Guy Milner (BurnAfterRunning / Unconventional GMs)

Question for the TTRPG designers out there: you've experienced your game as a GM/ref, how many of you have experienced your game as a player?

Sadly I cannot double-back this project. But this should persuade any fence-sitters

I love the bit of game prep where you've sort of almost got it, and excited to see how it'll actually play at the table - in this case, a run of @leylinepress.bsky.social Salvage Union @lukegearing.bsky.social Rainmaker tomorrow!

Some of them, I wish I could 😁

"Perception" is always rubbish. Chargen is massively overrated. Bling is the least important part of convention games

I dunno, if you wanted to see a game of Candela Obscura that isn't heavily productionised, there's one right here:
youtu.be/cMIqqB5FI50?...

You didn't ask for a solution, but (a) recruit a couple more players, and play if you get at least 2 / (b) rotate GMs if you're not jazzing with it / (c) check if weekly really works and shift to fortnightly if needed - book another game on the off weeks if you want!

Resharing for the weekday crowd - brand new #13thAge 2nd ed #ActualPlay !

13th Age 2nd Edition : One Shot | Swamp Princess | Actual Play YouTube video by Unconventional GMs

Do you like swamps? Do you like princesses? Check out our latest #ActualPlay #TTRPG of @pelgranepress.bsky.social @jonathantweet.bsky.social @robheinsoo.bsky.social 13th Age 2nd Edition, one of my most favourite games given the 2 hour one-shot treatment - SWAMP PRINCESS.

youtu.be/0CPGgECxMXo?...

Two books on a white desk- BFI Film Classics "Tales of Hoffmann" and Armed Services Edition of "concerning a woman of sin"

Fantastic score from Quinto books today - I've never seen 2nd hand Armed Services Editions before, they are great little relics.

It's not giving "FIFA peace prize," is it?

I think (despite all the discourse about D&D Neopets) the vast majority of licensed games have been absolute bangers - it'd be much easier to name the ones that haven't been (but not very nice)

Image reads: Sir Keir had entered the Gorton campaign in a vulnerable position, amid dreadful poll ratings and a damaging series of policy U-turns in recent months that have prompted some Labour MPs to openly question his leadership. Speaking after the result, he pledged to "keep on fighting", insisting he was "getting on with the hard yards" of turning Labour's fortunes around.

Getting on with the hard yards of turning Labour’s fortunes around after pulling every lever and straining every sinew to put Labour in this position.

Unconventional Mysteries – One-Shot Carved From Brindlewood Games I hope you’re all familiar with a new subset of PBTA games, the Carved From Brindlewood (CfB) stable. These, all from the Gauntlet, involve player-created clue interpretation and offer something ge…

There's some advice here on running one-shot Carved from Brindlewood games - this might help!
burnafterrunningrpg.com/2023/05/08/u...

Get more from Burn After Running on Patreon creating game advice, reviews and modules for TTRPG games

This one's on the blog, but around 50% of them will be patreon exclusives, including one out now for 13th Age!

www.patreon.com/burnafterrun...

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Actual Prep – Mythic Bastionland Here’s a new project – I’m fascinated by prep, in all its forms – one-shot, long-form, session notes, handwritten scribbles. My own and others. A quick check online leads me to believe …

New project up on Burn After Running - ACTUAL PREP. A look at some actual prep notes from me and others, beginning with @bastionland.bsky.social 's Mythic Bastionland!
burnafterrunningrpg.com/2026/02/26/a... (1/2)

Hot War 2e - believe the hype! (From @handiworkgames.bsky.social and @malcolmcraig.bsky.social ) - just played a fantastic one-shot

This thread really makes me think. Although I'd say that playing a one-shot is better than not playing at all - especially if you want to really understand a game

Aren't those the four pillars of play?

Actual Prep: 13th Age 2nd Ed: Swamp Princess (Patreon Exclusive!) | Burn After Running Get more from Burn After Running on Patreon

My work examining prep in #TTRPGs continues, with a Patreon exclusive - my prep notes from a soon-to-be-released 13th Age 2nd Edition adventure. Join the patreon to check it out, or buy the individual post (the former is better value!) www.patreon.com/posts/actual...

Reposting this for the weekday crowd - check out the latest cast about small group #TTRPG play

If you want to see some of these in action, we've got a playlist of duet games on Unconventional GMs
youtube.com/playlist?lis...

It was great to chat about small group #TTRPG play - there's some really good stuff out there for this

Just been running @jasoncordova.bsky.social 's Beach Blanket Body Bag - fantastic to see the setup create really juicy character subplots and interactions - even before they find the body!

I think the sorcerer is deliberately very swingy, and contains its own solution in that you don't *have* to Gather Power at the start of combat. But I would play it like that, too!

There's definitely a question of frequency here; last year I ran 16 convention one-shots, and it's usually much more (I didn't make either Kraken last year) - I couldn't playtest all them on top of channel recordings and games "for fun!"

I only do it maybe <5% of the time - similarly for recording Actual Play stuff. But I run quite a few one shots, so pacing etc isn't something I worry about

Bit of discourse about playtesting earlier, so here's my question to #TTRPG folk - do you ever playtest convention scenarios?

Well, you've managed to find a genre potentially even more problematic than the Wild West, good luck to you!

I always think time travel games need lots of adventures to properly showcase them