tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4126322530201259395.comments2022-06-26T23:25:36.257-07:00Stuart WritesStuart Watkinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17323946940741432185noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4126322530201259395.post-23938776473949357062022-06-21T06:43:57.762-07:002022-06-21T06:43:57.762-07:00Looking forward to reading more of your reflection...Looking forward to reading more of your reflections. I always love hearing about people's process and 'why'. lylyeehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10660207333541969316noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4126322530201259395.post-68865419017239599112022-04-12T03:04:51.278-07:002022-04-12T03:04:51.278-07:00Into the Odd is the game, Mark of the Odd is the e...Into the Odd is the game, Mark of the Odd is the engine/SRD.iammattsandershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07076322260156508253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4126322530201259395.post-61838988153305946062022-04-11T03:51:48.448-07:002022-04-11T03:51:48.448-07:00Into The Odd, not Mark of The Odd.
John Harper di...Into The Odd, not Mark of The Odd.<br /><br />John Harper did Blades In The Dark as well as Lazers and Feelings. There's a lot of Hacks for it.<br /><br />Grant Howitt on Itch does a lot of decent and PWYW one page RPGs.<br /><br />This is the Year 0 engine SRD.<br />http://frank-mitchell.com/rpg/year-zero-engine-ogl/#foreword-by-frank-mitchell. I think the game you're recommending is a hack (which is fine!) But they are different things. <br /><br />https://www.drivethrurpg.com/m/product/274623. This is based of Vince Bakers Dogs In the Vineyard which is a classic moral storytelling RPG. You may find it in line with what you want and if you ask nicely they'll probably send you a free pdf for the school.<br /><br />PJ Coffeyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02353947157373615914noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4126322530201259395.post-28868517478228885072022-03-08T10:40:37.439-08:002022-03-08T10:40:37.439-08:00I am loving Labyrinth with my 8 yr old and can'...I am loving Labyrinth with my 8 yr old and can't wait to introduce it to the larger group. I am struggling with the larger group (8-12 yr olds). Our first game was Magical Kitties Save the Day and t was a huge hit. After several sessions I wanted to do something else with animal characters that was a little more complicated and landed on Mouseguard. I love Mouseguard but the group is struggling. maybe too much reading and writing and rereading of the character sheets? Or my lack of clarity on some of the rules? Both? <br />I would love to simplify Mouseguard, but I am am Noob GM. We are looking for animal characters, more problem solving than fighting, lots of in-game roles. Any suggestions? Maze Rats is certainly adaptable. Quest looks good but seems more fighting focused. I tried a Lasers and Feelings one shot and it was.....not very engaging. I really would like to make Mouseguard work. I think having that developed world with maps and rich characters is appealing top all of us.Taskahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05643428718506693110noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4126322530201259395.post-10412492825745510532022-03-08T10:11:53.308-08:002022-03-08T10:11:53.308-08:00I am loving Labyrinth with my 8 year old and can&#...I am loving Labyrinth with my 8 year old and can't wait to intro it into the larger group. <br /><br />Taskahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05643428718506693110noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4126322530201259395.post-82896436350353358892022-02-09T21:01:39.980-08:002022-02-09T21:01:39.980-08:00"I write because I can't draw" is ab..."I write because I can't draw" is absolutely relatable. There are moments, vivid and vibrant that are rattling around inside my head that I wish I could adequately express in full living color. But I got words, not a sense for lines or color. I can't show you, so let me take this rack of tools that I /can/ use and paint you a word picture.<br /><br />This was a good read. Thank you. Shawn Drakehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12545903337684271963noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4126322530201259395.post-87873348937761699852022-01-11T14:56:10.925-08:002022-01-11T14:56:10.925-08:00Thanks for this review! I picked it up and will g...Thanks for this review! I picked it up and will give it a try. I'm intending to use it to establish a history for the ship used by the crew of the merchant vessel in my Five Parsecs From Home playthrough (he inherited it from his parents, but what had transpired before them?) and hopefully, if the system accommodates it, for the backstory of a military vessel for an all-Dwarven Stargrave crew (the captain previously commanded it in the Navy before he and it were decommissioned, and prior to that he was a crew member, but the Dwarves build sturdy ships that outlive even them, after all).HeadHunterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13341026876138311676noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4126322530201259395.post-59283690951354084222022-01-06T14:41:55.832-08:002022-01-06T14:41:55.832-08:00Love this, great choices! I'm familiar with m...Love this, great choices! I'm familiar with most of these but really want to dig deeper into Maze Rats and Quest. <br /><br />My new go-to has been Labyrinth: The Adventure