#table-tome rpg

[solarpunkpresentspodcast]

RPGs get a reputation for being all about fighting. How does that work if the RPG is solarpunk? Or utopian even? What is an RPG, in the first place? What is the usefulness of a solarpunk RPG? Join us as we discuss these questions and more.

Art from the Fully Automated website used in episode cover is by Sean Bodley as well as a few other artists and this will get updated to credit them when we track them down :)

Links:

You can find Fully Automated at https://fullyautomatedrpg.com/ The Sogorea Te Land Trust: https://sogoreate-landtrust.org/ Solarpunk 2050: http://solarpunk2050.de/ Solarpunk Pioneers Fund: http://solarpunk-pioneers.org/ Coyote & Crow: https://coyoteandcrow.net/ Lunar Echos: https://affinity-games.itch.io/ Neon Black: https://notwriting.itch.io/ Legacy: Life Among the Ruins: https://ufopress.co.uk/legacy-life-among-the-ruins/ Fighting for the Future: https://www.android-press.com/product-page/fighting-for-the-future-ebook “Murder in the Tool Library” by AE Marling: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/murder-in-the-tool-library-a-e-marling/1144354144 “Fully Automated Luxury Communism: A Manifesto” by Aaron Bastani: https://www.versobooks.com/products/476-fully-automated-luxury-communism “Four Futures: Life After Capitalism” by Peter Fraise: https://www.versobooks.com/products/59-four-futures

[tinytablepodcast]

Tiny Tome: A Fool's Errand

Smallest Salutations and Welcome to our first foray into Tiny Tome! In today's suped up episode we will be tackling the rules breakdown, actual play, and post mortem of A Fool's Errand. Gather round and watch as Mama Un (Holly), Deux-Deux (Skyler), Manager Trois (Julian) and Quatre the Kitty (Neo) try to save their beloved King Lyric from humiliation in his own court. Will our "Quadriboulet" be able to foil the plot or will it turn out to be…foolproof? Mama Un puts on a show. Deux-Deux discovers indie music. Manager Trois has a clerical error. Quatre the Kitty nearly runs out of a puns.

Check it out!

[prokopetz]

The tendency for indie RPGs to turn into massive worldbuilding tomes with perfunctory mechanics bolted to the side is often overstated; however, to the extent that this characterisation is accurate, I don't think it's a coincidence that many of the things that received wisdom within the indie RPG sphere regards as archaic D&D-isms which "real" RPGs can do without are also basic tools for communicating a game's implicit milieu without resorting to pages upon pages of explcit lore.

Like, equipment tables? Sure, maybe nobody "needs" to know how much a hundred feet of rope costs in your setting, but a well-constructed equipment table is a perfect opportunity to showcase a bunch of weird shit that exists in your setting without needing to contrive a specific lore-related excuse to bring it up. You can just drop your setting's equivalent of that table from early iterations of Dungeons & Dragons with stats for thirty different kinds of polearms and let that percolate in your reader's brain.

Or spell lists in fantasy settings. Freeform magic is well and good, but no amount of long-winded exposition about your setting's magic system will ever characterise it even 10% as effectively as a dozen pages of worked examples of specific things the people who live there actually do with it, ideally with flowery titles and entertainingly cryptic asides about the surprising fate of the wizard the spell is named after.

Hell, I'm half-convinced that the reason Powered By the Apocalpyse games took off the way they did is because after a decade-plus of indie RPG designers insisting that character classes are for losers, Apocalypse World reminded folks of what a well-conceived character templating system can do in terms of characterising a milieu!

What I mean to say is that several thousand words of florid microfic has its place, but if you really want to set the creative juices simmering, you don't set up a diorama – you hand out a box of toys.

[vintagerpg]

Let’s get this out of the way at the top: “swyve” means “to fuck.” So, swyvers are fuckers. Another meaning of swyve, or swive, is to reap, as in crops and harvest. This is likely the proper definition that lends itself to the metaphorical slang (I’m no farmer, but it seems like reaping is at least in the same neighborhood as ploughing). Swyvers (2024) is indeed a game about fuckers, but more of the “fuck you over” type rather than the copulating sort, though I won’t rule anything out. Thus, these fuckers actually hew to the less obscene definition, by harvesting wealth they don’t actually own. It’s a game about thieving. It’s set in a sort of fantasy late-medieval London, dirty, impoverished, violent.

The rules are light. So light that the book doesn’t bother with them until you’ve flipped through 20-ish delightful pages of stage-setting tables (including an exhaustive one dedicated to prosthetics) following the two pages of character creation rules. This is a clear indicator that the game is vibes-first, something emphasized by the tone of the prose (which makes me want to check that I still have my wallet) and David Hoskins’ wonderfully seedy art work. It is a genuine mystery to me how his line work depicting such grime can remain so elegant and clean.

To do things, a Skill system is employed (and modified depending on what a given character might know, guess, or bullshit). When things happen that a player’d rather not have happen, saves are deployed. It’s very savesy, I think. Combat is desperate. The game seems intentional arranged around preposterous and violent things happening. There is a delightful vein of humor in the writing — having that, and having it be so entertaining, really underscores how dour most RPG rulebooks tend to be.

Swyvers is not a dungeoncrawling game, its about heists, but the heists are constructed in a way that just, they are dungeons in their way. The tables, the fast and loose rules, this is a game meant to be constructed on the fly and I think it will work rather nicely once everyone gets the vibe, though I do wish it were a little better organized — I get lost in the highly orderly OSE tome, so this book winds up being surprisingly maze-like when you need a thing. I suppose the counter is to not need anything, which, fair.

