Shadowrun: Anarchy (hardcopy, PDF) is the narrative-heavy, shared-storytelling, alternate ruleset for Shadowrun. Among other differences, it has a non-traditional, abstracted movement system that lends itself to “theatre of the mind” style encounters, more-so than a lot of other RPGs. The GM and players don’t need to know how many meters/squares away a shooter is; she is either Close, Near, or Far. During a player’s Narration, [Read the article]
Isn’t the RPG community awesome? You can always count on them to step up when needed. Check out this bundle… It’s the “Hurricane Harvey Relief Charity Bundle.” “Hurricane Harvey, the most powerful hurricane to hit the continental US in a decade, has devastated the Texas Gulf Coast. In Houston alone, it has dropped over 2 feet of rain (and counting). FEMA estimates that 30,000 people may [Read the article]
Editor’s Note: This article by Brad Murray was originally posted here. I loved it so much that I asked to repost it on Stuffer Shack. Thanks, Brad! +Cam Banks got me thinking about layout and thinking about it from my usual location, 10,000 meters above looking down. So I think there are three things layout serves and hitting any one of them is probably enough [Read the article]
I love terrain, and Fat Dragon Games has continuously been my favorite. They just announced a few sales, but the one that I love is 80% off their bundle of paper-printable terrain. I have purchased several of their terrain downloads, and my players love seeing them at the table. If you didn’t know about these, let me tell you: You download the file, print, cut, [Read the article]
You’ve got a big boss fight lined up. You want it to be scary as hell, with the players fearing for their character’s lives, while still invested enough to take on the beast. Any player who has glanced at the Bestiary or Monster Manual probably isn’t going to be amazed when you drop a description and tell them to roll initiative. That all changes when [Read the article]
Ever since the creation of such board games as Mice and Mystics and Gloom that utilize aspects of tabletop roleplaying games, the line between roleplaying game and board game has become murkier and murkier. However, where the line should be drawn can be found in the distinction between the original roleplaying game, Dungeons and Dragons, and its predecessor, Chainmail. For some background, Chainmail was a [Read the article]
There are role-playing games (RPGs) designed to take horror as the main theme, similar to horror novels. These games are designed around the concept that there are events and things making people jump, or squirm, or go mad. Elements of horror are important in storytelling because they help in creating the mood for the people experiencing the story as it unravels to them. A problem [Read the article]
Deadly Trappings By Kenzer & Company 82 pages (PDF) This review starts with a gamer admission as well as a disclosure, and the gawds of the many faced dice, demand my confession. First, I have a long-standing and serious love/hate relationship in regards to dungeon trap manuals and RPG trap rules/guidelines. This is the first section of any new dungeon fantasy RPG I go to. [Read the article]
I was watching Luc Besson’s new movie, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets… “In the 28th century, special operatives Valerian and Laureline work together to maintain order throughout the human territories. Under assignment from the minister of defense, the duo embarks on a mission to Alpha, an ever-expanding metropolis where diverse species gather to share knowledge and culture. When a dark force threatens [Read the article]