Hello, and welcome to the weekly.
Scroll podcast brought to you by the adventure.
Archive, my name is Ryan, I'm William is die.
And with us today is a very special guest.
It is Aaron motherfucking King wounds were then I'm good.
How about you? You don't just wonderful not
title from work or anything. Yeah.
So for those who might unfortunately, not know who you
are or what you've done, want you tell us just a little bit
about yourself. Yeah, my name is Aaron King.
You can find me on Twitter at Aaron m, f, King.
I write role-playing games and run a lot of role-playing games
and I co hosts a podcast called rtfm, which is a book club for
RP. Books.
So we read a book, every couple weeks and record a little
podcast about it. And we have a fun little
Discord. You can find that at rtfm
cast.com. So but but what is rtfm stand
for. It stands for read the fucking
manual. That's all right.
We're like we're like KFC where we have like we are not standing
for anything right now. It's just the letters.
It's like it's not true. Yes, PN.
Like it's just it's become a Nothing unto itself and TV.
Yeah, yeah. So I guess my first question is,
is your middle name, in fact? Motherfuckin.
Because everywhere, I see, we were talking about this before
it, like, I am just so bad at branding and I come to things so
late, that my name is always taken.
And so, my middle name is Matthew my best friend,
undergrad, his middle name is Francis.
And so, for a while, we are writing stuff together.
Other and we used our middle names as an issue.
It's like a long boring story but then once I started doing
that, of course, I guess it stands for motherfucking as
well, but that was not the intent intention again.
Just Hidden swears throughout my life around with that is why?
Because like I I have your summer, your stuff of itch.
There was a little confusing cuz your H is Aaron King, right?
E the armor, head Irish spelling if I could do it all over again.
I would absolutely become better at branding but at this point
I'm just doing maybe being that branding is Your brand right
now. Yeah, it's just like all the
different. All the different people are
like claiming their names on mastodons and co-host.
I'm just like I'll get to it eventually and I won't and it'll
be taken and I'll have to come up with something new so yeah.
But that's just being a normal human, you know?
Like Hey listen II, I prepped our Lifeboat long ago and we
Don't have to use any other scores of periods or nothing.
So I sent him an Instagram, but we just talked about Macedon.
So yes, happened Patchwork quilt.
Yeah, yeah. Would you like, would you like
to sum up, what Patchwork world is?
Yeah, it is an RPG that I wrote and kick-started for Zine quest
in 2019, I think. And it is no stats, no Playbook
powered, by the apocalypse, weird fantasy RPG.
It's like 64 pages long. I think we were just saying and
there's a bunch of extra play materials for players that come
with and yeah I think it's probably my biggest project to
date. Maybe the one that I would be
known for. If you heard about me somewhere
I'm like a solid F list RPG designer.
Hey don't say that also. I mean talk about big to this is
not a small Zine is this? This is still considered zeem.
It is bound and stapled. I think so I'm like a big comic
book fan so I grew up reading like single issue comics and I
always loved like the 6480 page specials and I'm also a big fan
of like very plain text book layout for games which doesn't
work as well, in a small format. I wanted those two columns and
the big headings and room for side bars and stuff.
So I'm yeah, that is exactly. That is exactly what type of
world is right there. So um, so pvta, I think that's
that's what it's interesting because there's there's pvta and
then there's variations of it, this being one of them like stat
list Playbook list but like I feels like to me and maybe I'm
wrong. Look at leans into the moves,
like a lot more than like the stats in the playbooks and
things like that. Or like what?
Like, why first of all, what is what is PBT?
Let's let's let's let's go all the way back to the beginning.
What is pvta? Powered by the apocalypse is the
name used for games based on apocalypse World by Vincent and
Meg. Baker, if you go to the pvt a
subreddit, there's always people saying pvta isn't a system, it's
a design philosophy. You can't design a PBT a system
which is just like weird, or whatever.
Yeah, but so some of the common complaints Tons of pvta games
are the GM ever roles. Only players are rolling.
You are almost always rolling to D6, just some normal Yahtzee,
dice Monopoly Dice and then there are grades of success.
So on a 10-plus, you do the thing you're trying to do, you
do it. The best way, possible 729 is
like a mixed result or like you get it but only if and then a
six- is a failure but in pvta Games a failure is never the
action stops. The traditional example is like
in D&D. If you fail to pick a lock, the
door is just still locked, you didn't get it.
Whereas in apart by the apocalypse game, if you were
rolling for that and failed, it would imply like the fiction of
still moving forward, something bad happens.
So you fail picking the lock and a guard comes around the corner,
right? Then and catches you, or you do
open the lock and the door swings open and you're like,
worst enemy has on the other side.
So it's less about. Do you succeed or do you fail at
more about? To something good, Propel The
Narrative forward or do something bad Propel The
Narrative forward. So, initially enjoy that.
Yeah, I mean, that's to D6. Make successes like my favorite
system. Usually your, I got time.
I definitely am. Usually like, a D20 roll under
because I'm going into the odd guy, but like, the times that
I've run like, pvta based games, I'm like, oh, it's very sad
song. There is a lot of like it's fun.
As the as the game master you're like, oh cool, this is a fun
with a play. Sounds like I get to push you
guys forward or push the narrative.
For it in my own individual way. So I really appreciate that.
Said, that system for that. Yeah, that's my favorite.
That's my favorite part of the right there is like, you know,
II Brandy and 5e for so long and you can do stuff.
I mean, the book says like here, all these very specific roles
exactly how you should play but do whatever you want, you know?
I mean um and so, you know, that's Work World while you're
talking about Dungeons & Dragons, your eyes I'm just like
grabbing random things. With them.
But, um, you know, GM 2, d-m tips, you know, just hit the
hashtag on Twitter and you'll find a million of them for a
game that really, you know, whatever.
Anyway, so is things like you fell forward.
Yes. But aunt, like and those are
things going to guess. That's that's that's how that's
of stories work, doesn't games work?
That's like, why would you be like, nope.
Now, what, you know, I mean, it doesn't make sense, so I love
that and as when you're prepping things, it feels so much more.
Like, first of all, I don't feel like you need to prep as much
because honestly you have no idea what's gonna happen but
it's more fun. Like as a DM to be able to be
like I don't know what's going to happen, but as soon as
something does, I'll figure it out.
As I go, you know, I also feel like that's a difficulty for
people that haven't played. That system.
Is that like it's almost like paralysis by by choice?
Yeah. We're like you have literally
infinite possibilities so like pick one real quick and like
keep it going, you know, so that was kind of the difficult part
for me once you get it down, it so much fun.
Yeah, I mean I ran 5e as well for years and It does feel good
to like have a monster block to fall back on or like a room
description but also prepping a monster block takes so long and
then finding all that, you know, they don't even have the spell
descriptions. You also have to find the Spells
and so it just I felt so burnt out especially if like, then I
spent all that time prepping and they wanted to go somewhere else
or they didn't want to engage with that and so kind of light
on, it's okay. Kidding.
It's like that. I've been told by so many people
like when I was done just drive dming for D&D it's just like
yeah you know your players really never going to see like
70% of what you prep and she's like, oh well that fucking
sucks. I wrote this whole guys
narrative, even talk to this guy, but they talked to that
random piece of shit, nobody, you just made up on the spot.
Them. No name for every Time.
It's a meme but it's a mean because it's fucking true.
Like, every time it literally got to a point where I was just
like Bob said, bill. You just gonna get like a three
or four. Le I don't care if it doesn't
fit, his name is Bob and in the next campaign the next one you
reach is Bob like I and my players learned if it's like Bob
or Bill or whatever this person does not matter.
Please stop like engaging with this part of the story, that's
fucking my stuff up. But so Patrick world like it's
it is Like a PBT a game but it's also like this.
Can I like very very good guide to running like a story game
like a like a narrative game to be like actively building a
narrative like as you play with your table.
Are you like a? Are you more like my my table
currently is, is like a dungeon crawling like, you know, they're
gonna die and they don't invest a lot.
Maybe it's the story, a lot of the time they are. are your
tables mainly more like narrative and story driven and
character-driven so I started running 5e like as it was coming
out when the players handbook came out and I was like stranger
things and people were suddenly curious about it and I had been
reading for years a bunch of 0s are blogs and so I thought like
oh That's how the game is, Ron, like I had internalized all
those blogs. But when the rubber hit the
road, these people just wanted to like hang out and be goofy
which is great, that's a style of fun and I loved it.
And they were not interested in managing light sources or even
like necessarily strategizing, like they didn't want to engage
with it as a board game. They wanted to engage with it as
like a bunch of funny, levers and buttons to push and pull and
see what? Yeah, which is great.
Like that is often how I play games.
As well. And so Patrick world really a
lot of its Genesis was like I want to write a game for these
people that I've playing this game with every week like we
played for six or seven years roughly every week or so.
And it really did kind of show the limits of 5 e as something
that was helping me every week. Like I did not feel helped.
I did not really, you know, it took so much time to make it do
what we And so yeah. Like this is my, I'm going to
write my dream game. You know fantasy, Heartbreakers
are a thing that gets thrown around, but I just thought I'm
going to write a game for these people that I play with.
Like I'm going to put everything that I've learned in it but also
it's like for them. It's for these people that are
busy. Like they have full-time jobs
and spouses are kids. They have ADHD, they have
anxiety. They don't like keeping track of
a ton of numbers like If they just want to pull these levers
and push these buttons, how can I make that fun and exciting and
like, keep the spotlight there and encourage them to do that.
Yeah. I feel like if you if you read
Patchwork worlds as a player or game master you like it gives
you a really good foundation for like yeah, ask questions whether
communities look like getting what are your goals like most of
the other ones I read there are a lot of really good ones.
Just like the asking a like internal and external. ins about
what's going on was like, wow, that's like a really good
mentality to instill in somebody when they're playing a tabletop
game, that's a Cooperative story, but it's actually just
like it's a massive part of the Patrick worlds, but he's part,
well, Holly that I wrote primer for pvta, like as someone who's
played like variations of different pvta games, I read
this, and I went, just like, I wish I had read this before I've
ever played a started with the, the does it in a very Sighs like
really well done. Way, like it describes, like
make success. It describes like how to fail
forward with mixed success. It describes like, all of like
the aspects of what makes PBT a 'system because it's a system
guys, and, and how to do it, like, well, without feeling like
overwhelming, you know, I mean, because like the first pvta that
I played was monster of the week and I not a bounced off of it.
For a couple of different reasons.
And if I had read this first, I feel like I would have been able
to engage with it. A lot, a lot more effectively.
It was also, you know, I was also running like 35e games a
week and then suddenly tried to just jump in, to jump into this,
and it's just, like, even a characterization, I was looking
for, like, you know, five years. So, designed around like the
character build. So it was a very different kind
of thing. Be as a primer for PT PTA, even
if you do something different, maybe that's our Playbook.
So, whatever. I feel like this is just a good
read, even just for that to be like, oh okay, I understand
these Concepts. Like it makes it so easy to get
that. Thank you.
And like, you know, I just want to put out there that like the
concepts are there and apocalypse world.
I love apocalypse world, but it is, you know, it's a longer
book. It's written in a very specific
like post-apocalyptic fuck you voice that can make it a little
hard to filter out the info that you You actually need but like
Vincent and Meg Baker are really good.
Just as game designers definitely look into them if
you're interested. And then the other person I was
want to shout out is Brandon Leon gambetta, who came up with
the role with the questions kind of iteration on powered by the
apocalypse, his game that did it.
It was a funny thing where he was writing this game.
It's called pasión Del espacio - and it's about like telenovelas
and soap operas Cool. It's really good.
And it sounds awesome. PVP elements of like, you know,
trying to hog the camera time and get the audience to
appreciate you more. It's a great game.
He started writing it and released like an ashcan version
of it. It got picked up by a big
publisher and so it got kick-started and then move, lots
of rounds of edits and it only just came out.
So I felt kind of bad to like, see his system.
Get permission to use it, and then release something before.
He actually really stressful book.
So please go check out. Acción de los pacientes it's
out. Now, it's really good.
I mean, I that sounds awesome because, you know, the only time
I really see like the lot of the telenovelas is we have like the
like the one Spanish channel in America, you know, I'm talking
about, I can't remember what it's called, but sometimes at
work, I work in a hospital and I'll swing by and that's exactly
what we get is like the telenovela.
Like you can see the very classical soap stuff going on
and I'm like, damn, I wish I had paid attention a little bit more
in Spanish class in high school and college.
And Like all of like my job when I've had to speak Spanish.
So Oh Magpie games picked it up. Yes, that's that's good deal.
It's a yeah I'm glad it's getting support and is finally
out and oh, I'm so gonna check this out.
Thanks a lot for suggesting this is sounds like something that's
hilarious and dumb and I love stuff like that.
Like clever dumb not gonna know it's really good.
Yeah, I'm gonna I think bear tried to throw it in here.
Oh did I have seen this km? The link?
Because I think anyone besides us it just comes off as like,
Stars. So yeah, we do the link in the
chat but yeah, you know, I you know, one of the things that I
really like about this and one of the reasons when I, like I
said, I bounced off of Monster of the week one because it's
just not really my genre. I'm like, very one-dimensional I
like fucking mudblood Edge, Lord bullshit, I really do it speaks
to my soul and it frees me. But, um, so like just like the
the whole kind of like unto monster kind of thing, didn't
really do it for me, but the Basic moves was something that
bothered me that I think like I took like an instant dislike.
It really did bother you oh my God it but it still bothers me
to this day like and for no real like real reason but like I
don't necessarily hold a grudge, but when I don't like something
almost like cut it out, um it's I felt so restricted was like
this system feels like it's so wide open.
I have infinite possibilities. Except I have these like six or
seven moves. In front of me and the way I
don't know if it was like the way the gym is doing it or it
was specifically a monster of the week and if it's different
than apocalypse or cuz Ima Be honest, I've never had
apocalypse world. I felt like everyone at the
table was like, okay, I can do anything I want but I have to
speak in the language of these moves and describe it in a way
that fits Within These seven moves, I was like, I hate that.
Like I have all I can do anything.
I want except I have to fit it within these like seven, like a
genre, like, archetypes of moves, or whatever.
So people wouldn't even be like, well, I want to do this.
Maybe like I want to kick some ass like by doing this.
I'm like what? Like why why, you know, so that
that is one thing that really kind of drove me away from it.
And Patrick world doesn't really have that was there like a
distinct choice to be like let's not be contained by this because
you also got rid of stats and stuff too.
Like what what made you want to do?
The variations of Patrick World versus like the other?
Like the maybe like the post pvta, Patrick world.
It's like the PB&J of like apocalypse world.
Yeah, I think there's like a first wave of ppta games like
Monster of the week like dungeon world that We're just kind of
like we're going to do this but a different genre and it didn't
quiet benefit from like a full. I don't want to call him.
I don't want to be mean to them. I don't want to say they're
half-assed, but it's just sort of like, let's just try to
finish this thing on to this existing structure right without
really kind of honking. Right.
Exactly. But I think ppta games as
presented do kind of have that problem where you give the
player a menu and you say you can do anything.
Yeah. It doesn't have to be on this
menu, but then you look at the menu and it's again like button
pressing. Like, well, this is here, I want
to do it and it's a very, it's, I don't know if it's a problem
with how they're taught or how their explains, but it comes up
a lot in trying to run these games.
I think like to me, I start connecting it to more again,
like old OS, our stuff. Or is it freaks feel like the FK
are this kind of free play. The literally like we're not
even playing a game at this point kind of stuff.
Yeah. Yes like really referees making
rulings kind of thing where if you have someone good running a
pvta game they are reminding me. Like you don't just have to do
moves and then if someone says something I think that a hard
idea for a lot of people is if someone says something and it's
not covered by a move, sorry, my upstairs neighbors.
I don't know what they're doing. I don't think anything can hear
it. But anyway, like if you if you
do something and it does not trigger.
Remove the person running the game could just say cool.
It happens. You do it.
And I've played games with people and they're like, wait
what? I don't have to roll.
I said well, I don't know. I mean if you want to if you
want to try to fit it to one of these moves or if you want some
of these specific consequences listed here, we can try to do
that. But also like If your character
just wants to play a piano, Sonata really?
Well, like that doesn't affect the drama of the game.
You don't gain superpowers by it.
You don't mentally enslave someone with the power of You
piano playing like tell us about this piano song kind of thing.
And I've had players coming from D&D be like just feel too
powerful. I can just do things without
rolling. Yeah, I'll have to roll to see
the room around me, you know. So yeah, I think I think I think
a lot of those problems I'm like certain play cultures and just
started. It's hard to move from.
I've rolling perception. On rolling in sight.
The I don't trust the DM. They're going to Spring
something on me to a more kind of Cooperative.
Like, we're just all trying to have fun here.
Yeah, well, you see, I like moves, like I don't hate them, I
think. Yeah, I think how you use them
as is important. Like, I've played broken worlds,
which is the kill six billion demons.
The web comic that I constantly talk about its That PBT a until
there's like there's like a move list and it's all stuff that's
very systematic for that universe.
That puts you very much like in the narrative that universe, but
like if you're like, well I won't do this.
My well, that I mean that fits this move and I guess it
doesn't. Yeah, this isn't anyone who
cares. It's gonna let you roll to D6
and we'll see how it goes. Maybe I'll give you a modifier
for seen something, like, within your characters, like, you know,
realm. But the, the hardcore PBT heirs
would tell you don't do. If it to them, so it doesn't
trigger a move, you never roll. You just, you know, and it's
it's again like the different play cultures are very strange
about certain. So I think that's part of, I
mean, that's kind of part of the problem to a little bit is a
couple of things like first, is that concept, right?
