The Scholars’ Game

  The Scholars’ Game is a method of collaboratively generating background details for a Campaign, typically through the medium of a Wiki or other online tool. It was inspired by my recollection of a game I read about on Wikipedia, and then failed to find again when I needed the rules to play. Thus, I …

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Building Heroes: HeroQuest 2 Keyword Variants

  One of the people I chatted with at Dragonmeet was Jeff Richard, of Moon Design Publications.   He urged me to include more HeroQuest 2 content on Tales of a GM. As my Players have recently been creating new Heroes for our Sigil PD campaign, I have been thinking about keywords in HeroQuest a …

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Trollbabe and Scale: Examples of Heroic Power, Part 1

  A third look at the ideas of Ron Edwards expressed in his game Trollbabe.   My first article considered the concept of Hero as a nexus of change.   The second in this mini-series discussed the use of scale in Trollbabe.   The article for today was written in response to an email from …

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September RPG Blog Carnival: RPG Blogger Community

  My previous contribution to the RPGBA Blog Carnival was a Dungeon Table post for the Devious Dungeons August Carnival hosted by James Eck at Mind Weave RPG.     This month, the Carnival is hosted by Mark Meredith at Dice Monkey. Mark describes the theme for the latest Carnival as follows:     This …

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The Scholars’ GameBuilding Heroes: HeroQuest 2 Keyword VariantsTrollbabe and Scale: Examples of Heroic Power, Part 1September RPG Blog Carnival: RPG Blogger Community

Feb 26

Bundle of Holding: Hillfolk

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Notes of a GM

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IMG_9194It is not everyday that a piece of my work appears in a Bundle of Holding.

 

Okay, so it is just one essay in the Blood on the Snow companion, but my suggestion of using DramaSystem for prequels does make it into the sales pitch for the book!

 

So, what is this all about? Well, the Bundle of Holding is an awesome chance to buy a bundle of great product at a bargain price, and help a charity in the process. This bundle from Pelgrane Press is focused on the Hillfolk game from Robin D Laws. The campaign page describes it as follows:

 

Hillfolk is the Pelgrane Press tabletop roleplaying game of high-stakes interpersonal conflict by acclaimed designer Robin D. Laws (Feng Shui, HeroQuest, GUMSHOE). Using Hillfolk‘s DramaSystem rules, you can weave enthralling multi-session sagas about Iron Age tribes, Game of Thrones-style fantasy intrigue, Regency socialites, border town drug kingpins, troubled Sopranos-type crime families, posthuman cyberpunks, and more. Hillfolk is the “cable series RPG.”

Now our Hillfolk Bundle brings you the game’s entire product line as DRM-free, non-watermarked .PDFs for a bargain price. Our Starter Collection (US$6.95) includes the Hillfolk rulebook and a big bunch of “series pitches” by many leading RPG designers. And if you pay more than the current threshold price ( $16.27), you’ll level up and get all eight titles in our Bonus Collection, including the Hillfolk companion volume Blood on the Snow, more series pitches, and — available to the public for the first time — three musical tracks especially composed for your Hillfolk games. It’s everything you need to run your own prestige series.

 

This is a great opportunity to buy an incredible narrative game.

 

Reading Hillfolk was the inspiration for my method of using Interludes in my campaign.

 

The Hillfolk Bundle is raising money in support of Water.org, a charity devoted to improving water and sanitation provision in the developing world.

 

Visit Water.org

 

The campaign closes Thursday, 12th March.

 

Support the Hillfolk Bundle of Holding for series drama from the Iron Age to the far future.

 

Happy Bundling

Phil

 

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Feb 26

Sigil PD: Chapter 10, Part 2

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Prep in Progress

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Character (4) head

 

Combat abilities, plot elements & ending the first case

 

The game prep yesterday saw me write most of the things I had hoped. The session outline is complete and I have a fresh selection of plot elements to throw at the Players. Most importantly, I finally completed the sheet of combat abilities for a range of opponents. As our next session is scheduled to begin with our first fight, I will need this information. HeroQuest is wonderfully rules light, but it does need some details planned out.

 

The opening scene for Saturday will see the Heroes swarmed by the inmates of an asylum, so I have some statistics for non-combatants ready. These poor folk are likely to be knocked down rapidly, but there are plenty of them, so it could still be a challenging fight. However, I also prepared a broader range of opponents, giving me a lot more options for the game going forward.

