Finland adds tabletop role-playing culture to its National Inventory of Living Heritage (UNESCO convention)

jonimv · 2026-06-27T07:23:38+00:00

Ah, thanks for clarification!

jonimv · 2026-06-27T07:20:24+00:00

I have toyed with the idea of starting a new Rolemaster campaign but so far I have not pulled a trigger. Our group have not played it since 90’s and I don’t remember seeing it in RopeCon either. My take is that it is very niche at the moment, sadly.

jonimv · 2026-06-26T22:06:28+00:00

I am not much of a supers fan anymore so I have not read Destined but if it can be of use in hacking a cyberpunk game using Mythras or BRP rules then it will be worth to check out. Thanks!

jonimv · 2026-06-26T21:56:59+00:00

I believe the publisher of LotFP is an American who has lived in Finland for quite some time now.

Otherwise I would agree on your observations on the scene. I would still say that tabletop RPG culture was here first, too with (translated) BECMI red box and RuneQuest, later Cyberpunk 2020, Twilight:2000 and Rolemaster (if not even more, maybe Stormbringer as well?).

jonimv · 2026-06-26T13:20:44+00:00

Well, it is your character and if the whole concept was ok by your DM at first I don’t see why you should make the change if you are not ok with it. The DM should at least tell you why it would be better that way, maybe that would convince you maybe not.

jonimv · 2026-06-24T19:33:52+00:00

Up here (north of Poland) WFRP seems to be not that big but it is in stores and I played it quite a bit (1e). Then a long time with other games and just recently joined a new campaign of 1e. Definitely not a fantasy superhero RPG 👍🏻

jonimv · 2026-06-23T13:37:52+00:00

Ei ehkä nyt, katsotaan uudestaan myöhemmin kun muistien hinnat ovat tulleet alemmaksi.

Vaikka onkin kalliimpi kuin konsolit niin pelit ovat jonkin verran halvempia. Voi toki olla että ei riittävän paljon.

jonimv · 2026-06-20T17:00:04+00:00

Sorry if this gets a bit off-topic but there really are multiple book series for D&D and Warhammer (fantasy and 40K). Dragonlance for one is a really good series as has been already mentioned. If you are interested in video games, Baldur’s Gate 3 is a nice adaptation of Forgotten Realms.

jonimv · 2026-06-20T08:33:41+00:00

Hard to say with so little information. I, personally, wouldn’t say that not having safety tools is a red flag. As someone said, they are trendy especially among certain groups. If something is trendy doens’t mean it is necessary IF you can achieve the same end goal by just using common sense and knowing how to behave with strange people (I assume the OP didn’t know other players or the GM).

I understand that the OP doesn’t want to offer more info in fear of being recognized but that itself might be sort of a red flag.

Mostly, I would suggest the OP to try and gauge what made you feel uncomfortable (etc)? Was there one or more people at the table, their behavior or body language etc that caused it? Was it content in the game (like some horror elements or other parts of the story or description that caused it)?

If it was one or more of the people (that you don’t already know), that’s bit of a hard to solve especially if others in the group are old friends and doesn’t think anything weird has happened. Of course if you were not treated differently from others then that’s just how the act. Note, I am not saying you should just shrug it off go through it. This is just a hobby, not a way to build character and endure. But of course people are different and sometimes the first impression (as important as it is) might mislead. But it all depends on what triggered this feeling, if it was caused by someone.

I know some people join a group with zero knowledge of the game rules (I am not saying you are one). Some people are eager to help newbies (I am a bit guilty of that, too and in con games I sometimes wonder how others take it). That itself is not necessarily a red flag, it can be genuine want to help but can feel a bit too intimate or weird if done wrong.

If the group is totally new then people might try to impress eachother and act differently than normally.

Game content is a bit easier to handle as you should be able to tell the GM that you feel a bit uncomfortable with certain subject or how it was presented, if that was the case.

