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  1. J

    Around the World in Eighty Days: A Campaign

    Not practical in my homebrew D&D setting. The world is too large, and most of it is unknown. There are no known places on most of it to put the way-stations, and there's nothing remotely resembling the Pathfinder Society. Also, the world is cube-shaped and magic is quite strange near the...
  2. J

    TOON the cartoon RPG, anybody play it?

    I ran it a few times, always as one-shots. It needs to be played at breakneck speed, without thought or planning, so I found sessions had to be fairly short, and were quite tiring.
  3. J

    Worlds of Design: The Hierarchy of Authenticity

    The two long-term campaigns I mentioned are both set in an alternate-history WWII. That provides vast amounts of source material, and those campaigns are the second and third passes through the timeline. The first ran from 2007 to 2021, with characters based in the UK. The new strands are...
  4. J

    What Does "Simulation" Mean To You? [+]

    If my experience on Stack Overflow: Worldbuilding is any guide, there are quite a few people out who think that comic-book super-powers are "realistic" and can have "hard science" explanations. To me, "simulationist" means there is significant verisimilitude, and that asking "how has this...
  5. J

    Describe your last RPG session in more than 5 words.

    To describe it from the victim's point of view: You're the sole crewman on board the sub. The other three left two days ago to go onto land on an uninhabited island, light a fire, cook some of the penguins there and generally relax a bit. You've been living with them in this sub for several...
  6. J

    Describe your last rpg session in 5 words

    GURPS 4e Day After Ragnarok, in Australia: Japanese mini-sub caught napping, captured.
  7. J

    Immersion?

    I wrote about immersion at some length in issue 5 of The Path of Cunning, the GURPS fanzine I co-edit. It's a bit long to repeat all of here, but the 'zine is free for the downloading. To summarise, immersion is my desired state when role-playing, both as player and GM. It isn't something I can...
  8. J

    What makes setting lore "actually matter" to the players?

    Most fantasy settings certainly do. There are two homebrewed ones that I find interesting, and they have some common features: They are science-fictional, in that they have reasons why the world is the way it is. They feel that's necessary, because without explanation, a D&D style fantasy...
  9. J

    Player skill vs character skill?

    There is another form of skill, which is skill in operating as a team. This was forcibly brought home to me on Saturday, watching a different party in the Avalon campaign. They are 6th-8th level AD&D, having played together since first level. A couple of the players have been playing for...
  10. J

    Should traps have tells?

    You've just caused me to realise that I need to use a trap that has gone off prematurely, killing the person who was installing it. Their body is still inside it.
  11. J

    Describe your last rpg session in 5 words

    AD&D 1.6e, Avalon campaign, Greensward strand. Plan: contact enemy of enemy.
  12. J

    TTRPG Podcasts

    Improvised Radio Theatre - With Dice is done by a couple of friends of mine, and is pretty good.
  13. J

    Worlds of Design: The Hierarchy of Authenticity

    That has become a trope in its own right. The correct response from PCs is normally attacking. Quite a lot. I don't worry very much about them being ordinary people (ordinary people wouldn't attempt the things that PCs try), but I do care about their feelings and motivations, and having them be...
  14. J

    Should traps have tells?

    I don't put traps in for their own sake. They get put in scenarios by inhabitants who are trying to defend themselves, and how good they are definitely depends on the resources available. One of the simplest, but most effective was a large net, coated in pitch, and hanging from a ceiling. It...
  15. J

    What is/are your most recent TTRPG purchase(s)?

    Not exactly a purchase: a playtester's complimentary copy of GURPS Gun Stats, a supplement that lets you create GURPS stats for firearms from information you can research.
  16. J

    Describe your last rpg session in 5 words

    GURPS 4e Day after Ragnarok, in Australia Japanese commandos, not Deep Ones.
  17. J

    Describe your last rpg session in 5 words

    AD&D 1.6e, Avalon Greensward campaign. Now we're getting real information!
  18. J

    Describe your last rpg session in 5 words

    Honor & Intrigue, Privateers of the Complications Party dissolved, story is concluded.
  19. J

    Describe your last rpg session in 5 words

    Mongoose Traveller 2300, Bayern Campaign Ancient horror in (SPOILER). Flee!
  20. J

    Describe your last rpg session in 5 words

    GURPS 4e Day After Ragnarok, Australia. Serpent cult, veterinarian was leader.
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