for building characters and stuff, you know, like you don't, I don't know. It's supposed to be able to fit many different genres and you're


Josiah (06:42.72)

Mm-hmm.


Jacob Tegtman (07:08.612)

I think what's so cool about is that when you're playing Star set you're playing Star set Because from the very first thing you do with your character and their background and their skills even it's all based on the lore of this whole universe so


Josiah (07:19.902)

Mm-hmm. Well, I really appreciate that. mean, that's really the heart behind it when we were working on it is, we had a story that we wanted to tell and really created the universe to tell that story. And one of the things, you know, that I picked up studying communication is that, you know, we are attracted to details. And even if it's details that, we haven't necessarily experienced in our own lives.


Jacob Tegtman (07:24.963)

Yeah.


Jacob Tegtman (07:33.324)

Yeah.


Josiah (07:45.324)

hearing vivid details or strong emotions in other people's stories lead us to be more connected with them. And so that was something that we really trying to flesh out in Star Set. hopefully, from the sound of it, it hopefully worked pretty well.


Jacob Tegtman (08:00.352)

I think so, yeah, absolutely. So, what do we talk about first, man? Like, what do you want to talk about first?


Josiah (08:01.452)

Thank you.


Josiah (08:11.672)

man, I could talk about games for hours and hours, so I better let you guide that conversation.


Jacob Tegtman (08:14.944)

You


Okay, I just want to make sure we cover like the big things before we dive into the nitty gritty here. Yeah. Yeah.


Josiah (08:24.332)

Oh yeah, I mean, I kind of touched on, I guess I'll throw it out there. I'll throw it out there because it's really important to me and kind of the company into my story. you know, I really do, we're about to, you know, dig into the nitty gritty, like you said, and Dungeons and Dragons and all the different games that are out there. And I just think, you know, before whether you're a designer or a player, whenever you kind of step into a game, I think the most important thing and what's in the mission kind of a hoodwink that we try and do differently is that


Jacob Tegtman (08:33.379)

Yeah.


Josiah (08:53.446)

The games are just kind of an excuse. Really, the games are just an excuse to get together with people and to have FaceTime with people. And if working in social media has taught me anything, it's that people need that more than anything. And that's why we call it Hoodwink Games, because we kind of have all these substitutions. get hoodwinked into thinking that socializing is something that it's not. And really, it's just fellowshipping with people and joining community and FaceTime with people.


and talking about the things that matter with people. And the way to do that from going from stranger to best friend is in my experience games. And so that's kind of the heart behind it.


Jacob Tegtman (09:30.658)

That's been a cool one. Yeah.


You know, it's interesting you bring that up too, because this is something I've been thinking a lot about recently, especially as everybody's been seeing more AI come into their work, into their lives. And I feel that more than ever, people are wanting that human, real human interaction. And so as good as video games are looking nowadays and as fun as MMOs are and stuff like that, and I like all of those, I don't think I've


Josiah (09:43.628)

Mm-hmm.


Josiah (09:53.004)

Mm-hmm.


Jacob Tegtman (10:03.53)

found anything that's as fun is sitting around playing a tabletop role-playing game, especially in person. mean, even, you over FaceTime like this is fun, but something in person about it just makes it one of the best experiences.


Josiah (10:09.729)

video.


Josiah (10:13.142)

Mm-hmm.


Josiah (10:18.686)

It really does. It's those shared memories and those shared jokes. And, you know, I work in politics, doing social media for politics. And the thing that just aggravates me the most about politics, but also religion, people say don't talk about politics or religion because people care about it so much. And it's like those are things that we care about the most. So we should be able to share those with people. But you can't because as soon as you bring them up, you know, there are all these walls.


Jacob Tegtman (10:39.48)

Sure.


Josiah (10:48.062)

and games when you've played for a couple hours with somebody and slayed the dragon and made a couple jokes, then it's like, well, okay, now your opinion isn't the thing that I'm defining you on. The thing I'm defining you on is that, you know, you're a half drunk elf paladin or something like, and it just makes it easier.


Jacob Tegtman (10:48.416)

I guess.


Jacob Tegtman (11:04.014)

Yeah, that's so true. That's so true. Yeah, it definitely does break down those walls and give you that sense of shared history, even if it's like a shared mental history, theater of the mind. So, yeah.


