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What's the point of TTRPGs? A spiral in the form of a playscript

 October this year, I found myself suddenly a lot more intellectually occupied than I have been for a year or so. You'll have noticed, if for some reason you're internet-stalking me, that I haven't posted anything in a couple of months.  I was very clear when I started the blog that it wasn't going to be another chore for me, so I don't mind letting it sit for a time. Posts will come when the moment strikes. Letting the book-blogs go by the wayside was a shame but also, to be honest, a relief; the exercise of regular writing on a pre-chosen topic is anathema to the state of creative flow I normally try to enter when working, and it's been nice to be able to put aside the painful push to finish in favour of letting things just be. Of course, such an approach has its limits, the main one being that I tend not to make anything. Instead, I spark off little bits of art, plus pushing on doggedly with whatever game I'm running at the moment (a mage game currently, ...
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Winter/Spring/Summer Miniatures Review: The Martian and the Marsh-Man

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Since my last miniatures review  I've finished painting two things. I've assembled, fixed, touched up or started painting a lot more, notably getting very close to finishing a certain big creature I discussed in my first ever post . But what can you do? Life gets in the way. I'm pretty pleased with these two.  1: Samual van der Stultus, 5th Lord Macclemere  So heavily kitbashed as to be totally without a singular identity... wire armature, green stuff, a head from Wargames Atlantic's French Partisans and a cane made from an old Tomb Kings spear. Lots of static grass and flock, including mixed in with the Green Stuff. I have no explanation for this, really. Apart from watching the TTS team's narrative playthroughs, I have no particular interest in or desire to play Turnip28. I think it crosses the grimdark event horizon for me where I no longer see why anybody would get invested in any story you tell using it. That said, this Victorian postcard is very funny. So he...
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August Book-Blog: Maurice Conchis, Master of the Godgame - a Mage: the Ascension mentor/antagonist/wildcard based on John Fowles' The Magus

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This month's book is both spoilable and utterly not so, and I can't even really explain what I mean by that. Suffice to say that much of the plot is tales within tales, and the physical, psychological and narrative realities are often going in quite different directions. All that said, unmarked spoilers for this and also one significant spoiler for Brideshead Revisited ahead, but honestly I don't think 'spoilers' could spoil the actual experience of either of those books really. The covers of this book simply DO NOT MISS - my copy's the top left one, which is understated but very beautifully done. Review The first half or so of The Magus made me go 'I'm going to need to read a fucking journal's worth of critical reviews after this in order to understand it, aren't I?' This wasn't for lack of engagement - the main character starts in a very normal world, a sort of post- Brideshead Revisited witty satire of the dullness of Life After Oxfor...
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60 minutes of thoughts: Appendix JHGW

 Saw the blog bandwagon and went to the laptop like a shot. This is an ideal opportunity to rant about the things that've made my game design and writing what they are. Kinda following the model that Traverse Fantasy did of sharing general game-running inspirations, rather than for a particular game/design. (If you want to see my longer list of inspirations for a specific game, my Pillar of Velkith Tales of Theon campaign, have a look here .) Going to start with the things that mean the most to my way of doing things and keep on going. Babylon Berlin Weimar Germany neo-noir, 2017-22, created, written & directed by  Tom Tykwer, Achim von Borries and Henk Handloegten I really like a game with a strong base of plausibility. The world ought to exist beyond what's 'plot-relevant' - even if there is an established plot, the rails need to be comprised of PC wants and needs rather than hard boundaries beyond which everything turns into the fucking Minecraft far lands. B...
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