It’s time for another ready-to-run (ish) one-shot, this time for Ulysses Spiel’s remaster of frankly bonkers 90s multigenre pulp action TTRPG, TORG Eternity. Those of you unfamiliar with the utter gonzo-ness of this setting could do well to start with it’s wikipedia page, but in brief – invaders another dimensions take over the world, and change reality to reflect their own worlds. America become prehistory, Britain becomes D&D-ish fantasy, much of Asia becomes post-apocalyptic Tharkhold, etc etc.
Continue reading →Author / guyeatsfood
RPG Resurrection! – Games from my Past
We’re in a golden age for TTRPG releases – there’s so much out there, and something for everyone’s developing tastes. With kickstarter and other crowdfunders making it easier to get games out, it’s inevitable that someone like me who chases after the new shiny things will end up letting some games drop unjustly. Here are four of my games that were formative to me (most predate this blog) – and what I like about them. Should I get them back to the convention table, maybe in 2024? Let’s see…
Continue reading →The “How To” book the Hobby’s Been Waiting For – Review: So You Want to be a Game Master?
For a hobby with a lot of techniques and ideas to master, we’re terribly short of advice books. Aside from a wealth of excellent blogs, there’s really only the occasional book that looks at how to start GMing. The chapters in RPG books can be variable at best, and there’s a lot to the craft of GMing.
One of the best blogs out there for GM advice is The Alexandrian, and Justin Alexander has focussed a lot of his thoughts from there, and expanded on them, to release “So You Want to be a Game Master?” – a book focused on taking you right from the beginning of prep to running successful games.
Continue reading →The Clockwork Citadel – a one-shot for Fabula Ultima
I’ve been grooving on Fabula Ultima, a JRPG-style system with simple, flexible rules, since it released. As well as a nifty set of rules, it also has hands down the best quickstart I’ve ever seen, which takes players and GM through the rules, setting, and play culture of the game hand in hand and step by step.
Continue reading →Diceless Doom – Review: HUNT
From Spencer Campbell’s GILA RPG’s, home of the LUMEN system, comes HUNT – a diceless one-shot system of doomed beast-hunting knights. It’s a flavourful mix of shared narration and tactical combat, and well worth checking out if you want a one-shot narrative system to use at a convention or game night.
Continue reading →Guiding the Ironlands – how to run Ironsworn as a One-Shot
Ironsworn, Shawn Tomkin’s RPG of dark fantasy with solo, guided, and GMless modes, is one of the most exciting releases to the hobby in recent years. With its sci fi sequel, Starforged, now established it’s beginning to get some decent play on the convention circuit – and it plays really well with a GM (in ‘guided’ mode) as well. So here are some tips if you want to get it to the table.
Continue reading →The Fire In Men’s Hearts – a mystery for Vaesen
Vaesen: Spirits and Monsters of Mythic Ukraine is a fantastic, pay what you want, supplement for Vaesen that brings a wide range of Vaesen from Ukraine to the game. Illustrated by a selection of artists, it’s a good old fashioned bestiary. Each Vaesen has several plot hooks and ideas, and there’s a real range here.
After meeting Tasha and Oleg from Idea Roll over at The Kraken, at Unconventional GMs we recorded a mystery based on one of the Vaesen from the book, and here’s my (largely unedited) prep notes to run the mystery. The recording is over on the channel here – it comes in at just over 2 hours of play, although it could easily be a 3-4 hour game with a bit less pushing and pace. Over on the channel we’re trying to demonstrate how much you can pack into 2 hours – at your own table you may want to luxuriate a bit.
Continue reading →Bandits! Bandits! – an underrated low-level antagonist
Prepping a low-level fantasy adventure? Then you need to realise that the ultimate antagonists aren’t goblins, orcs, or kobolds – but bandits! Too often an extra in the TTRPG space, they can and should be the centre of your prep.
Continue reading →Chang’an Critter Carnival – a Ready-to-Run Feng Shui 2 One-Shot
Apologies for the slight delay in posts – in short, I got covid just as I started a new job. But normal service resumes! Here, a one-shot set in the Ancient juncture for Feng Shui 2 that was originally prepped to run for Robin Laws himself! (Sadly, his attendance at Kraken was prevented)
As before, I’ve presented this pretty much as-prepped – feedback earlier was that this sort of rough-and-ready style wasn’t a problem, and gave some insight into what prep notes could actually look like – so enjoy and let me know if you’d like more ‘official’ stuff instead.
Continue reading →Hit The YouTube!
Just a short update here, but I wanted to share some news that’s been teased for a while – Unconventional GMs has launched!
Unconventional GMs is a collaboration between me and Gaz from The Smart Party podcast, where we produce short, snappy one-shots showcasing some of the techniques we blog and/or talk about on our shows. Episodes are 2 hours long, with minimal editing, and have a rotating roster of players.
While you’re reading this, I should tell you about my Patreon. Patrons get access to content 7 days before they hit this site, the chance to request articles or content, and the chance to play in one-shot games, for a very reasonable backer level of £2 per month. If you like what you read, want to support the blog, and have the funds for it, please consider supporting here. Telling people about the blog, and sharing links/retweeting is much appreciated also – thanks!
So far we’ve released games of Ironsworn: Starforged and Candela Obscura (check out my blog post about the latter here), and the first part of a short campaign of Odyssey Aquatica, an Agon hack where you play oceanographic explorers. Sessions of Deathmatch Island, 13th Age Glorantha, Vaesen, and even D&D are scheduled for release – and if there’s anything you’d like to see us tackle, let us know in the comments or on twitter!
Release schedule is every two weeks, but we’ve put a few eps out first to give you all something to watch.
As well as this, both me and Gaz, and Ben (the other half of the smart party) led a seminar at The Kraken game convention in Germany last week, where we designed a scenario from audience prompts in an hour. Watch out for the actual scenario appearing on here soon!
Similarly, as a patron bonus, I’m going to start putting my convention notes for scenarios up on the Patreon – so if that’s something you’d like to see, be sure to join, as £2/$3 a month gets you access to not only these but access to blog posts 7 days early.
Burn After Running: RPG One-Shots 