-
Putting Down the Sonic: Why I Sold Doctors & Daleks
There are books on my shelf that say something noble about my taste and discernment. Then there are the others. Doctors & Daleks belongs to the latter category: the sort of purchase that clearly involved a momentary lapse of judgment, a credit card, and the words “5E” and “Doctor Who” in unwise proximity. By the
-
After the War – Space Bears and Trauma (Review)
I’ve owned Apocalypse World and Mutant: Year Zero for ages and, like a true GM, never actually run either. I like the idea of post-apocalyptic survival, but when I sit down to prep, my brain quietly puts on a trench coat and leaves the scene. So I picked up After the War, hoping its “rebuilding
-
Dragonbane – The Secret of the Dragon Emperor #1
The Dragon Emperor is dead. In the Misty Vale, a forgotten corner of a broken realm, ancient powers begin to shift. Ruins groan in the earth. Shadows move in the pine-thick forests. Villagers speak of monsters in the hills and strange lights in the sky. Something old is waking. Four adventurers have come via the
-
FiveEvil – A Quick Review, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Fear 5E Again
Every so often I am reminded that Past Me cannot be trusted with a Kickstarter account. At some point he apparently thought, “You know what you need, as a person who has deliberately drifted away from 5E? A 5E horror game.” And then, months later, a perfectly handsome PDF arrived and Present Me had to
-
Conan the Hyborean Age – Quick Review
My take on Conan: The Hyborian Age (Monolith 2025), read alongside the old Modiphius Conan 2d20 and your usual S&S suspects (Barbarians of Lemuria, Crypts & Things, Swords Against the Shroud, Sharp Swords & Sinister Spells). The core engine is simpler than 2d20, spicier than BoL.Monolith Conan is: pick a Stat (Might, Edge, Wits, Grit),
-
Warhammer: The Old World Roleplaying Game – Quick Review
Here’s my “first-impressions” review of Warhammer: The Old World Roleplaying Game, taking it on its own terms and then comparing it to my current fantasy standbys. The engine is clean and decisive (dice-pool, target-under). You build a pool of d10s equal to a Characteristic (typically 2–6), roll them, then each die ≤ your relevant Skill
-
ALIEN: Evolved Edition – Quick Review
My take on ALIEN RPG: Evolved Edition (having enjoyed 1e’s cinematic one-shots but bounced off it in preference for Mothership). The engine is familiar with nicer knobs. It’s still Year Zero: d6 pools, 6s are successes, push to reroll and gain Stress; Stress dice can trigger Panic. That core “do a scary thing → roll
-
Cold City 2e – Quick Read Review
I had a quick read of this last night so these are just first impressions. (ed’s note: this was originally posted on my Discord) The engine is punchy, narrative-first. It’s d10 dice-pool vs. dice-pool. Both sides roll; whoever has the higher single die wins. Your “successes” are every die above the opponent’s highest die (ties
-
Delta Green Quickstart – First Impressions
My take on Delta Green: Need to Know (the free Quickstart), as a CoC7-first GM who likes Trail’s clue ethos and isn’t into heavy metacurrencies. The engine works for me. It’s classic roll-under percentile with familiar BRP stats/skills, so the table friction is about the same as CoC7. Checks are clean, sample damage is intuitive
-
London Calling: The Professor’s Grimoire
The Murder at Room B7 – March 5th, 2024 On a rain-slicked night in Bloomsbury, the characters respond to an urgent, cryptic message from Professor Evelyn Drake of University College London, “It’s waking. We need to stop it.” Each of them arrives at the Senate House Library to find her already dead, slumped at her