Josiah (11:17.27)

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. It's great.


Jacob Tegtman (11:21.428)

I agree, man. Especially when you're doing... So I haven't read through all of the lore of Starseq. There's just so much in there. I've read through a good deal of it. But I think one of the things that also stands out about at least that game, because I know Penn's still in the work in progress...


Josiah (11:38.599)

the


Jacob Tegtman (11:39.446)

that, you know, it does cover a lot of political things and it covers a lot of religious things and you aren't like pushing a view on anybody, but just inherent to human life is politics and religion. so games let you approach these topics like in ways that allow you to explore what could be, but in a safe way and have conversations about what could be without feeling like you're being attacked or told.


Josiah (11:53.856)

Mm-hmm.


Josiah (12:01.6)

Thank you.


Josiah (12:05.836)

Mm-hmm.


Yeah, that's really the, again, I'm really glad that you feel that way about the game, because that was one of the number one priorities of it, is there are just really hard conversations that should be had. And that game kind of came out of COVID, where there were a ton of hard conversations people were having. And I think you could spend every day, every minute of every day with people.


Jacob Tegtman (12:14.306)

Yeah, for sure.


Jacob Tegtman (12:23.394)

That's right. That's right. Yeah.


Josiah (12:33.664)

but if they're not people that you feel like you can have hard conversations with, then you haven't really been in community at all. And so having a medium like that, where, like you said, I don't wanna tell anybody what they should believe. There are things that I believe are true about God and about the world and about politics and stuff, but those things have to exist relationally for them to mean anything to you. so...


Jacob Tegtman (12:39.788)

Yeah.


Jacob Tegtman (12:50.542)

Sure.


Josiah (12:58.954)

to have that space to kind of explore and talk and then role play through just makes it fun for one thing, but also makes it so much more personal and so much more impactful, I think.


Jacob Tegtman (12:59.374)

Yeah.


Jacob Tegtman (13:10.772)

I agree. So what is the next thing that you said you're working on with StarCert? I think I missed that when you mentioned earlier. Yeah.


Josiah (13:16.436)

Yeah, so my co-writer, Emily, and her husband Ryan, who did some of the art for Star Set, they have actually written and illustrated the first campaign for it. It's called Echoes on Mars, and that's going to be launching on Kickstarter next month.


Jacob Tegtman (13:31.822)

Okay. Okay, cool. That's exciting, man. So what number of Kickstarter will this be for you?


Josiah (13:38.092)

Thank


Josiah (13:42.294)

That's


Josiah (13:46.806)

seven maybe six or seven. I'm doing this one well I should say the plan is to do it on Kickstarter but changing a lot of things. I'm still talking to them. My wife is behind me. I still want to talk through some of them with her because it had a lot of very negative Kickstarter experiences and learned a lot. So we're to do this one if we end up doing it on Kickstarter very slim down and very different than some of the other ones. So it's a constant learning experience.


Jacob Tegtman (13:48.43)

Sort of. Yeah.


Jacob Tegtman (13:54.094)

Sure.


Jacob Tegtman (14:16.43)

Yeah, I just remember I feel like every year or so I feel like you're launching something on Kickstarter successfully. So at least from the outsider's view looking in, it's like man Josiah just knows what he's doing with selling games.


Josiah (14:30.208)

You


Well, I know a little bit more than I did last time and that's the goal. Yeah.



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Jacob Tegtman Eternity TTRPG Creator

Author - Jacob Tegtman

Dear reader, I hope you enjoyed this article. Tabletop gaming has been a passion of mine since I was 6 years old. I've played just about every game from Dungeons and Dragons to video games like Final Fantasy. These games have inspired me, made me laugh, made me cry, and brought me endless hours of enjoyment.


I started Eternity TTRPG - and the indie tabletop game that goes along with it (Eternity Shop) - to share my love of gaming with others. I believe that in our technology-driven age, tabletop games help bring a sense of magic and community back into our world.


If you love the site, please share it with others! I have lots of gaming-related material for you to peruse and use in your own gaming sessions. If you have any questions about the site or want to contribute, just send me a message using the "Contact" page, which you can find in the site's footer.

