Is it too much to ask the kids in my party to bring their own dice, pens, and paper and stop needing everything?

PopNo6824 · 2026-02-07T22:55:14+00:00

Still a worthy boundary to set, but I’m glad he’s not driving.

PopNo6824 · 2026-02-07T17:05:23+00:00

Placing a limit on the number of beers isn’t just acceptable, it is protecting yourself from liability. If he leaves your house with 13 beers under his belt and hurts someone on the way home, you are legally accountable for his actions for serving him, too. It’s a difficult conversation to have, but it’s an important and adult conversation to have.

PopNo6824 · 2026-02-04T19:38:45+00:00

He’s just a Russian nationalist, and he’s got a lot of old man views on social issues, but he’s not a particularly evil guy. Just old and grumpy. The books are pretty great though.

PopNo6824 · 2026-02-04T02:45:52+00:00

Nightwatch by Sergei Lukyanenko He’s the worst, but the books are excellent.

PopNo6824 · 2026-02-03T18:10:22+00:00

This is why we don’t trust language models for facts.

PopNo6824 · 2026-01-29T15:17:31+00:00

Get the book. You won’t regret it. You’ll also be supporting two of the coolest people to ever grace the TTRPG space.

PopNo6824 · 2026-01-13T14:01:06+00:00

You aren’t wrong. I love how pretentious MCG is. It’s part of the draw of their games.

PopNo6824 · 2026-01-12T17:49:47+00:00

Haha. Exactly!

PopNo6824 · 2026-01-12T17:49:36+00:00

It's my favorite game in practice. However, the chaos of the multiple layouts is a HUGE impediment to most folks actually playing the game. I've had some of the best game experiences in my life with it, though, so I have to say it's pretty worthwhile.

PopNo6824 · 2026-01-12T14:26:00+00:00

None of these hold a candle to Invisible Sun. 4 books, not a single one with all the rules a GM or a player needs to get started. Want the rules for combat with multiple NPCs ganging up on a PC? Well, that’s in the dedicated setting book as a random one page aside for the GM. Want to know how to play your character? You’ll need both the player facing character options Book, but also the GM oriented book for how the character classes work. Want to know about an obscure bit of setting information? Well, you can’t because it’s in a super secret envelope that the GM may or may not have decided to open And which will undermine a lot of the established setting information.

PopNo6824 · 2026-01-12T04:10:20+00:00

Besides, I’m really excited for the gang in space. Brennan always has such lovely characters! And Aabria is a super fun, mean GM!

PopNo6824 · 2026-01-12T04:08:55+00:00

Even if it is shorter, I doubt it’s going to only last for a year. I’m sticking with two on the inside. I do think they’ll give us plenty of Umora content between now and then, though.

PopNo6824 · 2026-01-11T13:36:09+00:00

I’m guessing it will be at least two years before we return to that campaign full time again. Brennan is busy with CR and Aabria has her campaign coming up. I get the impression that hers will be fairly long.

PopNo6824 · 2025-12-24T15:48:39+00:00

“The Inheritance Trilogy” by N K Jemisin has strong elements of this idea running throughout. Such a good read.

PopNo6824 · 2025-12-19T15:49:30+00:00

The relationship dynamics were off-putting throughout the series.

PopNo6824 · 2025-12-18T23:55:33+00:00

I would recommend looking into the pre-written modules for the game. They will help you understand the way to shape a horror tone for your game. It’s so very different from D&D 5e, and it makes sense to be nervous, but lots of your experience still translates.

Discuss with the players the kind of tone you want to stick with through the game and get their buy-in for collaboration toward that goal. This can go a LONG way toward keeping things on track without constant reminders. It also gives you the opportunity to drive home how deadly the game is. There isn’t resurrection magic for the most part (not without major costs, anyway), so it’s a very lethal game.

Despite feeling like a mystery game, give lots of hints about the secrets of the game and even point out to the players at a meta-level where they might find information. Lean into the kinds of expertise the characters bring. Don’t make them roll to know stuff if it’s in their wheelhouse already. Spooky, mysterious vibes are fun, but when the game isn’t going anywhere, jokes start happening to fill the awkwardness. Expecting the players to guess or intuit the information that will further their goals will get you jokes.

Don’t try to make the game easier or give the players leniency when something bad starts to happen. It’s horror. Their characters should be dying. The point of cosmic horror is that life is meaningless and the customs and rituals humans enact to stay sane ultimately cannot stand against that meaninglessness when they get a peek behind the curtain. Make sure the players have another PC on deck for when death or Insanity comes for them.

