General

Flash #2 (July ’87) Savage Showdown 5d6n1x

Flash #2: Savage Showdown (July ’87), written by Mike Baron, pencils by Jackson Guice, inker Larry Mahlstedt, letterer Steve Haynie, Carl Gafford on colors, and Mike Gold editing. Let’s take a look. 6b3x3v

I’m a die-hard Marvel fan, but I was wondering about the Flash and gave this a read. I have a few more of these issues to read, but I don’t think this was the best place to start my DC journey.

The Good 63w2w

Is Savage some sort of vampire? Or just immortal? For a first-time reader, I thought he was pretty cool, like a cross between Kraven the Hunter and Dracula, but I was baffled about his abilities. Flash’s girl, Francine, can push metal around like Magneto. I’m down for that.

The best part was the 80’s fashion in the flavor of Dead or Alive.

Side note: “You Spin Me Round” was a hit in 1985, and this comic was published in ’87. I was six. These are not my nostalgic memories.

The Bad 5c1e2g

The Flash wins the Lotto. I guess he’s going to lose it all (gone in a flash?), or realize that money isn’t everything (it was just a flashy fortune).

The Ugly 5m6a30

The comic didn’t age well (oh look, a girl with powers who still needs saving, and what does “chez” even mean?). It can also get confusing, and I don’t just mean “you missed issue #1, you dolt!” kind of confusing. Did Flash run down the wall? I’m no physics major, but running down the wall is just going to get you killed faster, because gravity.

But okay, it’s a comic, and all’s fair in love and comics. If you love the Flash, this might be for you. Otherwise, give it a skip.

Tips and Tricks

Why RPG Settings are Built Like Theme Parks t2u1v

Take a look at your favourite RPG setting and you’ll find odd similarities with theme parks. These settings can easily kill your group’s story if you’re not careful. Here’s why theme park settings are so popular,  their inherent pitfalls, and some ideas on how to fix them.

Why RPG Settings Feel Like Theme Parks 1q145f

RPG designers, by necessity, need to give players plenty to play with. That’s why Golarion, Faerûn, the Mortal Realms, and even the mega-city of Ravnica are so cleanly divided into areas. It’s as if they were designed by a theme park designer. There’s usually a hot place, a dry place, a wet place, a funny magic place. There’s also often some form of Steampunk City, Pirate Island, Monkey Kingdom, Dragon Mountain, Asia Land, Snake Jungle… and the list goes on, covering all the tropes.

This is a good thing. GMs need options, players want to explore their favourite tropes, and RPG writers don’t want either of them to go looking elsewhere for their fun.

Unfortunately, all these choices can destroy a coherent story.

How Theme Park Settings Destroy Stories 5y4023

Image your party heads to Tian Xia, the East Asian themed lands of Pathfinder’s Golarion. On the way there they stop off in the Mwangi Expanse (lush jungles) and take a session to explore the deep oceans around the Isle of Kortos.

Have magical portals, can travel.

Finally, the party gets to Tian Xia and they’re off to see an important diplomat. The encounter, an important setup for the rest of the campaign, has little buildup. The party have been in their bikinis or deep in the jungle for a few sessions now, with no time to dip their feet into the deep culture Tian Xia represents. As a result, your carefully prepared roleplaying encounter falls flat with the players missing vital cultural and historic clues dropped by the diplomat.

Bummer.

How to Fix Theme Park RPG Settings 6n3n45

One thing I love about the Game of Thrones setting is that the fantasy elements are relatively limited. I’d argue the same about the Lord of the Rings: there are no drow, flumphs, owlbears, or beholders. You could fit the LotR bestiary into one book. Both settings still have their worlds, but they’re doing more with less.

Similarly, you can get more out of the many options modern RPG settings present by picking and choosing. It’s that simple. Give it a try.

Check out the Battle Zoo Bestiary 4p3ni

The Battle Zoo Bestiary, for Pathfinder 2e and 5e, is now on Kick Starter. The book features many new monsters, so you’re sure to find some great additions to your campaign world. , you can always reskin a monster to turn it into a variant of something prevalent in your world, which is one neat trick for keeping things simple.

Don’t miss out on this one.


General

Why You Absolutely Must Play Pathfinder 2nd Ed. 4h396u

Pathfinder Second Edition has been around for a while now, and if you’re still finding excuses not to try out the system then let me tell you why you absolutely must play Pathfinder Second Edition.