The Creepy Side of Crooked Moon: Silkborn & Threadborn

August 23, 2026
Transcribed content from our recent YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-H39bG14JM Transcription [00:00:00] Welcome back to the Eternity TTRPG channel, where I talk about different tabletop role-playing things in the universe, as well as the TTRPG that my husband and I are making and releasing products for. So this time, I want to continue, uh, the Crooked Moon series, talking about the different races, and I'm gonna cover two more. So this go around, I want to talk about two characters that are a bit creepier than what they usually look like or what you expect, right? Um, so the first one I'm gonna go on about is the Silkborn race. So the Silkborn, if you don't like spiders, is immediately creepy. However, um, the lore behind them is what makes me stop and think, "Are they really that creepy?" Okay, so the idea of the Silkborn in Crooked Moon is that they have a whole [00:01:00] underground cave system covered in webs, gemstones everywhere, and they harness their power from these gemstones, which I think is actually a really cool idea, 'cause you get to take this, you know, thing that is, in my opinion, kind of creepy and turn it into something beautiful. I think about, like, g- going on walks and seeing spiderwebs out on my walk, and I'm like, "Wow, the architecture of that is really cool." But imagining it in a cave system, it becomes just another world, right? So with that, I think when you would build a Silkborn race character, you'd really lean into their idea of what's beautiful, what's not, and how would that structure society around them, right? What would they worship? How would their family dynamic be? Because this idea of [00:02:00] this character is that they would just emerge from a cocoon, a web cocoon of sorts, right? And then they emerge, and here is this city built of just webs that is creating these nets going back and forth and these glowing crystals. And then you start to wonder, well, where would their social hierarchy be maybe, right? Is it based on the size of the spider or perhaps the color of the spider? Or if the spider has X number of gemstones or X number of eyes, how do they compare in the world to others? So then we start to wonder about different character concepts that you could go on with these, right? So let's say you have this spider race, the Silkborn, join your D&D party, and they are an architect in their normal underground city, and they come to a human city, and [00:03:00] they're just bored at looking at it, and it feels very sterile, and there's not much natural beauty. Could that be a storyline, right? Or could we talk about maybe the gems and why they're so important to their race, and perhaps the spider is just wanting to collect gemstones, um, to better harness them, right? And then the other perspective you could take is that the spider Silkborn is an alien of some kind, right? So they could be, of course, the we don't know if we want to accept them into our party, but they have this information. Maybe they aren't so evil, so let's try and, you know, use them or accept them and how does that go, right? So the Silkborn is definitely a very interesting idea on a race that I don't think we've seen before and some people could find [00:04:00] very interesting Real quick to interrupt. Eternity TTRPG is releasing a card game battler which emulates combat from the D&D tabletop role-playing genre. Sparks of Eternity: Emanation is fast-paced, easy to learn, and features six classes from your favorite TTRPGs. Each class deck comes with its own set of unique abilities, which everyone plays at the same time, so there's never any downtime at your table. Each turn, everyone's characters levels up, giving players access to even more options. If you're interested in taking a look, we have our pre-sales page live now, packed with details. No payment info needed. Just let us know if you want an email when the product becomes available. Now, back to your video Switching gears, um, I'm gonna talk about the second race that I found, which is definitely a play on cute and creepy. Um , and that would be the threadborn. [00:05:00] So the threadborn, in what I'm finding, is this doll that is created, and they come to life. So I start to think of the classic Pinocchio, "I'm a real boy," and stuff like that, right? Because all Pinocchio wanted was to be a real boy and be living and, you know, work in the workshop and explore the world and all these different things and whatnot. So with that in mind, with the idea of the threadborn, I start to think of, of course, who created them and what are they gonna be like in this world now that they're created? Right? So this gives you a couple of different ideas for character concepts and where to go. The first one being, um, that, of course, as I mentioned, they're made not born. So what happens when the doll that's made outlives its creator? And [00:06:00] are they going to become super heartbroken and always on the search for this family that they lost? Um, and this could go into a whole thing of like, how long do threadborns actually live, and do they decompose after time? Because, you know, I think everything decomposes eventually, even if we don't expect it to. Um, so there's definitely that side of it, and do they meet younger generations of their creator, right, and make that their family? Um, another idea is that they're very helpful because if you're creating something like a doll, you're creating it for companionship, right? You're creating it to help you feel better about the world around you, that companionship, and with that companionship does come helpfulness. And perhaps the character concept is that they're too helpful. They're too willing to jump in. They're just [00:07:00] gonna go straight into battle without thinking because they know that's the thing that needs done. That's where we have to go. So that's definitely another side of it, the too helpful side. And then the other thing is that to some people, and I start to think of when I was younger, and every birthday up until I was eight, my grandmother got me a certain doll, and the doll was like a part of a set, and it was those porcelain dolls with the eyes that I swear would follow me, right? And I had a shelf of them to display them because that's what my parents wanted. I could not wait to take those things down because when you have those eyes following you in the dark, it's actually pretty creepy. Um, but that's the thing is dolls wouldn't know that they're creepy. They're just happy, smiling, eyes always open, watching you, and it becomes a whole question of this is normal for [00:08:00] them, but how does this translate to normal society? And it sounds like a bit of a nightmare to me, no matter how cute they are. So with that being said, I'm gonna wrap this up here. And what do you think? Would you rather play a spider or play a doll? And what kind of character concept would you go with? As always, like, comment, subscribe, and we will catch y'all next time. Thanks

