They were a chance assembly of people who all happened to have some curious story current in their own family or neighbourhood which had puzzled them, and deserved (as they conceived) further investigation. Each had supposed that his own particular problem was a unique one, and was surprised when he found someone else with a […]
Category Archives: General
When creating your own game with the GUMSHOE rules – or when hacking an existing game – one key early step is deciding which investigative abilities you’re going to include. Different games use radically different numbers and lists of abilities – compare the sprawling list of abilities in The Esoterrorists to the much more compact list […]
In the latest episode of their red carpet podcast, Ken and Robin talk D&D’s market leadership, Young Adventurers’ Guide with Jim Zub, and the Toronto film fest.
Hi everyone! My name is Becky and I’m the new Admin Assistant for Pelgrane Press. I’m relatively new to the world of RPGs, having been a board gamer for about 10 years now (favourites include A Feast for Odin, Food Chain Magnate & Great Western Trail) but RPGs are a big part of my life […]
In the latest episode of their beautifully antlered podcast, Ken and Robin talk DIE and depictions of RPG in fiction, Huey Long, qi-lin, and the USAF’s plan to stop the earth.
When I asked the 13th Age Facebook group what they’d like me to write about in this month’s column, the first response was, “Sword & Sorcery for 13th Age! Some ideas for tweaks, reductions and hacking.” My initial reaction was, “No freaking way can I turn a game specifically designed to emulate the heroic fantasy […]
“Fly the ocean in a silver plane See the jungle when it’s wet with rain Just remember till you’re home again You belong to me. I’ll be so alone without you Maybe you’ll be lonesome too, and blue.” — Jo Stafford, “You Belong to Me” (1963 cover version) In March 1952, U.S. Air Force General […]
“My rifle and myself are the defenders of my country. We are the masters of our enemy. We are the saviors of my life. So be it, until there is no enemy, but peace. Amen.” — “The Rifleman’s Creed,” as quoted in Full Metal Jacket (Stanley Kubrick, 1987) Spy stories, war stories, and horror stories: The […]
Want to heighten dramatic tension or foreshadow a huge battle far beyond what the PCs are accustomed to? Here are a couple of tricks you can do with the escalation die to achieve that. (For a change, I haven’t used either of these tricks yet—I’ve been playing lately instead of GMing. Maybe I can talk […]
“’Wait a minute!’ the man hissed. ‘Are you after more books like that? I know where we can get some.’” — Ramsey Campbell, “Cold Print” (1969) The 1960s were a great decade for occult books, featuring waves of bestsellers launched by Jacques Bergier and Louis Pauwels’ million-selling Morning of the Magicians in 1963. Some of […]