#Morningstar Makes RPG

[drewpicturesani]

HEY I MADE A THING (or even two things!!)

If you love DND, fantasy, and magical maximalism as much as I do, support an independent artist?

[staerplatinum]

Some of my favorite doodles from my headcanon/redesign concept sheets used as an excuse to list my headcanons about the main six (for an AU that I'm writing)! More under the cut!

Charlie Morningstar:

She's way more hot-headed than in canon, albeit still keeping her cheerful and gentle persona.

She loves food, and she's always hungry. I always loved the trope of protagonists (both male and female, like look at Goku himself, Usagi Tsukino or Minako Aino) and I think it could fit Charlie perfectly!

She loves planning (and this is already canon) and she has a lot of stationary gadgets. "Sure Alastor, you can borrow any pen! ... Not that one! :D" And takes good care of them.

Her birthday is February 29th. I thought that it wouldn't be strange if her birthday ended up being that day if she follows a demoniac calendar...

Vaggie:

It's canon that she likes everything to be clean and organized. I think she would help Niffty with the rooms and everything! They bond!

She and Angel Dust absolutely have BFFs vibes. Before Hazbin Hotel I remember they were meant to be a couple, but with the new canon they're still adorable as best friends and I love the dynamic more. They get into fights but it's never anything serious, they look like a big brother and a little sis, even though sometimes she definitely acts as a big sis to him. Angel sees Molly through her :(

As we know she doesn't really believe in herself, but she actually makes a very good leader!

In my fanfic, contrarily to the series, she was really fighting with burning hate towards the angels that cast her out. She holds a deep grudge and it's hard for her to come out of it. (I want Out for Love to be useful, it's my favorite song ç_ç)

Her name as a human was Agata Flores, she was born the 28th of June in 1993. If we still count 2014 as her death and if she was once a winner that then became sinner... my headcanon is that she died of a hate crime in March 25th 2014, aged 21.

Angel Dust:

He's not in drag 24/7. He really is feminine, but sometimes likes to try masculine outfits too. (which make Husk wonder "why am I staring??")

He's secretly a nerd. Or not so secretly. He owns video games, and especially likes RPGs and life sims.

He overanalyses everything. Well, almost everything but still. He actually likes reading, and this led him to analyse anything that comes into his eye. (Oh, I can't wait to write one of those scenes because I already had fun outlining it LMAOO)

He's probably Charlie's food buddy. Give them some food and they'll be happy (Valentino doesn't like this but get screwed Val, give him food too)

His name as a human was Anthony (canon) Cavallaro and had Neapolitan heritage. He's born in April 1st (and this is canon) 1912, he died of overdose (canon) in October 11th 1947, aged 35.

Alastor:

I loved his pilot persona more than the series', and most of the things are confirmed canon... but I do have some headcanons for him, too! (also yeah I don't think that will be my last radioapple drawing or doodle lol)

We know he either doesn't sleep or sleeps with his eyes open. Well, I imagine him that in the few rare occasions he actually sleeps, his radio works as a mental surveillance "camera". Also, he's a light sleeper and would definitely go "Do you fellows mind? I'm trying to sleep." like the old man he is.

I would like to explore Alastor's feelings for Charlie more, and how he sees her as a daughter. While we may not know if he was telling the truth, I think they both seeked each other as a fatherly and daughter figures in a way. Many in the fandom headcanon Alastor's father to have been shitty to him. If he truly sees Charlie as a daughter, it could be because he would like to be a better father than the one he had, and since he never had children, he grew affectionate to Charlie as such.

He knows how to handle alcohol well, but I like to think that when he's really drunk he doesn't even know what he's doing. Oh, you saw him playing with Angel's Nintendo Switch? He even brought it into his room to continue playing Animal Crossing by himself? He was totally wasted.

His name as a human was Alastor (which is apparently canon, but I wonder if it'll be retconned or not?) Boudreaux-Alexander. Boudreaux was his father's last name, Alexander was his mother's. He didn't like his mother taking her husband's last name and wanted to keep his mother's. He was born in March 7th 1901, and died in August 4th 1933, aged 32, after being shot by a hunter that confused him with a deer and was mauled by dogs afterwards. (Yikes, I'm so sorry)

Niffty:

She definitely has written lots of fanfics about her fellow hotel friends. Especially men. Yet, she loves Charlie and Vaggie too, so they're there as well.

We know both Niffty and Husk have deals with Alastor. She loves them both, I love to headcanon that when she feels lonely and can't sleep well or had nightmares, she either goes to Husk's or Alastor's room to sleep with them. They welcome her warmly ç_ç

Alastor and Husk most definitely know Niffty's story, which is why they care about her so much. She's childish for her age, but it could be tied to a past that only the two of them know very well.

Niffty knew Vox when they were alive. Now I know it could be a weird headcanon since Niffty is Japanese and Vox is American, but if Niffty's work brought her around the world it wouldn't be weird if they crossed paths. When Vox died Niffty was 19, she either saw him die in front of her eyes or something else happened.

As I mentioned in my concept sheets, she used to wear glasses when she was alive so she can't see really well without them after she died. Sometimes she borrows Alastor's monocle, and if we apply the headcanon that he's colorblind, without his monocle not only he can't see anything but can't even see colors LOL

Her name when she was alive was Sachiko Tanaka, born February 27th 1934. She died September 1st 1956, aged 22, there are popular headcanons about the way she died and yikes, if it's true she didn't have a good death either. Not at all.

Husk:

Maybe I'm overanalysing but what if the reason why he grew affectionate to Niffty was because he once had children? Or just one? Either he had a child and was with him but felt like he wasn't a good father or his ex-wife left him because of his gambling addiction and this made him feel guilty, not able to see his child ever again. (I feel bad just thinking about this but ç_ç)

Despite the fact he hates being on a leash and none other than Alastor's, he actually cares about him. If the two were friends when they were alive (including Mimzy), this could explain why he's still around Alastor even if reluctantly. (Sure he says he's forced, but in the pilot Alastor summoned him, so it's safe to assume either Alastor-Husk-Niffty were roommates before coming to the hotel and did their business without telling Alastor, or simply we need more explanations of Alastor's deals)

His name when he was alive was Ivan Goncharov, born January 29th 1900, and died in December 23rd 1967, aged 67. As I mentioned in my concept sheets, he was friends with Alastor and Mimzy when they were alive and he was the last one of them to die. He would often visit his friends' graves when he was still alive :(

[s-che]

Reporting from the Dream Library: Sagas of the Icelanders

This month, the Dream Library is pairing two extremely good first(ish) generation Powered by the Apocalypse games for our TTRPG book club: Gregor Vuga’s Sagas of the Icelanders and Jason Morningstar’s Night Witches. We had our first session (of Sagas) last Friday and it was an absolute hoot — I’ll jump in to talking about everything that happened in just a moment, but first, as a reminder, if you’d like to swing on by for our ongoing RPG book club, play sessions, or just to talk games and design, you should come do that. I will kiss you on the head if you do that (I will not).

