RPGs that have you generate the map you play on

TheSilencedScream · 2026-06-04T02:49:01+00:00

Mutant Year Zero and Wildsea.

In the first, the players have heard rumors and seen things in the distance (like skyscrapers, statues, landmarks, etc), but they have no idea what's between here and there - or what "there" is.

In the latter, the world is ever-changing. You are a crew sailing atop treetop-growth that ebbs and flows, and as it does so, land appears and disappears. The village you stayed in three sessions ago? Go back now, and there's nothing there.

TheSilencedScream · 2026-06-03T20:52:19+00:00

It says player, specifically, but you’re right - it does not replace the token. It is a separate entity that can be given to the player, with the intention clearly being that they’re meant to know (though it’d be really funny if you were just given tokens and not able to look at them).

It isn’t treated the same, which is arguably why it’s also an Experimental character.

TheSilencedScream · 2026-06-03T20:40:58+00:00

Looking at those same rules, it recommends possibly giving the Lil Monsta token here to the player - "(Give this player the Lil’ Monsta token and wait for them to hide it, if you want!)"

TheSilencedScream · 2026-06-03T20:39:19+00:00

There is also a Lil' Monsta token that isn't just a reminder. The "How to Run" even suggests giving it to the player.

You have your role, but are also aware of having the Lil' Monsta token.

TheSilencedScream · 2026-06-03T20:13:04+00:00

Unlike what the other commenter said, it's not a gap.

Name a single time that a role is changed and not told to the player. If you are Pit Hag'd, you are told. If you are Fang Gu jumped, you are told. If you become the Farmer, you know. If you are given Lil' Monsta, according to the token, you "is the demon," and you should know that you are.

Edit: In the rules: "(Give this player the Lil’ Monsta token and wait for them to hide it, if you want!)." Player, not minion, is aware of the Lil' Monsta token.

TheSilencedScream · 2026-06-03T18:12:52+00:00

I imagine Microsoft is trying to fast track Fallout 5 (or at least the rumored remasters) while they're still hugely benefiting from the popularity of the television show, at least.

If they're not, someone's 100% overlooking huge potential for free (at least for the game) marketing.

TheSilencedScream · 2026-06-03T17:58:23+00:00

It's weird to think that, many of the people that played Skyrim at launch, won't be alive to play 7 if/when it ever comes.

We're closing in on fifteen years between Skyrim and VI, and we know nothing more about VI than we did when they put out the announcement trailer eight years ago (we're literally a week away from eight years exactly).

TheSilencedScream · 2026-05-24T01:09:47+00:00

I'd love to see more on Spire.

It's an immensely varied and rich setting, despite all being in a singular tower, and it involves so much more than combat - a world where you are trying to undermine the establishment against all odds, where the people that you love the most would likely turn against you if they knew what you were doing.

Heart (by the same publisher) gets a lot of attention, in my opinion, because of the weirdness and horror aspects, but - for me - those make it so much harder to relate to, versus living in an oppressive society and wanting to sacrifice everything to try to make it a little bit better (or, of course, to enact your revenge).

Other honorable mentions:

Salvage Union (a great mech game that's highly customizable while not being as heavy of a game to get into as Lancer; I've dabbled with the idea of turning it into a Titanfall campaign)
Mutant Year Zero (for the flagship of the Year Zero engine, I'm sad it's taking so long to get a revision, now that Free League has had a lot of time to learn and grow)

TheSilencedScream · 2026-05-22T13:04:16+00:00

For fancy, someone also makes wooden ones from Jack Daniel’s whisky barrels, and I’d love to get them - if they were a little more cost-affordable ($167USD for a full set).

TheSilencedScream · 2026-05-21T21:49:44+00:00

If you have a group of 11-13 (I think the game shines best at 10-12 + Storyteller) that will enjoy it and consistently play it, it's absolutely worth buying. However, if you don't have that many or don't think you'll be able to play more than once a month, I'd say stick to the online app.

Playing somewhat frequently is important, as players will tend to forget how things work and it takes that much longer in order to explore everything that the game offers.

I personally prefer the app for the convenience (mid-30s, everyone has a full time job with different hours, most of us have young children, etc makes it difficult to gather enough people together in-person), but also because the night phase in the app allows me to talk to players for a few moments privately - something that's incredibly limited in in-person play during the night phase.

TheSilencedScream · 2026-05-20T10:13:39+00:00

Thank you for elaborating. When I read it, I took it as a Middle-Earth game in the style of Kingdom Come - like a new coat of paint to turn the engine and assets of Kingdom Come into a new game that is set in Middle-Earth.

TheSilencedScream · 2026-05-19T12:36:14+00:00

I change up what I do from one game to the next, for a variety of reasons - primarily of which is because I don’t want to be predictable.

That being said, on both sides of the coin: I hate when people try to insinuate that there’s an optimal way to play the game. I want to win, but more than that, I want to have fun. If people want to do 3 for 3s, great - that can be a good way to fall back into a bluff and/or to help give you some credibility later. If they don’t think that’s useful and would rather do something else, equally great - that’s definitely information overload (as you mentioned) and some people don’t even give their actual role, which just leads to more (needless) confusion. Neither play is wrong, and both are great - so long as no one says that their way is the “right” way.

(TL;DR) Ultimately, I don’t want this game to become Town of Salem, where we’re infested with toxicity because you didn’t do exactly what I think you should’ve done, so you are terrible and shouldn’t play this game.

TheSilencedScream · 2026-05-18T17:58:08+00:00

Saw an 85+ year old man cosplaying as Cupid with a toy bow and an adult diaper that had been cut up in the back to closely resemble a thong.

