A Life Full of Adventure

I probably think you roll dice too often.

Roleplaying games are all about resource management. This game of D&D we play is often the ultimate game of resource management. Whether is be ammunition, weapons, magic, or even gold, the characters need to manage resources in order to improve. Why am I checking the stormtrooper's body in Star Wars? Because I only have so many shots left until my blaster is empty. At that time, I can either be weaponless or I can use that scavenged blaster. Why his breastplate? Well, next time I get shot in the chest, I can either say "good thing I had the breastplate" or I can say "that jerk GM told me not to worry about looting the stormtrooper in the last room." Why do I take as much gold as possible out of the dungeon? Because I, my family, and my friends have to eat. In a roleplaying game, you put yourself in the shoes of your character. Does your character want to live? Does your character want to eat? Does your character have to support themselves outside the dunge...

Listen to me talk about the games I'm currently in.

I'd like to share a game theory with you: don't roll dice unless the DM asks you to. I have dice. I want to roll my shiny dice. I want to tell stories of how the dice failed me at a critical time or how the dice came through for me when all hope seemed lost. However, keep in mind, with a roll, there is a chance of failure. If you can talk your DM into letting you do things without making you roll, there is no failure. Or he flat out tells you that you can’t do it. There may be times the DM doesn’t think you need to roll. Just having the skill is enough to bring you success. Or the chance of failing is so low. Or you’re going to succeed eventually, so let’s not bog the game down. If you roll, the DM suddenly has a sanctioned random chance he can hold against you.

Regor the Sated, Hoarder of Ramen and Mice! "My eternity is spent trying to keep the mice away from the ramen."  I have to make these tiny cages to try to contain the mice. I can't even do it in dragon form; I have to polymorph into a gnome! Alternately, the low intelligence dragon spends his days combing the land for ramen, while his high intelligence mice spend his time away selling his ramen out from under him for profit...or cheese. 

Gaming & BS ran an episode where they answers listener questions. One was from a DM who had a player wanting to run a magic user in a no-magic world. Keep destroying the sacred in your gaming world . Response to a no magic world: I would think that a GM who has a no magic rule would have a good reason. I would also expect this would come up during session 0. The GM would have explained his world and his reasoning, and the players would have bought in or not at that time. The monkey wrench: the GM obviously made an exception to the rule at some point. Why? How did it go? Did it ruin the game for the DM (who is also a player, right?), for the magic using character, or for the rest of the group...in any way, including spotlight issues? Did he tell them afterwards that there would be no more exceptions? Yes? Then stick to your guns. No, he didn't tell them after the last magic user that he wouldn't allow it again? Well then, he left himself wide open for anothe...

Thanks to Ivy for the welcome to Anchor 'casting. I can’t figure out how to record replies, so I reply to Hobbs’ last Random Screed in my own recording. My PC doesn’t want to die!

Quarion - Half Elf Warlock (me) Gorthran - Dwarf Tempest Cleric Eldreth - Dwarf Fighter Dar - Human Ranger Seville - Half Orc Barbarian Sometimes it's not where you're running to, but where you're running from. This is how I found myself walking with a group of strangers into the wayward town of Night Stone. We had heard that we could find adventure there. We had heard we could find a library. We had heard Night Stone would be a place we could escape the past. Instead we walked into a battlefield. The town was in disarray. It looked like it had been bombarded by a dozen catapults. Maybe a spare trebuchet or two as well. I guess I'm not an expert on weapons of mass destruction. What I did know is that the temple's bells would not stop ringing. Unless it was the 87th hour of the day, those bells needed to stop. Inside we found two playful goblins riding the bell rope up and down like some sort of chaotic pogo-stick. (Of course we have pogo-sticks. They'r...

Wilfried - Fence (me) Martin - Scout Larry - Bodyguard Wilhelm - Wizard Apprentice (Note: I missed session 10, so I don't have a write-up.) The party looked at the body of the dead beggar. It was torn apart, and not to long ago, according to the priestess of Shallya. The dead madman had an amulet, a gift possibly, from the house Teugen, which he had kept on his person apparently for many years. The party decided they had enough information to shadow the merchant houses at night and see what suspicious comings and goings occurred. Throughout the early evening, various parties entered the Teugen estate, all carrying packages. The party mugged one of the visitors. Wilhelm was dressed in the visitor's clothing, and carried the stolen package...which ended up holding cultist robes and an amulet. It was time to infiltrate House Teugen. The party opted for a direct assault through the main gate. Wilfried bandied with the bodyguard outside the gate until a suitable moment ...