The PPT errors that are like it's not a system but you have
to you have to be very specific to exactly the system.
Right? And like so when you're like you
have to do in this very specific way like I remember, I didn't
people get all freaking up in arms about dungeon world and be
like, that's not how you do this.
Like that is not a real blind, know, whatever.
So like the I think the other problem is like, you know, there
is a lot of finesse to it and I feel like a lot of that finesse
comes from the DM and comes from Rules language.
And we've talked about a lot of the podcast before where the the
language in which a game uses to explain things whether it is
overtly, or Are suddenly weather influences, way people play the
game. It's like 5th edition, for
example. Like it says you don't have to
use many's but gives you 5 foot squares for fucking everything.
That's right. You don't have to but here is
exactly. So yes.
Oh yes you do like that's the thing it says.
Here are these very specific, very strict rules that we even
go to Twitter to to officiate because there has to be a
specificity to it. But here's a page on page 3 that
says Is do whatever you want. Play it, however you want.
That's just not how it works. Like the language in which the
game is written influences, the way in which the game is played.
So like when you have This language for pvta that says,
like, here are seven moves, right?
And when you do something, you roll, if it triggers one of
these moves, but also you can do anything you want.
There's like, but kit, but can I, you know, and that's kind of
why I've kind of started moving away from even liking roll
tables. Because what I would find a lot
is it's like make up any character you want, but here is
a roll table of three roll tables.
With six things, people will always just roll on All tables
and you end up with the same six things over and over again, it's
like well how about we just do a list instead?
So people don't feel the need to roll on it, which gives them a
solution which is what they then we'll use.
Let's just give them a list and maybe not all have six, maybe 6
& 1 & 5 & 1 to 7 and 1 and people will be like, oh there's
there's more I can do more to it.
And that was one of the other problems I kind of had with like
the the Earth that first wave ppta is like, it was felt so
restrictive and I'm like, the system lets me do anything.
Why is it so restrictive to me, you know?
No. You guys know you're all mines,
that's what it is. So I think a lot of it too.
Is the the GM's need to push that kind of narrative.
That you said where it's like, we'll just do whatever you want,
then. But if you don't have a GM
that's really experienced in the system, it makes a lot harder
for the players to learn the system.
To I feel like the teaching of it versus reading, the book is
really important. So one of the things we played
it on actually is is Victory basic, which is kind of like a
dungeon World hack which is one my first PBT.
Is I really like fell in love with it, makes his like 0s are
like stats and stuff. Like that gets rid of playbooks
entirely. You have more like a character.
She gets rid of moves entirely, you can do everything you want.
And as far as like dming and jamming it has character
advancement the same way, but it keeps that whole like make
success fail forward and aspect to our.
So I was like, oh cool. Like I can dungeon delve but
still just use mixed success. Has kind of like the basic
system without all of that other restrictive stuff and I kind of
felt the same with petrol. Good.
Thank you. Yeah, I it's funny like me.
We were talking about like, oh, the step block can be useful.
Like, it can be a crutch. I can help you but it can also
be restricting. I purse like I love GM
principles and rules and stuff in pvta, because if I feel lost,
I can fall back on those but it took me so long to internalize
that and to feel Supported by it.
Instead of just like, oh, here's all the stuff I have to keep
track of. And so, yeah, I do, I think,
again, it's just weird play culture things.
I have spent like, I spent years running a game for two of my
best friends and it's just the two of them and years.
Running a three-person game. Yeah, I love it.
It's oh my God, it sounds amazing.
Every kid every character gets so much Spotlight because it's
only two people. Yeah.
Waste a lot of time being like, should we do this?
No, I want to do this. No, I want to do this, but we
spent a lot of time. I mean there were, there was,
you know, in in narrative time but we all spend a lot of time,
just kind of talking about like, is this, what my character would
want to do? Does do we feel like this
triggers a move do and we would like co-write moves in the game
just like very slow play and I feel like that really helped me
get used to the system, the philosophy of PBT a stuff in a
way that oh, I'm just running a One-Shot for some friends.
That's the Time when all the rules for PTSD off like Compass,
get in the way. Like, you were saying of, like,
I don't want all this stuff. Like, I just want to roll some
dice and see someone get crunched by a lizard man.
Like, I don't know. And so I think Kind of stripping
the cruft pulling away, all that stuff that has kind of bogged
down some of the longer games. In pvta is happening now in the
same way that people have been doing that with osr stuff as
well. I was going to ask, do you think
like running? And I think the answer to this
can be obviously. Yes.
But like running pvta like a PPT Style game for.
So long has helped you like really internalize those rules
and like, really crystallized how to run it.
Well, I think so. Yeah, it's I mean, there's
always people saying like, oh, I'm so nervous to DM.
What do I do? How do I do this?
Why do I do this? And The I mean there are you can
try to explain here's how to start a game.
Here's how to keep people on track or whatever but the answer
is almost always like I'd just do it like just do it for 10,000
hours. Fuck up.
A bunch have friends there that will like support you but just
do it until you know how to do it.
It's the same as like getting a new job or learning a new skill.
It's like just get in there. It's going to feel awkward.
You're going to fall but like eventually.
You'll get a handle on it. And that's very Comes Fun.
I mean, yeah, going back to the victory basic.
When I, when I started running it, I was actually rented on
stream and I had sirsa. The writer for in Discord with
me while I was playing. So I can feel like what do we do
now? And he, the one of the things
that like when it clicked for me, was when the players walked
into a room and there was a chest of the room whether these
giant I want to say corpse caterpillars, but that is very
wrong during crawlers, Kimberly Kerr.
I kept saying carcass of a carrying crawlers and I was
like, okay. So like when characters do
something that triggers, like something like roll and then
fell forward, whatever. So they were like, okay, we just
walked past and I was like, okay, well they're not
attacking, they're just walking so like shit, like what do I do?
What do I like, what do I do? And I literally was like what
the fuck do I do? And he was like well I have them
do. Ooh, like an agility.
Like, like what are they doing in the, like, have a role,
right? So they're like, okay, well, if
they're walking bass, it's kind of like a style.
Things like do agility rolled I was like, oh, because what
clicked in my head, I was like, they're they're always the one,
but it's a consequences of their actions, right?
And that's what it was. Always said on my head as a
consequence is their actions. On my head.
I was like, they're not doing an action, there's walking by and
then he was like no they are like they're trying to sneak
past caring crawlers that is an action.
Have them do the role. You can initiate the roll But
you don't have to carry his halogen this.
It was like, it was right after the fountain.
You guys were the, where the chest one past the jewel, I
think. Yeah, Victory basic, that game
fucking slice because I was like, I gotta remember what the
the thing in my head that clicked where I was just like
their actions trigger the consequences but you can still
ask for the roles. I was like it all settled in my
brain. Now it makes sense.
Like we can still do Do this. Okay, now we're good and then it
all and then it was so much fun after that, like again, that's
why it's my favorite system. So, yeah.
The like PBT a principle is like, you know, the GM makes a
move when the players fail a roll, or when they look to you
to see what happens. So, if some, if the players are
like, oh, we're in this room, what's in here?
That's when the GM can make a move.
But the one I love is when they give you a golden opportunity,
which is just like, oh, these players are just Casually
walking through the dungeon, that's a golden opportunity,
time to like introduce to them. Now the potential dangers of
this dungeon like you do not actually get to casually walk
through you kind of you know you a hint it future Badness.
You say like oh you see a corpse in front of you.
The last idiot that tried to just like sauntered down here
you know and then that can snowball and but it is Like you
said it's like wait, what the fuck?
There's no I don't roll. I don't roll on a tack.
What am I supposed to do? It's a weird hump to get over
for sure. Yeah, yeah.
Yeah. And I mean I highly encourage
you once you do get over that and it clicks and you feel
comfortable if you're the kind of GM that really likes improv
and really has like Hunter was one of my players in the game
and he's a great player when you have a good group of players and
you really enjoy like why are my eyes get player?
But when you enjoy the interaction, like the banter and
like the playing off of each other.
Like that's when you're like, oh man, like I couldn't, you can't
have more fun in my opinion as a GM than this kind of system
where your guys stop. I'm running a game right now.
I don't want to meet. I don't need to switch games.
Mid-game. Darn it.
Maybe you do. Maybe you do.
Yeah. Hey, Hey listen.
I'm just saying real quick. We might have had a Christian
Sorrell and chat saying he I really love to play some Patrick
world, so we might need to set something up.
All right. Yeah, I'll do is I'll create a
cut. Here we go.
So Switching gears from this like very PBT, a focused talk,
the patchwork world, the actual setting, Can you kind of talk
about what the patch world is and the your the your
inspiration for what its origin. Yeah.
It's like a very interesting like conceptual setting, you
know, thank you. I Max, I've like usually I'm
anti lure anti setting. I don't like telling other
people do this here. And so, I mean, growing up, I
was a big fan of planescape, for advanced Dungeons and Dragons,
which was very much like, oh, you're in a fantasy world.
But now, you can go to hell. And now you can go to the
magical forest where all the animals talk and it's just like
Limitless possibilities. Yeah.
I mean I'm a big fan of the infinite staircase.
So yeah, it's just like such a fun setting and like here's the
infinite plane made of gears and the weird little robot, meat,
robot, Sam run. I just The idea that, you know,
you could open a door and fall through and be somewhere
completely. Different was always really cool
to me and I think I just started eating the idea of all that
stuff being infinite is very hard.
It's as we've been talking about like Choice paralysis and stuff
saying like everything's out there and everything is
impossibly huge. What do you want to do?
And it's like, I don't know, I want to do everything, but I
don't have time and So a lot of that came from that like how can
I take infinite possibilities and make them more finite?
So the Patrick world is a world where like everything was
ending. And someone was just like, oh, I
gotta grab the bits that I can. And so, you'll have a desert
next to a forest next, to a hell place, and a lot of that just
came from to like, Living through Trump and like, living
in Minneapolis during the uprisings and stuff up, just
like things feel really bad things feel like they're ending.
But like what then do we choose to like focus on and how do we
pick? What we want to save or focus on
in a time when things feel impossible to like maybe think
of a good future? All right, there's a lot of that
in there. And also just a lot of like I
don't want to be committed to. Politics in a castle.
What if I get a bug up my butt to do a desert Adventure?
Yeah, I can just do it now. I'd like there's a weird place
over there. I can send people to that and
again, just like OS our inspiration.
I love the idea of hex crawls and you know, there's all those
fun tables and old D and D for like here's the River Monsters,
here's the swamp monsters and I don't know, I wanted to use them
all. I wanted to get a chance to
visit all those different places I want to.
Here's the dinosaur play. Lace, great ride a dinosaur,
next session. We're doing a river run on a
raft. Like, and so that's what my
intention was and running that setting.
Like I ran it for years and You know there is the Temptation say
like here's what Iran, here's the world, here's the lore,
here's the rules. Here's the people there in the
places but again, I hate those really long lure Bibles.
I both love and hate that. My shouldn't ya them.
It's just like, where is the game mobile B?
So I tried to just take the things that had inspired me.
Make them game a bull, make them useful for DMS.
That's why there's a lot of tables with names or places or
like, Area descriptions instead of saying now they're entering
the kingdom of the swamp. And that's where they find this
particular ruin. It's more about Maybe put a room
in the swamp. I don't know.
Here's some possibilities. Very cool.
Yeah, it's a, there are a lot of appendices in this book that are
like, I mean, I'm not it is no more like Saul appendices.
Yeah. None of them are insanely long
and they're all like a very game will very like I can just look
role and we got it, you know. Yeah, I also just like the I
think like as someone who likes to read, like I love lure, but
when you're at a table with players, like it's really like
dayum are most of the time, they're not going to read your
Bible. So I think this whole like
Patrick world's laid out and like it, you understand that
it's a bunch of different stuff and it changes it constantly and
like, even places you've been already can change when you go
back. Like I really appreciate that.
And I was like, that's a fun way to play a game for people who
are going to buy in enough to enjoy that, you know.
I get like I love their super realistic gritty dungeon
crawling. I just don't have the playgroup
for that. I don't have enough friends that
are like yes we can get down on this time to do it.
I have friends who are just like, who do we talk to last
session? I don't care anymore.
You know. Like you were saying like
where's this? We talked to that blue guy.
Let's go. Visit him.
I'm tired of this Castle. I'm tired of this town.
Let's go somewhere else and just like I wanted some tools to
support people just like being a flibbertigibbet.
A bit and kind of doing whatever they want.
And so I get to do that and I'm lucky enough to have other
friend groups that will try different games with me.
I've been getting into DCCC, I love, you know, some of that
crunchy dirty stuff as well. And speaking of other games,
you've written for and written, you know, first there's I mean,
so kind within the pvta realm, you've written some stuff with
that. And vast for for babes in the
wood. I was, yeah, I was a consultant,
Adam is super nice. Gave me one of my first
freelance jobs like in the industry, we met just before the
pandemic. Epic bad con.
It was super cool. I saw I got to see him recently
when La Dispute was coming through Minneapolis we Vegan
Fried Chicken but gave us the what is super fun.
I really liked running it. I run it a few times and when he
was doing the second edition we just like kind of sat down on a
call and talk through some stuff.
So I don't know that. I technically wrote.
Well, I did know I wrote a little section for know and then
I was 36. Remaining space.
Yeah. Is in like, there's like a
little like All Hallows e'en. I'm just really looking at her.
It says by Aaron King ranking that it's the I am no space
right that came later. But yeah, when he was
kick-starting, the second edition we got to just hang out
and chat about kind of just what we're talking about of like
what's the philosophy here? What's the moves?
What do you want people to do? And just had a really nice like
download and talk about that. My long, long, two-player game.
We started with apocalypse World, they were on like a ship.
That was going through space forever, eventually crashed.
And then we did a bunch of little vignette games to like
establish them on this new world.
And one of them was a few sessions of babes in the wood
where these kids are like celebrating the landfall holiday
a year later and they're on this, you know, still kind of
new Planet creepy going through the woods.
And stuff. And so big fan big fan of Adam
about to run some cyber metal soon.
Big fan of babes in the wood. Yeah we're all big.
I'm not wearing I had the his the I'm not like I'm not afraid
to die. Sure.
If it has fucking Snoopy on it with it, I was wearing it
through the day. Oh yeah.
That's the other one. What is that shirt about?
Gets amazing. Don't question it.
Yeah, yeah. Even even this one I'm like it's
a fucking baby with barbed wire and has led nowhere on it other
than say anything about world chamber Adam but it fucking
fucks like This this shirt is awesome.
Yeah, role-playing game Co check it out.
Yeah. Oh yeah, we have declared many
times. This is not a vast and podcast
and we had just come from that. So, um, and not only that, I
game was like, I guess a little bit of an interesting story
behind some of it is speedran is another like big game when you
put out. So game that chaos IAM does not
want you to play, right? Because I remember like, Eating
it and then I was like, okay don't forget to download this,
it said like one of 30 like like screens on my phone.
So I went back to it and it was just God.
And I tweeted you are like I messaging was just like hey I
was trying to download this game and it's just gone.
What's up? And you're like no it's gone
baby's first cease and desist. It's a badge of honor now.
Yes, speedrun is so Rune. Quest is a classic RPG.
Its kind of The second RPG people might say it is Bronze
Age fantasy like ancient world fantasy and I really like it, I
like room Quest. But again, my friends will never
play room Quest, because it's like there's no classes.
So it's hard to make a character.
It's hard to, you know, you have to visualize it from the ground
up. There's hit location.
So every time you hit someone you, maybe have to dodge and
then if you hit them, you have to roll where you hit them and
there's different hit points for each arm and Like, it's just
this crunchy game, simulation this game, but I love the idea
of like this, you know, something set in the entire
world, like before even history. As we know it where people are
like learning to forge new metals and running around in
sandals and there's no You know, there's no Nation like it
appeals to me that there's like, no superpower.
You're just stuck in your, in, your clan, your family, and
stuff, and you call on the power of the runes to do magic and
everyone knows a little bit of magic and there's like a midwife
that can heal your broken bones or whatever.
And so I thought, well I'll just make a little, a little game, a
little D make, as well. He hopes calls them of like how
can I get what I love about this game to my friends that have
ADHD or whatever? And so I made this game called
speed Rune, and I used some runes from room Quest, but I was
putting it out for free. I thought it would just be like,
you know, when people put Mickey Mouse on a Zine or whatever,
like, I'm not infringing on their products, I'm not, you
know, I've, I would want people to go Byron Quest Adventures to
run and speed room, but I guess someone knocked on me.
And I gotta seize, they sent a cease-and-desist itch.io and
they took my game down. Well, congratulations on the
cease and desist. Yeah.
Like really good. What a solid moment, you know,
real punk rock but I fixed it. It's back up.
Songs runes. There are no Rune fonts in
there. You'll have to use your
imagination to think about what these rooms look like.
But yeah, it's a really fun game.
I just finished running like a full, it's a seasonal game.
So there's five seasons in each season.
You do an adventure and then you have a downtime action.
So time passes very quickly. And I just finished my first
kind of full Year campaign running for some people and it
was I think a lot of fun, I think it's a good game.
It's super and Joe, but I really like it.
I mean, I don't know how to start it besides like it's,
it's, I've never played request. I've never read broom Quest.
I don't know anything about room Quest, but as soon as I read
this, I was like, I would play the shit out of this game.
