Recorded just before Episode 13 (Echoes of the Veil), this session has Scott running Mind the Gap—Emanoel Melo’s compact introduction to CBR+PNK—for James and Sean. The pamphlet delivers a self-contained cyberpunk heist in the Forged-in-the-Dark lineage, offering both a crash course in the system’s flow and a taste of its sharp, high-pressure style. We used it as a baseline for comparison with Raffi’s expanded version in Episode 13, highlighting what the core rules do well, where questions remain, and how the system might evolve when stretched into longer form play.

Topics discussed:

00:01:15 Getting started with Characters

00:17:30 Getting started with Play

00:20:35 Car 18

00:21:38 Determine the package

00:23:32 The first thing that happens...

01:08:10 Entering Car 19

01:16:00 The lights turn red

01:19:00 Change direction!

01:23:00 Car 17

01:28:00 Car 16 -- turned around?

01:34:04 The Simulacrum

01:35:14 The bunny is a virus

01:47:46 Deliver to car 12

01:49:52 Denouement -- Crispr doesn't actually have a family, Diz has terminal cancer

01:55:08 Discussion on CBR+PNK and some comparisons with BitD

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Jamie and Scott dig into how we’re all wired to find creativity in different ways. This is a critical part of the process. Not only are we talking about how structure drives us all differently but communicating those expectations at the table. We circle back to some ideas we referenced early on and begin our exploration of OSR ideas and GNS.

For more on the discussion of System and Style check out James' article series, Rules in Practice and Scott’s additional thoughts on specific systems on our YouTube channel.

Topics discussed:

00:00 - Intro

03:54 - Structure vs tyranny of the blank page

05:55 - Fiction First

07:15 - the Social Contract. Matt Colville, Language Not Rules

11:15 - Game Design with Luke Crane & Thor Olavsrud

12:00 - GNS

13:45 - Save the Cat

14:40 - Structure generating creativity vs. restricting creativity

16:40 - Investment in story vs characters

17:35 - Kishōtenketsu

20:25 - Player agendas

21:20 - Verisimilitude in RPGs

25:35 - the fruitful void

25:25 - GM responsibility to contextualize

27:00 - Torchbearer

30:15 - Consequences to feed narrative

31:50 - Play by vibe

34:14 - Relationship of character to story

36:50 - What players bring to the table

42:45 - Not everybody is a creative writer

46:00 - Real life experience + playing well in a rpg

51:45 - LitRPG

Long‑time friend of the show and gamer Johnathan Lee drops in as we crack open Mothership, the d100 panic engine from Tuesday Knight Games. A brisk build phase shows how quickly you can assemble a potentially doomed crew. Then we plunge through a five‑scene drift where hull plates groan and heartbeat monitors spike. Note the scenes that kicked off TOMBS (Transgression, Omens, Manifestation, Banishment, Slumber).

Afterward we really begin to dig into some of the push and pull between mechanics and story and how we see different games engage with the material in a different manner, potentially creating very different results even between similar scenarios.

For more on the discussion of System and Style check out James' article series, Rules in Practice. More installments in this series to come.

Topics Discussed:

Mothership AP

00:01:00 Setting

00:07:00 Characters & System Briefing

00:16:40 So it begins - Transgression

00:28:45 Stasis Pods

00:38:00 The Cockpit

00:40:10 Check the Bounty

00:46:00 Waking the Captain - Omens

01:02:00 Run Ship Diagnostics

01:10:15 Enter the Chapel

01:17:15 Engine Room

01:26:00 Gear Up

01:30:15 Space Flames - Manifestation

01:34:50 Shut It Down!

01:46:10 “Perhaps Battle Dress is in order"

01:50:10 VacSuits

01:52:20 Freedom!

01:59:00 Solar Pilgrimage

02:10:00 Panic

02:14:45 Ultimatum - Banishment

02:15:00 Controlled Burn - Slumber

02:27:30 Wrap Up

Deconstructing Mothership and System/Style discussion

02:32:00 Execution

03:00:00 Exposition

03:07:00 Evolution

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On this special episode we bring fellow Philadelphia-based designer Raffi onboard to explore Echoes of the Veil, a new expansion that turns the

Forged in the Dark masterwork of design CBR+PNK into a quick-fire mini-campaign engine.

