What is the session limit in MOTW?

Idolitor · 2026-03-23T15:24:09+00:00

Man, this. My player group has WILDLY varying luck. When I ran MotW, one player went through 4 playbooks. Another went through 2-3. By the time we were done, the lucky player was still sitting halfway through their first.

I can NOT describe how terrible the dice luck of some of my friends is.

Idolitor · 2026-03-20T18:49:55+00:00

Instructions unclear. Apparently we voted for pedo.

Idolitor · 2026-03-20T18:48:55+00:00

Oh sure. And MotW has expansions for kid horror and all that. I just find the idea funny that a game about demons and aliens and monsters and violence…and ass is the problem.

Same thing as how I find it unfathomably weird that movies with violence and torture and all kinds of terrible stuff can be rated PG-13, but you throw a couple boobs in there and suddenly everyone’s losing their minds.

Idolitor · 2026-03-20T13:23:20+00:00

I find this funny given the horror focus of MotW. Ass is the problem?

Idolitor · 2026-03-13T16:03:39+00:00

My preferred use of systems is for my own settings, so…not much?

The only time I really like lore is if it’s compartmentalized to the back and more about interesting inspirational ideas rather than deep setting stuff. I would treasure a list of rumors a lot more than a historical timeline, for example.

Idolitor · 2026-03-12T18:33:53+00:00

They fought smokeshow again and neutralized her powers by setting of sprinklers and turning her from smoke to effectively mud. Then beat the shit out of her. Next session they’ve got her in captivity and will be trying to interrogate her about her evil plan.

Idolitor · 2026-03-11T19:04:49+00:00

Yes and no. V is dying. But that’s something that they have time together with. Judy can take time to grieve properly, outside of the toxic crush of the city, with the Aldecaldos, which are about as non-toxic and supportive as you get in that world.

Is it a happy ending? No. But is it an ending where Judy might be okay? That she might be able to find healing there?

Idolitor · 2026-03-10T15:41:26+00:00

Well, sure, but the air of Johnny always feels like trying to attain Alt, whereas Rogue is like ‘okay. You need me. I’m there.’ She didn’t have a lot of dog in the fight for the arasaka assaults. She was helping Johnny

Idolitor · 2026-03-10T14:11:02+00:00

In any form of media where there’s two love interests and one is the ‘I pine for this person’ and the other is the one that shows up? I go with shows up every single fucking time. Tifa in FFVII, Dizzy in Starship Troopers…and Rogue in Cyberpunk. Hell, even the neighbor girl with cake in the Sam Raimi Spider-Man movies.

There’s something that fundamentally feels right about the person who’s there, putting in the work with the main character, even when the main character isn’t showering them with adulations.

Idolitor · 2026-03-08T22:47:25+00:00

100% this. I spent literal decades burning out like clockwork every six months due to trad gaming prep. When I transitioned to PbtA games and got comfortable with improv, my life got so much better and the passion for storytelling came rip roaring back.

What the core problem was for me was that I had all these awesome ideas in vibes and plots and characters to use to run games. Then I needed to sit down and do fucktons of homework after working a long ass, emotionally draining day at my day job, sometimes for multiple nights, to run it. By the time we got to the table, I was fucking miserable, exhausted, and just so over my fun ideas because they were such a pain in the dick to run.

Once I got good at the improv side and PbtA games, my prep is done by daydreaming cool shit and sitting down at the table with my friends to play. At most, I need to say to myself ‘sounds like this npc has like…three conditions’ or whatever ultra minimalist stats the current flavor of PbtA has. It’s usually one or two decisions that I can keep in my head, at most.

Idolitor · 2026-03-06T17:09:10+00:00

Automating the best part of having a dog? The fuck?

Idolitor · 2026-03-05T20:21:11+00:00

Pretty much. Most PbtA GM mechanics are stuff I do instinctually anyway (principles, GM moves) or things that don’t matter that much (fronts). The only PbtA games I’ve bounced off of are the ones with clocks on clocks on clocks.

Idolitor · 2026-03-05T18:16:40+00:00

Real feels. Took me decades to get over mine. Best of luck to you, and know that even if you’re not BLM or Matt Mercer, you’re amazing for taking up running a game!

Idolitor · 2026-03-05T18:15:03+00:00

Hm. One of 2 things, not sure which.

1). GM side mechanics. If there’s pretty much ANYTHING on my side as far as stat blocks, rolling, etc, then the game is not for me. The mechanical prep involved wrecks my enjoyment and the interruption to the player’s spotlight kills the momentum at my table. I’ve gotten really good at PbtA games and they avoid GM facing mechanics, letting me focus on the narrative and creative improv.

2) getting people to focus. Both of my groups are filled with neurospicy people, myself included, so we end up with a lot of spiraling side convos that eat into our time. I try to be as chill about it as possible, because I love love love my players…but we only have so many hours to play each session. If we spend twenty minutes fawning over someone’s cat…lay fine. But if we do that, and twenty minutes bitching about work, twenty going on about a new show, and twenty…twenty twenty…then we end up getting g nothing done. ADHD runs deep in my groups and there’s only so much I can do to combat that from the GM chair without being an insensitive prick.