All these words, and I haven’t even gotten to the magic system, which is a delight, and maybe my favorite part of the game, or the extremely good starter scenario, once of the most exciting I’ve encountered in a while. I’ll let you discover and be surprised by them on your own. On sale now at Melsonian — don’t sleep on it.

[anim-ttrpgs]

as someone too poor to buy rpg rule booklets, I was looking into your game since it appears to be free to play. Was that correct, or did I misread it. (I think its pay what you want)

I was wondering if there was a good place to learn the basic rules. Like a youtube channel that might explain the difference between stats, and when they are applicable. I have never played a tabletop rpg, so the entire concept feels a little overwhelming.

I was also wondering how easy can the game be made. My only potential gaming group at the moment is one that finds monopoly overwhelming. Which means I probably need to look into playing online, or find a way to play single-player.

I know you’ve already had these questions answered by joining our discord server but I wanted to give it a public answer anyway for the sake of anyone else in the same boat.

First of all, yes, Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy is free if you want it to be free. The beta is pay-what-you-want, which includes $0 if that’s all you can afford.

As for a YouTube video explaining the rules, the best we can do for that is direct you to the Tiny Table podcast. They do get a couple of rules wrong while they play(as most people do the first time they play any particular RPG), but the rules overview will give you the basics. Those basics won’t be enough to start playing from scratch, but they will at least prime you for what you’re about to read in the rulebook.

The only real way to learn to play any RPG is to just read the rulebook, and then play it, continuing to reference the rulebook as-needed while you play.

This may sound intimidating, but it’s really not. Most RPG rulebooks are not massive unreadable tomes, and the ones that look like they are, like Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy, are really not as intimidating as they look. Yes, the page count says 700 pages, but only about 200 of that is super important to read before you start playing the game, and, since we use big font and have a bunch of pictures taking up space, as far as word count goes that’s really closer to about 120 pages of actual text, then about 40 more of combat rules. The rest is optional rules, homebrew guidelines, additional character options, and lists and tables and stuff. It’s easy, just go through a few pages at a time.

I actually think that Eureka, despite being a dense and crunchy game, is a very, very good starting point for first-time players of TTRPGs, because it not only tells you the rules, it tells you how you’re supposed to approach the rules, what the rules mean and what their purpose is, and it even breaks down a lot of the math for you. Most games just tell you the rules, but don’t actually tell you how to apply them. Many shorter games will tell you even less, which is why I think it’s not a good idea to start people off on one-page RPGs.

Finally, the best place on the Internet right now to get online TTRPG groups that are safe, respectful, and compatible is the A.N.I.M. TTRPG Book Club.

There’s nominations and we vote regularly on a game for everyone to read together and then play, with groups put together based on schedule compatibility, but there’s also a section for just putting together any game at any time, and it gets a lot of use. I know you already know this because you’re in it by now, but to anyone else reading this who has the same question, here’s an invite link.

[nebmia]

Reviewing every rpg book on my shelf: 1, Dungeon Crawl Classics

Everything about this game is absolutely dripping with bonkers maximalist bombast that makes me excited to play. To start with book itself is nearly 2 inches thick. Is that practical? No! does it feel like you've got an ancient tome full of roleplaying possibilities? Absolutely.

In a world tending towards minimalism and 'polished' production its so good to have somthing thats just big and fun and unapologetic about not being what it is.

DCC's dice are a microcosm of everything great about it. Not only do they come in shapes they never taught you about in maths class but they also all come with a fun little bonus. One of my sets comes with a stat block for a monster, while the other has a ridiculous table of reality warping effects on which you roll ALL the dice in the set, and inevitably send your campaign careening off into madness. (and it has a frame story about a stoner wizard in a magic van).

And then there's the actual contents of the book, which is probably about 80% spells and ridiculous tables. And the spells are just so good. Each one takes up a a least a full page on average and gives a range of results according to how well you roll, from 'it missfires and things go horribly wrong' at the bottom, through 'it does about what you would expect' in the middle result ranges, to 'actually, this is almost too much' if you manage to get a roll in the 30s.

Alongside being sick as hell, this also has a satisfying effect of keeping low level spells relevent and interesting as their effects scale with the strength of the caster on a variety of axis.

related to spells is the 'spell duel' procedure. I have no idea how well it runs at the table, but the idea that when two (or more) wizards fight their spells can interact and you can use any appropriate spell to try and counter another spell is so increadibly compelling.

Ok, enough gushing about vibes. what about actually playing? So far what I have run is the 'level-0 funnel', which is probably what you have heard about if you have heard anything about DCC. The premise is simple: randomly generate 2-4 level-0 peasants for each player, send them into a dungeon, and then take whoever survives and level them up to become your characters for a campaign.

Not only does these lead to much hilarity as a mob of townsfolk bungle their way through danger but also really fun problem solving as the players work out how best to navigate problems with a shoehorn, a bundle of wood and a live chicken.

Specifically, what I have run is Sailors on the Starless Sea, which is correctly recognised as THE introductory module to use. Its a nice sequence of somewhat open investigation followed by a excellend sequence of bombastic set pieces, all the while giving the players lots of scope to come at things ininteresting ways. It can get a bit unwiedly trying to manage such large number of characters when they do run into combat but if you plan ahead a bit and use various tricks (it would be useful is more of that advice was in the book rather than coming from forums) it is manageable.

And to return to vibes one last time: the art in these books is just so good. We could not be further from the slightly stiff generic highly rendered fantasy art of wotc era d&d. Its all fantastically old school fantasy, so full of character, and just the right amount of rough around the edges. My only slight complaint is that this does include a little too much of old school fantasy art's treatment of women than I would like...There are still prenty of sensibly dressed women and i'm not about to decree that no sexy fantasy women are allowed but the dial is a little further in a direction of objectification that I would like.

