What it is about
Introduction Tendon is a 40-page TTRPG zine for one or more players in which you play as Nurses: the bloody caretakers of a shifting biomechanical structure in the desert known as the Graft. It's a cruel cycle. The weight of extractionary wealth hangs heavy over the settlement. It's inescapable. The merchant's stranglehold isn't something you can defeat through violence - they're here via proxy. Even the Graft's deepest treasures only help you survive, not escape, this system. This is all accompanied by some beautiful prose that hits the vivid, gnarly imagery I want from bio-horror while staying bleak and uncompromising with life outside the Graft. - Taylor Bush (Carouse, Carouse!) Gameplay This is a roleplaying game in real time. The world moves on without you. Every time you pick up Tendon to play, you are operating within a brief window of control over the lives in Tanasul; home of the Graft and the only life in 100 miles of desert. Every hour of the day corresponds to a new layout within the Graft, and the dice you roll determine the shape of the rooms and the life within. From this life you harvest three parts: heads, handles, and vessels. These are the core pieces of your tools: modular devices used in the Graft and sold in the market to earn your living. The parts could be: A spine to form your rifle's barrel. A calcified tongue for a hammer. A claw in your wrist to warn you of danger. There's 140 different rooms and creatures within this zine, and countless ways to combine them. How many will die to create what you need? Info Tendon was made for the Gamestorm Season 1 Prompt Jam . It is in active testing, and we'd love to hear feedback. The theme selected was "A game for whoever can show up that week." Big thanks to them for hosting, and thank you for stopping by. Credits Davino - Writing, Layout, Game Design Porter - Art, Playtesting Rupp - Art, Playtesting Alfred Valley - For The Everywhere Unseen Texture Pack.