Biggest lesson from last few years of gaming to me might have been that I can accept the fact that not all campaigns will work.
At first this seems like no-brainer. But only after some consideration, failures, and successes was I able to embrace this. It is not “letting your players down” nor is it “failing”. Understanding your own resources as GM is a tool.
So in this post I will try to explain this personal notion.
I recently downloaded the free quickstart for 3rd edition of Mutant Chronicles from Drivethrurpg. I knew about its successful Kickstarter-campaign and have been fan of franchise since the days of Doomtrooper way back in the 90s. I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the quickstart and to learn that Jay Little of all people was behind the development of the core rules. I was even thinking about getting to know the system and GMing it. But then I bought two sourcebooks for brewing ideas…
I like buying roleplaying books. I think most gamers do. I have shifted from physical products to PDFs mainly to save space and a little money but still like to expand my collection. Usually the books I buy deal more with the flavor and ideas than actual rules. But this time I feel mislead. Twice. Continue reading
Having just finished Far Cry: Primal I am totally in the mood for a Palaeolithic and tribal roleplaying. Searching for a game suitable for this kind of a story proved more difficult though than I had anticipated. After coming into conclusion that either was no such game or none of them were very good I stumbled on the Würm (funded via Kickstarter and co-published by Nocturnal).
Summary: Having (only) read the rulebook I have to say that it has some excellent ideas as well as interesting ideas and at least is an excellent tool box for any game set in this kind of environment.
Last Sunday I published the beta version of rules for Eldritch Sigils. This is a game I have been working on for about five years. I have actually published earlier drafts over the years but this was the first time it actually has consistency and it is actually playable.
This has been a long process and one that is still in the works. But now that the rules are “out there” I thought it would be a good chance to talk about them. Since game design is quite an interesting topic I hope that sharing my process might produce new ideas or at least be curious.
Roleplaying communities in internet are a beautiful thing. Back in the day when we played Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay I was really active on Strike-to-Stun. I quickly learned that if I had a problem or wanted to change ideas an international community of likeminded players was a great place to start. Now we haven’t played WFRP in ages but I still visit the communities because I want to keep up with the people there.
There are a lot of rpg communities all around the web. There are dedicated forums, publisher’s forums, Facebook and (my personal favorite) Google+ for example. Combine them and you have almost unlimited resources of information and ideas. Ask help and you will get it.
Most of the time.
This gallery contains 47 photos.
Here is the gallery for random photos I took at Ropecon 2016. As always if you find an image of yourself you do not wish to see online, let me know and I either remove the picture or blur you out … Continue reading
Back in the day I used to play Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay for years. It was “my D&D” (since I never really played that). I have a lot of memories about that game, I have made quite a few fan supplements for it, heck, I was even the other admin for long forgotten HAMMERZEIT (web site for WFRP3) and have been running the Daily Empire apparently for seven years…
Every now and then I have tried to get back into the game that really sold roleplaying for me but having been spoiled by Apocalypse World it has never really worked out.
Back while I was really active “some dude” got an idea of remaking the 2nd edition game. Since I really (REALLY) loved the 2nd edition I was immediately on board on this. Then time passed. Games Workshop decided it was better to just destroy the Old World (with Age of Suckmar). I even played a little D&D! But yesterday “that dude” finally did it.
“That dude” is naturally Daniel Fox and his Grim & Perilous Studios. And the game is called ZWEIHÄNDER.
Yesterday’s ramblings about stealing and using or losing it didn’t spark from nothing. It was inspired (more or less) from last Friday’s gaming session.
For a few years now I have had a custom of gathering my oldest friends for sauna and roleplaying games in January. This year it almost didn’t happen since we had a chance of location. We ended up not having a sauna but we did have great time with my newest game Cliques & Powers.
It all started out as a joke. I just randomly asked that wether we should have a fantasy or teenage type of game. My players immediately got excited about playing teenagers and I got stuck with creating such a game. As usual I went with Archipelago. Continue reading
You remember that time you got an excellent idea? The one you were certain you wanted to try in a rpg when the moment was just right? Yes. That one you never actually got around using.
In all likelihood this is a thing for GMs. At least I know it is a thing for me. I watch a show on tv (Netflix, what ever) or read a book or just randomly toss thing around in my mind and it hits me. “This is something I want to incorporate to my game!” I might even write it down so that I’ll remember it when the setting, characters, theme or what ever is right.
And when the moment comes I either have forgotten about it or just can’t find it from my notes. Continue reading
Who is Cenk Uygur?