I can hear it now. “Serket! You literally reviewed a game last week. Why do you have another review for an entirely different game this week?” Timelines are funny. The PaperCult crew wrapped up our game of Break!! on the 28th and it took me two weeks to find time to write about it. Directly … salvage union retrospective
Earlier this year I joined forces with some folks over at PaperCult to play new rpgs together, working through our backlogs to “Meet the RPG”. The first game we played together was Break!!, a lighthearted adventure fantasy game by Reynaldo Madriñan and Carlo Tartaglia. Though the full and correct title of this game is “Break!!”, … break!! post-mortem
I’ve been reading Fabula Ultima and playing Octopath Traveller 2. Somehow, these two ingredients have mixed in my head to develop a dungeon crawl procedure based on their chemistry. Neither of them are really about dungeon crawling, and I am, perhaps infamously, not an OSR nerd. This is why I find it so weird that … hacking the dungeon procedure
– The Water Magician if hunting monsters and delving into dungeons is so organized and regulated, you’re not playing a fortune-seeking hero, you’re playing a government employee with a weapon I was talking with some friends a few weeks ago about adventurer’s guilds and found myself confronting this popular understanding of organized adventuring. I get … adventurer’s guilds: the anime perspective
The annual convention for Warframe, TennoCon, happened this past weekend. For those unfamiliar with the video game, it’s a space ninja looter-shooter with uncharacteristically benign monetization. Unlike other free-to-play games, Warframe ensures that all players can earn premium currency and has even removed microtransactions when players were using them too much. Between the lore and … warframe & tabletop game design
A few days ago, I read Novecento’s post on How To Start Making Your Own RPG Stuff. Most of the advice covers the basics on how to get started, but the idea of “What do I need to make this adventure game playable?” resonated with me. It reminded me of a post by Jay Dragon … target rich environment
Earlier this year, one of my friends convinced me to start reading Dungeon Crawler Carl. This is one of those series you truly cannot judge by its cover. Or its description. It’s not a series I would have otherwise read, but I agreed to give it a shot as part of a “media trade” — … put more explosives in your game
About a week ago, I jokingly announced to my friends that I had seen one too many posts about torches. My comrades in the OSR have received abundant mileage from blog posts talking about torches, torch alternatives, lighting, making light matter, and all manner of darkness mechanics. Truly: I love that for them. I am … alternative game fantasy: a manifesto
Almost two months ago, I reviewed crafting mechanics in games before laying out the ground rules for crafting in my fantasy heartbreaker, The Serket Hack. During that process, I boldly announced that I was going to shoot currency with a gun. This is the follow-through. The Lore Reason In The Serket Hack, humanity has been … im going to make the economy worse
When combat starts, why does the wizard not simply cast their biggest spell? Magic as Ammunition The magic system of Dungeons & Dragons is (in part) based on a series of fantasy novels called the Dying Earth series by Jack Vance. Wizards memorize a limited number of spells, and when they cast them, they forget … why does the wizard not simply cast their biggest spell?
