Video

Succession is the HBO show I couldn't pull out of my mush-brain.

So far this is actually a pretty good review but I'm hearing about the same problems that are common even prevalent with seven addition and that's across the board I don't know what gas light is going to look like but it's probably going to look like this. And this sounds overwritten, a little too open-ended, poorly thought through with major concerns like it's the map just a picture map or is it supposed to actually be useful for the players or the or the keeper for that matter and if it's not really useful for the keeper and or the players then it must just be a picture map. But I'm also hearing that some areas were difficult to run because while they were fairly thoroughly written over and and detailed they lacked a storyline Coheed cohesion that made them fit in with the other events. So much of the 7th edition has like this catalog of dramatic personal and I at the beginning sometimes at the end and then a background that the keeper will know but there's no transmission of this information to the players within the campaign or the scenario. And then there's just a kind of jumping around I hear some a paragraph about this faction or person and within this paragraph there are kernels of a story and then there's another paragraph about a place and the history of that place and within the history of that place here's another Colonel of the story and it's it's just to much of an Easter egg hunt to really just pull out the story and make it easy to run the campaign and then plug in the details as the players get to those elements get to those areas get to those people get to those interviews get to those digging around points with spot hidden and snakes and ducking and dodging. It really really really really really really makes me miss second through 4th edition. I love what Paul fricker and Company largely did in 7th edition, especially with the new rules for luck and the pushed roll and spending luck on failed rolls. I do not like the chase system that takes the game out of the RPG and into the board game you almost need a map of pads and spaces and Monopoly pieces to move along in order to accomplish Chase things with the chase rules. I've always found them to be about it's interesting is cardboard. So I describe the same and ask for the roles but tell the story The Mechanics feed the story with speed dexterity obstacles hazards but the story has to be the biggest part. And I think that grabbing the action and plopping it into a board game it might as what we shoot some letters. With monsters granted but still. So every time I have a chase scene to negotiate I look for new ways to keep that going without fogging down the mechanics. This campaign it doesn't sound like something I'm going to spend $35 for a hard copy but I might spend $17 for the PDF file. I'd really like to have a look at more content so I'll go in have a peek at the samples that are available on the chaosium.com website and fish around for more information some people who have actually purchased and run it like you like yourself. Congratulations bill on your first hope campaign! Congratulations for stepping back into the game after you know a long stretch. I did that myself. Raised my kids up into their late 20s before I was actually able to start running the game again had time and and things like that and had a group of people that were largely interested in playing including my daughter and son-in-law! That's a lot of fun and I could I could do a primer myself on having couples at the table and having your own offspring at the table you got to cut all those ties and get them to play for themselves and not protect one another incessantly oh no don't do that you might get hurt LOL or mom quit telling me what to do I am just asking for a roll here LOL I'm not your mom I'm your keeper of Arcane War drop that Mom stuff I'm going to have you make Insanity checks until you're 40 okay I will have her making sanity checks until she's 40 and she's loving every minute of it. I can't recommend the two-headed serpent more enthusiastically enough. I'm actually running it for the second and third time. What? No I don't have a Time Turner but I do have the home group who wanted to play it a second time, and a group about 20 mi away that I'm running at 4:00 every other week. So I'm running it for the second and third time almost simultaneously. Because of some delays and a convention that we all had in the middle and people being sick and other people moving and a lot of other other things we've had enough delays in both groups that they're both almost in the same place now. And what group is only supposed to be playing two-headed serpent every other week but we hit a particular portion of the campaign that takes place in Iceland that's going to take several weeks and we don't want to break away from it and play masks ofNyarlathotep in between so and I'm not ready to run the next portion of masks anyway. This which is deemed the most dangerous campaign written as a 7th edition pulp Cthulhu Adventure is pretty cool but there's that overwritten thing and 30 something pages of drama persona. No. I'm not kidding. I originally ran it in the 90s as a consolidated softback book and honestly I keep reverting to the original from the hugely elaborately presented 7th edition $150 to volume 42 LB book and handout set. I did buy the prop set from things we love her at Historical Society. Seth has a box opening of that. You should check it out other people have done so as well. And it's it's worth buying the handouts are so well done. So there's that but the original is a little under 200 pages no it's not even that! And the 7th edition is 700 pages. Yep. Takes a lot of text to fill up that many sheets of paper. Not that it isn't worth it and it isn't beautiful and that isn't really a lot of fun but I run into the same problems so many pieces of the storyline are sequestered in paragraphs about people places or things meant to give you information but the storyline such as it is has been deconsolidated and Scattered like seeds of grass throughout the campaign which is considerable. Okay thanks again for your comment here for your video review. I'm definitely going to check out this particular book. And see what I think