Image credit: Yuri_b

Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 was a great system. The Pathfinder Roleplaying Game (good old 1st ed) was also a great system, which built on 3.5, streamlining some of the clunkier rules. Something then happened in the D&D world that might be better left forgotten, but then came Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition, another amazing system. Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition marked a renaissance for the hobby and became immensely popular.

Then came Pathfinder Second Edition, which might not have become the smash hit D&D 5e is, but does have the benefit of all these systems that came before it.

Which is why you need to give it an honest go.

If you’re serious about your TTRPG hobby (you probably shouldn’t be too serious though, it’s just a hobby), then you owe it to yourself to see what Pathfinder Second Edition has to offer with its new take on fantasy roleplaying and D20 systems in particular.

Steal Like a GM 4912p

Great gamemasters steal ideas all the time, and because Pathfinder Second Edition evolved out of so many other, solid D20 systems it has a lot to offer in of new mechanics, reworked rules, and fresh perspectives. You might find something you want to adapt for your own game, even if you’re sticking with 5e. There are plenty of resources on the Internet for converting PF2 to 5e, which will give you pointers on how to tackle your thefts. (Don’t actually steal something folks. I’m talking about grabbing inspiration and making it your own.)

Ultimately, PF2 has a lot to offer players who like fiddly-bits in their games. While 5e is great in general, the level of abstraction in the system can get frustrating, while Pathfinder Second Edition offers many more dials and switches to tweak. If you’ve never tried Pathfinder, then go see what all those dials and switches can do for you.

You can find Fifth Edition books in our store.


Tips and Tricks

Truly Modular Doors for the Tabletop! — MM 48 5x4ou

It’s Mini Monday, and this week we’re making truly modular doors for tabletop gaming!

Really Modular vs Almost Modular 292rr

There are plenty of great dungeon tile terrain sets out there that have “modular” written somewhere on the box, but which usually only fits with sets from the same manufacturer. Special clips and connectors become a problem if you enjoy making your own terrain or want to buy sets from another company and have it all sit seamlessly together on the tabletop. Turns out though that making modular terrain that’ll fit with any other terrain isn’t all that hard at all.

It just needs some planning.

My ideas about modular terrain changed when I saw Johnny Fraser-Allen’s tabletop terrain, which is modular because it stacks. Gravity, not pins, do all the work.

Take a look, Johnny’s work is very inspiring:

Truly Modular Doors f4434

Here’s a hobbit door, a trapdoor, and a sewer grate:

I used plastic card, clay, and matchsticks to build these, with a small eye crew for the door handle of the hobbit door. There’s not really that much to them, and they only took a couple of hours to bang out and paint.

But check how useful they are:

“Well, this looks unsafe. What if little Timmy were around?”

“… Much better!”
From inside the well: “Mwfff mff mmfff.”

Any of these pieces of terrain could work here. The castle floor doesn’t have any features of its own.

“Oi, hobbit, let me in! I know you’re in there.”

As you can see in this last picture, a bit of Prestik (Blu Tack) will get you a vertical door and some burglar bars. No special connectors needed.

The Perfect Fit, Anywhere 1p5z6s

I really appreciate this sort of modularity when I’m building dungeons on the fly, such as when I’m playing with a dungeon to get inspired for a session or some module writing.

And if you think about it, you can apply this principle to so many other types of terrain too.

The Gear Heart of the Mechamancer gw3t

We recently released the Mechamancer, a cybernetic reimagining of the barbarian for fifth edition fantasy. You can check it out on Drive Thru RPG. If you already own the Grimdark Pamphlet then you’ll be getting the mechamancer, for free, in a future update of the pamphlet.

Write - Design - Program

Let’s Write Some Statistically Average Jokes 324b6i

The AGBIC game jam is fast drawing to a close, and I need to put some statistically average fake band names into the game, because that’s the entirely optional theme for the year, which means we’re doing it! Time for some statistically average jokes!

Like our bad space-themed jokes, these band names will be connected to items you find on the red planet, and we’ll try our best to be funny.

Or at least punny.

