#Monte cook

[eggnoodles0up]

just got my physical Magnus Archives TTRPG book and its SO COOL AAAAAAAGH

[jonnywaistcoat]

Right, kicked COVID to the curve, so coming out swinging for the last few days of The Magnus Archives RPG crowdfunder. It looks absolutely *sick* and there's a whole bunch of fun extras and gubbins that are only available through the campaign, so check it out!

[madcat-world]

Monte Cook: Creatures (2 of 2) - Kez Laczin

[vintagerpg]

So, my pal Clay sent me a box of books. They weren’t a gift, they we more like an extended loan and they amount to perhaps the most direct “please post about these books” I’ve gotten since the feed started. I’ve taken care of a few at this point, but now, well. Ptolus. How the hell do I tackle Ptolus in 300 words?!

Ptolus (2006) is a massive all-in-one setting book for D20 designed by Monte Cook. It consists of a city and two dungeons, one above — the Spire — and a megadungeon below. The book runs 670 pages and features a density of information — maps, cross-sections, various type sizes, sidebars, tabs, cross-references — that I am not sure has ever been achieved before or since. It is truly a monument to a particular moment of BIG DESIGN in RPGs that was fueled by the near universal adaptation of D20. Unlike a lot of other similar projects (World’s Largest Dungeon comes to mind) there is a ton of deep thought and care on display in nearly every design decision I’ve read.

I wanted this book real bad when I learned about it a couple years after release, but it was already scarce. If I had gotten copy back then, it might very well have become my favorite RPG book ever. I’d probably still be playing in it. Because you totally could, there are decades of adventures here. Reading it cover to cove now in 2023 just feels like an impossibility. It’s too big! It works really well as a book to dip into a read a box or two to think about, for inspiration or rumination, but I wouldn’t know where to begin in putting together a cohesive campaign here. I don’t think my brain can fit it all in! I appreciate the painstaking detail, don’t get me wrong, but I would much rather this thing be carved up into a bunch of small books. That’s the main reason I didn’t back the recent re-release on Kickstarter; I knew before Clay ever sent this to me that this book was going to defeat me.

[haveyouplayedthisttrpg]

Have you played NUMENERA ?

By Monte Cook

In the distant, distant future (approx. 1 billion years), the Earth is littered with the ruins of ancient technology from fallen empires that might as well be magic.

[cackled0g]

Okay real talk, are there any DMs here who run the Cypher System? I'm running a game for a party of five, and two of my players are getting way more XP than the others. I don't want to just toss the others XP for no reason, but their character arcs aren't really getting followed up on enough to get them consistent XP. Any advice? I can elaborate if needed.

[zoefannet]

Spreading the word far and wide -- the long awaited sequel to DORKNESS RISING (2008) and GAMERS 3: HANDS OF FATE (2013) is kickstarting through June 29th!

Writer/Director Matt Vancil has gotten the original Dorkness Rising team back together to finish the story

Gamers 4: Dorkness Falls - www.dorknessfalls.com

[coolcomicbookcovers]

[appendingfic]

Magnus Archives tabletop game???

[lavender-wiitch]

this will be me GM’ing my TMA-inspired campaign

[critsuccesscollective]

Tripped and bought some more Books.

[niksrpgs]

Player’s Guide to #Ptolus #d20, #MonteCook, #SwordAndSorcery, now 50% OFF and FREE SHIPPING! #ttrpg #outofprint #originalprint #NiksRPGs https://www.mercari.com/us/item/m97612162071?sv=0

[i-just-like-commenting]

Aaaaand there goes any goodwill WotC reclaimed after backing off of the OGL changes + making a great movie.

Alternatives to D&D:

Paizo's Pathfinder (very similar to D&D) Chaosium's Call of Cthulhu Green Ronin's Fantasy AGE and related systems like Blue Rose Monte Cooke's Cypher System (on a separate OGL)

Plus many, many other indy games feel free to add some in the tags.

(From https://www.polygon.com/23695923/mtg-aftermath-pinkerton-raid-leaked-cards )

Love the corporate speak WOTC tried to pull up to reframe the whole "we send the literal Pinkertons (thugs-for-hire known for their violence) to some guy's home to intimidate him, his wife, and take several grand worth of goods without a warranty."

Don't let WOTC try to embellish what actually happened there. It's not just a private investigator (to start with, several people got sent to the guy's home), it is fucking Pinkertons, who are known strike-breakers with a very violent past, who have murdered people, which are so goddamn infamous there is literally a law that forbids the government from employing them.

Over fucking cardboard. Which the guy had got because the provider confused "March of the Machine" and "March of the Machine: Aftermath" when sending him the stuff.

There is currently a few people who are investigating what happened, and I'll try to keep updating as more information comes out.

[vintagerpg]

OK, this week is one of those exercises in me looking at a game that doesn’t appeal to me for reasons I can’t quite express, and then you try to educate me as to its charms. The game in question is Numenera, the first iteration from 2013, before Cypher System really becomes Cypher System.

So, Numenera is a very light mechanical RPG, using a D20 for resolution. Only the players roll; they’re trying to beat values on a sliding difficulty ladder that reminds me vaguely of Fate. Characters are defined through key words (though not, like, totally open ended keywords as in HeroQuest, there are constraints and those build in a lot of structure that makes me feel comfortable). Magic items are little doo-dads that have a bunch of unique minor effects, so they have a lot of application, feel special and can interact with each other in lots of ways (good and bad). It’s a way more welcoming and usable system than I expected (the last Monte Cook game I read was Invisible Sun, which is neither).

The game is arranged around exploration and discovering things to wonder at — the world has a deep history, full of lost technology, weird magic, strange civilizations. Page after page after page of stuff that I feel should thrill me (I love the fact that there is no experience rewards for combat and that damage is basically static). Especially since I love Cook’s Planescape work and at enjoy the majority of his other D&D material I’ve read. And I like worlds with similar histories, like Talislanta or Jorune. But for some reason, Numenera leaves me under-wondered. The same is true of the videogames (and Planescape Torment was for a long time my all-time favorite).

So what’s my malfunction? What am I missing?