The Rise of Solo RPGs

August 17, 2026
Transcribed content from our recent YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KgB5C6Wgng Transcription [00:00:00] Welcome back to the Eternity TTRPG YouTube channel, where I discuss, uh, different happenings in the tabletop role-playing universe, as well as talk about the game that my husband and I have been creating now. So this go around, um, I wanted to talk more about a new side of the tabletop role-playing community that is gaining traction, I think. Um, Gen Con did something a little different this year that I haven't talked about yet, and I think it's important to bring light to it and bring it up in conversation, you know? So I already covered that D&D itself is going to universes beyond, you know, going into World of Warcraft, Star Wars, all those different kind of things. Um, and that's great for D&D, but I also think they're gonna push a new direction given what Gen Con did, right? So at Gen Con, there is an award [00:01:00] ceremony, right, called the Ennie Awards, The Ennie Awards are where the industry itself picks X number of games for a category, and then fans get to vote on it, and the fans get to decide what's gonna be the most popular and when, right? So it's kind of a big deal for Gen Con to be doing this every year, and they have their usual categories, right? They added a new category this year, and they've been talking about adding this category for years, but I guess it didn't have enough traction until now. The new category was for Best Solo RPG. And immediately my mind goes to, "Wait, why do we need solo RPGs?" And, you know, now we bring up the whole conversation of, oh my gosh, a solo RPG. Um, this could be here because, you know, adults can never get together with a busy work schedule and trying to nail down consistent timing because something [00:02:00] always comes up between work, home, um, kids, you know, just random family emergencies. There's always something keeping you from the game table, so you can't get with your normal group to run a campaign. So solo RPGs. Real quick to interrupt. Eternity TTRPG is releasing a card game battler which emulates combat from the D&D tabletop role-playing genre. Sparks of Eternity: Emanation is fast-paced, easy to learn, and features six classes from your favorite TTRPGs. Each class deck comes with its own set of unique abilities, which everyone plays at the same time, so there's never any downtime at your table. Each turn, everyone's characters levels up, giving players access to even more options. If you're interested in taking a look, we have our pre-sales page live now, packed with details. No payment info needed. Just let us know if you want an email when the product becomes available. Now, back to your [00:03:00] video So with this, um, announcement at Gen Con of having this category, there was five games that the industry decided would be in this, um, collection that fans could vote off of. Um, Odyssey of the Giant was the first one, and it's about escorting a giant, the last giant, across a devastated fantasy world. And then there was Pirouette, which is a solo horror ballet. Um, Song of the Scriptworm is a mystery involving an infinite library. Spine is an experimental RPG about losing yourself in a book. And then finally, The Bonsai Diary is about growing a bonsai tree across different generations. Um, just so you know, Spine took first, and The Bonsai Diary took second, so we officially have winners for the first solo RPG, um, nominations at the Ennie Awards. And I kind of don't know where to go from there. [00:04:00] I mean, I'm gonna admit when I don't wanna play the game that my husband has created and he can't get friends over, he does do solo campaigns. And he has been making the game to where you can do it as a single player or with a campaign group, um, which I think is a great idea, but I guess I just didn't see it as necessary. Um, but apparently it is, because people still want to play the game, but they don't necessarily have access to the friend group that you wish you had. Um, so here we go into our fantasy world after a long day at work, and instead of diving into a virtual video game, you can now do it with a tabletop role-playing game. So now the question lies with having this been created and you have all these smaller creators, you know, taking over this category. And not only that, but at Gen Con you actually have rooms dedicated to solo role-playing [00:05:00] games now. But is the giant communities of like Pathfinder and Wizards of the Coast gonna try and create a product that's gonna be a solo RPG now, um, instead of their usual geared towards groups and everything? So that's definitely a question that comes up in my mind is how are they going to... It's not a combat thing, but how are they going to continue to be in this world, I guess, if we're shifting towards solo RPGs. One thing that was announced, um, by a bigger creator was that Fallout is now coming out with a solo RPG, um, called The Wasteland Wanderer, and it is a standalone game. You create your vault dweller, you create your vault, and you get to explore the wasteland, and it is specifically created for solo RPG. So we already have these bigger companies that are creating, um, these solo games [00:06:00] now. Obviously, it's not the biggest company with Wizards of the Coast or Pathfinder, but we're getting there. So now not only do we have these companies creating these solo RPGs, everyone trying to get in on that, but we also have, you know, the electronic world trying to get on, in on this, and that's where we come into AI-powered systems. And I know that AI is such a curse word in the tabletop role-playing community because, you know, when we think AI in the tabletop role-playing community, it's gonna be your AI art, and, you know, that's such a bad thing. And I agree, I really wanna see, um, real artists, real creators, um, but when you're looking at wanting to have an electronic, like, world, I guess, where it's created by something electronic because you don't have friends to talk to or a campaign to really go at with friends, then maybe having ChatGPT do it for [00:07:00] you isn't a bad idea, right? 'Cause you have someone that can bounce ideas off of, and you can have someone else create them. Because although imagination is limitless, maybe in those moments you don't have enough. So with that in mind, there are AI-powered systems that have already been created. Um, Wonderhold is the one that comes to mind, and it launched in May of this year. And it, of course, you know, creates the campaign for you. You get to type to it, talk to it, and figure out where you're going to go with your campaign. So where do we go from here? Do we need game masters, game designers when we're using AI, when we're going the solo route, when friend groups can't get together because of life? So with all of that in mind, let me know what you think, from the Ennie Awards to checking out these solo RPGs, um, to figuring out what's next. Comment, like, subscribe, let me know. Have a good [00:08:00] one.

