Personable Thoughts

  Most Mondays, I meet with friends at a local pub as we each do our various creative pursuits. I usually try to get some RPG related writing done (which has, among other things, resulted in my submission for the Barkeep Jam ).  Today, the results of my efforts is a monster, statted for His Majesty the Worm , because I think those statblocks are fun to play with right now. Without further ado, I present the Lobster Knight : Lobster Knight Beast Brute  An aquatic menace that is not afraid to follow a foe (or prey) onto land. Of course, as mere beasts, these upright person-sized crustaceans are not truly knights, but their thick, prickly carapace has the look of a knightly plate armour. Attributes: Swords 5 | Pentacles 2 | Cups 2 | Wands 2 Health/Defence: 4/6 Likes: An easy meal, murky water Dislikes: Strong heat, being dry Notes: Tough . Actions that target the animate statue must exceed (not just match) its Initiative. Aquatic.  The Lobster Knight can breathe and ...

  I recently wrote and submitted an adventure for the Worm Jam . Ignoring the danger of exposing myself as a lazy hack, I thought I would write a little bit about my thoughts on game jams in general, as well as my process for this adventure. Personally, I think game jams are great, and for me this can be boiled down to three main reasons: Inspiration: Game jams generally come with some theme, which can serve as inspiration for what to make. Constraints: Game jams usually come with some constraints, in particular in time, that limits the scope and forces you to finish. Community: Creating for a game jam means that you are writing for, and with, a community. I usually have more ideas than I know what to do with, so the latter two are more important to me, and I will spend a bit more time on them. While game jams are often constrained by theme or form, the hardest constraint is generally in time. From the start of the game jam, a clock starts counting down to the end, by which tim...

  A "problem" that I imagine affects many of us is that it is much easier to find the time to read, than to play. Fortunately reading is still an enjoyable pastime. In this (intended) series, I write up my impressions from a read-through of the book, with all the caveats that come with that. The first entry in this series is Josh McCrowell 's highly anticipated Big Book RPG His Majesty The Worm . Hopefully soon available again. At first glance, the game looks like OSR fare: desperate adventurers venturing into the megadungeon in search of fame and fortune. That is, until you look closer at the mechanics, which are different from any OSR game I have ever seen. Coming in with some familiarity with RPGs, The Worm reveals itself to be a different beast entirely, as if someone attempted to reconstruct the OSR dungeon experience from first principles using only the fiction, while rejecting the mechanical baggage of D&D. I was not surprised to hear Brad Kerr of Between Two C...