Dive in. rootring ...
...but not zombies . Zombies some other time. This is about pig-faced orcs meant to be killed . 1 Or War dogs from MCDM's Draw Steel. Or a million other baddies that look and act like people, but we are assured it's a farce, a fake, and if you lop off their head you haven't really extinguished a free willed mind just like your own. Sure. "How hard is it to just say "This faction is evil and they…
Players trust sense motive checks, can you blame them? The referee must present the world truthfully, but that obligation ends once they begin speaking through an NPC. An NPC may be mistaken, or worse, a liar. Desperate, grasping for purchase, the player calls for a wisdom roll on reflex. "Can I at least read their body language? Does my character think that it was sus when they bit their lip? Do…
System: cramOS TTRPG by Shurebis Module : B4 The Lost City Runtime : 3 Sessions (~5-6 hours), 1 Droid Notable procedures : Treasure finds converted to 1 scrap or d6 roll on "dead droid" table. Otherwise 1 in 6 chance for scrap or something useful out in the open. Torches usually burn out end of session, (if I remember). All Humanoid converted to droids. Current Status : unnamed droid Body: 2/8 //…
You are the strongest, unstoppable, but your energy is limited. Invest calories wisely. They must pay off. Hunt patiently. Wait for an overwhelming advantage. As long as that takes. When your prey is disadvantaged, feed immediately. I've been obsessed with crocodilian sanctuary videos. There is something admirable in their decisive intelligence. Profound as adventure game protagonists (what is…
For no reason in particular I've been thinking about heist RPGs . What if you and your fellow players plan a heist too well? You spend one or two real life evenings meticulously scheming and casing and... it works flawlessly. The next evening you defeat the guards, the alarms, the bolts and finally extract without a hitch. No doubt, you will feel cool as fuck. Later, when the afterglow fades, you…
I meant to have an introduction proposing reasons one would ever do this. But I'm sick, so now it's an exercise left to the reader. I'll save it for the playtest report & revision. Initiative: Runs clockwise around the table. Players may rearrange their seats as they see fit, but you can't take a 2nd turn before the Director takes a turn. I recommend waiting to swap seats until the Director starts…
Noel in collaboration with Caleb Zane Huett over at Viridian Void has a snappy little post on Description + Action = Living NPC . Nice stuff and I thought I'd share something similar I've been developing in my own prep for a while. When writing an NPC, I try to confirm they are holding something in their hands that implies action. And if they're not holding anything, why not? Are they running,…
A game for one Magi Maestro and any number of pupils to dive deep into learning, advancement and magic in the Burning Wheel. Obligate Jargon: Hypodiegetic Westmarches Magical School Game This is a westmarches format assembled with lots of hypodiegetic rules . Many regular diegetic rules are here too. See if you can spot which is which. I have tried to cite out most BW specifics into footnotes.…
Lore24 and Dungeon23 were great challenges, this is another in that vein. My only quibble is that I don’t really need a megadungeon or several hundred lore tidbits. What I definitely need? A Big Damn Kick-ass adventure. Not an overland sandbox or mythic underworld to plunder, but a proper adventure with beginning, middle, end and stuff. Plenty of ways to skin that cat. A surefire one is to…
After reading Beau Rancourt’s survey of search procedures , I was struck by how tedious it all seemed. As one commenter put it, “If I'm spending 10 minutes analyzing a small wall section (this is after walking into the room using a snail pace tier exploration turn), then I only get 16%? Come on.” Indeed, there seemed to be broad skepticism that anyone really played this way. I certainly don’t.…