Developing Narratactics, from It’s Always Sunny in Rome, to Zâr

I went to Fastaval this easter, and ran my scenario Zâr – a persian-inspired techno-mystical dreamwalking/exorcism scenario, for a good 70 or so people in total. It was a weird project I started last year as a prequel to Ahriman, a mecha-scenario heavily inspired by Neon Genesis Evangelion. It slowly morphed into something quite different,

What happens in the woods`? Three encounters for Root: The Tabletop Roleplaying Game

Sometimes things just naturally converge. I was considering what happens in the woods of the Woodland, painting idly with watercolour, and eventually I figured that my results could be images of how the denizens perceive the dangerous woods. So here are three encounters ready-to-use for your campaign. The Demon-Bird of the Old Thicket You would

Principles of building creative skill

After my musings on Root, I’ve been thinking a lot about why we categorize some games as beginner, and others intermediate, and I realized it bugged me quite a bit. I think it’s mainly the gatekeeping inherent in the phrase, and how often words such as “entry-level”, “beginner” and “newbie-friendly” have been used to separate

The State of the Woodland: Root RPG review part 3

I believe we are currently living through the onset of a golden age of the RPG hobby. It is really not many years ago that tabletop roleplaying games were fragmented in their design philosophies. Trad games, Indie games, Old School Renaissance, Nordic Larp, Danish Fastaval scenarios, were all pretty much their own thing – players

A ruinous absence: Root RPG review part 2

Before you go on, read my first impressions here. Otherwise it might look like I’m savaging the game, which I’m really not. A part three will follow soon, where I talk more broadly about intersections in TRPG philosophies, and how they relate to Root. Into the woods? In the section called “What is the Woodland?”

Game Fragmentation

I recently had a great playtest. Not great in that it went amazingly well, but great due to the fact that it cleared my mind, and I realized that what I thought was one game, was in fact two quite different games. So, Soulhunters and the Age of Rust setting has now fragmented, and become