Game Design

Gary Con XV & Me

Lester

As I write this, it’s the wee hours of Thurs. a.m., & I’m still recovering from the whirlwind adventure that was Gary Con. Too much to cover in this fatigue, but let me at least offer some thanks.

To Abraham Limpo Martinez, for flying all the way from Barcelona, & for being at my side nearly the whole time.

To Dale Donovan for the digs (I mean that in both senses, you marvelous bastard), & to James Pearson for ensuring I always had a friendly face for support at events I ran. & just the camaraderie in general, you two.

To Kurt LaRue for another friendly face, for letting me in on his What We Do in the Shadows event, as Laszlo Cravensworth (“Bat!”), & for teaching this old dog a new GM trick. Gathering pre-game word prompts from players is brilliant, buddy! It also served my D13 RPG session well, by including a request for “don’t go there” details, and my Bookmark Supers session by including their character’s kryptonite-style weakness.

To Jolly Blackburn for inviting me to the KoDT party (congrats on issue #300!). To the guys at the tequila table before that; I’m still sort of blown away to have met Pat Kilbane & discover he’s a huge Dark Conspiracy RPG fan! Unfortunately, the in-depth conversations at those two events (about Pat’s “hero’s journey”-style documentary on the life of Gary Gygax, and with an AI expert at Kenzer Co’s party) meant missing the TSR party.

To everyone who autographed Abraham’s “guest book” (an old Spanish edition of the AD&D Player’s Manual). I’m especially proud of the famous folk who went out of their way to make him feel welcome.

To the Gary Con staff for accommodating my head health & the special care.

And yes, James Pearson, what with you & others, I’ll be back next year, & my family is pressing me to attend Gamehole Con too.

There are many other people to thank, ranging from old friends to the players at my events. But the TLDR music is beginning to play & I have to leave this podium. (I.e. post con fatigue is making me droopy.)

Cheers, gang!

“Make 100” 2023 – Limited Edition Bookmarks

Lester

As you’ll see in the sidebar, I’ve launched a Kickstarter project to make a limited-edition set of Bookmark HP RPG bookmarks, hole-punched for a ribbon or chain. At the moment, it’s been live for about 10 hours and is 71% funded, with 53 of the 100 sets pledged.

As with most things nowadays, I launched it on a whim. Which I have to admit is a refreshing situation after all the years of killer deadlines. Focal seizure management now means going with the flow, chasing squirrels, being able to drop things to help with work around the farm.

Our House on Rupert Court, and Other Horrors,
on DriveThruRPG
“Make 100” is an annual Kickstarter promotion in January, and I barely got this project in under the wire, not having planned one at all. But in the afterglow of having recently completed a D13 RPG adventure anthology, I found myself mulling promotional “Make 100” emails that have come in over the month. These short little KS projects are low-stress and fun, another opportunity to interact with the tabletop hobby community from out here in the boonies. It’s how the premium edition of the original D13 RPG came about, for example.

Speaking of that D13 adventure anthology, it’s a collection of three unforgiving 10-page adventures: “Our House on Rupert Court,” in a 1950’s suburban community; “Ice Road Terror,” involving the early history of the Canadian Ice Road phenomenon; and “Ghan in the Night,” a luxury train trip through the Australian Outback.

Next up, a sword and sorcery sourcebookmark for the BNHP line, in time for Gary Con. Followed by a space opera setting, and then a mini-deck of 21 adventure cards for all the BNHP settings.

That’s a summation of the first few months’ plan for 2023. I’m having fun. Here’s hoping you are too!

Role-Playing Dracula’s Kids sans GM

Lester

Today the Cut Up Solo Dracula/Dracula’s Get bundle went live (undead?) on DriveThruRPG.

So what is Cut Up Solo Dracula? Published by Parts Per Million, it’s Stoker’s novel cut up into 5-word snippets in a programmed spreadsheet. Every time you hit F9, the spreadsheet delivers a set of random snippets as a prompt to your imagination.

And what is Dracula’s Get? It’s a role-play distillation of Dracula’s actual abilities and weaknesses as depicted Stoker’s novel. A “sourcebookmark” for the Bookmark HP RPG. (My first sourcebookmark, in fact, so that I could port Petit Louis from D6xD6‘s “Fear the Light” setting. I love playing vampires.)

The word “solo” doesn’t quite do justice to PPM’s Cut Up Solo selections. “GM-less” is a more accurate (though less punchy) term, because this style of play is even richer with a group riffing off one another from the prompts!

As you can tell, I’m quite excited about this pairing. It’s a quick, flavorful way to hunt or play vampires with Stoker’s own words. Now at a discount!

GM-Less Cthulhu et al

Lester

Cover images of Bookmark Cthulhu with Cut Up Solo Lovecraftian Dialogues and Cut Up Solo Case of Charles Dexter Ward You may have seen my mention of the “Cut Up Solo” oracle series by Parts Per Million. Each oracle is an automated spreadsheet of 5-word snippets from a public domain novel (such as Dracula) or series (John Carter of Mars, for example). It outputs a group of four 5-word snippets with each press of F9, and you browse the list to see what role-play scene it suggests to you.

It’s a great spur not only for solo play, but also GM-less group play. My old high school buddy Jim Cotton and I have adventured together on Mars, for example, and had great times with it. That was even the genesis of the mass battle rules on the Game Host’s Guidebookmark of the Bookmark HP RPG.

So you can imagine how happy I am to announce that PPM and I have launched a Cut Up Solo Lovecraft/Bookmark Cthulhu bundle on DriveThruRPG!

(A Dracula bundle is not far behind.)