If there are three players present I'll run. Unless there is something big upcoming, then we'll discuss if we want to postpone. I usually say "I want four players, so I'll recruit to five, and run with three".
I'm in a similar boat. According to steam haven't opened EUIV since 2017 and now I have a huge relearning curve. And new DLC to get. While I would love to get back into it I have better (path) things (of) things (exile) to (two) do.
Inkscape enjoyer here. The vector based tech makes it not that limited to my skill at drawing but rather how I can manipulate the vectors and points. Make things thinner or wider, change a curvature etc. And nothing is set in stone. I'm using it for everything. World maps, region maps, settlements, dungeons. You name it. For dungeons (and inside locations) I gathered all my most used assets to save time.
Most recognizable trigger from said image - Reinstalling EUIV
Sigh... here I go again...
A bit of preface. The games I run, the games I play in and the groups I enjoy all are very open with discussing meta. From story beats to encounter critiques and where we the players want to see the game go.
what do you do when the players go off-script?
We are honest and appreciate the time the GMs put into running the games. Several times either I or another GM have stated "that direction is not prepared" and the group have a chat from there. Perhaps calling it early or we zoom in on character daily life (or their projects). The amount of times a "forgotten" villain have reappeared for revenge in these situation is kinda high.
on railroading
Why play a game about characters, their decisions and their reaction to adversary when their decisions won't matter? When the roads they travel all lead to Rome? This is very much also something that is part of the game's setup. How directed the game will be. A wide open sandbox will strain much more against being directed than a more tightly focused narrative. Heck, I don't actually mind being directed in a game with a focused narrative or having the GM drawing the game back to it's story.
It's a complex topic where advice will differ depending on the specifics of each game.
"New to me" it may technically be but I'm going to start up something with Ironsworn: Starforged: Sundered Isles (yes I'm calling it that, fight me). Have used both Ironsworn and Starforged before but not Sundered Isles.
What actually would be new to me is Fey Borg as I've yet to run anything Borg. Barely anything OSR at all.
Shawn Tomkin's Ironsworn series. Delve I regularly use for setting up point crawls. Ironsworn/Starforged/Sundered Isles have great collections of random tables, I use the book thematically most fitting for the situation at hand. The core tables of Action, Theme, Descriptor and Focus all get heavy use.
Kevin Crawford's [SOMETHING] Without Number series have awesome tables as well. These however get more use when I need more detail. Prep stuff. Again most thematic book is picked first but I do have used Cites (cyberpunk) for fantasy cities.
When I want to create background for "medieval fantasy" characters I pick up Burning Wheel and burn something up. Through that I get a good selection of relevant skills to sue (for flavor)
Anything related to cosmos and mythology I say HELLO! to my growing collection of Glorantha material. From cult books to magic tomes and Atlases.
26+6=1
Damn I'm feeling you. I'm in the fall process (solidly down 15kg/33lb, approaching 20kg/44lb) with about 10-15kg to go. When my belly stops flapping I'm good I think. But I fear the rebound... Currently lots of my evening snacking have disappeared because of evening gym classes, so late home and even later dinner. So I don't have time anymore to get snacky. Or if I do it's almost bedtime anyway so I'll just go to bed instead.
But once I've hit my goal and don't need to hit gym that hard anymore... That frightens me. A little bit at least. Made some good connections there and got a routine going so i can probably keep it up.
While out foraging I found a patch of big nice chantarelles, we have a good year for them btw. Then I noticed something strange, a hole into the mound. It wasn't there last year I know yhat for sure.
Well... Looks like I pilfered someone's nicely cultivated mushrooms. Sorry.
BBC article giving more information https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-67920532
TL:DR "Taiwanese voters have chosen William Lai as their president in a historic election, cementing a path that is increasingly divergent from China."
SPELREGLER: Drakar och Demoner (Fria Ligan 2023)
TEKNIK: Discord för samtal och FoundryVTT som spelbord
TID: Fredagar kl 19.00
START: Fredagen den 26e Januari, möjlighet att dra igång en vecka tidigare om gruppen är samlad
LÄNGD: Ca 15-20 speltillfällen
ANMÄLAN: Skicka mig ett meddelande så tar vi det därifrån
SÄKERHETSVERKTYG: Lines and Veils, X-card
FRÅGOR: Har du dem ställ dem.
OM SPELET: Sparkstartade Drakar och Demoner för att det hade varit skoj att ha något på svenska i bokhyllan. Och att det hade varit trevligt att spela något på svenska med svenskt material. Att inte behöva översätta allt. Så här är vi nu, julen är ute och det är dags att dra igång.