Anyway, let’s talk about Sagas.

What is this game like?

Sagas of the Icelanders is an old PBTA game — one of the first generation after Apocalypse World itself. There’s a dedicated subforum on the old lumpley Barf Forth Apocalyptica forums with posts going back as early as 2010, although the full game crowdfunded in 2013. On surface mechanics, it’s a pretty typical MCed 2d6 plus stat mechanical structure, set in the Iceland of the early 900s, a setting which is (to paraphrase the text), as dramatic as high fantasy, as lonely and communal as the post-apocalypse, and as tense with social pressure as a western. We play as a handful of people eking out lives on a broadly unpopulated island, struggling to survive far from their ancestral homes in Scandinavia or the British Isles. 

The most immediately eye-catching part of the game is it’s emphasis on gender in society in the setting: almost all of the playbooks in Sagas are gendered, and the basic moves too are divided into those available for men, those available for women, and the (very) few shared between them. It’s a hard swing for a historical game — especially one that came out in 2013 — but, for reasons which I’ll talk about in a moment, it works really, really well.

What was this session like?

Our session opened with, hmm, I would say maybe an hour of loose chatter. I would normally call this a pretty inefficient start to a 3-hour oneshot, but it was honestly worth the time. We were playing with materials designed by Jason Morningstar (of Night Witches) — a family tree with blanks left for us to slot playbooks into. Like the gendered basic moves, this felt good — it hit the right balance between suggestion and restriction — and we spent the first third of our time in what we might call idle dreaming, working to slot our characters into a community together and figure out where things stood. In a real way, the session underscored for me the value of good players — it felt collective and collaborative in a way which required a lot of trust and a good group.

Our first hour of actual play was dedicated on family drama: Vermund, the witchy eldest daughter of a recently deceased goði (a kind of local judge), watched from a cliffside as travelers from another community (a goði named Magni and his daughter, Halla, betrothed to Vermund’s younger brother) picked their way along the road towards our homestead. A wedding should be a time of celebration — yet when she read the runes, Vermund saw danger in the future: a plot by Magni to seize control of the property through this well-timed marriage. To make matters worse, Vermund knows a secret: although Bjorn is in fact her mother’s son, his father is not her father but the Christian thrall, Olan, who was brought back twenty-five years ago from a raid to Ireland.

Back at the homestead, Bjorn and Vermund’s husband, Gisli, relax in a hot spring and are briefly taunted by Egil — a foster-brother adopted by the goði before his death, and several years Bjorn’s elder. After insults fly, a holmgang (a formal duel) is planned for later in the evening, and Egil continues on his way, carrying meat for the welcome-feast for Magni and Halla. Yrsa, the goði’s widow, butchers it herself then assembles the full household to give some sage wisdom on how not to ruin things this evening.

In the last hour of our play, Magni arrived — accompanied not only by his daughter but by a priest — and revealed himself to be a recent convert to Christianity. The welcome-feast settled in more or less peacefully (with some stress over Egil’s seat, which was turned over to Magni’s priest)... although Bjorn did not hit it off with his bride-to-be nearly as well as his sister did. When Egil, motivated by drunken passion and perhaps a legitimate sense of brotherly love, attempted a toast which called more attention to Bjorn’s weaknesses than to his strengths, a brawl broke out between the two brothers which ended — tragically — in Bjorn’s accidental death. We ended our session as Magni’s priest prayed, Yrsa wept, and everyone wondered what could possibly happen to our poor community (and the inheritance) next. 

Holy shit did we have a good time. The first and most obvious thing to say — in case it wasn��t obvious from that play summary — is that Sagas of the Icelanders is a deeply social game in a way I think few other games have really successfully mastered. This is where the gendered stuff starts to really come out strong: the playbooks are full of these cascading moves, webs of insult and honor for the men, soft power and tense circumstances for the women, and an altogether sense that things have the possibility to fall apart — or spiral into a blood feud — at any moment. Of course, they eventually did — and in a way I don’t think anyone was expecting. I was excited for the potential of a holmgang, but where we ended up felt somehow more poignant, more tragic and stupid and pointless — and generally more in line with the Icelandic family sagas, the epics from which the game draws its name. 

There were friction points, of course — as we discussed afterward in the Dream Library the game, while it does a really terrific job of modeling what it’s like to participate in gendered society, has no real mechanical scaffolding  for what it might mean to see yourself outside of the role you’ve been assigned. You can fail at performing gender, of course — but never intentionally subvert it. That being said, the game has a real hack-friendly tone to it (one of the perks of being so early in PBTA as a movement, I think), and I think some custom moves would easily resolve those issues for longer-term play.

Speaking of that hack-ishness, I do also want to shout out that Sagas, like Apocalypse World, has a kind of maximalist sensibility that was eventually lost, I think, from a lot of indie RPGs and has only recently begun to be found again. In the race to prove that indie games are easier to learn than D&D, there’s a tendency to slim down as far as you can — turning thick games into zines and zines into one-pagers — which I think is, genuinely, tragic. Sagas of the Icelanders revels in bits of scale and extra content: historical information, appendices on the legal system during the period and how it changed over time, some mechanics to help ease the transition into a Christian Iceland should your campaign cover the decades that process took, and even a short essay reading Iceland as a successful stateless/anarchist society. There are names, dates, recipes, and snippets — Sagas of the Icelanders is crammed full of little details in much the same way Apocalypse World is. 

All in all, it was a really lovely game. I was glad to leave off where we did — and I could have played for another dozen sessions and told the story of multiple generations of this extended family. Sagas is simply good — and more people should be talking about it.

What comes next?

Next on the docket is a oneshot of Night Witches sometime next week as the Dream Library transitions into discussions about that game. I’m really excited — Night Witches, like Sagas, has been on my list for years and I’ve never gotten around to actually playing it. I can’t wait to see how the actual play will shake out. If you’d like to get in on playing, there’s still time! If you just want to come and chat about the game over text, that’s also good! If you’re enjoying reading along with these play reports, well... Keep reading them! 

I’ll be back in a couple of weeks with some war stories.

[magicalgirlagency]

I know how you feel about Viv's works, but I'd really love to see you rip them to shreds. Your rants are always great to read and discuss, imo.

I don't have thoughts on Helluva, but I DO have thoughts for Hazbin. However, they won't be coming from me; they'll come from this neat little review here instead:

Before you ask me: Yes, that's from the creator of Super Lesbian Animal RPG.

But, since you asked for my opinion, I will not give one, but two of them, even:

Charlie sucks as a leader. I'm not sure about the final product, but I remember that in the pilot, she'd be constantly humiliated by the denizens of Hell. Like, isn't she a princess? And also Lucifer Morningstar's daughter? Surely mistreating a monarch is considered a grave offense that can result into severe punishment. I'll admit that Obey Me! isn't the best thing in the world, but at least Prince Diavolo is actually respected/feared by his followers, and is more fleshed out than Charlie will ever be.

