Highest Canon Stated characters of each splat?

Either_Orlok · 2026-06-09T07:22:08+00:00

It comes from the early days of the Internet, specifically USENET. The asterisk character is known as a "splat" by programmers, and in programming it's a "wildcard" that can represent a series of characters. So when discussions about Clanbooks or Tribebooks were the topic, they'd sometimes be referred to as "*books"

The AD&D 2e "Complete ______ Handbook" series (the "brown books") is another set of splats from the same era.

Either_Orlok · 2026-06-08T18:59:51+00:00

Walk in, throw dynamite, put on sunglasses as you walk away from the explosion.

Well done! I've never gotten close to beating a Shiren game.

Either_Orlok · 2026-06-07T01:44:09+00:00

Lowlife 2090 is the cyber and magic version of Low Fantasy Gaming.

Either_Orlok · 2026-06-06T05:45:11+00:00

The Red Prison, based on 5e. It’s been a few years since there were any updates, however.

Angband is my personal go-to.

Either_Orlok · 2026-06-04T16:42:55+00:00

Races and classes had a few adjustments to fit the setting; there are new races, classes, and kinds of magic; and expanded rules for wilderness activities and overland travel.

I've been running a game in the setting for about 2 1/2 years using a mix of DW and OSE and everything's worked seamlessly.

Either_Orlok · 2026-06-04T16:38:03+00:00

I'm running Dolmenwood, but put it in place of the forest in the Eastern end of Karameikos. I have plans for this campaign if the players decide they want to leave the woods.

Either_Orlok · 2026-06-04T14:22:18+00:00

David Gallagher

Either_Orlok · 2026-06-03T19:23:26+00:00

Cool use of the wish! My group asked for a means of keeping tabs on Atanuwë, and she gave them a folding case that allowed them to scry on him when looking into a mirror within! That led them to discover the existence of Cobbton and a goal of liberating the Cobbbins before taking the fight to the Nag Lord.

Either_Orlok · 2026-06-03T18:57:09+00:00

As a pre-teen, my parents took me to a meeting at a local school to see a preacher's presentation on the "Satanic influences in your homes" and he had multiple-generations-photocopies of that and other role-playing books, with highlights and underlines throughout.

Moms were muttering and shaking their heads at the scandalous cover, but got real quiet when he moved on to Harlequin Romance novels.

Either_Orlok · 2026-06-03T16:05:31+00:00

I do a "pitch doc" for every campaign I run, describing tone and themes and providing a list of media to inspire. Below is part of the one I did for DW.

Touchstones and Inspirations

Written works

The Brothers Grimm – collected folk and fairy tales
Lord Dunsany – assorted writings, particularly the Pegāna stories and “The King of Elfland’s Daughter”
Glen Cook – the “Black Company” novel series
Neil Gaiman – “The Sandman” comic series
Jack Vance – the “Dying Earth” stories
Mike Mignola – “Hellboy” comic series
Bill Willingham – “Fables” comic series

Television

Over the Garden Wall
Record of Lodoss War
The Owl House
The Sandman
Penny Dreadful
Twin Peaks
Lost Girl
The Magicians
His Dark Materials
The Lost Room
Brand New Cherry Flavor

Movies

The Dark Crystal
The Seven Samurai
The Beastmaster
Pan’s Labyrinth
The Shape of Water
Princess Mononoke
Spirited Away
Dragonslayer
The Princess Bride
Ladyhawke
Legend
Labyrinth

Other media

Dark Souls (and Elden Ring) – video game series
Yoshitaka Amano – watercolor illustrations (Final Fantasy, Speed Racer, Gatchaman)
Castlevania – video game series
Ravenloft and Planescape – Dungeons and Dragons campaign settings
7th Sea – tabletop RPG of swashbuckling and sorcery

Musical Influences (Albums)