I hear Anchor FM is easy. I intermittently have ideas for a podcast. I merge the two, with a topic close to the current heart of this blog: game recaps/write-ups. Anchor Podcast: Session Write-ups

Wilfried - Fence Martin - Scout Othmar - Charlatan Larry - Bodyguard Wilhelm - Trader (Previous Sitting) More Investigation! The party continued to run all around the backward village of Bogenhafen trying to find any information on the nefarious goings-on. Below is an abbreviated list of their stops. 1) Merchant Guild to visit Friedrich Magirius. He thought the party's topic of conversation too diabolical for the guild and invited them to dinner at the Golden Trout Club. Completely paranoid, the party followed him (he didn’t go anywhere else or bring anyone with him). They also scouted the Club (nobody suspicious came or went or set up shop nearby) and sent word back to their ship of their intended whereabouts for the night, should they go missing. 2) By the way, Morrslieb, the Chaos Moon, was unexpectedly full and taunting the party! 3) Martin buggered off to visit a Fortune Teller in media res. 4) Golden Trout Club. Magirius told the party about a secret town ...

I think the renaissance has happened. We should drop the R. I think movements are easier to identify “post mortem”, so to speak. The OSR is getting easier to talk about as time goes on, but nobody really know what we’re in now...a post-OSR? Do It Yourself (DIY)? Old school vs new school? Free for all? If the intro to the Renaissance on Wikipedia reads thusly The Renaissance (UK: /rɪˈneɪsəns/, US: /rɛnəˈsɑːns/)[1] is a period in European history, covering the span between the 14th and 17th centuries. It is an extension of the Middle Ages, and is bridged by the Age of Enlightenment to modern history. It grew in fragments, with the very first traces found seemingly in Italy, coming to cover much of Europe, for some scholars marking the beginning of the modern age. Then I'd say an OSR intro would read something like this The Old School Renaissance is a period of tabletop gaming history, covering the years between 2000 and 2015[1]. It is a reaction to brands producing newer ve...

Wilfried - Bawd Martin - Scout Gottlieb - Bounty Hunter Larry - Bodyguard ( Previous Sitting ) Investigation, investigation, and more investigation! The party ran all around the backward village of Bogenhafen trying to find any information on the underground temple, the presumed owners thereof, the death of our perpetually drunk dwarf friend, and the three-legged goblin supposedly caught in a local warehouse. Wilfried became quite familiar with the environs, which will help should anyone ever need safe leading from point A to point B. Below is an abbreviated list of their stops. 1) Dr Malthusius to discuss his dead goblin the party found versus the dead goblin found in the warehouse. He took it well and offered future aid to the party, if the aid did not cost him  anything . He also later gave the party a lead on who last saw the dwarf Gottri in the town stockade. Gottri was last seen with someone in the livery of Merchant House Teugen (red cross or flower) 2) Town ...

(Reference Jason Hobbs' Random Screed: Shorter Screed 9/6/2018 ) To encourage use of two handed weapons in a game where a shield can be sundered to negate damage from one attack, Jason created advantage on his damage dice (roll twice the damage dice and keep the best result). On the one hand, this sounds like a cool bonus. On the other hand, it seems to really increase the average damage from a two handed weapon. For some reason I’m hesitant to minimize the lower rolls. I’m sure I’d love it as a player. It’s only when thinking about it from a meta perspective do I wonder. Another option: Two handed weapons get initiative bonus or able to go first in the round due to assumed reach. Implications: With the advantage rule, a character is more likely to do more damage per hit and thereby has a higher chance for one hit kills. Regular initiative is kept, so I’d expect the enemy to strike first half the time and the character to strike first half the time. With initiative rule, a ch...

(Inspired by Jason Hobbs’ Random Screed: Long Story Long 9/8/18 ) As a grade schooler, my cousin tried to get me and his sister to play AD&D with him. He had the only book. I didn’t find it that interesting, and the attempt was pretty much just dropped after one try. Fast forward a year or two, and one of my grade school friends had the Mentzer red box. I borrowed that box and read it covers to covers a couple times. I made dungeons, I recruited other friends to play after school or even at school. We had a teacher who let us have study hall type time when we were done our classwork for the day. This seemed the perfect opportunity to play with the most people. I also got my cousin to play one-on-one on the weekends. What’s the difference between the failed AD&D attempt and the BECMI red box attempt? I think borrowing the book to read and having a book that taught you step by step was the difference. I first learned to play. Then I learned to DM. Then I learned to build a ...

