CJ Tucker

@crackerjackalope

Writer, game designer, welsh, queer they/them

3,906 Following1,740 Followers343 Posts

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CJ Tucker@crackerjackalope· 18d

Every time I write about one of the weird or funny Welsh ghost stories I've learnt about for Dewin, I feel like being the rat from Horrible Histories. "I will stop the ghost by challenging it to drain the entire lake... only using a bucket with a big hole in." Me:

A screencap from Horrible Histories. The rat puppet is holding up a sign that says "they really did this!"

CJ Tucker@crackerjackalope· Jul 9

The non-fiction bibliography for my next game is growing faster than I can read them!

Four books, from left to right: 'The Folklore of Wales: Ghosts' by Delyth Badder and Mark Norman, 'Paranormal Cardiff' by Mark Rees, 'Curious Welsh Tales' by Geraint Roberts and 'Who Cares About Wales?' by Will Hayward

CJ Tucker@crackerjackalope· Jul 7

This is my first time crowdfunding anything, which is really exciting! Huge thanks to the @gamefound.bsky.social team for accepting me for the RPG Party 2026, their mentorship and the community of creators taking part have been great so far and I only expect it to get better!

On the left: text reading "Funding for Gamefound RPG Party"

On the right: the cover of Dewin, featuring an illustration of a view from a bridge across a river. A ghost stands on the river bank in the distance. The title "DEWIN" is at the top in a green to brown gradient, and at the bottom is the text "A healing journey through a haunted country by CJ Tucker"

CJ Tucker@crackerjackalope· Jun 22

The ingredients you collect are represented by playing cards. At the end of the game, you'll make a hand of 3 cards to determine the effectiveness of your spell and whether you get to see your familiar again.

Title: Perform the Incantation
At the end of the game, choose 3 cards from your pack to form your hand. The quality of your hand determines the success of your incantation. Speak your magic words and consult Table 4 for the results.

A table labelled "Table 4 – Outcomes" with the headings "Hand" and "Example"
The table has the following entries
Flush All cards in the same suit ♣J️, ♣6️, ♣2️
Straight All card values in sequence ♠5, ♣6️, ♦7️
Straight Flush All cards of the same suit and in sequence ♦9, ♦10, ♦J️
Three-of-a-kind All cards are the same value ♦Q️, ♣Q️, ♥Q️

Bullet points reading:
• Flush - You briefly bring down your familiar’s soul. You can only say a few words but you know they’ll hear them. What do you say?
• Straight - You bring your familiar back to life, but it is only fleeting. You have one more day to spend with them, what do you do?
• Straight Flush - Your familiar returns but only for so long. You think they have another year or so left. What do you do with them that you always regretted missing out on?
• Three-of-a-kind - Your familiar returns in full health, they have a whole extra life ahead of them! What is the first thing you do together?
• Anything Else - The ritual fails, you don’t get to see them again or say any final words. How long does it take to find peace with your grief?

CJ Tucker@crackerjackalope· Jun 22

Start by rolling a set of polyhedral dice and using their locations and values to create a map. Then you'll travel the map, collecting ingredients at each point.

Two tables.

The first is labelled "Table 1 - Locations" and has two columns "Die Size" and "Location Name"
The table has the following entries
d4 The Well of [Blank]
d6 The Spring of [Blank]
d8 The Shrine of [Blank]
d10 The Summit of [Blank]
d12 The Cave of [Blank]
d20 The Temple of [Blank]

The second table is labelled "Table 2 - Fill in the Blank" and has two columns: "Die Result" and "Fill in the Blank"
The table has the following entries:
1 Luck
2 Hope
3 Plenty
4 Souls
5 Life
6 Protection
7 Fire
8 Music
9 Faith
10 Death
11 Demons
12 Despair
13 Grace
14 Ivy
15 Decadence
16 Fear
17 Beasts
18 Bones
19 the Dragon
20 Doom

Finally, there is a sidebar which reads "Most locations should have two or three lines connecting them. Particularly remote locations may have just one."

Two diagrams showing how rolled dice become a pointcrawl map.

