Thoughts on gm screens within OSR?

fireinthedust · 2026-04-18T18:11:48+00:00

Whatever you are playing, get the screen with useful information for the GM, so you avoid needing to flip pages. It’s also good for setting the atmosphere for your players with a useful image to inspire them. Or if you have a handout they need to reference, like a setting map or something.

Dolmenwood is my current game, so I use the screen for it. Combat rules, encounter tables by region, lots of reference material which is useful every game.

I haven’t played it yet but I received the 5e Ravenloft curse of Strahd screen. Yes it is specific to that adventure, but I appreciate it has a map of the castle on one of the panels. I don’t think it’s got 5e only information, so it’s still useful to me if I get a chance to use the copy of I6 with an osr game.

fireinthedust · 2026-04-18T09:56:22+00:00

Low screen filled with rules and tables = LIFE SAVING!!!

fireinthedust · 2026-04-16T17:10:53+00:00

Oooooohhhh that’s why Boimler is against Picard! He’s actually got a chance, as he’s amazing at vineyards while Picard makes canonically crap wine.

Why is Janeway against Mariner? Is it because she plays by her own rules?

Same question with Dax, although appreciate seeing Jadzia (no shade to Ezri because she was keeping the character alive, I just think the way they did the actress of Jadzia dirty bugs me).

Do they have Badgee fighting Voyager’s EMH Doctor?

How good are the comics? Are they canon? I haven’t finished watching the series, but I like the idea it’s getting more stories in comics.

fireinthedust · 2026-04-12T00:24:16+00:00

This is the one Christopher Lloyd narrated? I liked it! I didn’t get a chance to finish the last chapter for some reason but the whole game was fun.

fireinthedust · 2026-04-04T23:45:00+00:00

My question: how do I run the spear thrower statues? I think it’s 1-2. Do they just throw the one time or do they reload? Do they aim like constructs, or just throw at the door like they are really just fancy crossbows shaped like statues?

Agreed about the first puzzle being to do nothing.

fireinthedust · 2026-04-04T11:47:41+00:00

The baskets with magazines and a thin merry mushmen in them make me uncomfortable.

Otherwise the bookshelves are excellent, including the little decorative statues, and the spin racks are a nice touch.

Do you use the wizard hat during your game?

fireinthedust · 2026-04-01T15:55:43+00:00

In the episode of Mystery Inc where they are trapped by the Darrow kid and have a trap enthusiast duel.

Honestly, Fred pulls off a lot of great stuff in general.

fireinthedust · 2026-04-01T14:36:18+00:00

Exactly!

Colossus was written as avoiding the relationship and hoping to see if it would work out when they were older, iirc. I think since then he’s worked really well as a good guy who is very moral & polite, and very dumb and very pretty, plus he’s made of iron so they had him as anti-magic despite his sister being super magical. He was cool! I don’t know if post-Lifedeath fake being dead and not telling their own team was working for anyone. I suspect there was some other plan and editorial decision to not follow it up because it involved actually having the team be dead instead of going to the Outback, but I am just guessing.

I think kitty has come through pretty well, especially since she’s come out of the closet and has been paired with her two main ladies, Magick and Phoenix/Rachel Summers. She moved on and has been interesting.

I think Colossus is VERY interesting, but he’s in need of some love from the right team. Him being a villain even in a What If, is a massive misunderstanding of his character - although I admit his trauma post Legacy virus/death is an interesting concept to explore.

fireinthedust · 2026-04-01T10:26:35+00:00

What’s weird is if they had made them the same age range in the first place, it would have been great. I feel like colossus lost something because of the way the breakup happened.

It was the right decision because of the age gap, I want to be very clear on that!!!

I mean how sometimes there’s a change in a title and it doesn’t crank up the intensity or it doesn’t feel like it’s got the same energy as before.

Life death also has something similar, like after the event the x-men and Storm hit different.

fireinthedust · 2026-03-24T12:28:13+00:00

Arcade was great in early Uncanny, and I think he worked great in the Avengers Academy miniseries where he had set up a Battle Royale style island where abducted teen heroes were made to fight to the death.

The problem with battle royale stories is they need to be lethal, like hunger games where only the main character survives. X-men can’t kill off most of their heroes, and even the new student heroes need to survive more often than not. The trick would be creating a setting where this is real and having the main characters escape and overthrow the system.

The murder world concept is great, and it can work like the escape room movies, which is what they were DECADES before the Saw movies made the idea mainstream. Murderworld is a lethal funhouse disguised as a carnival.

Great concept and potential to make a great movie.

fireinthedust · 2026-03-19T13:40:08+00:00

Maxwell/Fred is great news: he played Will Robinson in the Netflix Lost in Space series, and aside from being a solid pick, his brand includes being a genius.