Wilfried - Human Bawd Gottlieb - Human Ranger Larry - Human Bawd Wilhelm - Human Trader Talbberry - NPC Halfling Scribe (Player absent) (Previous Sitting - Absent) Like it or not, the party was in Bogenhafen for Schaffenfest, coin pouches still bulging from their last job. Unwilling to waste the time, they seek employment as bounty hunters from the town councilor. He had no work for them at that time, but stated he would keep them in mind. There was naught to do but attend the Sheep Festival. The councilor reminded them they could not sell any sheep because they did not have the appropriate permits (a new trend starts). At the festival, the first bit of entertainment they ran into was a wrestling match. Five gold to last 3 minutes, ten gold if you beat the champion! Larry accepted the challenge, and successfully beat the champion into submission with the most un-wrestling-like moves: dancing, kidney punches, and street fighting. The ringmaster payed the winner’s fee, but told...

Martin - Human Muleskinner Talbberry - Halfling Scribe Larry - Human Bawd turning Bodyguard Wilfried - Human Bawd Wilhelm - Human Trader Othmar - Entertainer/Bunko Artist ( Previous Sitting ) No one hits like Gascon. No one crits like Gascon. No one swings, no one swears, no one spits like Gascon. It took the whole party piling onto Gascon to hold him down. A few tried individually, which ended with bruised ribs, bruised pride, and a halfing punted an impressive number of yards.  No one punts like Gascon,  Drop-kicks runts like Gascon…  The party was FINALLY able to get paid for all services rendered (the burgomeister tried to underpay us, but Wilfried was all over that money). It didn’t take long after payment was received before the party headed back toward the Altdorf Road, with a new member: Emmanuelle. Regensdorf had requested the party to send Roadwardens their way if met on the road. The party made nominal effort at the first in, but, alas,...

I didn't take chapter-specific notes like I often do for adventures. This book is a setting. It explains the conceit, the region, rivers, villages, and towns. The conceit is essentially warpstone (see Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay) that has landed in the area, leaving creatures warped and the atmosphere green. There is an extensive bestiary of queer, unique creatures. There are a few magical items, and there is an adventure in the back. The adventure doesn't seem to fit the setting very well, almost like it was generically written and just plopped into the back of the book. I stopped reading early on in the adventure when it didn't particularly seem to fit the Midderlands. There may be some specifics in the middle or end that shoehorn the setting in. In all, I'd definitely give the setting a try. I wouldn't necessarily want to run it at this point, but I would really be interested in some fiction from this setting. And the game could grow on me, since I have ...

Role playing games (especially these days) tout 3 main ideas: Social encounters, exploration, and combat. Large sections of game books are devoted to combat rules, and what makes combat in this game better and/or easier. Key locations are fleshed out for player characters to explore: dungeons, towns, and wilderness. That leaves the final idea, the one I hear the most people complain about: social rules and a frequent lack thereof. The reason there aren't as many social rules for D&D (an other similar RPGs) is that most players just ignore the rules in favor of their own social skills. Your character has a Charisma, Fellowship, or Leadership score? Who cares?! Players just sit down and act however they want instead of playing to their characters social abilities and social skills.  They play as smart as they want to be, as wise as they want to be, and as smooth tongued as they want to be. And most GMs allow this.

Characters Wilfried - Human Bawd Gottlieb - Human Ranger Larry - Human Bawd Wilhelm - Human Trader Talbberry - NPC Halfling Scribe (Player absent) Just a small town scarecrow Living in a lonely field He took the midnight trail going anywhere ( Previous Session ) We limped back to town, with the Hunter, only recently unstunned, taking us on a few unexpected “short cuts.” We threw the goblin heads on the table (still dripping goblin blood all over the place) and started raking in our rewards. We met a friend of Gottlieb’s from the city, Wilhelm. Just a trader boy Born and raised in South Altdorf He took the midnight coach going anywhere It was just then another mother came in stating her child had been taken from its cradle…in the garden…at night…in the rain. Wilhelm cast many aspersions against the mother’s parenting and the possibility she could have dispatched the child herself, but we were off to look for clues before our respite could continue. Emmanu...

