sam “under and over” sorensen

🥵

of course, thank you

sure, but if somebody got shot on the way to work, I'd like to know that so I can work it into the adventure. retroactively trying to fill in the backstory of random dice rolls is just more work for the GM, imo

with flat numbers you can start to establish patterns. "we know that Imperial Soldiers always travel in squads of eight, so we gotta be ready for that when we reach the border" type thing

doesn't work if your diegetic text's inline

I'll take tight consistency over chaos when it comes to adventure design every time. I find players really value being able to make accurate predictions.

that, and the flat numbers save the GM the time of rolling at the table

both of those are ones where once I started to see them I absolutely could not unsee them and they drove me mad

nah, the italics are so useful for clarity, especially if you have longer stuff like villain monologues or diegetic lists

thank you! I still disagree with the Borgers—I think they'd have tighter and less chaotic-feeling adventures if they were willing to derandomize a little (I stuck with flat numbers for EMPIRE OF HATRED, and people seemed to like it well enough)

screenshot of a blogpost that reads: "Ten More Tangible Tips for Editing Your RPG Manuscript "1. Remove instances of here from location descriptions—it’s obvious you’re describing the location already. Instead of 'A hobgoblin hammers iron here,' write 'A hobgoblin hammers iron on an anvil.' "2. For the same reason, remove instances of this in description entries. If you must reference the entry’s subject, use 'the.' Instead of 'Smoke fills this room,' write 'Smoke fills the room,' or better yet 'Smoke fills the air.' "3. When writing entries for monsters, magic items, and so on, skip repeating the name of the subject with [X] is or [X] are in the first sentence. Instead of 'VODYANOY: Vodyanoy are froggy, pot-bellied water spirits,' write 'VODYANOY: Froggy, pot-bellied water spirits.'"

what's up gamers, I'm back with ten more tangible tips for editing your tabletop RPG manuscript: samsorensen.blot.im/ten-more-tan...

banger tweet

Boshi’s, NYC nonprofit games space, is hosting an end of year fundraiser!! Your generous support is greatly appreciated. For more about how, what, when, where, and why, see the link in our bio. We love you!

#game #nyc #donate #videogames #boardgames #giveback

hehehe

ummmm excuse me, in 2003, Ron Edwards wrote a 7,560-word response to Bob "bigwig" Whigham concerning the topic of "correct play" and "modeling the mind of the player," in which he stated that there are fundamentally only five modes of existence for humans: stasis, schizophrenia, enlightenment, 1/45

Just imagine if the fiction world rated their books based mostly on the cover and paper quality like we do with rpgs.

brian I'm loving this academic-lobsterman fit you've got going

design diary #4 is about this question—it's a buncha ways to fix things when you've totally botched a situation

I've done this before and usually just make a super stripped-down version of some dungeondragon mishmash—six stats, inventory, fighter/wizard/thief/cleric, human/elf/dwarf/halfling, short little lists of spells, call it a day.

otherwise, the Vanilla Game

are you in town???

Indie Groundbreaker Awards Judge Application Use this form to apply to be a judge for the Indie Groundbreaker Awards.

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WHALE ROADS by sulcata | Brendan McLeod A megazine about Wolves Upon the Coast

Out now: WHALE ROADS

The chronicle of a year-long, 30+ player West Marches campaign of Wolves Upon the Coast by @lukegearing.bsky.social

A 250-page "zine" filled with play summaries, original art, and Referee commentary.

Available now, and it's 100% completely free.

sulcata.itch.io/whale-roads

It's only PBTA if it has sex moves, otherwise it's just sparkling FITD

yeah that's why I usually prefer to play with non-humans tbh

where my extraterrestrial dungeon dragon players at 👽

not me, my time's cheap as hell lmao

I simply lie. "yeah we're gonna play a D&D game" and then you hand them a character sheet and say "oh yeah so this D&D is set in [retro space / gothic Victorian London / hell world X], and also the stats and rules work a little differently, anyways, start rolling a character"

🌄A LAND ONCE MAGIC IS OFFICIALLY OUT TODAY!✨

Order one of these beautiful physical books and/or a hand-stamped bag + notebook!

The PDF is also out on my itch page!
vidityavoleti.itch.io/a-land-once-...

Make infinite worlds, never stop telling stories, create art with others!

grainy zoomed-in cropping of the above photo to show the "New Simulationism" pamphlet peeking out from behind some others ("i'm sorry did you say street magic," "electrum archive #1," and "barkeep on the borderlands," in particular)

computer, enhance

What PAX Unplugged tells us about the future of tabletop gaming Who knows what games await the tabletops of the world? Well, we kinda do, after attending PAX Unplugged in November.

Who knows what games await the tabletops of the world? Well, @ckunzelman.bsky.social kinda does, after attending PAX Unplugged in November. www.avclub.com/pax-unplugge...

Apocalypse World
Yazeba's Bed & Breakfast
Thousand Year Old Vampire
Sag River Extreme Cold Research Facility, Alaska.

one of the most exciting and original PbtA rulesets imo, totally flew under the radar. diceless gambling social-hierarchy vampire PvP shreds