Pun and Games 2j2mn

Here are the newest additions. The words in bold are the statistically average band names:

  • You pick up a bottle of lactate- concentrate. The label reads ‘Moo Gourd, rich in Calcium, the other Vitamine C’.
  • You discover a crumpled copy of Football Scoundrel. The cover story reads ‘Tottenbacon’s Runaway Season’.
  • You find a stash of rolled-up Flamboyant Lifer magazines. Rich humans sure know how to live.
  • You pick a thin cardboard sleeve out of the dirt. It appears to contain an audio recording of the Ferry Destroyers. By the picture on the cover, it seems they dislike barbers as much as crossing channels.
  • You find a dusty magazine entitled Apes Spanks. Thinking it better not to ask, you quickly atomize it for parts.
  • You find a jar of Nut Rebuild, but it’s empty.
  • You find a card depicting a gloomy castle. It has Strength 10, Vitality 12, and Endurance 17. Apparently, you’d need more of these to play Fortification Addict.

    • You recover a copy of Dunk Racket from the dirt. This audio-visual ‘comedy phenomenon’ stars Wes Haroldson and Woopy Pipes.
    • You pull a small, hair-covered jacket from the dirt. It appears made for an Earth-pet and the label says Ensemble Basset in Earth-glyphs.
    • A newspaper clipping lies in the dirt. It reads ‘Naturalization Loan Rollout Begins’.
    • You find a pamphlet for ‘Safari Ski Holidays in South Africa’. The tigers really look like they’re enjoying the hot cocoa. The sales blurb promises ‘Extravagant Thrills‘.
    • You pick up a postcard depicting a human male and female riding in an expensive-looking air vehicle. It says ‘the all-new Clove Beamer is a ride of a lifetime.’
    • You pick up a well-worn issue of ‘Impostor Smut‘ from the dust. Humans are into some weird things.
    • You find a small plastic card labeled ‘Hedonist Credit, redeemable in stores nationwide’.

Well, that was utterly ridiculous. I hope you’ll us for more, soon.


General

Do Not Buy This Book, Seriously… 4e6x3t

We DO NOT want you to buy this fifth edition fantasy class book. Instead, buy the Grimdark Pamphlet, which contains this and so much more.

But if You Really Must… 4t686i

Then let me tell you what a mechamancer is:

A mechamancer blends machinery and flesh in an unholy union more powerful than sinew or gears alone. Alien technology, clockwork, or arcane apparatus might form the basis for these enhancements, but they always leave the mechamancer disconnected from their humanity. At best, a mechamancer might retain some spark of their former selves, but most eventually lose touch with reality and see only the processes and routines that guide them.

Mechamancers undergo augmentation for any number of reasons. Some find their human forms too frail, others yearn for immortality, and some are forced down the path by uncaring artificers as part of insane experiments that blend the natural and mechanical.

The mechamancer is an alternative to the barbarian class, and many of the additional options available to a barbarian can be rethemed to fit a mechamancer, with your GM’s approval. Specifically, surge and rage, and primary function and primal path, are synonymous. The mechamancer’s major difference from a standard barbarian is in how they use armor, and mechamancers gain several penalties and ability changes to balance their increase to Armor Class.

As I said, the mechamancer class also appears in the Grimdark Pamphlet, available on itch.io and on Drive-Thru RPG. Check it out, it’s growing all the time and is packed full of great content.

Who Should Play a Mechamancer? 51153b

Mechamancers are barbarians, plain and simple. They work just like barbarians, except they use armor differently, which makes them the perfect tank.

The two Primary Functions offered give you a choice between a combat-oriented or an adaptable mechamancer, so you can lean hard into being a tank or fill roles in your party that aren’t covered by other characters.

Ultimately, play a mechamancer if you don’t care for magic, want to play a tough-to-kill character, and enjoy your punk steam-flavored.

Related Reading: Is This the Best Way to Build Dungeons?

Tips and Tricks

Is This the Best Way to Build RPG Dungeons? 4p386i

3 Comments

There are tons of ways to build dungeons for your sessions of Dungeons & Dragons, from randomly generated maps to complicated computer software, but this method might just be the best way to build RPG dungeons you’ll ever find.

I’m a visual, hands-on kind of guy. I love playing with LEGO, painting miniatures, and kitbashing. It’s my meditative place, where I’m not deeply inside my head or thinking about anything particular, just enjoying the flow of the moment.

There’s a practical side to this too, one which overcomes the limitations of a computer.

I do my best writing on paper. Even though it takes time to type up my scrawl afterwards, I don’t see it as wasted time, because my writing is that much better when the first draft is analogue.

There’s something about the real feeling of things, about being able to scratch, tweak, modify, and scribble, without keys interfering.

That’s why I like building out my dungeons with bits of homemade scenery.

“Just what kind of dungeon is this?”