My PC Erik Holt - Human Tomb Robber My companions Lunn - Dwarf Gaoler Bungo - Halfling Grave Robber Fyodor - Human Badlander Pappy - NPC Human Beggar Ekhardt - NPC Mercenary Felix - NPC Mercenary Mr Cheesers - Lunn's pet rat ( Previous Notes ) Our party stopped and debated what to do about the two men following us toward Lauterberg. As we talked about it, then two men approached. "I am Ekhardt. This is Felix. We saw you in Padua. You're going to find the missing priest, no? We wish to join you." It seemed the two were part of the original gang that had kidnapped the priest in the first place! Now they wished to restore their lost honor and help find the man. Our party wasn't one to judge, but we did ask who they had been working for when they kidnapped the priest. The man's name was Rudiger. Our party was stopped at the gates of Lauterberg by an old man collecting tolls. Not being the trusting type, Bungo asked if the man was authorized to...

The New Adventures of He-Man (1990) episode 1 was spectacularly horrible. It’s Voltron art plus GI Joe characters (I know, sounds good so far, but...) set in the future with *only* He-Man and none of the other Masters of the Universe. I will not watch any more of these, unless super bored and then only super ironically. He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (2002) episode 1(?) (1 hour) was so much better by comparison. Almost all of the original characters were shown, the story was so much better, and the characters were all uniquely drawn instead of the 1984 carbon copies of each other (though that original series is still #1 in my book). The obvious Japanese animation, including lots of jumping around and everyone expert at martial arts, was slightly much, but I’ll gladly keep watching. Yes, I am often a decade and a half behind the times...why do you ask?

My PC Erik Holt - Human Tomb Robber My companions Lunn - Dwarf Gaoler Bungo - Halfling Grave Robber Fyodor - Human Badlander Pappy - NPC Human Beggar Mr Cheesers - Lunn's pet rat ( Previous Notes ) Jahrdrung 14th, 2532 We arrived in Padua with a caravan of dwarves from Barak Varr. They wouldn't tell us what they were transporting, but the dwarves otherwise welcomed us into their group. The road was long and hard, and there wasn't hardly enough food for the trek, but we had arrived at our destination. This would be our launching point to riches! The local inn, Katerina's Rest, had 3 available rooms but outrageous prices. I elected to stay in an abandoned building across the street. Gossip was aplenty in Katerina's Rest (the locals call it The Rest for short. I'm going to have to adopt their parlance if I'm to fit in). The mountains were said to be 3 days to the north west, by foot. There were lots of greenskins and undead about. And there...

Wilfried Neumann - One eyed Bawd Last time we departed our trek to Altdorf to help a village with its missing children. Things in this village seem overly complicated. I think we should get back on the trail to Altdorf. The others have more faith in our abilities than I do. The party headed north into the forest searching not for wolves or for bogeymen but for...goblins. Emmanuelle, the most eligible bachelorette in town, offered to pack our lunch: hard bread and pickled eggs.  I was completely useless. If you want to get from one area of town to another safely, I'm your man...at least once I know the town sufficiently. If you want to traipse through the woods searching for little green men...I'm good for carrying provisions. For a little while. Those backpacks chafe. Luckily we have a hunter in our group. The hunter, Gottlieb, led us all through the Sigmar-forsaken woods. All trails led to an old hut. Inside the hut was a pile of bones. Children's bones...

Wilfried Neumann - One eyed Bawd Last time we eradicated some beastmen who were in the middle of the Altdorf road. Said beastmen had just raided a Four Seasons coach and were feasting on bodies. Well, now we were standing over the bodies when the Road Wardens arrived. Luckily they didn't try to implicate us of anything. We piled all the dead bodies into the Four Seasons coach. We took our coach and any healthy horses we could find to continue south. The party stopped for the night in the Inn of the Seven Spokes. There we met a peasant woman who was trying to get us to go 10 miles out of our way to look for some lost children. She offered 30 gold to each of us, though she didn't have the money herself. She stated we would be rewarded by the Baron of the town. It seemed a risky business, going 10 miles out of our way for the promise of someone else's coin, but enough party members thought it was worth checking out. We set off in the morning to the west. Regea...

