I'm going to do my best on this page to articulate why I love Songbirds, why it means a lot to me, and why I can't stop thinking about it.

I can't really explain it without getting into my own context, so here it is. I've always loved TTRPGs, of making characters and worlds and getting lost in them with a group of friends. But... Man was I getting tired of D&D. I knew of other TTRPGs, but it was hard to get others to play something else. And, as the perma DM of my group, I was getting really tired of what DMing tends to look like when playing D&D.

After a while, I found myself completely burnt out. I didn't want to touch a TTRPG again, especially not as a DM. My passion for it had seemingly just been all used up.

And then, I found Songbirds.

I got the itch.io Palestinian Relief Bundle, and I was looking through what was included. In that bundle, I found Robins, a hack of Songbirds created by ahcoffeebeans. I love Robins, and it's differences from Songbirds inspired a lot of how my Songbirds setting works.

I had to know more, had to fully understand the rules and how they worked. The description said that it was a supplement for something called Songbirds, to grab that before reading through Robins.

I've described it multiple times that Songbirds "lit my brain on fire", but it was really a whole body blaze. My hands certainly didn't escape it. I took notes on the rulebook, I immediately started writing down setting ideas, adventure ideas, character ideas. I hadn't touched anything TTRPG related in over a year, and now it was all spilling out uncontrollably.

Oh my god, TTRPGs are fun. Did you guys know that TTRPGs could be fun?! I forgot!!!

The rulebook was an adventure in itself. It wasn't a dry bulleted list of mechanics and numbers, the act of reading itself became part of the play. I read it front to back over and over again, discovering something new every time.

The flavor of the game was exactly my thing. I've always loved stories about characters coming back from the dead, and I was so inspired by the gifts/curses, the idea of the psychonauts, the eco technology... It was a setting that I wanted more of, desperately. So, I looked at more homebrew, more adventures, whatever I could find.

But, I knew what I really needed to do. I needed to do it myself. To make my own characters, my own ideas of the setting, even if I didn't end up playing with it for a while. It's a TTRPG that sparks creativity, and I didn't want to just let that spark go out without doing something with it.

I could really go on for so much longer about a million little things from the rulebook, how it's been so fun to see it evolve and grow and change over time, how the design is so striking throughout, how the mix of dark and light in the tone mirrors some of my favorite works of fiction, how much I love the included touchstones to further understand the central vibes of the game and setting...

But, really the best way I can put it is that this is a game that will remind you why you love TTRPGs. It's a game that can completely possess you with the need to dig deeper into it.

It reminded me when I really needed it. And that's why I really want more people to know about it, to experience it for themselves.

I know that, if nothing else, I at least get super inspired to check something out if I see someone getting really passionate about it. So, that's my job now! Everyone play Songbirds immediately!! It's only $15 and you can look at the first several pages for free!! I'm putting the link to the itch.io page again here.