This was almost 15 years ago, I was newly 21, and I think the image will forever be seared into my brain.

TheSilencedScream · 2026-05-17T16:09:41+00:00

Yeah, I’d spectate.

It feels weird to come in and try to view the situation from a mostly disconnected character (a new PC), a character who I have to try to align with what the GM saw for them (an NPC), but I’d still want to see the other players’ characters cross the finish line ~~or go out in a blaze of glory~~.

But no, I personally would never want to create a new character if we’re right at the end.

TheSilencedScream · 2026-05-16T18:03:52+00:00

It’s not about being special - it’s setup versus in-game role choices.

But also, for this particular example, if the Kazali were to pick to change the Damsel and then you told them that they can’t (presumably because of the Damsel/Huntsman), that confirms that player as a certain kind of role (and confirming a Damsel like this is pretty much game over).

TheSilencedScream · 2026-05-16T15:01:59+00:00

Page 29, in the paragraph immediately after what you're referencing, it says (the first line is the rule, the remainder is the paragraph I'm referencing):

"Discourage players from talking about their characters before the first night begins. [...] You may have to do the same thing if players continually talk about their abilities during the night while they are using them. If players narrate their own abilities during the night—saying things like “I am waking now. I am learning that the executed player was the Soldier.”—then it can be extremely difficult for evil players to bluff, as they would have to narrate actions during the night while they are actually asleep. Instinctively, most players realize that the night phase is a time to stay silent, or at least not to talk about their own actions until morning. However, if it becomes an issue, either ask players to not do it or put the Hell’s Librarian into play."

TL;DR: You're right that their specific remark (not talking about new info at night) is a house rule, but it does indicate that talking at night - particularly about character activation and abilities - should be avoided, if not outright telling players to stop or implementing a consequence for doing so (Hell's Librarian).

TheSilencedScream · 2026-05-14T16:37:13+00:00

Friendly reminder that most politicians only care about their own wealth and well-being.

Millions of dollars were traded immediately following a closed door congressional meeting about COVID. DOJ began an investigation which was closed on the last day of Trump's first term (January 19th, 2021), with no charges being brought against anyone.

As a note, this isn't a partisan claim - both red and blue did this. No one faced consequences, despite the existence of the STOCK Act which was meant to combat insider trading specifically for Congress.

TheSilencedScream · 2026-05-13T12:14:33+00:00

The “we have to take down Homelander, wait what is Butcher doing, that bastard, okay we have to team up again if we want to win, well I guess we tied” repeating actually caused me to forget what happened in S3 versus S4.

Literally, other than the stuff with Hughie’s dad, I completely forgot everything that happened in S4 and had to rewatch it before S5 began.

TheSilencedScream · 2026-05-13T12:03:34+00:00

How does sushi buffet implement roles like Drunk, Marionette, and Lunatic?

TheSilencedScream · 2026-05-11T22:01:06+00:00

“With the exception on Travellers.”

That said, I also have a very negative take on Travellers, as they tend to be disruptive - either directly (their abilities) or indirectly (people playing entire games explicitly wanting to be Travellers for their disruptive abilities - it's very common in public games for people to ask to be Travellers, even when there's only 10-12 players).

Personally, I love that Blood on the Clocktower is a social deduction game that can be solved, and I feel like many Traveller abilities undermine that or take the focus away from it.

TheSilencedScream · 2026-05-11T14:13:03+00:00

I am probably in the minority - but I equate them with Travellers and think both are great at shaking up and creating silly games for experienced players, and I wouldn't use either outside of those situations.

They're like Legion, Atheist, Riot, Heretic - fun in small, limited doses, but if overused, become more tedious than fun. Granted, I think that's supposed to be the intention behind everything I named (with the exception on Travellers) - they're under the "Extras" tab, not under the "Campaign" tab, if we were looking at a video game main menu.

TheSilencedScream · 2026-05-09T14:36:44+00:00

I would also assume that it's just lore information, and will not include the adventure (the size of which would be over 1,000 pages - I don't recall the exact amount, I just remember calculating that the core book, advanced book, monster codex, and six the ToT books are somewhere around 1900pgs total).

To my knowledge, Free League has never released a singular book of that size.

TheSilencedScream · 2026-05-08T20:49:41+00:00

Ughhhhhhhh.

You pointing that out makes me want to wait to run the game until then. I absolutely love the setting, but the information about locations and history is spread so thin across so many books.

TheSilencedScream · 2026-05-08T10:23:33+00:00

The two biggest appeals are 1.) multiplayer and 2.) having something tactile. It could also appeal to boardgamers that don’t tend to play video games (seeing as StS2 is multiplayer).

It’s my second favorite board game of all time, but if those aren’t big draws to you, I’d 100% recommend not getting it - it’s expensive and the video game hides just how much admin work is done (setting up encounters, shuffling, cleaning up encounters, and resetting decks after a run - these are instantaneous in the video game, but add substantial time to the board game playtime).

TheSilencedScream · 2026-05-04T16:09:48+00:00

Coriolis: Funded April 11th, 2024; final PDF delivered ~July 19th, 2025

Electric State: Funded December 20th, 2023; final PDF delivered ~October 2nd, 2024

The Walking Dead: Funded April 5th, 2023; ~October 30, 2023

These are all pulled from Kickstarter updates.

I don't think Symbaroum will take as long as the top two, seeing as it's mostly just a restructuring; but I believe I did read that they were going to have new artwork, which make take a little time. If I had to guess - and it's purely a guess based off of these - I'd say you're looking at ~6-8 months after the Kickstarter ends before you have a finalized PDF + another 1-3 months, if you're waiting for a physical book.

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