It's About Time (in praise of campaigning) a mechanic out of context Compromising Cairn My Exogenous Rules Apocalypse World Podcast Syllabus Diegetic Wo...
Culture It doesn't take much browsing of (non-5e) tabletop roleplaying hobby spaces online to see that much of the conversation on games is centred around rules, how to use them, the differences in rules between one game on another, System Matters , and so on. I think Elmcat speaks for many of us - particularly in regard to the frustration often felt when discussing the tabletop roleplaying hobby…
This is a playful thought experiment. It’s about drawing together and synthesising elements of two games from different schools of game design. Maybe we get something playable out of it. Maybe it’s a pseudo-lyric-shitpost game about my RPG preferences. Let’s find out together. Backgrounds, a playbook Pasion de las Pasiones by Brandon Leon Gambetta is a PbtA game which removes character Stat (or…
The best thing anyone can do to learn about and understand the playstyle and perspective that Vincent and Meguey Baker brought to the tabletop RPG hobby with Apocalypse World is to read the game itself (ideally 1e or 2e, for the original sauce), then the various supplemental and retrospective writings of the Bakers. The next best thing is to play it for yourself. Naturally. After that? Or if you…
Problem 1 Time. In this hobby we are blessed with an abundance of cool, creative, delightful, powerful and innovative games which urgently press upon us for our time and attention. How are we to play them all? How can I ever hope to work my way through all the wonderful games on my shelf? Solution 1 Enter the one-shot : a snappy, fast pace, easy to commit to method of satisfying the New Game…
For context: this post is inspired by a question posed in an excellent podcast episode recorded by Thomas Manuel for Rascal News, in which he reads and responds to the Warden's Operation Manual for Mothership. You should listen to the full episode because it's great; Thomas is extremely insightful and asks probing questions of the text. For me the most thought provoking question posed by Thomas…
I love the Into the Odd / "Oddlike" / "Mark of the Odd" design space, these games feel natural to referee, they are "rules light" but the rules are highly impactful on play, they leave blank spaces in ways that invite the referee and players to be creative, and they play fast at the table. Mausritter and Mythic Bastionland have been sources of delight for me as a referee, and Cairn 2e is going to…