On the left page: A diagram of six dice spread across the page. Each die shows the result it has rolled and is labelled with a location name. From top to bottom:
The d10 rolled 9 and is labelled "The Summit of Faith"
The d12 rolled 5 and is labelled "The Cave of Life"
The d8 rolled 6 and is labelled "The Shrine of Protection"
The d20 rolled 15 and is labelled "The Temple of Decadence"
The d6 rolled 2 and is labelled "The Spring of Hope"
The d4 rolled 4 and is labelled "The Well of Souls"

On the right page: A diagram following on from the previous one. Each die has now become a circle with the value that was rolled written inside. Between one and three lines are connecting each circle to others.

CJ Tucker@crackerjackalope· Jun 22

I've just released my latest solo RPG, A Witch's Pilgrimage, check it out here! crackerjackalope-games.itch.io/witchs-pilgr... Play as a witch travelling between sites of spiritual significance collecting ingredients for a ritual to bring your familiar back to life.

A lineart illustration of a witch with her back to the camera looking over her shoulder. Her right arm is raised and magic is conjuring around it. To the right of the illustration reads: "A Witch's Pilgrimage, a fantasy solo RPG by CJ Tucker"

CJ Tucker@crackerjackalope· May 25

Also pick up my game Visitations on the @uktin.bsky.social stand: 3-510!

The cover of my game Visitations. An antique illustration of a man falling to the ground before a robed ghost. Text above the image reads "Visitations" and text below reads "A solo game of ghostly encounters by CJ Tucker"

CJ Tucker@crackerjackalope· May 25

I'll be at #UKGE as an attendee on Friday and Saturday this week. Spot me with my new pin! #UKGE2026

A photograph of a pin badge featuring an illustrated brown jackalope on an orange background

CJ Tucker@crackerjackalope· Apr 22

Hot take maybe but this poll feels like an outlier. Plaid gets more frequent AND bigger wins in opinion polls on average. I'm not gonna be worried about this unless the next poll shows a bigger reform lead.

A screenshot from the Wikipedia page "Opinion polling for the 2026 Senedd election" showing poll results since the Caerphilly by-election in October 2025. 3 results show a tie between Plaid and Reform, two show Reform wins (with a highest lead of 7%), and 7 show Plaid wins (with a highest lead of 14%).

CJ Tucker@crackerjackalope· Apr 4

I think Draw Steel has quite a different idea of cinematic than any other game I've seen use the word. It feels like when it says "cinema" it really means "action movies."

Cinematic
Closely tied to the heroic keyword, the cinematic keyword is about
how we like abilities and features to be strongly evocative. You can
imagine your character doing or saying these things. “In All This
Confusion” is a good name for the shadow’s ability to slip out of melee
and retreat to safety. The text of the ability says how it works, but the
name creates an awareness that explains how it’s working.
When Sir Vanazor the dragon knight fury leaps onto a goblin war
spider, cleaving through the goblins riding the creature in a single turn,
you experience that action in your mind. It feels like a movie. It doesn’t
feel simply as if you rolled well, but like an epic scene, complete with
slow motion and a Carpenter Brut soundtrack.
You should imagine your tactician character leading the battle, granting
your allies free strikes, extra maneuvers. Coordinating the battle. That’s
what the name implies. And if we’ve done a good job, when you read
through your character’s abilities, you think, “Yes! This is what I was
imagining! I can’t wait to do this!”

CJ Tucker@crackerjackalope· Oct 28

Been feeling kind of stuck creatively recently, so I wanted to make something small and quick. Here's a system-neutral NPC/location/thing: The Witch of the Mountains

A portrait flyer with a light brown background and white text. The title is "Witch of the Mountains". On the right of the image is an illustration of a pale woman wearing loose yellow/brown clothing and an amulet around her neck. She has pitch black eyes and long, brown hair that goes all the way down to her feet. On both sides of the image are columns of glyphs.
The text reads:
"Witch of the Mountains
Corpses litter the path all the way to the Mountain Witch's summit, a reminder to travellers that the journey is a trecherous one. Despite the warnings, hopeful individuals from all over the known world journey here in an attempt to have their wishes granted. All who return from the mountain come back empty handed, having failed their quest to summit the mountain. Most never return, but do they die on the journey or do they get their wish granted for some terrible cost?
Choose one truth:
No one has made it to the summit, the Witch might not even exist.
The Witch turns all who reach her into birds to spy on the village.
The Witch grants a wish to all who reach her, but they may never return home.
Writing and Layout: CJ Tucker
Art: Oozejar
Fonts: Bardolatry, Alibaba Sans, NineMatScript
Published under the Creative Commons CC BY-SA 4.0 license."