3 Crooked Moon Races That Make TERRIFYING D&D Characters

August 12, 2026
Transcribed content from our recent YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Wu7xicNd6k Transcription [00:00:00] Welcome back to Eternity TTRPG YouTube channel, where I cover different happenings in the tabletop role-playing universe, as well as just other topics that I find interesting. Um, this go around, I wanna go back into The Crooked Moon. So my husband did a little bit of coverage on this a while back, but I'm gonna circle back to it. Um, and I wanna look at a couple of their races. So the thing about the character you pick and the class, the race, all of that stuff lends itself to building the story around your character and how they tie into the party, the world, and what their, like, internal goals could be. So three of the races that are in Crooked Moon, in my opinion, can make some really terrifying characters. So to jump in with these three races that I found through Crooked Moon, it's gonna be your Curseborn, [00:01:00] Graveborn, and your Plagueborn. Okay? So all three of those already have a very interesting ring to it, and immediately I started thinking is how can these races tie into an overarching story and a personal story? So jumping right into the Curseborn, and my idea with the Curseborn, and I'm pretty sure it's very accurate, is with a Curseborn, I'm thinking the classic, like, werewolf story, and under a full moon, I turn into a terrifying monster and that kind of thing. So with that , um, I wonder is what is this relationship with the character to the curse? So how is the character potentially using their curse, and how is the curse affecting the people around them? And there are so many ways you can take that. So for example, they could be actively [00:02:00] suppressing their monstrous nature and trying to work against it and being ashamed of it. And the other side of that is what if they embrace it and think that everyone is wrong for fearing them, and there, there's no reason to fear them? Um, other side, you know, is when they take on their cursed form and everything, what if they've hurt someone before and are terrified they're gonna hurt someone again? Um, what if they don't actually have any recollection of what happens when they transform? And then what if their family, like it could be a familial curse, and their family has taught them that their curse is something to be ashamed of and not something to embrace. So you have a lot of interpersonal drama going on there, um, that can just lead to overarching stories in the party. Like, what if there's a lot of distrust from the party because of your curse? What if villagers and townspeople refuse you entry somewhere because you have some kind of mark of the curse? And then what [00:03:00] if the party has to decide if they're gonna defend you or not based on all of that? And then on top of that, what if you become the person that everyone expects to betray them? So what if you play into that, or you spend your entire campaign deciding, like, "Hey, I'm not the bad guy. Quit thinking I am." Real quick to interrupt. Eternity TTRPG is releasing a card game battler which emulates combat from the D&D tabletop role-playing genre. Sparks of Eternity: Emanation is fast-paced, easy to learn, and features six classes from your favorite TTRPGs. Each class deck comes with its own set of unique abilities, which everyone plays at the same time, so there's never any downtime at your table. Each turn, everyone's characters levels up, giving players access to even more options. If you're interested in taking a look, we have our pre-sales page live now, packed with details. No payment info needed. Just let us know if you want an email when the product becomes available. [00:04:00] Now, back to your video Moving on to Graveborn. So the way that I think of Graveborn is, like, someone has already passed and they're rising from the dead. They're, like, undead in my mind. So with that going on in your head, you could have this