CJ Tucker
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crackerjackalope.bsky.social
CJ Tucker
@crackerjackalope.bsky.social
1.6K followers 3.4K following 250 posts
Writer, game designer, welsh, queer
they/them
https://crackerjackalope-games.itch.io/
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crackerjackalope.bsky.social
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."
October 28, 2025 at 2:56 PM
crackerjackalope.bsky.social
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"
August 7, 2025 at 4:01 PM
crackerjackalope.bsky.social
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.
July 25, 2025 at 10:03 AM
crackerjackalope.bsky.social
I can't believe 2025 has seen two original movies with huge mainstream success about non-white musicians fighting against supernatural creatures
The poster for KPop Demon Hunters The poster for Sinners
July 24, 2025 at 7:37 AM
crackerjackalope.bsky.social
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)"
July 9, 2025 at 2:52 PM
crackerjackalope.bsky.social
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!"
June 16, 2025 at 4:53 PM
crackerjackalope.bsky.social
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."
June 13, 2025 at 5:38 PM
crackerjackalope.bsky.social
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.
May 5, 2025 at 8:45 AM
crackerjackalope.bsky.social
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.
May 5, 2025 at 8:45 AM
crackerjackalope.bsky.social
'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.
May 5, 2025 at 8:45 AM
crackerjackalope.bsky.social
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.
May 5, 2025 at 8:45 AM
crackerjackalope.bsky.social
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.
March 25, 2025 at 5:56 PM
crackerjackalope.bsky.social
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"
January 3, 2025 at 10:12 AM
crackerjackalope.bsky.social
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
December 23, 2024 at 8:31 PM
crackerjackalope.bsky.social
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"
December 2, 2024 at 2:08 PM
crackerjackalope.bsky.social
It's my 21st birthday this week, so all my #ttrpgs are 21% off! You can buy Goodbye World, DRAGONFALL, ABODE and my latest game: There's Something About the Deep for just £20! Check it out here: itch.io/s/140912/cjs...
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. Black text on a red and black background reading "DRAGON FALL" Pink text on a purple background reading "ABODE" 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
December 2, 2024 at 8:29 AM
crackerjackalope.bsky.social
I just released There's Something About the Deep, a game about being trapped in a submarine with horrible sailors! Check it out on Itch.io now!
Light blue text reading: "There's something about the deep" beside an illustration of a fish head. The background is an underwater picture showing a chain going up towards the underside of a ship, artificially tinted deep blue.
November 27, 2024 at 1:50 PM
crackerjackalope.bsky.social
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
The text: "Goodbye, World: A game of last words by Crackerjackalope" besides a greyscale image of a destroyed mech leaning against a rock with a sword through its chest The text "ABODE" in a wavy font Colourful text reading: "Trivia Heroes" beside a circle with 6 different coloured segments, like the pieces in Trivial Pursuit The text: "Late Night in Limbo" besides an antique illustration of a crescent moon
November 13, 2024 at 5:36 PM
crackerjackalope.bsky.social
Just released a game for the 200 word RPG jam hosted by @prokopetz.bsky.social! Check out Late Night in Limbo on Itch now! crackerjackalope-games.itch.io/late-night-i...
The game's title: "Late Night In Limbo" with a simple illustration of a crescent moon in the background
November 6, 2024 at 8:52 PM