We jump straight into character creation, unpacking the new runner-growth track and “Weird" options, modular downtime boards, and other Veil-specific mechanics along the way—smart add-ons that deepen play without slowing the momentum that made CBR+PNK a cult favorite. Expect tight action, abrupt pivots, and a city that pushes back as hard as you lean in. After the session we dive into a far-ranging discussion of style, system, and all things RPG.

Listen now, grab free sample pages, and back Echoes of the Veil on Kickstarter to keep indie cyberpunk thriving.

Heartfelt thanks for joining us, Raffi. Go support this fantastic creator!

Topics Discussed:

Echoes of the Veil Actual Play

00:02:30 Character Creation

00:13:37 Safety and Guidelines

00:14:29 Background

00:24:00 The Drop

00:30:55 The Toll

00:39:40 Break & Entry

01:17:00 The Twist

01:28:10 The House of Po-Po

02:01:45 Epilogue

Interview Raffi

02:13:35 What have we been playing?

Traveler Character Generator

02:28:00 Digging into process with Raffi

02:38:30 Inspiration

02:49:14 Bringing The CBR to our PNK

02:53:15 Get your gamism on

Therapeutic approaches to RPGS

Intentionally Therapeutic TTRPG resources

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Episode 12 welcomes clinical-tech nerd—and lifelong D&D DM—Sean, deepening the Modern Mythology bench to four hosts. (Sean, James, and Scott are on-mic this time).

A quick opening discussion uncovers Sean’s gaming roots and, in the process, reveals some of how each host hacks rules at the table, a topic we will surely return to. Scott—who has logged hundreds of systems—champions underrated mechanics and explains why he drifts from Dungeons & Dragons even as the podcast keeps circling back; Sean defends single-system mastery; James moderates the middle ground.

With philosophies compared, the crew jumps to the Third Horizon for Free League’s Middle-Eastern space opera Coriolis for a short actual play. Two linked scenes showcase the streamlined dice-pool engine and its signature tension lever—Darkness Points, a GM resource that turns player pushes into creeping cosmic peril—setting the stage for the show’s new, sci-fi-focused chapter.

Check out our YouTube channel for a development discussion about Coriolis.

(Trigger warning: suicide)

Topics Discussed:

00:00 Meeting Sean

00:05:03 Characters on the fly

00:06:20 Resource management

00:09:50 System experience

00:23:05 Minis & the Grid

00:26:10 Coriolis AP

00:38:16 Character discussions

00:46:55 Scene one - Pinned down

01:02:25 Scene Two - Divide and conquer

01:20:49 Scene Three - The getaway

01:23:15 Scene Four - The sacrifice

02:02:40 Debrief

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Our horror TTRPG spotlight winds down—for now. Jamie, Mark, and Scott unpack game mechanics that subtly shape pacing and tension, exploring ritual framing, partial successes, player-facing rolls, and objective-driven rewards.

We also discuss two cult-favorite horror rpgs we haven’t covered before—Unknown Armies and Kult—before diving into a brisk (~30-minute) actual play of Don’t Rest Your Head.

Topics Discussed:

01:30 Podcast milestone

05:59 Honorable mentions

09:25 Unknown Armies

23:00 Kult

40:30 Applying these ideas at the table

66:20 Don’t Rest Your Head — actual play

88:40 DRYH debrief

90:00 More games we love

100:00 What’s next?

Listen on ModernMythology.net or your favorite podcatcher, and catch more from Scott about Unknown Armies on YouTube.

Keep an eye out for upcoming articles from James exploring play style versus system on the Modern Mythology blog.

In Episode 10, Mark, Jamie, and Scott follow up our discussion on story-facing design by zeroing in on player spotlight: who talks when, who takes control of a moment, and how game systems shape pacing and participation.

