by Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan The goal of the Ocean Game is to reach Briny Heaven, a drowned magical city under the ocean. It is, deliberately, an esoteric, disturbing or even contradictory goal. Part of the appeal of Briny Heaven is that it is the only way out of the Game; no matter what’s down there, it’s […]
Tag Archives: designer’s notes
by Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan In Merryshire, you’ve got a choice of four Kin to pick from – halflings, dwarves, pooka, and boggarts. Players need ways to distinguish their characters from each other. There’s probably another game out there in the Halflings Solving Mysteries And Farting Around Possibility Space that doesn’t include anything but halflings. (I know […]
by Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan Mysteries are undeniably tricky things. They’re closely related to crosswords. When you’re doing a crossword, bits of the solution come early and easy. 1 Across, six letters, “the crime of killing another person”. MURDER 3 Across, eight letters, “figure of speech, not unlike a simile”. METAPHOR Other bits are a little more […]
by Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan Back in the day at Irish cons, we had a system where multiple tables would play the same scenario at the same time, tournament-style. One of the joys of this setup came after the game, when the players and GMs met up to compare notes. “We killed the dragon in two rounds […]
by Tristan Zimmerman Pelgrane’s forthcoming RPG Ballad Hunters — described in this Page XX article — does something new for Pelgrane Press’ GUMSHOE games. Ballad Hunters adventures are only two or three hours long. Each adventure is centered around a single traditional folk ballad, and such songs contain only so many gameable details. If […]
by Tristan Zimmermann “Compass verses” are the best mechanic in Pelgrane’s forthcoming RPG, Ballad Hunters, a game described in this Page XX article. It’s the mechanic my playtesters consistently talk about after they play the game: how much fun they had with their verse, and how differently the game would have gone if they’d had […]
by Michael Duxbury Alteregomania is out on sale! It’s a standalone GUMSHOE One-2-One release, including all the core rules and background information needed to take investigative journalist Klara Koenig through her first adventure. I can’t wait to hear how players and GMs get on with the story! The world Klara inhabits is a dystopian take […]