Last night during character creation for our RuneQuest campaign, my group employed a tool we use before almost every new game: CATS. Created by P.R. O’Leary, CATS stands for Concept, Aim, Tone, Subject Matter, and it’s a social contract-adjacent pregame discussion to get everyone on the same page, set expectations, and avoid potential issues. It […]
Turning CATS into CATSOS (“catsauce”) for RPGs Read More »
I took stock of all of my Appendix N reading to date, which entailed a mix of staring off into space, combing my shelves, and blowing the dust off my long-dormant Goodreads account. Of the 29 authors in Appendix N (well, 28 plus an editor), I have: I made it further than I thought back
Cataloging my Appendix N reading Read More »
Back in 2012, as my interest in old-school D&D was returning and flourishing, I started a project to read all of Gary Gygax’s famous Appendix N. I came up with a detailed plan, researched and assembled a 100-book Appendix N reading list that included recommendations for those authors whose works Gary didn’t note by title
Returning to Appendix N (vewy vewy quietly) Read More »
Back in August my Seattle group started a new campaign we’ve dubbed the Basement Game, and its kickoff AD&D 1st Edition adventure is set in Godsbarrow — making it the third Godsbarrow campaign. The idea here is that this is a freewheeling, no-worries, 1970s/1980s, eating Cheetos in the basement style of game, so we’re planning
Godsbarrow: the Basement Game, Myzes, and Tuage orcs Read More »
Back in January I posted about my 2024 RPG collecting goal: acquiring the complete game lines for Ars Magica, Delta Green, RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha, and Dune: Adventures in the Imperium. Things are coming along pretty well! Here’s where I’m at with each game, starting on the top shelf and then going left to right
2024 game line collection update Read More »
I was thinking about why I don’t post more on RPGnet (I concluded that while I like it there, I’ve never felt like I fit in; that’s not unusual for me), and looking back through some of the relatively few posts I’ve made, when I stumbled across one that fits right into the “this should
Three tips for zero-prep GMing Read More »
I started up a Delta Green [affiliate link] campaign last September, and it’s been a blast. It’s become one of my favorite RPGs, and with a few sessions under my belt that means I’ve done some noodling about why that’s the case. One part of it — the bit I want to look at today
Two of my favorite practical mechanics in Delta Green Read More »
Seventeen years ago, I wrote a novel for NaNoWriMo 2007. I was proud to have written it but I didn’t think it was any good. Until tonight, I’d never read it. With the benefit of seventeen years of professional and personal writing experience…it’s not bad at all. I’m honestly shocked. It’s a first draft, is
I’ve been logging RPG sessions on RPGGeek since 2008 — 961 of them as of this writing. I was thinking about Ars Magica [affiliate link] this morning and wondered where it stood in terms of my longest campaigns in the past 16 years, and lo and behold it’s right at the top: I posted about
Longest campaigns I’ve played from 2008-2022, and other data neepery Read More »
I’ve collected stuff my whole life, including RPGs — but although I bought my first gaming product, Avalon Hill’s Lords of Creation box set, at age ten, I didn’t have my first “I’m going to try to track down all of these” moment until I picked up FR 9: The Bloodstone Lands in high school.
Going full-depth: collecting complete game lines Read More »