[thydungeongal]

Okay I'm convinced. I want to play an old school dungeon crawl. I want encounter tables that restock, I want to track my lamp oil, I want my character to die and I'm forced to roll a new one at the table. What non-AD&D games would you recommend that do that? Is Rolemaster one of them?

Rolemaster isn't exactly conducive to that sort of play because it represents a direction of fantasy role-playing games that started to de-emphasize dungeon-crawling as an activity, but there are a couple of good ones!

Old-School Essentials is an almost 1:1 clone of my favorite old-school D&D, the Moldvay Basic/Expert version. Elf and Dwarf are classes! There's instant death giant bees! Character creation is 3d6 down the line! The benefit of using OSE, besides not paying WotC, is that the creators keep producing lots of new supplemental materials for it, and it's at the moment one of the most widely supported old-school games. It also has a free SRD with all the basic rules! The rules in the SRD are enough to get you started, and the Classic Fantasy rules are also available in PDF and print, but if you want to add some advanced classes I recommend getting the Advanced Fantasy rules, which converts pretty much all AD&D classes and races into a B/X compatible format. Confusingly, the Advanced Fantasy rules are not supplemental, but instead they contain all the same rules as the Classic Fantasy rules tome in addition to having all the AD&D stuff.

Basic Fantasy Role-Playing Game is a community-driven Creative Commons old-school RPG. Rules-wise I would consider it halfway between B/X and AD&D. While the rules have the simplicity of B/X they have some of the added depth of AD&D (race and class as separate, for one). It is a fantastic project well worth supporting, and entirely free to get started on!

Errant is an interesting one because it is not a clone of any old-school edition of D&D, but a game clearly built around all the game design lessons learned from years of OSR design just poured into one. I have previously described Errant as "maximalist OSR," and that's not because it's particularly crunchy, but because it is full of neat little procedures. It abstracts some things away but it turns resource-management into a really fun little minigame. There is a free version of its rules available which only lacks the art, and if nothing else it is a great resource for borrowing ideas for other games.

And finally, Mausritter. A fantastic minimalist OSR game about playing little mice adventurers. I can't stress enough how fantastic this game is. It emphasizes the fear of being just a lil guy in a world full of big monsters that want to eat you through old-school mechanics. It's also free!

The great thing about these old-school games is that even when the rules don't agree 1:1 they are built on similar enough principles that you can easily borrow materials from one to another!

[pycobutterpie]

#samweek2024 Day 1 Sam Winchester x my hobby (writing supernatural fics and roleplays), set in his world, regarding the books of Carver Edlund Triggers: none Words: 1600

Glancing at the clock, I sighed. I had been sitting in the library for two hours and didn't know where to begin or where to end. On the left were books about Indian culture and customs, on the right about rituals and deities of the South Asian country. Not that I ever wanted to travel there. It was all research. A glance at my Discord channel told me that Minnie was still waiting for my response in our previous chapter of the written Supernatural RPG. My chat buddy had already planned our story with India. And there were two stories running through my head again. I bit my lower lip and tried to decide which one to write now. Either the research for the new chapter, where Dean and his family are being hunted by a demon in India, or the current story, where Dean's daughter had learned to teleport and had simply showed up in her cousin's kindergarten.

Carver Edlund would be proud of us, I was sure of it. One can always make a crazy story even crazier, and that's what we had done. But who deserved a happy family more than Sam and Dean from Supernatural. Nobody, right? They had been through so much that a little fluff was only appropriate. We hadn't made it that easy for them either. Thinking about how Sam's heart is gong to be broken…

With a sadistic smile on my lips, I was about to start my post about Sam's son when a huge guy appeared on the other side of the small desk and took my light. “Hi,” the brunette said quietly, balancing a stack of old books on both arms. The tendons of his forearms were taut, his muscles well defined. “Hi,” I said shyly, quickly looking back at my screen, because guys like that didn't usually talk to me. He cleared his throat briefly, but his shadow didn't disappear. Why was he still standing there? I looked at his face again, which looked a little questioning. That handsome face… “Um,” he snapped me out of my thoughts, “can you make room for me? Otherwise it's already full.”

I winced briefly, because I shouldn't be daydreaming so much. Instead, I jumped up, the chair crashing into the shelf behind me.

"Sure, sorry!" I hurriedly pushed my books to one side, which took up most of the space on his side of the table. “No problem,” he said with a gentle smile, lowering his tomes onto the table. They looked a little dusty and weren't even labeled on the spine. I would imagine old spellbooks in a magical library would look like this. Oh, that was an idea! I straightened up my chair and went straight to the chat with Minnie and wrote in the 'Ideas' channel:

@ Y/N: “Maybe there's some kind of magical library in hell where Alex and Cassy cantry out all sorts of things as soon as they can read?” I grinned and immediately felt the inspiration to finish the text Sam's about little son again.

I just managed to send my text before my computer went PLING. My friend had replied in the ideas channel.

@ Minnie: “Wow, that sounds great^^ Maybe they'll get caught too. Or they'll tear up one of Bobby's important books.”

I had to laugh a little.

@ Y/N: “No way, he made copies of all of them.” PLING @ Minnie: “Then Crowley’s books.”

Before I could answer, I felt an annoyed look from across the table. The young man had pressed the fingers of his left hand to his forehead to hold his head, while the light from his own laptop setting off his sharp cheekbones. "You should turn off the sound," he said, looking pretty good even when annoyed. Inwardly, I had long since made the comparison to Sam, the way I imagined him and the way Edlund had described him. Muscular, masculine, but also a few soft features and incredibly velvety flowing hair. I thought guys like that only existed in books. Suddenly, his laptop emitted an urgent beep and the light on the gentleman's face disappeared. “Oh no, please don't…” he cursed under his breath and hitting a few keys in vain.