CJ Tucker@crackerjackalope· Aug 7

My submission to the #1pRPGJam is Borrowers Dungeon Crawl, a tiny game about tiny people. Play as tiny people sneaking into human houses in this foldie zine that fits in the palm of your hand! Check the game out at crackerjackalope-games.itch.io/borrowers-du...

The game Borrowers Dungeon Crawl placed inside a plant pot.

On the cover, beneath the title, is an illustration of a light-skinned person. They have short hair and a hood, on one hand rests a large moth, and on their belt is a large pair of embroidery scissors. Beneath the illustration is the subtitle: "A Tiny Game About Tiny People by CJ Tucker"

CJ Tucker@crackerjackalope· Jul 25

I wonder if people are rushing to archive stuff in case it gets taken down? 34 downloads isn't a lot in the grand scheme of things, but it's by far the most I've had in a day this past month.

A bar graph showing downloads of my games from the last month on Itch.io, Every day is under 20 downloads except for yesterday which is at 34.

CJ Tucker@crackerjackalope· Jul 24

I can't believe 2025 has seen two original movies with huge mainstream success about non-white musicians fighting against supernatural creatures

CJ Tucker@crackerjackalope· Jul 9

what

A photograph of Dill Pickle Iced Tea
Text below reading:
"Loon Lake Iced Tea
Dill Pickle Iced Tea
Brewed black tea infused with dill pickle flavor and served with a dill pickle spear. Garnished with a rim of chamoy, Tajín, salt and dill. (Vegan, Gluten Free)"

CJ Tucker@crackerjackalope· Jun 16

Check out some sample pages:

Text reading:
"Each round, players will use their coins to vote to increase the depth by 1 (heads) or decrease it by 1 (tails). You may say whatever you want before voting. Count all the votes at one time, then add the total to your depth. The captain’s vote counts twice. Track your depth using the 3d6 you rolled at the beginning. If depth ever exceeds 18, your sub crashes into the ocean floor and everyone dies. If depth ever reaches 0, the sub surfaces and the game is over. Each player who achieved their goal wins.
A note for the moderator: Play your role as theatrically as you like. Strike fear into the other players with your descriptions of the creaking sub and the unseen creatures that lurk outside it. Goad them by asking whether a laugh counts as raising their voice, and crank up the pressure when they complain about your decisions."
Beside the text is an antique illustration of a squid, tinted blue.

Text reading:
"Pressure
Pressure starts at 0 and only increases over time, track it using the d20. If pressure ever reaches 20, the sub caves in and everyone dies.
▪ If depth changes by 3 or more in a single turn, gain 1 pressure.
▪ If everyone votes the same, gain another pressure.
▪ If the captain voted against the majority, gain 1 pressure
▪ If depth is greater than 12 after voting, gain 1 pressure.
▪ Once per round, if a player or character raises their voice, gain 1 pressure.
▪ Once per round, if a player or character complains about something, gain 1 pressure.
▪ At the end of a round, narrate as a group how the changes in depth and pressure affect the scene.
If you are playing with a moderator, they can track changes in pressure. The moderator has final say whether something counts as complaining or raising your voice. Make sure you don’t complain about the moderator’s decisions!"

CJ Tucker@crackerjackalope· Jun 13

One of my favourite dice mechanics I've seen recently are some of the moves in Godkiller. When you Kill a God, you always succeed, but you roll to see if there are consequences or if you get more than you wanted. Basically either "yes, but" or "yes, and."