Like, this is really great, and it's really interesting because,
like, you know, I've started trying to catch up on your
podcast little bit and I remember the episode where I
don't remember, whether you said it or whether Mac said it, but
specifically was giving you shit about like not liking lore and I
was just like, oh, that's Interesting and then I remember
like Patrick world where I'm like this, what's great about
Patrick world is how little lower is there, but how easy it
is to build on it? Like it's just kind of like kind
of do whatever you want. Here is the heroes, you know,
kind of the pitch for it and then just go and I felt like
speed Rune. Does a another thing too?
And again, I've never had requests.
I don't know if it's just like the parts of room Quest ever,
but it's like these like five Concepts.
That's about the lore and now go and then you have the season.
And stuff like that. I really love how, you know,
even though you say, you're like not a lure Faye and like how you
distill it in such a way that, like, you still completely
understand like the setting in what you're going for without
having, you know, something that's like 500 pages long.
Yeah. And I don't want to talk shit.
Like, for me it's the joy of like when you first see Star
Wars and you're just like overwhelmed with all these cool
alien Freaks. And then you like, go get a
novel about it and it's like we're going to spend 50 pages on
This one alien freak and he's like a dad, I don't know.
It's just like when you start to develop that lore, It's Almost
Never As Good As what you first imagined.
And you know, I spent my time as a teenager like reading Star
Wars encyclopedias. It was a joyful experience for
me. I don't want to besmirch anyone
who does anything like that or enjoys that I just eventually
started to realize like oh I was having more fun.
Just imagining these things. I don't need to read another 400
page novel about Boba Fett. I see, I'm more of a, more of a
YouTube video Star Wars guy where I'm just like listening to
hours of Lord dumps on YouTube videos and I still listen to a
more civilized age. Ape Star Wars podcast like I'm
yeah, I'm not trying to talk trash about people who enjoy
lower or going deep. Dives, I think I enjoy sometimes
reading the lower or learning about it but like you were
saying the idea of like getting it to the table and getting it
to the players in a way that like, excites them or engages
them or It's them interact with it.
That's so hard because I don't want to give them the 500-page
book. I don't want to give them
homework and so, yeah, I mean they won't they won't read it.
I most of the time they won't, you know, like they won't.
I would love to one of my, you know, and we talked about 40 a
little bit behind you because you got an ice shelf before re
stuff there to bring this in a very roundabout tangent.
What, my favorite book from 4th edition?
One of my favorite D&D books of all times is the 40 mins of
burdens and book the SEC. The guy died.
That's so is your fucking favorite and it's like how to
run like a drought campaign like where you're actually playing as
drow and like my I love a lot of the ra Salvatore writing but I
hate jurist with so much deeper than it hurts me.
I hate because I also hate Superman.
I feel like both of them are very like flat characters that
will like always win and always do the right thing, and it just
irritates the shit out of me. So I hate Drizzt a whole lot but
I love the books that are just about Like the fucked-up, drow
world. So one actually after I first
met Hunter, this is years and years ago, I wanted to run a
game and I wanted to run people at a pretty much never played
any type of DD. Before some of them had some had
as like an evil drought campaign and I'm like, they're not going
to get this, but I was like, if you would just read these three
novels, I've read, I totally, I read the lore binder you made
for us. I did and I still have one.
I literally have like five hours I made.
Oh yeah, I still have, of course.
No, I would love to run the campaign eventually, but like I
literally was like if you just read these three books, then
you'll totally get it and they're like,
abso-fucking-lutely not like we're not doing that.
I was like oh God damn it. You know maybe maybe maybe the
next group but I you know I feel like Laura that way would be
almost better, it's just like here's a system but also here's
a novel that comes with it. And this goal kind of likes.
Be more fun to kind of go for it.
Yeah man. I like we're talking we're just
we keep talking about ppta and like everything is so good about
it and I really want to run broken world's again.
But that's another one where it's like, dude, seriously, you
just go to kill six billion demons.com and just like read
like the first five books, you know, and like it's free man.
Just go online. Read it in that way.
You'll know what's going on in the hood and look at the setting
and everything. Yeah, absolutely it's just too.
I hate reading digitally. So I have I think I have It's in
print. You can get it.
It's here. Yeah, that's so funny.
Yes, I have to get to even visit the website, no matter how much
he talks about it. So, I gather one of you guys,
oh, good God, you're not doing that.
I need to also not do before I die.
Do that as well. So it's not doing it at some
point. You know what I mean?
I'm a read it to you do audiobooks.
It's will just get on the call and I'll just like deed not
doing the things I should be not doing and then you can just read
it to me over the phone. That would be, that would be the
ideal way for me to consume that that media.
Um, so so even beyond that. Now, what you've done more, we
talked about little bit at the start of the stream, the rtfm
read the fucking manual podcast. You are also podcaster with with
Max, Max Lander. Not well, Under Rose, Maxwell
Lander like, yeah. So what what?
What got you into first like that podcast?
And like, how do you know Max and and you know what
specifically made you go? I at least for the first couple
of those that I've read go. Listen, here's his book that we
think is terrible. Let's read it.
And just ripped the shit out of it for like an hour, what it
does get a bit more positive in the future only.
Because there we are taking so much psychic damage from reading
so many things. We did not know if if the appeal
is you hear us be mean to books that does I mean it still comes
back eventually we will always end up reading of that book here
and there, but it becomes less of the main focus later on the
podcast. But yeah, I mean, I've been
buying and reading RPGs. I grew up in a town of 500
people, and so I didn't have people to play games with, but I
would take My allowance to the waldenbooks to the nearby mall,
like we're Drive 40 minutes to the town nearby.
Spend my allowance and I could never really afford like a full,
you know, I would save up maybe Christmas.
I would get the player's handbook for a D&D or something
but other than that I would be buying like Dragon magazine and
dungeon magazine because what I could afford and just like
reading them the hobby for me knowing that I wouldn't really
get to play was reading them and so that's always been like In
the back of my brain, I didn't really get to play RPGs until I
was like after I dropped out of college and then eventually gone
back. So reading them like as books
has always been interesting to me will yolks who is the co-host
of the Brain Trust podcast for address talks about games
archaeology and we'll really loves Gamma World which was like
the first sci-fi mutant fucko D&D kind of game and they ran a
game of it and they talk a lot about like just trying to
approach the game. Like being honest to it and just
trying to approach it in a way that it wants to be approached
and like, yes, it's Arcane and weird but what if we actually
spent the time to like play with it?
The way we are instructed to, as like, a learning experience.
So that was in the back of my head, I met Max during the pot.
During the pandemic. We've never met in real life,
Max lives in Halifax, in Canada, and we both met in the Brain.
Trust Discord and would play games together.
Everyone's too. I will and eventually we were
just like well it's still a pandemic.
We still want to hang out, let's do a podcast like just as an
excuse to spend time together. So yeah, every two weeks now we
read an RPG book, usually, something a little older, often
something a little like obscure or cane, and we record like an
hour-long episode talking about it.
It's been really fun it started as just, like I said a way to
hang out. We did not have any expectations
for recognition or anything like that but now we have a little
Discord. We run some games there and we
are this year kick-starting a game together for Zine month,
for February. Oh yeah, nice.
So what what what do we what do we what do we act exerting?
Like doing my get to that now. Like I didn't know this any
recent likely Early two weeks ago, Max said, oh shit.
Shit, should we do something for someone?
We like, yes? So this is, It's like a
flipbook, there's a name for it in French, but it's like the
book there. You get the middle, you get to
the middle and then you are done with it and you flip it over,
and it's a new book on the other side.
Oh yeah, he's doing one game. I'm doing another game Max, this
game is called hand baskets and it's like a both of these games
actually started as We read cyber metal by Adam vas and
wanted to be were so inspired. We immediately started making a
game like trying to capture those vibes or just trying to
capture that inspiration to that feeling you know of like oh I
read this. It feels good to have read this
can I make something that feels good for someone else to read?
So max is like a battle royale. PVP elements like cyber
witchcraft. We've been play testing it and
it's like a set of of games, like a set of locations with
different goals for the players and different secrets and stuff
and tools. You know, you are, it's very
violent, you're killing each other.
You're pushing people into pools and electrocuting the pools.
And, but if you die, you just get recently moved into a random
body to rejoin, the game kind of thing.
And so that's a very fun, you know, there's like ARG elements
or augmented reality elements of like things are flashing in the
sky and you're trying to get to the new points.
I've never played Fortnight but I imagine it's like what a
fortnight was cool. What about had demons in less?
A lot of Gore listeni. Plenty of plenty of 12 year,
olds will tell you Fortnight schoolish.
It might be cool. I'm old, I don't know.
Oh yeah, I mean drawing from like Battle Royale squid game,
stuff like that. So that's Max's contribution and
then my side is it's called in a mirror brightly and it's based
on, it's not based on it is again like I wanted to make a
game that was like the Matrix or also the Invisibles the comic by
Grant Morrison. A bunch of artists or the old
world of Darkness game Mage the Ascension, which is such a cool
idea of like, oh these people kind of wake up and see reality
as it truly isn't going to affect it.
But the game system just like, in my experience, does not
support any kind of fun play for me Mage the Ascension.
So right, this is my, my D make of that and it's just about
being in a little cell of cyber magic weirdos.
You know, trying to fight the man and keep the bug Lord
apocalypse from coming and also, you know, just being a weirdo at
the same time. Well, I'm gonna be this project.
So, the character creation rules for
my game are up for free at in a mirror brightly Dot card.
Dotco card has two r's card is like a free website thing, so
you can go there and even make a character and learn the rules.
And read about how you can be a filthy either.
Or I'm looking at all the weird I'd like to I write this, you
know, you can have a brain modem or you can consume filth or you
can touch things and learn who last use them.
Cool. Everything I wanted from a
role-playing game about Cyber magic weirdos, I guess less
metal, you know Adam is in the metal scene.
Obviously that was never something I came up in so I
don't know what music genre. This is It's probably just like
shoegaze, indie rock, but I don't want it to be.
I don't know that much about music.
I don't know. Yeah, I mean, I guess I have not
listened to a lot of shoegaze recently it's that is a little
bit ago, but but oh, that sounds fucking awesome.
And, you know, I mean, your game sounds awesome.
I love me some cyber, some cyber measure Guido's but the like Max
is like Battle Royale. Like that sounds We I feel like
we are going to need to have you guys on again, to talk about
this at some point or play this or do something.
Yeah. We should we meet at talking
about. We have been Maxon, we should
play it. We will talk about reaching out
to Max because him Bose is fucking awesome.
So yeah, him buzzing. So, you know, is because, like,
kind of such a solid name. It's very good.
Yeah, it's a beautiful book to. It's a little If I've Heart
cover with great parts, right? Mary verhoeven.
Yeah. It's just a great looking book
as well, but it's like a very campy fantasy RPG, totally the
yeah. It's I really yeah, little Max
plug-in him Bones right there. Yeah, there it is.
Yeah, it's like, I love that. Like the kind of like how it's
faded into the thing. You know, it looks, it gives us
so much texture while still just being like, Like it's just a
book but it is. Yeah, this is fantastic.
Yeah, you guys I mean we would love to have you guys back and
maybe do do some so what what your his is called a handbasket.
And here's this called what again in a mirror brightly,
which is among your name We had we each had lists of like 20
names and we're going through, you know, because we decided to
do this a week or two ago. So - - like mostly written, it's
a project that's been on the back burner and Max had been
working on his since reading cyber metal as well.
So I don't want it to sound. Like this is spinning about my
banish. The stuff is mostly done, but we
didn't have names for it and so I had a bunch of awful names.
And I picked this awful name because it was deadline time and
we had to make the present. It's a great name.
It's one of those things where you feel like like is it an
anagram? Is there more like the inner
mirror brightly bit of it? Like it's flows.
Really? Really well like it just kind of
like I feel like you could say it a bunch of times and then
like it because the tongue twister after a couple you know
like it feels good. It's so that is it?
The Bible in the Bible? I think they talk about seeing
people as in a mirror. Were dimly or like the
translations are different but like as in as through a Looking
Glass dimly and it's just about like we will never experience
the true world. There's like an existential
aspect to it and I thought this is a game about like being
bright and like be you know, saying this world can be
magical. We are not just seeing a future
heaven, promise to us. Like this is, this is our world
right now. We're looking good in this
mirror. We are looking bright and so
that was the intention. I don't know if it'll get there.
But, no, that sounds fucking awesome though.
Like you should definitely, is there anything of it says, like
this is why, this is what it is. I don't know.
So, I like when I finally finished College, I got an
English degree. And so I do this, it has
poisoned My Mind One to always be referencing older writings.
Even when I'm not trying to include to be like, very vague
about my things, I think you're right.
I think it's usually better to just say like, here's why I did
this. So that means here's a path for
you to like, go look up, some weird old stuff about
existentialism or whatever, but well I'll get it in there.
It'll be an appendix I guess. There you go.
The Descent 14 appendices and and the flip book for for that.
Yeah that's awesome. So what so You said the podcast
is also in Seasons, you know where you're doing, is it?
What it's you said 12 episodes. Like how many total episodes it?
How many seasons have you done with my guest?
So we later today, we are recording our season 2 finale.
Basically, we do two seasons a year since we're doing every
other week, that's what 26 episodes a year, which is 13
episodes per season 12 games and then our ranking of the games
finale, So when we started this, it was just very Meandering.
It was some games, we had heard of and maybe wanted to read.
And then this current season is a lot of shorter games and more
recent games because we totally overdosed on like 400 page
hardcover books from 1981 or whatever.
Yeah. But in the future we will have
some themed Seasons. So coming up.
Next we have monsters. We're going to read a bunch of
Monster books from like The Witcher RPG to like Teenage
Mutant Ninja Turtles from 1985 just a bunch of stuff with like
some weirdos. And then in the far future we're
going to do like some 0s are themed stuff including like
original DND Adventures from the 70s but also somewhat like the
foundational texts of modern OS our movement.
Yeah. And who knows where we're going
from there but it's just very funny to be like we did this on
a whim and now we have the next two years of our life, sort of
planned out. I guess it's sort of like being
married. Nice.
Very stable. Yeah, exactly good to know no
matter what I'll read. A shitty RPG book and talk about
it with - it was all of the big ones.
Get brutal to lights are like off.
Riding has come a long way. Yes, writing editing layout.
I'm so glad that we are living in like a golden age of RPGs, so
after This current project that you kick-starting, how long are
you going to be kick-starting? The project you're doing right
now for is going to be for the entire month of February.
Just know, it's two weeks. I think, I think it ends on the
16th. Okay, yeah.
So just tell her that I've heard that shorter crowdfunding
projects are better for creators.
That's what I've been told, I again and bad at branding often.
I'm also just kind of a I'm not going to say I'm a jerk but if
Tells me like, here's the way to do this.
My instinct often a toxic Instinct.
Sometimes a good instinct is to go.
But what if I did it different, you know what?
I did it my way and so I just hear those marketing ideas and
often they are good and often are coming from a good place.
This one we're doing for two weeks, I think it is a good idea
but also like that's how my brain can sustain for dealing
with Kickstarter who knows. Maybe someday we'll just do like
this is our 3-month Kickstarter. We're to really screw it the
system, but Yeah, I do. Our star only stretch goals.
If we make ten thousand dollars we will meet in person.
Nice. So there's that.
I mean, you guys should just do that at some point.
Anyway, it's, you know, we're lately without like throwing a
bunch of names that like, I've talked to a bunch of craters
that are working with other creators and they're like, yeah,
we've never even like talked on the phone or like, even like
seeing each other on video and everything, like how like well
like what do you like? The, my first instinct is just
so we're talking and let me call you let me just talk about Jim
Gilliam and Ooh, something yeah. Yeah and I think I can, I think
there is something maybe romantic about like oh we're
just writing letters back and forth and and we're doing it
that way. But I'm the same way of just
like, why are we spending all day typing back and forth and we
could just hop on a call and have some fun.
Song. So is there a is there a page
for is there like a preview page set up for the kick starter yet?
Yeah. There is I think it's a long
boring URL but I'd let me see. I'm just going to Google kicks.
So the project name the umbrella for both these books is low-res
Futures. So I bet if you Google nope,
that doesn't get you anywhere. I don't know, keep an eye out.
Come to my Twitter. I'll tweet about It.
So, if you go to the card here because talking about earlier as
Futures 2, RPGs one, flip book. Yeah.
Boom. Millenarian cyber witchcraft.
Augmented reality, deaf games. From nineteen ninety X.
Yes, Max is like a video game developer, so there's actual
donor will be augmented reality stuff where you can like, put
your phone over the book and it will reveal cheat codes and nice
character options and stuff. Like, that is awesome.
That is very good. So I feel like I saw a tweet
Maybe I feel like I saw, maybe attacks has already been like,
prototyping it, he did like a cover mock-up and then put his
phone over it and it said, hail Satan like flashing and that's
what it was. So, yeah.
So we'll so we'll drop that. For those listening will drop
that into the descriptions of the video when we drop it on
YouTube and everything, I'll link it to in the podcast stuff.
But outside of the kickstarter page, like we've talked about
the podcast, we talked about, you know, speed, In and and
pepper world. Where can people find all of
these various different things? I think the easiest way is just
to go to my Twitter profile at Aaron m, f King.
And there are links out to all that stuff on there.
As I mentioned I'm very bad at branding.
I have changed the spelling of things I have forgotten.
You know, sometimes I'm just really tired and I'm like, I got
to sign up for this thing and I do it and I do it wrong.
