A Column about roleplaying by Robin D. Laws Many moons ago I encountered a phenomenon I later termed an unrule. A rule, as goes without saying, is text the designer includes into a game to explain how it is played. An unrule is text you have to include to prevent players from making a mistaken […]
Author Archives: Robin Laws
In the latest episode of their Nile-irrigating podcast, Ken and Robin talk player choice-making, King Tut’s meteor dagger, AATIP and The Last Jedi.
In the latest episode of their delectable podcast, Ken and Robin talk Shakespearean gaming, flavor combos, Ruth Tillman and Ken’s Strand Books raid.
Some players find damage dealing in baseline GUMSHOE emotionally unsatisfying. This becomes an issue especially when they’ve spent a lot of points, or gotten a high die roll, only to roll low on the damage die, plinking the opponent for a miserable 1 or 2 points of Health. Rolling high to hit and then minimum […]
After nearly a century of supernatural tyranny, the Castaigne regime has fallen. Your player characters fought in the underground Struggle, then emerged from the shadows with grenades and rocket launchers to bring about the Overthrow. The gates to Carcosa have been closed. But not all the horrors that kept the Empire in place have been […]
In the latest episode of their steady-handed podcast, Ken and Robin talk scenario process, Hellenistic 13th Age, classic Hollywood character actors and Grover Cleveland’s secret nautical surgery.
In the first 2018 episode of their immaculately planned podcast, Ken and Robin talk emotionally engaging RPGs, military operation names, the American anti-hero, and eclipse child conception.
A column about roleplaying by Robin D. Laws GUMSHOE core games present the GM with a default scenario structure you can use when creating your own mysteries to challenge your players. By following it you can ensure that the investigators have at least one, and preferably many, routes to solve the adventure’s key question, whether […]
Ken and Robin talk live at Dragonmeet in their final podcast episode of 2017. We’ll be back on January 5th with more stuff to talk about. Until then, have a safe happy time at holidays, with all the egg nog you desire.
The 1920 murder of Joseph Bowne Elwell asks the question: who would want to kill a womanizing bridge expert and gambler with interests in the worlds of horse racing and Wall Street speculation? When hacked from the history books as a Trail of Cthulhu scenario premise, we can answer the question with a Lovecraftian spin. […]