“Labyrinthine complexity, involving curiously irregular differences in floor levels, characterised the entire arrangement; and we should certainly have been lost at the very outset but for the trail of torn paper left behind us.” — At the Mountains of Madness You may have heard whispers in the aether, or seen faint shimmerings on the tablets […]
Dearest Mother, I was so pleased to receive your latest communication, taking particular delight in your account of the spring cotillion. If only I could have been there to witness Cecily’s debut! Please assure the great aunts that they needn’t worry about me in Paris. I have fallen in with a cadre of fellow Americans, […]
In the latest episode of their meticulously reconstructed podcast, Ken and Robin talk recurring gamemaster characters, the fortresses flooded by the building of the Aswan dam, hardboiled fiction 101, and Jazz Age Satanist Maria de Naglowska.
Hey guys – Hope all is well with you in these crazy times. You haven’t heard from me for a while. I’ve had a bit of a problem lately and I’ve been trying to handle it myself without bothering anyone else. Especially you guys, since you did kind of warn me off but in my […]
In the latest episode of their contrapuntal podcast, Ken and Robin talk adding DramaSystem to F20 games, the Philadelphia poison murders, Claudio Monteverdi’s alchemy, and spontaneous human combustion.
I’m delighted to start off with a shout-out to our estimable Patreon backers! Thanks to Peter, Bryan, Clark, Jim, Emma, Craig, Phil, Bryant, P. Troilus, Michael M, ScottKey, Michael B, Andreas, Ranting John, Samwise, Michael H, Andy, Mark R, Daniel F, Jiří K, heartdoc32, Marcus, and Cena!! NEW RELEASE: The Ocean Game pre-order Way, way […]
A column about roleplaying by Robin D. Laws A recent observation I’m adding to my Things I Always Say file is that when players worry about a scenario being railroaded or linear, what they really mean is not that it lacked choices or branch points, but that they didn’t get to Do Their Thing. Many […]
In the latest episode of their fully cephalic podcast, Ken and Robin talk adjusting for self-sidelining player choices, the spy-laden Lake Maggiore boat accident, antiquity’s headless humanoids, and the Dorr Rebellion.
Of all GUMSHOE abilities, perhaps the most confusing is Forensic Etymology. Wait, no, it’s Bullshit Detector. Or Assess Honesty in the more genteel environs of Trail, or Liar’s Tell in Swords. The tell-when-they’re-lying ability. The customary use of Bullshit Detector is to confirm when a witness is being truthful so the investigators don’t need to […]
In the latest episode of their three-ring podcast, Ken and Robin talk playing a vampire entourage, the Dacian deity Zalmoxis, trapeze drama, and occultist Robert Fludd.
