Assistive technology is an amazing thing. I used to tell friends that for a large part of human history, careers for the blind were restricted to beggar, musician or soothsayer. That’s a fair bit of hyperbole, but by and large a wide swath of everyday occupations and leisurely pursuits were entirely closed off to people with even a minor visual impairment. But then came one leap forward after another in the world of computing and soon software existed that could read printed text aloud, turn computer output into spoken feedback and provide access to information in a coherent and digestible form. I graduated from law school in the top 5% of my class, record and produce a podcast enjoyed by literally dozens of people and make a nuisance of myself on social media just like anyone else. We truly live in a golden age. On Global Accessibility Awareness Day, I thought it would be useful to describe some of the tools I use to (effectively) run tabletop role-playing games online and in person as part of TRF. Continue reading How a Blind Gamer Runs Games
Category: Blog Posts
What’s Cool on Kickstarter
There’s many interesting items to be found on Kickstarter, but these are the coolest ones this week.
Cortex Prime
I’ve played a lot of Firefly, and sort have a love/hate relationship with the Cortex Plus system. Cortex Prime uses the same base mechanics, which means it should be backwards compatible with a bunch of games you already love. The great thing about this release, is that it’s setting neutral, and can bring it into any world you want to. You’ll even be able to publish your own setting material on Drive Thru RPG, using the Cortex Creator Studio. I’m really interested to see the changes that Cortex Prime makes!
“Cortex is an award-winning tabletop roleplaying game system that traces its origins back to the Sovereign Stone System in 1999, and the Serenity RPG in 2005, from which it takes its name. Over the next five years it appeared as the engine powering a series of other licensed RPGs, at which point it was rewritten from the ground up as Cortex Plus. Various iterations of this newer system were used in RPGs based on Leverage, Smallville, Firefly, and Marvel Heroic Roleplaying.
Cortex Prime is the newest version of this much-loved set of game rules, refined and redesigned by Cam Banks under license from Margaret Weis Productions. It embraces its roots as a means of adapting your favorite movies, television shows, and comic books, while emerging finally as a truly multi-genre modular roleplaying game in its own right.
Orc revolutionaries! Giant mecha! Swashbucklers of the far future! Hard-boiled police detectives! Whether you’re a fan of genres and genre mash-ups, any of the older Cortex-powered games, or you’re just looking for a tabletop game system you can customize to your own specifications, Cortex Prime is primed for you.”
Continue reading What’s Cool on Kickstarter
What’s Cool on Kickstarter
There’s many interesting items to be found on Kickstarter, but these are the coolest ones this week.
Eclipse Phase 2e
I’ve only gotten to play Eclipse Phase a handful of times, but I really love the world and especially the resleeving. There’s so many cool morphs that you can play as, and it’s really cool to be able to swap into a new one when you need to. This new edition promises that character creation will be faster, which is great news, I used a pre-gen when we played and I’d love to be able to customize my character more. They’ve also updated the gameplay to make it work a lot smoother, and streamlined resleeving to make it easier to swap morphs. I’m hoping with this edition I’ll finally be able to play as an octomorph. Most of the setting material from the first edition will still be compatible, so your collection won’t go to waste.
“Eclipse Phase is the game of transhuman survival. Technology puts the tools to defeat death, emancipate from need, and reshape bodies and minds in the hands of everyone, but it also provides the means for oppression and mass destruction. After losing Earth in a war with AIs, transhumanity disperses throughout the solar system and beyond, struggling to survive. In a typical Eclipse Phase game, characters belong to Firewall, a secret, cross-faction organization that protects transhumanity from extinction threats. Alternate campaigns involve traversing the mysterious Pandora gates to explore extrasolar worlds or navigating the treacherous terrain of high-tech criminal cartels.”
Continue reading What’s Cool on Kickstarter
What’s Cool on Kickstarter
There’s many interesting items to be found on Kickstarter, but these are the coolest ones this week.
AcadeCon 2017
The RPG Academy has hosted an amazing convention in Dayton, Ohio the past few years, and they’re going to continue to top themselves this year. The convention focuses on playing games with other cool people including Kenneth Hite, James D’Amato, Jim McClure, and all of the Fandible cast. I wish I could make it this year to meet up with all these great people, but you have a chance to get your tickets now! It will be held November 10-12 this year, and there’s all kinds of great swag if you sign up now.
