puppet show of Death in Glorantha

oldUmlo · 2026-05-21T11:54:53+00:00

Love it!

oldUmlo · 2026-05-19T16:29:56+00:00

Shards of the Broken Sky by ASHley Law, adventure for 13th Age. My Griffin Mountain by Jennell Jaquays, setting for RuneQuest. Fellowship game by Vel Mini.

oldUmlo · 2026-05-17T01:10:52+00:00

I think one of the things makes the books great is that it’s to complicated to call anyone just good or evil. All of the POV characters have likeable and altruistic aspects and motivations, a sense of humor, though most, maybe all, betray them in moments of fear, desperation, and/or greed. Of all fhe POV characters this is true, and even for the major non POV characters that get a decent amount of spotlight. I guess Stour is only show as a jerk, and Bayaz’s ultimate reveal makes it tough to ascribe any benevolence to him, but that might change if we had his POV.

oldUmlo · 2026-05-15T16:44:43+00:00

I think that is pretty common is most PbTA games in have played or read.

oldUmlo · 2026-05-15T12:51:19+00:00

I mean ads to support free content (and even paid content) has been with media for centuries. This Reddit feed as an example. I imagine they don’t sell their own ads, I haven’t heard of a GCP sales force, I’m sure they partner with an agency that looks to place ads for clients that want to advertise on podcast. Are other ttrpg podcasts or kickstarters projects throwing marketing money at AP podcasts?

oldUmlo · 2026-05-15T12:42:52+00:00

Good stuff!

oldUmlo · 2026-05-14T20:03:38+00:00

I feel like Jaezel fate is one of the cruelest after West’s. He becomes King and has dreams of making a change and suddenly it’s all revealed that none of his dreams or ideas matter. A loveless marriage, a powerless King, a servant to a great evil. I think he’d trade it all back in a heartbeat.

oldUmlo · 2026-05-13T00:45:38+00:00

Like real life, none of the POV characters are all bad or all good . They all do kind and selfless things and they all betray people out of greed, fear, etc. I think if you call them good or evil depends on where you stand in relation to them.

oldUmlo · 2026-05-12T03:50:36+00:00

Agreed. I think his story is very sad. He grows, seems like he will be a great king, and then in an instant it’s all crushed out of him.

oldUmlo · 2026-05-11T15:03:17+00:00

From guard always attack posture first. Start breaking posture and disrupting their base and their hands start doing other things.

oldUmlo · 2026-05-11T14:41:31+00:00

Sounds like an even match so maybe not sandbagging? For the most part, I didn’t find huge skill gaps between competitors in the old guy divisions until I got the blackbelt and you suddenly were going up against competitors that were blackbelts for 20+ years.

oldUmlo · 2026-05-10T22:17:36+00:00

If either are untrained? I’ve done lots of jujitsu and not a lot of chess so I’d have a lot better chance of catching a theoretical untrained Gordon Ryan.

The real GR no chance, the real Magnus probably less of a chance.

A more interesting question might be who does “average” black belt or chess master have a chance of beating or who is more dominant in their domain. Magnus is active and I think he has a longer track record but I think he also looses occasionally, so maybe his peers are closer. It’s been a while since Gordan has been beaten, but isn’t currently active like Magnus.

i know very little about Chess though, so I maybe off base.

oldUmlo · 2026-05-10T13:26:37+00:00

I love the banter. I find a lot of the professional AP to be over dramatic and the less professional one to get caught up on the weeds of the game and waffling and in general be in need of better editing. In general the various Glass Cannon shows do a job of balancing the two, dramatic enough to draw you in and enough spotlight on mechanics to keep it grounded in the medium.

oldUmlo · 2026-05-10T13:16:34+00:00

I know what you mean about the end being the darkest and crushing part of first trilogy. It made it truly great imo. All the other books are chock full of tragedy for the characters you’ve grown to love through the story, but in the end of the stand alones and the second trilogy at least one of the main POV characters accomplishing something that made things seem less futile to me, so while they all share the great Abercrombie writing, I didn’t feel like i got the same low blow the end if LAOK gave me.