Spelet kommer att utgå från grundlådan och äventyren kring samhället Utkante. Iallafall ibörjan till dess att jag lärt mig hur DåD vill spelas. Därefter ser vi vart det tar oss. Utkante ligger i Dimmornas Dal, en region en gång i tiden centrum för ett symboliskt rike mellan människor och drakar. Ett rike känt som Drakriket och berättelser om det är kända vitt och brett. Riket föll och orker tog över dalen. Iallafall fram till ca tio år sedan då de mystiskt drog sig tillbaka. Detta öppnade dörren för en återbefolkning av dalen och ambitösa personer hade snart grundat Utkante.
Anything compared to Duskvol is sunny. That city and its atmosphere is so oppresivley dark and dreary. The sun literally doesn't shine and no stars illuminate the night sky.
I don't find Cthulhu horror that dark. Damp and misty sure. With the cosmic/existential horror being rooted in ones insignificance and the ungraspness of the infinite existence there is little explicit need for darkness. It can be dark yes, just doesn't need to be.
Let me begin by making it clear this is not my invention, I encountered the method in City of Mist but I doubt it debuted there. But it is a nifty method.
The problem I encounter from time to time is that my players don't latch onto my descriptions of the scene, not using things in it to grant themselves advantages (bonuses, extra effect etc). Am I perfect? No. Could I do better? Yes.
Or I can take my fuzzy descriptions and make them mechanical by introducing them as Scene Tags. Market square during market day would get Crowded-Market-1 and during a festival Packed-Festival-Market-2 indicating that there is a lot of people there and also how much advantage one would get by incorporating it into ones action. Or disadvantage depending. Trying to pickpocket someone? Take a bonus. Following someone? They easily get lost in the crowd - penalty.
How dark is the night? Moonlight-Night-1 or Moon-Behind-Heavy-Clouds-2?
Traveling through a mountain pass and how deep is the snow? Ankle-Deep-1 or Up-To-The-Dwarf's-Beard-2? What about that Foul-Voice-In-The-Wind-4?
I play pretty much only online so tossing an index card onto the table with the Scene Tag on it is kinda tricky. Instead, depending on how much effort I've put into the VTT, I either write it in big bold letters on the scene image/map. Or I put down a virtual index card, essentially a small graphical element to bring attention to it (see post image).
One more thing, how much is a Tag-1 compared to a Tag-2 worth? This all depends on your system. City of Mist gives +1 for a Tag-1, +2 for Tag-2 etc. So for pretty much any other PbtA/2d6 systems the same works. For D&D (and other d20 systems) a scheme of +2, Advantage, Advantage and +2. I've lost much of my familiarity with d20 systems due not having ran something recently. So someone (everyone?) else probably have better ideas. In dicepool systems an extra dice for each tag level is appropriate.
That is the basics of it. But what if the players want to create a Panic!-At-The-Market-3? I'll write about that some other time.
PS. Still recruiting for my small sortie into Swords of the Serpentine, Fridays at 19CEST.
Filled
~~Serpentine swords are curved. Curved!~~
~~SYSTEM: Swords of the Serpentine
PLATFORM: Foundry VTT (if I manage to hack it, if not some other solution) and Discord for voice
TIME: Fridays at 19:00 CET (1PM EST, 10AM PST), and for about 3½-4 hours
CAMPAIGN START: September 1st
APPLICATIONS: Let me know if you are interested and we'll take it from there
SAFETY TOOLS: Lines and Veils, X-card and others if desired
DESCRIPTION: Swords of the Serpentine is a Gumshoe Sword and Sorcery system set in and around the city of Eversink. It is "a game of investigation, heroism, sly politics, and bloody savagery, set in a fantasy city rife with skulduggery and death".~~
~~This will be a somewhat short campaign, around 10 or so sessions. I have pretty much no experience with Gumshoe so this can go horribly wrong. Or horriblyfun. We'll begin with the "official" cases and wrap it up with something I manage to conjure. Of course we will begin with a session of character creation and setting talk.~~
Wanting to bring more (relevant) factions to the forefront of my game I decided to map out relations between
Kinda enjoyed the result, a bit pleasing to the eye. May fully map out the relations of the factions two steps separated (to factions three steps separated from the crew).
Quoting the wise Sage Yoda
Therefore Fear of Spiders (arachnophobia) is Neutral Evil.