While out foraging I found a patch of big nice chantarelles, we have a good year for them btw. Then I noticed something strange, a hole into the mound. It wasn't there last year I know yhat for sure.

Well... Looks like I pilfered someone's nicely cultivated mushrooms. Sorry.

Agter our latest DnD game our regular DM once again thought loudly on how to make dragons have more teeth. And it got me thinking about how Dragonbane handles capital M monsters differently.

DnD Monsters tend to have a slew of ways to nullify the PCs disabling abilities (magic resistance, legendary resistance). What those does are forcing the party to spend a couple of rounds having their cool stuff be nullified. For me that is boring. Without it though - CC fest and an underwhelming fight.

Dragonbane being a different beast and makes Monsters dangerous in a different way. With way less disabling abilities the PCs fun stuff isn't nullified and foes don't get CC'ed to death. So everyone can do their thing. Which Monsters can do multiple times each round (multi-attack but full turns) and their attacks always hits. Think about that - Monsters' attacks always hits. That brings danger and tension. The attacks are randomly selected lowering the rise of catastrophe, or increasing it as the GM cannot pull their punches.

To help the PCs out they have the option to take a defensive action (dodge, parry) which have already led to clutch moments. It comes at the cost of having an offensive action and the defensive action cannot be taken if they already have acted this round. Cost benefit choices whoooo! In a way it goes from Monster dodge (legendary resistance) to PC dodge. And PCs can build for defensive actions. And it can give you a counter attack. Defending is cool.

To sum it up. DnD gives monsters staying power by nullifying the PCs cool stuff allowing them to stay fighting. Dragonbane has less disables in general so Monsters have no need to nullify them. So Monsters stay around longer naturally bringing danger the PCs can actively try to avoid.

Rumours, speculation and hearsay? "Interesting" at least.

SPELREGLER: Drakar och Demoner (Fria Ligan 2023) TEKNIK: Discord för samtal och FoundryVTT som spelbord TID: Fredagar kl 19.00 START: Fredagen den 26e Januari, möjlighet att dra igång en vecka tidigare om gruppen är samlad LÄNGD: Ca 15-20 speltillfällen ANMÄLAN: Skicka mig ett meddelande så tar vi det därifrån SÄKERHETSVERKTYG: Lines and Veils, X-card FRÅGOR: Har du dem ställ dem. OM SPELET: Sparkstartade Drakar och Demoner för att det hade varit skoj att ha något på svenska i bokhyllan. Och att det hade varit trevligt att spela något på svenska med svenskt material. Att inte behöva översätta allt. Så här är vi nu, julen är ute och det är dags att dra igång.

Spelet kommer att utgå från grundlådan och äventyren kring samhället Utkante. Iallafall ibörjan till dess att jag lärt mig hur DåD vill spelas. Därefter ser vi vart det tar oss. Utkante ligger i Dimmornas Dal, en region en gång i tiden centrum för ett symboliskt rike mellan människor och drakar. Ett rike känt som Drakriket och berättelser om det är kända vitt och brett. Riket föll och orker tog över dalen. Iallafall fram till ca tio år sedan då de mystiskt drog sig tillbaka. Detta öppnade dörren för en återbefolkning av dalen och ambitösa personer hade snart grundat Utkante.

Dave's review of Across a Thousand Dead Worlds by Alex T, a gritty horror sci-fi sandbox.

>Across a Thousand Dead Worlds is a new horror space exploration tabletop roleplaying game that can be enjoyed as a single player experience, or in a group of up to five players, with or without a Game Master - by Blackoath Entertainment! You'll create your Deep Diver, using a free-form character creation system, and begin your journey across the galaxy where you'll discover abandoned research facilities, explore scientific outposts, and traverse other dilapidated sites in search for ancient alien technology.

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/431730/Across-a-Thousand-Dead-Worlds

Lately I've been using solo play tools more and more in my prep. For example instead of just pulling a town out of my imagination or from a bunch of tools. I've (mainly) used Ironsworn to solo play some episodes in that town. Creating details about it as I've gone along. Also used Artefact (more of a journaling game) with good effect to create legendary items. To get into the Glorantha setting, get into the "right" mindset, the solo choose-you-own-adventure I've found great.

But I'm always looking for new tools to, if nothing else, get new perspectives on things. My default Ironsworn is leaning kinda heavily into more perilous and grim episodes.