Her father Lucifer doesn't look like a demon at all. He looks more like a cherub/cupid/whatever than a demon, and is too goofy. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing bad about being a silly goose, but it's just too much of it I just cannot take him seriously as the King of Hell. Both HazHotel and The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina have managed to do the impossible feat of making The Father of Lies one of the most boring characters ever.

And last but not least: Watch The Amazing Digital Circus, Monkey Wrench and Wimp Witch instead. These three indie animations deserve so much more. You can even find its creators here on Tumblr*!

*I'm not tagging them, because I don't want them to be prejudiced by any potential controversies that come with criticizing HazHotel.

[multi-muse-transect]

Hazbin OC and New Muse Of 2024!

Name: Pix (formerly Charley)

Date And Place Of Birth: Tilamook Bay, Oregon. August 21, 1998.

Date Of Death: 2023

Afiliations: VoxTech

Height: 6’5

Occupation: Video game developer and rising overlord.

Orientation: Straight.

Relationships:

Veorsika Mayday (girlfriend)

Vox (grandfather)

Goals: Wants to become the greatest and nicest overlord in all of Hell.

Likes:

Video games

Developing video games

Steak

Martini's

Waffles

Peanut butter waffles

Peanut butter and jelly waffles

Peanut butter and chocolate waffles

Verosika Mayday (girlfriend)

Hideo Kojima

Treating workers well.

Sex

Older women

Award shows

Charlie Morningstar

Lucifer Morningstar

Angel Dust

Husker

Vaggie

Executing sexual deviants and people who storm on stage to interrupt him.

Dislikes:

Crunch

Mistreating workers.

Valentino.

People who try to deflect blame.

Sexual deviants.

Firing workers.

Studio interference.

Canceling projects.

Sex during work unless it’s with Verosika and it’s during break.

Over-hiring.

Coconuts.

Mammon

Pastors and reporters that blame video games on problems

AI

Horrible video game adaptations

Russia

ChatGPT

Voice Claim: Zach Aguilar, Steven Yeun or Jason Mantzoukas.

Description: In a previous life, Pix was a graduate named Charley from college and studied video game development. He soon moved to Russia to work for a small video game company that was developing an open world MMO RPG survival game. Thing is, the company run by two brothers treated him and several workers horribly like locking them in rooms and making them work 18 hours while changing the game every time the heads played a triple A game that was on the craze and making them pay a fine for any idea they don't like. Soon the heads advertised the game as an open world survival MMO RPG when it really was a horrible extraction shooter. The game came out with extreme backlash and Charley’s career as a developer was basically over as his name was part of it.

What made matters worse, the company shut down and left him jobless and said heads, the brothers, of the company made a cope post via ChatGPT blaming the game’s shutdown on bloggers and influencers while dismissing the allegations doubling down saying they will continue to make games and the only thing that would stop them is if they were killed. Charley ended up buying some weapons from a military stockpile and then broke into their office while letting his workers who were clearing out leave then shot two of the brothers before getting arrested. He was a divisive figure in the media because no one else was hurt in his spree and he had good intentions to make his former bosses pay and made sure no young and up and coming talent like him would get abused. Charley had no regrets and died in prison choking on a steak where he went to Hell. Now as Pix, Charley has a second lease on life and became a famous game developer after signing with Vox and became a rising overlord by having thousands of souls under his contract.

During his stint, Pix met Verosika Mayday during a VO session when Vox wanted a celebrity talent in it. The two quickly became friends despite not being a fan of celebrity voice actors as the two went through similar situations. After that, they decided to start dating.

Personality: Pix is a rather interesting sinner as he was simply pushed too far by his environment and had good intentions before committing his sin. He is very much a kind person who is loyal to his workers and would offer his hand during development. His loyalty to his workers is exemplified when he had a food hall in his building and would give his employees enough time to refine his games while giving them a mandatory four hour break alongside living spaces in case they want to work overtime.

He is very passionate about his craft hence why his games are known to be groundbreaking because of the effort him and his team put onto them. But he's also very demanding and prefers to hire very experienced developers instead of new talent into the fold. This rather demanding attitude made him one of the more elite developers of Hell itself. Pix also greatly dislikes people who mistreat their workers and also sexual harassers like Valentino who he threatened to kill when he saw him harass one of his devs.

His kindly demeanor also makes him one of the most wanted overlord in Hell to work for as his contracts are less than owning one’s souls but more business based. In fact, the ones who take the contract get benefits like pay and sick days alongside housing at the same time. Under Pix, nothing much changes for the contracted except he demands proper behavior and work ethics.

Pix is also known to be very disgusted and angered by people who blame video games for problems. He sees it as power hungry assholes trying to blame something to get more influence over others.

But despite his kindly attitude, Pix can be a perfectionist. This resulted in his games having long development years at times as he’s known to nitpick. Another part is that his passion for developing is so strong that he finds himself not getting enough sleep…or little sleep. In a way, his passion became a Hell of its own.

There is also another darker side as he would literally execute any workers who are being deviants or anyone who is being rambunctious. This led to him killing a worker for sexually harassing a coworker and also shooting someone in the head on live television in an award show when they ran up stage and interrupted him during his speech.

Pix also had greater ambitions and wanted to become an overlord like his grandfather Vox who he is working for. He scouts for talent that are down on their luck and need help resulting in his fellow workers to hold great admiration for him. Pix sought to change the system of Hell by leading by example as his kindness and eye for talent in programming helped him to become an up and coming overlord.

Although he can be known to be very power hungry at the same time. This stemmed from the feeling of hopelessness he had as an overworked game developer. Because of this, he always wants to be in charge and will do anything to stay up top. A trait similar to his grandfather Vox.

His relationship with Verosika Mayday got off to a rocky start as he wasn’t a fan of celebrity voice talent. But the two began to hang out more and more before “practicing lines” for his script in the game. The two officially began dating though their relationship was met with some eyebrows raised as he’s a sinner and she’s a hellborn. Plus Vox wasn’t exactly a fan of it either. All in all, Pix tries his best not to let Verosika down.

Abilities

Demonic Transformation: Almost similar to Alastor, Pix can turn into a being made of pure pixels.

Digital Materialization: Can manipulate artificial light and project it as hard-light projections. This resulted in him creating weapons, holograms and even his own minions.

Skillset

Marksmanship: Pix is known to be a great marksman thanks to learning from a relative and used his skills to murder his former bosses.

Sense of detail: He looks into all of his games before release and would discover bugs that weren't there alongside adding details to make them immersive.

Skilled Developer: In life and in death, Pix was a very talented video game developer who would aim high most of the time. He knows the ins and outs of programming.