its definitely hard to find people who want to try different types of fantasy RPG. Every local community I encounter its all D&D and maybe Pathfinder. I want to try Runequest too but not sure how many people play it

super!

Great shout out for Scavengers Reign. A stunning and risky (for these times) choice for visual storytelling.

Dragonbane’s DNA is Basic Roleplaying. Bring out your CoC rule book. Take a look at the original play testing group credits. One (Fred Malmberg) of the founders of ”Äventyrsspel” (Adventure games, creators of “Drakar och Demoner”) is in the list.

I bought my copy earlier this year. I felt I should have it, as CoC is my favorite RPG, but also because it's such a landmark in the evolution of RPGs. That it is highly relevant 40+ years later is a testament to what a robust system it is.

Elric does use BRP! Wish I still had mine! Great video!

I can't believe you missed great one from the 80s...Big Trouble in Little China. It would fit perfectly with the setting, the sction, the magic, the martial arts, and even the plot. Just chsnge the time period from the 80s to 1920s or 1930s San Francisco Chinatown. Then you could even add another element, the Triads/Tongs. The book The Gangs of New York has a chapter or two about the Triads/Tong wars from the late 1800s through the 1930s. The Hop Sings and the On Leongs both had chapers in both New York's and San Francisco's Chinatowns. Those groups could be used as added mooks or red herrings for the major villian.

I also love setting CoC adventures in my area (Dallas); players often comment on how much more "real" the setting feels when I am able to incorporate actual places and little bits that reflect what life is really like in a given area.

Dude, go ahead and get volumes 4,5,6 & 7. It’s just the right thing to do. Forget about the reviews. Everything ElfQuest is amazing 👍

I really like solo RPGs and in fact I'm playing Ker Nethalas while I watch this.

Confirming that Call of Cthulhu 7e (and some of the newer scenarios & campaigns) directly address the issue about missing core clues. That said, I have ToC and quite a few supplements for them, and I've run them with Cthulhu Dark and CoC. At some point, I want to get ToC itself to the table, to be honest. Also, yeah, ToC is under work but not sure when it will be out.

I was pleasantly impressed with the offers at Free RPG Day, notably the _Dragonbane: The Sinking Tower_ and _The Hollows_ quickstarts.

Oh nice, East of West! Been meaning to check that out myself for a while now. Hickman is one of the best writers around. I actually haven't read much of his creator owned stuff (only The Nightly News and The Manhattan Projects). But yeah, his stuff at Marvel is incredible. His runs on FF (Fantastic Four and then Future Foundation), Avengers/New Avengers, and X-Men are all excellent. And now he is killing it on Ultimate Spider-Man.

Nicely done.

My favorite giveaways were Dragonbane and Hollows. I was also happy to get the DCC module, as those are eternally useful for any fantasy game. Also, “Free” RPG Day had its desired effect on me as well: picked up a copy of the gorgeous _The Blessed and the Blasphemous_ (CoC)!

Love the t-shirt. :) There are many decks like that out there and I have a few. I like these. Maximally-featured on fewer cards. It feels like the production quality of this year's free stuff is higher than normal production quality. Those two agnostic books are going on my list!

