codex r review

I recommend reading high. 

The attention span is shrunken, but the focus is heightened and very intense. 

For me, the reading experience becomes more vertical. 

In this case, I like to read books of a certain depth. 

You want to avoid reading something you've seen before because you're absorbing things more sentence by sentence. It will be a smooth ride down if you do, and it will lead to no exciting experience.

You want an experience where there are a lot of hand and foot holes, but some of them are jagged, some will cut you up, and some will require you to leap from one spot to another over the chasm, and you have to trust it, but you may also die.

Codex R is among The Top 5 OSR Zines to Read When You're High as Balls.

When I first read this zine, it was hard to position myself because I was utterly mystified. 

Its page on Itch.io describes it as:

"A kaleidoscopic excursion in space-time, cataloging headless farmers, party deities, apocalyptic critters, bad hair days and totalitarian practices." 

It doesn't take many pages to excite and activate some unused neural pathways in the brain when reading Codex R.

It's a catalog of an entire culture in an alternate reality. It has 46 objects or beasts (I consider this zine a bestiary), each with its own full-color illustration that invites you to understand them. They pull you in and lead you around with their descriptions, like a tour guide (sometimes it's like encyclopedia entries). The people, the objects, the places, but still familiar enough. 

I think it's intended to be used as an "in-game" artifact. 

Codex R is an endless source of fascination. Definitely buy yourself a copy and check out what else the creators have made: here and here. 

im a fucking thrill mimic btw

the hand-jay, an enemy for troika!

A Hand-Jay's main threats are the loss of wetlands due to developments, but also bobcats (they say it tastes like chicken), poisons, and pesticides. When a left Hand-Jay finds a right Hand-Jay, they shake hands and mate for life. 

skill 6
stamina 8
initiative 4
armor 0
damage as small beast or weapon
appearing1d6+1
special: may cast brittle twigs (Troika Numinous Edition pg. 59 or find it here)

mien
1. angrily circling above, ready to swoop down
2. worrying about its 'future' as a 'species'
3. stretching its neck to look around better for shit to steal

I would like someone to spray paint Hand-Jays on buildings for me in the style of my 'art'.

david lych's floating head, an enemy for troika!

This strange and bizarre form of David Lych is strongly committed to having a 'worried' facial expression. The 'dead' head contains two red gems with upside-down crosses (worth 2,000 silver pence each). He's extremely protective of his unreleased VHS (priceless) that was filmed in 1.61803 videographic aspect ratio (the golden ratio). Don't ask about the Dune adaptation though, it'll get intense. 

skill 8
stamina 15
initiative 2
armor 1

damage as fire bolt +1 or bite as small beast.

knows the following spells: coal resolve (troika core book pg59), cockroach (troika core book pg59), skeletal council (troika core book pg66), and teleport (troika core book pg67)

special: test luck or flee for d6 rounds.

mien
1. sleeping on a 'bed' of fast-food wrappers
2. talking to a doll's head
3. making coffee out of ashes

I would like someone to spray paint David Lych on buildings for me in the style of my 'art'.

now for some lore from the Knife-Shaped Sphere...

The Coffee Drinkers

David Lych makes coffee from ashes.

They get water from a nearby drainage ditch and boil it to get out the bacteria. They get the ashes from jars.

David Lych makes the coffee in a tin pot over a fire.

Werner Herzog sits near the fire.

Werner Herzog is wearing an old Nike shirt and keeps scratching their mosquito bites.

David Lych found Werner Herzog in a parking lot interviewing people for a documentary film about 'white-urbanite-witchcraft'. Werner Herzog was not the greatest person David Lych ever met, they were the only interesting person they have seen in two years.

David Lych puts the coffee in front of Werner Herzog.

Werner Hezog scratches their armpit. 

David Lych says, "Do you remember that Jay Z song where he says something like, Big pimping, something on B-L-A-Des, or something, do you remember that song?"

Werner Herzog sips the coffee and says, "This tastes like shit."

David Lych thinks, "Werner Herzog doesn't like my coffee because he's never had good coffee in his life, he'll never agree to narrate my film," and gives up on the conversation.

(if you'd like to support me there are links on the right to purchase my zines)

the food critic, an enemy for troika!

Perrine Anouiih, The Food Critic

Pompous and aggressive. She likes to think of herself as ‘stealthy’. Armed with broken glassware, stolen serving forks, or knives. 

Mien
1. “Where’s my wine?”
2. ”What does this plate suggest to you?”
3. ”Is it art ?!”
4. Wants a personal meal, if served will then sigh and ask you for something else
5. Becoming irritated
6. Will eat their meal, write the review, and then burn the place down

Stamina 8
Skill 7 
Initiative 2
Armor 0
Damage as weapon

I'm hosting a game jam over on itch all about Troika City! It started August 1st and will run all month long. There's a ton of great entries so far! Make sure you go check that out.

I think this enemy would pair especially well with Evey's diner game. I highly suggest grabbing that as well as buying all of her other games.

6 variations of the same encounter featuring a gargoyle

 

This started out as a writing exercise. If you have your own idea for a related encounter please leave a comment. (The image is from the Emily Morgan Hotel in San Antonio, Texas. It is haunted.)

1. A gargoyle comes to life every night and eats someone they find walking the city streets.

2. Due to lack of building inspections the roof of the church is deteriorating. Last night a section of the corner with that creepy statue fell off and killed someone.

3. The gargoyle doesn't actually come to life. It's a normal statue. The stories of them are lies. A cult is murdering folks for blood rituals. They stalk the streets every other night.

4. OOPS! A wizard accidentally cast a spell which ricocheted out of sight. Unknown to them it was stone to flesh which hit the gargoyle.

5. A new fad of owning monsters-as-art has been spreading across the city. This has been dangerous. Did you hear about the person who bought that gargoyle thinking it would be cool to show off to their friends?

6. A piece of solid stone spoke to a sculptor. "Carve me in the image of a monster" it said. When the last piece was chiseled off the gargoyle killed the man.

Anyway, the point is, gargoyles are cool! I think they would make for a great encounter using Kriegmesser (troika). Below I've provided my own stats for gargoyles and cultists to be used with Troika. 

Gargoyle
A stone elemental twisted by demonic magic.

Mien

1. Irreverant
2. Skulking
3. Protruding, but not moving

Stamina 24
Skill 8
Initiative 2
Armor 4 or 0 against tools designed to damage stone
Bite or Claw as Large Beast

Special - Immunities of inorganic constructs

Cultist of the Broken Statue
They worship chaos. 1d6+1 appearing. Armed with garrotes, daggers, a net with hold person cast on it, and each with a scroll of flesh to stone. Test luck or be turned to stone for d3 rounds. If a scroll is used a second time on the same target the effect is permanent.

Mien
1. Faithful
2. Hospitable
3. Muttering, "what'cha doing with your life?"

Stamina 11
Skill 6
Initiative 1
Armor 0
Damage as weapon

Special - They have a third eye (unseeable until opened), test luck or be stunned for the first round.