https://srasu.org/categories/roleplaying-games/ Recent content in roleplaying-games on Thoughts by srasu Hugo -- gohugo.io en-us Mon, 13 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://srasu.org/posts/mechanics-imply-flavor/ Mon, 13 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://srasu.org/posts/mechanics-imply-flavor/ When playing a tabletop roleplaying game, you can broadly split the parts of the game that we interact with into two broad categories: mechanics, and flavor. Mechanics are the fiddly bits that we deal with on our character sheets, the numbers, which dice we roll, when we roll them, how we engage with the GM and the game. Flavor is the fiction, it’s what we envision in our heads as we play, and it’s the setting, genre, and tone that builds the worlds we inhabit. https://srasu.org/posts/ivan-ilversmith-protections/ Sat, 10 May 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://srasu.org/posts/ivan-ilversmith-protections/ This is the first post in a new series, following Ivan Ilversmith, a Magus of the Order of Hermes, a clandestine order of wizards in 13th century Europe from the setting of Ars Magica. Each post will include a number of custom spells invented by me and members of the Ars Magica community on some theme and shared in-character as a folio of these spells to be copied and shared across the Order. https://srasu.org/posts/bottom-up-tabletop-prep/ Mon, 21 Oct 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://srasu.org/posts/bottom-up-tabletop-prep/ I’ve been GMing for years in various systems, and I’ve been subject to burnout, I’ve lost campaigns as session after session gets canceled until the whole thing just collapses in on itself, I’ve given up on GMing for years at a time, and I’ve come back to it again, only to run against the same frustrations time and again. This time though, I’ve come out on top, at least for now, and it’s been because I’ve adopted a different philosophy towards my games. https://srasu.org/posts/gurps-lockpicking/ Wed, 07 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://srasu.org/posts/gurps-lockpicking/ I like lockpicking. I think it’s an interesting task that provides a great opportunity for rogue-types to provide benefits to the party in terms of stealth, safety in the case of traps, and it just fits really well into the fiction. I love the image I have in my head of the rogue frantically trying to pick open the lock to the study in a manor while the rest of the party tries to distract the guards around the corner during the masquerade ball, each second that the rogue takes increasing the chance of discovery. https://srasu.org/posts/mechanics-vs-fiction/ Fri, 21 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://srasu.org/posts/mechanics-vs-fiction/ There’s an assumption that I see in a lot of discussions by roleplayers in various places, especially in OSR-types, or people who prefer games with fewer mechanics. This assumption is that mechanics exist in opposition to the fiction, rather than in service to it. And I think that this assumption isn’t exactly a bad one, but is more something that doesn’t have to be true, even though it is for many people. https://srasu.org/posts/woin-new-gm-tips/ Wed, 12 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://srasu.org/posts/woin-new-gm-tips/ I’ve been GMing What’s OLD is NEW for a while, about 5 years at time of writing, and I came to it from a background of playing and GMing the world’s most popular fantasy TTRPG, the one with the dragons and the dungeons and stuff. If you are also coming from there, or perhaps any number of other TTRPGs, I think you might find this article useful, as it compiles my learnings from my last 5 years GMing WOiN into the things I wish I had known when I started out. https://srasu.org/posts/woin-homebrew-grenades/ Fri, 02 Feb 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://srasu.org/posts/woin-homebrew-grenades/ I’ve been GMing games of WOiN for probably about 5 years now, and I’ve been drooling over the game since I saw its Kickstarter go live way back in 2015. It’s my favorite tabletop roleplaying game, bar none, and it’s not even close. WOiN is far from a perfect game though. It has a number of idiosyncrasies that are results of the fact that the game is an indie game and didn’t have a line editor or a final pass before release to ensure that all the wording was consistent, or that every rule was accurately reflected across all three genre books. https://srasu.org/posts/news-feeds/ Wed, 23 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://srasu.org/posts/news-feeds/ Update November 14th, 2023: News Feeds has been published in Mythic Magazine Volume 35! You can find it on DriveThruRPG. Huge thanks to Tana Pigeon, working with her on getting the completed version of this system there. While the rules and inline examples remain the same, the article published in Mythic Magazine includes a big example showing how all these rules come together, as well as a beautiful worksheet for keeping your News Feeds organized.