Text reading "KILL A GOD

When you confront a god in their true form and exploit their Downfall to kill them, describe how you slay them and roll 2d6. On a hit (7-9), they seize something vital from you as well; name what vital part of yourself you lose. On a strong hit (10+), their death transforms, liberates, or shields an aspect of the Cradle; describe what, and how. On a miss (6-), they bestow a curse upon you with their dying breath. Regardless of your roll, you seize a semblance of their Power."

CJ Tucker@crackerjackalope· May 5

This distribution worked way better. The game now had a definitive maximum length: 36 messages, and a mean of 21. This range was large enough to create strong narrative tension, without holding the players so long that the tension fizzles out. I played it, and it sung. (7/8)

A screenshot from anydice.com showing the distribution of "3d6+2d6+1d6". It is a perfect bell-curve with a mean of 21 and a range of 6-36.

CJ Tucker@crackerjackalope· May 5

The number of messages in each game was all over the place! The range of this simulation was 10-103, but the maximum amount of messages could be infinite. I realised that this completely ruined the tone of the game, it needed to be redesigned. (5/8)

A bar graph. The X-axis is titled "Number of messages before the game ends" and ranges from 1-109, and the Y-axis is titled "Frequency" and ranges from 0 to 50. The most frequent number of messages is 29, with a frequency of 41. 19, 25, 30 and 35 messages are all also close.

CJ Tucker@crackerjackalope· May 5

'Goodbye, World </3' is my 2-player TTRPG about a dying mech and it's pilot. The pilot can speak but the mech can only communicate by typing, and their messages are running out. The mech rolls 3 dice to determine how many messages they can send, then 2, then 1, then they die. (2/8)

The cover for Goodbye World. Text reads: "Goodbye World, a game of last words by Crackerjackalope." Above the text is a sketch-y illustration of a dying mech with a large sword stabbed through it's chest.

CJ Tucker@crackerjackalope· May 5

When talking about Blue Prince, I've seen people identify that a lot of the game's casual critics have just had bad luck, so it's understandable that they feel that way. It reminded me of a problem I ran into with one of my own games, Goodbye World. (1/8)

Blue Prince's banner on steam, showing the game's title against a blue wall with a doorway to the left. Through the doorway, there is a silhouette of a person in the distance.

CJ Tucker@crackerjackalope· Mar 25

Hey! I just tried to play your Steam demo and I got a runtime error 3 times in a row. Any idea what's up with that?

$an error message reading: Runtime Error Program: ...on\Fist of the Forgotten Demo\FistOfTheForgottenDemo.exe This application has requested the Runtime to terminate it in an unusual way. Please contact the application's support team for more information.$

CJ Tucker@crackerjackalope· Jan 3

Last month I hit 1000 followers on Bluesky! So to celebrate, I'm putting all of my games on sale! You can pick up ABODE, Goodbye World, There's Something About the Deep and DRAGONFALL at 50% off, or grab all of them for £10! itch.io/s/145605/blu...

Pink text on a purple background reading "ABODE"

Text reading: "Goodbye World, A Game of Last Words by Cracker jackalope", beside the text is a grainy, black and white illustration of a destroyed mech with a sword sticking out of its chest.

Light blue text on a dark blue background reading "There's Something About the Deep", beside the text is an illustration of a fish head

Black text on a red and black background reading "DRAGON FALL"

CJ Tucker@crackerjackalope· Dec 23

I love the way Mausritter handles encumberance, the slots are a cute visual and it's way easier than adding up all the specific weights.

A character sheet from Mausritter for a character named "Pearl Butterball", the inventory is made up of a series of slots, 1 for each hand, a wide slot for the body, and 6 additional slots for carrying. Pearl is holding a sling and some stones, wearing light armour, and carrying torches, rations and cookpots; one of their inventory slots is also filled with a condition: exhausted

CJ Tucker@crackerjackalope· Dec 2

oh wonderful

A screenshot from wikipedia reading ""Fifth Edition" was published in 1995 by West End Games. It was the third edition of the game released"

CJ Tucker@crackerjackalope· Nov 13

Just realised I haven't done a proper intro post yet! I'm CJ! A queer game design student from Wales. I write short TTRPGs about a range of things, but I often explore themes of death and legacy, while experimenting with new and unique mechanics! All my games are at crackerjackalope-games.itch.io