This is Random TTRPG Thoughts 87
My last overnight trip of the Summer has ended, I have purchased more whole bean coffee from roasters near my trip destinations than I have room to store, and it’s going to rain all week. But yeaterday I got out for coffee and uninterrupted reading, I returned to a quiet house, and my brain experienced enough electrical charge to trigger thinking. These are some random TTRPG thoughts.
- Playing At The World is a fascinating read, which I recommend to anyone who is interested in the hobby.
- I am running Monty Python’s Cocurricular Medieval Reenactment Programme this coming Sunday at Brewery Thirty-Three in Riverton, NJ. 5-8 PM and seats are “first come, first play.” I am very excited to run this game!
- I have started chuckling at comments insisting that there has got to be rules governing the whole of the game, or it’s not a game at all! Maybe I’m just seeing them more now because I’ve read The Elusive Shift but, that argument has been made since the 70s—and, the games which don’t have rules for everything are still games.
- The one thing I haven’t liked about using my iPad as my mobile productivity tool has been the lack of a map-making program for the platform. But I recently discovered the app MapMe for battle map creation. It even has pencil support and is able to import Dungeondraft asset packs! I’m going to be playing around with this.
- So this past weekend I was in Gettysburg, PA and I saw a person wearing a tee-shirt which read “We the people” and then had “1776” emblazoned underneath. I have to say that confused me so much it hurt my brain. I also saw someone wearing “Alligator-Alcatraz” MAGA merch hanging out with someone wearing a Bible church shirt. I have no idea why they were sitting together, maybe the Bible church guy was trying to inform the cultist he was in a cult which worshipped cruelty. I doubt it, but it would be nice if that were the case.
- Dreams and Machines has an interesting concept called “truths.” These are a bit like status tags in other systems, but they are leveraged to play a larger role in a scene. I can’t decide if I’m leery of them or like them, so I’ll have to run a session or two to test them out! I do have to say that I appreciate how they can be used as narrative effects first, which only affect the mechanics of the game by added Threat for the GM to use…some time.
- I got invited to be part of a live stream at the end of the month, which was cool. The invitation was made with the statement, “Hey Loser, what are you doing…[insert date]?” The fact that this contact felt comfortable enough with me to start a conversation like that is something I cherish. It’s the type of familiarity that you have to build in order to be authentic. For the record I responded, “Being a loser, I guess, why?”
- I’ll be running Sentinel Comics RPG at Gamehole Con! 1 PM on Friday, to be exact. I’m a tad nervous, to tell you to the truth. Actually, I’m nervous any time I run at a convention because I do not feel qualified.
- Streamlined Superheroes has inspired me to create some “action” scenes for my superhero games which are focused only on interacting with non-heroes. Inquisitive reporters, fans wanting autographs, hecklers, and local authorities would be some fun foils for the heroes. A bit like J. Jonah Jameson and Spider-Man going having their back and forth scenes in the comics. In Streamlined Superheroes it could be a matter of hitting the structural points of the scene to navigate successfully, and failing to do so in a set time could trigger some consequences. In Sentinel Comics RPG they’d be represented by obstacles which need Overcome actions to bypass, and the twists produced could be hysterical. I’m going to ponder this more for my next adventure, because it could be a fun way to drag the character’s non-hero identities into the adventure.
- Sometime in September I’d very much like to run The Electric State. Maybe I’ll even live stream it!
