Adept Play
Adept Play
Category: Preparing for play
These concern procedures and interactions before play begins, or, by contrast, when they are distinctively absent.
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Let Them Explore
Finally Getting to Play I finally got to reading the Dumarest of Terra series and saw the world behind the rules that I had known since 1980 or so. Traveller was a game I had read but had never played, aside from an unsatisfying “explore the strange alien monument” scenario that came with the box…
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Sorcery is hard!
After my first “Sorcerer” campaign last year I fall in love with the game and run a short 3-session mini campaign between February and March. I must say I learned a lot during this second campaign but we had two sessions zero and only three sessions due to lack of enthusiasm to continue using the…
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4e Dark Sun at Airecon
I tried running 4e as a one shot again, this time in person at a local convention. I should really know better. Previously I ran an online one-shot with mixed results. But I feel I learnt some things, and have some thoughts about what I might do differently if only try running 4e d&d at…
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More Rolemaster Talk
I first posted this video as a reply at https://adeptplay.com/2021/01/21/rolemaster-reminiscing/ — at Ron’s suggestion, I’m breaking it out into its own post. I talk with Jon and Noah about our Rolemaster campaign from last year, and we discuss preparation, play, mechanics and more:
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The architecture in this town
When we played the first session of Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set/Expert Set (1981, styled “B/X”), I didn’t present any. I had gravitated to northeastern Africa via the dungeon map I wanted to use, which in turn affected my monster picks (crocodiles, baboons), but there wasn’t any context or presentation in play about it. I…
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Workshop: Investigating Investigation
Done and available! The workshop addresses investigation (detective, mystery) at a deeper level than merely technique or entertainment qualities, well beyond anything I’ve presented in the past. The topics include fiction and puzzle media, the diverse functionality of what can and cannot be done, the diverse origin of backstory, the diverse distribution of knowledge, and…
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A Few Sessions Later in the Shadow of the Shining Lords
General Catch-up and Oh Wow We’re a Party Now The game described in this post has made it through to the fifth two-hour session, playing about once a month or so. One of the four players mentioned above never ended up showing up for the next couple games, and when I came to an understanding…
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Love Songs of the Death Goddess
At Big Bad Con this year, I ran a session of The Black Sword Hack. The Black Sword Hack is a heavily Moorcock influenced game branched off The Black Hack which is an OSR game that claims to branch off the original 1974 version of D&D. But like all OSR things, The Black Hack is…
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Ripping Off Tolkien and Other Secrets of My Success
Sean, Erik, and I have just finished up playing some Dungeons & Dragons using the 1977 Holmes Basic Set rulebook. We started playing at the beginning of December 2023, and played 19 sessions (about 2 a month). We played over Discord, for about 2 hours per session, using no extra technology: I drew maps and…