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 »
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 »
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 »
Epidiah Ravachol posted about the Bullwinkle and Rocky RPG the other day (note: in 2014, when I first posted this on Google+), making the point (assuming I’m smart enough to have understood him correctly) that you can design the most cutting-edge game in the world but if you produce it in a context no one
The cutting-edge Bullwinkle and Rocky RPG Read More »
Hot damn is Monsterhearts 2 a good book. (It’s also an amazing game in play, but right now I just want to talk about the book itself.) It’s lean, without an ounce of cruft anywhere on its frame. It’s devoid of blather. This is a bullshit-free presentation honed by years of actual play, design chops,
Monsterhearts 2 is a scintillating jewel Read More »
I downloaded Levi Kornelsen’s Skinchangers beta (paid link) which is free, and holy crap is the list of inspirations right up my apple cart: Werewolf: The Apocalypse (paid link) and Neverwhere (paid link) meet Buffy (paid link) by way of Fate (paid link) and Apocalypse World (paid link) . . . yes, please! At first blush,
I’ve added a couple new books to my list of my favorite free & PWYW RPG products on DriveThruRPG (covering about 3% of the 7,500+ products available) that are both so good that I want to talk about them here. The first is Dead Friend: A Game of Necromancy (paid link), by Lucian Kahn, which is
Dead Friend and Two OSR Dungeon Crawls Read More »
I love sandbox games and urban horror, and at that intersection sits the absolutely stellar PbtA RPG Urban Shadows (paid link). I expected Urban Shadows to be good at facilitating sandbox play, but I wasn’t prepared for just how good it is. Since the proof is in the pudding, below is the brief recap of goings-on
Urban Shadows is fantastic for spinning up a sandbox game Read More »
At Go Play NW, I played a session of Love in the Time of Seið that I would rank among my top five gaming sessions of all time. Designed by Matthijs Holter and Jason Morningstar, Love in the Time of Seið (the “ð” is pronounced like the “th” in “them,” as I understand it) is
Love in the Time of Seið is intimate and intense Read More »
Nathan D. Paoletta‘s World Wide Wrestling (paid link) RPG reminds me of Action Movie World (paid link), another tight-premise PbtA game, not because they share a premise but because WWW 100% delivers on its premise (just like AMW). Wrasslin’ My last contact with professional wrestling was in the 1980s, when I used to occasionally watch it
World Wide Wrestling is an over-the-top delight Read More »