The Process 166g

I’ve made lots of terrain for my wargaming, much of which I’ve shown in the Mini Monday archives. This took me a fairly long time to collect, but now that I have it I find that it inspires all sorts of ideas, just from playing with the pieces.

The dungeon, in effect, has become a toy, and building the dungeon is the game.

You can do the same thing with dungeon tiles, or with a pencil and post-it notes. You could even use LEGO, or use books to represent rooms, anything you can easily move around and change.

The physical, impermanent nature of your tool is important.

Things to Think About 2t6af

What will make this dungeon, or this room, this trap, this encounter, more interesting? How do these rooms relate to each other? How else can the players achieve what they need to achieve here? What reasons do they have to go into this room, interact with this object, talk to this NPC?

Think about these things as you shift walls and doors, add furniture and traps, or put down monster minis for each encounter.

And then, when you’re finally happy with things, draw out your map, or go to the mapping software. I promise, you’ll have better ideas to work with than if you jumped straight into making the map.

RPG Blog Carnival 4a2vv

This month’s RPG Blog Carnival is hosted by Plastic Polyhedra, who picked the theme “Let’s Build a Dungeon!” Be sure to check out their site and the linked post for more dungeon design ideas.

Write - Design - Program

Convert a String to a Variable Name in JavaScript 5t4n64

Is it possible to write code that doesn’t use its own variables, but still works? It is! You can convert a string to a variable name in JavaScript using eval, and here’s how it works.

Our Usecase 561v6w

Say we’re building a text-based game where we want the player to be able to interact with the resources they’ve collected. In Mars and Crafts, this means typing “atomize [resource name]” into Discord and hitting enter. For example: “atomize dirt” or “atomize concrete”.

There are potentially many variables we’ll need to access, but the is giving us the name of the most important variable in their input string. So, rather than using many “if-else” statements, can’t we just use the input string to get the variable?

Convert a JS String into a Variable Name 2f5g1t

This node.js code loads data from a JSON file into variables, then uses eval to access them with a string. This is useful because the can type in the variable’s name and get its value, all we need to do is ensure their string is formatted correctly. 
// Load Game
const fileSystem = require("fs");
const saveData = fileSystem.readFileSync("saveData.json", "utf-8");
const saveObj = JSON.parse(saveData);
console.log("Loaded save game.......");

//Resources
var iStone = saveObj.iStone;
var iWater = saveObj.iWater;
var iSludge = saveObj.iSludge;
var iParts = saveObj.iParts;
var iElectronics = saveObj.iElectronics;
var iFuel = saveObj.iFuel;
var iPower = saveObj.iPower;
var iMetal = saveObj.iMetal;
var iConcrete = saveObj.iConcrete;
var iDirt = saveObj.iDirt;

function atomize (arg) {
    // Convert arg string to resource variable name
    arg = arg.toLowerCase();
    var sResPrefix = "i" + arg.charAt(0).toUpperCase(); 
    var sResource =  sResPrefix + arg.substr(1, arg.length);
    console.log(arg + " => " + sResource + " = " + eval(sResource)); 
}

// Some tests
atomize ("dirt");
atomize ("Water");
atomize ("CONCRETE");
atomize ("Stone");
atomize ("sludge");
atomize ("FUEL");

We can figure out which variable the wants with some educated guesses. In this case, we know our variables all start with “i” and a capital letter. We then do a fair bit of work with the strings, which we could skip if the variable names were simply the nouns (“sludge”, “water”, “stone”, etc.).

Here’s the saveData.json file:

{
"iStone":3,
"iDirt":2,
"iWater":0,
"iSludge":0,
"iParts":0,
"iElectronics":0,
"iFuel":0,
"iPower":0,
"iMetal":0,
"iConcrete":0
}

Some Security Considerations 6x3a4l

Using eval is like opening a back door for all kinds of deviancy, which is why you’ll still need to restrict which variables are accessible and ensure that only those variables are accessible. Read and understand the eval docs, and let us know if you have a better way of doing this, in the comments below.



Write - Design - Program

Why It’s Good to Suck (At Something) 593y4b

I suck at skateboarding. I’m terrible at it. But you know what, it’s good to suck at something. Here’s why…

(And yes, there will be an RPG angle to my story.)

There are a bunch of things I can get cocky about. I’m not bragging though, because I still have far to go, but I’m a fairly competent writer and editor, I know a deal about design and layout, and my puns are perfection. When it comes to skateboarding though, I suck.

Just how bad am I?

I’m a fearful person, and I’ve got the coords of a drunken goat. I nearly killed myself for a stupid trick (that’s hyperbole, but it still hurt).