[dinochascr]

(  emily carey  +  they/them  )  ⸻ JURASSIC  WORLDS  very  own  kestrel foster is  one  of  the  parks  miniature petting zoo attendant  and  at  twenty-one  years  old  they  couldn't  be  more  excited  to  work  in  this  place.  known  for  being  COMPASSIONATE  and  ANXIOUS  people  associate  them  most  with  staying up all night to see the sunrise just to make sure it still comes up, constant apologies for being lost in your own thoughts, the almost overwhelming feeling of not being enough, wishing on every star in the night sky.

compare to : willow rosenberg ( buffy the vampire slayer ), jonathan byers ( stranger things ), violet parr ( the incredibles ), frodo baggins ( lord of the rings ), hughie campbell ( the boys ), charlie morningstar ( hazbin botel ), rosalind walker ( the chilling adventures of sabrina ), violet harmon ( american horror story ), marshall eriksen ( how i met your mother ), viktor hargreeves ( the umbrella academy )

♡ 𝐏𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐓 ♡

*:･ﾟ ⸻ 𝐁𝐀𝐒𝐈𝐂𝐒

full name : kestrel avery foster nicknames : kes, kezzy age : 21 birthday / zodiac : july 2 / cancer gender / pronouns : non-binary / they/them sexual orientation : demisexual romantic orientation : panromantic occupation : miniature petting zoo attendant favorite dino : parasaurolophus

*:･ﾟ ⸻ 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐘

personality traits : compassionate, anxious, honest, insecure, clumsy, curious fear(s) : public speaking in front of large crowds secret talents : will fucking crush anyone at monopoly & also rolls really good at dnd goals & ambitions : they're pretty much living it memorable traits : seems lost in their own head alignment : true neutral label(s) : the bookworm, the paracosmic vices : stubbornness, impatience virtues : empathetic, loyalty

*:･ﾟ ⸻ 𝐀𝐏𝐏𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐄

eye color : brown hair colour : naturally brown, dyed orange hair type/style : typically worn long & wavy unless it's hot out, then it's worn in a ponytail height : 5'4 build : slender exercise habits : enjoys going for walks & runs dominant hand : right glasses/contacts : n/a tattoos : n/a scars : n/a piercings : ears pierced twice on each side

*:･ﾟ ⸻ 𝐅𝐀𝐌𝐈𝐋𝐘.

father : robin foster ( father ) mother : wren foster ( mother ) siblings : sparrow foster ( older brother ), peregrine foster ( older brother ) children : n/a extended family : n/a pets : views the animals at the petting zoo as pets sort of

*:･ﾟ ⸻ 𝐁𝐀𝐂𝐊𝐆𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐃

obviously their family had a bit of thing for bird names. it was how their parents first bonded, their mother becoming a wildlife preservationist and their father working as an exotic animal veterinarian

kes takes after them both a lot, which is what led them to the job they have now. eventually, they'd like to go back to school to further their education past a bachelor's, but for now, they're satisfied with what they're doing.

takes forever to be comfortable around someone, but once they're friends with a person, kes is loyal forever.

really enjoys board games and tabletop rpg games, but never got into video games

[rollforfelicity]

As predicted, I'm behind! This is partially because I just couldn't think of an answer to day 8 and kind of day 9. I don't know if this counts as an accessory, but I'd LOVE to see a virtual tabletop that is essentially a digital whiteboard (like Canva or Miro) but that has playing cards and dice. So basically Miro meets playingcards.io.

Day 10: An RPG you'd like to see on TV

So many of my favorite TTRPGs emulate media, so I'm having a hard time thinking of one that I would want to see in media! Luck of the Harbor's Warrenguard would be a nice TV show. It would be nice to see a show that has a lot of emphasis on community care, and who doesn't want to see some badass dragon riding?

Day 11: RPG with well-supported one-shots

This is so up my alley because I run SO MANY one-shots! I love games that are explicitly written for one-shots with some extra guidance for campaigns. Fiasco by Jason Morningstar is, of course, a great example of a game for one-shots. I love Chris Bissette's Under The Floorboards, which is designed for one-shots and heavily inspired by The Borrowers. The game is split into sections that keep things moving at a good pace for one-shots: Scouting (setting up where the players are going, what they're in search of, and what obstacles/dangers they're aware of), The Expedition (the bulk of the adventure, aka Doing The Thing), and The Return (what do you do once you get back, and how do you feel about what you did?).

Another thing that makes the game excellent for one-shots is that you don't explicitly don't deal with the journey to or from The Expedition destination. I find that most TTRPGs get most bogged down in the minutia of planning for the big event. Players want to make sure they have everything they could possibly need and have a plan for exactly what they're going to do (which never ends up being how things go). GMs feel like there should be obstacles before the main obstacle, so games last longer than intended. I love a game that's like "You roll the dice to see how prepared you are and then you're there."

Day 12: RPG with well-supported campaigns

There are two TTRPGs I've played as one-shots that I'm DYING to run as campaigns, because they're so much better suited for campaigns. One is Freddie Taylor-Bell's Briar & Bramble, a game inspired by Watership Down and The Animals of Farthing Wood. In it, you play as a group of animals who have been pushed from their home because of human interference, and must find a new place to live. It's so well-suited for campaign play, because one of the big conflicts of the game is...well, conflict! The community you travel with has a measure of Unity that can be depleted, and if things go poorly, your community of animals will fall apart before you ever find a new home. In a one-shot, it's hard to meaningfully explore that. The game also has Defining Moments for each playbook, moves that can only happen once in a character's life, and those hit much harder in a campaign than a one-shot.

The other game I really want to run as a campaign is Brindlewood Bay by Jason Cordova. One-shots of the game are fun cozy mysteries, but so much of the allure of the game is the Void, which only begins to show itself as the game progresses. I really want to run a game that starts as a cozy mystery and ends with the full eldrich horror the game can facilitate.

Day 13: Evocative environments

I'm about to run a paid one-shot of Mausritter, and left it to the players which adventuring location from The Estate they would be interested in playing. For anyone not familiar, The Estate is a collection of adventuring locations written by different game designers that can be run on their own, but are designed to be run as a campaign all taking place at the same country estate. I love the environments for Mausritter and how something so mundane to a human being (like a chimney) can be turned into a harrowing adventure for a mouse (The Tower of Soot). The locations also include a suit of armor, the helm of which is home to a Wizard's workshop. It's so fun (and a little scary!) to get to imagine the world through the eyes of a tiny creature!

I'm still behind a few days, but maybe I'll catch up tomorrow!

RPG a day thread! I will probably forget to do this after a week like I did last year but what the hell! First RPG bought this year is almost impossible to say. I bought Odd Gobs by Madness Heart Games as a gift for my friend and I think that was for their birthday, and if so, that would have been it. I actually am pretty reserved with my game purchases, especially since I already have so many games I haven't played, so I think I've only bought a handful of games this year, most of them from bundles.

Most recently played: Yazeba's Bed and Breakfast by Possum Creek Games! I played a chapter with Mike a couple of weeks ago when my physical copy arrived. We played the chapter The Longest Night of the Year and had so much fun. I'm hoping to play it more soon! Normally I would have played a few other things more recently but I have been recovering from covid so I canceled a few games.

