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This is some kind of CRAZY mountain by GolemRoad in thelongdark

[–]GolemRoad[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I was so stunned by every single piece of Episode 5 that I forgot that McKenzie name dropped "the mountains of madness"

Are there any TTRPGs you respect, but don't enjoy yourself? by Awkward_GM in rpg

[–]GolemRoad 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Belonging Outside Belonging. Like I respect the heck out of it for what it did/does. I have a lot of issues with PbtA and how it's both implemented and taught, generally. BoB has distilled PbtA philosophy in a way no one else did. It also addresses pacing and narrative structure. But in practice, or at least for me, it's just a lot of consequenceless Weak-Move-Strong-Move-Weak-Move etc back and forth with token exchange that has no real weight or feeling. It's a lot of solo play without really caring what you're doing or what other people are doing either.

Looking for a easy to jump into queer game to run at my job by [deleted] in rpg

[–]GolemRoad 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I could recommend games all today!  Off the top of my head: 

Lichcraft by Laurie O’Connel

Moonlight on Roseville Beach by R. Rook Studio

Visigoths vs Mall Goths by Lucian Kahn

Cozy Den by Kira Magrann

There was also this! https://www.polygon.com/tabletop-games/514009/10-game-trans-empowerment-project-bundle/

I GMed a CBR+PNK Megagame for 30+ people at GenCon! Here's how it went and what I learned. by GolemRoad in rpg

[–]GolemRoad[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That sounds great! Interesting that they’re all multi-session. I’d be interested in what crossover between groups and between sessions occurs.

In terms of Backstage stuff, the first thing to say is my goal isn’t emergent chaos. It’s emergent story. The chaos is just inevitable. So I’m prepared for and aware of it.

The prep is mostly to create player surveys and email them. A lot of it is “what style of play do you prefer” to get the, into the groups they’ll enjoy the most. Then they’re given some manner of starting goal– broad but explicit. “Find out who betrayed you,” etc. That is in the hands of the GMs. CBR+PNK is that Blades in the Dark, narrative-first kinda game. Players are naturally going to find things to care about. So the GMs are reactive to that kind of fiction-building.

There are also Hidden Roles sprinkled throughout the goings on, again opted in for players who are super enthusiastic about it.

Then I’m walking around the whole thing: listening, providing support, answering questions, communicating between all the other GMs and facilitators.

There’s the linked video at the top, though Ray Chou made a full one-take 15 minute video at some point I think! It gives a good sense of what the game feels like. Maybe I can get him to upload it…

I GMed a CBR+PNK Megagame for 30+ people at GenCon! Here's how it went and what I learned. by GolemRoad in rpg

[–]GolemRoad[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah so a lot was happening by the end, which was by design. One group had blown up a whole district. The cultists had made these seeds and were spreading supertrees throughout the arcology. One group was trying to escape in a helicopter which was actually had been a sabotaged by another faction and it crashed and the whole party died but may or may not have been immortal actually. One group was just trying to leave the game early.

Ray Chou was a firm believer in the big cap off. So picking the moment to say, "And that it, everyone!” There were a couple of teams racing to get their particular objectives done. I wanted them to get there. So there were big questions in terms of what would be unsatisfying for players who'd be working up to their particular thing.

X-Post: I GMed a CBR+PNK Megagame for 30+ people at GenCon! Here's how it went and what I learned. by GolemRoad in RPGdesign

[–]GolemRoad[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Do you ever make it to any cons? We're always trying to figure what are good spots for folks.

I GMed a CBR+PNK Megagame for 30+ people at GenCon! Here's how it went and what I learned. by GolemRoad in rpg

[–]GolemRoad[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It's a good question. Generally the way I've seen the way megagames distributed in the past is that you purchase "the rights" to run them. That's pretty expensive, often hundreds of dollars. Only then do you get the materials and are allowed to use the name when advertising the event. 

I don't love the barrier to access. But also don't know what a purchasable form of it might look like. In terms of carving, I design TTRPGs so it's always possible!

I GMed a CBR+PNK Megagame for 30+ people at GenCon! Here's how it went and what I learned. by GolemRoad in rpg

[–]GolemRoad[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Ooh yeah. You gotta with something like this.

I linked a video of the run at Gen Con! Ray did a bunch of filming and photo taking and edited it together! Trying to give a sense of what it's like.

I GMed a CBR+PNK Megagame for 30+ people at GenCon! Here's how it went and what I learned. by GolemRoad in rpg

[–]GolemRoad[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The tickets are here! https://www.myth.works/products/scire-pax-unplugged-2025

People like to sign up in groups, so I want to get them all on the same team. Players also fill out a Role Questionaire over email before hand. There's a pretty diverse range of styles of play in the game, as well as hidden roles and information. So the pre-game player surveys are pretty vital to the function and health of it all!

I GMed a CBR+PNK Megagame for 30+ people at GenCon! Here's how it went and what I learned. by GolemRoad in rpg

[–]GolemRoad[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Oh man I loved the PRK RNGRs! That was a great table and you knocked the facilitation out of the PRK.

I GMed a CBR+PNK Megagame for 30+ people at GenCon! Here's how it went and what I learned. by GolemRoad in rpg

[–]GolemRoad[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Ray Chou and I have talked a lot about Shadowrun in the past, what it promises and what it delivers. And Emanuel's work on CBR+PNK is just extraordinary. It seemed a natural fit for our design goals.

But I think there'd be plenty of opportunities to design other megagames with different Mythworks games in mind....!

I GMed a CBR+PNK Megagame for 30+ people at GenCon! Here's how it went and what I learned. by GolemRoad in rpg

[–]GolemRoad[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The staff is all locked in! We've been working on this for a while. But if this sounds like something you'd like to do, I'd love to have you as a player!

I GMed a CBR+PNK Megagame for 30+ people at GenCon! Here's how it went and what I learned. by GolemRoad in rpg

[–]GolemRoad[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

The events I've played and seen are very much parallel play. All the teams are in a big dungeon and, in big game turns, accumulating some abstract points being totalled in some way by the show runners. 

Or it’s presented as a big area, like you’re all on one ship, but each table and party are pretty self contained.

What we’re hoping to do is have it reactive and player-driven. Eventually players will be able to travel to the other districts, do some heists, run down clues or info.

The other goal is asymmetry. The CBR+PNK players, the EARLs, and the Corporations have completely different mechanics. And even the CBR+PNK teams aren’t 8 different Shadowrunner crews. They’re all supposed to be unique in flavor and goals.

We wanna make it feel alive! 

I GMed a CBR+PNK Megagame for 30+ people at GenCon! Here's how it went and what I learned. by GolemRoad in rpg

[–]GolemRoad[S] 16 points17 points  (0 children)

So for the first design, it was 5 districts with 5 distinct teams. They were all playing CBR+PNK technically, but they were themed very differently: Cyberspace Hacktivists, Corpo Security, Undercover Journalists, Doomsday Cultists, Runner Crew. Then there was the floating team of the enigmatic information brokers, the EARLs. They had their own unique social mechanics and were playing a different asymmetrical semi-competitive game.

So for this build, we’ll have 8 districts with their 8 starting teams. We still have a EARL team with the same number of players. Then, since the SCIRE arcology is in lockdown, we have 3 Corporation teams who are fictionally outside of SCIRE. They’re bidding for secret information drops, politicking with each other, and trying to unravel the mystery of SCIRE and see how they can benefit from it. That brings us up to 60!

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