But all the suckage is a good thing. It keeps you humble. It teaches you. It gives you perspective.

Humility and Real Motivation z1032

So we’re going to talk about game design a lot here, and we’re going to talk about motivation too. Motivation’s the fuel that gets game design done, that pulls game devs through the tough times.

Motivation fascinates me.

People say our minds are like a computer, so then understanding motivation is like learning to hack our brains. That’s tastily cyberpunk.

But the motivation I’m talking about isn’t the Tony Robbin’s flavored shlock you find in a lot of self-help books. I’m talking about understanding what makes your brain think like it does, then knowing how to deal with those thoughts.

In skateboarding, sometimes the most unnatural movements are the right ones. Take dropping in.

Credit: Tania Ferreira Lourenco

Dropping in is where you have your skateboard’s nose up, then lean forward so that you and your board’s nose come down, onto the ramp. Your body’s natural instinct is to pull back, but this always fouls up and could put you on your bum. Ultimately, you have to trust the physics and lean into it, fighting through the fear.

You quickly realize that fear’s keeping you back. The only way to hack your brain is to fight the fear. So how do you fight fear?

School of Hard Knocks 6j284t

We all know how to run, but riding a plank, that’s odd. You might be lucky to have learned it as a kid, but otherwise it’s an alien activity. In this way, skateboarding is a perfect model for how we learn.

I see it when I compare mini painting to skateboarding. Both take practice, and practice pays off for both hobbies. The best synonym for practice is “baby steps”. You learn to master mini painting by focusing on one new step at a time.

Gamemastering? Same. Writing games? Same. Nobody ever learned all the rules of D&D before running their first game, they learn enough and add to that knowledge later.

Knowing you suck is the only way to improve.

Write - Design - Program

Why I Almost Quit the TTRPG Industry 5n5q1j

6 Comments

The table-top roleplaying games industry is notoriously tough. Keep your ear to the ground and you’ll hear, now and then, the hasty footfalls of an RPG designer rushing for the door. Burnout is usually the cause. I was at the edge of that precipice, and I almost quit the TTRPG industry, and I’m here to tell you my story.

I’ve worked in the TTRPG industry for five full years now. Some of my time is spent on other work, but I’ve picked jobs carefully to build my career with experience that’ll feed back into RPG design and writing. These years were only possible because of another five years spent preparing to go full time. So why, if I’ve fought so hard for this, would I be ready to let it all go?

An Honest Picture of Success 4g4h67

To understand that, we need to talk about success. What does success in the TTRPG industry look like? Is it working for Wizards of the Coast, or having your name on a hardcover? Maybe it’s earning enough that you can quit your day job?

In my view, success is all about sustainability. Does your work you? This isn’t just about money, although money is a big part of it. Sustainability includes the actualization of your goals. It answers questions such as “Will I, one day, have my name on a hardcover?” Your sense of worth is also important; “Do I make great content that people enjoy?” Then there’s fair remuneration; “Is my hard work being adequately rewarded?” Rewards include money, buzz, positive , and players sitting down to play your games.

Ultimately, is all the graft, the grind, and the stress, paying off? If it is, then your work is sustainable and you’re successful. If not, then the job will eventually beat you down, you’ll cut your losses, and beat an expeditious retreat.

Hard trials are going to come along, no matter what you do. If anything, I didn’t always have the maturity to face those trials and pull through, so each hit became a personal burden (or grudge) that grew heavier and heavier with each setback. On top of that, as Freddie sang, “… bad mistakes, I’ve made a few.” This reached its ugly head when I had a run of flops with products I really believed in.

It has taken me months to recover from burnout and get excited about producing RPG content again.

But I’m committed to learning from my mistakes and doing better.

How much better to get wisdom than gold,
to get insight rather than silver!
— Proverbs 16:16

Last night I was reading a Batonga story to my kids about the dung beetle. In it, Butterfly tells Dung Beetle that if she doesn’t try, she’ll never succeed, but if she tries, she might (When Lion Could Fly and Other Tales From Africa).

So I’m sticking around because I know I can do better. Even after five years, there’s still so much to learn, and I’m enjoying being a student of game design and the TTRPG industry. Even my many failures are not a loss, because they give me something to build on that I didn’t have when I first started out.

The name of the company makes a lot more sense now too, doesn’t it? I hope you, too, can rise like a phoenix from whatever setback life has thrown at you.


Be the Hero 1a662i