Troy Press

We started a campaign using the second edition of Apocalypse World. At the end of July 2024, Vincent Baker announced a beta of AW: Burned Over 2024 for his Patreon subscribers. We began using the reworded basic moves where we could. It took quite a few months before I managed to get three of my players to convert their playbooks.

Filk music (the folk music of science-fiction and fantasy fandom) is much less mainstream than rock songs with science-fiction themes (sometimes called found filk). Unlike my Top 15 Filk & Geek Rock Songs, which is based on listening stats from streaming services, for this “best of” list I asked U.S. adults in an omnibus survey to name one to three songs.

Most GMs like to prepare those specific aspects of NPCs that are important to them: names, drives/instincts, loyalty, connections, attitude, voice, media models, appearance, faces, actions / GM moves, and system-specific detail.

Reflections on PbtA Design is a collection of my past blog posts that discuss different facets of PbtA games—from their core principles to specific implementations across various genres and settings. It also includes plenty of new material. Whether you want to design your own PbtA game, get a broad view of how different PbtA games handle things, or read reviews about other games, this is the ebook for you. Bonus: All the sections I wrote are now licensed under the Creative Commons.

The original sin of Kemeny and Kurtz when they designed BASIC in 1963 was not in fact their inclusion of the GOTO statement but their failure to embrace structured programming. While a relatively new concept, having emerged in the late 1950s, structured programming was already familiar to Kurtz, who had implemented an ALGOL 58 and then ALGOL 60 compiler called Dartmouth ALGOL 30.

We asked over 1,000 U.S. adults what tabletop games they had played last year, “in real life, not on an electronic device.” The most played board games were Monopoly (37% had played), Checkers (25%), and Chess (24%). The most played card games were Solitaire (32% had played), Uno (29%) and Blackjack (25%).

What we know about Dungeon World’s upcoming second edition: 1) Luke Crane, the publisher, bought the rights from the two authors, so that he could hire new designers. 2) Helena Real, author of Against the Odds, and Spencer Moore, author of Chasing Adventure, will design this edition. 3) They are looking for feedback and contributions. 4) To stay updated, you can share your email or join the Dungeon World+ Discord.

Our most popular posts center on fantasy PbtA TTRPGs, card games, and Star Trek watchlists. Less popular are articles about interactive fiction, BASIC, and conlangs.

If you were invited to a beer-and-pretzels game night, but you’re the designated driver, here are my favorite “non-alcoholic” beers to consider, though technically some of these do have up to 0.5 alcohol by volume (ABV). Or perhaps you’re thinking of abstaining or limiting your alcohol consumption.

Many PbtA games have a core set of moves that the GM is to make during play. Apocalypse World has five additional modules of threat moves. Subsequent games by other authors extended this modularization of GM moves. For instance, Dungeon World added threat moves for over 100 monsters, and Masks added playbook-specific GM moves.

I’ve been looking for some high-crunch PbtA games for my players. Crunch is derived from number crunching and, in the context of tabletop RPGs, refers to the added steps required by more extensive mechanics. Some examples specific to PbtA systems: almost no rules, more moves, more variables.

Here are the top 10 episodes of Voyager, based on IMDB user ratings but rearranged in chronological order, as I’ve done with other series. However, you may want to start with the pilot (“Caretaker”) for its introduction of the premise and characters, even though it is ranked #73 of 172 episodes (rating 7.4).

“When Gandalf & Thorin’s Company overcame the stone trolls, they found in their lair two great elven blades: Orcrist the Goblin Cleaver & Glamdring the Foe-Hammer. I don’t know if they’re +1 or +2, but I do know I’d much rather have something called ‘The Foe-Hammer’ than a +2 longsword. On top of the names, they have a history (like everything in Tolkien). Glamdring was wielded by Turgon, the elven King of Gondolin, during the First Age.” – PTFO