the other matt's rpg blog

Moving to a new city is tough for many reasons.  One of those is the loss of your in person RPG group.  Re-establishing one can be very tricky, but I've done it each time I've moved over the last 3 moves successfully.  The trick is to offer to play D&D before you let loose the idea that there are other RPG games out there that you'd like to play. I answered an ad in a sticker shop looking for players for D&D back in December.  The group needed a DM.  I volunteered and in session 0, I suggested a campaign that would go from 1st to 5th level and end in about 6 months.  At which point we'd revisit.  Everyone thought that sounded good and we began.  This was basically our audition.  Not just mine, but theirs.  We were all testing out if this group of strangers would transition into friends that would play RPGs. It went really well!  The D&D campaign wrapped up nicely and that's when I gave them the pitch: all three Chaosium ...

Burnout Around the middle of January, my RPG schedule was: Weekly Lancer game with students in tabletop game club Weekly UVG+Troika! game with friends online Bimonthly Runequest game online Bimonthly D&D game with new friends in person Commitment to #Dungeon23 It was too much.  I needed to scale back.  Quitting Dungeon23 was easy, but it actually did not bring a whole lot of satisfaction.  I realized I needed to trim back the number of games I was playing, and I spent another month or so hemming and hawing about “which one” I needed to let go, until it struck me. I needed to let them all go! So the students are running their own games now.  I said farewell and wrapped up my character’s adventures in the UVG, etc.  Except I will keep the in person D&D game.  I’m new in town and these are new folks I’ve met and am becoming friends with.  Also, it is an in person game, which has been very nice. So in essence, there hasn’t been any time for me to r...

Somehow made it through this week! I haven't been keeping up with my session reports, and it seems like doing that would be a much better use of my time, lol, but my "school" filled with (checks notes) "roach goblins, bees, and robots" is chugging along. This week, I pretend the school has a robust technical program and space for some arts.  Every school I've worked at has had a daycare run by students learning child development so that is here too. I still think of this as a more post apocalyptic gonzo thing, something I wouldn't necessarily run with d-n-d, but with something that has mutations, psychic powers, and also magic. I've taken my own advice and decided that these "seven room regions" will now be occupied primarily by one type of entity, which if I was running the game would appear on a 1-3 on the encounter die, and on a 4-5 a creature from a neighboring area would show up, and on a 6 something from the next level down would show...

I made it to a second week!  Victory to me is simple: do this whole thing! I have found that in my "extra" moments throughout my days I drift towards planning, and my mind starts listing types of rooms.  Later, when seated and writing, the list comes back and I can pick my favorite room and then riff off it. I am not paying any attention to number of traps, treasure, tricks, or monsters.  If I ever actually use this thing then I can fill those in as part of my prep for a given session.  I am trying to really not worry about using this at all though: it makes it much easier to just scribble down my thoughts or ideas without worrying too hard. I didn't add much to my "trophy" or "graffiti" list, which is something I should think back on as I expand, although those can of course just be a part of that "actual prep that would happen if I was really running this thing..." It is fun to imagine I'd use it though! this week, the school heads outs...

I decided to do dungeon23! The only possible way I could make it work would be to follow the very simplest version of it: 30 seconds to one minute writing.  at the end of the week, upload. I already "bullet journal" so I didn't want to carry around a second fancy notebook, and I didn't want to combine my bujo with my dungeon23 notebook, so I ended up printing out these lovely monthly pamphlets from shouting crow My principles are simple: - it is for me; I don't need stats or lots of details.  ideally I'd use this at some point, I just need ideas to riff off of an a skeleton to hang things off of. - I'm not drawing a proper map.  it is a skill I like and something I'd probably actually enjoy, but that would take lots of time, and the whole thing with this is just trying to carve out a tiny 5 minute window each day to write these little snippets. - make it to December 31st 2023 At the end of each week I am going to post here my weekly spread. My "th...

Game : Troika! + Ultraviolet Grasslands Module : Ultraviolet Grasslands Players : 4 This was session 4 of the weekly Troika! game I’m playing with friends online.  I’m still getting the hang of writing play reports as a player, and I have a strong feeling that writing “in character” is maybe annoying to read, but also the way I’m leaning towards.  I’m gonna try it out here. Characters : Higbert, Ardent Giant of Corda, my character Walter Arnold, Member of the Sublime Society of Beefsteaks (a long running character.  Her player played this character in my year long Troika! Pandemic game, and as such has many skills, items, and experiences waaaay beyond a beginning character) Phil, a Gremlin Catcher who is heavily inspired by Edward Norton’s character in Moonrise Kingdom Mr. Zoravu, a sorcerer from the academy of doors Session : To recap everything from beforehand: Our characters are drawn to a strange, floating portrait which acts as a dimensional portal.  We each bel...

Game : Runequest: Roleplaying in Glorantha Module : n/a Players : 4 This was session 5 of the twice monthly runequest game I/ve been playing online.  Sorry there aren’t reports for sessions 0-4 but I’m trying to make sure I write play reports from when I am a player.  Since I was a player I think my report will naturally focus more on my character’s perspective. Characters : Oli, my humakti duck Galgo, a lodrili caladralander Sera, Ernaldan Sartarite Mago, the storm bull sartarite Session : To recap everything from beforehand: Sera, Galgo, and Oli played through the events of the quickstart: The Broken Tower.  We recovered most of the cattle and captured Danakos.  Idrima remains in the tower. Back in Clearwine, we spoke to the events that happened, and after attending to our seasonal duties, were charged with traveling to the Shaker temple to ask the priestess how to deal with Idrima. The group hired a duck boat, and plied their way past the upland marsh, and to the ...