I was wondering what people are looking for in RPGs. I’m talking about settings, gimmicks and set pieces.

I was wondering what people are looking for in RPGs. I’m talking about settings, gimmicks and set pieces.

I was wondering what people are looking for in RPGs. I’m talking about settings, gimmicks and set pieces.

Mounted Spider Combat? Giant robots that combine into larger robots? Adventure inside a human body? Prison life? Planetary colonization? Disease outbreak? Hollow earth? Anthropomorphic Dinosaurs? a demon possessed 18-wheeler? A Russian Plot to build an army cloned from Elvis Presley?

I tend to think in terms of things you could drop into Dungeon World or some other PBTA game but feel free to come up with less traditional or more abstract ideas. With any luck a GM will grab one of your idea and run with it on a future Gauntlet event.

Top 1 or 2 Fiasco Playsets for people who aren’t nerds.

Top 1 or 2 Fiasco Playsets for people who aren’t nerds.

Top 1 or 2 Fiasco Playsets for people who aren’t nerds. Not just not-gaming-nerds, but not really into any nerdist pop culture. So fantasy tropes, star wars tropes, star trek tropes, etc won’t work.

They like literature. And Coen Bros movies and Improv apparently (that’s how I sold this thing – Improv and Coen Bros).

Suggestions?

I just finished up an excellent four-issue run of Masks RPG (from Brendan Conway and Magpie Games) with a great set…

I just finished up an excellent four-issue run of Masks RPG (from Brendan Conway and Magpie Games) with a great set…

I just finished up an excellent four-issue run of Masks RPG (from Brendan Conway and Magpie Games) with a great set of heroes for Saturday Morning Cartoons!

Much thanks to our cast of heroes:

#Hashtag the Delinquent – Michael X. Heiligenstein

Argent the Protege – Mick Bradley

Impulse the Janus – Fraser Simons

Mole Princess the Outsider – Philipp Neitzel

Shadow the Doomed – steven watkins

Sika the Legacy – Yoshi Creelman

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLccARXndpwfgyfMU-ZUs1xD7G0UuT3qjq

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLccARXndpwfgyfMU-ZUs1xD7G0UuT3qjq

The Legacy Weapon is released into the world!

The Legacy Weapon is released into the world!

The Legacy Weapon is released into the world! I got a chance to playtest this with Phil Vecchione and Senda Linaugh at Dreamation 2017, and if you guys had been there, you would know how utterly delightful I think it is. Seriously, I had a huge grin on my face the whole time. I talked about it on the last episode of Discern Realities (Episode 41), but here’s the short version: it’s a supplement for Dungeon World that facilitates play between the GM and one player, and it does so in a really fun, elegant way.

To unpack it a little, you create a character as normal, but then follow a specific procedure to create the legacy weapon, which the character has just acquired. The legacy weapon has a history of its own, and its previous wielders give it certain powers and characteristics. As you play out the adventure, you don’t just learn the character’s story, but also the stories of the previous wielders of the weapon. It is very, very cool, and I can’t recommend it enough (and it even comes with a sample adventure!)

Here’s the Drivethru link. It’s a fucking steal at $2.95. https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/207958/The-Legacy-Weapon–A-Dungeon-World-Artifact-and-One-Shot?

Slade Stolar’s game Dust, Fog & Glowing Embers is now live on Kickstarter!

Slade Stolar’s game Dust, Fog & Glowing Embers is now live on Kickstarter!

Slade Stolar’s game Dust, Fog & Glowing Embers is now live on Kickstarter! This project is special to me for several reasons. First of all, Slade has put together a great team: the art is by Dirk Detweiler Leichty and the layout is by Oli Jeffery, both of whom helped me get Codex off the ground last year. But also: Slade is just a really marvelous guy. I got to know him originally as a fan of Discern Realities (and later our sponsor), but since then we have gamed together and had a ton of interesting discussions about the hobby. He has been a great supporter and fan of what we do in the Gauntlet and I’m happy to pay back that support.

DFaGE is also a really cool game. I’ve seen the draft text and it’s shaping up nicely. I’ll probably be running a few sessions in April, so keep your eyes open for that.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/676237438/dust-fog-and-glowing-embers-an-rpg

Last night’s Macchiato Monsters was neat-o.

Last night’s Macchiato Monsters was neat-o.

Last night’s Macchiato Monsters was neat-o.

Wildhorn, the minotaur having taken vengeance for her murdered father and reeling from being slimed by an acid ooze; Gangor, a human warrior still seeking some decent equipment and feeling hungry; and Flavius, an illusionist and actor and enigma, continued their search of The Caves of Chaos.

They chose another cave to enter, in search of goblins. The found some pretty quickly and Wildhorn set out a bear trap and threw a net, hobbling the goblins attempts to attack. After a few blows exchanged, the heroes captured one in the end, and sent him forward to the next door.

The captured goblin betrayed them and called for help, and so, was kicked through the open door onto the floor in front of three other goblin guards. A well-placed crossbow bolt from Flavius burst a lantern, showering the goblins in burning oil. Only two goblins escaped.

Around this time, Gangor decided to eat nearly all the food that the party had in an attempt to heal himself. Snail soup, turnips and butter, and even tinned dungeon rations, all gone away to feed his insatiable hunger.

They fought some hobgoblins who had taken a group of merchants hostage; they then led the merchants and their guards out of the caves. The merchants were sure to add the names of their saviors to the walls of The Halls of Merit back at the keep.

Epilogue

Now, many years have passed.

Wildhorn continued questing, making friends at every opportunity.

Gangor spent his reward money on a tavern, and grew fat and content.

Flavius took over the torchbearer and loot-lugger guild and supplied future delvers with equipment and retainers.

Just played an excellent session of Psi*Run.

Just played an excellent session of Psi*Run.

Just played an excellent session of Psi*Run. I am sooo into this emergent mystery action going down. Meet Logan, she’s scared 20 year old on the run from the chasers. She controls gravity and, so far we know that she wasn’t born with these powers. She had a flashback where she was in a room that looked like a cyberpunk operating theater! They were experimenting on her when she screamed and her distress caused her powers to trigger — a man imploded. Then the orderly got really mad and smashed her Iphone. Seems to suggest this sort of thing happens when you give young adults powers?

We all awoke in a van belted into bucket seats and quickly learned we were being pursued as we entered the Gauntlet City Cordova mall, which was being torn down. We found out one of us was bugged. We ran for a subway and as some clearly evil people tried to catch up, Logan used her powers to slow them down long enough to escape. We grabbed coffee (2 pump carmel venti tazo chai actually for myself) and our wits and made our way to an abandoned condo. There we discovered the rest of us were bugged too…ennnnd scene.

I played with mostly new people and don’t think I have them to tag on here but the game was run wonderfully by the ever masterful Richard Rogers. If the other players see this maybe they’ll post about their characters and the other cool shit that went down specific to them, I thought it’d be fun to keep it open!