John Britch

Munchkin Second Edition After 25 years of kicking down doors and battling monsters, a Second Edition of Munchkin is here with updated art and design . . . and gold!

Proud to be the 1,437th backer 😎 on @BackerKit Crowdfunding for Munchkin Second Edition! www.backerkit.com/c/projects/s...

A screen shot from Foundry VTT showing the Petrified Menagerie (which looks like an array of statues of mythic creatures) and the PCs tokens, along with the token of the Gorgon (who prefers to be called Carol now).

As a GM, I try not to dwell on the possible solutions the players may come up with for the problems I create, but I never expected they’d actually befriend the lonely Gorgon in the Petrified Menagerie Room with kindness (and Anti-Petrification Goggles). #CastleFalkenstein #FateAccelerated

A note from Empress Elisabeth of Austria, aka Sissi, to her cousin King Ludwig the Second of Bayern explaining how she and Sir Richard Burton were going on an explore of Castle Falkenstein and how they should be home by supper.

The Empress of Austria (aka King Ludwig's cousin Sissi) and Sir Richard Burton played hooky from the Tournament of Wits and Might to seek the Sunken Library of Atlantis in Castle Falkenstein. Our Intrepid Heroes were charged with their safe return. #CastleFalkenstein #FateAccelerated

You were all at the top of your games last night! Loved the creativity

The PCs kept heroically busy at King Ludwig's Tournament of Wits & Might last night 1) stopping alchemical pyrotechnics from raining fire down on VIPs; 2) solving a mystery of missing jewels via cleaning automata Dust Bunnies; 3) seducing Sir Richard Burton. #CastleFalkenstein #FateAccelerated

Brindlewood Bay is good for a short campaign. It's not easy to GM, but the premise -- Golden Girls solving mysteries and fighting Lovecraftian horrors -- is loads of fun. Playing meddling old biddies is strangely satisfying.

S & V is great for telling an epic SF story efficiently, and the character and crew upgrade rules are cool. My particular problem with S & V was the same I had with BitD; running the action resolution system. I never felt comfortable adjudicating tiers and quality and potency. YMMV

Hi Adrian, here's what I've run in the recent past in case you're looking for GM testimonials: ShadowFate (Shadowrun hack using Fate), Scum & Villainy, Terraverse (Cortex Prime), Hammerheads (Cortex Prime), Brindlewood Bay, Fate of Falkenstein (Fate Accelerated hack), Pathfinder.

Last week, our heroes captured a Wild Hunt rider sent by the Adversary at the Iron Chancellor’s behest, securing a year-and-a-day reprieve. Now granted asylum in Bayern by King Ludwig, they begin exploring their new home—the legendary Castle Falkenstein. #CastleFalkenstein #FateAccelerated

Our heroes paid a faerie toll with a tragic tale of love lost, complete with musical accompaniment on tinkered instruments. The session ended with “Cardinal” Valerie the Master Thief of the World Crime League sealing Wojtek the Best Bareknuckle Boxer in All of Warsaw in a cage with Mistress Trapper.

I have no doubt you will.

As if they weren't fugitive enough, last night the Castle Falkenstein players recovered a satchel containing the secret blueprints for a sky fortress that could tip the scales in favor of the Prussians. Can they get to Bayern before the Wild Hunt catches up to them?

A random table of road travel encounters in the magical steampunk world of New Europa.

I've grown to love writing random encounter tables for the players to roll or pick from. Just reading the entries helps build the world. I guiltily admit to using gen AI to help with this one.

I don't write much about the other campaign I'm GMing, which is Pathfinder 2e. The main reason for this is that I'm running the Kingmaker Adventure Path and I don't want to spoil the module. But: I SO much prefer Pathfinder to 5e. Every time I learn a new rule, I'm like "This makes SO MUCH SENSE."

My Castle Falkenstein group

While this was going on, our Master Thief of the World Crime League scooped up the winnings while our Most Excellent Engineer and Audacious Alchemist created distractions and snuck out the back door. Then all motored off into the night, leaving chaos in their wake (again).

They managed to turn this into a fighting match to see who could collect the bounty. The burly farmhand never had a chance vs. the Best Bareknuckle Boxer in Warsaw. When the constable inevitably arrived, the aforementioned boxer picked up a bench and plowed a path out of the front door.

The Castle Falkenstein PCs didn't disappoint. They stole a steam lorry from a farmer -- spectacularly blowing up his windmill in the process -- then stopped for dinner in a crowded beer hall. They were fingered when their wanted posters started scrolling on the clackerboard display while they dined.

Last session our Fate Accelerated Castle Falkenstein heroes stole the Iron Chancellor's personal zeppelin and bailed before it exploded into flames. I wonder what kind of mischief they'll get into this week?

Email subject that reads "AI is doing weird things to the internet" but I'm reading the "I" as an "L."

I keep misreading headlines about artificial intelligence and thinking to myself "What is @alyankovic.bsky.social up to this time?

The game board at the beginning; first contact with the Shadows.

Game board mid-game, where we're starting to see success drawing the Shadows away from objectives.

Game board at the end, scoring the last objective after herding and deactivating the Shadows.

The friends I play FlickFleet with love the game but we prefer collaborative play so I invented a new faction that threatens all of known space. We play tested it yesterday. The black poker chips represent the Shadows, enigmatic xenos that pop out of hyperspace to suck space ships into the void.

FlickFleet space battle dexterity game FlickFleet is a fast, fun space battle dexterity game from Eurydice Games

My favorite space combat game these days is FlickFleet from Eurydice Games. It's billed as a dexterity game -- you move and shoot by flicking game pieces and dice -- but it has a lot of satisfying tactical decision making. eurydicegames.co.uk/games/flickf...

I remember coming out of the IRT station at the Junction in Flatbush and seeing a young Chuck Schumer shaking hands and talking with as many people as he could. Where is that fire now?

Done

PF 2 is like 5e and GURPS had a baby. The cool fantasy tropes are there and the system is crunchy yet intuitive. The Foundry VTT helps a lot to track the various bonuses and penalties relevant to an action. Character creation is rich and there's stuff to look forward to at every level.

I can't tell you, as I never played either of those. There was a looooong hiatus for me between AD & D and 5e (GURPS was my go-to for many years).

Now that I've discovered Pathfinder 2e it's hard to play 5e. I just want to tell everyone about the 3-action economy and the 4 degrees of success. Have I joined a cult?

Yesss! Eat the Reich is a ton of fun. I played Chuck in the home game my friend ran.

My Monday night Pathfinder group again one-shotted my scary antagonist, here a wounded storm giant who still had a lot of fight left in him. One of the things I'm grooving on is how the players are lining up synergies (spell buffs, flanking) to build critical hits. This is fun crunch.

We had the first planning session for our Fate (Accelerated) of Castle Falkenstein last night. The players are motoring that steam conveyance like they nicked it.