As I was waiting for Minnie to post anyway, I ventured a conversation: “And you should charge your laptop. Do you need it urgently?” “Hm… Deadline,” he said, chewing on his lower lip. I wondered if he often worked under time pressure. His eyes flew over my laptop and my books. “Are you studying too?” I had to smile. “No, not anymore. This is more of a hobby. I'm Y/N, by the way. What's your subject? Magic?” Now he had to laugh as well. “Sometimes it seems that way to me, but no. Law. And I'm Sam, nice to meet you.” My forehead felt like it was frozen in a wrinkle. The guy's name was the same as the one in the story of all stories and he studied law in the same way? Especially since his books didn't look like they came from the legal department at all. More like… My imagination was too vivid, far too vivid. It was just a story. There were no monsters and therefore no hunters. And the name was completely random. Thousands of people were called Sam. How about Sam Witwicky? Just to name one character… But still… It was worth a try. I could already imagine what his search history would look like. Determined, I slid my laptop over to him and gave him a trusting smile. “If you don't delete anything, you can use mine. I should look in the books anyway. I haven't made much progress yet.” “Really,” Sam asked. “You know you should never give your electronics to strangers.” I wouldn't put it past him that his little eyes had looked so desperate earlier, like a puppy that had its toy taken away. Instead, I leaned back and pulled the book of the Indian gods towards you. “No, it's okay, I'll have your fingerprints and my sister is with the FBI.” A lie, but never mind. The real Sam always gave the FBI a wide berth, unless he was impersonating them. “Okay… thanks then,” he said and pulled my laptop towards him.

We were absorbed in our work for a while until my laptop made a few sounds again. Minnie had replied! And her text was more than 2000 characters long, otherwise it would have been just one pling. My eyes widened a little and my fingers tingled to read what she had written from the perspective of Dean's gifted daughter. Or from Sam's, or probably both in one post. After all, I had ended my part of the story earlier with a phone call from the kindergarten teacher to Sam. But the Sam in front of me made no move to return the laptop. Instead, he stared at it, quite fascinated, and then happily started typing again. I just stared at him for a few moments, but he didn't seem to notice. Instead, it soon plinged again. Minnie was notoriously quick with her lyrics. But surely Sam wouldn't dare? His fingers stopped and he grinned at the screen again. “Hey!”, I said to him and pulled my laptop back towards me.

Sam flinched, startled, and raised his hands: “I didn't do anything.” With a frown, I looked at the open window on the screen. Of course it was Discord and Minnie's latest post wasn't even about the story. Just a real life conversation. “You chatted with her?” I looked reproachfully at Sam, who was staring out of the window at the end of the hallway. “Sam, you don't have to ignore me, I can see that.” I quickly skimmed over the brief chat between the two of them. “You're giving her tips on what Sam would do? Are you a roleplayer too?” My curiosity clearly outweighed my annoyance that he had been snooping through my chat. “A what? No, sorry. I was just reading the text. And I thought Sam wouldn't give his son to a stranger in a nursery after all.” Oh, so he was a fan too. I gave him my sweetest smile, because you never meet other Supernatural fans in real life. “It's really cool that you love Supernatural too. One would think you are a LARPer for Sam. And do you also write fanfiction?”

Sam tilted his head slightly. “No, I just had a quick look at the books. My brother has…” He stopped the sentence so abruptly that I felt like he was biting his tongue. I rested my chin on the palm of my hand with satisfaction and grinned broadly at him. “So I've been writing the story for a while now. We let Sam and Dean become fathers almost simultaneously and involuntarily. That's really good stuff. Sam's girlfriend is not only in the FBI but also a monster without him knowing it. Suits him, doesn't it?” I looked directly at the Sam across from me as he swallowed and turned a little paler. “I… No, I don't think so. I have to go now.” By then he had already stood up, gathered his things without looking at me again, and stalked off. Was he offended? Sam was certainly his favorite character. And what we did to him in the story was pretty intense. But sometimes you stepped on other fans' toes. But there were be others who were just as excited about the ideas as you were. ------------------ (It would be really fun to read this story from Sam's point of view :D If anyone fancies it, feel free to tag me in the results). Written for #samweek2024 by @seasononesam and @suncaptor <3 You can find the topics of the individual days here.

[soulmuppet]

SoulMuppet’s latest role playing game explodes onto the scene in a shower of hedonistic gore October 10th 2024!

Paint the Town Red is a joyful thrill ride through history, taking players on a tour of the high (and low) points of undead society. As a sad gay vampire, they’ll do anything to indulge their passions, causing untold chaos in their wake. When everything around them is drenched in blood (or on fire) they’ll have to move on and find somewhere else to trash.   

Our gore-drenched crowdfunding campaign features a whole coterie of add-ons and stretch goals suited to any taste. These include things like blood-soaked dice (keep your mortal eyes peeled for pictures of these later) and more content for this, the greatest vampire party ever thrown. 

The Campaign

This crowdfunding campaign aims to build on the quickstart, unleashing a coterie of sad gay vampires onto your tabletops. We’ll be teaming up with some fantastic writers to bring six undead cities to life, each one on the brink of collapsing into a chaotic orgy of blood-soaked hedonism.  

We’re bringing this book to life with a beautiful hardcover book, with easy to reference but evocative layout by Mina McJanda and Johan Nohr. We’ve brought on a huge stable of talented artists and writers who have captured the whole spectrum of undead life across various histories and cultures.  We’re also expanding on GMs advice for running the game, character creation for other types of undead (like zombies, skeletons, liches, ghouls, werewolves and ghosts), and tools for building new cities and crafting your own adventures.

