“Mystery Men” -style heroes for your supers roleplaying game

As I mentioned yesterday, May and June are my worst months for free time for things like games or moments alone with my thoughts. I’ve tried to read novels through these months in the past with very little success. This year, I instead turned to comic books. The short form means I can read a…

Assemblies as a Setting for Roleplaying Games

Astute readers will note that I’ve been absent for the last several weeks. This is due to my role as what Bryan calls “High Lord of Hellmonth.” Every June, my job consists of overseeing the legislative governance assembly of the organization I work for, and between insane prep and a week of meetings that start…

From the Archives – Gamer Cheat Sheet: Drink in the Middle Ages

A road-weary band trudges into an inn, thankful to be out of the rain. They request a meal from the innkeeper, and look forward to food that isn’t dried and salted, cut away from the mold, or something they caught themselves. Sitting gratefully on a surface that’s not either the ground or a saddle, they…

More Custom ‘Style’ Counters for Houses of the Blooded

Last week I gave a step-by-step guide to creating custom counters for Houses of the Blooded.  Specifically, these counters are going to be used to track the in-game currency called ‘Style points.’  Using a process called image transfer, I recreated some vintage French tarot cards using designs I found online. At the end of my…

Tracking ‘Style’ With Style: Custom Counters for Houses of the Blooded

There are many types of in-game ‘currency’ found throughout RPGs, and our recent fixation on Houses of the Blooded has concentrated on the use of Style points.  Players begin the game with a designated amount of Style points, and can spend them to add desired details to the story, take advantage of details in a particular…

The Abstract Assets Random Generator

Shortly after publishing last week’s intangible inventory of non-material benefits for your role playing needs, I literally said out loud “This would make a pretty cool generator.”  Upon realizing that no one else was actually in my office to witness this epiphany, I decided to take my own advice instead.  Today’s post is the finished…

Abstract Assets: Rising Above Material Rewards

Today’s post both continues a trend from the past couple weeks and dovetails into one of Chase’s ‘Cool Links’ from this week.  It also explores a concept that, as one blogger put it, you probably “don’t think you think about” when planning or playing your games. What holds true or desired value in a campaign can…

From the Archive: Random Character Flaw Generator

After listing some non-mechanical ideas for quirky, unique characters I thought it might be fun to create a table that would let the dice decide just how messed up a PC could be. So here we go: a Random Flaw Generator for your new (or existing) character. With the exception of the in-game effects, this…