TTRPGs

I like narrative–heavy roleplaying games a lot. Genesys is my favorite “classical”, DnD–style system and, despite it being heavily narrative–based (rather than relying on numbers and tables), about as light on narrative as I like to get. I do like more numerical, dicerolly systems too—I’ve had a great time with World of Darkness and Call of Cthulhu, for example, but given a choice, I tend to lean more towards pure collaborative storytelling.

The unfortunate reality of friend groups split across timezones and continents means I also tend to play solo, journaling games to get my roleplaying fix.

With those in mind, it should come as no surprise that a lot of the games I play lend themselves particularly well to written retellings, and I like preserving some of my more exciting sessions and campaigns in this way.

This page serves as an index of my thoughts on TTRPG mechanics and design, as well as an index of those very retellings.

Thoughts on Roleplaying, Running Games, and Storytelling

I collect some of the most useful advice and tricks I’ve picked up on the GMing [Running Games for Terrible Game Masters - Notes on running TTRPGs. - I often half–jokingly call myself a “terrible GM”. This is not a judgement of the quality of the games I run, but it is a mindset—one that…] page.

Systems

Some of the more memorable systems I’ve played include:

• My favorite system to run and play, Genesys and the FFG Star Wars system it spun off from. I find it unparalleled when it comes to introducing new players or those only familiar with “crunchier” systems to more narrative–heavy roleplaying. Its dice system [Dice Systems - Wrangling dice. - I’m a big fan of dice and cards, both at a table and when used as an abstraction in video games. I find they add a certain delightful physicality to…], despite requiring bespoke dice, is among the best I’ve seen.

  I have some notes for Genesys–specific house rules and deciding whether to roll Cool, Discipline, or Vigilance, which is a frequent dilemma when using the system.

• “Goblin Market” from Kestrel Eliot. It plays very similarly to ”For the Queen”—both games share the same idea of exploring a character’s emotions and history through the core loop of “draw a card, answer a question, discuss with the table” culminating in a final question about their core—but I find it to be much more focused on themes of identity and belonging and so much more emotionally intense. It prompts a lot of joking assertions that “this is only about the entirely fictional scenario we’re roleplaying right now” before answers, and softly provides a setting for cozy, safe vulnerability like few other games I’ve played do. It’s delightful.

Journals

• 2023-06-28: The Moth [The Moth - Of moths and flames and beautiful TTRPGs. - I recently had the honor of playing Kestrel Eliot’s wonderful “Goblin Market” with two dear friends of mine; a GM–less roleplaying game about…], a three–player session of “Goblin Market”.