Uncaring Cosmos

Sometimes (often) players zig when you expect them to zag. Last year, for example, I was prepping a pirate campaign set in Port Blacksand. My players (bless ’em) wanted to play a campaign in Glorantha using the new edition of RuneQuest instead. So, I’ve shelved the Port Blacksand campaign (for now).

It’s my fault, really. I ran a scenario for them using the quickstart rules late last year, thinking we would switch to the Blacksand Nights campaign straight after… but my group (including me!) found itself really enjoying both the world of Glorantha and the RuneQuest system. It’s certainly the crunchiest thing we’ve ever played, which I find both intimidating and refreshing after a couple of years of lighter systems such as Delta Green and Lamentations of the Flame Princess.

[Read more…]

I’ve been having a lovely old chat with Anne and Gus L. over at the DIY & Dungeons blog. We’ve been talking about the similarities and differences between RPG computer games (particularly roguelikes) versus gaming with a group of friends around a table in real life. Is it possible to learn lessons from one that can be usefully applied to the other?

Anne’s most recent comment linked to a series of posts she’s been publishing on resource management in tabletop RPGs. I absolutely LOVE this stuff. For me, D&D is most interesting as a low-level, exploration and resource management game, rather than a tactical combat game (or a vehicle for telling stories).

[Read more…]

I love the late 20th century nerd aesthetic. Not just because of Stranger Things. Not just because I’m a late 20th century nerd, and it’s when I was born and grew up. I love how the technology that has colonised our world today was invented and, in fits and starts, gradually introduced during that period.

From the 1970s to the 2000s, computers entered our offices, then our schools, then our homes, then our pockets. They’re worming their way into our brains, just you wait.

[Read more…]

Arthur over at the most excellent Refereeing and Reflection blog recently wrote about revisiting the Dragon Warriors RPG. This was in response to my gushing about it a couple of months back. He’s given it a second shake, and has reassessed it somewhat more positively.

He says:

“So, I’ll give Uncaring Cosmos their due: they’ve certainly made me sit up and take notice of Dragon Warriors again, and I think there’s something of a case to be made for the game having a significant place in the history of British RPGs.”

I accept a big part of the appeal for me is nostalgia. Back in the early 1990s, Dragon Warriors was such a puzzle to me. It was the first tabletop RPG I’d ever encountered, before I even knew what RPGs were (Games Workshop, which was the most visible pre-internet manifestation of the hobby in Britain, was by then solely focused on wargaming).

[Read more…]

Righto, the new British Old-School campaign is coming together. Last night, ahead of a rather boozy Delta Green game, I pitched the campaign to my players and, I’m happy to report, it was received with enthusiasm. The basic idea is a kind of sword & sorcery “Pratchettesque pirates” setup that I’m tentatively calling Blacksand Nights.

Basically, the game will be a medieval pirate sandbox, with players taking on the role of budding freebooters. They won’t start with pirate ships, however, and will probably have to loot Firetop Mountain (or win the Deathtrap Dungeon prize money) to afford their first cog. The system will be a modified version of the Dragon Warriors RPG. The setting will be Titan from the Fighting Fantasy gamebooks (specifically Northern Allansia, Port Blacksand and environs).

[Read more…]