So find me on Twitter, there are links there to everything else.
This is, this is the A Aron version of Aaron King on Twitter
and then there's a link to it. So yeah, our rtfm cast.com Aaron
King but with the ER IE n for the edge page like those things.
So so listen this has been absolutely fantastic.
I'm super excited to jump in and pepper old with on her so we're
going to hop into that again. If you ever would like to come
back and run anything you've ever done?
Yeah. Absolutely love for you to do
that. That same with Max and
everything. I think we've already kind of
talked a little bit about a minute, maybe do something a
little bit different. But listen, I have all the time
in the world kind of, if to actually do the things that I
should be doing. So let's, let's do it.
Let's like at some point. Let's, let's have you.
You and, or Max and Max and let's play all of these things.
Like that would be absolutely fantastic.
Yeah, I'm we'll figure it out. Yeah, that sounds awesome.
You're like yeah sure no problem.
Yeah. Okay.
All right buddy. Well I'm ready.
I actually so all of my like long running campaigns have kind
of either gone on Hiatus because people, you know, my to player
campaign, one of them recently moved and like started a new
career and all this other stuff. And then my long-running like
seven-year crew that started with DND that transition and
Patrick World, everyone's just like tired of zoom and a bunch
of people. Are like immuno compromised so
it's tough to meet in person so that has all petered out, I am
fully available. I want to run some more games.
So let's do it again. All right, let's fucking do it.
All right, so yeah, so we're going to hop into Patrick World
War quick. Well, so if you're listening
right now, like deal here Us in about two seconds, but if you
are in chat to staying around for a couple minutes, we're
going to go to a beer be and we're a habit, you know?
That seems like you I'm having a great time.
Yeah, yeah. So So stick around if you want
in chat and we will be talking about your game so we'll be back
shortly, just a moment. Hello and welcome back to the
weekly scroll podcast. It's me and my boy William M is
nigh something. Yes.
William Die. That's what it was.
We go British going on here. There's no, no, not no, not in
the first of the year now, but we were just chatting with the
wonderful, Aaron motherfucking King about password world.
I'm holding it up. You know, I know I realized now
and this is something we forget. Normally, if you're listening to
us, I do apologize that we have not been describing a lot of the
things. So what I'm holding up right now
is Aaron Kings Patchwork world. Sixth edition.
And what you see on the cover, honestly, this is straight-up.
One of the best covers fucking ever like to really cover, if I
knew nothing about the game which I didn't obviously what I
bought it, I wanted it so fucking bad.
It is a it is a person, right? With six, angel wings, with four
Nails, going in their head holding a little skeleton here.
Let me turn off my fucking blur for a second.
For those that are actually holding a little skeleton in
their hands. But then over top of all of it
in I think I remember Aaron saying that its impact it says
Aaron Kings. Patrick World 6th edition like
edge to edge in a really gorgeous pink and anyone that's
seen the show. Knows we're kind of a fan of
Pink here just like fucking awesome.
Straight up easily. One of my favorite cover.
As of all time, really fantastic.
But we just got a chance to talk with Aaron, um, about this and a
bunch of other stuff. So if you are just listening to
this part, listen to the episode before this because they're
fucking awesome, and I'm excited to get into this.
So, Are you ready for this? I'm no.
Oh, well fuck. All right, I'm so on one full
bun full-bore panicking right now.
I have no idea what's going on. I don't know where I am anymore.
I mean, what's interesting is that it is been probably like
six weeks since we brought up like a book and flip through it
on stream, I know. So I can tell ya when we do,
when we do change screens it will not be correct.
So let's let's get this in up real quick.
Okay, cool. I'm just gonna change everyone.
Listen, The time I'm gonna kill them with the stories of my
adventuring, I guess you should please him.
What was your last adventure? Um, we ran a like the first time
running my game add apps which is like space Wizards.
I'm going to move my camera around with the wrong direction.
Seems like the wrong. Yeah, that's the wrong
direction. We're going this way, baby.
Yeah, and I was meeting for it to be a stealth Adventure, but
my players have had a much different ideas and I gave them
a fun esoteric magic system and I thought they'd use it for
Creative problem solving and I guess they did.
Although their way to solve problems was a lot more.
I don't know. Violent than I had in mind.
Yeah. So it sounds like an amazing
tools to sneak by become a notice.
Like everything's not like you actually will try buying these
two guys together, so strongly, their skin becomes one and I'm
like, well, that's Fucked up. But yeah that's way to do it
though. That's that's that's how Hots
that's why I was like to do it. Yeah, so here we are.
Look if you're watching we have the cover-up and it's and again
this is the big book. So we're going to get a lot of
page cover. This would go through this but I
absolutely. Again.
Love this cover, there's art by Alison and on the inside and I
do believe it's the same this on the back cover or similar.
And this is game text by Aaron King from 20. 21 with
developmental editing by VY Huntsman.
If you have not seen any by Huntsman, you've at least seen
the mothership, one of the desert, you know, I'm talking
about. Yeah.
Video 10. What while I'm blanking on
something without permission collapse without permissions?
I'm almost positive. That's what it is, and I do
apologize collapses up for me. See, I got there eventually.
Thank you so much interest there.
Aaron is going to stay and chat with us.
Us as we go through this. So first question is always And
I booked do we have hyperlinks? Let's say, yes, we do have
hyperlinks, we have hyperlinks. Look the, the cursor becomes a
hand. That's wonderful.
How about some bookmarks there? I bookmarked on those glorious.
Bookmarks is amazing. Earn.
Well, Modern Marvel of modern technology, you know.
But yeah, as we always say, like, you know so much.
This is online now. So you're going to reference
this online. It's hard to flip through PDF.
Like you can't flip through it like a book, so I've really
Maybe bookmarks sick, we love it.
Listen hyperlinks, I almost I almost said something really
dumb. I said I can excuse hyperlinks
but I fucking can hyperlink option.
Well that that's a fucking lie. Yeah, it was a huge fucking
like. But like, I am I wrong that
like, bookmarks just kind of happened, like, with what even
when I'm writing a Google doc. And this creates bookmarks for
me, on the side, like, I must, I feel like, obviously making a
PDF, it's not just going to like, populate them, but I wish
it would. So these are the contents of the
book breaking it down. We got an introduction Patchwork
World. We Got The Narrative or how to
play PBT a games, which is a huge part of what we talked
about the podcast, what we want, who we are, how we live player
principles, running the game, a sample of play sample adventures
and just one or two appendices in the back, just like an Aether
in all the way in the back there, just a couple 14.
So um well this is natural world.
Old the introduction. All the world's ended together
heavens and hell's kingdoms and wastelands and everything in
between as they broke apart. The heartless, princess saved
the bit, she could shoving them together and crowning the
resultant Patchwork world with her icy City to hold it all
together the parts she couldn't save or the part.
She passed on orbit, the closed-off world and a cacophony
of satellites called the straying quarter.
The patchwork World asks what you do after everything, you
know is destroyed or changed. It asks if you'll fight to make
sure it never happens again or if you'll hasten more change
learn to adapt and help others to do the same.
So, for someone that doesn't like, lure, the amount of
evocative stuff you can get from literally three paragraphs, and
probably a romance, like five sentences is crazy.
Yeah, totally. I mean, you have a very good
like also, I just think it's a cool concept, like the this
world that's just bits and pieces and then around it fly
the other bits and pieces, you know, like as he survived if for
like weird, weird Adventure, you know, asteroids hopping
Adventure too well. And I think the the the as soon
as as soon as they started talking about soon as they're
inserted talking about planescape that's kind of an
early inspiration. Yeah.
Like I was like, I mean, of course, like reading even just a
little bit. You're like, I totally get where
that came from and that freedom, that something like this allows
to do whatever you want. Because it's like, the whole
world broke apart. So you could literally have like
Mountain next to fucking debt while you can imagine exit
desert. Anywhere.
But you know what I mean? Like you can have like chunks of
the world like slap right next to each other.
So what's the so sigil? The land that it's in middle
space? That has listen.
I want to kiss you on the mouth for saying that right?
What signal? Yeah, but I read, I read
planescape. Anyone that has all these sheets
are motherfuckers out. There it is.
Spelled sigils. So, anyway, you were saying, but
the land, that's a single, like, it floats above, like, I'm
Accenture mountain in this, like, essentially like the Hub
of this great wheel, right? It's a great that that land has
a as a slice of all the other plane.
He's coming here. So it kind of reminds me of that
as far as thinking that's why I was trying to make sense.
Absolutely. Yeah.
You like there there's a little bit of each of the planes within
this one playing, you know. Yeah, yeah.
Oh yeah. Yeah, yeah.
Like it's like it's like this giant like quilt of like various
pieces are like the way that they used to put quilt out of
blankets and stuff like that is just such a like I can There's
so much evocative. I'm using more evocative a lot,
but, um, you know, my can imagine say it against
evocative. Listen your evocative.
Thank you. Mmm.
So, um, I just, I love the idea of like one piece of something
that's very discordant was something else.
Like so slapped together that it's almost like chopped off.
Like if you have like a mega city that was just like broken
off and stuck next to something like completely different like a
freaking farm with like cows or whatever.
But like Like obviously likes you don't just move out into,
it's literally like slap that next to it.
I love the idea of things that are just like literally a chunk
in the chunk just smashed together and you're doing for
like I said, I could see this being a fun when there's a
there's a project that I think you might have back that I don't
have yet but it's called scroll scape.
And it was a project. Someone did that how like it was
bunch of basically cards that you'd lay out all different
locations on them to make a map and I can see like making a
custom version of that with like no card.
Like yeah this this is like a hell area.
I like whatever and then just like spreading it out with your
players. Me like cool.
This is the map. You know, like there is a
hellscape right here. There's a full Forest.
There's a fairy Forest right here.
I could see like a building the map for this is it's like random
chunked off map as like its own fun mini game.
I feel like, I feel like I have no idea you're talking about,
but I also back on kickstarter's that JoJo, remember backing.
So like just thinking like a no possibility, you have a stack of
cards. And each card is different type
of area. I mean, I like that is such a
great way to said, listen, I smell what you're stepping in.
Yeah. But like that would be that
would be a great way to do it. Like I said, it's just it's a
great it's a great way to take a little bit of Lord and really
add a lot of to create a lot from it, which is fantastic.
So Patrick world's roll. Game it's made up of play rules,
generational rules and and fantasy.
And we're going to get through all of those.
Right now. It runs on PBT, a witch, my God
if you listen to the last episode and don't realize that
that's what was going to happen. Like you're genuinely not paying
attention but you're fine. So it's game of three to five
players. Cause I'm, but if you can play
with more or less, most players will play A Single Character
creating and developing them as they play, which I think is such
an underrated thing. Like, you don't need a 10-page
backstory for your player. Develop your player as you play.
Yeah, you gotta. It's a game.
There's a GM will talk about the variations of ppta, but if you
keep reading, you get an explanation of how the game
works. I'm going to have safely, play
with your players. If you're already familiar with
those ideas skip to page 13, we're not going to do that.
We're going to cruise through a little bit of work on a play.
Pvt Games. Um, so that's what we just got
to the narrative or how to play PBT a games.
Do you want to take over this? You want me to?
Yeah. So it's like because like I feel
like we just talked about some of our oldest and play these
games but like it is a very player driven game.
You would the players choose to do something, they A role and
that pushes The Narrative for they make a move.
And then based on how they roll that move, it allows you as the
game master to put obstacles in their way or create Strife to
push the narrative forward. So I guess I'll guess I'll read
this one when playing Patrick world, my player will describe
what they want to do. Essentially will describe a
place or die situation. Nasty, other players to
interact, If a player is the first part is the GM.
I haven't read them really long time.
I'm done first interact, via their characters off by saying,
look, what do you want to do the players?
Describe what they do? Eventually someone will trigger
a move which is like a very mean safety BK.
Like we were just talking about moves are a set of fictional
triggers and mechanics when they can move, they have the chance
to fail when if and when they fail this triggers an event that
moose where I mean if they succeed it also There's another
more positive event that also moves in there.
Therefore, it's the whole base. This is just that like, very
player-driven, moves, push the narrative and then I guess if
there's if it's not a move, they don't roll.
So, you know, which we discussed at length.
Yeah, which I, you know, I don't know that.
I have an issue with that, you know, like I am, I'm pretty good
with that, you know, I love, I love that mean.
That's all thing is. Like when you go from 5th
edition where you can't scratch your own ass without rolling
into Jillian, check. That's very true.
Like if, if what, what I what I what really helped me understand
that is honestly the word consequences, right?
So like all of your actions, all the player's actions, have
consequences one in one way, shape or form, right?
If the players are doing something that doesn't have like
an interesting consequence, that could move things forward or or
or impact that narrative in some way.
There's no fucking reason to roll.
You can just do it. Like if you want my soul for
every breath they give him just like well we'll see if you took
this round blink if you want a cartwheel across an empty room.
The room is not trapped or anything.
You're just in an empty room like you don't need a just do
it. Cool awesome narrative going
right? Like, that's what's in this
room? Yeah.
Yes. You fucking can.
Well, I know, like, that's like that's the one rule that you.
Like if you live those in this part I will reference perception
rules all the time. We talk about useless roles
because either you see a thing you do if I look through a desk
drawer by drawer, if there is something in that desk, I'll
find it. I've because I'm looking in like
I need a fucking roll woman miss it.
How to our 222, no fucking keep this ring go on.
There's two pairs of that that are great.
Listen one of those like the stupidest fucking things that
like I am very guilty of but also like fit.
I blame fifth edition for those shitty way.
That our rights us rules is like gatekeeping important
information from your players with a stupid fucking roll.
Like you need your players to find this thing.
Oh my God. And then you put like a DC 12
check on finding it and of course they rolled an eight.
So you're like well, what the fuck do I do?
Now, just having you until they find out you, let them roll you
into a corner. You like well there's no, she's
the dumbest fucking thing so sirsa.
We talk about talk to us. There's a bunch of the podcast
before and who, when we talk about Aaron.
Yeah, some guy starts, a victory makes awesome games.
But like, in one of their five-year Ventures, they
literally wrote like If they want to roll a perception check
like for the area, whatever that's fine.
But if they investigate a specific thing, they just know
the things, right? So I think there's like, there's
a part of the statue has like an eye, but if you poke it it's
like a button. That does some shit right there.
Like if they're in an area, and they just want to kind of search
the area, have them roll a perception, check to see if they
find that specific thing, right? But if they say why go look at
the Statue, Can you say okay when you're looking that you
find this you know what I mean? Yeah so like if they're if
they're going broad fine role if there are specific just have
them, learn all the shit anyway, I like it.
I've noticed that if you ask players do a lot of time even
was like my cousin's all guys my table or new you to table.
I mean is I'm like hey how are you examining this thing?
Look oh yeah put my hands all over with my pressed on parts
and like, oh perfect will deny you realize immediately, there's
a like players are not, you know, they're there.
Are people, you know they'll if you ask them how they're
examining a thing, they'll tell you.
I'm sorry. But yeah, but no, let me go
again. So the thing is how you destroy
people's narrative. You destroyed people's
creativity was she like that right?
Because it's like the number of times I've been like, okay I'm
gonna toss this room like I'm like straight up.
I will I will search top to bottom of this room and seems
like okay roll me a check. I'm like why?
Like if it's like a secret passage or some shit?
But if it's under the goddamn mattress and you make me roll
for a perception check, when I'm clearly saying I am straight up
destroying this fucking room and looking for stuff, like you're
destroying people's creativity because you feel like well what
I like what I want to do is this and you're telling me that
somebody wasn't going to do that.
Yeah. Right, even though I wanted to
do that, I somehow was incapable of doing this task because I
roll like there's no man. I will say that I like after
going through Patrick world and talk to And like, I have a
really rough draft PBT a game of my own the, like, I just threw
together. That's definitely, not done, but
like I have a moves list now, really thinking about like,
okay, you only role for moves, everything else feel like I
might change a few of the moves out.
Like, I'm really take that to heart because it's just a mess.
Terry stuff. But really interesting
conversation like a really great system.
So yeah, well, I mean, and again, we talked about this
before to, as we get through this.
I know there's a section that says, like, how to Game is only
the first 13 pages. But like yeah, the whole book is
a really great primer on how to run the style of games.
So again, highly recommend, and maybe we'll keep reading it.
And you guys will understand what I've, what, I don't
remember, you stopped, I think roles in questions are next one.
We really just talking about how you play pvta games, which is
what we just ranted on for, you know.
Well, we went over time now, play 5e games.
But yeah, did you do it player characters?
Do something that triggers the move.
Where do the part? We did just talk about that.
Okay. So this will be just done.
Alright, next page. All right.
Give me one of those where we like we're going to be talking
around everything conceptually low but I lost.
What does dual rent? This one.
Yeah, so um see as always feel free to ask questions.
When negotiating some actions can potentially trigger multiple
moves pick the one that feels best, right?
Or most fun resolve it and keep playing.
There are no rules for initiative return Order
characters. Acting ever.
It makes sense but after you act ask other players, if they like
to turn in a fight or a chase scene, it might make sense to go
around the table and Order during a speech or negotiation.
A Single Character might take the lead and narrate multiple
actions, or multiple moves. Again, I feel like they don't
care what system you're using. This is good advice for
literally. Anything you're doing really?
Yeah, it really actually is just good advice, you know?
And like, why would like, once again we're going to go through
this and there's a lot of stuff on here.
That's just like, it. Almost doesn't matter what
you're playing is love. Really just good advice in this
book. Yeah.