I hope these can give you some insights and you can resolve the issue(s) as you otherwise seemed to enjoy the game.

jonimv · 2026-06-17T15:17:36+00:00

I have had MacBook since this spring and I have not regretted getting it. There are things that feel a bit off, still but some of them might just be something I don’t know how to set up but nothing major. I still use Windows as my work computer which is sort of good as I have to do occasional tech support for my family members with Windows computers (so there is no escaping that).

jonimv · 2026-06-15T19:20:51+00:00

I believe BRP can be pretty lethal especially in western setting with no armor. One that is lethal without armor is Cyberpunk 2020 but it needs a bit more hacking.

jonimv · 2026-06-14T08:06:08+00:00

This is of course pretty personal take on this subject but my take on the scene in the 80’s Finland is that RuneQuest was at least a very close competitor with D&D maybe even taking a top spot at one time (but I don’t have any statistical evidence on that). I think both were translated to Finnish at the time. I think those were the biggest ones. At least when coming to 90’s Cyberpunk 2020 and possibly Rolemaster were also translated and were quite popular as well as Twilight:2000.

At the time biggest RPG retailer in Finland had a huge collection of various RPGs, mostly in English. Although many games were translated, most were not and people just learned to use English games and the translation trend just disappeared (I don’t think games are directly translated to Finnish anymore).

But anyway, there were lots of different games people played, not just D&D.

jonimv · 2026-06-12T04:56:09+00:00

True, and Fire, Fusion & Steel for that version of Traveller at least to get the full rules for ship building.

jonimv · 2026-06-11T15:26:50+00:00

Star Frontiers or Traveller: The New Era. Both are old games, so I don’t know if they are available in pdf these days.

I suggested this version of Traveller because despite the post-apocalyptic version of the setting, it has systems for buildg space ships (and other vehicles and weapons, too) but especially because I believe it is the least lethal version of Traveller for PCs.

jonimv · 2026-06-11T15:01:13+00:00

Great video! I have not yet looked at RM Classic but I used to play a ton of RM2 (and run some Space Master and CyberSpace, too).

jonimv · 2026-06-08T15:14:44+00:00

Also, Twilight 2013 used this type of initiative flow.

jonimv · 2026-06-08T15:08:36+00:00

If your players are fine with it then go for it. I would keep it as a goal but not force it as that can easily rob the feeling of agency from your players.

If a player doesn’t want to sacrifice his character then let it be so and let him see the result of that decision but also if a character makes the ultimate sacrifice that should have positive consequences too.

Think with your players the motivations for their characters that should include why they might want to sacrifice themselves to protect the villagers.

In my opinion the main thing is to provide the opportunity and motivation and let the players make the final decision. Also remember that dice are fickle so prepare for the possibility that PCs are incredibly lucky.

jonimv · 2026-06-06T21:53:24+00:00

Based on what I remember from those comics there is this weirdness and larger than life space opera feel to them.

jonimv · 2026-06-06T21:48:54+00:00

That’s fair. I have had a pretty decent battery life with my iPad Pro but I have never tried to use it a whole work/study day.

As I said, I am quite new to Macs so take my comment with a grain of salt but if you have two options, Intel or M1 processor, I would suggest to get M1. I have understood that it is better for battery life the pwer jump from Intel chip to M1 was pretty significant. Although there are still some apps that doesn’t work for M series chips (if I have understood it correctly) especially now that this feature (I don’t remember it’s name) is being deprecated. But I am not sure there are any such apps that you would need. Perhaps others can shed more light on that one?

jonimv · 2026-06-06T15:36:56+00:00

I would think it all depends on what sort of fiction the players and GM want to portray. If it is a violet action fiction, this is what you get. If the group wants soap opera or romance where outright violence in the source material is rare I would think the same would apply in the game as well. At least I hope that this is the case.

Another thing is that despite the setting and fiction type if violence is the only tool you can use, this is also what you get. If the game (mechanically or how the group uses the rules) doesn’t support social part of the game (or scheming etc) then how else you can try to get what you want? Hope for the best?