My PC Erik Holt - Human Tomb Robber My companions Lunn - Dwarf Gaoler Bungo - Halfling Grave Robber Fyodor - Human Badlander Pappy - NPC Human Beggar Mr Cheesers - Lunn's pet rat ( Previous Notes ) Last time Fyodor and Erik were caught trying to enter a dwarf tomb and were taken to gaol. “Quiet down, ya lot! Or y’ll got a taste o me stick!” The dwarf gaoler was bald, with a fuzzy red beard. He was irritated that his cells were full of beardless ingrates who lacked the coin to bribe him for release. He tossed a chunk of stale bread to Mr Cheesers and went to investigate the barrel of wort from the brewery. "These lot have it too good that they get fresh wort for dinner.” He grumbled. One of the battered humans (Erik) perked up. "Yes, sir. I don't suppose a visit from a healer is possible with incarceration?" “A healer? Ya bloody well want a healer does ya? Fer a coin I might see that ya dinna kick it, fer two I might see ya get buried if’n ya ...

Wilfried Neumann - One-eyed Bawd I needed to get out of town after my last take, and I had just the place to go: Altdorf. The Crown Prince of Ostland was there, wishing to employ the services of "skilled adventurers" for an indefinite amount of time. I was sure I could convince him my skills were indispensable once I'd worked for him for a bit. And the pay was 20 gold a day! I was traipsing south when, one by one, others started joining up. It turned out they had all heard the Prince's call for help. I wasn't sure how they all expected to be of service, especially the dwarf, considering the call specifically stated dwarves need not apply. Regardless, we all arrived at the Coach & Horses Inn in the evening looking for rooms and passage on a coach to the south. One of the other chaps was in my line of work, if a bit more hoity-toity than me. He wasn't a bad chap, and we soon had an unspoken alliance. We paid for a room for the night with a couple o...

My PC Erik Holt - Tomb Robber My companions Fyodor Gretchaninov - Human Badlander Bungo Puddigirdle - Halfling Grave Robber Lunn Ulterson - Dwarf Gaoler (GM Setup) Barak Varr, or Sea Gate, is the cosmopolitan home of the rare clans of Dwarves that make their home on the coast of the Black Gulf. Carved into the cliffs of the Varenka Hills above the Skull River delta basin, Barak Varr sees traffic from Tilea, Estalia, Araby, and many of the Border Princes themselves. It is home to an all ironclad navy; the only navy of Dwarven clans in all the Old World. Barak Varr is a cliff side city. below the city walls extending to the river and harbor on the Black Gulf are the docks. Between the water and the city streets are catacombs. From the cliff side, drains dotting the city walls and cliffs. From the street, storm drains. And lastly just following the procession quietly until an opportunity opens to steal a ride in funerary coach.  Each of the four characters have reasons for being in...

My PC Vaervenshyael  - Female Elf Assassin My companions Tankred "Silver Bear" Tenneckermann  - Human Artisan/Mercenary/Champion Wilhelm Hechland  - Human Pistoleer/Engineer/??? Doctor  Johann Wilhelm Woeller  - Human Physician ( Previous Notes ) Maximillian convinced the party of its role to play in Padua in the future, as well as the urgency of getting back to the principality. Udrin opened a path between worlds to get the party home. In the path, the party was attacked by shadow beasts. Vaervenshyael stumbled off the path while fighting a beast and was seen no more.

My PC Vaervenshyael  - Female Elf Assassin My companions Tankred "Silver Bear" Tenneckermann  - Human Artisan/Mercenary/Champion Wilhelm Hechland  - Human Pistoleer/Engineer/??? Doctor  Johann Wilhelm Woeller  - Human Physician Maximillian Morningglory - NPC Halfling Master of the Horse Ludovic - NPC Prince of Padua upon Avon. Udrin - NPC Elf Wizard Lord ( Previous Notes ) Storm clouds remained over the tower, with winds blowing to the west. Over the tower, a lance of light shot toward the sky. The earth shook. Gertrude started a theology debate, regarding the role of magic and the gods. As the party traveled the final yard to the tower, ruins sprang into fully formed streets around them. The tower looked rejuvenated. The ghost of the old city rose up around them and began to take on shape once again. There a fountain. Here a path lined with columns. Maximilllian and Ludovic met the party at the tower entrance. The halfling explained e...

“Let’s make a story about how (this thing/event X) happened!”  This mindset takes for granted that event X actually occurs. In a traditional role playing game, there is no way of guaranteeing if event X ever happens unless you play it out. There needs to be a chance that event X doesn’t happen (probably because of bad decisions made by the party) in order to be playing an traditional RPG (or OSR RPG...I don’t really know the right term). If event X is definitely going to happen no matter what, you’re just telling a story with a foregone conclusion. Is that really fun? Is there agency? Is there drama or suspense? In my opinion, no. Nothing I do really matters. I play games to do things that matter...to fulfill a role and how the decisions made in that role have a consequence...to my character’s life, to the party’s lives, to the world. If your game takes that away, I don’t want to play. I’ll get bored. Maybe I’ll become the antagonistic player who tries to juke when everyone want...

