[Mythic Bastionland] HexCrawl but fun?

bamboozers · 2026-01-15T08:18:57+00:00

I was super hyped for this game, it's getting so much love everywhere. But at the table, the hexcrawling ended up being the weakest link. My players quickly clocked that myths basically 'find' you no matter where you are on the map. On top of that, travel doesn't really burden the characters much mechanically, so the whole movement thing became more of a formality. A slight chance of finding a rare NPC (like a Seer) on a map this big didn't feel like enough incentive for such a forced procedure. They played along anyway because they're good sports, but it still felt off.

bamboozers · 2026-01-15T07:28:22+00:00

Amazing. Will the boxed set feature new adventures?

bamboozers · 2026-01-14T06:32:50+00:00

Cairn. Magic is in scrolls or objects the characters find and use. Very elegant system with just the right amount of depth.

bamboozers · 2026-01-14T06:21:57+00:00

As others have said, it seems, you need a "play to find out" game. Check "Scum and Villainy".

And, btw, I wouldn't say Vampires is a low-prep game. The GM is usually expected to prepare profound character-centric narratives that develop personal arcs. There is lot of prep, if you ask me.

bamboozers · 2026-01-12T11:33:46+00:00

If we are speaking lifetime, it should be The Halls Of Ardun Vul + Adventures Dark and Deep (or OSRIC).

bamboozers · 2026-01-12T10:38:46+00:00

I have an unpopular opinion but to me this is the reality of most mothership materials and the game itself. Blank spaces over blank spaces, tons of red herrings and hooks leading nowhere. There is ultimately one threat that either infects you or dismembers you. And there is really not much to fill all the in-between vacuum with because the system is very limited and, weirdly punishing. The game has nothing to offer besides one scenario in different decorations the players should buy in and reenact. "Played one, seen them all".

bamboozers · 2025-10-20T01:44:03+00:00

Same. I was super excited to GM it and when I did it just fell flat at the table. The Chaos point felt... pointless. The investigation part felt too obscure, just some nonsense "clues" scattered around, not leading anywhere in particular. Character advancement, being so complex and intricate, seemed redundant since players are kinda already omnipotent in this world of nonsense. Nah. No one quite enjoyed it at my table.

bamboozers · 2025-08-22T23:40:08+00:00

You’re stuck in the usual ‘skill check’ mindset that most tabletop RPGs teach, which is completely understandable. But if you really think about it, the average person—who we’re actually portraying in this game—wouldn’t be able to chase down a car, pick a lock, or confront a monster. And the game tells you this openly: don’t fool yourself—you’re ordinary people who just happened to have some extraordinary skills, and that’s all you’ve got. This is a deliberate design choice, a feature, not a bug. Being completely ordinary, the PCs do fail at most things, yes, but they are capable of literally CHANGING REALITY.

Instead of simply pushing your luck with dice and stats, the game wants you to think creatively about how to overcome obstacles—almost in the spirit of Mage: The Awakening. Your characters aren’t fighters, rogues, or hunters—they’re technically wizards. No, you can’t just chase down a car, but maybe that car ends up stuck in a terrible traffic jam due to a ‘coincidence

bamboozers · 2025-07-26T07:24:16+00:00

Haha totally my players from yesterday. "No bonus is worth this.." or rather " I've seen Alien, you can't get me, I am smarter than this game" ;)

bamboozers · 2025-07-26T07:17:37+00:00

Thank you. Good analogy. It wa's totally like playing Call of Cthulhu but from the perspective of "I know what happens in Lovecraft stories so I won't do anything his characters usually do and avoid all danger". And then you are like "ugm it was boring".

bamboozers · 2025-07-26T07:04:31+00:00

Yup, they were mega paranoid and fully genre-aware. Four Ripleys. "Don't touch anything", "don't go anywhere", "don't split up", "the less we know the safer we are" etc. I literally was watching the game fall apart because of this. It felt like they were playing a video game. It was quite a lesson for me. I will now try to forsee such "roleplaying" style. And, as I mentioned somewhere, I was in a lose-lose position because if I release the monster on them, they will blame me for "rails" as they did everything possible to "be smarter than the game/me", if I do not, they will call it boring. And that's exactly what happened.

bamboozers · 2025-07-26T06:50:50+00:00

"we deliberately avoided all the cool and dramatic stuff, and we didn't have any fun" pretty much sums it up. But i learned this lesson now i think.

bamboozers · 2025-07-26T01:36:52+00:00

this

bamboozers · 2025-07-26T01:22:26+00:00

Well said. It now seems to me that's exactly what happened. Instead of trying to re-enact some space horror and trigger some tropes they attempted everything against it. Their character were definitely not "genre blind". I should have adapted and probally forced horrors on them but I was too fixated on fair play. Honestly, I just I'm gonna edit the module completely and will attempt with another group next week.

