Earlier today, a chance comment on RPGnet alerted me to the release of Worlds Without Number ([paid link]; there’s also a free version of the game [paid link]), Kevin Crawford’s fantasy version of Stars Without Number ([paid link]; and again, there’s a free SWN [paid link]), which I immediately bought. That in turn led me […]
Dormiir, also called Godsbarrow: worldbuilding using Worlds Without Number Read More »
This morning, out of the blue, it hit me that I can summarize my approach to GMing tabletop RPGs in a single, concise principle: There is no curtain. The curtain is, of course, a reference to The Wizard of Oz — in which a curtain conceals what the titular Wizard is actually up to in
There is no curtain Read More »
I was going to do a Twitter thread while playing through Thousand Year Old Vampire (TYOV), a solo RPG by Tim Hutchings in which you’re an awful, awful vampire, but couldn’t figure out how to provide a meaningful content warning that would 1) persist and 2) allow people to avoid the whole thread while 3)
RPG actual play: Thousand Year Old Vampire Read More »
My copy of Tim Hutchings’ Thousand Year Old Vampire came in the mail, and daaaaaaaaaamn this book slaps. That spot foil — the gold bits — looks like kintsugi. The stamps look so real I want to peel them off. I opened the front cover and literally went, “What the hell, why did Tim write
Thousand Year Old Vampire is one of the most gorgeous RPG books I’ve ever seen Read More »
The current owner of Judges Guild, Robert Bledsaw II, doubled — hell, quadrupled — down on his antisemitic and bigoted statements. Tenkar’s Tavern has Bledsaw II’s post, which . . . well let’s just say it starts off with “My family crest attests to 3 European Crusades, and I regard that as a calling” and
Judges Guild can fuck right off Read More »
As a longtime fan of Judges Guild’s output from the 1970s and early 1980s (they turned out some wild, creative stuff back in the day), I was dismayed to learn that the current owner, Robert (Bob) Bledsaw II, posts racist, Nazi, and antisemitic bullshit on Facebook. Bob Bledsaw II needs to unequivocally apologize, make amends,
After running an Urban Shadows campaign for a year, I have a few takeaways to share. One of my starting points with any RPG is “Does it do what it says on the tin?” Urban Shadows very much does what it says on the tin, and it’s a fantastic game. 1. After our group character
Takeaways from running Urban Shadows for a year Read More »
I’ve often found the argument that one should separate creative works from their creators to be a compelling one. For example, I enjoy H.P. Lovecraft’s fiction, but the dude was a virulent racist. He’s been dead for over 80 years, and in my judgment enjoying his work while denouncing its problematic aspects is fine: He
I spent a good chunk of today installing, configuring, and populating YoreWiki. For now, YoreWiki is my info dumping ground for Bleakstone and other fantasy hexcrawl material. I realized that my false starts and brainstorming files and “master” documents were scattered across multiple folders and Yore draft posts, which made it impossible to find anything
This list of solo RPGs over on Sophia Brandt’s excellent die heart blog is marvelous. I’ve never done any “GM emulator”-style solo roleplaying, but I’ve played my fair share of gamebooks, solo roleplaying poems, and card-driven solo story games. This list is packed with stuff I’ve never heard of, much of it free.
die heart’s wonderful list of solo RPGs Read More »