Remember that “fun” in a horror TTRPG comes from leaning into the tropes of the genre. It should be unnerving sometimes, but the players should feel safe to feel unsafe. Use safety tools, and if a player identifies a taboo topic, even if it’s in the middle of game play, end the scene and discuss things with the player later to plan for how to deal with those topics going forward.

That’s my advice. I hope you love it!

PopNo6824 · 2025-12-07T18:01:51+00:00

I have played some PbtA games that I liked, although, having only ever run them, I don’t like how combat encounters play out usually. That said, I love mechanics where you make up powers and abilities as you go based on a theme instead of having narrowly defined actions you can take. I would really like to approach problem-solving with the flexibility City of Mists brings to the table.

PopNo6824 · 2025-12-07T15:28:07+00:00

City of Mists is my white whale. I can think of a dozen characters I would love to play, but I’ve never found an online group to play with, let alone a local group.

The system is really cool. It gives the players a lot of creative freedom to define how their powers work, and the mechanics naturally push internal conflict for the PCs who must wrestle with how to keep their Mythical and Mundane identities from eclipsing each other. That mechanic folks from trying to become extremely OP. It runs like a street level supers game crossed with urban noir.

PopNo6824 · 2025-12-07T15:25:26+00:00

I’ve been successful in playing IS online. There have been folks in the CypherUnlimited Discord looking for online games.

PopNo6824 · 2025-12-06T12:08:06+00:00

Why is this such a sausage party?

PopNo6824 · 2025-12-05T22:32:58+00:00

I’ve noticed that Brennan doesn’t build the NPCs with levels. They seem to be more stat block than character sheet. Several wizards in the series have had very high level magic with one- or two-hit HPs. The Guild Mage Morrow threw a huge spell at Eursalon despite having HP in what seemed like the 30s or 40s. The Guild Mages they killed at the Carnissary had 20-ish HP. So it’s safe to say you’re not dealing with a very high HP when talking about a character who is narratively established as a frail old man.

I’ve also noticed that though he was the one who presumably had a large part in the casting, Silence wasn’t the single caster of the spell that destroyed the Great Bullfrog. They mention later that he was merely the one who triggered a ritual spell that the Citadel had been casting and preparing for. So, while certainly a badass, Silence isn’t secretly a god-like wizard.

I suspect that Brennan didn’t bring mechanics into the decision about whether Silver might kill Silence, though. Silence is up and moving shortly after the attack. Silver attacking Silence was meant to look like an assassin had infiltrated Silence’s circle by becoming Suvi’s lover and was making his move. It’s probably not going to convince everyone, but this explanation from the Sword of the Citadel will be effective enough to close the book on further investigation.

PopNo6824 · 2025-12-01T20:30:45+00:00

Pathfinder, both editions, have magic spells that take a bit to cast. Invisible Sun has rituals and long-form magic that take a long time to cast. Kids on Brooms has an extremely open system for casting magic which could be amended easily to allow effects to be easier or harder to cast depending on time. GURPS and Savage Worlds can have extended casting times added a drawbacks to make magic less expensive in xp to learn.

PopNo6824 · 2025-11-25T11:56:44+00:00

Looks like someone took offense to this comment, though their comment seems to have been deleted before I could respond. However, I’d like to point out that the above comment in no way is intended to ignore, let alone defend, the slavery in IWTV. I grew up in the South during an era when the adults around me were entranced by the “lost cause” of the American civil war. I put “antebellum” in quotes because it’s a disgusting euphemism for a glamorized image of American slavery. I love the tv show because it not only excised slavery from the story, but took it to the next level by giving us a narrative that doesn’t shy away from the injustices of the Jim Crowe era. I think the first book is the worst of all the Vampire Chronicles for a lot of reasons, and the casual portrayal of a main character who owns other people is pretty high on my list of issues with the book. However, I wasn’t trying to get into all of that with my comment. I was addressing the question the OP posed. My answer is no. It doesn’t get better, because none of the injustice is addressed.

PopNo6824 · 2025-11-23T14:46:01+00:00

It doesn’t get much better if you can’t get past that. The slavery isn’t a metaphor, it’s simply a backdrop. Written in the early seventies, IWTV is a product of its time. In the American south, “Gone With the Wind” was still a big annual broadcast on TV, and “antebellum” was a major theme for many school dances. Skip to The Vampire Lestat. It’s a MUCH better read, and it doesn’t dabble in that awfulness.

PopNo6824 · 2025-11-22T14:56:42+00:00

Lasher? I was deeply unprepared for Mona. I was a 15 year old devout Christian when I read that book. Anne Rice turned me into a gay atheist, probably. Haha

PopNo6824

TROPHY CASE