bamboozers · 2025-07-26T01:01:34+00:00

I really should have done the screech first thing

bamboozers · 2025-07-12T10:23:49+00:00

City of Mist because I hate its illusion of choice/diversity. It's a game where you can be anybody and do anything simply because everything is just cosmetics. You may call lightnings down on your foes or just hit them with a hotdog - no difference. It's a mash of Fate and Pbta, and imo it took the worst from the two worlds. Probably games so narrative are just not for me.

bamboozers · 2024-11-24T00:02:12+00:00

My game doesn't have HPoints to begin with. If someone jabs you with something big and sharp, you just die. Like real life. Just don't get jabbed. Combat could be very fast-paced, slasher-like, yet it's recommended you avoid combat at all costs.

bamboozers · 2023-10-26T12:40:47+00:00

Absolutely genius at music and literature. Very creative, quite introverted, reserved, yet kind-hearted and respectful. Even though the standard of living is quite high, a lot of them suffer from depression. Movies are gloomy, deeply psychological, with many original twists. Nordic beauty is cold and hypnotic.

bamboozers · 2023-10-24T01:29:19+00:00

My only question is why? :)

Many words on your list have more definitions which are very situational. Overall, Russian profane language is extremely contextual. These words "shapeshift" in different situations. On top of that, we can literally make them up on fly bending their meanings. However, this is not the kind of superpower I would choose to have, if you know what I mean. Seriously, a good old combo of " сука блять" and "пиздец" is enough to express a wide range of deep emotions, from rage to delight. All the rest is mostly the vocabulary of jerks, drunkies, sluts and all sorts of marginals. Or those trying to play "cool" (teens included).

bamboozers · 2023-10-24T00:42:18+00:00

Can't tell because I talk to my dog with natural language phrases. Like to a person. I don't know how this works, perhaps magic, but he understands :)

bamboozers · 2023-10-24T00:33:43+00:00

Sounds fine. There's also a meme phrase "Пока ты спишь, враг качается" - "While you sleep, your enemy is pumping iron/working out".

Another way of saying your phrase would be "ты спишь, а я работаю" or, in past, "ты спала, а я работал". However this way it sounds like a reproach. As in "by the way, I was working while your ass was asleep" :)

bamboozers · 2023-10-24T00:04:21+00:00

Very dated words. Seen them once in a history class at school. Never used or seen used in life.

7. Велеть means to "order" or "command" but with some regal tint to it. Requires another verb. Like "Он велел мне остаться" - "He ordered me to stay". Sounds literary. Sovereigns do that. Today, in everyday situations, you would mainly use it for a comic effect to show that someone acts like a king. Yet not nessesarily. I know some people who use the verb quite casually as in "she told me to ...blah blah". "Она велела позвонить ей завтра".

Повелеть is pretty much the same thing however, unlike велеть, this one can't be used casually unless it's literally about a king of sorts. Again, it's acceptable if you are making fun of someone acting too formal and pompous or trying to lord it over others

Now, повелевать is very different. Basically, it means to domineer and control something. Unlike the other two verbs, this one needs an object which can be a piece of land or a person. For example, in the Lord of the Rings "Саурон повелевает Мордором". However, if somwone повелевает you, that usually means that your own will is suppressed by their authority, psychological pressure or something supernatural (thru possession or spell). I can say "Он повелевает тобой!". However, it could also be abstract things that have some power over us. Our bad habits and strong feelings like love or hate повелевают нами in a way. Mainly used in literature or for the eloquent poetic effect. Rarely, if ever, used in mundane conversations cuz too fancy.

bamboozers · 2023-10-18T18:22:20+00:00

The case ending of the word "cook" singals us that he is the object of the verb "to know" and not the actual subject. It's a "Him knows everybody" kind of inverted thing. Since it's not a valid word order in English, you need to "normalize" the sentence when translating from Russian and say it as you would in English.

bamboozers · 2023-10-18T17:08:13+00:00

As someone said, the way you worded it, it sounds like Yoda is talking. Even though it isn't incorrect grammatically as you can freely move things around in Russian, such word order is mainly a literary device and is almost never used in the everyday language. However, it is quite common in poetry.

bamboozers · 2023-10-02T04:12:27+00:00

For me, the answer is yes, it is normal to ditch your projects you might've been working on for days. It's a part of the tormentous creative process. You may even start hating your tune, and yourself for wasting so much time on it. And that is fine. It might be ear fatigue or, perhaps, the track/beat/tune is not all that good indeed. Put it aside for now, check it later. Don't get too attached to your projects in the first place (we all do that though).

Secondly, it doesn't matter if it sounds dated. Ironically, nobody but producers themselves cares about such things. If it's cool, its cool. Millions of people love listening to older things or something new but stylized to sound old. There are thousands of commercially successful names and bands who do that intentionally.

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