S. John Ross

I hope this for everyone, too.

I'm not living up to it myself, but I'm hoping it.

A map of a lake (Lake Araghast) in a fantasy world (Uresia: Grave of Heaven), showing towns, major roads, mountains and so on. There's also a small map of the town of Gaelton.

In the module "Toast of the Town," for Risus, maps meant for the GM's eyes, like this one, were done in the Risus "doodly" style, while the map meant for player reference was in a more sober, diegetic style.

#TTRPG #FantasyMaps #RisusRPG #UresiaRPG

To be fair, though, it's why I have the abs I do.

Yah! I sold Risus a couple years ago, so I made Applesauce as my new house system, to be used for pregens in forthcoming adventures.

100 words long, some of them wasteful flourishes. 😆 Finally free of that bulletproof* TOME that was Risus!

----
* When pushed with a finger. Not fired from a gun.

An old friend and writing buddy of mine just asked for a recommendation for her teen boys, and I sent her directly to the new T&T quickstart thingy. 😊

Yeah; I really enjoyed having characters to root for.

I guess that can't be every Westeros show, but it's the kind I'll stick with past two episodes. 😆

1/8 We wrapped up our year-long Challengers of Vanth campaign today with the Squelchers using diplomacy to form a coalition of allies to confront the captain of the guard of the Horse Tamers to hand over the victory medallion and let the Princess of the Horse Tamers win the Crucible.

I mean, I can't afford to pay anyone and I create commercial products.

I do all the work myself. This isn't glamorous, but it's ethically viable and creatively satisfying 😀

Dancer
Shopper
Nitpicker
Proctologist

Weird trivia: I once designed a campaign module for Encounter Critical that included a direct reference to this comic. But I'm odd. 😆

A segment of a fantasy town map, showing buildings, garden plots, trees, footpaths, streets, walls and water.

My town-maps style, if you zoom to the building level, is simplistic, just basic shapes. Many other cartographers include a lot more detail. But I designed this style around a blend of building info and land-use info, aiming for clarity above, say, roof textures.

#TTRPG #FantasyMaps #Hammondal

The meta-lesson from studying a hundred examples of the same hyperspecific subgenre of #TTRPG book:

The great and very good ones each offer unique design lessons.

The good, mediocre, and poor ones have lessons to teach, but the lessons get samey, fast, and stay that way.

Excellent news. 😊

One thing I haven't managed, that I hoped I would, is getting a clear total number of FRP city guides in existence.

My estimate is "from 150 to 250." That's highly speculative and a big range. I keep stumbling across obscure ones!

Which is a kind of warning for my own project. 😄

#TTRPG

Studying 106 FRP city guides* in detail gives a fella _opinions_ about FRP city guides.

_____
* Current count, but, more soon.

#TTRPG

My favorites as a kid were Black Hole and Haunted House ... I was a sucker for level gimmicks.

These days I play Theater of Magic when I can find it.

Sorry to hear they're resorting to that method.

If you hate a thing ... just say so. Just give it the _one_ negative review/rating that it's your right to give.

Dragging in bots and disinterested strangers to puff up one's negativity with bombing is just miserable.

Sadly, this lovely cutaway dashes all my "never going to look it up" joy at the idea of a "funk-kabine." 😆

"A ticket costs HOW much ...

but they have a cabin dedicated to the funk, you say?

I too, am dedicated, in my own way, to the funk."

Four Lives of a Town Map by Temphis on DeviantArt

A look at the various larval/pupal stages of my #FantasyMaps devoted to towns.

www.deviantart.com/temphis/art/...

#TTRPG

I often find myself thinking ... the Germans who supported Hitler didn't get to grow up eyes-deep in films, books, plays and classes warning them about what they were doing.

But these folks ... Every one of them grew up warned. Their whole lives, plainly, graphically, amply warned.

Well it's an obscure nail, commercially. 😄 Dead for about 30 years.

But hope springs eternal. They say.

(And neither of them care as much about game design as I need them to)

Both FKR and Freeform are not-my-cuppa but in some ways _nearer_ my cuppa than most surviving RPG styles. In my experience Freeformers are more likely to care about roleplaying, which is essential to me ... but FKR folk are more likely to care about tactics, which is essential to me. 😄 But NTTSM.

Commit to writing _whatever_ your cats suggest, no matter what.

Oh good!

I avoided the video because it had D&D in the title. 😆

While D&D has been irrelevant to me, personally, since 1989 ... That Rowling thing is a terrifying notion. 😮

French poster for HAROLD AND MAUDE (1971)

Starring Bud Court (RIP)

YouTube video by Elvis Costello - Topic Tramp the Dirt Down

Probably this one:

youtu.be/pi_YQul7XXk?...

This short video from @starwarsexplained.com is a great (double)take on the Star Wars stuff in yesterday's football broadcast. ☺️

In these troubled times I'm grateful to Alex and Molly for #StarWars videos like these.

youtu.be/NqMF1sFjr-g?...

It was dizzying! But in a hugely entertaining way.

Mind-boggling production; so many musicians, dancers and more. Beautiful.

And as the first RPG to be produced entirely in full process glossy color on every page ... I blame it for some stuff. 😆

But yeah, very cool game. We had some wild sessions with it back in the day.