“AcadeCon is specifically designed to be a smaller, non-traditional convention. We are not trying to (nor do we want to) compete with or replace the huge conventions that attract a national audience. At our convention, you’re going to get access to 24-hour gaming hall, a better chance to play in the games you want, the opportunity to spend time and game with special guests, and time to hang out with some of the best gamers in the world—the fans of our show!”
Continue reading What’s Cool on Kickstarter
What’s Cool on Kickstarter
There’s many interesting items to be found on Kickstarter, but these are the coolest ones this week.
Noir World
Noir World is an Apocalypse World game that allows you to play your own Noir game. Which sounds amazing. A femme fatale seems like she definitely would have a place in a game PbtA. You’re not limited in playing in the 1920’s, it’s extensible to near future settings as well with 10 decades available. There are 20 roles you can play, which is great for having lots of options. I’m interested to see how this game will work with no GM, but I definitely want to give it a try.
“Noir World is film noir as powered by the Apocalypse. Around your table you’ll choose from 20 Roles, create relationships between them, build a City, and maybe solve a Crime, all while trying to create the best Movie possible.
It’s powered by the Apocalypse, the same mechanics found in Apocalypse World, Dungeon World, Headspace, and Monsterhearts, but it’s different – there’s no set single person acting as a GM. Here, everyone will have a chance to be the Director, everyone is the GM.”
Continue reading What’s Cool on Kickstarter
Review: Book of Unremitting Horror
One of the toughest parts of running an investigative horror RPG can be creating interesting monsters to terrorize your players. Unlike adversaries in more combat-oriented RPGs, the baddies in a horror game are more than just stat blocks: they need to have a complete background with hooks to discover in order to complete the investigation. Creating these can often be the most entertaining part of GM-ing games like Fear Itself, but sometimes it’s nice to have something to weave a story around.
That’s where The Book of Unremitting Horror comes in. This book provides a collection of fearsome creatures from your worst nightmares. Each entry provides a background for the creature including a story about a haunting and advice on how to run them in a game. And of course, the book also has stats. These entries are more than just single page write-ups, and can easily form the core of a scenario by themselves. In fact, Megan did this to create the one on one session we released for Halloween in 2015.
The thing is, the monsters and demons on offer in Unremitting Horror aren’t just your run of the mill catalog of things that go bump in the night. There are very unique manifestations of common tropes and urban legends that make for genuinely creepy reading. They include things like the Kooks, creatures that retain their immortality by feeding on the essence of young children, the Blossomer, a demon summoned by angsty teenagers in a fit of sex and cannibalism, and Sisterides, basically an MRA’s fears given form.
This book is a treasure trove of the sorts of horrifying moments that make Fear Itself, Esoterrorists and games like them so memorable. Some of the creatures featured in the book are used in the scenario Invasive Procedures, which The Redacted Files played in two parts. Another is featured in the one on one session entitled Soliloquy.
The book comes in both Gumshoe and d20 variants. We plan on using several of the entries in this book to terrorize our cast in the near future. We highly recommend you check it out and pick up a copy to inflict on your unsuspecting friends. You can purchase it on DriveThruRPG for Gumshoe or d20. It’s also available for purchase from the Pelgrane Press website.
What’s Cool on Kickstarter
There’s many interesting items to be found on Kickstarter, but these are the coolest ones this week.
FAITH: The SciFi RPG
I wrote recently about FAITH’s starter set, A Garden in Hell. This core book expands the rules for FAITH, deepens the background for the world, and adds miniatures to your game. As always with Burning Games projects, the book is visually stunning. I’ve had the opportunity to look at some of the mock-ups for the core book and it will be a great addition to your gaming collection. I love that they will be expanding character options, and it’s really great to finally have the gear collected in a book, instead of just on cards. You can of course get the beautiful cards they’ve produced to go with the game in the kickstarter. I think FAITH is one of the more interesting SciFi settings to come out in recent years, and you should look at adding it to your collection.
