Root's Ramblings Issue 16
Player Roles
I've been tweaking and implementing the concept of player roles so I can delegate some of the workload among the players and have them all contribute fairly in our group. This has been really helpful in setting up a collaborative culture in the groups I've GM'ed for so far. Also definitely beneficial toward preventing GM burnout during campaigns. I've seen some articles discussing about this concept and I'm sure some games already incorporated this type of play culture. Here is what I have so far:
Notetaker: Write notes about what happened during the session and share with the group in between sessions.
Recapper: Provide a recap of the previous session in the beginning of the current session.
Cartographer: Depending on the game but this could be anything from drawing a map of the dungeon to keep track of key locations in a list.
Quartermaster: Again, it depends on the game but usually is responsible for tracking relevant information for the group such as timekeeping (so my ADHD brain doesn't have to worry about losing track of time in session lol), objectives tracking, group items (in a cart or that sorts of stuff), hirelings tracking, etc.
Keep in mind those roles are not set in stone and I do adjust the roles based on the group dynamics and type of game I run for the said group. I've had a group where two players co-write notes and review together to cover any gaps that may appear in their notes, and a player doing cartographer and recapper just because they really love to draw and enjoy giving recaps. The most important thing is to have a conversation with the group in the beginning (usually session zero) to set up the roles and decide collectively what those roles look like and how they work.
THICKET OF AINE
I've released my new pamphlet adventure, Thicket of Aine, inspired by the Irish folklore of Aine. It is designed for Into the Wyrd and Wild by Feral Indie Studio, but can be adapted for any OSR game.
I had a lot of fun designing this adventure using the hex generating procedure in Into the Wyrd and Wild and working within the constraints of a tri-fold pamphlet layout. The story of Aine is kind of sad and I wanted to design the adventure with opportunity for Aine to have different potential endings compared to what happened in the original story. If you ever want to look into the story then you should be aware there are some mentions of sexual violence. I left that out of the adventure because I feel it's entirely up to the group if they're comfortable including that or not. The story can be created without that type of content with no problem so I don't see the need to include it.
The PDF is available at my itch store and I'm considering ordering some in print if there is enough interest. If you are interested, then please let me know!
Hall of the Blood King Campaign Wrap Up
My group wrapped up the campaign earlier in the summer and boy they went out with a bang! We've really enjoyed that module due to how well it is designed. A vampire lord run mansion as a dungeon? Can't go wrong with that! I think we spent something like 13 sessions (2-3 hours) in total with this campaign. I don't want to post any spoilers but I would highly recommend this module if you are looking for something different than your standard dungeon crawl adventure, especially if you want to include vampires! I also really like how the vampires were designed in this module and trust me... they're not your stereotypical vampires.
Actually, just ignore everything I said above and just look at the cover art! Fucking gorgeous!
https://necroticgnome.com/products/halls-of-the-blood-king
What's Next?
I'm working on setting up an in-person group for a Mothership 1E campaign and will be co-Warden with another person. We are using bits of A Pound of Flesh to set up a space station as a base and we will dive in the lovely Hull Breach anthology book and run adventures off it. This will be my first Mothership campaign I've run in-person, so I'm looking forward to kick off soon!
I'm also prepping for a session zero for an online group playing Legacy 2E using The Engine of Life supplemental book. I'm a huge fan of Legacy 2E and haven't run the game in awhile, so I've decided to set up a group to try out the supplemental book I haven't used yet. Gotta get some of the books off my shelf of shame! I'm really excited for this one as this group of players have a lot of potential for great storytelling.
SEEN ON THE VOID'S EDGE by ChrisAir
A nice short zine of bestiary but for player-facing, so you can throw this on the table for the players to take a look and maybe even freak out over an especially creepy monster like Thumbhead... trust me it's weirder than you think. Done in old school DIY collage style which is super fitting for Mothership.
If you like to design games or just being creative then you might like this free font by GGBot. They've posted tons of font for free/PWYW on itch so definitely check out their font collection!
Tiny Tails: Rolling Coast by ManaDawn Tabletop Games
The moment I saw this in my inbox, I became so hyped I've bought it immediately. I"m a big Mausritter fan and am currently running a in-person campaign. So much fun! I am also a big fan of Matthew Morris and his Bernpyle stuff is just fantastic. I already saw an adventure from this package that would be a great fit for my current campaign. Can't wait to use it!