This episode asks a simple but essential question—how do you decide who gets the scene? From GM-led framing to player-initiated action, from systems that distribute authority to those that leave it to group consensus, we discuss how spotlight is shared, negotiated, or wrestled for. It’s not just about giving everyone equal time—it’s about making every moment count, and using mechanics to support scenes that land with emotional clarity and narrative weight.

Topics Discussed:

00:00 What is the “spotlight “ about
00:03 “Splitting the party”
00:09 Character perspective
00:11 Player vs character
00:22 Systems that drive spotlight
00:43 When dice drive spotlight
00:47 Player driven spotlight
01:04 Scenes and pacing

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We sat down with Sacha Lightfoot of Slightly Reckless Games to talk all things Ronin—a brutal, beautiful RPG about masterless samurai and the weight of honor. We dig into where the game came from, what makes it sing, and why we think OSR games are SHITE (clickbait, we actually don't).

Sacha shares what’s next from SRG, and we get into how Ronin adapts and builds on Mörk Borg’s core concepts. There’s death, duty, and just enough darkness to feel real. As always, we talk theme, tone, and what we’re really chasing in an RPG.

Stick around for a preview of our Ronin Actual Play with the Late Night Marauders, and don’t miss the chance to back SRG’s upcoming expansion, Densetsu.

Also, check out Scott’s StartPlaying page for weekly Ronin sessions—featuring both original and published scenarios:
👉 https://startplaying.games/gm/myth-forged

Topics Discussed:

2:00 What are we working on

8:10 Slightly Reckless Games

17:20 Lets talk about Ronin

23:40 Death and Resurrection

32:30 Exploring OSR

40:10 Honor System

46:00 Densetsu Kickstarter on its final week https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/slightlyreckless/ronin-densetsu

53:00 Third Party Development for Ronin

58:00 Ronin Actual Play excerpt (1 hour) of module 13 Demons of Akuma Saizo by John Ossaway.

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Here is our inaugural conversation about story structure and the ways both system and choice shape our RPG sessions. In this episode, we focus on the classic three-act structure—how it translates into collaborative, improvised play over the course of an ongoing campaign, or within individual sessions.

We explore a few core questions:

Where does the responsibility for story lie in an RPG?

What games drive narrative through structure, and how do they do it?

How can we think differently about the formulas we bring to the table?

Our goal is to offer several ways to create story in nearly any type of game, including those without explicit narrative mechanics. This is the beginning of a longer conversation about how stories emerge in play, and the different tools we can use to shape them.

More to come on this topic, we’re sure.

Topics Discussed:

00:01:00 What we’re playing?

00:18:50 Narrative Structure

00:24:00 Site-based games

00:44:42 Sandbox games

01:01:00 Player facing

01:08:00 Story Driven Structures, ie Three Acts

01:10:00 The Inciting Incident

01:19:00 Act Two

01:27:00 Reluctant Heroes

01:29:00 Act Three

01:33:20 Wrapping Up

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This is an auxiliary episode highlighting an exciting new story game from Bully Pulpit Games, Zhenya's Wonder Tales, a GMless rpg driven by cards to tell grim slavic-inspired fairy tales. We do our first interview with the game designer, Jason Morningstar - prolific designer of Fiasco, Shab-al-hiri Roach, and Gray Ranks, among others.

Check out Zhenya's Wonder Tales on Backerkit - Campaign ends April 4th.

Topics Discussed:

00:00:45 Intro

00:07:30 Green and Narrow Bed

00:12:12 Zhenya's Wonder Tales

00:24:00 Art by Momatoes

00:32:20 Safer spaces in rpgs

00:37:25 Explicit stakes in *moves*

00:48:30 No dice?

00:54:00 Interview Wrap-Up

@jmstar on social media

Actual Play

00:56:20 Rules Read Aloud

We ran Zhenya's Wonder Tales in Roll20

01:04:00 Choose characters

01:10:10 Enjoy as we play Zhenya's Wonder Tales

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