A column about roleplaying By Robin D. Laws When asked what one can do to be a better player, the first thing I always say is: the mere fact that you’re concerned about this suggests that you’re probably already most of the way there. The second thing I say is: see where the ball is, […]
In Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff 603 we riffed a series of plot hooks arising from the career of experimental filmmaker and Vodou researcher Maya Deren. But maybe that left you unsatisfied, wanting a Yellow King: This is Normal Now scenario hook that drew in all of experimental cinema. You absolutely requested that, so […]
A column on roleplaying by Robin D. Laws GUMSHOE players sometimes clutch when they realize that one of them has to go talk to someone. Break through that moment of indecision by following these simple steps. Interpersonal abilities exist to help make this decision. Start by asking yourself what you know about this person, and […]
Page Turners, the game of dramatic interaction for one player and one game moderator, allows you to explore any story that revolves around interpersonal conflict. Some scenarios supplied in the book mix familiar genre tropes with the game’s character-driven storytelling structure. Sarah Saltiel’s “Addison’s Shadow,” brings the contemporary fantastical imagery of the weird tale into […]
Page Turners, the game of dramatic interaction for one player and one game moderator, provides rules for play in any genre that revolves around interpersonal conflict. It includes eleven fully fleshed scenarios ranging from screwball comedy to doomed vampire romance, from a behind-the-music rock ‘n’ roll saga to the emotional journeys of the last […]
Yellow King: The Wars PCs will often meet soldiers from nations other than France. These GMCs may show up in your storyline unexpectedly. When that happens, reach for this handy article for names and personalities to adjust to your needs. Depending on your alternate history, soldiers from any European nation might be friends or foes. […]
A DramaSystem Series Premise For nearly a century members of the long-lived Zharraeus clan have dwelled on the borderlands near the Big Pit. Operating a combination tavern, inn, and supply store near a dangerous dungeon might give pause to the faint at heart. The hardbitten Zharraeuses revel in their survival in a place where all […]
When they first hear of the creature known as the Lou Carcolh, the art students of Yellow King: Paris may breathe a sigh of relief. This titanic, man-eating cross between a snail and a serpent dwells more than a day’s train trip away from the École des Beaux-Arts, in a cave beneath the town of […]
In 1895, the art student player characters of The Yellow King: Paris can’t simply pop home to visit their wealthy American families for the holidays. They can’t take time from their studies at the École des Beaux-Arts for a two-way ocean voyage. Like other temporary residents in someone else’s city, they’ll need to band together […]
A column about roleplaying by Robin D. Laws A recent observation I’m adding to my Things I Always Say file is that when players worry about a scenario being railroaded or linear, what they really mean is not that it lacked choices or branch points, but that they didn’t get to Do Their Thing. Many […]