Adventures and Prop Packs

Alongside the core book, we’re creating six unique adventures, each one shining a red-tinted spotlight on a new city’s undead nightlife. Three of these are included in the core book, one in the quickstart, while the other two are delivered as a stylish prop pack, perfect for unveiling at your table. 

The centrepiece of each adventure is a map produced by vampiric cartographer Aloysius King, detailing the lurks, haunts and key locations for each faction. The map itself is printed on a folding sheet of A2, large enough for everyone to see in play. The details of each city and the undead creatures that stalk them are set out in a bifold A4 pamphlet, lavishly illustrated to match Al King’s spectacular work. A set of 18 tarot cards contains more detail on the Contacts you can meet and the Locations and Factions you can visit in each city. All these elements are contained within a tactile C4 manilla envelope. 

The six adventures are as follows:

Party of the Century: 82AD in the Eternal City. Written by Zachary Cox.

Hair of the Dog: 802 AD in Aachen. Written by Zachary Cox.

Party Crashing in Splendid Ghazni: 1016 AD in Ghazni. Written by Basheer Ghouse. 

Sleeping Dead World: 1857 AD in Edo. Written by Hipólita.

A Modern Babylon: London in 1862 AD. Written by Zachary Cox.

It Never Sleeps: New York in 1920 AD. Written by Brian Flaherty and Elliot Davis.

Luxuries and Add-ons

What would a party be without a little luxury? 

In the past we’ve teamed up with Creative Quest for fancy editions of Best Left Buried and Inevitable. As soon as we mentioned Vampires she was already sending us ideas and suggestions for beautiful old leather tomes bursting with undead. What’s more, we’re in talks with a fantastic UK dice maker to create a limited run of blood-soaked vampire dice. 

The Undying Edition is the perfect companion for any budding scion of the night. It’s a handmade luxury binding of the core book created by Creative Quest UK. The corebook has been bound in black leather, with embossing, vampire bat detailing and a central blood red gem. The book edges have also been coated in black, so it blends perfectly into the shadows for maximum Duplicity and Allure.

At SoulMuppet, we've got a proven track record of producing beautiful hardcover RPGs with tight rules, luscious art and design that prioritise both aesthetics and useability. We’ve partnered with a stunning array of writers, artists and creatives to bring this project to another level. 

Help us bring these sad vampires to (un)life now on BackerKit!

[whatyourusherthinks]

Howl's Movie Castle Review

What's with the Ghibli movies? Well the theater is just doing a month of Miyazaki films right now, and I'm taking the opportunity to watch all of them and lessen my Ghibli blind spot. And boy howdy, am I glad I am. Next week is My Neighbor Totoro, but I've seen that before so I'm not sure if I'll review it.

What's The Movie About?

Sophie is a quiet haberdasher who one day gets saved by a very handsome wizard, cursed by a witch to become old, then works for the handsome wizard as his housecleaner while trying to break her curse and get him to fall in love with her. Howl is the name of the wizard, by the way. (I feel like my synopses get worse every review.) Also, war is happening and it's bad.

What I Like.

There is so much about this movie that specifically tickles me. Obviously the animation is excellent, it's Studio Ghibli. With Howl's specifically I was admiring the backgrounds, I love how busy they are with little trinkets and knickknacks all over the titular castle. I also really like the characters. Sophie is an almost perfect protagonist for me. She's driven, yet not obnoxious. She can be both funny and dramatic, she makes a positive impact on everyone she meets, but she's also flawed. Howl's gonna get his own paragraph, but I love all the Moving Castle family members. I really like Markl's wizard disguise. Calcifer is also great and funny, I really like how demons work in the movie. I'm totally gonna steal the swallowing stars to turn your heart into a demon thing for an RPG, it's so cool. I also really like the Witch of the Wastes, and I like that even after she is welcomed the family she's still very selfish and vice-prone. And there's even a dog character I like! I really love the magic in the movie. I don't know if I can explain this properly, but I love when magic is unknowable but has definitions. Like when a fantasy story has a wizard who just seems to be able to do whatever they hell they want just by flicking their wrist or whispering a word, and then they come across something magical and they turn to their non-magic friends and is like "These are the Runes of Shiiiiiiiii'rak. I read a tome that will help me translate the spell they inscribe." I think that's cool. I don't mind if a story goes full unknowable or reality warping magic, but I find stories that try to explain magic fully get bogged down by minutia of it all and rarely ever make sense. I also really like when magic has a lot of physical components to it, like magicians need to take damage or physically manipulate magic to get their spells to work, like when Howl removes the Witch's message from the table. The worldbuilding in this movie is fantastic. I mentioned the demon heart thing, but I also like the designs of the flying machines that the two nations have, the goop creatures employed by both the Witch of the Wastes and the armies are kinda freaky to be honest, and again, the Moving Castle looks so cool! The movie starts with a shot of the Castle, which is the perfect opening. The final shot is also perfect, now that I think about it.

And finally, Howl. This portion is literally just going to be gushing about how hot he is, so skip to the next session if you don't care. He is so goddamn sexy. I almost never get on with playboy characters, because more often than not their personalities are so horrendous that it makes no sense that anyone would want to sleep with them. I totally get why Howl has the reputation he has. Not only is his first introduction with Sophie incredibly smooth, he actually has a pretty likable personality. I mean, he has his moments of being obnoxious, but once they explain why I totally sympathized. Also, and this is obviously just a me thing, but I liked all his monstrous forms. I like birds, and monsters, and he's a bird monster. Basically it doesn't matter what he looked like, I'd still let him fuck me if he wanted. I'm not sorry.