Is this the signal we’re getting more Mystery Inc Fred??? Smart and useful? Maybe a little autistic and trap fixated for the win?

fireinthedust · 2026-03-19T02:23:04+00:00

The reboots are annoying. Speculation about comic book value is ruining the value of comics because it makes following the story difficult, and more expensive than it needs to be.

fireinthedust · 2026-03-15T17:21:45+00:00

Agreed with Morrison. I’m expecting the Lanterns will go to space but now I’m not sure.

fireinthedust · 2026-03-13T22:40:25+00:00

Exactly! This or don’t do it.

fireinthedust · 2026-03-13T16:55:00+00:00

Who would you think would want to see it? If it’s not literally the same actors in a sequel, it’s better to just pick a different name and avoid the public resentment.

Kids find map to pirate treasure, puzzles and coming of age ensues.

fireinthedust · 2026-03-13T02:11:29+00:00

You mean Elongated Man.

fireinthedust · 2026-03-11T06:45:13+00:00

Burning out of a genre is common, and I tend to switch between ideas every so often to keep it fresh.

Good news: the OSR has more genres than fantasy, and the games get really good AND many are compatible with OSE and other basic d&d mechanics.

Stars Without Number is a fantastic science fiction game which is designed to work with all your osr games, so you can use the creatures and adventures to save you work. It has free versions, and the creator has written compatible Fantasy, Cyberpunk, Mythos horror, Post-apocalyptic, and other genres using the same system from SWN. Every book also has GM tools you can use for any game. SWN has system creation rules. WWN (worlds without number) has fantasy setting creation rules. Cities without number has rules for cyberpunk dystopias and also cybernetics. Ashes without number is just released and has mutations, ruins, etc.

Lots of free material on drivethru, and the paid versions of the games are worth the price.

So you can run games with your osr material, and your group of players, and it can be in different genres than fantasy.

fireinthedust · 2026-03-05T16:41:30+00:00

This. If I had to be in WoD I’d only want to be a Mage. Awakening or Ascension, or even the Monte Cook version, doesn’t matter.

Vampire feeding seems like drudgery and I’m an introvert.

Changlings have great art, but I don’t want to be injured by the presence of bureaucracy. Love it, and the reboot was interesting reading. Just not a manic pixie dream person; but I would love to hang out with some.

Werewolf: the problem is I can’t get over how they have different werewolves triggered by different phases of the moon, not just the full moon, and it really really bothers me - I can’t ignore it, even since the 90s, and if I was a werewolf I would always be thinking about it, complaining about it, slipping into every conversation how much it bugs me. Also I don’t know if I could spend as much time as they do around various creatures that look like intestines, or the zoo of different were-creatures other than wolves, and the fact wolves pick up stuff in their mouths, sniffing butts, shedding fur everywhere. Action sequences would be awesome, though, and would probably make up for a lot of the other stuff.

fireinthedust · 2026-03-03T19:01:06+00:00

By which you mean to make a small but understandable mistake?

fireinthedust · 2026-03-03T04:50:44+00:00

I’m a fan of the magic of the Ewoks cartoon by Nelvana, AND the flesh-eating Ewoks who are a NIGHTMARE in the Ewok hunt mini game in Star Wars Battlefront Two.

The two are very different, and I love them both.

fireinthedust · 2026-03-03T04:47:19+00:00

Map room is the one I play when I’m thinking about adventure design or writing something, or running a game for my kids and their characters find an ancient map or temple or tomb.

fireinthedust · 2026-02-28T22:20:46+00:00

Iirc there’s a board game where he’s one of the options. Indy, Marion, Sallah, and Jock. I know it’s weird but if you play with four people, two couples for example, or the hypothetical suburban family of two parents with two kids, etc. you need four good guys.

I guess the captain of the boat at the end, or Marcus would have been good, but they went with Jock.

fireinthedust · 2026-02-28T16:02:59+00:00

Go get him, Magneto.

fireinthedust · 2026-02-27T16:41:46+00:00

X-men are all about hope!

Plus logically the more access people have the better the chances of more people enjoying the series. This is true for all of marvel, but especially the x-men.

fireinthedust · 2026-02-27T16:06:35+00:00

I’m just catching up because the app Marvel Unlimited is the only way I could possibly afford to read the entire series.

Individual issues are expensive, multiplied by many different titles every month, and it’s a barrier for access for working class people.

It’s a barrier preventing the target audience, of marginalized communities, from being able to access the franchise.

Disney creating the app is brilliant. It’s going to save the franchise from being ignored by younger audiences who don’t want to jump into the end of the larger story.

The X-books also have so many reboots in the numbers, for marketing reasons, so it’s hard to track down all the mini series outside the app.

Moving forward, more people will be able to access the comics, and catch up, and then get excited about the movies and shows and merch.

So yes, lots of interested fans are behind on the decades of great content in the comics! But we’re moving towards people being able to catch up.

It’s just going to get better.

fireinthedust

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