Essays, actual play, theory talk, and general navel-gazing about story-focused roleplaying, aka “indie” games. And trindie. And OSR. If you’re small and scrappy, I want to talk about what you’re doing! If you’re fighting to grow, I want to talk about what you’re doing! Basically if it’s roleplaying (tabletop, freeform, larp, whatevs) and it’s not the monolith of D&D, it’s in my wheelhouse.
This is it! We made it! These are the last three reviews from the pile of games I've been working through the past several weeks. As always, my caveat: these are reviews based on my reading, not play ... although this week, Under Hollow Hills will get a deeper treatment because I actually have played… Continue reading Under Hollow Hills, Haxen, Traveler’s Ironsworn (last of the Q1 review stack)
Okay, wow. Still drilling through this pile of games and, yeah, we're into the second quarter of the year already. But there are games to read and things to say. Let's get into it. Reminder that these are read-only reviews I'm doing! I haven't gotten to play these games so they're not deep technical dives.… Continue reading Q1 Reviews (Part 3, halfway there)
Last week I hit the first three of too many games that have arrived, quite suddenly, on my doorstep. This week I continue working through the pile. I'll keep going until someone stops me. Apocalypse Keys Apocalypse Keys is a PbtA-based game inspired by Hellboy/BPRD but over the years of development has grown into something… Continue reading Q1 Reviews (Part 2 of too many parts)
The optics, they're bad. So...I indulged in a lot of retail therapy when the lockdowns started. I backed many games. Too many, one might argue. But if you've ever participated in a crowdsourcing campaign, you know how it diabolically gives you multiple serotonin hits: first when you back it, later when you spend the money,… Continue reading Q1 Reviews (Part 1 of many, sob)
We’re deep into a campaign of Handiwork Games’ second edition of a|state here with no signs of stopping. I was just about to leave Forged in the Dark games behind but a|state convinced me to stick around awhile long. Let’s dig into how a|state redeemed FitD for me. a|state is available in PDF from DriveThruRPG… Continue reading Deep Dive: A|STATE
