Simon Burley

He is brilliant in the BBC TV comedy series Count Arthur Strong where he appears to be going NOTHING. Also the BBC radio serial of over a decade ago Slipstream. WW2 UFO drama. Marvellous!

Elizabeth Picciuto@epicciuto.bsky.social

I’m obsessed with this guy, I love watching him in literally everything. If you have a favorite thing he’s in, tell me and I will watch.

Be an adversary when DESIGNING the adventure but don’t make it unsurvivable. Be a Referee when RUNNING the adventure but whenever in doubt be a fan of the PCs and - hopefully - the players.

Tab Creations@tabcreations.com

GM Tip: Be an adversary; makes things hard. But that said, be an ally too. Some games focus very hard on how to challenge the players, but they rarely mention how sometimes the world should give them a leg up too. #ttrpg #dnd #rpg #ttrpgCommunity #gaming

12h

In England we had “penny for the guy”. We’d (children) create a human effigy and demand money to celebrate burning a human being alive. Even though in actuality he’d been hung drawn and quartered. Trick or Treat is US nonsense and should not be entertained. IMHO.

Richard Littler@richardlittler.bsky.social

I don't recall ever going trick-or-treating when I was a kid (in the UK in the 1970s/80s). Getting dressed up and going door-to-door was more of an American thing, right? Or is this just me? #Halloween

Simon Burley reposted

Simons Mith

@simons-mith.bsky.social

13h

Replying to @squadronuk.bsky.social

My three tips are longer-term ones: 1. Whenever you write up a minor NPC, work on the assumption that they're going to be reused as a different character in future. Set up the NPC sheet so that it has space for multiple names, multiple locations and minor customisations, and with a 'notes' bit so

18h

Your last saved celebrity pic is your therapist. (Since none of you would be able to name any of these four I thought I’d get away with it - except for bloody Jeff Bridges!) 😉

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Brought tears to MY eyes. But I’d expect no less.

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I rarely repost minstrels and stuff. (Jealously as someone born with ten left fingers.) But THIS one…. I mean just LOOK at it! Work of art of what?

Dumb Robot Stuff @dumbrobotstuff.bsky.social

My new kitbashed tech priest

#TTRPGTHOUGHTS 1 How to instantly laminate your character sheets without a laminator. One of my approaches to these thoughts is to state “no shit sherlock” stuff in case maybe 1 in a 1000 hasn’t heard it yet and could benefits. I’ve refined my convention set-up in a number of ways. 1

9 As they play they use the dry wipe pens to record damage etc. No rubbing out or pencil marks. At the end of the session they can take out a pristine PC sheets to take home with them if they want. All the benefits of lamination with none of the costs. 9

10 (The up front cost of the plastic covers Is amortised across all the cons I attend.) Character sheets in plastic covers annotated by dry-wipe pens at conventions. Simple. No shit Sherlock. But it’s made my life a lot easier. Do have any “efforts-saving” tips? 10/fin.

7 ….that the dry-wipe pens work on the plastic folders. I know - no shit sherlock. Obvious, eh? Up until then I’d had to choose between printing PC sheets for cons for use & disposal or printing - mainly pregen - sheets & laminating them for re-use. Now what happens is the players arrive. 7

8 They pull out the PC sheets. Use the PC design sheet to fill it in. (I encourage them to use the biro I provide but most people still prefer to use a pencil. I provide those too.) They design their character (using the character design sheet). Then they slip it back into the plastic cover. 8

5 …enlarged them to A3, bought A3 plastic covers to slip them in & used those. It may have been practical but looked awful and cheap. (Is GH worth playing without decent figures & maps, discuss.) But for some reason I bought some A4 plastic covers and began using them to keep character sheets… 5

6 … and “character design sheets” in. (mMore about these on a future Tuesday.) I also had on the table dry wipe cards and pens from @allrolledup.bsky.social . I used them to make players keep track of damage they do to opponents because I’m a lazy GM. Then - quite by accident - I discovered… 6

3 (Just shut up and get on with it!) So maybe a weekly series? Every Tuesday? Today I’ll cover the simple trick that has made my life so much easier. I went to a convention. @paulbaldowski.bsky.social was respecting an old game with A3 character sheets. For some reason he protected them… 3

4 …in A3 plastic covers. I went to another convention where I mistakenly tried to resurrect the “Crossfire” scenario from the Golden Heroes rulebook. This was a mistake given all my figures and playmats were buried somewhere. But I photocopied the map=maps from the rulebook… 4

2 (Oh, he’s banging on about cons again!) Writing my book about con games, I was considering photographing what bits players encounter when they arrive at my table. But some are a bit advanced for a first con game. I consider doing a thread on here but it would be too long. 2

It’s a good day when a thread spawns well thought out and argued- with evidence - sub-thread.

Gaz@evilgaz.bsky.social

Hence the D&D 4e "is a skirmish game" mantra a lot of folk had, because that's what you had mechanics for. I have forever found it amusing that modern D&D was allegedly based on "three pillars" and one of those pillars took up half the rulebook and another one got a page if you were lucky. 2/x

Good response.

Elf Herself@elfherself.bsky.social

Many PbtA games don't have "combat" as such. Some (admittedly, weird ones) don't have "conflict resolution." If combat is intended to be a notable and important part of the game, it should have a chapter or section. If the game doesn't revolve around combat, it probably shouldn't.

