When a friend asked me to run an RPG for their group of friends—all of whom were queer, and most of whom had never played an RPG before—I gave her some options to choose from. Horror? D&D-style fantasy adventure? When I mentioned DramaSystem, her eyes lit up. The rules are very light, there are no […]
by Adam Gauntlett The Vampire The opening of a new Odeon cinema sparks a vampire craze, and presents the Bookhounds with an unusual opportunity for profit. This is nominally set in 1936, the year Dracula’s Daughter is released, but could be restaged at the Keeper’s convenience. Odeon The Odeon chain of cinemas get their start […]
Social Combat in Swords of the Serpentine When words cut as sharply as a knife, you don’t actually need to carry a knife. Whenever Smaug’s roving eye, seeking for him in the shadows, flashed across him, he trembled, and an unaccountable desire seized hold of him to rush out and reveal himself and tell all […]
Shards of the Broken Sky has more oozes than you can hold in just one dungeon. Stirring the ooze-pot, I realized that the original black pudding from page 240 of the 13th Age core rulebook is one of the worst-designed monsters in the game. Not if you’ve been playing 13th Age. No, if you’ve been […]
Inspired by Ray Winninger’s seminal Underground RPG from Mayfair Games (which is sorely due a reboot), these parameters for Mutant City Blues let the players shape the future of their city, shepherding it into an era of prosperity or fighting against the tide as it’s engulfed in crime and corruption. Each parameter’s measured from +3 […]
In the latest episode of our deliciously salty podcast, Ken and Robin talk Mythos creature selection, Dutch pistachio heists, the Library of Babel and Douglas MacArthur conspirology
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When seeking structural inspiration for DramaSystem play, you’ll find the purest sources in literary fiction and realistic drama. With no genre conventions to process, the bones of relationship-based storytelling clearly show through. The satirical literary novel Startup, by Doree Shafrir, features an interconnected group struggling to stay afloat in NYC’s tech world. You could easily […]
In the latest episode of their high mimetic podcast, Ken and Robin talk options vs core experience, Northrop Frye, bugbears, and J. F. C. Fuller.
We’re happy to announce we’re once again taking part in Free RPG Day 2019 on Saturday, June 15th, and this year’s free Pelgrane giveaway features adventures for the forthcoming The Yellow King RPG and 13th Age. The Yellow King RPG – The Doors to Heaven Behind Iron Doors, a Gateway to Doom! Paris, 1895. A […]
In the latest episode of their restlessly exploratory podcast, Ken and Robin talk installation horror GMCs, Richard Francis Burton, rewatching movies, and Aaron Burr’s Upper Canada coup.