What I Didn't Like.

Admittedly, the story feels like two plots that don't quite mesh together. I wouldn't even call it a case of "we're just examining what this world is like" since they are both equally prominent in the story. It just feels like the curse story wasn't long enough for a feature film so they added the anti-war story as well. Also, there was like one scene where Howl is a bitch and Sophie runs off to cry and I wasn't sure why it was happening, but I got to see Ghibli's gorgeous tears animation and so I ain't mad.

Final Summation.

As of time of writing, I have seen 5 Ghibli/Hayao Miyazaki movies. This, Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro, Ponyo, and The Boy and the Heron. I like them all. But Howl's is my favorite.

Listen. It may not be the most polished movie ever. The plot is more like two smashed together. But goddamn do I like the characters. And goddamn is the world cool. And goddamn is the animation gorgeous. And goddamn is Howl HOT! GET OFF MY BACK SPIRITED AWAY STANS!

[open-hearth-rpg]

#RPGaDay2024

Great Character Gear

Relationship Status: Complicated

There’s been a conversation about certain high tier rpgs and their pride in having rules-dense books and yet ignoring a metric f-ton of them. Encumbrance, movement rates, exhaustion, morale, etc. Like loving the idea of detail but not wanting to actually deal with it in play. 

That’s kind of how I feel about gear in rpgs. I grew up in an era of play with massive equipment and gear sections and lists, with each weapon lovingly detailed in reach, recoil, speed, and hydrostatic shock modifier. The Tri-Tac games had details for each different kind of bullet. Wounds tracked moving through a person’s body, with a chance of clipping bone or cutting arteries. 

I loved reading that but no way I’m resolving that at the table. It was an era where Palladium could sell– and sell a lot– of books just with guns or other weapons in them. We ate it up. It wore me out. I think by the 1990’s I’d already started to kind of hate granular equipment lists. Blades in the Dark, with its gear-marking and load system turned that around for me a little. It’s varied, easy-to-use, and has a clear mechanical impact. Mind you it flattens a lot of detail. 

A digression: I love the Monster Hunter video game franchise. VG rpgs have the advantage of computer tracking of gear but even that can get onerous when you’re trying to upgrade and manage a big party roster (see Suikoden). But in MH you have a single protagonist who never changes. They don’t grow and evolve. Instead everything comes from equipment– you get better gear and it does a lot beyond just providing armor and damage. And eventually you get decorations to tweak effects. There’s part of my old-school gear-list infected brain that wants something like that. 

Then I wake up.  

But I love books of weird magic items– not necessarily powerful, but odd and interesting. Too often tomes of relics & loot fall into one of two traps. The first is a lore dump without payoff– not unlike the “old family story” you get at the start of online recipes. You make your way through that to find the 1000 year old ancestral item forged in the heart of a star is +2 and lets you project your voice at a distance. The second is highly class specific and/or rules dense details for an item. Like I love both 13th Age Books of Loot, but a chunk of the items there require a couple of index cards worth of notes for the player and GM.

I like tight, quick lists of weird fucking stuff. That’s why I adore all of the old Rolemaster Creatures & Treasures Books (volumes I to III). Don’t get me wrong, there’s a lot of dross in there. Items just giving +X to a skill or +Y to defense. But buried in there are about 10% gems. And given that most entries are short, you get a lot of them. Things I remember from our campaigns

...A nail that when hammered into wood created a bubble of silence

...An awkward bathysphere helmet

...A rope with a hook which could attach to sunlight beams

...A blade which could make change anything to a flavor chosen by the bearer (aka The Pudding Sword)

I may be getting some of those misremembered from something else, but who cares. There’s a lot of inspiration in the old C&T books. When people talk about the positives of the streamlining of OSR, it’s this kind of stuff I think about. An item which does a truly odd thing and you have to figure out an actual use for it.

[audiofictionuk]

New Fiction Podcasts - 14th December

King of the Egg Cream Audio Drama Based on the incredible true story of Harry Dolowich, who grew up poor in the Lower East Side of Manhattan during the Great Depression and found riches hatching a scheme to take over the one industry that wasn't already controlled by the Mob -- the chocolate syrup industry. Harry's charm, ambition and gift of gab can only take him so far and it turns out being a syrup racketeer ain't as sweet as it sounds. With a killer cast, including Justin Bartha, Lewis Black, Ari Graynor, Michael Stuhlbarg, Bobby Cannavale, Melanie Lynskey, Jason Ritter and narrated by Richard Kind, King Of The Egg Cream is a crime story, love story and distinctly American story, all packed into ten funny, fizzy and delicious episodes. Created by Justin Bartha, Emil Stern and Sigmund Stern. https://audiofiction.co.uk/show.php?id=20231117-07 RSS: https://feeds.megaphone.fm/SBP7427435139

The Midnight Zone Audio Drama ‘The Midnight Zone : A Horror Anthology Audio Drama. A gateway to a collection of bone-chilling horror stories. This anthology series explores the darkest and most mysterious parts of our world, promising a suspenseful journey with every listen. If you're a fan of gripping horror narratives, 'The Midnight Zone' is your destination. Turn off the lights, listen carefully and get ready for a fully immersive audio drama experience. https://audiofiction.co.uk/show.php?id=20231204-02 RSS: https://anchor.fm/s/ee6de400/podcast/rss

Comedians In Dungeons Getting Dragons Audio RPG A D&D actual play podcast where a group of diverse comedians try to have fun and not die in a world that’s trying to kill them. It’s like real life but with potions and stuff. https://audiofiction.co.uk/show.php?id=20231205-01 RSS: https://feeds.libsyn.com/496283/rss