2d minis can be a good option for people just starting out, especially DMs who want to field a variety of monster minis. Mainly because of their low cost. They should be found online for free and printed out for almost-free, and then a small investment of time to cut them out. The difference in play experience between a cardstock paper mini vs. a flat acrylic or other purchased product is negligible. One other benefit is they're very portable because they can be packed flat. I used to carry a couple dozen PC paper minis in an envelope to games. Another option is using inexpensive d6s in various colors to represent monsters. Either in a 1" sq = 10' scale where the number of pips is the number of enemies in the space, which is useful for outdoor adventure, or numbering the dice with pips = HP for low-level numerous monsters, or just numbering the monsters by pip count so players can say "I'm attacking Blue #4 with my hammer." If you're using different minis as stand-ins anyway, dice should be fine. It's really expensive in dollars to get a collection that covers most of the Monster Manual in numbers PCs are likely to encounter. It's also expensive in time to paint them. So unless you really enjoy that aspect of the hobby, it's probably best for a gamer to go with collecting PC figures for quite a while. If they think this hobby is the real deal for them, start with buying animals that are commonly animal companions and familiars, fill out the collection with PC types they rarely play (and then go play those!), and then start on the list of monsters summoned by spell. Only after that would I suggest expanding into low-level monsters. I say this because as many campaigns don't rise to high level, and start over, you'll reuse lowbie monsters repeatedly. So, Giant Rats, Wolves, etc. Also focus on monsters that can be easily used as stand-ins; there are multiple monsters that look like Skeletons, you could very easily use Zombies to stand in for Ghouls, small humanoids like Goblins work for everything from Kobolds to Hobgoblins, Ogres are good for representing various Giants, and your one dragon coud be described as any color in-game. One ooze is fine (and, make them out of hot glue instead of buying them). Maybe a Stone or Iron Golem. Avoid Good-aligned monsters because PCs often don't fight them, and avoid aquatic monsters because they're less commonly encountered.

What map is this?! Beautiful and very evocative!

I know very little about the Cthulhu series. Might have to look at the RPG books for the lore reason if nothing else. (Not a fan of Lovecraft's work. It always felt.. empty to me. I have been impressed by what other people have done with the concept and world though!) I hope you and yours have a wonderful day!

Lichdom, Anyone can wear the mask, Ironsworn (Free pdf), Iron Helm, Star Trek: Captain's Log, Micro chapbook rpg

Acrylic 2d miniatures can snap easily, sadly. They are a nice cheaper alternative (when compared to the classic metal miniatures). However they are way less likely to stabbith you when you reach in to grab a monster to add to encounters. 😁 I caught a video close to when it went live. Yay! Take care of yourself!

The 3 solo TTRPG's I like are: Scarlet Heroes, D100 Dungeon and 4 Against Darkness. I love D100 Dungeon Mapping Box.

Alright, time to start on the Call of Cthulhu playlist! 😁

This shelf seems to be straining like Atlas under the books. Though it is also possible it's just an illusion or camera angle!

My child would probably love Fading Suns, at least the lore of it from what I've quickly read. Looks like I'll be dipping my toes into the rules at the very least!

Starting on your Shelf Tour playlist! -wave-

I enjoyed the story plot to Invincible. It is way to graphic for me to sit through though. [edit] "It drives me batty," Made me immediately think of the episode of Batman: The Brave and the Bold with the Music Meister. One of the songs in that episode is, "Drives Us Bats" 😁

Hypnotoad! I have several of the Athas/Darksun books, but haven't gotten around to reading them. (I love the setting in AD&D) I read a lot of the Dragonlance novels because of my partner. I got into reading because of the Myth series. This quickly led to me falling in love with the Phule's Company series, Dealing With Dragons, and the Warlock (in spite of himself) series. My partner keeps telling me to read Kingdom for Sale series, I just... I've been slacking on any reading lately.

I'm not sure what AD&D fills for me, but I haven't found an TTRPG that scratches the itch in the same way. I've tried Shadowrun, Exalted, Sea of Thieves, Mechwarriors, Deadlands, Small Mouth Big Eyes, and a few others I can't remember the names of. None of them had what I was looking for in a game. [Edit] I picked up the 4th edition D&D player's handbook. Read it on the way home. Put it away and ignored D&D until 5th came out. Played 1 game of 5th edition and felt it was too much like a video game. So I didn't touch that edition again. Got more of the 5th books to read... but recently sold off all of my 3.0 (onward) D&D books that didn't involve dragon/dragonlance lore.

It's taking me some time to go through your older videos. I've been trying to make sure to watch them while I'm actively at my computer so I can comment once in a while and like each one!

I wonder if these planters can be retrofitted for soil. (I imagine it would be a little difficult to grow potatoes or carrots.) [edit] To clarify, if the light system can be adjusted to sit over a proper soil pot, not inside the planter itself. That could probably cause issues with the electric/mechanical parts. Not sure how easily you can grow tubers and root based veggies in a hydro planter.