whole idea of, what if I already died? Or maybe they just were never cognizant of that in the first place, and they think that this skeletal form is all that they are. Um, maybe they aren't afraid of dying because they've already died, right? Um, so then you start to ask questions about your past life like who-- what happened so that they passed, right? Who did that to them? Did they deserve it? Were there loved ones that buried them? Were they mourned? Why did they come back? How did they [00:05:00] come back? Um, so really cool ideas with this kind of race is maybe they become, like, a grave keeper, and now they protect all of these different grave sites. And as a party, you're trying to convince this, um, Graveborn to come with you for some greater plan, right? Um, another idea that we can look at is this whole I'm not supposed to be here. I already lived my life, so what do I do next kind of thing. Why did I come back, right? So definitely some different ideas there with the Graveborn, and I think it's a really scary idea when you're like, "Hey, I already lived my life. Why am I here again?" Um, last one I'm gonna cover is the Plagueborn, and in the back of my mind what I have playing is, like in World of Warcraft, there is the Abomination that has like the stench that comes off of them, and then that stench kind of infects everything [00:06:00] around it, right? The plague. Um, so this is definitely a horror concept, right? And it's this idea of disease, contamination, and fear spreading, right? It's something you can't control. You have no control over it happening, so what do you play them as? Because if you have no control of the bad thing, are they really evil? And do you play them as evil? Okay. So different concepts with this could be like a plague doctor and the Plagueborn could become the healer, okay? Because they're so used to being around these diseases, they can't catch them, and that kind of idea, so how do they help everyone else with this contamination going on? Um, of course, there's the idea of the immune one, um, because you're the one spreading everything, how can you get sick, right? Um, and then of course there is, like, a walking biohazard going on where everywhere you go, you're gonna [00:07:00] infect the people around you. So how do you work with a party with that going on? Um, because the people are gonna get sick, animals are gonna behave strangely. And then you could potentially create items in the world that you're constantly trying to find to suppress the contamination, right? Um, but where do you go from there, right? So if you're not really evil but your existence hurts people, what do you do? Okay. So with all three of those, right, you have the Curseborn, which is fearing what you might become with the monster inside you. You have the Graveborn because you fear what you already are. You're already gone, past, right? And the Plagueborn is you fear what you might be doing to others, so there's a monster that's spreading within you, around you. So with all of that being said, that's why I think these three are so much more interesting than just being these, like, [00:08:00] monster races. They have these really in-depth stories that you can flesh out in a campaign, and it's a really, a terrifying character that could potentially be really misunderstood. Um, with all of that being said, I know there are some more, um, Crooked Moon races that can be covered, and I will be making my way through those. Um, you can always check what we've already covered, and we're gonna just loop around and get through them all eventually. So after all of that, would you trust any of these three characters to do anything for you, stand with you, resurrect you, heal you? Um, or would you just be, like, an ignorant villager and do nothing for them? Let me know in the comments. Like, comment, subscribe. Let us know how we're doing. Give us any ideas you'd like to hear about, and we'll catch you next time. Bye.
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