What is this? Why, this is a highly professional blog about whatever I think is a good idea at the time, which is probably a terrible idea. It's written by me, Reese. I came up with the name for the website all by myself.

Today, I'm here to tell you about a couple of tools made to be used in conjunction with a TTRPG called Shadowdark:

• Torchfinder - Filterable content lookup including supplements, campaigns, rules, zines, etc.
• Torchtimer - Up to eight torches that can be shared and synchronized online in real-ish-time.

I built them in early 2026. The pages and code were initially hosted on that one platform where everybody dumps their free roadside code. After releasing these tools, though, it occurred to me that Codeberg was a better fit. I also wanted to simplify Torchfinder's contribution pathways before they would end up annoying anyone other than me. The domain name and SEO weren't optimal, either.

After all, I didn't even have the presence of mind to go with a .biz TLD in the first place.

Naturally my doubts inhibited me from publicizing these apps in any meaningful way, yet people were finding and using them. Cloudflare indicated hits and worker invocations going up, right around when the migration plan was coming together. Of course.

Here we are, regardless. Torchfinder and Torchtimer are now live at reese.biz, after undergoing a secret beta that nobody was aware of.

How about some background on the apps?

Torchfinder

Torchfinder was inspired by Adventure Lookup, an app for locating D&D content new and old.

It was instructive for the design phase in terms of presentation and naming conventions. Torchfinder is, however, not a fork. It's a completely different codebase. What distinguishes it is the static, modular architecture. It lacks server-side code; there's no unwieldy database. The dataset is just structured text fed into the built app by automation. In this format, YAML, the data is sufficiently "human-readable" for, well, determined humans. This makes maintenance and contributions straightforward, while offloading infrastructural costs onto... sorry, Codeberg.

Torchtimer

Torchtimer can synchronize torches among friends and not-friends alike. The timers can be randomized, hidden, and switched between time- and round-based modes. Sharing live or offline sessions is easy.

Live vs offline: A live session is what happens when someone clicks Go Live. A connection is then established with the sync service (hopefully). Sharing the session via Copy Link or Show QR allows others to become viewers. The offline alternative produces (accurately initialized) timings, but without the synchronization, such as the host manually extinguishing a torch or adjusting time.

Yes, there are QR codes, and not for no reason. They're particularly helpful for keeping tabs on a session by phone.

Concluding Thoughts

I hope you enjoy my contributions to humanity. If you find problems with the apps, or have suggestions, they have links and information for reaching out. Furthermore, a disclaimer:

reese.biz is not affiliated with The Arcane Library, LLC. Shadowdark RPG © 2023 The Arcane Library, LLC.

Torchfinder and Torchtimer are not official projects. They're third-party, (ideally) collaborative projects. USE THEM NOW! NOW! NOW! NOW!