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After the Island Empire fell, the seas were lost. Sailors whisper that the ocean air glows and tears open, releasing titanic leviathans that slither out into the sea. They say the very fabric of reality shifts with the wind, sending the crew falling into the … read more »
In this series’ first entry, I looked at how RPG combat can serve the story. Next, I talked about why the vast majority of RPG combat doesn’t. In this final entry, we’ll consider how RPG combat can do better. For our purposes, “combat” refers to any … read more »
Gather round, all ye game masters, designers, and RPG enthusiasts: it is time for part two of this series on extended conflict-resolution rules in roleplaying games. We refer to these rules as “combat” for brevity’s sake, even though they often include rules for car chases, … read more »
I love reading roleplaying games. I have shelves of books and folders of PDFs that I’ll never have time to play, but I read them anyway because it’s fascinating to see what different designers come up with, from the cutting edge of modern roleplaying to … read more »
The best part of being an RPG reviewer is that I have a constant excuse to research the cutting edge of roleplaying design, and today that research leads me to Scum and Villainy. Published by Off Guard Games and Evil Hat Productions, this space opera … read more »
I love to review new entries to the roleplaying genre, but sometimes we must look to the old classics as well. This week, I’m compromising. Unknown Armies has been with us since the late 90s,* but its third edition came out in 2016, so there’s … read more »
FAITH* is a space-opera roleplaying game from the folks over at Burning Games. It uses cards instead of dice, but that’s not all. It’s got interstellar adventure. It’s got outlandishly cool technology. It’s got lasers and spaceships and aliens, oh my! These days, it’s easy … read more »
Classes have been in roleplaying games for as long as there have been roleplaying games. But why? What benefits do classes provide, and are they worth it? Ari returns for a third episode to discuss how classes work, what they bring to a game, which … read more »
Star Trek is a difficult setting to roleplay in. The canon is labyrinthine and confusing, with material drawn from hundreds of episodes, many of which contradict each other. The aesthetics vary widely depending on the time period and the series, making it hard to imagine they exist in the same universe. … read more »
It’s been some time since I discussed mistakes common to roleplaying games, and designers have not been idle in my absence. Quite the opposite, they’ve been churning out enough mistakes to make a critic weep with joy.* These mistakes show up across multiple games and cause … read more »