It's almost midnight so what the hell, I'll do day three right now, too. An RPG with great art: Justicar from @dinoberrypress! I love how varied and expressive the character art is in the book. It does a good job of showing the variety of characters you can play in the courtroom setting, and also pays homage to the character designs from Phoenix Wright, which is clearly a big influence on the book. I love this lady and her dog. The art is heightened by the great layout and use of fonts for the game. It's a lot of fun to flip through (and a lot of fun to play).

[jtreat]

Keyword Roleplaying

Was thinking about this today:

The way most players engage with D&D—the play that it’s designed to support—is collaborative puzzle solving drenched in Tolkenien Fantasy with a focus on violent colonizing.

To unpack that a bit: We are given a scenario (a combat encounter, a dungeon, a mission, a world—all puzzles) and we work as a team to overcome it using the tools we each brought (the traits, skills, and gear each of our characters possess) within the parameters set (the system rules and the fiction’s thematic reality). Most of our tools are weapons and attacks, and most of our challenges are monsters to kill, so most of our puzzle solving is optimizing tactical combat. Sometimes our characters face literal puzzles too. In the games I enjoy most, some puzzles are social interactions with NPCs.

All trad RPGs (like Champions, Deadlands, Rifts) are collaborative puzzle solving games offering power fantasies and focusing on violence.

I know from experience my family doesn’t engage with the kinds of RPGs that focus on story telling and that they’re really drawn to the collaborative puzzle solving trad RPGs offer. I’m not sure I could lure them away with an experience like that without violence, but it’s very conceivable. 

So the game design challenge is to create an RPG that offers collaborative puzzle solving without centering violence.

Today, my idea looks like this:

Each character is an archetype and we engage the game through freeform roleplay: Doing and saying whatever we like. The game is looking for a set of specific words for each archetype to trigger forward momentum (some kind of reward or just the next piece of the story).

If I’m the Rascal, I’m rewarded for saying stuff like “it’s only illegal if they catch you,” for doing stuff like conning people, and for getting other characters to say things like “you cheated” or “that was clever.”

I imagine we each have an app that’s parsing what we say and looking for these key phrases, but you could also accomplish this with 1+ attentive facilitators, or perhaps distributing the listening task among other players. I think I want the exact list to be unknown to at least its player so they’re not just rattling off the phrases, but rather trying to say/do things they think might work. I think I want the list to shift so you don’t just repeat yourself every game. A benefit to having other players listening rather than a bot is that they can use human judgment to decide what’s close enough, as well as what feels like fishing.

What’s the game’s less- or non-violent theme? Could be anything, really. A heist. A melodrama. A romantic comedy. A farce. Sesame Street. Scooby Do. Anything with popular genre, familiar tropes, and recognizable archetypes. That’s an insufficient answer because a game system is worthless until you package it with a killer theme, but I’m not there yet. Ideas don’t spring forth fully-formed and I’ll need to noodle on themes that are novel and engaging and would really shine with keyword roleplaying.

If you’ve been paying attention to my game ramblings for a long time, you’ll recognize that this idea is me circling back once again to Jason Morningstar’s Out of Dodge. One day, I will make a word-triggered game. It’s inevitable.

[patchvvork]

 THE GOBLINOIDS ARE HERE AND THEY’RE READY TO BE PART OF YOUR D&D CAMPAIGN :D!!!

I worked on these Goblinoids printable minis for the past 2 months, and the PDF can be be bought at my Etsy Store ^^! Here’s the description:

‘‘ Here's the Goblinoids Paper Minis Set!!! Ideal for a 1st tier campaign full of bad little goblins ;) This Set Contains: - 2 different Goblins (1 w/ a knife, 1 w/ a bow and arrow) - 1 Goblin Shaman - 2 different Bugbears (1 w/ a javelin, 1 w/ a morningstar) - 1 Hobgoblin Warchief The PDF contains the Colored Version, the Black and White ''Ink saver'' Version , the Bases, and simple to follow instructions! The Goblinoids Set are printable paper miniatures, and are intended for tabletop games played at around the 25-30mm scale! ‘‘

To go to my Etsy just type: etsy. com / ca / shop / PatchVVork  without the spaces! (I’m trying to not make posts with link in them, ‘cause tumblr likes to hide posts with links :B)

Share with people who play tabletop RPG and would be interested in inexpensive minis ^^

My comissions are open! Check the ‘’Comissions Info’’ page on my blog!

EDIT: Hey I’ve also posted those on DMsguild (which is a better place to sell them than Etsy I think lol): dmsguild .com /product /279160 /DD -Tabletop -RPG-Paper -Miniatures -Goblinoids -Set- DIGITAL- FILE -Pdf (without the spaces )

[drewpicturesani]

Hi tumblr, I'm trying to turn my hobbies into a viable small business and I would really appreciate anyone who checks out my stuff over on Etsy. I sell handmade D20 candles, vinyl stickers and digital spell cards for DND 5E. Coming soon are tech cards for Lancer RPG and, as always, more card designs, spell levels and candles!

Morningstar Makes RPG

[ao3feed-goodomens]

Shorts

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/36JFkUy

by SrokaZlodziejka

Short stories, or rather best moments from an RPG session I'm making whit a friend where we crossed over the Witcher world whit good omens (still separate dimensions but angels can travel back and forth provided they know how) Lambert convinces Beelzebub to essential say fuck it to the grate plan and they in turn convince Lucifer to do the same. Hell never forms in the way we know it. The fallen refuse to play ball. What will heaven do? Throw a fit. Any way the history of the both world will be weary different now that its influence by Angels and witchers drinking together.

Words: 1953, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Fandoms: Wiedźmin | The Witcher (Video Game), Wiedźmin | The Witcher Series - Andrzej Sapkowski, Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett, Lucifer (TV)

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death

Categories: F/F, F/M, Gen, M/M, Multi, Other

Characters: Beelzebub (Good Omens), Aziraphale (Good Omens), Crowley (Good Omens), Gabriel (Good Omens), Uriel (Good Omens), Michael (Good Omens), Dagon (Good Omens), Satan | Lucifer (Good Omens), Chloe Decker, Mélusine, Coinneach Dá Reo, Shani (The Witcher), Lambert (The Witcher), Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia, Yennefer z Vengerbergu | Yennefer of Vengerberg, Cirilla Fiona Elen Riannon

Relationships: Beelzebub/Gabriel (Good Omens), Aziraphale/Crowley (Good Omens), Coinneach Dá Reo/Original Female Character(s), coinneach Da reo/Beelzebub, crowley/Shani, Dagon/Uriel (Good Omens), Melusine/Dagon, Crowley (Good Omens)/Lucifer Morningstar (Lucifer TV), Chloe Decker/Lucifer Morningstar, Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia/Yennefer z Vengerbergu | Yennefer of Vengerberg

