pandaily.com Hasbro Seeks to Sell IP “DND” and Has Had Preliminary Contact with Tencent
American toy company Hasbro is seeking to sell its well-known IP
If there are three players present I'll run. Unless there is something big upcoming, then we'll discuss if we want to postpone. I usually say "I want four players, so I'll recruit to five, and run with three".
I'm in a similar boat. According to steam haven't opened EUIV since 2017 and now I have a huge relearning curve. And new DLC to get. While I would love to get back into it I have better (path) things (of) things (exile) to (two) do.
Inkscape enjoyer here. The vector based tech makes it not that limited to my skill at drawing but rather how I can manipulate the vectors and points. Make things thinner or wider, change a curvature etc. And nothing is set in stone. I'm using it for everything. World maps, region maps, settlements, dungeons. You name it. For dungeons (and inside locations) I gathered all my most used assets to save time.
Most recognizable trigger from said image - Reinstalling EUIV
Sigh... here I go again...
A bit of preface. The games I run, the games I play in and the groups I enjoy all are very open with discussing meta. From story beats to encounter critiques and where we the players want to see the game go.
what do you do when the players go off-script?
We are honest and appreciate the time the GMs put into running the games. Several times either I or another GM have stated "that direction is not prepared" and the group have a chat from there. Perhaps calling it early or we zoom in on character daily life (or their projects). The amount of times a "forgotten" villain have reappeared for revenge in these situation is kinda high.
on railroading
Why play a game about characters, their decisions and their reaction to adversary when their decisions won't matter? When the roads they travel all lead to Rome? This is very much also something that is part of the game's setup. How directed the game will be. A wide open sandbox will strain much more against being directed than a more tightly focused narrative. Heck, I don't actually mind being directed in a game with a focused narrative or having the GM drawing the game back to it's story.
It's a complex topic where advice will differ depending on the specifics of each game.
"New to me" it may technically be but I'm going to start up something with Ironsworn: Starforged: Sundered Isles (yes I'm calling it that, fight me). Have used both Ironsworn and Starforged before but not Sundered Isles.
What actually would be new to me is Fey Borg as I've yet to run anything Borg. Barely anything OSR at all.
Shawn Tomkin's Ironsworn series. Delve I regularly use for setting up point crawls. Ironsworn/Starforged/Sundered Isles have great collections of random tables, I use the book thematically most fitting for the situation at hand. The core tables of Action, Theme, Descriptor and Focus all get heavy use.
Kevin Crawford's [SOMETHING] Without Number series have awesome tables as well. These however get more use when I need more detail. Prep stuff. Again most thematic book is picked first but I do have used Cites (cyberpunk) for fantasy cities.
When I want to create background for "medieval fantasy" characters I pick up Burning Wheel and burn something up. Through that I get a good selection of relevant skills to sue (for flavor)
Anything related to cosmos and mythology I say HELLO! to my growing collection of Glorantha material. From cult books to magic tomes and Atlases.
26+6=1
Damn I'm feeling you. I'm in the fall process (solidly down 15kg/33lb, approaching 20kg/44lb) with about 10-15kg to go. When my belly stops flapping I'm good I think. But I fear the rebound... Currently lots of my evening snacking have disappeared because of evening gym classes, so late home and even later dinner. So I don't have time anymore to get snacky. Or if I do it's almost bedtime anyway so I'll just go to bed instead.
But once I've hit my goal and don't need to hit gym that hard anymore... That frightens me. A little bit at least. Made some good connections there and got a routine going so i can probably keep it up.
I had gotten it into myself that boars make use of burrows. But I may be very, very wrong.
I hope so. Other option would be fox. Boar I don't think, too small. And I really don't want it to have been a boar burrow as it wouldn't then been unlikely with piglets in it. With ANGRY mamma nearby...
Yellow chantarelles on a burrow
While out foraging I found a patch of big nice chantarelles, we have a good year for them btw. Then I noticed something strange, a hole into the mound. It wasn't there last year I know yhat for sure.
Well... Looks like I pilfered someone's nicely cultivated mushrooms. Sorry.
Hitting the gym
What do you mean capitalism WAS a misstake? Did I miss a memo?
Another Himedere checking in. I love setting up situations where the players and/or the characters squirm in anguish about what to do.
