In the latest episode of their fierce, red-headed podcast, Ken and Robin talk weirdness levels in The Yellow King, Bellingcat, dramatic interaction in tabletop, and a French werewolf confession.
Tag Archives: drama system
09
Jan
Jan
A DramaSystem Series Brief For years the Ashton family has enriched itself on the record-breaking sales of their pharmaceutical company’s supposedly safe and effective opioid. Now the pain is coming for them. Characters Encourage players to create characters from the Ashton clan, majority shareholders of the BinghamHealth pharma corporation. With a larger group you might […]
27
Dec
Dec
A DramaSystem Series Brief A cult leader and his flock establish a new compound to shelter themselves from a hostile world. But the world isn’t done with them yet. Characters The players portray the leader of a cult, his family, and others in his circle. Example characters: The leader himself. Since the typical cult leader […]
15
Dec
Dec
Instead of fighting with your family over unmet emotional needs, try roleplaying them! While you’re celebrating the holidays with non-gaming friends and family, at some point the group will start looking for something fun everyone can do together. This is a perfect opportunity to introduce them to tabletop roleplaying games. They’re like board games, but […]
In the latest episode of their emotionally rich podcast, Ken and Robin talk collaborative worldbuilding, more 90s SF cinema, exporting DramaSystem, and the magical assassination plot against Edward II.
In the present COVID-19 crisis, many of us, myself included, have canceled our in-person roleplaying sessions to comply with social distancing or shelter-in-place public health regimes across the world. This Thursday, after a hiatus, I’ll be switching my in-person game to remote. (I’ve just started “Canadian Shield”, an extremely variant Fall of Delta Green series.) […]
18
Mar
Mar
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 […]
[Contains a mild spoiler for the most recent episode of Discovery…] A note on tone in Ashen Stars invites you to think of it as the gritty reboot of a beloved TV space opera show from the past. Enough episodes of Star Trek: Discovery have dropped to see that it is very much reading out […]
18
Sep
Sep
In my last Page XX column I promised a rule for a rare instance of procedural resolution. This occurs when the caller of the scene wants to be surprised by the outcome of an external event. I admit to being surprised that people want this, but it turns out that a few groups do. It […]
05
Sep
Sep
a column on roleplaying by Robin D. Laws When characters in DramaSystem want to accomplish something practical, external to their emotional goals, the full procedural system seen in Hillfolk allows you to narrate a detailed scene around that. It determines not only what ultimately happens, but lays down a series of suspense beats along the […]
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