It’s Friday, I’m still on the vacation portion of my sabbatical, and yet I still feel like my productivity has fallen off. But the coffee is poured and my head is abuzz with the strange phenomenon known as “thinking.” These are random TTRPG thoughts.
- I really wanted to get my Rust and Redemption review out this week, but when the little wants to play a tower defense game together it is hard to say no. The first draft is about 90% written, however, so expect it soon. This has been fun to write!
- A big shout out to my friend Martin, also known as “Daddy Rolled a 1,” who suggested I move the bulk of my merch sales to Spreadshop. He was so right! If you have not checked out the Daddy Rolled a 1 YouTube channel you are missing out. Martin has some fantastic long-form videos on the history of the hobby, and D&D in particular. He is a fantastic researcher and presenter. Go check out his channel!
- Due to holidays, travel, and schedule implosions my Dragonbane group’s been on hiatus since June. We’re shifting next week’s game to Wednesday, which is good because one of my players declared he’s going to withdrawal.
- You ever notice how Donald Trump, whenever gets pinned on one of the many shady things he does, “Doesn’t know anything about it?” And then, like clockwork he takes out his metaphorical laser pointer and says, “LOOK OVER THERE, CHASE THE DOT!” I find it interesting that, this time, a significant portion of his cult isn’t chasing the dot. So much so that Speaker Johnson had to take his ball and go home early this Summer.
- I’ve done some rambling live streams the last couple of weeks as I try to get used to this new platform I’m using. I have two things to say about these. First, it’s rather fun to ramble on, stream of consciousness, every now and again. Second, I’m grateful for all the folks who drop by in chat for these unannounced streams.
- Because of my work at PaxUnplugged I’m on the press list for a number of game developers. At present they are all sending out some really cool opportunities for folks who will be at GenCon, and I’m finding myself a tad jealous! For everyone going to GenCon I wish you all an amazing time, have some fun for me while you’re there!
- My Numenera group had its monthly session at our local brewery this week. It was the first time I’d not called ahead to let them know I was coming so I was wondering what they’d think about me taking over several tables to set up. I didn’t need to be worried. When I showed up with my bags the woman at the bar said, “Are you having another game night?” When I said yes she added, “Great! Have fun!” Brewery Thirty-Three is a fun place, run by folks who want to be a boon to the community, and no one is getting drop-dead drunk. Every time I’ve gone there’s families with kids, folks watching a game on the TV, and friends catching up over a pint while they eat whatever food they had delivered. Good times.
- For its part the Numenera party, known as “Murder Fire 13b,” had an eventful session. They traveled to an abandoned city, only to find a tribe of peaceful abhumans had taken up residence and considered it a sacred place. Instead of trying to bully their way through the diminutive residents, who were about two feet tale and had enlarged heads, they had a respectful conversation and agreed to make an offering to the tribe’s deity, “The Caretaker.” To do this they had to travel two days to a nearby volcano, which had a huge lava pool in the crater that did not give off any heat, and offer two cyphers by tossing it in. Weirdness happened, The Caretaker accepted their offering, and after some discussion agreed to help the group get back to the city faster than they had travelled out to the volcano. This was important because the group had about a week before a giant creature returned and squashed an entire town, time was of the essence. What followed can only be described as a fast moving vehicle fight scene from a 90s-era beat em up video game like the sewer surfing level from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The group arrived back in the sacred city, recovered the last piece they needed to rebuild a machine to defend the threatened town, and got back with three days to spare. After repairing the device they summoned a kaju, manned a defensive turret during an epic battle, and saved the town from burning down. That, was fun!
- Monte Cook Games has been sending out updates regarding upcoming changes to The Cypher System. It’s been interesting watching the community react. At the start there was a bit of panic, but I’ve watched it shift toward cautious optimism and even excitement. For my part, I’m rather interested in how MCG is going to speed up character creation, and am outright excited by the “dials” they are adding to the game to tweak things for different genres. A pulp hero, for example, can get buried in a landslide and then dust off and continue on the adventure. The upcoming changes to Cypher System seek to make the ability to run that sort of game easy. They sound fun!
- Speaking of Brewery Thirty-Three, we’ll be holding another Open Adventure evening there on Sunday, August 24th! The adventures will run from 5-8 and right now we have two tables ready to go. My friend Josh will be running an amazing game called Vaesen, and I’ll be running Monty Python’s Cocurricular Medieval Reenactment Programme. I even got a second set of the funky dice for the occasion! Seats are first-come, first-play so come on out if you can! And if there are any other tables running I’ll make sure to let folks know!
- And here’s a bonus random thought. On Monday, August 11th, DM Tales will be hosting an actual play of Monty Python’s Medieval Reenactment Programme run by the game’s lead designer, Brian Saliba! The fun will begin at 8:30 PM Eastern. And, later in the month we’ll have a game of The Land of Eem run by the Elder Goblin himself, my friend Jorbin! More on that as details are finalized.