My favorite so far was an estranged princess living as a man and hostel owner. He had turned his back on the throne and wanted little to do with it. As a bonus he was the only child of the king's only remaining child. Fast forward a bit and he needed a (legal) favor from the king. Went to court and met with his grandfather. The king would do it, no strings attached if a) he returned to court and resumed his duties as prince and b) sired an heir.
There were a good thirty minutes of the players anguishing if he should accept while going deep into character motivations and the setting. During that game I don't think I did as much concrete worldbuildning as during those thirty minutes. I loved it, the players loved it. Great time.
Issue in that case I rather see as why is it allowed to enter into legally binding agreements when you aren't sober. Why there isn't a (forced) period to review the papers.
Marriage is a legally binding agreement. Let's treat it as such.
The Swedish vacation law (Semesterlag 1977:480) amateurishly translated by me. And I am in no way experienced enough in our labour law to comment on how it looks for those not working full time. The short lesson is to Remember Ådalen, or those that fought, bled and died four our labour rights.
4 § En arbetstagare har rätt till tjugofem semesterdagar varje semesterår [...]
An employee have right to twentyfive vacation days per year
12 § Om inte annat har avtalats, ska semesterledigheten förläggas så, att arbetstagaren får en ledighetsperiod av minst fyra veckor under juni-augusti[...]
If nothing else have been agreed upon, the vacation is to be scheduled such that the employee get a vacation period of at least four weeks during june -august
Unions work. Labour movements work.
As long as the Russian bear is around to scare the west and occupy our mibds the Chinese dragon is at much more liberty to do whatever they want.
Love the addition of "again".
I mean if you don't want your yacht sunk then don't sail it where orcas sink yachts. Sorry but actually not sorry for the casual victimblaming.
Spoiler it is 30km/h. After that noise and injury risk/severity shoot up. It is the compromise speed.
How easy it for those speaking the different languages to understand eachother?
Drakar, demoner, orker och odöda
SPELREGLER: Drakar och Demoner (Fria Ligan 2023)
TEKNIK: Discord för samtal och FoundryVTT som spelbord
TID: Fredagar kl 19.00
START: Fredagen den 26e Januari, möjlighet att dra igång en vecka tidigare om gruppen är samlad
LÄNGD: Ca 15-20 speltillfällen
ANMÄLAN: Skicka mig ett meddelande så tar vi det därifrån
SÄKERHETSVERKTYG: Lines and Veils, X-card
FRÅGOR: Har du dem ställ dem.
OM SPELET: Sparkstartade Drakar och Demoner för att det hade varit skoj att ha något på svenska i bokhyllan. Och att det hade varit trevligt att spela något på svenska med svenskt material. Att inte behöva översätta allt. Så här är vi nu, julen är ute och det är dags att dra igång.
Spelet kommer att utgå från grundlådan och äventyren kring samhället Utkante. Iallafall ibörjan till dess att jag lärt mig hur DåD vill spelas. Därefter ser vi vart det tar oss. Utkante ligger i Dimmornas Dal, en region en gång i tiden centrum för ett symboliskt rike mellan människor och drakar. Et
You favorite Solo adventures/modules/systems to spice up prep with?
cross-posted from: https://ttrpg.network/post/979480
Lately I've been using solo play tools more and more in my prep. For example instead of just pulling a town out of my imagination or from a bunch of tools. I've (mainly) used Ironsworn to solo play some episodes in that town. Creating details about it as I've gone along. Also used Artefact (more of a journaling game) with good effect to create legendary items. To get into the Glorantha setting, get into the "right" mindset, the solo choose-you-own-adventure I've found great.
But I'm always looking for new tools to, if nothing else, get new perspectives on things. My default Ironsworn is leaning kinda heavily into more perilous and grim episodes.
Happy for any and all recommendations!
You favorite Solo adventures/modules/systems to spice up prep with?
Lately I've been using solo play tools more and more in my prep. For example instead of just pulling a town out of my imagination or from a bunch of tools. I've (mainly) used Ironsworn to solo play some episodes in that town. Creating details about it as I've gone along. Also used Artefact (more of a journaling game) with good effect to create legendary items. To get into the Glorantha setting, get into the "right" mindset, the solo choose-you-own-adventure I've found great.
But I'm always looking for new tools to, if nothing else, get new perspectives on things. My default Ironsworn is leaning kinda heavily into more perilous and grim episodes.
Happy for any and all recommendations!
