Setting First

[settingfirst]

One of the most impressive things about Symbaroum from Free League is the consistency of the art and visual design. There are very few games of this scope (it's very well supported) that even come close to pulling off this degree of visual mood-building.

[dungeonmastersdiary]

Everyone has played vampire at this point right?

[settingfirst]

Cthulhu isn't the only horror game in town, and the Great Depression is quite the setting for getting freaked out.

[settingfirst]

Yes, You Can Limit Player Character Options

As a game master, it's OK to reduce player agency. It can lead to some amazing tabletop roleplaying experiences – you just have to do it the

[settingfirst]

https://basicroleplaying.org/topic/26847-chaosium-con-uk-rq-panel/page/2/#findComment-416549

RuneQuest fans, here's the latest from the Chaosium folks about what's coming for RuneQuest, with an emphasis on the updated core rulebook.

[settingfirst]

Setting First

Verisimilitude in tabletop roleplaying games, with an emphasis on in-person campaign play

The new version of Setting First is live on Ghost.org! If you're into games like RuneQuest, Delta Green, Degenesis, Eclipse Phase, Lex Arcana, and Symbaroum, please do check it out.

[settingfirst]

It is possible to find the right people, find the right game, and run a tabletop RPG campaign. Take it for someone who's been doing it for years. Here are some tips on how you can make it happen.

[settingfirst]

Some people who got their start in tabletop roleplaying by way of D&D are under the impression that there's D&D, Pathfinder, and a lot of little indie games that aren't very well-supported.

But Lex Arcana, Eclipse Phase, and RuneQuest are just three of many examples of well-supported games that really build out setting and provide the game master with plenty of material for not just running published adventures, but creating their own.

[settingfirst]

There's tabletop RPG art, then there's the art of Degenesis.

[settingfirst]

The RuneQuest Starter Set is again on sale for the absurdly low price of $20. If you've ever wondered what all the fuss is about with RuneQuest, take the blessings of Issaries and snag it.

[settingfirst]

Nobody ever has enough time, and getting a group together is hard. But it can be done. For me, the most important thing was taking a hard look at how much time was mine to control, and how I used that time.

[settingfirst]

A new RuneQuest adventure is always cause for celebration, and this one can be played with the starter set rules. Check it out.

[settingfirst]

Really, don't dismiss due to differences with D&D. Outstanding outlawry is on offer.

[settingfirst]

If the Session 0 book for Folklore Americana is any indicator, the core book is going to be excellent. Patiently waiting for its arrival.

[settingfirst]

Who needs a wooden spoon when you can have leeches?

From session 0 tonight of our The Hooded Man campaign

[play-genesys]

Embrace the Weird Dice

Your rogue just described the sneaking up on some hapless guard with the nastiest angle, so the GM calls for a roll. The dice hit the table, and…”you fail. Next turn.” You know that moment. Everyone’s leaning in, but the tension dies.

I hate that moment. I’ve hated it for years. When your goal is to tell a story, that moment is a failure of design, not a gameplay feature.

A lot of games reduce uncertainty to a single axis. You succeed or you fail, and everything else is window dressing. The dice answer one question, then politely exit the scene. If you want complications or momentum, you have to invent them after the fact.

Some people are naturals at this, and others learn to improvise; but many find it nerve-wracking to come up with consequences on the fly. You have to narrate complications that the system covers through obscure subsystems or hard-to-find tables, while simultaneously trying to keep scenes alive when the player just shrugged and said “I missed.”

Genesys bridges the gap between improv and structure with its weird dice and their arcane symbols.

Every roll in Genesys is a skill check. When you make a check, you’re not just learning whether your character did the thing they set out to do. You learn what it cost, what it revealed, or what else it set in motion. The dice answer two questions at once, and both answers matter.

You don’t roll to attack, then roll for damage, then ask your target to roll a save. You roll once and the dice tell you everything: success, failure, complications, opportunities. One roll. One resolution. The character acted, and now the table knows what happened.

The system will not let you waste a roll. Every die result is intended to push the story somewhere new.

The dice track success and failure separately from Advantage and Threat. That simple separation changes everything. You can succeed and complicate your life. You can fail and discover something useful. The roll opens the scene to new possibilities.

The narrative dice change the table’s dynamic. The GM doesn’t need to invent complications on the fly—the dice generate them! Players don’t sit back waiting to hear if they succeed, they’re already looking at the pool and thinking about what could go wrong or what advantage they might seize. The game expressly invests narrative power in all players, not just the GM. The uncertainty isn’t just “did I succeed?” It’s “what kind of success or failure is this?” That question keeps everyone engaged, even when the roll doesn’t go the way they hoped.

Imagine a classic heist moment. A character tries to bypass a security door under pressure.

Success with Threat? The lock opens, but the panel sparks and the security system clocks the intrusion. Failure with Advantage? The door stays shut, but while working the panel, the character spots a maintenance tunnel the blueprints never mentioned.

If a roll doesn’t have the capacity to change the scene, Genesys tells you not to roll in the first place. The weird dice just empower you to make every roll matter.

[atomic-chronoscaph]

Starwatcher - art by Moebius (1993)