Um, and there's not a lot of Art in the book but this is a very
interesting piece. It's a really cool piece.
That's the circus Cannon woman. Yeah, it's clearly at The
circus. This this woman just has a
cannon on her shoulder and it's blasting in front of a crowd and
standing next to her is a clown bent over and another clown
standing on top of them. Good times.
Yeah. So roles and questions.
When keep rocking buddy. No, this one's all you go for.
I want to hear you. You have it.
All right, I'll get sultry with it.
So most moves ask players to roll the GM.
Never rolls an important part of PBT at the GM.
Number rules nearly every time you roll, you use two six-sided
dice. Like the kind of comes with most
board games sometimes you'll add a static modifier but often
you'll roll with the question quotes when asked to do so the
move will usually provide the questions immediately.
After for each question, you can answer yes to you get plus 1 to
the raw. So this is a part that I reread
a couple of times. So this is a little bit
different than like like when we played like figure basically
said where you get kind of standard stats.
This one you don't really get stats this, really.
But again, we talked about this numerous times the the rules of
the game in the way that the written encourage the way that
you play. This game is incredibly this
version of pvta. The, the purple and conversion.
It is incredibly narrative focused even more so than PB T,
which is based on narrative. So you literally get more points
to your role for Aunt, for answering questions about the
moves. You just made so good like yeah,
absolutely well and could you encourage players to ask
questions and answer questions, which in Keeps The Narrative
going, which is great, you can negotiate whether or not you can
answer yes to a question. For instance, many moves ass If
you prepared something ahead of time, if you're in the middle of
a fight, be interest, probably know.
However, if you were Broad Street, if there were broad
stretches of time left undescribed, before you made the
move, you can probably say yes. If you're unsure or if there's
disagreement over it, you can use the be prepared, move to
resolve whether or not you are prepared and they're a couple of
other factors factors. One is some moves in situations,
will give you a longer list of questions to ask, go through the
mall or as many as you want. And then number two however you
can never add more than Plus two to a single role except in the
case of very few situations noted in particular moves, so
you can't just like make shit up forever to Super fail.
Everything and we've talked about some for we've talked
about the percentages and things like that.
I'm terrible at math but I think a plus 32 any to D6.
Roll gives you like a 75% chance of success.
Like all is a very, very high chance of you rolling.
A like the bell curves of the seven.
So with a like the height of the bell curves at 7:00.
So both the plus 3, right? Yeah.
You have a very, very high.
Probability of succeeding or sometimes, maybe a better
actually, a more apt description be as a very, very low
probability of failing completely.
Go completely fell your base. It's almost impossible to clip
the completely 5, plus 3, like you very, very difficult once a
Dyson, modifiers have an added together you can match results
to bands of success. And this isn't my opinion, this
is what pvta and post ppta, whatever you want to call it.
Because I think a lot of the ppta Fanboys will get really
butter if you don't do exactly what PBT a tells you to.
But like make success is something that I think is a
Hallmark pvta and yeah, post post ppta and that's this is
what this is describing here. So on a 10-plus, you succeed.
Some moves have specific effects of happen, choosing to describe
them like basically other moves have something big like daring
dues. You avoid the danger.
So basically, on a 10, plus, whatever you were trying to do.
You get to do all of that? Like, good job you Get it on a 7
to 9. This is my favorite.
This is one of my favorite game things ever on a 7 to 9.
You get what you want but at a cost or complication or you get
part of what you want this b, a g m-- to make moves of their
own. But you can always offer
questions or suggestions a common example is if a character
inching across a dangerous path, high above the ground.
If they roll a seven and nine maybe they drop something
important, do they take the time to retrieve it or do they push
on without the object? So it's kind of it is it is the
standard. Yes. but, Which I love.
And I really yeah, I've been playing a lot of bastards.
I'm paying playing into the odd, like hacks, and I've really
enjoyed that, but I, as we're going through, this is like, oh,
I missed that like, that was a lot of fun like form, especially
as the game master, like, this is like it's funny because it's
player facing roles, but as a game master, this is a blast to
do because you're like oh cool. Like I love him problem like oh
yeah, yeah, yeah, totally, you do that you you make across that
narrow path but As you're making across a crumbles beneath you
and you can jump ahead. And now the path is gone for the
last the next two people behind you or whatever.
Like it's just a blast, you know?
Yeah. And I think we talked about this
a little bit to like it makes as the GM, it makes you feel more
like a player. Yeah.
Because also when you get to make moves and you get to it,
like I said, like improv, bounce stuff off of people like it
really flex your creativity. It's not like I felt like a lot
of times, 25, He was almost like reading a script at already
planed out kind of everything. I've already done everything
that, you know. And then with this like I don't
know what's going to happen. I don't know what you're going
to do. When you do something and
something goes wrong, you something in their brain does
has to go. What is a potential consequence?
And like how hard? I want the consequences to hit,
right? Like the situation and like
personally it for my style deeming.
I'm immensely better at this than I am at the having a
written thing. Like the moment I write out like
a script of what's Happening like, and I'm just reading that
My attention to the game as like, split very ill.
So I am not good at like if I can just have a vague idea of
where we're going and I can improv a bunch.
I'm way better. So this feeds into how I want to
play anyway. You know.
Yeah, you know, I it's so 80. So, if anyone that says in the
podcast, if you weren't aware, I definitely have ADHD.
So, and I'm pretty sure you have a decent level of executive
dysfunction, at some point in there.
When I would run like vtt, I love running in person games,
right? I have a million fucking minis.
I got a million Maps. I got colored lightbulbs, I
literally have like candles that smell like Dungeons shit, I love
running but I gotta be honest vtt.
For my ADHD, brain is so much easier because what I would have
to do especially like roll20 is there's a layer where you can
just write GM notes. It would like, right, I would
almost not be able to see the map because I would have so much
stuff written directly on it because if I couldn't see it in
bright, yellow right in front, my fucking face, I would miss
it. So, I would constantly miss
important information where I would literally be, like, I need
to make sure I remember that like when he does this.
Thing happens because a super can affect this later.
I obviously forget I get to the point later and realized am I
got off script right with this kind of thing.
You don't need to do that at all.
Exactly. Like you're saying you don't
need to worry about going off script because there isn't one.
Yeah. Told ya fucking crap so there's
making shit up boom. So and on a six and so that was
seven and I make success on my favorite things ever love the
shirt of it on a sex - a complication occurs in Biting
into GM, move note that this does not mean you fail unlike
another game. Something always happens after a
roll. So but I mean, you could, you
could fail, but it's know. And for me, that's how I always
thought is the yes button know. And it's like, you were trying
to pick the lock and like, what that's that's such a great
example, that Aaron talked about where it's always good when I
think that's an amazing example. Perfect.
Because you can either just fail, but you don't just fail.
You fail, in a way that like the guard is coming around the
corner. I think is what they said.
Or you do pick the lock. But when you open the door,
there's Luna, get guard that heard your dumb conversation
because you were probably screaming in the hallway outside
about some bullshit. Who literally you open the door,
like a blunderbuss in your face or something.
You know, perfect example, really great way to do it and
like the idea of GM moves coming in as great.
So I'm not going to go vote. We okay, so the example, written
is literally what we just talked about, so we don't need to do
that. So so other roles.
Strong example, you know, our fixed because of like the no but
or like yeah like you can still fail forward you know like you
did unlock the door but your fuck now.
Like there's like 50 guys on the other side there's like some
shit going on where you're like, absolutely like you open the
door and walk into a gelatinous cube, you know what I mean?
Like you fail hard you know I might use that one.
I see. It's like, that's a good laugh,
but yeah. So other roles right?
Sometimes will be asked to Roll the dice in different ways,
first, a D6, which is shorthand for rolling a six-sided die.
There's also 2636, you know, whatever number of D6 is and
then add them up. The other ways to roll is also a
d66 or d66 was just means two dice and reading ones the tens
and then one is the ones place which I think we're fairly
familiar with at this point. I'm a lot of systems use all of
to d6s Systems use d66 or d66 as well because it makes sense.
Yeah, so there's a nice little table that shows you the
potential results for d66. So it's 11 through 66 but
there's it's only 11 to 16 and 21 to 26 and it's all numbers
that are between 1 and 6. That's how I six-sided dice
Works. Actually.
Just y'all know it's got six sides.
But there's this kind of this page specifically is why I said
like honestly, if I straight up like, Vitae player that I never
played RPGs, I would want to hand them, this fucking bug like
because even something like this like explaining and really
well-written like concise terms, what the 66 is because, you
know, how many people that have played RPGs for long times,
whose brain breaks on, d66, totally.
I do want to bring up like a You know, role in Liberty, type in
like d66 and not realize it's a six and a six and have to put it
together like because you're not going to get like, well, I mean,
mentally, you know, almost all tabletop RPGs up until recently
have trained them. That whatever number is after
the D is the number of sides, the dice has.
So I get the confusion. But I mean, I've also read
Troika, you know, and a bunch of other stuff that's like, very
common that, you know, d66. But yeah.
So So the K, it kind of like this out, like the point of this
Matrix is to create like a larger range of options and
maybe just a D6, it's usually used for generating something,
whether it be random places or inhabitants, yeah, it just gives
you a longer a wider range while still just using the cord theis
to that PBT a mechanic or dice mechanics, clocks and tracks,
which are great. So it's two different ways to
track. You have clocks, which are
essentially pizzas, right? It's a Goal the divided into
slices, and usually, as you like sale, they fill up, right?
If you're in a dangerous situation, you like role?
I think it actually gives exactly rolling like a nine or
less, right? So like a partial they'll do a
full fill you start to fill. Excuse me.
This is like in a Random Encounters to feel segments of
this clock. And this might you know, up here
like danger is increasing things are getting worse as you fail, a
lot of times for clock. Psych.
If they're searching an area or doing something or like a group,
like narrative moment, I'll have a clock where it's like, yeah,
you guys just do it like, as they do stuff, they tell their
story and they succeed in my film successes until they have
45 successes and then they figure out where they were
trying to figure out. I actually really like clocks
and I don't actually nearly use them as much as I genuinely.
Really do like them. Yeah, I definitely need to use
them a lot more because it's such a great way to keep track.
Of like the concept of time without having to keep track of
like actual time. Yeah.
Or just like the or just like mounting failures or mounting
successes how I like to use those to change.
What is happening, more the direction of where things are
going and let's collect tracks are different track.
Sure. Like a, like a list of squares
that you fill as things happen, right?
It talks about this one, there is a stress track which is kind
of like a negative thing York Character gets as you receive
stress. You start filling a, you check
off the boxes or whatever to represent like mounting -.
But is he a Minnesota thing is like fresh ones like a stress.
But like maybe you have like a super power meter in your game
and your pvta game. And every time I do something,
really fucking cool. They track, they mark off track.
To go really great tool for tracking, you know.
Yeah, it's literally is, literally, is tracking like a,
like I said, number of things like that, like, that you could
even do like, like, hit points on like, A monster or something
like that and when they have 60, his six boxes and you just check
off and when all text boxes are checked, they're fucking dead.
Yeah. You know, it's just a great way
to truck easy easy like you know visually visual way to track
things. Hmm.
Stan, come on rewrite, my games, use more clocks and tracks in
which I might do talk sometimes in the tub.
So, yeah, like like after rereading Patrick world for this
and then also, after I read speed Rune, like their parts of
the game that I'm running worlds, like actually so I
didn't read foods good. Okay, you do it's really fucking
good. It's really good.
I think it's so like that's such a funny.
Like the guy like they got to see some details.
I love this egg. Like I think it's fucking
hilarious now. So just like, you know, you did
Inmate like they didn't ruin question to make up the idea of
runes. You know, I think there's a few
thousand year old Scandinavian God hung from a tree wants
having the real issue with that. Yeah, what we want and it's got
this little gnome guy with a magnifying glass, little self
eats out. Yeah, and this part really talks
about like is it's the responsible the players to make
Expectations of what they want to do.
And so she wish the game like, clear, you know, it's is a
Cooperative thing. I mean, table like the group
discusses, what the group wants to do in this game and like,
what their expectations are for this game, then how the feel
safe, and fun. And this section, we're gonna go
through has questions to kind of streamline, that process fact.
This whole book is going to be a lot of questions that you ask
yourself the table, just in general.
Yeah, yes. Yeah, so questions.
The following page is going to have a bunch of open ended
questions that get help get players on the same page.
They I think it says the exam they don't necessarily have to
be answered before hand and all players don't necessarily have
to answer the same way. The main purpose is to just get
everyone. Like everyone's Minds moving and
thinking about Like how you discuss the game and like what
the game is Ryan. You I pick a couple of examples?
Yeah, well also I do want to point out this beautiful, the
beautiful thing here where they reference, these questions are
adapted from the same page tool by, I want to say, Bunkley, but
I'm terrible, but it's hyperlinked out.
So directly in the PDF, you can link right to the tool that
they're talking about. Aaron, I mean touch else gets
digital digital tools. So yeah, um, did you do?
Hey, there's like a whole page here.
So I really like because there's a variety of different types of
tools are a different type of the questions here that are
about the game. So one of the ones that I really
like is like how can players make their characters goals?
Clear, how far will they go in pursuing them?
Nice, how much lead or prodding is the GM expected to give?
How can the players signal that? They're not sure what to Do how
can the GM react to give them agencies?
A fantastic one. It's one that you don't even
need to answer but like just bring it up to your pliers and
being like hey like consider like at one point like are you
gonna like message out? However you want to like okay I
don't know where to go because like how many times you been sit
in a room with with your players and they just been circling the
drain and I ask him any questions you're being like I
got nothing left, you know I mean you also go to the thing
where you're like listen I don't know why I need to tell you this
for the fifth time but there are no pit traps.
Yeah, you don't have to be careful.
I promise you, you're not going to fall down a hole.
You know what I mean? Just go forward.
You know. Yeah, these are great.
There's a great questions. I think there's a lot of value
and having open discussion with your table, especially if
you're, you know, if you're moving game systems, if it's a
new table, if they're brand new players tabletop games in
general, like a lot of these questions will do you a lot of
good for setting a Expectations regardless of whether or not,
they're actually answered in real-time.
Well, not only that. I mean, the very last one to two
is like, what safety tools? Do we want to employ to make?
Sure players feel safe comfortable with playing, right?
So like, you know, we're big, we're obviously huge fan of
safety tools here. It's really important.
It should be a basic part of session zeros and stuff like
that. Anyone that is like, oh, let's
sing the tools. Eat a fucking eat.
He is a crazy reaction. Like, who can I mean, listen, if
you want to go to your table and your table is like a Weird group
of dudes. I like really push boundaries of
humor and like, you guys are all okay with that.
Like, that's fine, but like, like you have to face, you don't
have to get to safety. But that's, that's why.
This question is so perfect to because it literally asks, like,
what safety tools do we want to employ and if across the table,
everyone's like, we know each other.
We're good. Cool.
You just answer the question? Yeah.
You know what I mean? Like this is literally like is a
valid answer, you know? Like yeah that's not how my
table runs. Not me, which is crazy because I
My table is like a bunch of. They're they're one step away
from a murder hobos but like ginseng, me there's there's
stuff that they would not be okay.
I know there's something to note that I be a quarter percent.
I mean the average normal human being but like if literally
everyone looked around with now we're all fucking psychos.
It's cool fine. But you answer the question, you
know what I mean? Yeah, totally also, leave that
fucking table. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I mean, there are there are there are things that are
literally just like, if someone's like nah I'm good with
this. I'd be like, all right.
Well, Deuces, yeah. I don't need this stress in
their table. So, maybe this, maybe that
question has a lot of different functions, actually.
Yeah, exactly. And that's the thing again, like
you said, like, some people are literally could let it could
just be safety tools that you want to use.
It could be like, well, I'm a huge fan of the X car or I don't
really like the EX card and then people would just be like, okay,
let's just two lines, fails, a move on, you know what I mean?
Like, boom, done, you know, Dramatic who we are.
Sure. So what are we just asked what
do we want? Huh.
What was the? What was the first question?
We asked the what we want? Yeah, we knew we wanted to know
your solo. Yeah.
Like character goals one. Yeah.
So so who we are? If you're playing your destiny,
I think is your play? Group is starting a longer?
Yeah, I'm not tired or like, the Red Bull is definitely not
running out of my system. If your playroom is starting at
a longer series of games, you probably want to spend the first
session making characters into finding the world fantastic
again. Another reason this is such, I'm
gonna say two million times and I don't apologize podcast.
Another reason this is such a good primer for ppta games and
games in general, there's such a good description of just like
the basics of getting a game up and going that are so well done.
Some people like to define the world, some people like to like
learn it as they go. There's a little secret here,
making characters any of this, making the world, you're making
disparate characters at all belong to the same Community.
This means that the world is packed with endless.
Kinds of people that join together for an endless number
of reasons. Since we have to start
somewhere, this text will start with making.
So we're talking about. First one is name, what is your
name? But also like the way that you
the names, are you picking something that also helps build
the world, right? So whether you start, or finish
here, ask what kind of naming conventions exist, which comes
into the world, right there is a lot of there.
There's worlds out there that like, everyone's last name is
like d.' and then something like dantonio, you know?
Like that's a naming convention that you just create across the
thing. Yeah, I'll work.
Actors have names. We use in the real world.
Do people like typical Fantasy names like moths offered and
elrond do people go by epithets Doug right now, sir?