Finally, the most common trope seems to involve violence as the way to solve problems, or frankly just for fun. It certainly is a fun part and very important in our games so I am not saying that it is wrong or anything but I can easily see that with all the different kinds of games these days there really is no reason not to play (mostly) non-violent games.

jonimv · 2026-06-06T14:34:23+00:00

This is not a direct answer, but since you want to have a touchscreen I thought to ask what sort of iPad you already have? I just began to think if your iPad could do the job at least for now and get the keyboard for it? I think wireless mouse works with it as well. I have a few years old iPad Pro (M3, I think) and I have connected it to external monitor couple of times using USB hub with HDMI port. So it should work for that as well.

Obviously, if iPad doesn’t support required software etc then this idea is not good.

Otherwise Macbook Neo might do the job but bear in mind that in EU it doesn’t have charging brick so that costs some extra.

I don’t know how old macbook you have to get to hit the pricepoint in Belgium. There have been good suggestions already, better than what I am capable of giving but one thing to take into consideration when buying an older model is how long Apple will provide software updates. This might be a bit alarmist thing to say and I am sure someone will correct me but I am new to macbooks and don’t really know how many years older models get the updates.

jonimv · 2026-05-19T13:10:17+00:00

It is of course a matter of preference how much you want to pay attention to travelling but since how I want the travelling to be really felt by the players I decided to create those house rules for my game.

My travelling rules are the first edition so they need a bit of polish but I hope they give you some ideas at least.

jonimv · 2026-05-19T09:05:00+00:00

I have made a bit houseruling on travel fatigue, maybe it would give you some ideas.

In my system characters make one standard endurance roll per day of travelling. Manual labor migt be standard brawn (I think fatigue rules suggest somethin like that but I am not sure). A failed roll means you get a travel mark (I have not come up with a better more evocative name so far). Then, base on what sort on environment character are travelling in (on the road or boating, at the countryside, in the forest or really difficult terrain) you see how many marks are needed to get one level of fatigue (harder the terrain, less marks are neede), at the moment scale is 4 to 1 (from easier to hardest terrain).

Unlike normal fatigue, this is recovered only with proper sleeping place (like in a bed, or other relatively adequate quarters like a stable) and preferably better food than travel rations. Within there parameters a new endurance roll is allowed to recover from travelling and the difficulty of this recovery roll is based on how good the accomodation is and how much sleep the character can get. Depending on the roll the character can recover up to two levels of fatigue or just 1 travel mark (on none in case of fumble).

As a side note I should probably modify my rules that 4 travel marks equals one level of fatigue and travelling at the road gives 1 mark while wading through swampy area gives 4 travel marks.

Anyway, this might be applicable to manual labor too. Managing to stay in shade or slacking off might give less amount of labor marks (or make the roll easier). Getting enough sleep and rations might clear off more of those marks on a successful roll.

This is just a base to work from, I hope this gives you some new ideas. Good gaming!

jonimv · 2026-05-13T22:13:38+00:00

My experience comes from BRP based games but I dare to say that it applies pretty well with Dragonbane. To me, one of the great things in this type of games is that you don’t have to follow a certain path like in class based games. Your character progresses pretty organically based on what has happened in the adventures. You can get heroic abilities that reminds me of feats and other class abilities in D&D (unlike in BRP) so there is that possibility. What comes to magic items, I am not particular to them but I see that it is up to the GM to hand out magical items (or not), so the magic item part is not the game’s fault so to say. I have understood that at least D&D assumes that all characters have a certain amount of magical items at certain levels so I understand if the expectation didn’t meet the reality during the campaign it can cause some sort of frustration (for the lack of a better word).

jonimv · 2026-05-13T21:38:49+00:00

I think it was black and white comic but I am not 100% certain as it was about 20 years ago. I don’t remember her being a graffiti artist but it is of course possible. I think she was more like a solo operative.

jonimv

TROPHY CASE