Play-by-Post Advice and Procedures

Futile to say those won’t fit all, because Play-by-Post is so extensive. I believe, however, that some principles here may apply to many different campaigns. I’ll use Discord as my reference platform, because the freedom to install bots and create channels/threads as needed is refreshing for a GM (if you GM PbP, you should have your own server already, it takes seconds to do).

Three Vanilla Fantasy Classes for WoDu

Art by George Woolliscroft Rhead

Having a bad few days, so will just leave this here:

Adventure Gaming and Me

Art by Harry Clarke

A fair warning: this post may strike some as bleak. I talk very openly about both my physical impairment and mental illness, and how that colors my approach to adventure gaming and the like. If this sounds upsetting to you, I recently made a post about blood-thirsty bird factions and that’s funnier.

The Thieving Bird War

“Goodness, what a beautiful day, my fellow duke duck” – Art by Cecil Aldin

There’s nobody in history that ever gave the benefit of a doubt to the albatross. They’re screaming, evil bastards. Anyone who ever looked at their eyes can say so. They’re an abomination from the skies.

Thoughts on Horror Roleplaying: “To Pull Off”

“Roll another, you did this to yourself” – Art by Harry Clarke

Art Horror

Macabre fiction, be it weird/horror, mystery or just a general feel of the gothic and decadent in drama, it’s a part of my life both personally and professionally. Therefore, I do engage in occasional horror roleplaying, and remain aware of how it’s infamously hard to ‘pull off’.

World of Dungeons and True Names

No, don’t ask me how to spell Rumpelstilltskin by surprise. – Art by Andrew Lang

“True names have power. If you tell someone your true name, they can attempt to have you raised from the dead if you met your end before your time”

Like everything else awesome in WoDu, it barely takes a couple sentences and doesn’t actually explain anything.

Player Agency and Horror Roleplaying

“Yeah, I’m leaving, I’m not dealing with this shit.” – Art by Gustave Doré

“One of the difficulties of horror gaming is that horror as a genre demands some limited agency, and gaming is about player agency.”

I don’t disagree that gaming is about player agency, but I disagree with the notion that horror is necessarily about limited agency of the characters over the situation, and that player agency limits horror.

World of Dungeons – Command, Cantrips and Rituals

I don’t need no stinking spirits – Art by Arthur Rackham

Most Magic requires summoning (…) to perform supernatural effects.

Well, only most. Let’s see the rest!

Why I Game Solo

Well, it does feel like that for a couple of minutes… – Art by Arthur Rackham

There’s a couple of people who are attracted to solo roleplaying. Some simply don’t have the time to play with others. They may want to test games others have no interest in. Or, like me, you desire for the solitude of having a fictional conversation with yourself.

World of Dungeons and Summoning

“Is it too late to use Vancian Magic instead?” – Art by John Dickson Batten

World of Dungeons (WoDu), designed by John Harper, is a gem of a game. While I don’t feel much excitement for Dungeon World and Harper’s other RPGs, I constantly return to WoDu. I decided to create a small series of posts about the original game, reading the text and giving my interpretation and feelings about how to use them. First in this series are my thoughts about summoning.