So for example, like we were doing the, the critic up with
what the other day, like, it literally like that question
literally came up, or I was like gourd and the cowboy and it was
like, are you gourd the cowboy? Are you the cowboy gourd, like,
what is he into that moment? You know, and then concept your
Depth is one or more words that describe the kind of character.
You're angling for. This is the word I use in my
game and I was like, yes love this.
Thank you. And you explain it better than I
could. It doesn't limit the moves.
You can pick her use but it can change and it can't change
during play. Its main use is a signifier for
who gets to answer questions about the world during play.
For instance, if a character is a fallen Knight, the GM might
ask their player if they know the Lord of a nearby town or if
they can identify identify a piece of heraldry ratings.
Yeah. So feel free to start with the
profession from a different game, like, Thief wizard Ranger.
I have no idea what a jolly or is.
Do you know what a jock jungle or is?
I don't have any idea, I bet Google does.
I listen, I'm already on the Google's a Wandering, Minstrel
poet, or Entertainer and medieval England or France.
So it's a, it's a much cooler version of word.
For Bart is what it sounds like. Yeah, um, I'll perfectly good
Concepts, but then you can also modify them a little bit.
So it's more than just a thief, it's an aspiring thief because
that, that changes, it entirely like your think.
This means you've been, you've been doing that even, right?
But if you're an aspiring Thief, it means in my mind.
You're not that great learning how you really, not very good
idea. Yeah, your low jungler is a
French word for juggler do. Thank you, etc!
Etc! You get it.
Or so there's a list of was an aspiring Thief.
A secret thief, and a failed. Thief are all.
Three different things. So expanding on the concept
really does help a lot with what your character is doing.
Um, I love my fucking. I really enjoy building
characters like that, like from the ground up concept
characters, me. And like, yeah, like, hey, it's
nice to get away from games where it's just like, yeah, but
character class and like, this is, you're locked into what the
archetypes that we've given you. It's like know, what do you want
to do man? Like Yeah, I wanted to a
transdimensional blood wizard. You know what I found by the
fuck? You're also, you're also
knocking to then find the website of like the perfect
builds rank every skill with every archetype Lake.
Hey. Sorry if you're listening Aaron
saying goodbye and they are in Chad, but farewell, thank you so
much for coming on. Yeah, seriously really, really
appreciate it and this will not be the last time also not be the
last time that you see here and on the weekly School podcast.
So the look this weekend it looks like for example there is
a I'm going to say it's a whale. Are you seeing whale here?
What do you see? - oh I oh, I seen mushroom frog
but see, so I thought A lie too. But then I was like, okay.
But you know how like the bottom jaw of a blue whale is got like
is like kind of ribs like that, you know, like white me like a
humpback whale. Yes sure.
Yeah back well so I thought was like well maybe that's that or
it's like a frog thing. I wasn't sure.
I'm seeing this welling up. None.
I'm going with frog. Mushroom guy, you know, ragh
yeah, frog. Well, mushroom guy, holding up a
fart with a key that has four feet and rocking.
Just the open-toe sandal with his dashing.
I think I'm like, it's wearing a suit with opened.
Straight up, straight up, I'm talking suit with like, leather
gloves. He's got, what's the, the preet
I thing, like the thing that like, the Ascot?
Yeah, I was gonna, I was trying to get to the Scooby-Doo guy,
Fred, and straight up fucking open-toe sandals, with his
Dapper fucking suit. So that's the look that this guy
has and that's what we're talking about here.
This is what someone sees, when looking at your character and
know your look has no mechanical effects Looks cannot trigger
moves, answer questions if you feel like something from your
look should be having more of an impact on the game, consider it
a personal tag. We begin to tags.
We didn't talk about tags. And then, to talk about tags.
I hate tags. But we'll get into that.
So, personal tags, maybe I like him better in heerlen to you
start with two personal tags, but you can gain lose or change
them pretty easily tags are and noticeable like looks but they
affect moves. However, they don't get bonuses
or penalties and steady indicate to you.
And the GM. When you might be able to
trigger a move and what kind of consequences might follow?
I like the idea of tags and I like why people use them?
Excuse me. I just think I don't like using
them but I think they're great for people to use if that makes
sense. I think maybe I'm just being a
little bitch about it. So, for instance, someone might
have the personal tag inhumanly tall because of this, the group
might decide that this character can look through a window, the
others can't and is thus able to inspect the area on the other
side of the window, the same character roles a six-, while
trying to sneak though, the GM might declare that they get
spotted. So we're talking about tags
here, not a fan. What are your thoughts?
Oh, you're not a fan of this? I hate tags.
Well, I like you too. Gives you some character like
benefits to like work with them. I give you drawbacks and a
situations. I think the tall ones are like
example. I think it's a great example but
I feel I feel so what I said was that I like the idea.
Okay, so here's the, I like the idea of tags and why people use
them, I don't like using them because I feel like you're
creating, like an almost like a middleman situation because,
like, in my My personal description, I can just write
inhumanly tall, right? Yeah, but this gives you a
person, but the problem is with look look, gives you know,
mechanical benefit or - right like and I see a reason to.
I don't see a reason to create a distinction.
I think is my problem, right? Like if I just said, like, I'm
inhumanly tall in the flow of the narrative, you can be like
what? You're fucking tall, go look
right. And that doesn't make me have to
differentiate between two things.
Look, and Bag and then right on a line tag, you know what I
mean? Tags.
Don't only physical. You could be like, yeah, I'm a,
you're a math genius, you're amazing at figuring out angles
of physics. You know.
And like like, yeah, so I'm gonna go throw this ball through
this window. It's like okay, well, cool,
you're a master of like physics and angles, so, yeah, of course,
you get the, you get the benefit of that, right?
But I think also, people, people need tangibles to reinforce
character Concepts like, whereas like you or me might be like me.
More experienced table, top player, and we can make a
conceptual character and be like, yeah.
Well like, and I'm very honest, if I make character of a certain
concept of Mike, well then they obviously suck at this.
So, if I do this, like I'm going to be bad at it, but this gives
somebody something more tangible.
It's like, oh, like my character is this to tags this and this
and these are the things that describe them and like, it gives
them like a tangible. Well and that's why, and that's
why I and that's a great way to explain it and that's why I
said, like, I like the idea of tags and understand why people
use them. I I think I personally don't
like using them. I feel like you just said, like,
I'm and I'm being maybe, I'm going to be a little douchey
about it, but like, I feel like, I don't really need the until he
liked you on me. Always, yeah, yeah.
All the time he's gonna let that he's really gonna let that
fucking slide. Okay, cool, what.
But I think what you said, like I just I just don't feel the
need to use them because we played so many games and like, I
get it, you know what I mean? But I totally understand why
people do use them. And I feel like there is a curve
eventually where people would like Like, get away from
potentially using them a little bit in their games because
they're just, like, no, I get it.
And like you said, like we're honest about the way that we
play the game. So it's one of those things
where it's just like, I totally get why people do and I think
it's a great concept i-it's. I just wouldn't really use them
a ton in my game. And I don't see, a reason why I
have a problem with this playing Adams with the test group,
because it's the characters are so conceptual and they're like
likes. Something like this like tags.
Like fuck to be like a really good idea for my players like
give something to hold on to what their character but yeah I
like it. I think it's a I think it's a
good tool, you know you know what?
As I'm sitting here thinking and listening to you, you know what
I think might be what I don't like about.
I feel like I'm just I don't like being told what to do and I
feel like it's again restrictive in a way where it's like make
two tags and I'm like but what if my dude I could think of a
million tax or my guy? You don't know.
Like, I feel like you're boxing me in here, you know?
Yeah. Like I think maybe that's what
it is. Deep down as I explore my
psyche. I feel like maybe that's what it
is. I'm like, sometimes my, I
sometimes like having rules that not dislike box, you and guide
you, because I find that like having rules created than
working my way around the rules or bending the rules or, like
using the rules to their full logical extent.
You know, is very Yeah, I don't need to get that on a discreet.
That I also I my mind do you know, I do a lot of magic lot
wasn't shit and like magic magic with rules, is 100 times better
than magic without because you get to pull ya.
Take those used to the maximum extent, but you want to.
Remember you like, you like Wizards and stuff?
Yeah, I like Wizards. I've I didn't Ina create a whole
game, where rahl overpowering was it?
So didn't ever know? So obviously, that's what tags
are basically. It's like, so you got look
sitting a tags tags, are things that can affect the role
basically. And looks are not so you can
look however you want, but it doesn't make any claim affect
the role. If something would mechanically
affect the roll, it should be a tag.
Not a look, there is one part because it's about choosing
things like race gender and disability for personal tags.
If a player wants a tag, using these types of attributes, they
should work with the gym to decide.
And if you the human player or don't belong to a marginalized
identity, don't put it in your personal tags at all, maybe we
just don't have you just don't, you know?
Yeah, yeah. Yeah.
Seriously, there is a section here on drawback in the benefit
benefit. The other mechanical effect of
personal tags is drawback and benefit.
Now, see this makes me like it more because it gives more of a
mechanical more more to it, more depth of stuff to it.
So, to Mark, draw back, a player turns a role result of 7 or
higher into a 6. They mark an experience and
describe how one of their personal tags made this happen.
Yeah, to Mark draw back, a player turns a result.
So basically you you purposely fail the roll and then gain
experience. And this work benefit a player
turns a role of a nine or less into a 10, they described how
one of the personal tax make that happens.
So yeah. So do you want two goals?
Yeah, absolutely. Yes of characters are
experienced by completing goals. You write down, I'm losing focus
and my camera. You ready on one goal during
character creation. You can like you can have more
than one goal, but the ones that you don't write down, don't get
you in the experience points. At the end of the session, every
character has made this is a very PBT a thing.
If at the end of the session, if you make progress towards your
goal and they're going to Mark a single point of experience.
If I know anything about pbca, that's the thing.
I actually really kind of do like that a lot.
Yeah, it goes completed or the character gives up.
They have to erase it. Write a new essentially.
Yeah. So moves move it also.
There's this like this. This art.
This said dude what's his glasses really examining these
gems? It's crystals grown on trees.
Yeah a praising them. Yeah moves.
So we've kind of gone over that. There's a default list of moves
and it's in a separate document called the Patrick play
materials and I don't know if it's in the book because I only
have digital. Yeah, there are default moves in
these moves were like move our move, the narrative.
These are when you roll. This is where your potential of
fail is any character can like, trigger any of the default
moves? The character is also going to
pick two, I believe each character pics to yeah, chosen
me. moves, which are More specific and they don't have to
relate to your character concept or each other, but they can.
However, do note that shows movies can be vastly different
in tone than can lead player Behavior.
Yeah, essentially, what your player can do in the game is
going to dictate how they behave within the structure of the
narrative. The game very straightforward,
but good to have a written down. Yeah, yeah.
It's just a concept of like what you're able to do will determine
most of the things that you do. Like if I'm not able to do
something, I'll generally not not do that thing often.
Yeah, exactly. So yeah, if you're unable to do
a thing, Do it which is you know how things work inherently.
So tracks. So there are a few different
tracks in the game that you'll fill its stress hex and
experience. Start with 0 boxes, strikes that
stress and hacks are kind of your negatives right there.
There when bad things happen, stress, I think is more
physical, hex is more magical and experience is the experience
you gain experience and you use that to get better stress,
represents your ability to continue with your day.
Fills up when someone hurts you or you like exert yourself.
Extremely right? So if you take damage or
whatever, you take stress and then if you like do something
incredibly hard or maybe you do something really hard, you don't
told they succeed, you can take a little stress from that and
hacks is the magical variance of that that works.
You know, when you're very exposed to high levels magic or
weird magic shit as I would say, to my player characters.
Yeah, and experience is, you're learning, right as you get
better as you approve. It feels now.
So our so Homeland, this is lastly and optionally name is
Robert characters, Homeland. Chances are characters, not
living there. So, try to keep your whole name,
description short and Punchy. For instance, I come from place
name, a place full of people flora, fauna, and industries,
many of the people there. Value oral and material over
other moral material. I am like those people because
of similarity and unlike them because of different sounds like
an ad. Lib obvious like this is me and
this is why. And that's it.
And that's such a great way. Also to, to just World build,
like all on your own. Since I'm like, petrified, love
offloading World building in my player characters my yeah.
Oh, yeah, absolutely, yeah. That's that can endure those
people exist urethane. So tip, period done.
So um, how he lived. The next section of the plate,
materials PDF is the community sheet, fill it out by answering.
So Community provides characters, a place to rest your
friends, or colleagues. And while your community, she
never be outright destroyed of the Moments of a single role,
individuals are faxing it. In the community might have
requested beliefs that don't align with each other, and
player characters can be called on to solve or find compromise.
If so, what you first come up with is a community type on the
plane materials give you four types Village crew moral order
and wild folk each ask questions for the members to answer these
aren't intended as be-all end-all of community types and
players should feel free to rename them or create new ones.
So again, I like that, it's a list of Or it's not a roll
today, it's not a role, you know, one through four because
if you feel like there's more than just what's provided.
Yeah. Yeah.
And then you can change in abandon your communities.
If you want, sometimes things are going to change.
So, you know, they could be altered in some way.
Maybe some members leave you could switch Community types.
Tired of your crew, following you around, throw them into a
village, you know, create a whole new community, just
stopped associating with one or go, It Alone.
What communities are important to the themes of the game.
It's okay. Not to have one.
And then we break into the player principles.
Player principles. So as I look at the materials,
the player materials. Yeah.
So these are really really times I've been there and there.
Once again another great thing to can you just carry that any
game really all actually and again because yeah I think the
entry for this is like yeah, the social skills involved in
playing an RPG where with friends or strangers can be hard
to navigate. Here are a few principles that I
try to keep in mind. I think lead to more fun game
for everyone. I think the first one is one
that Is sometimes understated, but very important be a fan of
the players and their characters like be a fan of them like root
for their growth. The you want to like them and
like light be a fan of their, their narrative, right?
Especially the game like this where they could potentially
have one, you know, I'm playing bastards rub my God, how can I
kill these guys? So I can have a hell Adventure.
It's like a little bit different, you know.
Um, you know, put people put a lot of thought into Stir.
And you want to support them in that, right?
I'm sure responsibility When We Touch on this earth, like a lot,
all of the older games, it's like the responsibilities just
on the kind of the Gamemaster, right?
But for this one, it's like pass around the story.
Like let people fill in blanks as well, you know, that you're
not the only one in charge of the world.
Yeah, ask questions. Be engaging, be involved.
It can be hard to keep everyone. Everyone's characters and
everyone's description head. So ask you know especially as a
player like is there this and here that I can use?
Sure. Yeah, absolutely.
There's like, you know, we were in a garage and my last
adventure and like yeah they're like a vehicle here.
Can hide behind. Yeah, absolutely.
There's a speeder Park to the side and you can 100% use Be
inquisitive be and that's a group but it keep engaged as
well. Be clear and decisive, That's
kind of self-explanatory. Like if you want to do a thing,
say it make it clear. This is what we want to do.
If you're not sure how to say something in character, try out
of character, but be an active player.
Be open to change. Their things are going to happen
in the world to your player characters, whether they're
going to be changed, you're going to go through hard times,
they're going to lose their going to gain, so be open to
that. Really great principles for the
game for just any game really, you know, as a player who's
really running again. Yeah, I'm running the game,
we've got more principles and then just so kind of type what
you said last time to like I feel like this is what separates
a lot of like the old-school Grog nerd like kind of fucking
game deep-dish holes from like people that want to enjoy the
game that they play. Like you're not against the
players. You're also just a different
type of player at the table. I do I do, I am not a big fan of
adversarial GM GM thing, you know.
Like it's not fun. Like I want to kill my
characters because I want to do an adventure in hell but I'm not
Actively like trying to kill like they've survived, you know?
And well and there's a huge difference between like a death
trap dungeon, right? Where you might a lot of players
might die. Yeah.
And being an adversarial gym because your character, that's
so true. John.
Yeah. But but your GM could be rooting
for you the whole time, but you go in.
Knowing hey, this is a funnel. I've already made 30 characters,
you know what I mean? And that's the fun part of it
versus you know, someone who's just being a dick to be a dip.
Oh sorry, I didn't tell you guys.
This is a very deadly Adventure. I've never, I've never been
deemed by somebody like that and if I had I would have either all
laugh. I'm gonna be there stopped
playing game. I was like yeah.
I think I'm gonna be my main work schedule.
Change anything playing field. Yeah, will do.
Yeah. So also be a good player running
the game. I've had more bad ones of those
than GM's luckily I guess so playing the game.
These are principles so change the world.
This is about Jia Ming again, so it can be hard to GM.
Here, some broad ideas change, the world.
The patchwork world is in flux. The hexes pulled in from across
the universe of vastly different needs and vastly different
Landscapes. If the players visited desert,
then return months later and a river might run through it,
right? Yeah.
You know, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.
Similarly, a self-sustaining you, you get the idea the World
Turns, without the characters, you know, billed as one of the
concepts of like the the 0s are on the NSR and stuff like that,
that a lot of people are trying to bring back besides rulings of
A rules. Is that the players aren't the
center of the fucking Universe? Like they are not the chosen
ones. Saving mankind all the time, the
World Turns, You Know, change the characters as a world
changes. So do the people in it.
The changed mentality. Moving on from what they
previously thought were Universal truths, etc, etc, etc.
Provide problems not Solutions. When with such Geographic
upheaval without the structure, provided by large civilization.
There's a lot of people who need help.
So they might need Hope of returning to Lifestyles and
understand this. Those needs might faster or
Clash is the job of the m to show the clashes first, their
sauce all signals and Omens. It is not the job of the GM.
