Burn Everything Gaming

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Category Archives: RPGs


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Skull Takers Adventure Part 1

Day 1

My name is John Brighten, and despite the circumstances I am in good health. I wish the same could be said for the rest of the world. I am not sure what happened or why, but I remember hearing about the apocalypse back when I went to church. Maybe this is it?

I have not had anyone to talk to for a long time, so I thought that maybe a journal would help keep me sane. Maybe someone will read it someday and know that I existed. It is a nice thought. Mostly all I think about these days is my existence.

I do not know the dates, but I do know that the sun has risen and set many times. I am glad that it still does. At least the dark ones have not taken that from us.

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Pets in Fate

I once ran a campaign where one of the players had the goal that their character’s pet goat would kill a dragon. It came from a long discussion about how there were always goats around dragon nests in Skyrim so they were probably the secret guardians of humanity that…well, I’d probably better not try to explain it actually. That would take a whole other post.

For this post I would like to talk about pets, specifically having a character pet in Fate. We love them as players, we agonize over them as GMs, and we talk about them years after the campaign is over. Fate Core actually does a very good job of making sure that you can build a variety of pets depending on what you want them to be able to do, mechanically.

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The Impossible Juggling Act

I once ran a FATE game where I decided to take inspiration from a YouTube series that made fun of roleplaying games. I put a lady of the lake in the game that was going to give the heroes a chance to prove they were the chosen ones and take an amazing weapon to be used for their own. Of course the catch was that this lady just wanted to mess with adventurers and gave them random bits of junk that she promised was the magic sword she was to grant the chosen ones.

Then the guy in the group that is usually very quiet and constantly giving up treasure to other members of the group that want it more spent every fate point he had to be accepted for the task. Apparently he is a HUGE fan of Arthurian lore, and he so badly wanted to be the one to wield my game’s equivalent of Excalibur.

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Crunchy Fate Games

So a while back I made a post where I stated that FATE is not for everyone and it is not for every situation. I stand by that still. But I was surprised to find out just how many people disagree with me on this issue. A number of Kickstarter projects have had people demand FATE versions of their rules in exchange for support. Gamers have refused to participate in events unless someone runs a FATE game. And of course people that try to design their own FATE settings are being told that their rules are not “good enough” for FATE.

That last one really hits home since both Taylor and I have been designing our own systems based on TV shows we love. I mean, isn’t one of the big advantages of a system like FATE supposed to be that we can play in a Star Trek, Air Bender, or Firefly setting?

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Playing without a GM

I know it probably seems odd to talk about playing a roleplaying game without a Game Master right after we talked about the importance of supporting GMs, but hear me out. Sometimes it can help to play a game without a GM to get a feel for the rules of a game together. More often you have an opportunity where the GM can’t make it (or wants a chance to play) and no one else is prepared/willing to run a game. And sometimes you just want to try something new.

Is It Really an RPG?

Clearly having a game without a GM is never ideal. Having a human that can respond to challenges and player requests is one of the biggest advantages that tabletop RPGs have over electronic games. And more than likely trying a GM-less game is going to help everyone appreciate a human GM immensely more.

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Not Enough Game Masters

There will probably always be more players than Game Masters (GMs) in our hobby. I’m ok with that. But you know, it would be great if more players and even non-players were willing to run some games. It is a lot of fun, and really it seems like everyone has a hard time finding people to run games. Unfortunately there is a very good reason for this: fear.

Anyone getting into running a game for the first time will have some fears to face, and unfortunately a lot of those fears are justified. If you run a bad game, players will NOT want to play with you again. If you mess up the rules, you get called out on it at some point. If a player messes up on something, they will hold it against you on some level. And how your first session goes will also affect how you see yourself as a gamer and a game master.

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Gaming out of a Dark Room

So last year I got addicted to the online game A Dark Room (couldn’t afford the app), and it got me thinking what a great Tian Xia RPG that sort of setting would make. I ended up planning out a couple of sessions, and while the campaign never got off the ground I thought I would share what I had to see if anyone could improve on the idea.

If you are not familiar with A Dark Room, Google it and become addicted!

Translating Mechanics

So I started out wanting to take the different levels of the game opening up and relating them to the intro of this Tian Xia game. Here is what I came up with:

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Dragon Age RPG for Your First Game

The New Year is just around the corner, just brimming with potential. So I thought I would post something aimed at potential new gamers! I am amazed at how popular tabletop RPGs have gotten during my lifetime. People love to play, as well they should. And the industry is booming with more games and expansions and accessories coming out all the time!

That being said, roleplaying games can sometimes be intimidating for people that have never tried it before. Sure if you have a local gaming store to get plugged into or a cousin that is a long-time gamer, getting plugged in is easy. But if not, even if you have a group of friends that would enjoy playing together, it is hard to know where to begin.

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Forced to Opera by the Fae

One of the great things about roleplaying games is that they offer us a chance to share amazing experiences with other people. As a GM, I am constantly pulling puns and story ideas from my childhood. Sometimes I try to disguise these ideas, but more often than not the source is so obvious that it becomes part of the joy.

Back when I was running my first real Dresden Files RPG Campaign, I decided that I wanted to do an opera scene like the one found in Final Fantasy 6 (my favorite electronic game to this day, though Chrono Trigger is an insanely close second). So I took the script from the opera, made some changes to fit the actual adventure, and waited for a chance to have fairies kidnap the party and force them into the play.

The results were one of my favorite gaming sessions I have ever run. The players sang and read their lines when they were onstage and plotted how to escape (and not die in the death scenes) when their characters were behind the curtains. I really wish we had been recording sessions back then.

While a lot of the session notes have been removed, the actual script for the opera and a few of the details are included in this first set of notes. Hopefully you can get a feel of how much fun it was to play.

-Joshua

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