The Eagles

I’m gearing up for the epic conclusion of my Adventures in Middle-earth campaign and I need to add a new element thanks to some enterprising and unpredictable players. Our Beorning PC had already pushed Beorn to send troops to the players’ redoubt in the Mountains of Mirkwood and didn’t want to risk his position among the Beornings by pushing harder. So, not wanting the player to feel left out, I gave him a chance to talk to the Lord of the Eagles and request aid.

He knocked it out of the part.

My Cypher Community Products!

Hello, readers. Just a quick update today to link you into some bigger bodies of my work! I recently decided to take advantage of the Cypher Creator System to publish some of my work. I created this website to put things out there for other GMs to use in systems that I really like and I’ve been making things for the Cypher System from the start. So, this isn’t really that new for me and it’s not really that new for all of you since both of my products are Pay What You Want.

I really like this option for products, especially for unknown quantities like myself. The first draft of the Martial Arts Flavor is already available on the blog here, so you already see it for free. If you want a PDF copy with NPCs, or you want my new Cybernetics Flavor, you can still get it for free on DriveThruRPG. If you want, you can follow the example of others and chip in some moneys to help future projects. Eventually I’ll have products up that have a defined cost but I always like the option to check out a project or system for free before I commit dollars to it and I want to keep that up.

So check out Martial Arts Flavor and Cybernetics Flavor and let me know what you think!

Cats and Dogs

One question that I have about the currently-Kickstarting Monarchies of Mau is how the game compares to Pugmire. They are the same world so you should be able to have a joint campaign with both games, but how feasible is this? How do cat characters and dog characters compare? Are they too different to be at the same table? Are they different enough that players can feel the divide? How do they cooperate in-game? Come along and we’ll figure it out together!

Star Trek: Adventures

About a year ago, I started thinking about a new Star Trek RPG. First I made my own version (based on the Cypher System) but I’ve since taken that down. I still really want to play in the Star Trek universe, however, and I’m hoping for an RPG whose design is a little more recent than the Decipher version which is why I’m eagerly watching the updates of the new Star Trek: Adventures RPG from Modiphius.

Dark Eras: Part Four

Last time I reviewed historical eras for Chronicles of Darkness, I got as far as 1500 CE. This is a nice round number so I stopped there but this time I’ll be going up to a specific, world-shaking event: the Fall of the Western Roman Empire. I know this wasn’t a global phenomenon and it plays into a western-centric worldview but it’s a big event in world history and it’s a big event in the World of Darkness as well. Regardless, this set of entries is a great rewind through European history as things get worse and worse. Enjoy!

Politics in Dark Horizon

One thing that I’ve been thinking about frequently when designing Dark Horizon is how things actually work. There are galaxy-spanning powers but they rely on a network of interspatial tunnels the require hops through all these different systems like some weird island-hopping military campaign. I’ve worked it out in my head over the course of thinking about this for years but it deserves a long discussion in order to establish the setting. Here’s a preview of a sidebar discussing the intricacies. Feedback welcome!

Don’t Go Adventuring in D&D

I was thinking the other day about all the Dungeons & Dragons campaigns I’ve done in my life. Whether I was running back and forth through the Dalelands, traversing the scorching sands of Athas, or recovering in Sigil from my latest trek to the Lower Planes things were pretty sweet. My characters were all different in their background but they could find adventure and glory if they put their minds to it. Then I thought: why? Today, I’m going to make a case for not doing that.

Predation Review

When I was a kid, I was obsessed with dinosaurs. I memorized names, watched Jurassic Park on loop, and poured through National Geographic information books. My brother and I had Jurassic Park dinosaur action figures that we gleefully set up massive battles amid the ferns in the yard with raptors stalking the X-Men and pterodactyls swooping down at a Starfleet away team. It was fun and a crazy mash of worlds… and it’s the reason I was so excited when I saw Predation in Monte Cook Game’s lineup of Cypher worlds.

Dark Horizon: Jurgann Species

The pre-contact history of the Jurganna is mostly lost in legend at this point, although considering the emphasis that Jurganna put in legend and retelling stories these may be surprisingly accurate. Tales tell of warring states that took their conflict to the stars and fought each other in epic space battles. These squabbling states were conquered by an emperor serving as a divine mandate who forged a single group from these disparate pieces. His conquest was the only thing to survive his rule, however, as both his religious reforms and military focus dissolved soon after his death. The unity that he inspired did not, however, and the Jurganna struck out for the stars again, this time as explorers.