Since Chris was sick this week, I decided to offer short reviews of several of Modiphius' published A!C adventures, with commentary and suggestions for GMs who might want to run them.

In this one I interview Chris about the new Marvel supers game, and I get an earful. Below are links to his blog, wherein you can see examples of the infamous Archetype Tables, and read about his suggestions for improving the game (that is, making it playable).

Herein I seek feedback on a very rough draft of a more traditional fantasy magic system for use with 2d20. It's rough, and I think I'm coming away with some good ideas to improve it.

As GMs, we draw inspiration for ideas - and life ideas whole-cloth - from books, movies, tv, and mythology. I propose another valid source: the lyrics and album covers of many Metal bands. Below are linked some of those mentioned in the episode, and a few others.

Lyrics

Album Covers

I think that says it...herein we discuss what we'd like to see in a fantasy core rulebook...not tied to an existing property or setting.

Our mainly GM-focused discussion of the differences in planning and management needs between one-offs, adventures, and campaigns.

In this episode we discuss the highly narrative Dishonored 2d20 RPG, and talk about what we like and dislike about it as a setting, as a vehicle for storytelling, and as a version of our favorite system.

Investigations and mysteries are interesting, can be a lot of fun, and are also a challenge to plan and run. Digging into our long experience of mistakes in trying to do this, Chris and I discuss what we believe to be the biggest pitfalls to avoid in planning and running these. In the episode I refer to Chill 3e and some potentially useful (free) materials related to that game available on DriveThruRPG - see that all here.

What is Star Trek without problem solving through gonzo science, engineering, and medicine? We think not much, and Modiphius agrees, as evidenced by their inclusion of a subsystem for using a riff on the scientific method within the game. It's simple and story and character focused if done well, and you should go out of your way to put it to use.

In this episode we explain and discuss it, run through a sample of it, and provide some commentary and house rules for it, too.

TTRPGs have gone through a lot of development over the last 45+ years, and over that time we've seen different views on when and how to use the dice...when to call for rolls, what those rolls should be used to accomplish, and even when to hide and possibly fudge rolls (by the GM, of course...GMs fudge; players cheat!). In this episode Chris and I talk a little about that evolution, and focus mostly on ideas of how a GM can go about deciding when to call for the dice, when not to, and how to accept their results. And, of course, we use lots of examples related to 2d20.

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