The most Texan of all expressions - Y'All - is ungendered and therefore woke
Cities Without Number is now released
Kevin Crawford's latest offering Cities Without Number is here. Pretty much more of the same good stuff but this time with cyberpunk flavour.
Cities Without Number is a cyberpunk role-playing game built for sandbox adventures in a dystopia of polished chrome and bitter misery. It's both a full-fledged Sine Nomine toolkit for building a cyberpunk world of your own and an Old School Renaissance-inspired game system for playing out the reckless adventures of the desperate men and women who live in it. Whether polished metal or flesh and blood, your operators will risk their lives and more to seize those precious things a merciless world would keep from them.
Will I run it? No
Play it? Most likely no
Will I use the frikk out of the GM tools? YES!
Link to free version: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/449873/Cities-Without-Number-Free-Version
The Dice | Designing The Game (by Matt Colville of MCDM)
Found this video intresting as Matt talks about what dice to use and how to use it for the game they are making. Loved the shoutout and critique of "FUNKY" dice used in FFG's Star Wars lineup (and Genesys) and how it influenced them in their process.
He also got a bit into how the task resolution mechanic (dicerolling) will tie into other things such as class resources.
Scene Tags - A way to make descriptions matter
Let me begin by making it clear this is not my invention, I encountered the method in City of Mist but I doubt it debuted there. But it is a nifty method.
The problem I encounter from time to time is that my players don't latch onto my descriptions of the scene, not using things in it to grant themselves advantages (bonuses, extra effect etc). Am I perfect? No. Could I do better? Yes.
Or I can take my fuzzy descriptions and make them mechanical by introducing them as Scene Tags. Market square during market day would get Crowded-Market-1 and during a festival Packed-Festival-Market-2 indicating that there is a lot of people there and also how much advantage one would get by incorporating it into ones action. Or disadvantage depending. Trying to pickpocket someone? Take a bonus. Following someone? They easily get lost in the crowd - penalty.
How dark is the night? Moonlight-Night-1 or Moon-Behind-Heavy-Clouds-2?
Traveling through a mountain pass and how deep is
Serpentine swords are curved
Filled
Serpentine swords are curved. Curved!
SYSTEM: Swords of the Serpentine
PLATFORM: Foundry VTT (if I manage to hack it, if not some other solution) and Discord for voice
TIME: Fridays at 19:00 CET (1PM EST, 10AM PST), and for about 3½-4 hours
CAMPAIGN START: September 1st
APPLICATIONS: Let me know if you are interested and we'll take it from there
SAFETY TOOLS: Lines and Veils, X-card and others if desired
DESCRIPTION: Swords of the Serpentine is a Gumshoe Sword and Sorcery system set in and around the city of Eversink. It is "a game of investigation, heroism, sly politics, and bloody savagery, set in a fantasy city rife with skulduggery and death".
~~This will be a somewhat short campaign, around 10 or so sessions. I have pretty much no experience with Gumshoe so this can go horribly wrong. Or horriblyfun. We'll begin with the "official" cases and wrap it up with something I manage to conjure. Of course we will
The kickstarter for Shadow of the Weird Wizard is now live!
Blurb taken from the Kickstarter
People liked the game system powering Shadow of the Demon Lord, but some bounced off the game’s tone. (Evil Dead meets Diablo is not for everyone!) Not long after Demon Lord came out, I began working on a family-friendly version of the original game, and the project became something I tinkered with for a long time, moving farther and farther away from the original game in a move to make something new. Where Demon Lord expected, even celebrated, the deaths of characters, Weird Wizard makes heroes of the characters and their story an epic journey. So while much of the game looks and plays like Shadow of the Demon Lord, there are differences enough to make it its own thing. If you want an early look, check out the quick play.
Faction relations surrounding the Crew I'm GMing for
Wanting to bring more (relevant) factions to the forefront of my game I decided to map out relations between
- Solid bold lines are between the Crew and those they have direct relations to. Blue for positive, red for negative. (Edit: Clarification) The double line to Circle of flame shows the Crew have +2 relations to them, single line for +1 relations.
- Solid thin lines are between the Crew's relations and those they have relations to. Can be to another of the Crew's relations (such as between Circle of Flame and The Hive) or to a more distant faction (two steps separation).
- Dashed lines are relations between factions two steps away from the Crew. Not all relations of these factions two steps separated from the crew are included, only those between factions already on the board.
Kinda enjoyed the result, a bit pleasing to the eye. May fully map out the relations of the factions two steps separated (to factions three steps separated from the crew).