FOOM Audio Drama Que la inteligencia artificial tome control de la humanidad ya dejó de ser ciencia ficción. FOOM, una audio ficción escrita por Julio Rojas (Caso 63) y realizada por Emisor Podcasting, Sonoro, El Extraordinario, Anfibia y La No Ficción. https://audiofiction.co.uk/show.php?id=20231124-04 RSS: https://mdstrm.com/feeds/5c58a34e176c2c0813b22e4b/65550db4c65fe8086db3c596

Remnants Audio Book Remnants is a story about a girl named Freya James and her mission to find her girlfriend, Arwen. https://audiofiction.co.uk/show.php?id=20231115-05 RSS: https://anchor.fm/s/ed2bb25c/podcast/rss

Roll for Impact Audio RPG Welcome to Roll For Impact, where narrative takes the forefront, and the roll of the dice is merely the beginning. Dive deep into immersive worlds crafted with love and passion. Our games aren’t just about statistics or min-maxing; they’re about rich ambient tales, lush aesthetic visuals painted through words, and the soulful threads that weave characters and listeners alike into unforgettable stories. Every episode, our dedicated crew of storytellers and adventurers take you on a journey where the ambiance sets the stage, and the narrative captivates your heart. Whether you’re an avid Dungeons & Dragons enthusiast or someone who just loves a good tale, there’s a seat for you at our table. But remember, here, it’s the story that reigns supreme. https://audiofiction.co.uk/show.php?id=20231020-03 RSS: https://feed.podbean.com/rollforimpact/feed.xml

Unknown Adventures Audio RPG Welcome to Unknown Adventures, the podcast where each week i'll embark on a solo RPG journey in serialised narrative-driven episodes. Join me as each season will focus on a different game, telling immersive stories with scripted and fully voice acted sequences, sound effects and music. Between adventures expect a mix of reviews, interviews with friends and industry experts, and discussions about all things tabletop gaming. https://audiofiction.co.uk/show.php?id=20231206-01 RSS: https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/unknown-adventures

Channel Divinity: A D&D Podcast Audio RPG A D&D 5e actual-play podcast where we have fun playing in the homebrew world called Dalgar. https://audiofiction.co.uk/show.php?id=20231207-02 RSS: https://feed.podbean.com/channeldivinitypodcast/feed.xml

ForgeD20 Podcast Audio RPG We are TTRPG centered podcast. https://audiofiction.co.uk/show.php?id=20231206-02 RSS: https://media.rss.com/forged20podcast/feed.xml

Baron Sordor's Theatre of the Doomed Audio Drama Baron Sordor's Theatre of the Doomed takes you back to a golden age when live radio plays ruled the airwaves and Orson Wells’ Mercury Theatre convinced an entire nation they were under attack by Martians. Paying homage to 1960’s classics like the Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits, The Theatre of the Doomed features performances from a bevy of incredible Australian actors as well as Jeff Martin from The Tea Party as Baron Sordor himself! https://audiofiction.co.uk/show.php?id=20231204-03 RSS: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/2284900.rss

Moksha Audio Drama Mokksh In the serene valley of Dalhousie, Inspector Hardy pursues a relentless psycho killer who preys on children. Haunted by his past and the mysterious disappearance of his wife, Neha, Hardy is driven to protect the valley's young souls, despite facing personal tragedies. Each arrest leads to a dead end, tarnishing Hardy's reputation and resulting in his suspension. CID officer Jagriti takes over but also finds no answers. Hardy's redemption journey begins when he saves Jagriti from organ traffickers, earning back his position. Together, they uncover the chilling truth: Jasmine, the valley's music teacher, aided by witch Pushpa, is sacrificing children to summon her dead son, Manav. Ghattu, Pushpa's eighth son, becomes their key witness. A shocking revelation emerges: Neha was a terrorist, and Hardy's son witnessed a crime that led to his suicide. Ghattu kills Jasmine, revealing the evidence to close the case, and ending the cycle of violence. "Echoes of Remorse" is a haunting tale of love, loss, and redemption. https://audiofiction.co.uk/show.php?id=20231128-06 RSS: https://feeds.hubhopper.com/0c281c642d80aa69d84a5c9261c25b17.rss

Elizabeth Quick Audio Drama Elizabeth Quick, living a life of convention and anxiety and the occasional kickboxing class, never believed she was powerful. Then an extinction event left behind a wild new planet, equal parts dangerous and astonishing. Now Elizabeth is in that wilderness alone, searching for her teenage daughter and realizing that, just like the plants and animals she sees evolving in the blink of an eye, she must become someone she never thought possible. Written, performed, and engineered by Daryl Lisa Fazio. Music from Artlist. Selected sound effects from Artlist and Freesoundslibrary.com. https://audiofiction.co.uk/show.php?id=20231203-03 RSS: https://anchor.fm/s/ee6f5fb0/podcast/rss

Nine Powers - TTRGP Actual Plays Audio RPG Enjoy unplanned, kid-friendly, urban fantasy adventure stories created using the Nine Powers tabletop role-playing game! The style and habits of GM Automation enabling my solo play also provide tools, ideas and inspiration for new and/or young GMs. May you enjoy my story, and please steal ideas for your own gaming! https://audiofiction.co.uk/show.php?id=20231208-03 RSS: https://feed.podbean.com/ninepowers/feed.xml

Firelight Fables Audio Book Come and join us by the fire, we have a few tales to tell. From the high seas to uneasy utopian dreams, there are many worlds to explore. So sit back and relax, it's time for a fable or two. https://audiofiction.co.uk/show.php?id=20231208-04 RSS: https://media.rss.com/firelightfables/feed.xml

One Shot in the Dark Audio RPG One Shot in the Dark is a D&D podcast focused on exploring fun stories through one shot's instead of ongoing long-form storytelling. We explore new mechanics we as DMs and we laugh a lot together. Each season is its own One Shot made up of several episodes so you don't have to worry about joining late and catching up on 150 episodes to know what's going on. The player characters belong to The Sworn Brotherhood, a band of mercenaries taking contracts across the continent. Some characters resurface across seasons and some are new experiments by the players. Were so glad you're here. https://audiofiction.co.uk/show.php?id=20231211-01 RSS: https://anchor.fm/s/ee93b1bc/podcast/rss

[prokopetz]

I love a massive tome of a tabletop RPG as much as the next nerd, but not all tomes are created equal.