To make sure there's a way to fix them.
You might have a couple possibilities but the players
are resourceful, let them do that.
So problems not solutions that I think is another Hallmark of
what I consider good gameplay and what's bad about 5e, where
you go a lot of 5 e, you go into it with With literally like
things like critical role and a lot of the adventures and a lot
of the GM tips literally like have you basically write a story
and then add sections where you can have the players roll?
Yeah it's all predetermined. You know what I mean?
Don't don't fucking do that. You're providing the solutions
and you're basically guiding them towards what you want them
to do. Not allowing them to make their
own choice. Leave blank spaces, the world is
unexplored, let it stay that way.
You don't have to answer every fucking question, you know?
The you some hexes where that are curious about, you might not
go to it and then again be a fan of the players and the
characters we've already talked about that part, like root for
your players, you know, don't be a douche, don't be adversarial.
There's also a part that is really weird.
I've never like, you know, I've run so many games at this point
and I've never been in a situation where I am like
rooting against my player characters, like, it just seems
weird. Like those, aren't you at the
table with your buddies, you know, do you really hate your
friends at much? I mean, What's interesting is
how many times we see this? Because there's a fucking reason
that McDonald's coffee cups. Say this is fucking hot, you
know? I mean because some dumbass go
on themselves, got like, 250 million dollars, you know what I
mean? Like, you wouldn't need this if
it wasn't so prevalent, which is what I think is even more crazy,
you know, some that money wasn't a dumbass that coffee was way
too fucking hot. So whatever it was like, okay
sure. Yes.
And now people know that hot coffee is hot.
I I hear what you're saying. I agree.
But you're also honoring. Yeah.
You hear what I'm saying, right? Like, this one be here.
If there weren't people like this.
Why are you friends with those people?
What is wrong with you? Just stop.
Um, so and then there's a picture of a guy I'm gonna say
is he eating that one or is the one just hanging out inside its
mouth? But there's lots of cats.
So looks like I fucking hair, is he made of cats?
Like was right hand seems to be yo, Yo, and the whole left arm
is like falling off as cats. Maybe he's slowly turning into
Cash rent. There's a lot of art from Kevin
Budnick here and man, who I feel like very Patrick World though.
Um, so moves at some default moves and I like this section
better because it's not a list. So we already have a list of
player moves and stuff like that.
A lot of the moves feel a little bit more like skills then moves
which I like better than like the basics.
But like this talked about GMOs and this whole section is about
jamming. So when players are all 79, they
generally do what they were trying to do, but with the
complication. So, a lot of times you'll see in
these kind of games, it doesn't say like, like when you hit a
monster, the monster does it says, like if you fail, the GM
gets a move, right? And it doesn't always mean the
monster Hits you back, right? It could be a million things, it
could be more monsters. Coming through the door, it
could be a pit trap opens up. It could be a million fucking
things and this is a big list. What I love about this This is
It's a list. It's not a role table, that's
not just like, it doesn't feel that this is it to me, it's just
with, it's written in structured.
Well, so I feel like there's more that I could do so.
But here's a list and flick stress, and flicked, hex
inflict. A tag, give them a choice.
Plain to see, take something away.
Show how the community feels ask a question.
Random encounter. I can give them what they want.
Like tons of good stuff. Yeah, really.
Yeah, very cool. Yeah.
Unlike the moves other players. Get your moves.
Don't work. Our role and don't have strict
results there vagaries almost read that different.
Hopefully allow them to be adapted to a wide range of
situations. So there's there's literally
breakdowns of what every single one of these are we don't have
to go through a ton of them. But, inflicts stress, simple
enough, how the players Mark stress.
Usually one, two, three, they get stressed and then I think
there's like a stressed move later, right?
For example, tell them a large animal is barreling at them or
corrupt Nobles, trying to intimidate them out on the seven
and nine, they might get some stress right.
Right. Every even once you begin
inflicting stress again, start low and go up as high as you
want. Etc, etc.
Inflict X, this is for you magic boys.
Are you boys like the magic probably less common hex.
Usually comes from dangerous magical sources.
I feel like hexes, Patrick World specific or worlds like it this
is definitely specific to this game.
This is a part of this maybe not as primer because you might not
have a world where magic corrupts but in this world it
does. So Hex usually comes from
dangerous magical sources which means like a swamp irradiated
with cursed energy or a botched spell or an angry haunted doll.
I love this. Major Max makes me feel good
inside, and I enjoy magic. That is difficult and dangerous,
you know? Like, I want people to need to
see. That's why I don't like
Sorcerers, man. You just born with that shit.
Fuck off, inflicts. A tag will be already.
Talk about tags, the, which mentions, which might give you
the tag shrunken. So you could have like, a
shrunken head. That sucks for you.
It affects your rolls, you got a tiny head.
Now, give them a choice, self-explanatory, plant, a seed.
So when a campaign linked game, there can be lots of possible
threats pursue and sometimes it's hard to know which ones
sometimes seeds, don't come into fruition 's, but basically it's
like giving them a little Omen, a little, a little, a little, a
little guidance. You know, something that might
like tease him a little bit in a direction that you have a little
More prepared. Great idea, not railroading
them, just throw it out there. If they don't check it, have
more prepared that it. Totally, I think, I think I
system that does that really well, at least it's third-party
material is actually Mothership. Mothership is all about like,
here are some seeds and some rumors that you can plant around
and I always really appreciate that.
It's like cooled. It's the moment, you plant it
and go. Yeah, be heard about this and
this and they can make a note of it and be like, ooh, that's for
later. Look at Tom.
Yeah, I almost forgot. You know what?
I go back to a ton. And it's I think it's, I'm
pretty sure it's the game. I played the most was definitely
Skyrim. Oh, yes.
When is Skyrim came out, it was really interesting because it
was at the time, I'm pretty sure it was a biggest game ever made.
As far as like the amount of land, your character can travel
across, right? I think I think it was 16 miles
or something. If you walked into in with your
character it was fucking huge but it also had that like
infinite question. Orator like you literally can't
do everything in the game because it will constantly just
be like oh hey you, can you help me find my Father's sword.
Like it will do that forever but the the story lines across
Skyrim, you can quote unquote, beat the game without doing any
of them. But of course you're going to go
do the the Brotherhood one. This one of the first things I
do is to actually don't mind if I play Skyrim the one that I
never do is the main mission. So because types main mission
story is just medium for me. So, okay, back to Morrowind.
Man-cub should have fucking Proto hipster But what, but what
the the seed concept is because you, you sometimes have to do
multiple things to get to those missions and you can follow it
or you can just be like nah, fuck it, I'm not doing that and
it doesn't matter, you don't mean you can move in other
directions. I love that idea and also the
World Turns without you it's just right way to do it.
So show how the community feels, if there's not an immediate
consequence you know it but it could affect the world it could
affect back home. All of those things you can do
that. Ask a question.
So I was a good thing. Have the kit.
How do you how do you feel about that?
This reminds you of like, what would what would you do?
If this happens, random encounter self-explanatory,
there are random encounter out there and then give them what
they want. Sometimes this is the loaded
statement. Give them what they want so they
can find out. It's not what they wanted all
along. Real monkey's paw situation and
that's all the concept. So next we're going to fact bait
faction based play him. Factions boy factions.
Um yeah um factions you should have factions.
You ain't it helps fill all the world you know.
It makes it more interesting if they're like groups that
interact with each other. Yeah, while there isn't only one
way except of scenario I find is I find it's a useful framework.
Basic ideas, right? Create two to four factions,
create an item place or resource that they all want or need us.
Right, your faction should interact with each other.
They shouldn't just float freely in space.
What makes the world feel like it's living?
Is this interaction of actions? Create a short history between
them knowing what they know. Oh, about each other name,
members of each faction. Possibly introducing sub
factions within differing. Interpretations of their main
need, there is the village hidden in the leaves, right?
But there's also danzo and his like secret underground, like
Hardline organization but they're all working like for the
betterment of the betterment of the village.
Yeah. And this to give her those
fucking dirty UT and she has you know and then you guys what's
up? In any capacity in Itachi.
Yeah, on find ways to introduce the factions to the players and
I think this is another great area for your players to be like
yeah so help me you know what's so this faction exist like who's
the head of this faction you know Israel and its action who
feels differently about their main goal.
I have is the Cooperative area, you know, but like I think
faction based play it first. Time is Rife for storytelling,
but also makes your world feel like it's moving.
You know what, we talk. Roberts is live with what last
week when we talked about on their interview to, and just
like, how it helps you with the idea of like, you just had like,
keeping the world moving things happen.
Without you, you can choose not to do something and realize I'll
fuck, like the world is ending now, because I just ignore this
dude who started, right? Hannah.
Summon Cthulhu in our fog to know which is great.
Yeah, there's a, there was a zombie outbreak, a few Towns
over and we're going to ignore. It's like 13 months.
You guys get back here, the country's gone.
So yeah. Cool Nikki and PC, you know it
like it says they can be intimidating to like you know
make a bunch of NPC's but like really breaking it down mix,
very easier and name look at to desires and their own stress
track. Write the name on this should
match your naming conventions that you decided earlier and
another thing is his make it easy to pronounce.
And remember Al's wife is out. The lumpy Todd is in, oh my god.
Listen, if you give him, I gave my character, my tears, and then
VC name brick and they have never forgotten that guy's name,
and they love break. They have their own internal
narratives about brick and looks like, yeah, that's true.
Yeah, I know, you know, you know how smart that would be like a
psychological level, or it's like give all the NPC's.
You want. The players to just move on from
a name, that's a pain in the fucking ass and all the ones you
want them to. To interact with something super
easy. And we'll just like suddenly
guys in the world, I don't know. I still think it's some point.
I'm gonna be like oh felons while.
Yeah let me let me talk to felons while for here's the
thing. Is if you want if you want
someone to not interact with your NPC, don't give them a name
that they can somehow sexualize because the second they
sexualized that name kind they're going to be stuck with
that. It BC forever.
Well luckily my player characters killed brick so So
they didn't they didn't kill Rick.
Rick got killed. Okay?
Okay. Oh yeah name, right?
Okay, look notable features. Like you don't have to like
paint a whole pick a couple dreams, you know.
Cute but is definitely words that are in here and I skate
hair. Bright makeup, cute butt.
Yeah. You know, if you forget to give
them one another great way to have your players rack is to ask
them what one thing about them jumps out and is indicative of
just who is in PC is which I love that gear player characters
involved. I, you know, I'm really
realizing like I should I love stuff like that and I need to do
more of that with my table. So that more fun with Attitude
are, you know, are they have complete dick hole or they
flirty? Yeah, it was.
This person like desire, what do they want?
I think creating a desire for MPC is a very strong choice to
make because it like, you know, because people have desires,
they have wants also gives them directions out like a direction
like in the world because if they want to think they're going
to be going towards that and when you interact with them,
they're still gonna be towards the thing that they want.
And if they can use you to get the thing they want, they might
interact with you more or if you're in the way that they
interact with you less and so it really dictates a lot of stuff.
Stress track. Yeah.
There they have stress track. So if they get stressful
situations, your combat, you can track that are.
Moritz stress is not purely physical.
It's also could be mental stress, but yeah, they're in PC
should be kind of person. This I really love this piece of
art, by the way, just real quick this.
Oh yeah. That the gateway to the cloud
Dimension. Yeah, the fucking mess that it
stops. That's tough.
Yeah. This is Madeline Inge.
I feel like there's a correct way to say that and I didn't get
it. Now, there's a story here called
where the rubber hits the road. So little story about um Aaron
putting together NPC's for new campaign.
Great read. We're not going to read it but
great read. So there's a section called
using the community. So the NPC's of the Player's
Choice Community can have lots of use Beyond each community's
listed mechanical effect. So fetch Quest is the use of the
community. Everyone knows that a fetch
Quest is if you don't, it's literally someone coming up to
you and be like, hey, go get this thing, you know, and that
could be a person that Could be an object, whatever it is.
Just go fucking. Get it.
This example, I use when people ask me about running evil
campaign, I was like, it's exactly like running a good
campaign. The person that gives you, the
fetch Quest just happens to be evil.
Literally fucking it right? Are you going to go save the
King's Daughter? The princess right?
Or is the evil Lich sending you to find like a crystal that they
can use to summon a demon, that destroys the world, you know,
guess what? You still doing your still
fetching? Something for somebody.
You know, I like, you know, I think I think we undervalue the
fetch Quest. I think it's, I think it's a
perfectly like, no, not we. I think people like us like to
climb up but you can make it so interesting.
You can and you can give them like a choice.
Dance. I can't even to go do this thing
and at the end there's a moral quandary.
It's like yeah you can bring it back to this guy but something's
in the happen. And you know, is there a other
path that might be more lead more correct.
But the other that's Quest. The fetch Quest doesn't even
have to be like the entire thing to.
Like you can be in the middle of like a mission and be like oh
shit I need the key. Yeah, right.
Like, I'm a bit partial listing of the the Demon sword, you
know, right. And no one gave you that but it
still affects Quest. It's just like I got to point D
and realize I gotta backtrack my steps to pick up this thing to
go back to H. Go and guess what?
That's kind of fetch Quest. It's just one step on a bond, a
bigger path. Yeah I completely with you.
Yeah. Should the community dislocate
the players. Are you doing stuff?
That makes the community fucking lot like you.
Yeah. Well I think I think this is
something that that a lot of you know especially five Emer Rubble
fucks like used enough against the players.
Like you will develop a reputation in the world.
If you're just murdering fucking everything you're not just gonna
roll up on the next place. And I want to be like, oh, hey,
adventurers are gonna be like oh these are dolls Fox like you
know what I mean? Like use the against a players.
Like there are some games, I feel like it's net.
I've never really found like a reputation mechanic.
I like a ton, you know, that affects gameplay a lot but
having some level of that is always a kind of a good idea.
You just if you fuck around, you're going to find out, you
know, anything that my great people now put that in.
So should the community just like the players.
So if you feel like they would be hurt by what the players
characters have done our what, or that they would desert or
turn against them. Consider the following, have a
community members speak out against the characters.
Have a Community member agree, with the characters in ways that
taken to a logical steps ghost visits like Christmas Story.
Yeah, on difficulty probability and getting that hurts.
Do you? I do want to do that.
I would love to run hate Christmas fucking, A Christmas
Story fucking game where it's like, yeah, your visited by the
ghost of adventurous past that you just murdered and they will
show you. I was in this concert with the
community, the consequence that led to a let's fucking do that,
right? Yeah.
Be when I was in Dublin I joined a like a DD meet up there and
started running in the people that I'm at the table wanted to
keep playing after I taught them how to play.
So he kept playing. So I wrote up, I did so much
research for this. I found Dragon magazines, I
found a specific area belongs to her short.
You're basically like there's a crown and it hit like vecna like
this whole fucking shit involved were basically they had to go
through the swamp and stop some shit, right?
So after one of the first missions, they came back and
there was like, basically, like soldiers Juror camp and they
were doing some of the missions, they came back and we're a dick
to the leader. And the leader is they were
based like pay me bitch. And the leader is like, fine
fucking here and like, through the gold at them, and they're
like, alright, peace out. And then like the other guy was
like, no, no, no. We like revealing need your help
and they're like, no fuck that guy, we're leaving and the guy
was like, all right, then fucking by but the player, the
people were kind of dicks and I was like, I don't even play
these people anymore. So I was like, okay, so let's do
the logical conclusion of this, right?
You I was to leave the swamp where they told you, if you
didn't stop this thing, the world was going to end you
travel for three days over the horizon.
You see a black cloud forming a wave of death comes through.
You're all fucking dead. The world hasn't did.
Good job, Ian assholes together page.
You know what I mean? Like it's so funny.
It's like because like I play with a table of like really good
people that act like assholes in game and so I would love to play
for that to play out in a different way.
That continued forward. It's like yeah the world ends
now we're you now with you. Guys doing you know all you have
to do is not be an asshole to this one guy who's giving him.
On difficulty probability and getting hurt.
When rolling two dice, average throw will be a 7.
That's how math works. I don't know why I suck at math,
but we know what the seven we've talked about the four.
So this means that for the most part, the players will succeed
slightly, right? Because 6 is 7:30 is slightly
more. I I don't understand why it's as
having set of a six. When you're rolling, two sixes
always going to blow my mind. But it is they say that I don't
consider this winrate necessarily good or bad, but it
is significantly. A higher than many other games,
but that means the average will fall into the band of 7 to 9,
which means mixed success, which is the best part of the fucking
system. So if any of the actors, the
best feature of, you know, the whole concept of make success is
the mixed success. If any of the players, the table
want the game to be harder. There's a hard mode which is
cool connected to Mechanical, difficulty is a proximity of
injury and death and Patrick World stress.
And hex. Don't heal naturally over time.
This is partially design response to the higher
probability of successful roles. But it's also because filling
either meter isn't an immediate loose state, which is great, as
password, world is first and foremost.
Built for multi-session campaigns.
It assumes the players will get many chances to engage with the
list in the exhausted and hex moves.
So you're gonna build that track multiple times that I dying
basically. Yeah.
And that's your thing doing it genres, considerations.
Yeah. Um, you know, the the, you know,
the genres, there's different genres.
So this is made to be completely modular and adaptability table.
However, you know, Aaron definitely wrote this With some
images moods in mind, so probably be better suited to
games that don't rub up against that.
Here's some of those ideas romance and some considerations
for romance, let the players including the GM opt out of
romantic any time, which is great, Don't Force romance.
