Hendrik is writing an ashcan about nuns

@napel.itch.io

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I design tabletop games from my apartment in the Netherlands. (he/them) Subscribe to my newsletter: https://buttondown.email/hendriktennapel

A Powered by the Apocalypse style Basic Moves sheet for a game called Family Meal. The Moves are named: Read, Comfort, Share, Prepare, Prcess, Court Disaster, Opening, Hands!, Fire it, Run it, Court Disaster, Fuck Around, In the weeds, Get through the night, Closing.
A letterboxd review by Olivia Craighead of the 2020 film TENET. No stars. A heart. It reads: oh you don’t like it because it “doesn’t make sense” and the dialogue is “all expository”? grow up! score is sick. looks good as hell. plane goes into a building. pattinson is blonde. they do some kind of sailing only rich people know about. branagh is being insane. car drives backwards!! like a lot of nolan movies, it’s about a group of people banding together to do the impossible. chill out! this shit goes so crazy in imax, can’t recommend enough.
A screenshot out of Archipelago III's rule book. Under the heading 'Defining a new setting' it says: 'Talk about what sort of setting you want. High fantasy or science fiction are suitable genres, though if you want to experiment with other genres, go ahead. Decide what elements of the setting are central, and need someone to take ownership of them—someone wha can say what fits and what doesn't. This is to make sure that the setting has integrity, that there's a uniting vision for these elements. Decide who owns what. Ownership is a responsibility, so make sure the right people own the right things.
A screen shot of my last four watched on letterboxd. From left to right: - Omaha, two and a half stars - Norman Norman, no rating - Blue Heron, four an a half stars and a heart - The Social Network, four stars
My letterboxd review for my rewatch of No Country for Old Men (rated five stars and a heart): The plumbers were supposed to come by for maybe two hours. They stayed for six. They're coming back tomorrow to do the actual fixing and they'll leave before they can fill the two holes they made to find the problem. That'll come next week.
A detail from the quoted webcomic: a box saying 'to be continued if I feel like it'.
Laura Dern, in a car, in a scene from CERTAIN WOMEN.
A screenshot of the post Thomas is reacting to, with both the words 'Burned Over' and 'its discord' circled.
Hx: CATCHING SOMEONE’S EYE When you catch someone’s eye, roll+Hx. (If an NPC, roll+Cool.) On a 10+, choose 2: they’re provoked, inspired, alerted, charmed, unsettled, or reassured — or else choose 1 that they are, but 1 that they aren’t. On a 7–9, choose either 1 that they are, or 1 that they aren’t. Either way, tell them what you hope or expect them to do about it, then ask them what they actually do. On a miss, the MC might have you choose 1 anyway, but ask them what goes wrong.
My last four watched on letterboxd: - The Firm (three and a half stars) - The Captive (four and a half stars, plus a heart) - Problemista (five stars, plus a heart) - Preparations to Be Together for an Unkown Period of Time (four stars)
The burger king logo but instead of 'Burger King' it has the climax of Saw Gerrera's speech in season 2 of Andor.
My last four watched on letterboxd: Dead Man's Wire (four stars), Double Happiness (three and a half stars), Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation (three stars), Watership Down (three and a half stars).
My last four watched on letterboxd: Watership Down (three and a half stars), Sound of Falling (three and a half stars and a heart), Chris Fleming: Live at The Palace (four stars), Marty Supreme (five stars and a heart).
A photo of my hand holding two hardcover books with painterly illustrated covers. One is titled Crescent 2e and features a T-Rex, a bunch of rowdy kids, a boomerang and a crab with a pirate's hat. The other is titled Exile and features a bat-winged goth with a sword.
An image of ten (paint) samples.
An image of ten flannels.
An image of ten handles.
A photo of several 'two tops' with simple wooden chairs, a countertop and a kitchen area with deep green tiles on the wall.
"Michael's work is punchy, flavor-blasted, and loaded with hooks. Every bullet-point is its own short story, every item could seed an entire adventure. That's what he brought to Slugblaster, and that's what you'll get here, too. Of course, I prefere when I can pass his work off as my own, but I guess the jig is up." – Mikey Hamm, Creator of Slugblaster.
A screenshot of a digital whiteboard with divided into Special Moves, Common Moves, Sisters, Responsibilities and Backgrounds.
