Just a short update. I’ve done some tidying up on the site, which has included updating my review policy, for people who wonder where I derive the justification to pass judgement on other people’s games (nowhere, really). If you want a neater list of the reviews I’ve done so far, or are interested in submitting your games for me to review, you can check out that review policy here.
Hope to have something more substantial next week!
Every time I return to the 40K RPG after playing something else, my dismay at its slow, dated, overdesigned combat system increases. How much can I forgive this game for, when the only reason I’m playing is that I’m a Warhammer fanboy? Turns out quite a lot. Dark Heresy Second Edition might represent the system at its most elegant (or perhaps just “most sensible”), but Only War’s focus on the soldiers of the Imperial Guard is surely the best representation of the 40K setting. Back on the battlefield, but without sacrificing humanity to get there, this is what the Grim Darkness of the Far Future is all about. Continue reading
Let’s skip over the question of whether Microscope counts as a “roleplaying game”, so-argued because players assume the perspective of detached observers, and only rarely historical participants. Whatever your definition of “RPG”, world building has always been a part of it, and collaborative world building the very best way to engender mutual investment in a setting. Given that is Microscope’s raison d’être, it’s no surprise it does this extremely well. There’s a reason this has become the go-to setting generator for “proper RPGs”. Continue reading
About a year ago I wrote about RPG releases I was looking forward to in 2015, and examining the list now is pretty embarrassing. Of the ten games I mentioned, two already had PDF releases in 2014, two still haven’t come out yet, one has been officially abandoned for now, and one seems to have been unofficially abandoned (or least, the hint of an upcoming Cortex Plus “Heroic Roleplaying” game no longer appears on the Margaret Weis website).
I’m hesitant, then, to do something similar for 2016… Continue reading
Last time I wrote about the RPG campaigns I played in this year (with an unflattering spotlight on Dungeons and Dragons), along with the conventions I attended, the gaming brunches I ate at, and the blog I’m currently writing for.
Today I’m aiming for something a bit less egotistical, with a review of 2015 for the roleplaying hobby as a whole. Though it might just be the bits of the hobby that I find interesting. My ego can’t be contained. Continue reading
December is a time for meditation and self-reflection, to review the year that has almost passed and see what lessons can be learned for the future. It’s also a time when roleplayers go home to family or whatever, and with campaigns on hold, obsessives like me have nothing better than scrutinise their year in gaming. Continue reading
Well, I made it. Seven and a half months since Tabletop Day, and my #51in15 list is finally complete. Continue reading
Part 5 of the Ferrymen series, a long running home campaign adapting Diaspora to Fate Core.
Been busy recently – partially with some exciting RPG stuff I unfortunately can’t talk about right now – so today’s Ferrymen post is long overdue. My subject is the player party’s break-in to the Carthaginian Consultancy’s fortified headquarters, a dramatic set-piece from the end of our last arc, that had been foreshadowed from literally the first session of the game.
Undoubtedly, the impact of this moment was derived from the shared history of the player party leading up to the encounter. But the mechanics used to evoke the unique challenges of the heist played their part, I think, and a lot of that could be equally applicable to any GM preparing a heist or similar set-piece for a Fate game. What follows is partly mechanics, partly GM advice, but mostly just extrapolation of material from Fate Core. I hope that having it all in one place will nonetheless be a useful reference. Continue reading
Part 4 of the Ferrymen series, a long running home campaign adapting Diaspora to Fate Core. See Part 6 for a post-playtest update to the Factional Conflict rules below.
Over the last three dozen sessions of Ferrymen, the crew of The Erebus (aka the player party) have repeatedly run up against the legislative dominion of the Carthage system – the sole manufacturers of FTL “slipstream drives”, who limit this precious technology to those who pay tribute and abide their trading regulations.
From the harsh taxes that drive business owners into criminality, to the ruthless eradication of “piratical elements”, to the spies of the Carthaginian Consultancy that reside on every slipstreaming vessel… it’s difficult for the crew to escape the evidence of Carthage’s misdeeds. Continue reading
Part 3 of the Ferrymen series, a long running home campaign adapting Diaspora to Fate Core. See Part 8 for a post-playtest update to skill modifiers and interface generation (amongst other things).
Previously in the Ferrymen series, I provided our rules for spaceship conflict in Fate Core, and promised it would be followed up with rules for interface vehicles – smaller spaceships that are used for conveyance between spaceships and planetary surfaces.
The first thing to do when imagining the function of interface vehicles in Ferrymen is to dispel all notions of Star Wars or Battlestar Galactica from your mind. Continue reading
Roll Plus Hot 