Races of Resistance: Creating Unique Playable Races for a Gritty Setting
How to Build Grounded, Adaptable Species for Darker, Wilder Worlds In gritty, post-apocalyptic, or chaos-wracked settings, traditional fantasy races can sometimes feel out of place. Elves who live for 700 years and perfect art forms don’t always mesh well with rusting spires, toxic rain, and mutant-hunting...
Character Creation Spotlight: Picking the Perfect Playbook in Zoo Mafia
In Zoo Mafia, your Playbook defines your character’s skills, strengths, and place in the criminal underworld. Whether you're a fast-talking Grifter, a sharpshooting Button, or a hard-hitting Goon, your choice impacts not only your playstyle but how your gang operates as a team. So, how do...
Building Floating Cities: Worldbuilding in the Sky
In a world where magic keeps cities aloft and the ground below is teeming with horrors, worldbuilding doesn’t just mean mapping streets and markets—it means rethinking gravity itself. Floating cities in Aether Skies aren't just marvels of arcano-engineering, they are pressure cookers of political tension,...
Chaos Magic and You: Designing Unique Magical Mechanics for Your Campaign
Chaos magic introduces an element of delightful unpredictability to any tabletop RPG campaign. It upends player expectations, sparks creative problem-solving, and can shift a carefully orchestrated scene into unexpected chaos. Inspired by the Under the Dome campaign, where chaos magic shapes much of the world,...
Exploring the Aether Skies: A World of Magic, Espionage, and Horror
Starting in the near future Nerdarchist Dave will be returning to the world we started making years ago for a campaign on the channel. We have three videos talking about it already on the channel with more to come. We also did a full fledged...
Faction Wars: Integrating Gang Politics into TTRPG Gameplay
How Gang Rivalries Shape Player Choice, Storytelling, and the World of Crystalia In many tabletop RPG settings, factions act as power players in the world’s social, economic, and criminal ecosystems. Whether they’re noble houses, religious sects, corporate overlords, or underground crime syndicates, factions provide conflict, intrigue,...
Meet the Families: Designing Memorable NPCs in Zoo Mafia
Every great crime story has its iconic families—the powerful bosses, the loyal underlings, and the ambitious outsiders trying to carve out their own piece of the pie. Zoo Mafia thrives on these dynamics, bringing the world of organized crime to life through its colorful cast...
Post-Apocalyptic Roleplay: Building a City Like Crystalia
Creating a vibrant, self-contained city for your post-apocalyptic tabletop roleplaying game (TTRPG) campaign requires a careful balance of exploration, societal tension, and intrigue. Inspired by the dome-covered metropolis of Crystalia from the Under the Dome D&D campaign, here are actionable insights to help Game Masters...
The Zookeeper’s Guide: Running the Perfect Zoo Mafia Session
Welcome to the world of Zoo Mafia, where the fur flies, the drinks flow, and crime rules the jungle. As a Zookeeper (Game Master), your job is to craft a compelling, high-stakes underworld filled with rival gangs, daring heists, and the ever-present risk of attracting...
The Karthid – The Tideforged of the Black Tides
If you have been following the channel for a bit you would know the direction of the things that Dave and I are working on. My big push right now is building out some great content for Under the Dome. This is a post apocalyptic...
Animal Instincts: Roleplaying Zoo Animals in Organized Crime
When you sit down at the table to play Zoo Mafia, you’re diving headfirst into a world where mobsters aren’t just humans in sharp suits but cunning animals navigating a dangerous underworld. One of the game’s most fascinating challenges and opportunities is bringing your animal...
The Human Element in Zoo Mafia: A Dangerous Dance
When playing Zoo Mafia, the thrill of clandestine operations, cunning schemes, and daring heists takes center stage. But one factor looms over every plot and power play—the humans. They are the proverbial wild card in the deck, a force both oblivious and dangerous. Navigating this...
Peanut-Based Monetary System for Zoo Mafia RPG
In Zoo Mafia RPG, peanuts aren’t just a tasty snack—they’re the currency of choice in Furton City’s criminal underworld. This tiered system combines a fun thematic element with PBTA mechanics, allowing players to engage in resource management while taking risks to push beyond their financial...
Step into the Roaring ’20s with Zoo Mafia: An RPG Drenched in Prohibition-Era Style
The world of Zoo Mafia isn't just a game—it's a time machine. This tabletop RPG immerses players in the glitz, grit, and danger of the 1920s and 1930s, an era defined by speakeasies, jazz, and the high-stakes drama of Prohibition. Drawing inspiration from history and...
The Heart of the Mafia: Family Bonds in Zoo Mafia and Beyond
In any mafia story, from classics like The Godfather to the role-playing adventures of Zoo Mafia, one theme stands above all else: family. This concept goes far beyond blood ties, encompassing the unbreakable bonds of loyalty, respect, and shared ambition. In Zoo Mafia, family serves...
