Last weekend I was invited to participate as a guest star in a session of Tales from the Loop (TFL), Simon Stålenhag’s RPG set in a science-fictionalized small town from the 1980’s. The Player Characters are a band of kids (12 – 15 years of age) who are caught up in mysterious events surrounding a secret … [Read more…]
Compiled for Lord Beckett by Talvion Tulossa of Clan Cormallen in the Year 614 by Frangian Reckoning Preface The enclosed notes are for the use of Lord Winchester and his kin. The author hopes that they may provide some aid in his quest to locate his family’s ancestral lands, to reestablish the Winchester family, and … [Read more…]
This is RPG-ology #11: Scared, for October 2018. Every once in a while I will surprise someone, that is, my abrupt appearance causes them to jump. Usually they say, “Oh, you scared me.” I always think, and sometimes say, “No, I startled you.” I always say that when the situation is reversed, if I jumped … [Read more…]
The House of Wold is possibly more uncommon than the House of Holma. They are often unliked and show up often to deliver bad news. Said to be messengers of God, they are often carrying burdens and always on a mission. Their temples are small, rarely visited and often in remote locations. As a Wold … [Read more…]
This is Faith in Play #11: Halloween, for October 2018. One of the unofficial “traditions” of the Faith and Gaming series was that in October we always talked about something related to magic. It happened entirely by coincidence (and we have discussed that recently) the first year, and thereafter I looked for topics for October. … [Read more…]
The Beckett family ventures into the Temple of Pholtus described in part 1 of this adventure narrative. Background The session began with the PCs at a ruined temple of Pholtus, not far from the western shores of Blackwater Lake. They had already explored one outbuilding, where they found some hidden valuables in a buried stone … [Read more…]
This is RPG-ology #10: Labyrinths, for September 2018. In game terms, a labyrinth is a geometric puzzle, a system of passable and impassible spaces solved by the discovery of a consecutive path of passable spaces connecting some number of points, commonly the entrance and the exit. A maze, usually, refers to a type of labyrinth … [Read more…]
The House of Foura is an odd house by comparison to the others. The House is closely associated with the Aruman, dreams and destiny. They are sought when a way must be found. Despite their good fortune, they often don’t accumulate much wealth or seek fame. They instead seek to fulfill their purpose. To a … [Read more…]
This is Faith in Play #10: Goodness, for September 2018. Back in May I introduced the notion that in the original Dungeons & Dragons game, alignment was the True Religion of the game, what the characters ultimately fundamentally believed. I did not at that time delve into what those religions were, but promised to return … [Read more…]
In this series of articles, Michael Garcia shares various custom rules and handouts related to his worldbuilding for his ongoing Northumbria campaign. It is well known among scholars that the world has at least two main continents and countless islands, surrounded by at least four seas. Of these continents, the vast region known as Northumbria … [Read more…]