Hello again, remember me? Sorry about the recent lack of ramblings. A perfect storm of depression and my least favourite time of year conspired to render me mentally redundant for some time. Consequently, I've spent no time with my most beloved hobby and have had neither the material nor the will to ramble about anything … Continue reading Ending A Hiatus
The Dracula Dossier: Session 3 – More Questions Than Answers
To kick off my preparation for the third session of our campaign, Marcus sent me the following email: This is sent as a coded message to Elias. Possibly it is embedded within a rather boring message about some YouTube video, or football. Probably use that electronic dead drop Cassandra used in the first session. The … Continue reading The Dracula Dossier: Session 3 – More Questions Than Answers
The Dracula Dossier: Session 2 – In at the Deep End
Cassandra Our first foray into the campaign started with a young woman plunging to her death from the roof of a multi-storey carpark in Purfleet, from which we flash-backed to 48-hours earlier. These posts about the game are not going to be a blow-by-blow account of the session because, in my view, there's nothing more boring. … Continue reading The Dracula Dossier: Session 2 – In at the Deep End
CottageCon
Back in the halcyon days of November 2009, our merry band of friends retreated to a cottage in the English countryside, there to indulge our passions of good games, good food and good beer over the course of a long weekend. The four days would also provide a perfect opportunity to renew our bonds of friendship, an important … Continue reading CottageCon
The Dracula Dossier: Session 1 – Characters
In the distant past of my youth, people would rock up to a game with characters already created. The process of character creation was a solitary affair, primarily to facilitate cheating. Rarely would a player arrive for a game of AD&D with a character sporting an ability score lower than 13, except for Charisma. The prevailing view of … Continue reading The Dracula Dossier: Session 1 – Characters
A Table For Three: Part 5 – Mitigation
Right, so far I'm doing a great job of dissuading you from even considering the Dracula Dossier as your next campaign, which is as far removed from my intention as it's possible to be. So, please allow me to redress this by offering some motes of advice that will twinkle in the gloom and lead you … Continue reading A Table For Three: Part 5 – Mitigation
A Table For Three: Part 4 – Preparing the Unpreparable
Firstly, I'm sorry for the break in posts. Work became unpleasantly busy and rendered me too screen-fatigued to produce any cogent ramblings. Thankfully this brief spell of unpleasantness has abated and, in the words of George L. Costanza, "I'm back baby!" I ended the previous post by asking how one can prepare to run a collaboratively improvisational … Continue reading A Table For Three: Part 4 – Preparing the Unpreparable
A Table For Three: Part 3 – Preparation
I've rambled a lot about preparation over the last few posts, so now I'm going to put my money where my mouth is and ramble about my preparation for running a campaign using Night's Black Agents. I'm currently in the process of preparation so I'm not relying on foggy memories of a game I ran years … Continue reading A Table For Three: Part 3 – Preparation
Feeling Overwhelmed
Not a description of my current emotional state, but rather a brief post in response to a comment by welbygreenacre, here: https://nerdtropolis.home.blog/2019/08/14/a-table-for-three-part-2-game/ I fully empathise with young Welby. The enthusiasm which heralds the dawn of a new campaign can quickly lead to feelings of having taken on too much, and a subsequent erosion of confidence in one's … Continue reading Feeling Overwhelmed
A Table For Three: Part 2 – Game
In the previous post I had decided that the new campaign for our small, perfectly formed group of three would come from the 'Neo-Classical' style of RPGs. Casting my eye over the games that I categorise in this fashion, I'm presented with: The Dying Earth RPGStar TrekTrail of CthulhuArs MagicaNumeneraThe StrangeLegend of the Five RingsHeroQuestNight's … Continue reading A Table For Three: Part 2 – Game
Nerdtropolis 