DropTheDie

It's not well trodden ground, for sure.

Adventurers should be RARE, certainly, but much like "Van Life" people, you should run into them pretty regularly while actively doing those activities, right?

A bit more esoteric but Darkwood has amazing consistency for a horror title.

I've been told that Silent Hill 2 (which has a 2024 rerelease) is among the best stories every released.

- language about how dice rolls are neither good nor bad, but just randomness to help the story.
- how the GM's job isn't to challenge, punish, kill, or reward characters, just adjudicate the world.
- how bookkeeping/tracking resources is a storytelling device and not a punishment.

Etc.

One thing that gets talked about a LOT in videgame development is establishing the major systems of a game as though players have never held a controller or moved a mouse before. Some players don't know the camera can move.

TTRPGs need to do that, and spend more than a page on it.

Standing atop a pile of cybernetic bestial corpses, posed in front of a nuclear explosion consuming the background, a muscled commando-type with a blond flat-top haircut and wrap-around shades fires what looks to be a laser shotgun down into unseen enemies. His red tank top and bandolier of explosive munitions strapped across each shoulder and waist do not project an air of subtlety, nor does his blood-stained a-frame tank top.

There's a reason you could not tell a story like The Modern Prometheus/Frankenstein if you replaced Victor with Duke Nukem, is all I'm saying. No matter what the creature did, the horror would not survive.

Players are responsible for tone and complexity in your game, not the GM, Module, System, or any other aspect.

No amount of gothic description, punishing mechanics, or creepy music can replace a player willing to let their character be afraid or make mistakes.

Players, alone, control that knob.

I feel like many United States citizens would pay extra for haunted snacks.

I wanted to love 1899. What a GORGEOUSLY shot series, with all the vibes you'd ever ask for in a speculative fiction horror mix-mash.

Then it goes from 0-60 in 6 hours and 40 minutes, and I just couldn't stand it.

I've heard nothing but good things about Dark, though.

Eyyyy, congrats!

Home games or one-shots (especially for charity events or one-off experiences), yeah, just let your GM handle all those fiddly things so you can really dig deep into your character.

But for longform productions? Sweet lord, don't expect perfection for 100+ hours of improv acting. Right? lol

I think so, too.
Particularly having a set person designated as the contact point for safety tools or narrative disputes, especially in the Pre Recorded production space, repositions the GM from "the god of gods" to "a member of the cast" (they are).

Decentralize that power structure.

i've never seen a third party dramaturg come into a production and not be in the cast, but I guess that's possible. More often it's a player or producer giving studio notes during, after, and before games to make everything feel cohesive as an experience.

It's my understanding that many people consider TTRPG play as a type of theater performance for a limited audience. The dramaturg/dramaturgy of TTRPGs falls under sensitivity reading pre-post production, set suggestions, tonal or delivery changes to capture theme. Making the "vibe" match the game.

Daario Naharis from Game of Thrones, as played by Ed Skrien. a man with a uniquely-proportioned, handsome face, long sandy-brown hand, and a wicked smirk. He wears overlapping sheaths of dark padded armor.

Question for my #TTRPG folks.

Do you use Henchmen / Hirelings / Personnel in your games to work with/against your PCs?

I seem obsessed with turning TTRPGs into "employee management simulator" and i'm curious if anyone else enjoys that stuff?

The REAL fantasy is loyal competent employees paid well

A beautiful japanese man in black and white clothing holds a yellow fan. His expression is determined and forceful.

Blender Pitch: Put The White Claw, Memoires of a Geisha, and Black Swan in a blender, you get Kokuho.

I found the opening hour and a half of Kokuho (2026) to be fantastic - full of drama and artistry.

The next hour of the movie watching artists suffer shitty pointless lives of misery and abuse is expected, unwanted, and exhausting.

The last half hour is sorrowful and beautiful.

8/10 for me, too.

So i started trying to save money by making my own soda at home and dear sweet god is home brewing (liquids/drinks) expensive.

And my freaking keg post had a leak that drained an ENTIRE 5lb CO2 canister... $50 literally evaporated right before my eyes.

Two steps backwards, two more steps backwards

a man in a suit and tie is sitting at a desk in an office . ALT: a man in a suit and tie is sitting at a desk in an office .

Tell me, what was the best "What is this game about?" section you've ever read in a TTRPG book?

THIS IS THE ROCK AND ROLL FUTURE OF YESTERYEAR THAT NEVER WAS -AND NOBODY WANTED. It is 'an intergalactic age of cowboys, outlaws and bandits playing on an interstellar stage. It is a time of hyper-capitalism and a cut-throat gig economy. Unreliable trash-heaps carry scrappy underdogs to their next gig, and corporation freighters lumber across the horizon laden with an empire's bounty. The backstreets of every terraformed metropolis brim with a thousand lonely hearts and a thousand more venal vendettas. The burnt-out wastelands between bright lights are lawless bat countries-anachronistic Americana languishing beneath multiple moons. Madness in every direction at every solar hour. These are the music-fueled, moonage daydreams of a rebel space age. These are your ORBITAL BLUES.

I found Orbital Blues to really nail the tone of what the game was trying to execute.

Congrats, Ted. That's a fantastic opportunity.

Kobold Press 20th Anniversary Sale!

Twenty Years. Four Weeks. Endless Adventure!
This March, Kobold Press celebrates 20 years with a special “Era” Anniversary Sale. Check back each week and explore two decades of bold design at 20-40% off.
koboldpress.com/kpstore/20th...

We really lucked out moving over to enterprise, because whenever we visit Henderson or up near south summerlin that sewage smell hits me SO hard sometimes.

You have my sympathy!

Smash some chips or olives and see if you feel less like lead.

It's really easy to forget how quickly we filter out salt and stuff. Especially for us out here in Nevada, we had two really hot days in a row and I had no idea i was COATED with a layer of salt until I washed my face.

Fingers crossed!

Didn't deplete your salt, did you?

Literally happened to me a few days ago. Took a little nap, woke up feeling like i was in a car accident. My electrolytes were shot.

I do hope you feel better soon, Nika!

Why it works...
- PCs will overthink it and try to ring the three in order, making it feel more challenging than it is.
- It pays for them to find information (necromancer's name in our example)
- PCs can check for which bells have been used the most
- Trial and error works just fine, but is costly

PCs just need to ring the three appropriate bells without touching the fourth or breaking them.

Success: door opens.
Failure: the four bells toll, targeting targeting the nearest creature to it with weak necromancy magic (or whatever).

There are four bells. None of them make noise when rung. Each bell has an emblem on it, 3 representative to the location (Example: for a necromancer's crypt, there could be the first letter of the Necromancer's name in elvish, a grave, and a puppeteer's hand) and one random (a ship).

Swinging from 58 degrees to 82 degrees has completely destroyed me.

a cartoon character is standing on a tiled floor in front of a dark background Alt: a cartoon character is standing on a tiled floor in front of a dark background. Dejected, they kick a rock.

I just want to write and design stuff to earn enough money to buy socks.

As an intensely loyal and responsible human that gets tremendous dopamine for my ADHD brain from exceeding expectations on deliverables for ELEVEN YEARS in TTRPGs, you'd think it wouldn't be this hard finding 1099 work.

Desktop, 90% of the time. Kindle/Fire/Reading tablet the other 10%, usually as a reference.