Essays, actual play, theory talk, and general navel-gazing about story-focused roleplaying, aka “indie” games. And trindie. And OSR. If you’re small and scrappy, I want to talk about what you’re doing! If you’re fighting to grow, I want to talk about what you’re doing! Basically if it’s roleplaying (tabletop, freeform, larp, whatevs) and it’s not the monolith of D&D, it’s in my wheelhouse.
Can we talk about horror and mysteries in games for a minute? In principle I like both these things, particularly in the media I enjoy. In reality, at the table, they may be the worst gaming topics I’ve ever come across. The evergreen popularity of Call of Cthulthu means this is obviously not a widespread… Continue reading Vaesen: Deep Dive
Now that most of my local players are fully vaccinated, we’re slowly dipping our toes back into in-person play. And it is so weird and fraught. I can’t stop thinking about all the stuff I learned to make roleplaying happen during the pandemic: video play, character keepers, Miro, screen sharing, dice rollers. I’ve developed a… Continue reading The Slow, Weird Return To In-Person Play
We spend a lot of time talking about how rules work in rpgs. So let's think a bit on why we use rules at all.
This is the first in what I hope will be a series featuring folks with deep mastery of their favorite games sharing the techniques they’ve developed that aren’t in the text. Enjoy! -- PB One of my favorite games is Jenna Moran's Glitch. It’s a game about retired world-killing void-gods solving mysteries and forgetting to… Continue reading What the Rulebook Didn’t Include: Glitch
Limited time offer, good 'til April 23: The Cozy TTRPG Bundle features almost 30 games from creators around the world. The bundle price is $20. Separately, these games would cost more than $160. Included are games about cooking, camping, curses, and more. Most focus on community and home, but settings vary from the mundane to… Continue reading Get Your Cozy Games Here