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/36JFkUy

[ariyadaivaris]

i know u've talked about what classes the 205s would have in RPGs but what do u think they'd have in terms of just like. cool weapons in a fantasy world. do u think drew would insist on having just a regular ass sword and tell everyone who had a weapon more than 3 feet long that they were being a danger and they'd go "DREW THATS THE POINT ITS WEPON"

“ITS WEPON” IS MAKING ME LOSE MY MIND FOR SOME REASON HFDSK

CAT IM SO THRILLED U ASKED WHAT A UNIQUE AND GOOD QUESTION!!!!!! i’m VERY much feeling drew having just a regular sword, its tarnished and its been lovingly repaired many times and its, in the scheme of fantasy weapons, basically a toothpick and drew cannot for the life of him accept anyone using any other weapon. that or like, a sickle bc Cowbowy 

jack has a rapier obviously, not EVEN a question. is his umbrella a rapier in hiding, who knows, WE’LL never tell

i feel like akira’s got…a hand crossbow to pick out weaknesses from a distance before engaging fully, something to map out the opponent and maybe get an advantage over them before revealing yourself, but then he’s strapped with the DOPEST GREATSWORD YOU CAN IMAGINE because swords are cool and akira’s cool and he wields it with power and grace!!!!!!

as long as we’re hanging out in the space of cool weapons in a fantasy world unrestrained by practicality or reason, i FEEL like, in my personal opinion, buddy’s just got, like, a fucken hook. like a MEAT hook, like, just an oversized hook on a chain that he throws and catches people on like he’s going fishing and then just ruining their whole DAY. he wears the chains draped over his chest and it gives him a WICKED intimidation bonus that he absolutely doesn’t need but has anyway

HM…im gonna…borrow a concept from ian’s suplex city au i think, noam doesn’t so much wield weapons as he is an explosives expert? a Potions Master…he’s good at blowing shit up and figuring out how best to do that on the fly. his focus is more on evading and then shattering something that will just have a HORRIBLE effect on his opponent. fucken brewing a minecraft slowness potion and then just kicking them to death. though i do like the idea of him also having a chakram for melee purposes and to distract while he cooks up something Big Dangerous because i want someone to have a chakram 

lince has retractable claw gauntlets OBVIOUSLY because theyre sick next question!!!! chkdsj no he HAS those for sure, but he uses them in conjunction with like…okay so he’s GOT some sort of springheel mechanic that gives him an impressive vertical leap and with that he can get pretty effectively around the battlefield. he fights to get people so spun around they don’t even know where he is before slashing them to RIBBONS and he’s pretty good at that! he’s working on like…figuring out like. a whip that’ll grab people and just throw them around to daze them even more, and also to make it a tail bc thats his theme, he hasn’t gotten it down yet but he’s WORKIN on it!!!

mustafa dualwields two morningstar/flail combos that consist of a heavy steel spherical cage, and instead of the spikes being part of the steel, inside the balls are these literal stars that still cause piercing damage but in a MUCH more magical way. its not the blow that gets you, its the barbs from the star bursts. this is ALL some dumb fantasy shit but yknow what im gonna indulge in that bc its fun and i hope it works out!!! its just a lil trick mustafa has as the holder of the Light and he likes to think he’s doin alright with it

THATS NOT EVERYONE BUT IM STILL THINKIN ABOUT IT………THIS IS VERY COOL AND A GOOD QUESTION AND ILL KEEP TURNING IT OVER!!! if you have any thoughts on it id LOVE to hear it, i can only IMAGINE what you could have in mind *__*

[bodieh]

Does having two spikey balls make any difference to the function of this weapon? I imagine if anything it actually makes it less effective and harder to get the swing right, though it sure does look scarier. So I recommend one of these uncoordinated multi-ball spikey flailey things for anyone looking to make more of a visual impression than a literal one. Spikey flailey thing - 2/5 morningstars #dungeonsanddragons #dnd #artist #art #artwork #instaart #illustration #dnd5e #draw #drawing #inked #ink #sketching #doodles #doodle #roleplay #rpg #character #dungeondrawingdudes #lineart #linework #fantasy #fantasyart #adventure #slowquest #games #game — view on Instagram http://bit.ly/2QzXb6Z

[dragonologist-phd]

Has anyone asked to get to know Desta yet? If not, I'd love to!

Hooray and thank you! Getting to Know Desta, my Paladin Godlike Watcher:

01. Name: Desta

02. Nickname(s): Desta’s old trainer with the Wayfarers used to call her ‘Sunshine’, but she was the only one allowed to.

03. Gender: Female

04. Sexuality: Demisexual

05. Best Friend: Tekehu

06. Relationship Status: It takes foreverfor her to make a move, but by the end of Deadfire she’s finally datingAloth

07: Crush/Significant Other: Desta had quite the crush on Pallegina in the firstgame, but it came and went pretty quickly. She then went on to pine over Alothfor far too long before they finally got together.

08. Least Favourite Person: Definitely Durance. Just everything about him.

09. Favourite Food: Strawberries! Anything with strawberries in it, anythingstrawberry-flavored… she loves it.

10. Favourite Place: In Caed Nua, she had a little garden that she set up. Shewouldn’t let the Steward improve it with any of the building magic, so it wassmall and not especially impressive, but it was Desta’s favorite to place to go andjust hang out for a bit if she needed some time alone.

11. Valued Attributes: Kindness, Honesty, Curiosity

12. Dreams: Honestly it’s kind of hard to define her dreams because most of herlife she’s spent deliberately not planning ahead and just going where the presenttakes her. As of the end of Deadfire, I suppose her dream is reunite with Alothso they can work together to fix the world Eothas broke.

13. Nightmares: Ever since the Inquisition visions, she’s been terrified of theidea that she might do something she thinks is right that ends up reallyhurting someone. On a more mild note, she’s scared of fire. She feels sillyabout it- being a nature godlike doesn’t actually make her more vulnerable thanany other person, but it still freaks her out a bit (which makes using thepaladin healing flames kind of tricky)

14. A Secret: Oof, Desta is too damn honest for her own good, I can’t think ofany good secrets. I think maybe she keeps what happened in Rymrgand’s realm asecret- the thing where he put a chime in her chest and when she dies she’ll goback. It’s just… not fun to talk about, she doesn’t  want to worry anyone else, and it’s not likethey can do anything about it anyway.

15. Best Day: The day she officially joined the Kind Wayfarers- it was both thefirst big decision she made for herself, the first time she had a sense of realpurpose, and the first time she actually felt like she really belongedsomewhere

16. Worst Day: Definitely the day Berath and Co. revealed the reason behind theexistence of the godlike. Honestly, up until then she hadn’t been the godsbiggest fan but she still had respect for someof them, because she felt like at least a few had good intentions. Afterthat conversation, however, she was just pissed off at all of them and it took hera long time to process those feelings

17. Favourite Outfit: She pretty much lives in her armor, and when she’s notshe’s more concerned with comfort than fashion. In a Modern AU she would bethat person who wear pajama pants to Wal-Mart (much to Aloth’s horror). Shealso likes flower crowns.