Game. It's a super simple d6 mechanic, and it's so easy to prep and run - comes with 100 "scenes" you roll to randomly find (so maybe you do 20-30 scenes total in one run through.) They are all one-off situations, so it's easy to put down and come back to later, and it really just gets people into the meat of it quickly. It's also not combat focused, the situations range from puzzles, roleplay encounters, events, weird locations, etc. it's really a great starter. <br /><br />Duseyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11777355902434675183noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4126322530201259395.post-51266806391353893722022-01-02T21:56:19.771-08:002022-01-02T21:56:19.771-08:00Time is such a funny fickle treacherous idea. We d...Time is such a funny fickle treacherous idea. We don't all have the same hours in the day because we have different bodies, and hurts and pressures and the kinds of jobs we have do different things to our energy levels outside of those working hours. I've always hated that "we all have the same hours as Beyonce bullshit", because no, no we do not. It's such as interesting thing to keep unpacking, and to keep figuring out how we use the time we personally have to work towards our own personal goals and ideas of success (another funny fickle treacherous idea). I think the idea of goals that are based on our own effort is really healthy and useful. <3 <br /><br />Your comments about time and the tiny human really hit me unexpectedly. Sometimes when I'm feeling really shitty about myself and what I've achieved, I forget and then remember that I've done it all while raising two humans (and recovering from domestic violence and other traumas) and I realise what an incredible achievement that is. I wrote most of a 75k novel one-handed on my phone while patting my smallest to sleep and that is no insignificant thing. It's so easy to be hard on ourselves and to think we aren't working hard enough or smart enough, but we are almost always doing much more than we think we are. <br /><br />This year I'm leaning into the word cherish - cherishing time, cherishing small moments, cherishing the people I love, cherishing myself, cherishing progress (however small). <br /><br />I hope you and the fam have a wonderful year and that you feel a sense of pride and achievement in all of the contributions you make this year. <br /><br />x<br /><br />Alylyeehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10660207333541969316noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4126322530201259395.post-87671893482933957822021-11-14T17:56:15.987-08:002021-11-14T17:56:15.987-08:00Looking forward to hearing how this goes. I am rea...Looking forward to hearing how this goes. I am really intrigued by Warlock! and I think what you have started with is brilliant. It took me years to articulate my frustration as a GM but what I feel often happens is that some or all players don't buy into what the GM has set forth AND some GMs don't buy into what the players want to accomplish. Both can happen at the same time and either can create tremendous stress on a group. I've recently started a Hexcrawl and in roughly six hours of game time the players have murdered a town's sheriff, took over his position, and attacked members of the King's Watch who partol the King's road. At the moment I'm buying into their story LOLCross Planeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00258583245202567276noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4126322530201259395.post-90547429172606254272021-05-11T12:55:03.166-07:002021-05-11T12:55:03.166-07:00I have enjoyed reading your blog so far. I am cons...I have enjoyed reading your blog so far. I am considering starting a West Marches campaign in the future for students at my school. Right now I have five students in a game and a couple others who might be interested. I do not like to run for more than five at a time, and I've had issues getting all five together. I think West Marches might be my answer. The players are really enjoying the current campaign in Forgotten Realms, but I would love to build my own world West Marches style. I look forward to future installments.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4126322530201259395.post-67248269807421799712021-04-15T10:28:43.465-07:002021-04-15T10:28:43.465-07:00Wanted to say: Great Work! I love reading all of t...Wanted to say: Great Work! I love reading all of these blog posts and it has inspired me to run a West Marches style game with my group. We are going to play in the summer, so hopefully I have time to absorb more of your knowledge before then :) Keep it up!Trevor Osbornehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16332402723841171218noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4126322530201259395.post-87104305934983992392021-03-26T13:12:38.725-07:002021-03-26T13:12:38.725-07:00Hey I hope you can see this. So this blog has insp...Hey I hope you can see this. So this blog has inspired my friend and I to start a West Marches game ourself. We have both DMed 5e before and really like the idea of building a world through play with a group of our friends. I saw that recently your post on r/mattcolville was taken down so I just wanted to reach out and say that we are still following this blog for advice and inspiration (and some straight up idea theft for our games). I hope that your West Marches experiment goes well. Happy gaming and God Bless.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12484963746207909709noreply@blogger.com