I picked this up last month pretty much so I could get Amazon to ship me a DVD they considered an "add-on." I have heard some pretty good opinions of this product, so let's see! *Spoilers below* Beholders There is more lore here than I have ever read, or imagined, on beholders. (Good choice by the powers-that-be on choosing a copyrighted creature to expand upon.) I can almost see them having the paranoid personality of the most successful Skaven, though a lot more intelligent! The info on lairs is excellent and fuels a lot of ideas, especially for dungeons. Giants There is some information about the specific mindsets of each type of giant. Every little thing to distinguish the big bad guys is nice, but I didn’t find the chapter overly enthralling. Gnolls Well, the background of these creatures has been amped up a bit. Constantly hungry demon spawn, I don’t see myself using these much. A warband every so often as a rarity is definitely more than enough. I do l...

My PC Vaervenshyael  - Female Elf Assassin My companions Tankred "Silver Bear" Tenneckermann  - Human Artisan/Mercenary/Champion Wilhelm Hechland  - Human Pistoleer/Engineer/??? Doctor  Johann Wilhelm Woeller  - Human Physician Roderick - NPC Priest of Verena ( Previous Notes) The automaton had obviously lay in the river for many years before arising to attack Padua. It was equally covered in runes and river slime. The runes were like nothing Tankred had seen when studying with dwarves. To the west, dark thunderclouds hovered over the area of the tower. Roderick provided the party with a map of the tower...made from the party's own descriptions. They departed with all haste to the west. A small herd of beastmen loped toward the party, apparently heading east in a great rush. It was uncertain whether the creatures were charging at the party or through the party, but either way weapons were drawn. The physician was critically wounded. Vaer...

My PC Vaervenshyael  - Female Elf Assassin My companions Tankred "Silver Bear" Tenneckermann  - Human Artisan/Mercenary/Champion Wilhelm Hechland  - Human Pistoleer/Engineer/??? Doctor  Johann Wilhelm Woeller  - Human Physician ( Previous Notes ) The party conversed with Azmir, the mage turned merchant. The evidence seemed to indicate that Udrin may want to raise Abdul Al-Shar and his undead army.  The whys were purely hypothetical. In the end, the party decided they needed to follow Udrin and the princep west toward the tower. They had visited the tower before, but it seemed like such a long time ago. They collected their belongings and headed to the south gate. A monstrous construct of metal and stone crashed through the southern gate of Padua. Completely taken aback as to what the creature was and how to combat it, Vaervenshyael drew and fired her pistol. Her shot shattered stone and caused some echoing, grinding sounds. Her second ...

My PC Vaervenshyael  - Female Elf Assassin My companions Tankred "Silver Bear" Tenneckermann  - Human Artisan/Mercenary/Champion Wilhelm Hechland  - Human Pistoleer/Engineer/??? Doctor  Johann Wilhelm Woeller  - Human Physician Bianca - Large pink riverboat the prince had used to come to this town ( Previous Notes )  Vaervenshyael shook off the meditative sleep and rekindled her fireplace. There was a chill in the morning air.  Wilhelm and Johann must be at the river with that human medicine woman, she thought. The activity of the caravan could be heard out the window: draft horses, carts, and crying babies. That last one was new. Vaervenshyael looked out her window. Teamsters, having secured the caravan for its return trip were frustratingly dealing with, to varied success, their sponsored families and individuals that were indeed leaving Padua. A quick count suggested at least a third of the town. These were the ones th...

I had this RPG I kickstarted on my mind lately. I read this via PDF.  Here we go!  *Spoilers below* Opposed rolls: Not a fan. Sorry to be such a downer from so early on. Let’s keep reading to see if they play out like I fear. Great art. Tests and opposed rolls almost seem to be Marvel Heroic Roleplay or Firefly RPG-like (I'll just call that Cortex). P27. The rules are very much like my Firefly RPG experience so far. P47. The previous section explains the philosophy behind the game: why it was written as it was, advice from the author on how to play, and examples of play. I find this section helpful, as it explains the mindset behind the game. It explains reactions from years of D&D and how they shape the game. I agree that ideas from this game could easily be applied to other RPGs if players seized the opportunity to do so. Building Campaigns and Adventures Using the building blocks of the character sheet, how to build adventures that tie in all the character...