That's fucking Bizarro. It's a weird looks romantic,
it's so weird. You know, it's so fucking.
We I don't listen. Having romance is not that
weird, not really my thing, right?
But bright blue ever, play the game Harding motorcycle or
seeking romance? Listen, fucking weird, if you
don't know why, right? Or or let's cut let's say
romance is a really nice way of saying the things that were also
talking about because I feel like where there's a little bit
like you know, you can get weird if you understand what we're
saying with them on consumer saying, just Google why Adam
COBOL is not in in the fucking teacher RPG industry anymore,
they'll understand. What not to do?
Yeah, yeah. And don't use character feelings
as a vehicle for player feelings, IE, like, don't use
in-game romance as a vehicle for out of game feelings.
Which I've also heard people doing which is also weird.
Let players explore what kind of love.
They're interested in romantic Potomac monogamous Paulie,
casual long term, don't be a creep, don't be a creep.
No white space has a bottom of this page.
And I caught it with she blood, they blew this up to like maybe
like 96 and just like till the bottom of the page, with like
this, this part, like this is the basic rules, like, come on.
And fantasy it. Like, it Patchwork world's
considered to be a fantasy, right?
Hiding power to fight back against forces.
The Press you not having to worry about money, being able to
love. Whoever you want having found
family that accepts you for who you are man.
Definitely fantasy to serve out there on that other damn bro.
You okay. You want a hug?
Yeah. Yeah.
This means the game might be unyoked from the classics of the
20. Tree serfdom, misogyny slavery.
Another staple of medieval fantasy are not the default
here. The players shouldn't justify
anything in game with phrases. Like, that's how things were in
the past. Fuck, I hate that shit.
I hate the fuck out of that. Who are like well is it was
Mike? So playing a fantasy game.
We all time bike just because the real world has been diced.
Or Klee. Terrible doesn't mean we have to
sit at this table and perpetuate historical Terrible's this you
know food. So the little Mermaid was
actually or Nordic country so like light doesn't penetrate
fuck you and and then tone and tone Springs from genre and a
number of ways. Aaron says that they're not here
to tell you how to run or play your game.
However, they'd like to flag a few things, they're feeling and
riding down the moves and encounters, which are few of
the, the few components of the game that can Point directly
towards certain tone, very true, right?
I like the moves are really going to push the tone of the
game you know when being broken World which is the kills its
playing demons. Like you can like sit and stare
into like meditating stare into the great flame to get answers
from from God essentially right or like you know you when you
want to attack you're reaching Heaven through violence sorry
somatic sorry tone based Yeah, so most play testers have leaned
into the weirdness and humor. You can play a raccoon Thief who
worships the god of seeing through walls, or you can play a
necromancer curse to inhabit, the body of a muppet.
Ha ha ha, ha, ha, ha ha. Your time, just start with some
weird whacked-out things eventually, if your path leads
there do some character development Muppet necromancer's
that's that's on the list now. Yeah.
There. Fuck yeah Kermit the Frog.
You can also start with more traditional Fantasy game.
I mean this gaming order to divest from that.
I'm not gonna come to your house and stop.
You can be a fire Thief wizard you know I do that.
I'm like yeah like tone is very important.
You gaming in, let your player characters.
You decide what the tone is? You know, how famous here we go?
Are we going full-bore Adventure Time trial of I'm all for that
Whimsical shit or you know are you Ryan?
Is this a gritty? Tennessee, where you're killing
and being killed or not kill him, not being killed, but like,
is it gritty and don't kill the fine.
You know, honey, I can't remember the name of it, but
we're we'll talk about it here in Zemo, but I put on the list a
project that they called it, a whim Dark Adventure, so it's
like both dark and Whimsical. I was like, really okay, might
be a sounds genuinely disturbing.
Usually when things are going to talk about this W early as well,
usually, when the more Whimsical things are, when they become
disturbing, the gravity gun sir, You are such a dear.
Yeah. Speaking of Adventure Time in
terms of lost definite eye on Mike oh fuck.
I biked not watch this. If I wasn't sober.
Yeah and emergence of a realism. This game is not about realism.
Ha ha ha. Yeah, it's more of an emergent
near right? For instance, the rules and game
of character might not be able to sleep in heavy armor and they
might be bar From ensuring a peaceful home, a place that's
not the case this game though, instead figure out why the
character is absolutely allowed to keep the armor on and all
time such as it did the advancement, that granted them,
that move also, teach them bodily control, so they can wear
it in bed, you know, they're just so apt at wearing their
Ultra heavy armor, doesn't bother them, they can swim in
it. Maybe are certain classes of
people, particularly those to which the heavily armored
character allowed to wear. Our armor wherever they go,
can't armor be peaceful and or formal find reasons to say, yes,
five reasons to fucking let shit go, you know, and make it part
of the narrative, you know? Like if you're like well this
doesn't make sense. In my weird Whimsical fantasy
will make it make sense, ask questions to make it make sense,
and then that becomes the cannon, you know, like, yeah,
you know, they're from their culture, where's heavy armor?
Everyone and like f formals it too, it's like cool.
Absolutely. They have formal heavy armor,
you know, just just, I mean, part of this.
Just let players get away with shit.
Don't fucking matter, you know? Yeah, I'm like yeah but I just
want my players like do shit. You know.
It's not by say yes to everything.
But lion-like are you straight up telling me that every time
that your players had down on a campfire, you're like, okay, so
it's going to take four minutes for you to divest your armor and
sleep in it. So then the random encounter
comes in and takes you five minutes to fuck off.
Yeah. And then we have after that, we
have a sample of play which I hugs of reading.
I've read it and Glenn will let y'all read it and a sample
Adventure, which we don't read on here because by the book.
Yeah. And then at the end of the
consequences for this sample Venture, which I do love and
then we get to the, the appendices.
Great happened, deadly, appendectomy seems to me.
Is that art is sick. Yeah, all my appendices.
It's this, it's this, it reminds me of like a picture from, like,
the old west. At times like it's all but like
the face is like all scratched out but they have a nice ass,
Scotty thing on like a jacket. It might feel like the death
photos that people took and like, the weird, like, early
America stuff and the face, all scratched out and stepped up its
sick. Check it out.
Um, so I think we got in appendices so there's like 14.
So, the first one is AD, 66 table for personal tags.
You got any that stick out to you?
Um, let's see. I um, I really like long limbs.
I don't know why, and then I know there's a, there's a couple
of good ones. You know, we really gonna say,
I'll say my life is really hard to do.
Right next to it is probably my favorite one.
It's literally made of wood literally made of would
literally be employed and then there's more.
We talked about that cute but all that stuff I'm appendix
because character Concepts, it's all these are for the most part
are d66 tables. There's some fun ones, Moon
worshiper, jaded Warlord. Rag-picking scavenger great last
of a fallen order, right up. My alley right there.
Very cool. Yep.
Appendix C, Random Encounters. You want to pick one out?
I came on a roll for actually it's cool.
I'll fucking roll. That shit is a D6 and a D6.
I know what the fuck it is. I've been to you don't know 30
to check earlier in the book it will tell you exactly how it is.
A stable you give small dogs that cannot be stopped or Reason
with only avoided perhaps Escape From an evil puppy mill.
Startled by a sudden noise or just migrating just wild.
So that's so great. Like I.
So now you're not you're gonna make me want to do this real
quick. I'll just do one real quick so I
gotta I got a 23. So 23 is who I went way too far.
23 the greatest P farmer of all time laying with sacks of dried
peas. Very color looking to sell peas.
Might need an escort. Naren, I fucking love you here.
This is hysterical. Okay, so next one, we're getting
20 and then there's a tooth man. Tit.
Man, is yeah, appendix D X features Romy.
A d66 for what kind of way got on a hex there 61 Blue ocean
with a bit of Coastline and I got 51 a crusty desert.
Yeah, it's all about that. Crustiness Crest gezer.
Look, appendix e questions to ask players.
What do you got for a? What's your question is a 66
again? A it's 24.
Nope. What do you go?
What people take pride in? That's nice.
I got a 64 which is where do people go to hook up?
Mmm. Hell yeah brother.
Yeah. Kissing kissing hell yeah.
Make out Cliff or whatever? Yeah.
Rimjob Valley. Ha ha ha.
Yeah. If we only were monetized, I'm
gonna anyway. So um, appendix names.
Oh No, appendix after names. What's the name?
What's the name, what you got? Huh.
What? Sorry.
I'm isil way down. Looking as much other d66.
D66, once again this bunch of really good ones, good stuff in
25. You, are you your, is it?
Well, how do you pronounce it Buffalo or bufo?
What do you think you would be? Buf of know.
I'm buso for sure. Who for all day.
Yeah, so I got a 46, which gives me a Nancy, it's leaning.
Yeah, it's wonderful. I mean, you got thumb, Messina
coin toss, Willa and Nancy. All right.
Ah, oh, ooh, straight up. Sample.
Characters want you to hit me with one D6?
To all right, you got. Oh oh yeah well William is nice.
Yeah, nice full circle. Yeah, the remembr answer your
pale with wrinkly skin and stringy hair, incisive eyes and
a nice big jacket. You're just like your old.
Yeah, your tags are old and visibly grumpy at.
This is supposed to be, you not me?
The moves are ancestral. Library and crystalline Garden,
which are in the movies list. Your hair land is a non space.
Is bubbled. Grew up in non-space.
Bubbled separately from reality where time passes.
Differently you and your people were experiments.
Run by a capricious, God as repeat away.
I'd a, My transdimensional Wizard did I do?
Yeah. The people died.
Their memories lived on in you and you now just want the garden
and also Vengeance. So yeah, find out you're like a
memory wizard of durin's day. In all proportions.
Wow. That's I actually couldn't have
rolled a better one. It was the name.
I pay. You didn't like a, it's a type
of wizard that I constantly joke about.
So yeah, the next one. Hey organizations.
I rolled 53. I didn't go look at anyway.
All right, all right, all right, we're scrolling scrolling
through this spear, which is this beer, which is Boom.
They Ride Spears and turn things into Spears, your husband a
spear. Now, your shins are Spears.
Ouch, I love the way Aaron writes this shit like it, like
it went from informative to just crack me.
The fuck up the entire way. I rolled a roll of 12.
Oh, wait a minute, wait a minute.
The I saw something that sparked my eye.
Well, I mean, listen, that, I mean that's obviously a
reference. The spear, which is, yeah, the
Brain Trust. Even see that one heeds these
days. The Linda, the lady has the
lenders is a great one. The squirrel migration of
cartographers, the not enough Cooks.
All right. Um I what did I roll a 12?
I think this one is really. I'm not, can I just read it out
real quick? Yeah, maybe good ball of spell
riders with their own abuse. Few secreted language led by to
disembodied voices that whisper from a perfect marble Cube
though. Those I love these arriving to,
this is fucking great. Yeah, I love the kids these
days. Okay, so, um yeah, there's
there's some places. There's like moves.
There's a bunch of stuff after it's a bunch of, like, awesome
tools that you can use and roll up and there's a lot of great
stuff in it appendix in, has a safety tools and then in has
long aspirational literature. Yeah, the only thing I do want
to go over, though is panics k0r to moods.
Yes, the hard, the hard mode. So if things feel a bit too, Too
easy players can enter hard mode.
Players can is individually and switch back to normal at any
time but because this is a social game keep in mind that
once players failure snowball. So in hard mode roles started
minus 1 instead of plus 0 because don't forget if you
answer, yes. You get to add plus.
It's right. So you actually start - players
are at an additional -1 if more than three stress or marked love
that. I love that stress, affects that
benefit. Can only be marked if drawback
is already been marked, that's dope and on a 12 plus Player
succeeds will hard. They do what they intended, but
there might be collateral damage.
Someone's made aware of them. Etc.
So when you cast a spell you doing good your little Fireball
becomes like if I hit it 12 or give him a bonus is to surpass
12. Like yeah totally but you're so
powerful. You just fuck it all up so it
all up. I love that, I love hardwood.
I think one of the ones that I would I might use just as a
normal would be. If three or more stress is
marked you automatically. Get him on that one.
And that one I would kiss her just being like, that's just how
it works, right? Stress, your trailer.
That's strange, you know? Yeah, but I mean also, like if
you look at like the game that I'm working on eventually, like
it's literally just about like the whole game.
This shit like that. Where it's like oh you got some
stress? Yeah, it sucks for you.
Got like - hundred so yeah. Um, It's it role-playing game,
like you said, there are some things that the end the for the
appendix in, which makes sense that they get all the way to n
and then made appendix in the list of inspiration, which is
what the appendix in is. But the role-playing games
apocalypse World, obviously, pasión de la passione is which
which, which are discussed already pipe dream?
The veil dared, Sinclair's, 6 e, which is great.
We should read us some time to inquire on some time.
Yeah, we should. Yeah.
Also, Max Lander. Hey, if you're listening back,
We love your stuff. Come on in here in the chat
earlier, actual has, he was yeah, they were a snacks.
Well, I believe. Yeah.
Those get the right. Yeah, they were, um, and yeah,
we love us to get him Bo and that's it.
That's the game we did it. So one of the, one of the things
we need to talk about. So this is I mean it's 45 pages
but one of the things that after we dropped our here, let me let
me kick back to an opening screen here.
But one more one more look at the cover here, it's beautiful.
And then transition. This is us, this is our faces.
So one of the things that we need to discuss kind of Officer
a, my guess is how we want to do things.
Maybe slightly at the end of this year, with some things, we
need to change our grading methodology because we're all
birds were going through stuff too.
So small now you know. So, well well, so I like the
grading mythology method Amit like, for example, like when I
hold up in bows like I would do, this is like a normal greeting
that we did. You know what I mean?
Like, I feel like this is, oh, man.
You know what? I never noticed.
There's a library card thing in the back of the hippos book.
I love this. Oh, cool.
Yeah, but I feel like this, this kind of book is big enough to do
something like that. I feel like with books like this
even though it's like 40-something Pages, a lot, like
we said, a lot of it is like guidance, you know, as much as
it is a game so is Ian's and one of the things we got the
year-end review, a lot of people liked it, a lot of people like
understood it and really enjoyed it but a lot of it was just well
why don't you grade the ziens? Because we had a picture of like
a lot of disease we went over there seriously.
Like what? Like 16 17 genes?
We transition regarding the second half of the year we
transitioned? Really hard in the just like the
just hang out ziens. You know, we kind of got to a
point where both like, Hey listen, our lives are both
really busy. We don't want to do this for
three hours all the time. Let's do something slightly
shorter. Also a lot of our favorite
creators, do Zine size stuff like we kind of hit a lot of
games that are like 200 pages long and want to do something
different. So we again Australian because I
need to go to bed. Um, we had to figure out how you
want to grade. Yeah, we want a great things
like this, my quick spitball is Maybe Set of five squares, three
scores and do something more like system Vibe and something
like that. So look at least is kind of.
So what's in your we're seeing right now are watching this and
you have suggestions for what three or four aspects of ziens,
we should grade drop in the comments, maybe we'll still your
idea. We won't credit you but I do
feel like that means like at the end, they at the year-end
review. That means we can do you know
the five sets of five like we did the other things.
But we can do three sets of three, four for all this.
Jeans, we can pick the top three and Vibes.
The top three system, the top three, this is that, and then
that'll give people a little bit better recognition because I did
kind of feel bad because a lot of my favorite stuff was in the
unscored because they were just for whatever reason.
Like they weren't long enough. Like there was enough art to
because we felt like it would have been a disservice to
gradient. Something that's like 200 pages
long. You know, per usual man, I'm
just like, you know, I play bastards fucking weekly, you
know, like I have every everything that cannot forbade
the bass GM. I have all I've everything ends.
Like been graded. Yeah, there's not a single but
an art outside the front cover, you know, I mean, so it felt
like not that we didn't want to, but it just felt like it would
have been a disservice based on what we were doing at the time.
So we're going to tweak some stuff I think, like I said, the
bigger books were gonna keep the format we have because I feel
like we did get into a good Rhythm and Shiki bill will make
us the own. Yeah, so joyful and listen, hey
if you liked this you should go you should go watch our Stuff.
Anywhere else. Where a twitch.tv?
Yeah, / the adventure. Archive, you can find us at
Twitter, weekly underscore scroll, or on YouTube under the
adventure archive, as well, or at At the dot weekly.
Dot scroll, we just went over are in King's Dan tastic
Patchwork World 6th edition, which you can find digitally at
Aaron, King H to IO. And for some reason, it's easy
Rin, not because they're awful at branding.
Then the last thing we got for today is just a little, a little
preview of what the next episode until the next episode is, I
think I do is attend next, is the Monday Night episode No, it
is Sunday night. I asked because I almost caught
a new so Sunday night were actually talking with Goblin
archives and Josh, dumanskiy, that's what I mean.
We're talking about little whore, whore whore is kind of
blown up a lot of stuff. It has, is it should, it's
fucking bad-ass. So we really haven't done a lot
of horror games. No, super excited.
I'm super excited to talk to ya. Super excited.
Talk GA super excited to talk to Josh Szymanski.
Eight people, that'll be 6 p.m. PST because thank fucking God.
We finally got creators from the West.
Fucking cosas is my timezone, bitch, very excited for that.
So 6, p.m. Pacific 8 p.m. central Hunter
already gave you, all our socials, check us out, drop us
on Twitter or any any ideas you have for us for some Zine
grading and that's it. We'll see you Sunday night
Hunter. You are wonderful and beautiful.
You too, aye. Aye.