Brent P. Newhall

Tip to invest RPG players in the story: invent a Destiny for their character. They could be the long-lost prince/princess, the keeper of the sacred talisman, or they have an ancient bloodline that’s key to resolving a crisis. If the player doesn’t interact with it, fine! Invent another Destiny.

(And the PC who died got revived by a god.)

Just put a new-ish party through a very dangerous encounter: level 4 PCs vs. life-draining vampire spawn holed up in an attic. The PCs got bottlenecked and ended up retreating, one PC dying. The mood was somber but I could see them realize: Oh, we can’t just always attack recklessly. Very useful.

Tip to deepen characters in D&D: When taking a long rest, PCs restore HP, spell slots, etc. only if they describe a moment from their past that they dreamed about during the night. The moment can be very brief. This helps players think about what formed their character’s...character.

Itching for a short fantasy one-shot of heroes facing savage monsters? I plan to playtest a dead simple RPG this Saturday at 2pm Eastern online via videoconference. Should take 2 hours total. DM me if you're interested!

Have you ever run *Curse of Strahd* in a system other than D&D 5E? I'm planning a multi-session playtest of a game using that adventure and curious about people's experiences with it outside of D&D's mechanics. Any advice appreciated!

I'm planning a playtest of a fantasy RPG that's so rules-light you can play it in a car with no equipment, and you're invited! It's a fantasy wilderness exploration and monster fighting game. Playtest is scheduled for October 18, 2pm-4pm Eastern Time online. DM me if interested!

I'm planning to do a "campaign check-in" tonight for a D&D campaign, asking:
1. What do you like about the campaign so far?
2. Are we getting the right balance of the pillars of play?
3. What do you want to happen to your character?
What would you add? What do you ask in these sorts of check-ins?

Since you're the only one who's confirmed, I'm uncomfortable running Searchers for just one person; PCs are too squishy. Let's see if we can get more folks interested at another time. Thanks for volunteering though!

2 hours or so

@ramblingrump.bsky.social @jakeeldritch.bsky.social @soturpg.bsky.social @ooc92.bsky.social

For those of you interested in a real-time game of Searchers of the Unknown, how about Wednesday May 7 (1 week from today) at 6pm Pacific / 9pm Eastern? RSVP by Friday. Thanks!

If folks need more time I'm fine with that too. :)

If I get at least 2 characters I'll run a PbP game.

@ramblingrump.bsky.social @jakeeldritch.bsky.social @soturpg.bsky.social @ooc92.bsky.social

Tell you what: anyone interested in a play by post game, create a character using the free rules at brentnewhall.com/games/doku.p... and thread them here within 24 hours of this post.

Thanks! I haven't profiled Cairn yet.

I'm good with either! I just misinterpreted the original message as being specifically about Searchers.

If folks are interested in Spaces I'll be glad to run that play by post if you all are interested. It's literally meant to be Searchers adapted for PbP.

@ramblingrump.bsky.social @jakeeldritch.bsky.social @soturpg.bsky.social

I'm just realizing there may have been a miscommunication. Is this for interesting in playing **Spaces** of the Unknown (my game built for play-by-post) or **Searchers** of the Unknown (the original OSR game)?

I'm generally available weekdays, pretty much any time, starting next week (May 5). I'm Eastern Time Zone but flexible.

@runesingervtt.substack.com @ramblingrump.bsky.social @jakeeldritch.bsky.social @soturpg.bsky.social

Good day! It looks like this is the group for the Searchers of the Unknown one-shot. Am I missing anyone?

Also when do folks want to play?

I'm here! I typically only read and reply to email/social media once a day FYI.

Thanks for the interest! Unfortunately I haven't kept up with the OSR in the past few years. What games would you recommend I look at?