Happy for any and all recommendations!

Kevin Crawford's latest offering Cities Without Number is here. Pretty much more of the same good stuff but this time with cyberpunk flavour.

> Cities Without Number is a cyberpunk role-playing game built for sandbox adventures in a dystopia of polished chrome and bitter misery. It's both a full-fledged Sine Nomine toolkit for building a cyberpunk world of your own and an Old School Renaissance-inspired game system for playing out the reckless adventures of the desperate men and women who live in it. Whether polished metal or flesh and blood, your operators will risk their lives and more to seize those precious things a merciless world would keep from them.

Will I run it? No Play it? Most likely no Will I use the frikk out of the GM tools? YES!

Link to free version: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/449873/Cities-Without-Number-Free-Version

Found this video intresting as Matt talks about what dice to use and how to use it for the game they are making. Loved the shoutout and critique of "FUNKY" dice used in FFG's Star Wars lineup (and Genesys) and how it influenced them in their process.

He also got a bit into how the task resolution mechanic (dicerolling) will tie into other things such as class resources.

Let me begin by making it clear this is not my invention, I encountered the method in City of Mist but I doubt it debuted there. But it is a nifty method.

The problem I encounter from time to time is that my players don't latch onto my descriptions of the scene, not using things in it to grant themselves advantages (bonuses, extra effect etc). Am I perfect? No. Could I do better? Yes.

Or I can take my fuzzy descriptions and make them mechanical by introducing them as Scene Tags. Market square during market day would get Crowded-Market-1 and during a festival Packed-Festival-Market-2 indicating that there is a lot of people there and also how much advantage one would get by incorporating it into ones action. Or disadvantage depending. Trying to pickpocket someone? Take a bonus. Following someone? They easily get lost in the crowd - penalty.

How dark is the night? Moonlight-Night-1 or Moon-Behind-Heavy-Clouds-2?

Traveling through a mountain pass and how deep is the snow? Ankle-Deep-1 or Up-To-The-Dwarf's-Beard-2? What about that Foul-Voice-In-The-Wind-4?

I play pretty much only online so tossing an index card onto the table with the Scene Tag on it is kinda tricky. Instead, depending on how much effort I've put into the VTT, I either write it in big bold letters on the scene image/map. Or I put down a virtual index card, essentially a small graphical element to bring attention to it (see post image).

One more thing, how much is a Tag-1 compared to a Tag-2 worth? This all depends on your system. City of Mist gives +1 for a Tag-1, +2 for Tag-2 etc. So for pretty much any other PbtA/2d6 systems the same works. For D&D (and other d20 systems) a scheme of +2, Advantage, Advantage and +2. I've lost much of my familiarity with d20 systems due not having ran something recently. So someone (everyone?) else probably have better ideas. In dicepool systems an extra dice for each tag level is appropriate.

That is the basics of it. But what if the players want to create a Panic!-At-The-Market-3? I'll write about that some other time.

PS. Still recruiting for my small sortie into Swords of the Serpentine, Fridays at 19CEST.

Filled

Serpentine swords are curved. Curved!

SYSTEM: Swords of the Serpentine PLATFORM: Foundry VTT (if I manage to hack it, if not some other solution) and Discord for voice TIME: Fridays at 19:00 CET (1PM EST, 10AM PST), and for about 3½-4 hours CAMPAIGN START: September 1st APPLICATIONS: Let me know if you are interested and we'll take it from there SAFETY TOOLS: Lines and Veils, X-card and others if desired DESCRIPTION: Swords of the Serpentine is a Gumshoe Sword and Sorcery system set in and around the city of Eversink. It is "a game of investigation, heroism, sly politics, and bloody savagery, set in a fantasy city rife with skulduggery and death".

This will be a somewhat short campaign, around 10 or so sessions. I have pretty much no experience with Gumshoe so this can go horribly wrong. Or horriblyfun. We'll begin with the "official" cases and wrap it up with something I manage to conjure. Of course we will begin with a session of character creation and setting talk.

cross-posted from: https://beehaw.org/post/7097518

> More info at https://paizo.com/starfinderplaytest > > According to the document they have up there, SF2E will be 100% compatible with PF2E. That's a huge win for me - I like Starfinder's setting and vibe, and love PF2E's action economy.

