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What is it?

Hello! Jon here. 

A question I often ask myself when looking at roleplaying games, especially online, is “what is it?”. And I mean what is the game about? What sort of experience can I expect when playing it?

In the role of art director and game developer it’s a question I’ve been asking designers, writers and editors for years. Give me the elevator pitch. Tell me in a nutshell what this game is.

And so I figured it would be interesting to run through our games and deliver some really brief elevator pitches. Let’s go:

BEOWULF Age of Heroes: Heroic 5th Edition for one player and one GM, set in the half-remembered, mythic story-world of the Early Medieval period.

a|state second edition is powered by a customised version of the Forged In the Dark rules. Play out your struggle as troublemakers fighting back against the malevolent forces that oppress your corner of the sprawling City.

The Silver Road – an experimental, minimalist, settingless storytelling game. 

Maskwitches of Forgotten Doggerland is a psychedelic imaginary Mesolithic storytelling game which places your stories in Forgotten Doggerland – the land that lies drowned beneath the North Sea.

Where can in get these fine games? Right here:

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Gone to the Dogs – coming soon for a|state

Something untoward is occurring at Folly Hills Dog Track. Unfancied hounds are winning races…
Competitive dogs are going to the pot…
The turnstiles are no longer thick with punters…

What has cast a shadow over the once-thriving Track?

Explore the cutthroat world of the dog track, the home of avaricious betting syndicates, vicious organised crime groups, disgruntled dog owners, and many bemused punters.

This supplement for a|state presents the Folly Hills Dog Track, a location teeming with trouble and opportunity that can become part of your game in many different ways.

The most straightforward way to use the Track is as an interesting location in The City, sitting alongside those described in the a|state book. Like those locations it is a source of inspiration and ideas, a potential place for troublemakers to visit, and an additional glimpse of the rhythms of life in The City. As with all those locations you can use it as presented, or strip this whole resource for parts to make your own version of the Dog Track.

The Track is presented so you can weave it into your struggle. The large number of people who converge on the Track, and the number of different interests that collide here, provide many opportunities to link it to your troublemakers. In the text following you will find many specific suggestions for ways to tie the Folly Hills Dog Track to the characters and conflicts at the heart of your game.

It is also possible to use it as your corner. Gone to the Dogs presents everything you need to build an exciting game of a|state with the Folly Hills Dog Track as the focus. If you and your group like the idea of getting into a game fast without having to build your corner from scratch, this will give you everything you need.

However you use the Folly Hills Dog Track, you will find that it gives you a robust starting point. The people, schemes, events, and rumours detailed here can branch off in infinite ways, depending on the actions and reactions of the troublemakers.

Gone to the Dogs will be heading out to backers of a|state second edition early next week. It will shortly thereafter go on sale to everyone at DrivethruRPG.

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Releasing tomorrow: The Serpent of Glinnredïn


Releasing tomorrow for BEOWULF Age of Heroes: The Serpent of Glinnredïn by Jacob Rodgers.

The kingdom of Rheged is plagued by a golden worm that is eating all the livestock. A Hero is needed to confront the serpent and slay it. But when they reach the Fells where the worm dwells, they will learn that the situation is more complex than it first seems and they might find themselves drawn into an older conflict.

This is a mini adventure for BEOWULF Age of Heroes 5e, by Jacob Rodgers, expanded from a participation game we ran on our Handiwork Games community Discord. It is suitable for Heroes of levels 1-2.

Find out more about BEOWULF Age of Heroes, duet play for 5e, here.

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Trials of the Twin Seas for BEOWULF is out now in PDF!

The Trials of the Twin Seas, collecting all 6 adventures for BEOWULF Age of Heroes 5e is now available to everyone in PDF!

Featuring adventures by Gareth Hanrahan, Jon Hodgson, Elaine Lithgow, Marco Rafala, Jacob Rodgers and KC Shi.

The anthology includes extra material including expanded opening spreads with poems by Dave Oliver of Rattlebox Theatre, GM advice, pronunciation guides, location and NPC guides and more!

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The Serpent of Glinnredïn

Coming soon for BEOWULF Age of Heroes – a new mini-adventure for Heroes of level 1 or 2 by Jacob Rodgers: The Serpent of Glinnredïn.

The kingdom of Rheged is plagued by a golden worm that is eating all the livestock. A Hero is needed to confront the serpent and slay it. But when they reach the Fells where the worm dwells, they will learn that the situation is more complex than it first seems and they might find themselves drawn into an older conflict. 

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a|state second edition spreads

a|state second edition is making its physical presence felt as copies make their way to backers, late pledgers, and pre-orderers around the world. (Our friends in the US will need to be the most patient, since your books need to complete their sea voyage).

Of course in the mean time the PDF is out, and looking great! All pre-orders come with a free copy of the PDF.

Check out these spreads:

You can grab your copy here:

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BEOWULF Digital Pack Ten out now!

BEOWULF Digital Pack Ten is out now!

In this Tenth Digital Pack of bonus content for BEOWULF: Age of Heroes, we bring you:

  • A new battle map – the battle at the ford
  • A PDF of new rules for collecting Monster Parts by Jacob Rodgers
  • A PDF featuring the Holt Folc by Jacob Rodgers – a new monster for your adventures
  • A PDF article on the importance of centre-boss shields in the Early Medieval era
  • 2 new music tracks
  • 6 NPC portraits by Scott Purdy
  • 6 VTT tokens of the NPC portraits

BEOWULF Age of Heroes for fifth edition presents a host of rules to enable duet play – for one GM and one player.


Grab it now: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/409308/BEOWULF-Age-of-Heroes-Digital-Pack-Ten

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Maskwitches smashes all expectations!

Maskwitches of Forgotten Doggerland has absolute astounded us by not only funding in under 5 minutes, but going on to reach almost £10,000 in funding overnight. We’re all absolutely stunned and incredibly humbled by your support. Thank you! Everything we do at Handiwork Games is a passion project that we care deeply about, but we never quite expected this curiously little project to strike such a chord!

We’ve released another preview of what you can expect to find in the Maskwitches book. We previously shared a timeline to give you the context of when things happen in the setting.
Now we’re zooming right in to share the spirits name generator. As the titular Maskwitches your characters must protect the communities of Forgotten Doggerland form the threat of spirits that arise when disharmony or troubles affect the people. These ancient spirits are truly terrifying, and have names to match.
Please be warned there’s some (relatively mild) mature material in the PDF, which some readers might find upsetting.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jonhodgsonmaptiles2/maskwitches-of-forgotten-doggerland/description
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a|state coins coming soon

With a|state books on hand, and backer copies heading out right now, orders for all the accessories from the a|state second edition campaign will open very soon!

Let’s take a look at the a|state coins, made by our friends at Campaign Coins.

These are ideal to use in a game of The Three Coins, which is the story telling RPG played within The City, the setting of a|state. Games within games!

Find out more about a|state.

Find out more about The Three Coins