Critique my campaign ad/synopsis
So I'm gearing up to once again start something and I've got an idea in my head. But once I put it down into something concise it either becomes bloaty or dry. I mean just the parts below are almost a google docs page, pretty much 2000 characters. And that is even when I removed 2/3 of the situation text as it was rather big picture information. Explicitly writing down the campaign style was something I took Colville's recent game design video, trying it out.
What I really would love feedback on is mainly Situation. Enough/too little information? Is it confusing? Does the information fit with the Campaign Style? And also is Campaign Style something fitting in a campaign ad/synopsis?
Situation
You all are part of the third imperially sponsored caravan into the Aablu, the hot and arid lands east of the Pearl Cities. The first caravan went out eight months ago and was expected to have returned two months ago. Second left four months ago with another destination. Yours have the
Wheel rebuilt!
The wheels on my hardtail have been shit. Roughly every two months a spoke have popped. With a tubeless setup that have been a pain. When I had to get a new set of spokes for the front wheel my FLBS guy recommended me rebuilding them. Told me to sit down and replace them one at a time. I have done that now. Finally. The drop that made the glass spill over was a spoke popping when I wad fixing another. And several were stuck in their nipples.
Went from 1.8mm (15g) "approved by manufacturer" round spokes with 12mm aluminium nipples to 2mm (14g) DT Swiss Champion with 14mm brass nipples. I'm starting to enjoy tinkering with wheels...
A very seedy bread
cross-posted from: https://ttrpg.network/post/105035
This is my latest obsession - bread filled to the brim with seeds and whole grains. A bit like the danish rugbrød and I bet the Germans have something similar too.
Method (1 loaf)
The only things I measure is the water and seeds, the rest I find no use in measuring. Whole flour coarsely ground can have such varying absorption rates depending on age and storage. Going by feel is mandatory.
- 500g water
- Some yeast (or sourdough). Use a quantity that makes the bake fit into your schedule. I used about 8-10g fresh yeast.
- Dissolve yeast into water with your preferred method.
- Add seeds. I used 2dl in total split between 1dl sunflower, 1/2dl flax and 1/2dl psyllium seeds
- Begin adding flour. I used a mix of coarse ground whole rye (1/3) and graham flour (2/3). This is a tricky part to describe as I go by feel. At this point I want a "sloppy batter". It will stiffen as the flour absorbs water. My desired final texture is a
A very seedy bread
This is my latest obsession - bread filled to the brim with seeds and whole grains. A bit like the danish rugbrød and I bet the Germans have something similar too.
Method (1 loaf)
The only things I measure is the water and seeds, the rest I find no use in measuring. Whole flour coarsely ground can have such varying absorption rates depending on age and storage. Going by feel is mandatory.
- 500g water
- Some yeast (or sourdough). Use a quantity that makes the bake fit into your schedule. I used about 8-10g fresh yeast.
- Dissolve yeast into water with your preferred method.
- Add seeds. I used 2dl in total split between 1dl sunflower, 1/2dl flax and 1/2dl psyllium seeds
- Begin adding flour. I used a mix of coarse ground whole rye (1/3) and graham flour (2/3). This is a tricky part to describe as I go by feel. At this point I want a "sloppy batter". It will stiffen as the flour absorbs water. My desired final texture is a "shapeable batter", something that holds a shape for a litt
Let's play a little game of recommendations
Just a little idea I had, think it would be fun. Comment your favourite systems and the rest of us will give you recommendations for something that could possibly fit your interests.
2023 Nominations – ENNIE Awards
cross-posted from: https://ttrpg.network/post/81626
The ENNIE Awards (the “ENNIES”) are an annual fan-based celebration of excellence in tabletop roleplaying gaming. The ENNIES give game designers, writers and artists the recognition they deserve. It is a peoples’ choice award, and the final winners are voted upon online by the gaming public.
The ENNIES were created in 2001 as an annual award ceremony, hosted by the leading D&D/d20 system fan site, EN World in partnership with Eric Noah’s Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News. The awards were owned by Russ Morrissey until 2019. As the awards have grown, the ENNIES have expanded from an Internet-based awards selection to an annual award ceremony at Gen Con. The ENNIES have also branched out from their roots as an award ceremony focused upon d20 system publishers and products to celebrate the achievements of all tabletop RPGs and the publishers and products that support them.
With award categories recognizing the components that