“The FAITH campaign is one of valiant space travelers, remote uncharted stars and bizarre alien technology. But it’s also a realm of mysterious, invisible forces – the Gods and the outlandish, supernatural powers they grant to those mortals who believe in them. In FAITH, you can be a star explorer, a soldier, a scoundrel or a mystic believer, using a mix of technology, training and god-given powers to survive the untamed regions of wild space against rival factions, alien perils and ruthless bandits.
The book covers the rules and mechanics of the game, the setting and story of the universe, and everything in between. Beautifully illustrated, it will allow you to dive into a sci-fi setting with political intrigue, high octane action and strategical gameplay.”
Continue reading What’s Cool on Kickstarter
What’s Cool on Kickstarter
There’s many interesting items to be found on Kickstarter, but these are the coolest ones this week.
Call of Cthulhu Metal Dice
Q-Workshop makes gorgeous dice. This Cthulhu set is another addition to their wonderful line, with all kinds of great mythos details. I really love how crisp the numbers look, especially since I think some of the other details make them a little busy. However, the leech like mouths on every corner of the dice is a cool and creepy detail. If you pledge at $69 you get the full set of metal dice as well as any stretch goals, which include plastic Nyarlathotep dice and dice bags. If you need a really detailed mythos themed dice set, this is your chance to get a really nice set.
“The horror… The horror. And tentacles, and many mouths full of teeth. I’m still shaking when I think about that. But it made me design this – murmured the artist. We just laughed. But then we abruptly stopped laughing when he showed us what was on the screen.
Since then, this image has been tormenting us, and we finally decided that we needed to release it to the world. We do hope that this will keep our Sanity in check, although you can never know…Ladies and gentlemen, behold the CALL OF CTHULHU RPG METAL DICE!”
Continue reading What’s Cool on Kickstarter
What’s Cool on Kickstarter
There’s many interesting items to be found on Kickstarter, but these are the coolest ones this week.
Shadow of the Demon Lord Freeport Companion
I’ve never ventured to Freeport in a game, but a dark and grimy pirate city on the edge of the known world seems like it would fit easily into almost any game. Now you can bring it into your Shadows of the Demon Lord game, with an official guide to the city and a bunch of new monsters and ancestries. If you’re running Shadow of the Demon Lord then this is a great addition to your game.
“The Shadow of the Demon Lord Freeport Companion will be loaded with goodies for any fan of the Demon Lord. Inside its pages, you’ll find two new ancestries–the undine and the mysterious serpent people known as the Valossans. The book offers ten new expert and master paths, such as the drunken celebrant and the vicious pit fighter. Over thirty new spells join the game, all speaking to the darkness of the city and the sorts of adventures one might undertake in and around it. New gear and new rules for underwater exploration, voyages, and ship battles all help you run seafaring adventures in Shadow. This book gives you a ton of characters, relics, new monsters, and a big adventure you can use to kick off a new campaign.”
Continue reading What’s Cool on Kickstarter
What’s Cool on Kickstarter
There’s many interesting items to be found on Kickstarter, but these are the coolest ones this week.
Satanic Panic
I love the concept for this game. Satanic Panic posits that the people in the ’80s were right. Tabletop games are evil and a way for your soul to become possessed by all types of evil. You play as people trying to end the grip the terrible hobby has on the country. Besides the really great meta jokes there are to be had with this game, secret government agencies tasked to take down evil is a genre I definitely love. I can’t wait to play this!
“Satanic Panic is a tabletop roleplaying game set in the fictional 1970’s and 1980’s where players take on the role of secret government agents tasked with combating the evils of tabletop. The players work as a team with the common purpose to contain, control, and eliminate the threats to our world. They must do all this while keeping the truth from the public, lest a panic ensue.
The game will be a 200-page hardcover book with everything needed for a GM and 2-6 players. It is designed so that the game can be played as a traditional RPG campaign or can be played in an episodic fashion with different numbers and arrangements of players. Satanic Panic brings modern game design principles to traditional tabletop game play. It gives the players all the power they need to fight against the forces of evil while making their every decision have long term consequences.
Join us in the fight against evil, join us in the fight against tabletop.”
Continue reading What’s Cool on Kickstarter