Blurb taken from the Kickstarter

People liked the game system powering Shadow of the Demon Lord, but some bounced off the game’s tone. (Evil Dead meets Diablo is not for everyone!) Not long after Demon Lord came out, I began working on a family-friendly version of the original game, and the project became something I tinkered with for a long time, moving farther and farther away from the original game in a move to make something new. Where Demon Lord expected, even celebrated, the deaths of characters, Weird Wizard makes heroes of the characters and their story an epic journey. So while much of the game looks and plays like Shadow of the Demon Lord, there are differences enough to make it its own thing. If you want an early look, check out the quick play.

Wanting to bring more (relevant) factions to the forefront of my game I decided to map out relations between

• Solid bold lines are between the Crew and those they have direct relations to. Blue for positive, red for negative. (Edit: Clarification) The double line to Circle of flame shows the Crew have +2 relations to them, single line for +1 relations.
• Solid thin lines are between the Crew's relations and those they have relations to. Can be to another of the Crew's relations (such as between Circle of Flame and The Hive) or to a more distant faction (two steps separation).
• Dashed lines are relations between factions two steps away from the Crew. Not all relations of these factions two steps separated from the crew are included, only those between factions already on the board.

Kinda enjoyed the result, a bit pleasing to the eye. May fully map out the relations of the factions two steps separated (to factions three steps separated from the crew).

Over on Mastodon we are enjoying ourselves with this #RPGaDay2023 thing. Have spawned a few interesting conversations. So why don't take it over here here as well? And let's do the whole first week (Day 1-6) at once.

1. FIRST RPG played (this year)

2. First RPG GAMEMASTER

3. First RPG BOUGHT (this year)

4. Most RECENT game bought

5. OLDEST game you've played

6. Favourite game you NEVER get to play

So I'm gearing up to once again start something and I've got an idea in my head. But once I put it down into something concise it either becomes bloaty or dry. I mean just the parts below are almost a google docs page, pretty much 2000 characters. And that is even when I removed 2/3 of the situation text as it was rather big picture information. Explicitly writing down the campaign style was something I took Colville's recent game design video, trying it out.

What I really would love feedback on is mainly Situation. Enough/too little information? Is it confusing? Does the information fit with the Campaign Style? And also is Campaign Style something fitting in a campaign ad/synopsis?

---

Situation

You all are part of the third imperially sponsored caravan into the Aablu, the hot and arid lands east of the Pearl Cities. The first caravan went out eight months ago and was expected to have returned two months ago. Second left four months ago with another destination. Yours have the same destination as the first with the additional task of bringing back news of the first.

Information about Aablu is scarce and unreliable, mostly because traders and inhabitants in the Pearl Cities don’t venture into it and its local people consider themselves under no obligation to divulge information. There are of course tidbits of information: old travellers’ journals, hearsay and sales-talk. You are not headed blind into the Aablu, only mostly.

The caravan itself is the size of a small village, with competent people of various professions who are there for their own reasons. Some want to strike it rich, some are running from something, some are there for the glory and some just want a bit of adventure. Your characters are also competent individuals, filling a role in the caravan and have ambition to make something extra of themselves.

Campaign style

Adventurous daring sword and sorcery.

Adventurous - The very nature of the caravan is an adventure and on it are those with an adventurous spirit. When it calls, your characters are those who step up, those who have a bit extra drive to see what is on the other side of the hill.

Daring - Rewarded are those who boldly go where no one has gone before. Daring plans are to be rewarded and there is always a chance to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.

Sword and Sorcery (from Wikipedia) - A subgenre of fantasy characterized by sword-wielding heroes engaged in exciting and violent adventures. Elements of romance, magic, and the supernatural are also often present. Unlike works of high fantasy, the tales, though dramatic, focus on personal battles rather than world-endangering matters.

You can vote July 14th-23rd. So go and do it.

Winners will be revealed at the award ceremony August 4th at 8PM EDT.

The wheels on my hardtail have been shit. Roughly every two months a spoke have popped. With a tubeless setup that have been a pain. When I had to get a new set of spokes for the front wheel my FLBS guy recommended me rebuilding them. Told me to sit down and replace them one at a time. I have done that now. Finally. The drop that made the glass spill over was a spoke popping when I wad fixing another. And several were stuck in their nipples.

Went from 1.8mm (15g) "approved by manufacturer" round spokes with 12mm aluminium nipples to 2mm (14g) DT Swiss Champion with 14mm brass nipples. I'm starting to enjoy tinkering with wheels...