18. Weapon of Choice: Mace and shield. She can also rock a Morningstar, butit’s a bit more of a hassle to carry around all the time.

19. Role in RPG: She prescribes to the Jester and Merle school of healers,where she can do it if you need it but there are also more exciting things shecould be doing

20. First Thought in the Morning: She’s definitely the let’s open the windows and watch the sunrise! type of morningperson

[walkthroughfox]

PC Gaming E3 Conference Break Down

PC Gaming E3 Conference Break Down

PC Gaming E3 June 11th, 2018

Satisfactory

By Coffee Stain Studios

Gameplay trailer shown

First person sci-fi factory building game

Gather resources from the world to build a self-sustaining factory on an alien planet

Play as an engineer sent form Earth to an alien planet

Use vehicles to explore for further resources

Factories will grow to be enormous

Singleplayer or co-op

Closed alpha in the coming months (sing up now)

Neo Cab

Gameplay trailer shown

Play as a cab driver in the future

Dialogue options with your various passengers

Mavericks Proving Grounds

By Automaton Games

Battle royale with 1,000 players

Trailer shown

More realistic setting (i.e. more like PUBG than Fortnite)

First person

Sign up for closed beta

Made on Cryengine

Persistent social hub in the world called The Capital (more of a full world than just a map)

The Forgotten City

Gameplay trailer

First person puzzle exploration game to solve a mystery of what is corrupting the city

A re-imagining of the mod

Coming 2019

Star Control Origins

Trailer shown

Sci-fi

Explore thousands of planets that you can land on

Focus on discovery and exploration using your spaceship

Open universe action RPG

A full story

Ship to ship combat

Fully open, simulated universe

Create your own ships, planets, or adventures with mods

Multiplayer Fleet Battles mode

Ship combat PvP

Preorder and play the beta today

September 20th release

The Hunt Showdown

New trailer

New weapons

Crossbow, throwing knives, handheld crossbow, sticky bombs

Archangel: Hellfire

Multiplayer, off-rails mech combat

4 maps, 6 mechs, 13 weapons

July 17th release (Early Access out already)

Trailer

Destructible maps

Free roaming PvP

TDM

The Sinking City

Third person, Lovecraftian open world action mystery game

Gameplay demo shown in background

Investigations are the focus of the game

No handholding, no objectives or markers

Takes place in fictional Massachusetts city

Sanity mechanic

Choices or seeing disturbing things will affect the player’s character’s sanity

Cause hallucinations, disturbing sounds, etc.

Different monsters that the player must defend themselves from using weapons (scarce ammo), traps, etc.

Reiterated that investigations are still the core of the game, not combat

Warframe

Trailer for The Sacrifice (story expansion)

Coming this week on PC

Umbra Warframe being added

Trailer for Tenno Live 2018 (Warframe convention)

July 7th

Already sold out, will be streamed on Twitch

Sega Games coming to PC (shown in compilation video)

Shenmue I and II

Shining Resonance Refrain

Yakuza Kiwami

Valkyria Chronicles 4

Yakuza Zero

Releasing this August

Killing Floor 2

4 major updates this year

First came in March

Summer sideshow coming back

Weapons upgrade system

Trailer for The Summer Sideshow Treacherous Skies

Steampunk style

New map is a steampunk airship

New robot enemies

New guns

New character (Ms. Foster)

Coming tomorrow with a free weekend coming up

Tripwire stepping into publishing

Publishing Road Redemption

Man Eater

Made by creator of the original Killing Floor mod

Made by Blindisde and Tripwire

Trailer shown

Play as a shark

Open world action RPG where you play as a shark who hunts humans

Full single player campaign

Untitled Publisher (that is actually their name)

Bravery Network Online

Trailer shown

Turn based fighting game

Cartoon art style

2019 release

Morningstar

Trailer shown

First person farming game with some sort of dark twist

Overwhelm

Trailer shown

2-D platformer shooter

Art style reminiscent of Downwell

Available now

Jurassic World Evolution

Out tomorrow (June 12th)

New trailer

Jurassic Park building/management game

Stormland

Made by Insomniac Games and Occulus Studios

Trailer (same one that was released last week)

First person shooter open world VR game

Play as an android

Ability to fly and climb

Focus on fluid movement

World is ever changing

Entity called the Tempest rearranges the world every week

Night Call

Trailer

Noir game set in Paris

Play as a taxi driver who gets involved in a world of Crime

Black and white drawn art style

Sable

Open world narrative focused exploration game

Think Journey

Trailer

Unique shaded art style

Pre-alpha gameplay shown

Star Citizen

New trailer

Alpha 3.2 coming soon

Acer came on stage to talk about their new monitors

Genesis Alpha One

Randomly generated universe

Build your ship out

Explore planets in first person

Splice alien DNA with your crew

Fight off alien attacks

September 4th

Don’t Starve Hamlet

Trailer

Looks like more Don’t Starve

Coming this December

Just Cause 4

New trailer showing off the new Apex Engine

HDR, Interactive weather, improved draw distances and lighting, Physics based aerodynamics, improved destruction systems

Reworked combat model

New weapons, AI, guns, etc.

Improved grapple system

Grapple is now customizable

Overkill’s The Walking Dead

Set in Washington DC

New gameplay trailer

4-player co-op shooter

November 6th release

Telltale’s The Walking Dead: The Final Season

Pre-release footage shown in background

Unscripted combat being added

Story starts after the time jump from the comics

August 14th release

Noita

Action roguelike where you play as a wizard

Pixel art, but every pixel is physically simulated

Allows for mechanic interactions and full destruction

Two Point Hospital

Gameplay shown in background

Hospital building game

Comedic tone (certain diseases include Turtle Head)

Cure patients

Improve you doctors and nurses

Investigate cures

Releases this Fall

Realm Royale

Battle Royale game with fantasy RPG elements

Different fantasy classes with different abilities

Forges can be used to craft gear, but will show the forge as being lit up, making it a target

Its been out for a bit (Free to Play) (Currently in Alpha)

Ooblets

New trailer

Farming and building game where you also collect Pokemon style creatures

Inspired by Pokemon, Harvest Moon, and Animal crossing

Anno 1800

Trailer

RTS

Looks like more Anno

City building, economy, and naval warfare

Rapture Rejects

Top down, cartoony battle royale by TinyBuild

Trailer

Cyanide and Happiness art style

Sign up now for the alpha

Hitman 2

New trailer

Shows mission set in Miami

November 13th release

Even bigger crowds than last game

Player can hide in crowd to evade pursuers

Sniper briefcase is back and can hold more than just your sniper rifle now

Elusive targets (limited time events) coming back

Preorder for access to co-op sniper mode

Overall: A fun little conference that was completely free from bloated PR talks and only focused on games (except for the brief segment from Acer). Both of the hosts were great and took any slip ups in stride. Only complaint really is how long it was. And since it's the PC Gaming show, there aren't any massive title reveals, but that's to be expected.

