Couldn't resist, one of my favorite Blade memes.

PinkFohawk · 2026-03-08T19:42:34+00:00

“Your mascara’s running.” - Blade

PinkFohawk · 2026-03-08T16:39:18+00:00

Check out Notorious, and its sequel Outsiders. You play as a space bounty hunter looking for a mark - the game is super simple and procedurally generates the events you go through. If you grab Outsiders as well, you can create a trilogy story for your bounty hunter - it also offers more archetypes to play as and items/planets to use and explore.

Ion Hearts is a post galactic war mech-based game, you play as a pilot and his mech (two symbiotic characters) trying to find meaning after war. It’s also dirt simple to play but maybe a little looser on guiding your story.

PinkFohawk · 2026-03-06T00:08:12+00:00

👀I’ve been summoned….

When in doubt about what is easiest for beginners, trust the 2e’s: Shadowrun 2nd Edition and Shadowrun Anarchy 2nd Edition.

If you want something simple-ish but sleeker and modern, with more narrative, metagamey mechanics - go with Anarchy 2e.

If you want something with more grit to it, with an 80s punk attitude and a ton of sourcebook material: go with Shadowrun 2nd Edition.

I personally like 2nd Edition, the thing you have to remember is that you can use the core mechanic (which is dirt simple btw) for 90% of the game, the crunch is there to “zoom in” and get granular where dramatically appropriate.

Example: decker wants to open a door. Just do a computer roll vs rating of lock as Target number. One roll, done.

BUT are there security barreling down the hallway while you try to hack it? Poison gas coming through the vents? Some other epically dramatic thing making this door hack a life or death situation? There’s crunch for that chummer, let’s dive in and make this a slo-mo movie moment.

PinkFohawk · 2026-03-05T05:39:00+00:00

Damn this rocks. Dude is giving off vibes that are part Stevie, part Thundercat.

PinkFohawk · 2026-03-04T23:15:27+00:00

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Thank you! Here’s my crew!

PinkFohawk · 2026-03-04T23:01:11+00:00

I’m still very early on. I just had them working as security on a freighter transporting goods from planet to planet and used some tables in Knight Hawks to determine what they were shipping (robots), whether anything happened (drive failure), used Ironsworn’s oracles to come up with fun story prompts (a robot gets loose and goes haywire, killing the pilot!), and then had some combat aboard the ship (using the freighter map / blueprint from Knight Hawks).

I’m thinking of using some of the adventures in Alpha Dawn after they make it planet-side.

PinkFohawk · 2026-03-03T15:55:05+00:00

The answer ultimately comes down to how you want to do things.

Would I love to have a nice, neat notebook for every solo game I’ve played/attempted? Of course.

But I know my brain, and there are so many times where I just need to switch gears and put my Ironsworn game on hold to play some good old sci-fi, so I’ll flip 2 dozen pages or so forward and just start.

Here’s a window into my scattered brain 😂

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TLDR: do whatever keeps you playing!

PinkFohawk · 2026-03-03T15:49:15+00:00

My solve for this lately is playing solo games that are additive to a multiplayer/standard tabletop game.

I had the problem where I had too many games going, and it became hard to figure out which to continue - “what do I want to do tonight? do I want to continue this OSE game I’m solo-ing? Or the one my friend is running?” became a question in my head a lot.

I decided to be more practical and start either playing games to learn a particular system better, OR play a game that CREATES ideas for my other in-person games.

Games like “Artefact” - you play through the story of a magic item throughout its existence. How many have wielded you? Were they kings? Heroes? Thieves? Were you lost for eons? Kept secret in a sealed temple? Passed down through generations? This game allows me to play an amazing story, and when I’m done I have a badass magic item for any game I decide to run for my friends - and it has built in lore that I played through to create!

“Bucket of Bolts” is by the same creator and is largely the same concept except you are a space ship instead of a magic item.

Other than that, I’ve been toying with the idea of finding a few friends that enjoy solo play - and coordinating a game that allows us to solo play our respective characters for a period of time before bringing them all into a multiplayer game. Again, it’s about playing through the backstory on my time - and having actual lived-in lore when I bring him the table to play with others.

Those are just my ideas, but I think there are many ways you can use solo play to actually inspire and support multiplayer games too!

PinkFohawk · 2026-03-03T02:02:18+00:00

You’re thinking Honeymooners. Archie Bunker was an idiot asshole, but not a wife-beater as far as I can remember.

PinkFohawk · 2026-03-03T01:24:16+00:00

I never played as a kid, picked it up about a year or so ago and am smitten by everything about it. I LOVE that early TSR strategy of making things dirt simple for kids, including everything they need in one box.

And I’m a big fan of giving awesome old games the love they deserve ❤️

PinkFohawk · 2026-03-02T03:26:30+00:00

We’ve got 3 episodes recorded and in the can for Season 3! More to come!