A panel from 'The Enigma of the Amigara Fault' of an unclothed person in glasses looking over their shoulder with a distraught look on their face.
A screenshot of my last four watched on letterboxd: - Tenet, four stars, rewatch - Fragments for Venus, three-and-a-half stars - A Kight's Tale, four stars and a heart, rewatch - Only Yesterday, five stars and a heart
A spread of data points. Two dots that are closest together are highlighted: @napel.itch.io and @rvgames.company
A brown rabbit next to a part of the defences within the dead zone.
Lift Up Your Eyes When you look for consolation through prayer, flip a coin. On heads, regain one Patience and ask the MC how your prayer is answered: through feeling, thought, sign, or vision. If you truly believe the answer came from the Lord, also regain Faith. On tails, spend Faith to regain one Patience and reflect on your prayer: was an answer what you needed most? Or, come up short and look to the MC.
A partial screenshot of a notes app. It reads: "Remain Pious When you strive to remain pious, despite provocation or temptation, flip a coin. On heads," A cursor is ready to write what happens on heads.
My last four watched on letterboxd: Bergman Island (five stars and a heart), Bo Burnham: Inside (five stars), When Harry Met Sally... (four stars and a heart), and Blue (five stars and a heart).
Gwen C: Infinite Revolution was grown from the clips and cuttings of so many different old projects of mine; it's been a roller derby racing game, a big ambitious worldbuilding project about weird monster-tamer symbiotes, another game where you were rapid-response teams for kaiju attacks, an aborted Lancer campaign that set the stage for most of the setting, and even the early drafts of a visual novel. If you go even deeper than those, it was probably my fascination with nonhuman life and the coincidental timing of Spencer Campbell's LUMEN Jam 2022 that finally kicked things into gear for real.
A partial screenshot of an academic paper titled: 'Derrida on the quasi-transcendental and madness'
A screenshot of Hendrik's 2025 in Film, by the numbers. 103 films logged, 15 films reviewed, 187 hours watched.
A post by Merriam-Webster saying: Take a screenshot of this GIF, and whichever new word you land on is YOUR word for 2026. Let's. Go. Your 2026 Word melancholic
A book cover image: a watercolor of a medieval convent hallway with bold, white, hand-lettered text reading 'Sheltered, a game about a convent, Hendrik ten Napel'.
Me in my favority red sweater, holding a microphone. I'm standing in front of a fairly large screen depicting the front cover of my game, The Girls of the Genziana Hotel.
A candid shot of three actors from Split Second, in costume, behind them the monster-alien, fully suited up, is striking a pose for the camera (as far as the rubber will allow them to do so).
Finally, I want to touch on the OSR’s future. Here’s the one thing I hope you take away from this post: OSR designers have done a lot of work to create and perfect mechanical systems. When it comes to other kinds of systems, however, there exists incredible potential for progress. Ty of the Mindstorm blog recently wrote “Pocket-Sized Powder Kegs,” an excellent exploration of systems of conflict and instability. I’d love to see more work like this, and it’s where I intend to focus my attention moving forward. Here are just a few questions I hope to explore: How can we design systems of relation to facilitate intrigue? How can we design systems of environment to evoke wonder? How can we design systems of care to explore the toll of violence? How can we design systems of secrecy to support discovery? How can we design systems of place to enhance verisimilitude? We already have a wealth of mechanical systems. I believe the future of the OSR will involve perfecting the design of these other systems.
A close up of animated dog: a black and white chihuahua with a collar and a name tag that says BEEF.
The Warren's playbook is divided in three columns: the first one is character information (name, portrait, looks, stats); the second one are the game's basic moves; the third one is blank, reserved for writing down the rabbit's unique character moves as they unlock them.
Hendrik's last four watched on Letterboxd: His Girl Friday (four stars), Dog Day Afternoon (four and a half stars), Relay (three and a half stars and a heart), Frankenstein (three stars and a review).
A screenshot of my recent activity on letterboxd: - Frankenstein (3 stars) - Working Girl (3 and a half stars) - Copycat (2 and a half stars, and a heart) - The Mastermind (4 and a half stars, and a heart)
A still from the movie No Country for Old Men of a couple sitting on the couch looking a little discombobulated past the camera.