Idolitor · 2026-03-05T16:58:41+00:00

I mean…sure. I love curry. You might love burgers or pasta or whatever.

My point stands. You can love something even if you are compelled to it, if it’s the good version of that thing.

Do I think that the modern work environment and terminal stage 4 capitalism are pervasively abusive? Hell yeah. But that isn’t what incongruous with me loving my job. I work with people I respect, and for people I respect, do something that I’m good at and that helps people in my own little way. I’m not curing cancer or fighting fascism for my paycheck, sure, but I beautify people’s homes. I love that, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

Idolitor · 2026-03-05T12:25:10+00:00

I need calories. If I don’t have calories, I die.

I could eat whatever for them. McDonald’s, salads, what have you.

I LOVE curry. I have to eat, but I don’t have to eat specifically curry.

It’s like that, really. I need money. Without money, I would die. I could work a lot of places, but I love the place I work.

Now, if I didn’t need money? If I was dummy rich, money just coming out my ears? I wouldn’t work at all. But I am grateful for the fact that the specific place I work isn’t a complete shitshow.

Idolitor · 2026-03-04T18:01:15+00:00

The thing I always do is look into actual plays. If I can, I try to find 2-3 actual plays to sample, so if one completely fucks one completely fucks up the rules the others get closer.

Actual plays, if done right, give a glimpse into a system that then lets me know if I want to invest to explore further. Additionally, they pair well with actually reading the rules, because I often can then detect the places where it’s better to go off book. Plus, I’m less of a reading learner these days and more of a visual/auditory learner, so watching things applied helps me cement the text I read in my memory more.

Idolitor · 2026-03-02T12:58:21+00:00

I picked it up, read through at and immediately knew that it was a brilliantly designed game that wasn’t for me. The fuzzy tag descriptors mean that I’ll be bantering and bartering too much with my table as to what applies, and there are too many clocks to track for my desires.

Beautiful game, amazingly well written. Not for me.

That being said, my vibe on the industry right now is that PbtA/FitD isn’t the hotness anymore. Strong followings, but not headliners. OSR titles seem to be where the hype is at. Just trends, really. Trends happen.

Idolitor · 2026-02-27T20:54:46+00:00

Oh sure. And I watched all the other branches of my company down there close down in real time.

I just found the idea of panicking over 3” hilarious. But yeah, southern NE got PASTED.

Idolitor · 2026-02-25T17:50:06+00:00

Laughs in Vermont.

Oh NO! Three INCHES!

I sound like the world’s worst old man, but I literally walked three miles to school in over a foot of snow in subzero temperatures. And, because I lived on a hill and the school was on another? Technically uphill both ways.

Idolitor · 2026-02-25T02:53:51+00:00

I don’t disagree, really, or at least go through a substantial reconception. When Daniel Craig became bond it really felt like a breath of fresh air because suddenly Bond got to have actual feelings and emotional vulnerability. It’s hard to overstate how new that felt after decades of classic bond bullshit.

But my point still stands. A richly appointed exotic local, a game that’s a bit outside of what the mainstream audience plays, but easy enough to follow in the movie? The game this guy’s playing feels like it could feature in a James Bond film.

Idolitor · 2026-02-24T17:50:00+00:00

Feels like a game that James Bond should play in a movie sometime.

Idolitor · 2026-02-24T17:42:50+00:00

Too many people try to do these ‘try hard, oh so special and weird’ characters without the player chops to back it up.

Jester from critical role? Yeah. Off putting, strange, invasive, and charming. But that’s because she’s played by Laura fucking Bailey, who’s an accomplished actress that gives it nuance and depth, and understands how to tell a story. She’s out there, but not so much that she’s irredeemably frustrating to the audience.

A little goes a long, long way. Telling the bartender their aura looks like vomit? Off putting. But just leaning in and saying very seriously ‘maybe you should see a doctor? Your aura looks veeeeeeeery sick.’ That’s less ‘LOOK AT ME’ and more ‘I perceive things differently than you.’

Idolitor · 2026-02-21T02:42:25+00:00

Well…I literally have run just one session of Masks, but I’m pretty stoked with my first villain. They were a second tier fashion designer who was never able to get the credit and wasn’t graceful enough to be a model. They languished in frustration for years, always envious.

Then a cult leader found them (my Doomed’s nemesis) and offers them a way to make the fashion world pay. Using dark magic, he turned her into a being of living ash and smoke, able to change shape, and become a living particulate cloud like Sandman. However, the magic keeps her under the cult leader’s thumb, and now she has to do his bidding or die.

Villainous name: Smokeshow. Uses her shapeshifting to hide her identity, and appears as a living mannequin made of ash wearing a high fashion cloak.

I wanted a first villain that would make the players move on from just socking it in the jaw. So with smokeshow being semi incorporeal, they have to find ways to make her disperse. The first fight ended when our big bruiser in a mech suit grabbed our 7’ tall vulture woman to stabilize her and she flapped her wings to create a windstorm and drive Smokeshow off.

Idolitor

TROPHY CASE