 

As ever, there is still more to be done. The scanner was installed yesterday afternoon, but I have yet to actually try it out. I hope to do that this evening.

 

I also need to print out several more of the sheets we use as a framework for our location brainstorms.

 

This is a very popular part of our game, so we use these sheets up quite quickly.

 

Saturday’s game will have to be fore-shortened as I have a party to attend with the boys. I have an idea how to wrap up the current plot, and in a way which leaves a satisfying number of threads unresolved. Hopefully, the Players will run with this idea, but nothing is certain. It will be interesting to see how this case ends.

 

Happy Gaming

Phil

 

The Prep in Progress series are short summaries of my prep for my ongoing campaign The Tales of the Hero Wars.

 

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Feb 25

Tales of the Dice 07: Reforging

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Webcomic

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07 Reforging

 

As soon as I saw the spin-down dice in my Fate Reforged Fat Pack, I thought of chocolate. Why else would it be brown?

 

This also makes it two comics from the same Fat Pack, which was the source of the issue 5 comic.

 

Issue 5, Smashing, can be found here.

 

Issue 6, Plumbing, can be found here.

 

Happy Gaming

Phil

 

Click on the picture for a larger version.

 

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Feb 25

Kickstarting The Shadow over Innsmouth

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Notes of a GM

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Innsmouth pageMy final Kickstarter for February constitutes another gift for one of my Players. The Shadow over Innsmouth, by Tro Rex & Eyo Bella is a beautiful retelling of the classic HP Lovecraft story.

 

You can see the style of the book from the sample illustration. The campaign page describes the book as follows:

 

We’re back again with our new Littlest Lovecraft book – this time it’s an adaptation of The Shadow Over Innsmouth (one of our all-time favourite Lovecraft stories!). As always, it will be a full colour, fully illustrated book, written in verse, right around 64 pages long. We’re starting off aiming for softcover, perfect bound printed books, but our first stretch goal is to upgrade to the matte hardcover we’re so fond of!

 

I have supported their two previous campaigns, and their books are gorgeous. Phil is always very pleased with the book, and the sundry bonuses which Tro and Eyo add to the deal. I also buy us one of the special die each, because who does not want more dice?

 

Funding for The Shadow over Innsmouth closes Friday, 27th March. This campaign has already stormed past its funding target and is working through the Stretch Goals. Unlocked goals include the hardback upgrade, pdf copies of the book and a pdf colouring book. If you like Lovecraft, then this is a brilliant deal.

 

Support The Shadow over Innsmouth for more rhyming occult goodness.

 

Happy Reading

Phil

 

The previous Kickstarter I recommended was Pencil Dice, an awesome range of Geeky pencils.

 

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Feb 24

The Sigil Courier: Chapter 9

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Notes of a GM

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 Not the Gaily-Jewelled Dead 

Sigil Courier

Noon, Quarryday, Hunt Week, Delve Season, 1034.

 

Murder in Warehouse

Sources close to the Harmonium report a corpse has been found in suspicious circumstances in a warehouse beside the Silver Styx.

Investigators at the scene discovered the body. A body which, at this time, has no name.

A Stygian docker assured Your Faithful Correspondent that the warehouse in question belonged to Kulug, a famous morocanth merchant. As you know, Dear Reader, this tribe of “nomads” is famed for eating all kinds of strange meats. Could there be a connection?

No representative of the morocanth was available for comment.

Investigators from Precinct 43 were reported at the scene. Allegedly, the Harmonium questioned a door, then left in a hurry in pursuit of a smell.

Read the in-depth report on Page 7.

 

Is Cobbler’s Lane too noisy?

One section of our beloved Market Ward could be bad for your health, and your purse.

On a recent visit to Cobbler’s Lane I was overwhelmed by both the noise and the hawkers. This is not a shopping experience for the faint-hearted.

For one thing, the cobblers are so busy about their trade that the air is filled with a cacophony of hammering. This is disorientating in the extreme. Add to this the cries and screams of the inmates of the Market Ward Almshouse.

Furthermore, to overcome the ambient noise, the hawkers for each shop are most forward with their attentions. It was all I could do to escape their demands with naught but a new pair of sandals.

Read the full report on Page 11.

 

In other news

Is the City of Doors being overrun with beggars? Where are they all coming from?
Read the TRUE ORIGIN STORY on Page 13.

 

—–o—–

Happy Gaming

Phil

 

The Sigil Courier series are the session summaries from the Sigil PD cycle of tales in my Tales of the Hero Wars campaign.

 

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