Palace Heidelberg (part-finished DW adventure kit)

Here’s something I used for the last couple of hangout games of World of Dungeons.

Dear adventurers of mixed repute…
You stand at the gates of the once-majestic Palace of Heidelberg. Once a gothic masterpiece, it’s been destroyed and partially rebuilt a dozen times over the centuries. Each of you has a personal stake here (although the others may not
know it yet.)

Download Palace Heidelberg Dungeon World Adventure kit (pdf)

I wanted to introduce some kind of bonds system into our WoD play, so I came up with some adventure-specific ones (inspired by John Walton – specifically this post.) These worked pretty well, but I struggled to develop these in-game which meant they didn’t really live up to their potential.

I’ve run out of steam to develop this any further, but feel free to use them in your own games as you see fit.

I’m on A Boat! in RPGnow’s top 100! THANK YOU!

Wait, what?

I just want to say a BIG thank you to everyone who’s picked up and endorsed my first Dungeon World adventure pack, I’m On A Boat! The feedback has been amazingly positive and it’s really inspired me to keep going with these.

I hope everyone who’s picked up a copy has a fantastic time playing – be sure to let me know how it goes! (And if you’ve not picked it up, go grab it – let’s make it to #90 next week!)

Pacific Rim: A Rebuttal (Or: How I learned to stop worrying about clones and love the mecha)

Firstly: Spoilers abound. Stop reading if you want to see this movie unspoiled, like I did.

Still reading? OK, first things first – don’t worry about that first sentence up there. This movie is the most formulaic you’ve probably seen in a long while. I’m here to tell you that’s no bad thing.

Pacific Rim: A hundred-ton stunner, or Jaeger bomb?

A slime icon for my next DW pack

Here’s something I put together to use for my next Dungeon World adventure pack. Why are your standard D&D oozes always boring old cubes, anyway? I figured some more slug-like elements might make them look more visually interesting.)

On something I mentioned last Christmas…

Just re-read this snippet I wrote last Christmas:

For now I’m going to keep working on the writing, as if nothing else I just want to get into the habit of putting words on paper as much as possible. If I have to learn the selling and production parts later, so be it, but I won’t get far if I’m not in the habit of writing.

Fair words, past-Joe. However, now I’m thinking it’s the selling and production parts that inspire me to keep writing. If I’m finding I’m flagging in the writing, I can spend some time laying it all out instead. And seeing the finished item – a labour of love – selling, even for pennies – is really gratifying and inspires me to do more. Just so long as I remember not to design as a way to avoid sitting down and writing, and not get bummed out if a product doesn’t sell well.

Drawing a Line

Well… it’s been a while.

Where have I been?

Nowhere else, really. I’ve still been working on games in my spare time; I didn’t do much gaming during the spring though.

Weeding the Aspidistra (Part 3)

Players: Gabe, Talos and Kendrick (from last week) plus Yana, an alien pilot.

Marek, the XO

Kurt, the Pilot

Magnus, the Engineer

Ten Days Later….

Weeding the Aspidistra (Part 2)

Session 1, Part 2

(Crap! I left it too long to write this up, and forgot the details. Sorry! Any participants reading this – feel free to email and jog my memory, and I’ll update it.)

The team head to Docking Bay 94 – the bay is locked down, but surely there must be records nearby of the parts and work being done on the ship?

The crew find a linked workshop with just the details they need, in equal parts cajoling and tricking the poor engineer on duty there into revealing the appearance of the ship’s officer who ordered the parts.

Weeding the Aspidistra (Part 1)

The players: TALOS the hacker android; KENDRICK the dour human engineer; “GABRIEL” the mutant kleptomaniac, fixer and compulsive liar.

Session 1, Part 1

The Aspidistra (light frieghter)

The party were all gathered in one of the ship’s cargo holds, turned into an impromptu briefing room (a few chairs, a holo-projector, that sort of thing). After several minutes of waiting, TORQUILL and EDWIN – the ship’s XO and chief of security (also, previous characters of Gabriel’s and Talos’ players) enter.

They give the brief – the captain’s found one of their competitors, the Aspidistra, has set down for repairs on nearby Lansing colony. It’s a service station and truck stop – nothing special as these places go – the key fact is the ship is vulnerable and the crew (about a dozen of them, including their captain) are likely scattered, enjoying some shore leave. Chief engineer Raleigh’s estimated the repairs will be completed in less than two days – so the team need to get there sharpish and do whatever they need to do to stop the ship flying again.

Recovery from the Malcontents

Characters: Erlenmeyer (helpful robotic labourer); Edwin (veteran security chief of the Stymphalian); Xenon (chaotic evil mercenary*).

Game: Orison (v2.9..ish), my under-construction sci-fi RPG.

Thoughts: Tom seemed to enjoy running the session but agreed it was a different beast to WRFP, as the GM doesn’t roll any dice (a la Apocalypse World et al.) Henchmen need some work – perhaps for future sessions henchmen guarantee a success for one roll relevant to their occupation, after which they’re dead meat? Also, finally a death roll – yay – although it was rushed. Interesting there was no complaint for the character actually taking the death option, regardless. Needs more research!

Aboard the Stymphalian, Orison Sector:

The characters are requested to recover an experimental engine on behalf of Qynntal Hskiin, representing (in an unofficial capacity) Interstellar Express. The engine, built into a research craft, crash landed on a radioactive planetoid in the Malcontent belt. The conditions are harsh, and organics won’t last long in the poisonous atmosphere even with respirators, so time is of the essence.