Sometimes an RPG has seven hundred pages because it's the worldbuilding bible for the author's original setting, with some game mechanics stapled to the side of it in order to encourage people to pay money for it.

Sometimes an RPG has seven hundred pages because it's so intent on explaining and contextualising and justifying itself that it's less a tableop RPG and more a doctoral thesis on comparative ludology which contains a tabletop RPG in order to demonstrate certain points.

Sometimes an RPG has seven hundred pages because it's functionally a coffee table art book and 50% of those pages are lavish illustrations that are occasionally even related to the whatever bit of game mechanics the facing page is discussing.

Sometimes an RPG has seven hundred pages because it's trying to automate the GM role with lookup tables. Lots and lots of lookup tables. Like, you would not believe how many lookup tables.

Sometimes an RPG has seven hundred pages because the author does not feel beholden to the "micro" in "microfiction", and every part of every chapter cold opens with several thousand words of florid prose ostensibly demonstrating what that section is about.

Sometimes an RPG even has seven hundred pages because it legitimately has that many rules!

[crankyoldmage]

Some writing prompts I did.

On one of the Discord servers I'm in for TTRPGS (streamed here: twitch.com/neonlichstudios) there are writing prompts for characters. Here are the three I have written so far. Short background: Belgrim Demanna is the "official" name of CrankyOldMage. I often used the name in video game rpgs. Now here are my stories.

NUMBER 1- Prompt: You are a reluctant hero who must seek out an enigmatic book known as the Whispering Tome. It is said to hold the secrets of Arcanum's resurrection. The book has been hidden away for centuries, guarded by a clandestine group of mystics. You track down their hidden enclave and must convince them to entrust you with the Whispering Tome. How do you approach the mystics to earn their trust?

The last survivor of the mystics would only rock back and forth and whisper, "So much fire."

Later, at the Arcane Council, Belgrim Demanna kicked the door to the council chamber open.

"'Sup, Bitches."

The Whipsering Tome hit the table with an echoing thud.

"Here's your book. Pay me."

The councilors shifted uncomfortably in their chairs.

"Master Demanna, " Councilor Milren began, hesitantly. "How many fireballs did you cast to get this?"

Belgrim grinned.

"You can ask the last survivor when he stops crying."

Councilor Milren silently passed a coin pouch to Councilor Beton. Then she silently passed a larger pouch to Belgrim. "Thank you, Councilor." Belgrim said taking the pouch. "Until next time."

"I'm not sure we'll need your, uh, services, again, Master Demanna," Councilor Beton grumbled.

"That's what you said last time," Belgrim grinned and left the council chambers.

NUMBER 2-Prompt: Peer into the depths of their heart and reveal their greatest fear. Is it a tangible threat, a paralyzing doubt, or a haunting memory that gnaws at their sanity?

Belgrim Demanna woke with a gasp. He hated portentous dreams. Of course, this one might not be portentous. It could’ve been just a regular dream...or nightmare. But, when you’re a mage you can never be sure.

He through off the blankets, shoved his feet into his slippers, wrapped his cloak around his pajamas and launched himself out the door of his modest cottage. His slippers squelched only a couple of times in the early morning dew on the forest trail. In only a few minutes he reached his destination.

Before him stood a large granite boulder. It towered above him and was covered in several scorch marks. He pointed his finger at the boulder, sweat sheened on his brow, he focused and...he was rewarded with the dazzling flash of a fireball. The flames hugged the boulder leaving behind another, new scorch mark.

Belgrim sighed in relief.

“Just a stupid damn dream.” He pulled his cloak snug around his shoulders and went back to his cottage.

“A couple more hours of sleep are called for, I think.”

NUMBER 3-Prompt:Within the vast tapestry of virtues and vices, what inner conflict plagues their spirit? Is it a struggle for power, a battle against their own desires, or a clash between duty and personal freedom?

Belgrim sighed. He got up from his chair for the third time and paced his small cottage, the floorboards creaking softly beneath his feet. He decided to step outside and walk the garden. Perhaps the sunshine, fresh air and blooming plants would help settle the conflict within. It didn’t. He sighed again and continued to walk into the woods.

It was a peaceful walk into the sylvan lands. There were lots of animals going about their lives and Belgrim smiled happily at them. Deer were eating fresh shoots off the trees, raccoons were washing their berries and clams in the stream and even his favorite owlbear showed off her new cub. The little one really took to scritches on the top of his head. But, pleasant as that was, it didn’t help Belgrim make his decision.

He heaved one final sigh and ambled back to his cottage. There was no more putting it off. He just needed to decide and take action. He grabbed his supplies and set to work.

“Pancakes it is.”

[ohnaheim-blog]

‘Tis a wizard!

[itskobold]

We have enough micro-rpgs. Write more games with the sweeping - albeit probably delusional - ambition that they will be played in epic 3 year campaigns, wrapped up in big coffee table sized tomes. If I can’t use your book to subdue wild animals or serve as ballast for a hot air balloon I’m not interested.