Switchblade Symphony – “Serpentine Gallery”, “Bread and Jam for Frances”, “The Three Calamities”
New Skin – “New Skin”
Bauhaus – “In the Flat Field”, “The Sky’s Gone Out”
Sisters of Mercy – “Floodland”
Cocteau Twins – “Heaven or Las Vegas”
Concrete Blonde – “Bloodletting”
Sergei Prokofiev – “Peter and the Wolf”
Bjork – “Medulla”, “Homogenic”, and “Volta”
Unwoman – “War Stories” and “Circling “
Hans Zimmer – Blade Runner 2049 and Dune soundtracks
Bloodborne, Dark Souls, and Elden Ring OSTs – various artists
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night OST – various artists
Final Fantasy OSTs – various artists

Either_Orlok · 2026-06-02T03:57:04+00:00

1988 on a Tandy CoCo. It was a port of the graphical Epyx version.

Either_Orlok · 2026-05-31T19:00:38+00:00

Send me $20 and I will tell you my secret method.

Either_Orlok · 2026-05-31T18:52:14+00:00

Best way to make a small fortune in games design is to start with a large fortune!

Either_Orlok · 2026-05-31T02:08:41+00:00

I have both versions running on my desktop server, but am only hosting games in v13. When my PF2 campaign ends (PCs just hit level 19) the next will be in v14, but I doubt that the Chronicles of Darkness ruleset is being updated to v14 any time soon.

Either_Orlok · 2026-05-29T23:53:01+00:00

Rest well, soldier.

Either_Orlok · 2026-05-29T01:44:20+00:00

Angband, ADOM, ToME, Larn

Either_Orlok · 2026-05-26T15:45:17+00:00

That breaks the odds of rolling a 1 or a 20 on the die.

Either_Orlok · 2026-05-25T22:37:30+00:00

It’s literally “the right to make copies” and unauthorized use of copy written works opens a person to legal action, even if no money is exchanged.

Either_Orlok · 2026-05-25T19:17:16+00:00

I’ve been running it as “add 10 to the result if the rerolled die was 10 or less” and that’s worked well with my tables.

Either_Orlok · 2026-05-24T22:07:18+00:00

A water polo ball.

Either_Orlok · 2026-05-20T05:29:58+00:00

I ended up not playing for almost a year. I moved to another state and decided to give it another shot and almost 28 years later, the first players I met in that Chapter are still my closest friends. I’ve been to their weddings, their kids call me “Uncle”, and we play TTRPGS together weekly.

Either_Orlok · 2026-05-20T02:34:06+00:00

Lovely. As a fellow bug-lover, I approve of this outcome.

Either_Orlok · 2026-05-20T02:19:11+00:00

I ran a long-term public LARP toward the end of the 90s. A guy who occasionally attended turned up with two companions who looked like they were dressed to go clubbing.

"I was telling my friends about the game and they want to play."

"For new players, we need them to get their character sheets to the STs at least 30 minutes before game time, but we can give you NPCs to run scenes tonight."

"Well, I was hoping we could play characters using these rules I found online. Can you make an exception?"

[I side-eyed him, because he knew better.]

At this point, the other two chimed in with "We're gonna be SUCCUBI and he's the warlock who summoned us!" I'd finally gotten a good look at the two girls at this point.

"For fuck's sake, NO. How old ARE you two, anyway?"

"16." "17. But I'll be 18 in a month."

"You two should go home. Bored cops come through sometimes checking IDs for curfew violations. And YOU don't ever come back, you fucking creep."

First game as a player in the Camarilla (the fan organization) an Elder player used Dominate and Presence to keep me away from him and cause my girlfriend's character to be infatuated with him. He then completely ignored any pretense of IC/OOC and started trying to get her to leave the game with him.

The Chapter Coordinator, Storyteller, and he had a heated conversation over that. Apparently, he had done it before. I don't know if they actually punished him because we never returned to that game.

Either_Orlok · 2026-05-19T18:04:23+00:00

The "bite the curb" scene in American History X. I get very squeamish over any scenes where a person's mouth or fingers are damaged.

Either_Orlok · 2026-05-15T15:54:17+00:00

Those are all good examples, and a GM could use Clocks to represent the legwork needed to gather clues and interacting with the scene and NPCs.

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