#TTRPGTHOUGHTS 1 Should the rulebook contain separate rules for combats (or conflicts)? It’s Monday and on Monday’s I’m trying to remember to post about “should it be in the the rulebook”. Last week I forgot because I was very ill following my trip away - I suspect from the digs not the con. 1

10 - Do we NEED ConflIct Resolution rules in our #TTRPG or can we just cite some examples of our more general rules? I know “it depends” but give us YOUR preference. What should be in the Core Rulebook? Ps. Of course! A basic Conflict resolution system in the core rulebook with… 10

11 …a full combat supplement. Followed by a separate book of weapons. And detailed bestiary. Sorted! Sorry I even raised the matter. 11/fin

8 …these rules - here’s an example.” I THINK Chaosium’s Questworlds* takes this approach AIR, throwing in “you can choose to zoom in or zoom out on conflicts” into the bargain, but that’s a topic for another day. * You don’t come here for someone who is massively well-read. I read to play. 8

9 I don’t buy or read 100’s of games I have no intention of playing. Sorry. I’m sure you’ve got other examples. Please feel free to cite those. But for now: - Do we NEED a chapter on Combat or can we fold Combat into more general Conflict Resolution rules. Resolution 9

6 - which is a conflict in a British Pub (NOT the US-style Bar-room brawl) tries to point out that people can use the same rules to cover social, interpersonal and physical conflicts. PCs can just try ordering NPCs to sit down and behave themselves, give them a punch in the jaw… 6

7 …calm them down by engaging them in a sing-along etc. I’m not sure this approach works. I suspect 80% of “conflicts” devolve into “combat” and we mat be kidding ourselves otherwise. Other rulebooks just teach you how to play the game and say “incidentally, you can resolve conflicts using… 7

4 “Combat” is just one particular example of “ConflIct Resolution”. That’s the way I go in my “Code” game rulebooks. I write: - character creation - how to play the game (basically the skill checks/role-playing bits) - conflict resolution (one particular example of using skills checks). 4

5 We try to kid ourselves that combat is just one example of a wide variety of conflicts all covered by the same rules. The (it’s been coming for years - I know!) Starter Set for my forthcoming Code of Cthulhu game in the initial - inevitable - demonstration of a conflict in the first chapter - 5

2 So I forgot. Sorry. So, do we need a separate chapter on combat in the rulebook? I wonder what percentage of new rulebooks still do. Anything produced by young people raised on the D&D5.5 et al family, I suspect. D&D grew from a wargame. Combat has always been at the centre of its existence. 2

3 Role-playing grew out of it incidentally. As an outsider it seems to me that it still forms the larger part of most people’s D&D5.5 play sessions. But do we NEED combat in every TTRPG session. Do we need COMBAT at all? Some games (1990’s onwards?) go “fuzzy” and have ”conflict resolution”. 3

youtu.beUFO Theme Song（謎の円盤UFO） - Masa SumideYouTube video by SkinnyDogMusic

youtu.be/gjjOBVMYFNk?... I don’t know what to think about this. Virtuoso skills wasted on my childhood?

Me and the regular group who like my posts

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rpgs4all.blogspot.comRPGs4ALLTyneside Games Expo Saturday 17th and Sunday 18th October Gateshead Stadium - Newcastle 1. Why I Went I’d considered going to this event i...

#UKTTRPGCONS My report on Tyneside Games Expo. rpgs4all.blogspot.com/p/tyneside-g... A week late.

Simon Burley reposted

Neil Gow

@omnihedron.co.uk

Replying to @simons-mith.bsky.social

And there has traditionally been dogged resistance to any attempts to introduce a taxonomy to RPGs, over the years. And it would be soooo helpful

#TTRPGTHOUGHTS 1 How different can we get and still be the same hobby? And/or the forgiveness and fuzziness of the convention setting. Not really sure what I’m trying to say today but it’s been on my lists of thoughts for a while so I’ll get rid of it. I can run a #TTRPG game for a player. 1

6 But even discounting that, it’s possible to enjoy a massive range of different games within this hobby. (But as I said above, this isn’t all that special. Board Gamers do it all the time.) (But we can do it with the same players but widely different PCs, stories and systems.) 6

7 As I said I don’t really have a clear idea of what I’m saying this morning. And apologies to the eager beavers who try to follow my threads as soon as they appear. This was one of those mornings where my thread got split in two and I had to stitch it together again. Replies may be lost. 7/fin

4 (Look, I’m sorry, I try to cycle between designing, publishing, playing, refereeing and cons in my thoughts and realise I’ve been on cons a bit too much recently. You should have seen what I was PLANNING to post today. (Don’t worry, you will in a few days!)) I run games I enjoy running. 4

5 I try to play in games I think I’ll enjoy - or, at least, tolerate. If I find I’m signed up for a game where my little judgemental imp inside is giving me more than usual irritation, I can generally “fake it to make it” for the remaining 2 to 3 hours of a con game. Home games, less so. 5

2 The next day they can run a game for me. (Other players are present. I’m not a fan of Duet games. 2 players is my lower limit.) These games can be completely different, based on completely different ideologies and still both be great. (I’ve just realised the answer to my thought!) 2

3 (Board gamers switch from one board game to a completely different one without batting an eyelid. But is that an irrelevant thought because the aim of the hobby is different?) I think the reason I (who am leaning towards the crusty as I age) am able to tolerate this is because of cons. 3

Not fair, I’m British! We don’t do Number 12.

Forrest Aguirre@forrestaguirre.bsky.social

Mmmmmaybe . . . all of them? Some of them more than once? I'm not telling which one but it's number twelve.

howtorunttrpgsatcons.blogspot.comHow to run TTRPGs at conventions

#UKTTRPGCONS Here’s the first blog post on my new blog. It’s basically just a bunch of disclaimers stating it’s just my view point and your may vary. howtorunttrpgsatcons.blogspot.com

As get older I find there are things I can’t do. Fairground rides make me queasy. I can’t eat a whole portion of chip-shop fish & chips - even the smaller portions we get in Birmingham these days. Now I find I really don’t want to see #clayface. I remember going to see all the early Cronenberg…