Favorite Moments

Good to hear more about The Sinking City. I really want a new Lovecraftian game.

Man Eater; You play as a shark who eats people and its an open world RPG. It's crazy enough that it might work.

Genesis Alpha One sounds really awesome. Definitely on my radar.

Two Point Hospital looks like a fun twist on the building/management genre. Plus, the host perfectly handled the mic not working situation.

Rapture Rejects; I'm a sucker for Cyanide and Happiness. The really funny trailer grabbed me.

Let me know if anything is missing/wrong and I will fix it.

Other Conference Breakdowns

EA

Microsoft (Xbox)

Bethesda

Square Enix

Ubisoft

Sony (Playstation)

Love game walkthroughs? Bookmark WalkthroughFox.Com as it's about to rain walkthroughs.

[thefifthworld]

RPG Theory July: Asking Questions

There's a hashtag on Twitter for #rpgtheoryjuly where a lot of brilliant and talented game designers are talking about what makes roleplaying games work. Here's a contribution from Jason Godesky about some of his design principles for the Fifth World.

My first attempt at a Fifth World RPG was actually a D20 system. It was a disaster, but I kept trying new things. There was a Fate version at one point, which was less of a disaster, but not quite right either. Where things really started to come together for me was when Epidiah Ravachol, in promoting Brie Sheldon's "Five or So Questions" series on Google+, said that questions offered the most innovative, powerful tool in roleplaying games today.

(To close the circle, I was interviewed by Brie for "Five or So Questions," where I mentioned how Eppy's review had influenced my design.)

It's amazing how much you can control where a conversation goes by controlling the questions asked. The Fifth World is not an intuitive setting for most people. Roleplaying games ask players to create a shared fantasy, which already poses a challenge in and of itself. Most roleplaying games rely heavily on understood genres to keep that fantasy shared, and still often stumble. RPG players often recount their horror stories of the Lord of the Rings style fantasy game where someone insisted on playing a robot or a samurai. Most games lean heavily on a genre that all the players know and understand to keep players from introducing elements that are too jarring and might break that shared fantasy. It still happens, because a shared fantasy remains a daunting undertaking, but with a well-understood genre, we at least all understand the expectations and can keep it to a minimum.

The Fifth World has no such genre, and for a long time we struggled with maintaining the shared fantasy. Many players would look to the post-apocalyptic genre and make it far darker, more violent, and brutal than it should be, which would break the shared fantasy. Some players would push it towards the fantastic, making magic explicit instead of personal, tipping from animist realist to high fantasy. Some players would turn the families of the Fifth World into silly cargo cults. Others would turn them into noble savages. Without a genre to point to, you face a bunch of bad options, primarily big, thick setting books that players have to study before they can play (meaning that most won't, either playing it without studying the big book, or just not play it at all), or move that to the table and have someone lecturing everyone at length about what the setting is and what it isn't.

I think we found a good answer — in questions. The game begins with family creation, where the game asks you questions: about your family's history, how they dealt with the changes in the world, and the customs they developed along the way. This sets up a powerful co-authorial relationship. Since the game is asking the questions at this point, it gets to lead the discussion. It sets up that the world has changed, and that your family did face these challenges. By providing the answers, you and your friends come up with a family that has a history. We often generate customs that we think are not so great, or belong to an older time and should be set aside, but because they came from our own answers to these questions, at least one of us can see why it was a good idea at one time. That makes us all feel connected to this family, and invested in its continued welfare. While I still see players regularly plotting how to overthrow families they had no hand in making and how to bring back cities and kingship and 9-to-5 jobs and poverty, I haven't seen players who want to do that to families that they helped create. They might want to overthrow a particular custom, but for the good of the family and because they're invested in their lives overall, not because they aren't.

Once you have a family, the game still centers on questions, but it opens up a bit. Now it's all about who gets to ask questions, what questions you can ask, who gets to answer, and whether or not that answer is reliable.

I think one of the biggest design triumphs in roleplaying games in the past decade is the principle Jason Morningstar used in Fiasco. Throughout that game, you can choose to establish one half of the truth or the other, but never both, and so the result is always something shared. You can choose how the scene begins, or you can choose how it ends, but not both. You can choose to establish the general category of a bond or the precise nature of it. Questions have this same quality. Asking the question holds a great deal of power, but so does answering it, and by its very nature a question breaks this power in half and gives each to a different person.

I was inspired by a story that Calvin Luther Martin tells in The Way of the Human Being about a man who unwittingly visits a beaver family. He emphasizes the theme in the story of keeping our perception open as long as possible. Each definitive answer makes the space of possibility smaller. It's a story that emphasizes the importance of not limiting that space too quickly, to give it time. This is an idea lurking at the heart of gameplay in the Fifth World. The story is a wild thing, something that exists between us and amongst us but could never exist anywhere else but here, with us, right now. It takes solid shape as we ask questions, but it also dies. Only at the end do we know what the story was, what it had to be because we were the ones telling it and sharing it at this place and at this time, but it's also at that moment that it is no longer the wild, autonomous, shape-shifting thing we set out after. We hunt the wild story. Our questions allow us to see it, but they also kill it.

You can ask any question, but unless it's on the short list of questions available to you, and you spend a resource (awareness) to back it up, the answer may not be reliable. Unreliable answers can give us sensory impressions, but they may or may not lead us to the truth. They don't necessarily limit the space of possibility. They don't necessarily bring us any closer to the wild story.

Strategy involves picking the right person to give you an answer that will shape the story the way you'd like. For example, in our playtest saga, everyone knows that if you'd like more philosophical or anthropological depth in the story, you should ask me; if you want things to get weird and dark, you should ask Wayne. Strategic gameplay is about knowing your friends.

You can learn the names of places by getting to know their story, and that unlocks new questions that you can ask and get reliable answers to, but only in that place. If you want to ask that question, you'll need to lure the person you want to ask there, to use the unique spirit (the unique atmosphere, the unique setting, the unique properties) of that place to draw out a reliable answer. If you get to know a place very well, you might know it well enough to carry that question with you and ask it wherever you go.

While listening to the audiobook for Peter Godfrey-Smith's Other Minds, I gained a deeper level of understanding of why this works so well. In that book, Peter writes about the two functions of the brain: to perceive the world, and to coordinate action. Of course, these are also deeply connected, because when we coordinate action we change the world that we're perceiving. They exist in a loop. The gameplay in the Fifth World being built around questions would seem like it only hits one half of this cycle, perception. And explicitly, that's true. The other half of the loop is what you do with it, that is, the ritual phrases, where we do things that are difficult and/or dangerous (another point where I stole shamelessly from Epidiah Ravachol, this time from Vast & Starlit) and try to understand another person well enough to appeal to her needs.

Asking questions can help build a shared fantasy even where there's no genre to rely on. It focuses gameplay on exploration, and it creates an anarchic flow where we all get to wield the supreme power of the person asking the question or answering it, but never both, and always only for a moment.