Last year, I ran a game of It's Not My Fault! with a new set of "house rules" for a group of players who'd never played any Fate game before. I replaced Fate-specific jargon with terms that made sense in conversation, stripped out some rules exceptions I felt were harder to explain and remember than they were worth, … Continue reading Exploiting Details: An Unfinished System
Designing a Soulslike Action Economy
The greatest design problem I face with my soulslike tabletop RPG, Exhumed, is getting the feel right for the action economy—that is, the rules for how frequently each character can act, and what they can use those actions to do. When I showed readers online the initial approach, the most common reaction was doubt that … Continue reading Designing a Soulslike Action Economy
Setting Up (and Upsetting) Settings
Establishing a setting that everyone at the table feels invested in is very hard, but can be deeply rewarding in play. When tabletop RPG players draw on their setting-specific knowledge to solve problems, direct play, and even just make joking references, it evokes a sense that we’re all there to share something fun and special, … Continue reading Setting Up (and Upsetting) Settings
Playtesting Perils
My soulslike RPG playtest has hit a bit of a road block. As I described in a recent playtest review, Exhumed is already technically a playable game, and my free time is at a premium, so I jumped right into running a campaign to test every system. Unsurprisingly, this has indeed revealed some issues, which … Continue reading Playtesting Perils
Seven Sorceries
Whenever I come across (or come up with) a magic system I think would be fun to use in an RPG someday, I make a note of it in a document (which I just realized I should probably be referring to as my "grimoire," "spell book," or something comparably dorky). Here are a few I've … Continue reading Seven Sorceries
Resleeving Eclipse Phase
Eclipse Phase is one of my absolute favorite RPG settings. Humanity is now transhumanity—functionally immortal thanks to regular backups, and inclusive of digital consciousnesses and uplifted animals—but our unchecked advancement lost us the Earth and scatterd the survivors across the solar system. The setting is both deep and broad enough to support campaigns based around political … Continue reading Resleeving Eclipse Phase
The Basilisk Hack
The Basilisk Hack presents rules for the transhuman horror game Eclipse Phase based on the first edition of The Black Hack, a super-simple take on old school D&D. Being based on one Creative Commons licensed game (EP) and one game under the Open Game License (TBH), the rules are doubly free, so have at. I wrote this many months ago, posted an … Continue reading The Basilisk Hack
Decyphering Numenera & The Strange
There's a lot I like about Monte Cook Games' Numenera and The Strange RPGs: bizarre science-fantasy settings, evocative art, high-concept character construction, random tables with inspiring items and backgrounds, and rules to encourage continually cycling through shockingly powerful single-use items. It's a combination that ensures plenty of surprises for everyone at the table, GM included, and the sessions I've … Continue reading Decyphering Numenera & The Strange
d20 Ways to Nerd Out About Partial Success
Prepare for some navel-gazing and boring math that probably doesn’t even feel relevant at most people’s tables. It’s mostly for my own reference down the line, but maybe you’ll find something you relate to here. I love non-binary dice rolling systems. Even just adding a single option between success and failure—“yes, you succeed, but…”—adds a … Continue reading d20 Ways to Nerd Out About Partial Success
Advanced HD&D, 2nd Edition
Someday I would like to run an old school D&D game that uses hit dice as an expendable resource. Here's how I might do it. The Basics: You have a reserve of as many hit dice as your level, and your hit die size is based on class (d4 wizard, d6 thief, d8 cleric, d10 … Continue reading Advanced HD&D, 2nd Edition