Every-time I hear "Basil" I think of "Fawlty Towers"!

Trying to comment every few videos to help out! Tempted to pick up one of these so I can grow strawberries inside. (I have a good spot outside, I just don't want to share the fruit with the critters. The local crows always get the first pick of the harvest. 😅)

Alright, lets work through your gardening videos!

I might have to try this, even though I am only just learning about it. (Read up on Dungeon 23 and I'm wondering if instead of making a whole new room each day, I should do a room at the start of a week and then add detail about the room for the next 6 days. Example, day 1 is the entrance. Day 2 talks about the lore behind the unusual statues flanking the door. Day 3 explains when the cryptic message was scrawled across the far wall. Day 4 notes how the magical ring was lodged in a fake brick, etc.

The artwork you showed, reminded me of a quote on the back of some art cards that featured works from Boris Vallejo and other artists during that time. (Boris did quite a few of the covers for the early Tarzan novels.) Something along the lines of how the stuff he drew was never what he set out to draw. It would retain about 50% of what he intended, or he would only ever be 50% happy with it, but the art would always want to go in a different direction. Writing is the same way. You sit down, intending to write the story a certain way. But in the end the story tends to tell you how it should be written!

Imma look into this. :) I've decided that I prefer lower-tech pawns than fancy minis.

Glad you liked it. :) WONDER WOMAN!!!

I actually use a program called "The Guide" to do something similar. (I would lose index cards and never used the binders I set up for writing.) I break down the story by how-ever many chapters I want for the story. Then I break down the story chapter by chapter. I would make a new child (layer/tab) for each chapter with a synopsis page and a draft page. I would also have pages with the character information and another with key information I feel I need to remember. (Example; I have a non verbal species, so I would write down what the species did for various common interactions.) I actually have to use a computer. I can do long form notes. However if I try to write out a chapter by hand, my brain will rush faster then my hand can write. Where as with the computer, I can type over 100wpm, so I can get the stuff out. (Albeit, the number of simple typos such as 'hte' will be staggering.) Just started on this ("Writing") playlist! See you at video #8! 😁

The foil on the side of the various cards definitely adds a lot to the overall feel of the game!

Slowly working my way through your playlists! 😁

I am tempted to pick it up simply to see how the authors inserted various esoteric practices from the Renaissance era.

This one sounds very interesting. I'll have to check it out!

The only genre of book I avoid, is horror. I have an over active imagination. Even reading about Mothman (whom I believe was nothing but mass hysteria after a group of high teens encountered an owl) will have me staying up till dawn, then waking up my partner so I can be guarded while I sleep. So more accurately, I'm banned from reading stuff like that!😂 (I have not yet found a game I enjoy as much as I enjoyed AD&D though. Still looking, still trying to figure out what itch AD&D even scratched.)

I think understanding why a movie adaptation was changed can help in understanding the reactions. The Wolverine origin movie, for example, was hated by a lot of people because the director decided to destroy the *one* key feature that made Deadpool, Deadpool. (Throwing the blame on the fictional villain when the backlash started.) When watching 'Superman vs The Elite', I was foaming at the mouth for most of the movie. "Superman wouldn't do that!" "No, no, NO!" "Come on, he wouldn't cave to pressure that easily!" And that is because of how often a bad writer can destroy a character by reducing them to a single trait or thinking it would be fun to 'change it up'. (Granted, DC has screwed up each of their live action movies. No way Batman would be fooled by Lex Luther into fighting with Superman. And they always skip out on the fact that Batman and Superman are actually really close friends. Case and point, "Your butler guards the bat-cave with a shotgun?" "What? You have a dog guard the fortress of solitude." "Good point.")

I have to agree with the idea and reasoning behind having physical copies of movies and books you 'buy'. Honestly I started by insisting on having physical copies of the books I wanna read (or printing out pdfs). "No one is going to steal a beat up 15 year old book." And the upside-down, is you eventually learn how to rebind a book or hope the book you wanna replace isn't rare.

You have playlists of your older videos! That makes going through them to watch much, much easier!

Thanks for putting your thoughts out there man. You're braver than I am with that gin lol