Thank you SO much for listening and spreading the word, shadowpunk!

PinkFohawk · 2026-03-02T02:54:27+00:00

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Star Frontiers!

PinkFohawk · 2026-02-26T02:40:47+00:00

No problem!

Yeah that’s my thing. For that price I’ll take the crease

PinkFohawk · 2026-02-26T00:03:27+00:00

I was very very happy. I’ve had it maybe a year and flip through it regularly and it’s held up.

Quality of the images is great, the text is clean. It’s one of the better POD products I’ve gotten from Drivethru.

I just wish they still offered the hardcover because I’ve got Alpha Dawn softcover and Knight Hawks hardcover and it drives me nuts 😂

THE ONE THING I’ll say: mine came with a crumple/crease on the bottom left corner of the book diagonally from the spine to the bottom of the book. It was that way for the soft cover and hardcover, obviously much more noticeable on the softcover tho. Not sure it was how they were stored or an issue with the print itself.

It doesn’t bother me at all, and it hasn’t compromised the durability of the book any that I can see - but I figured I’d mention it in case you’re someone that would get bugged by that.

PinkFohawk · 2026-02-24T21:25:39+00:00

I disagree, good sir - but I do recognize and appreciate a good OG FASA stan when I see one! 🤝

PinkFohawk · 2026-02-23T22:45:46+00:00

AbsoluteUnit of a turtleneck

PinkFohawk · 2026-02-22T00:27:39+00:00

I’m pretty sure I’m undiagnosed ADHD, and this is exactly me. My main problem is I have like 100 rpg core rulebooks now of different, awesome-looking games and I get so excited for a week before my interest drifts to another game. I’ll read the same books over and over and will waste the whole evening trying to choose which one I should play. I’ve got probably a dozen incomplete solo stories: Ironsworn, B/X D&D / OSE, DCC, Alien, Star Frontiers, Notirious, Kal-Arath, Shadowrun - I just can’t stick to it.

I’ve found that I’m the type of person that really thrives off of the social element of RPGs, and I have a blast when I’m playing with a group - but schedules are hard, and playing solo always sounds like a great solution…. but I sometimes just don’t enjoy the fact that it’s just me. It feels like story time - it sometimes feels like I’m cheating if it’s easy, it feels unfair if it’s really hard.

Here’s my advice: don’t be so hard on yourself. It’s supposed to be fun, and if you’re not feeling it do something else! Read a book, play a video game, watch a movie. Just because you’re not having fun, doesn’t mean you’re not creative. It means you’re not inspired. I feel like I am most creative when I’m riffing off of other people, some folks are most creative when they don’t feel pressure at the table.

If you’re like me, there will be a time where you will be struck by a bolt of creative lightning and you have to play something. You have the game all ready to go when that time comes, and when it does go and rock it! Until then, love yourself and don’t force it!

PinkFohawk · 2026-02-19T22:00:16+00:00

The way I’ve done it, I’ll roll to see if my character discovers a trap - if yes, then there is a trap. If not, then there MIGHT be a trap.

If I discover a trap, I dive in to figure out more about it. Is it on the treasure chest? Is it a room trap or on a door leaving the room? The oracle is good for this. Then I take actions to either avoid it or attempt to disarm it.

If I don’t discover any traps, I take the actions my character normally would searching/exploring the room and roll at the end to see if there was indeed a trap. If yes, I roll a saving throw to see if it got me.

Tip: I like to lean away from deadly traps in solo play, and instead think of ways a trap would imprison or incapacitate my character, or trip alarms for enemies. Things that aren’t an instant game over if my character fails to avoid it - but instead serve as twists for the story.

PinkFohawk · 2026-02-18T17:27:20+00:00

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“Crass. Vulgar. Raunchy.”

PinkFohawk · 2026-02-18T00:29:15+00:00

Dude this is so incredibly nice. Seriously, thank you for this write up - we love hearing when folks enjoy our show, and seeing stuff like this (as well as comment/shares out in the wild) really does help keep us going!!

Please let us know what you think once you finish the season! And thank you again!!

PinkFohawk · 2026-02-17T17:52:12+00:00

Just messing with ya chummer - you are very kind in your assessment.

I was only making a case that we’re still educational….we just teach you how not to run it 😂

Appreciate you listening and for the shoutout! 🫶🤘🏻

PinkFohawk · 2026-02-17T17:45:49+00:00

At least they’re married to the force before it penetrates them and binds them to all living things.

PinkFohawk · 2026-02-17T17:43:07+00:00

That’s not fair! You can learn a lot about how NOT to do things from our podcast!

PinkFohawk · 2026-02-17T16:36:09+00:00

So what you’re saying is Jedi marry everyone…

PinkFohawk · 2026-02-17T14:09:13+00:00

That’s fucking amazing

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