A screenshot that says: Project Funded, 167 backers raised € 3217,97. This is 429.06% of the € 750 goal. All of the stretch goals were unlocked. Goal reached in 1 hour and 57 minutes.
A screenshot of The Girls of the Genziana Hotel's campaign tracker, showing € 3057 in funding, 158 backers, an initial goal of € 750 and saying the campaign is 407 percent funded, with 1 day, 7 hours, 26 minutes and 47 seconds to go.
A mock-up of a staple bound zine, open, and lying face down. The monochrome deep blue cover showis two chambermaids walking towards the viewer brandishing a lantern and a knife. The back cover says 'a gothic horror mystery role-playing game'.
A black and white, almost woodcut-like digital image of two characters. One in a furry coat, with a three-pronged red tattoo on their chest. The other with caped in black, with a red gas mask on that covers their whole face.
A push alert from BlueSky saying: a hide pus thing liked your repost.
An expansive relationship map, centering around Damian Farseer, Hyacinth, Ezekiel Moorhart, Gwen, and Lady Charlotte.
A partial screenshot of the Gamefound page of The Girls of the Genziana Hotel, showing it's got 111 backers.
STEP OUT OF LINE When you try to get your way or fail to conform … - … by acting like a floozy, roll+charm - … by acting like a problem, roll+guts Before rolling, say what you’re afraid might happen if this doesn’t work out. On a 10+, things go your way and you ensure that there are no consequences for acting up. Describe what happens. On a 7-9, choose: either things go your way, or you ensure that there are no consequences for acting up. The Mistress describes what that looks like. On a miss, you’re in trouble and the Mistress reacts.
ACT UP WHEN YOU TRY TO GET YOUR WAY… …by acting like a hooligan, roll +luck. …by acting like a lady, roll +guts. …by acting like a natural-born Soviet airwoman, roll +medals. On 10+, choose two. On 7-9, choose one: - Make someone do what you want (If the person you are imposing on is a PC, she can do it or not, but if she doesn’t you are both marked) - Ensure that there are no consequences for acting up - Add one to the mission pool On a miss there will be trouble.
The Day Move When you do something risky or face somethingyou fear, name what you’re afraid will happen if you fail or lose your nerve, then roll with an appropriate ability. On a 10+, you do what you intended or you hold steady; describe what it looks like. On a 7-9, the Keeper will tell you how your actions would leave you vulnerable, and you can choose to back down or go through with it. If you go through with it, the Keeper describes what it looks like. On a 12+, you do what you intended or you hold steady, and the Keeper will tell you some extra benefit or advantage you receive. Describe what it looks like.
A mock up of a sticker, depicting sewing scissors shaped like a stork. It's a black and white, etch-like illustration.
A screenshot showing the cover of the zine 'The Girls of the Genziana Hotel' and a countdown that says its crowdfunding campaign will launch in one day, one hour, nine minutes and 58 second.
Two posts by tumblr user genderfluid-druid. They read: hurr hurr I'm a human body hurr hurr I'm gonna solve all my problems using mucus And: "i require more fluids" well what did you do with the fluids I already gave you. hmm? did you make more mucus with them? you made more mucus with them.
A title card reading: 'The Blighted Sack'. It's designed to look like white stenciled letters on dubiously stained burlap.
A digital mock up of Crescent 2e. The cover has been done in a cartoonish, painterly style: centered around a large T-rex is a cast of pre-teens involved in various anticts. One has caught the other with a fishing pole. There's a boomerang flying around. Another is diving into the water, their feet turned into a fish's tail. And while the dinosaur roars, another child is deeply immersed in the ancient tome they're reading at the monster's feet.
A screenshot of part of a The Last Caravan character sheet, showing a tracker and bullet points: HEROISM Spend HEROISM to: ▶ Find a useful item ▶ Gain +1d to any gambit roll ▶ Increase harm (limit 2/gambit roll) Gain HEROISM when you: ▶ Delve deeply into another traveler’s feelings ▶ Suggest an alternate viewpoint ▶ Create a moment for care ▶ Aid a faction ▶ Make things worse because of your inadequacy
The cover of Hades I, showing the sexy Zagreus, the son of Hades surrounded by a red background.