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  1. robowieland

    Bow Down To His Majesty The Worm

    There tend to be two types of cities in fantasy campaigns. The first kind are neo-medieval museum spaces where magic helps smooth over the differences between what the players know and what historians might quibble about. The second are filthy urban nightmares that reflect the anxieties of...
  2. robowieland

    ARKYVR Turns Mothership Into Lights, Camera, Aliens

    We are living in a wonderful time when there are two great space horror RPGs on the market. I own both Alien and Mothership because they have their own strengths. Alien lives in the iconic space horror setting and lets players try to survive against the infamous Xenomorph, the hard laws of space...
  3. robowieland

    Edgerunners Mission Kit Dips A Chrome Toe Into the World of Cyberpunk 2077

    While there’s naturally been a lot of attention devoted to Dungeons & Dragons this year because of the 50th Anniversary, it’s also good to see other classic games return to the public consciousness. Cyberpunk 2077 has a shaky launch but has not just survived but thrived since then thanks to a...
  4. robowieland

    Kosmosaurs Is A Sugary Blast Of Saturday Morning Action

    One of the most surreal discussions I’ve had as a parent is explaining the concept of Saturday morning cartoons. Yes, there was once a time when kids got up early, loaded up on sugary cereals and watched a variety of toy commercials masquerading as TV shows. No on demand streaming or pausing to...
  5. robowieland

    Pack Up The PCs (Including The Dog) To Take The Last Caravan

    According to the internet, everyone will, at some point, go on adventure with Pedro Pascal as he escorts A Special Child Through A Bad World. This concert peaked a few years ago when Pascal was the lead in both The Mandalorian and The Last of Us but it was the first thing I thought about when I...
  6. robowieland

    Cowboy Bebop RPG Establishes A Rhythm Of Its Own

    One of the main advantages of playing a licensed RPG is playing in a world everyone at the table already knows. It’s fun to imagine your characters crossing paths with the heroes you all love, facing the bad guys you all hate and kicking off each session with the theme song that gets stuck in...
  7. robowieland

    A Pair of GM Books Puts More Options On The Table For Spire

    In days gone by, companies used to put out new supplements every month or so. This was how many publishers kept the lights on by promising new rules or an advancing storyline for players already locked into their games. This has since shifted to a model featuring less releases that cover more...
  8. robowieland

    XCrawl And Dungeon Crawl Classics Make An All-Star Team

    Xcrawl has been around for 20 years, first published as a D&D Third Edition supplement and then a Pathfinder version. It’s been circling around Goodman Games for a few years before finally landing a Kickstarter for XCrawl Classics. Dungeon Crawl Classics seems like a good system for a game that...
  9. robowieland

    Who Hurt You? Let Players Help With Memorable Villains

    Villains are an important part of every RPG campaign. The expectation is that the Game Master will devise some sort of compelling Big Bad which will wow the players and drive them to adventure. While this can be the case, the Game Master can take some steps to have players help with the heavy...
  10. robowieland

    Outcast Silver Raiders Lets You Choose Your Own OSR Adventure

    One of the main hallmarks of OSR design is minimalist design. These games want to call back to that feeling of cracking open an ancient boxed set, rolling up a few characters and getting players into a fantasy world without a lot of worrying about rules, optimization or ten page character...
  11. robowieland

    Deadpool Delivers A Delightful Adventure For Marvel Multiverse RPG

    One of the theoretical advantages of tie-in media is being able to coordinate releases across multiple mediums. Shadows of the Empire for Star Wars is a famous example, releasing books, soundtracks, video games, comics and even a sourcebook for the classic West End Games Star Wars Roleplaying...
  12. robowieland

    Outgunned Brings A Little Dice Dice, Bang Bang To Your Table

    One of the main ways that most RPG players classify their games is "gritty versus cinematic". Gritty games tend to feature rules where the hit points are low, the dice are cruel and the game rewards clever execution over trusting in character abilities. Cinematic games lean into genre emulation...
  13. robowieland

    D&D General D&D Player's Handbook 2024: The Official Advance Review

    After three years of prognosticating, hand wringing and trash talking, the next version of the Dungeons & Dragons Player’s Handbook is here. The ruleset formerly known as #OneD&D has arrived as 2024 Player’s Handbook and although it’s set for a general release on September 17th, the displacer...
  14. robowieland

    Triangle Agency Saves The World One TPS Report At A Time

    There’s horror all around us. We rarely get to see things like tentacled horrors or immortal bloodsuckers in real life, but we’ve all had harrowing experiences of meetings that could have been emails and co-workers who keep messing with the thermostat without asking permission. Triangle Agency...
  15. robowieland

    Checking In With Yazeba’s Bed & Breakfast

    The popularity of cozy games has exploded over the past few years. These games explore slice of life stories rather than epic tales of star empires or dragon war. If you’ve played Animal Crossing, Stardew Valley or still love The Sims you’re familiar with this style of game. It’s unsurprising...
  16. robowieland

    It’s Hard To Be A Saint In The City Of Spire

    Players enjoy a good conspiracy. What they truly love is to be part of one. Games like Delta Green and Vampire The Masquerade bring the players together by surrounding them with secrets and making it hard to know who should be entrusted with forbidden knowledge. Spire: The City Must Fall, from...
  17. robowieland

    The Knave And The Bold

    Most old school RPGs share two design principles. The first is an abundance of charts and tables to choose entries from or to roll on. These provide inspiration for the GM when they are writing up the next adventure or give them ideas when the players stray from the obvious path. The second is a...
  18. robowieland

    Take The Long Way Round To Ragged Hollow

    The Merry Mushmen have made a name for themselves as the masterminds behind Knock! Magazine. This periodical offers lively discussion about the OSR through design articles, rules hacks and short adventures. They moved into publishing full fledged adventures with Nightmare Over Ragged Hollow last...
  19. robowieland

    My Favorite Picks From Unnatural Selection For Shadowdark

    Last year, Shadowdark broke onto the scene as a breath of fresh air. It mixed the best parts of OSR austerity and 5e fluidity to make an experience that appeals to both audiences. Its embrace of third party support has mostly expressed itself in adventures and small add-ons to let groups adjust...
  20. robowieland

    Distress Signals Highlight Why Space Is Trying To Kill You

    The distress signal is one of the hardiest hooks in the Game Master’s toolbox. It offers a bit of mystery and the promise of action. What’s the problem? Is it a trap? How do we fix things? Can we fight back if we’re caught off guard. Distress Signals from Reece Carter offers a collection of...
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