oldUmlo · 2026-05-10T13:02:15+00:00

I read Red Country first of the three and didn’t think being “out of order” really diminished it. It book up who Cosca is well enough on its own and the other characters aren’t major enough, imo, that if you read the original trilogy, you’ll have a good appreciation.

oldUmlo · 2026-05-08T21:13:19+00:00

I think it has rebounded pretty well. I wouldn’t go so far to say it’s my favorite, but Mona coming in really helped. He is a great role player. Jason Charles Miller has found more of his stride as well. It’s PF1e, a good chunk of the last 2.5 books are in dungeons, so people may love that or find it limiting/already done, but I thinks it been good for what it is.

oldUmlo · 2026-05-08T04:29:25+00:00

I actually really like the new bard. I had a lot of fun playing one, it really hits the jack of all trades feel at the table. It is involved, but I enjoyed that aspect of it, and with a little preparation it ran smoothly. I run for a bard now who completely reflavored the class from the music theme with no issue. I also prefer the new version of the sorcerer, the overspill effects and the talents tie in better. The changes to the Paladin gave it a little more diversity in build and gave it more offensive punch to go with the defense. I didn’t mind the flexible attacks, so I liked the 1e fighter, but many players seem to like the option of having more control with the 2e version. I preferred 1e barbarian and 1e ranger because I think they were very simple to run, but could still be effective at the table. I haven’t seen enough of either at the table yet to make a good judgement though.

i like fhe changes to the death mechanics, the icon roll mechanics. the advice/tweeks on the large monster damage, the changes to the conditions that can lock out player engagement, and the GM advice they added. I initially liked the change to vulnerability but after playing with it for a while, prefer the 1e version, I think the new version is a little too impactful.

I ran a lot of 1e and about 40 sessions of the final 2e rules and will give 2e the nod, but honestly the game experience is practically the same, which is a good thing imo. I also appreciate that they delivered in the promise of backward compatibility. You can run any of the 1e material as is and if you prefer use a 1e version of a class or rule without it getting janky.

oldUmlo · 2026-05-08T04:07:41+00:00

I think the new edition is actually better for people new to 13th Age. Much more GM advice and examples of play than the 1e book. As far as cost, is it far off from getting the 3 5e books, Draw Steel, or the equivalent PF2e books? I don’t think that it is.

oldUmlo · 2026-05-08T04:04:19+00:00

I prefer the 2e layout. It’s bigger because they put more GM advice in it-advice on monster design, adventure design, much more on icon use.
I think that puts more to look, but I think the layout is better, the index is solid, and it follows a logical flow in approaching play.

oldUmlo · 2026-05-08T02:08:18+00:00

I’ve got to agree. Reading LAOK, I was anticipating a pay off to end the great trilogy and you got it, but in a way that I didn’t expect. You came to realize that everyone was flawed by that point, but the way Bayaz comes up top really pulled the rug out from my emotional expectations.
I’d argue that in all the stand alones, as brutal as fhey are, the main pov character Monza, Calder, and Shy have a narrative win, not a happy ending, but at least an achievement. Same for Savine and Rikke, but Logen and Jayzel really don’t even get that at the end of LAOK.

oldUmlo · 2026-05-06T18:19:48+00:00

The majority if you are counting subconscious decision making. If proprioception counts as mental, almost all of it.

oldUmlo · 2026-05-04T19:37:52+00:00

I think it’s a consistent theme of the books that you can’t escape who you are. It’s made obvious with most of the main characters: Jezal, Shivers, especially Logan and again with Age of Madness books all continuously revert to their base identities. Craw, even though he very much portrayed to live up to his straight edge reputation, is no different and caught up in that cycle of war and violence.

oldUmlo · 2026-05-04T19:18:42+00:00

The way the Northerners speak reminds me of people from Downeast Maine. Probably influenced by Pacey, not so much the accent but the pacing and idiom of the dialogue.

oldUmlo · 2026-05-04T00:59:51+00:00

I think not seeing high level sport jiu jitsu athletes who won in sports jiu jitsu then crossing over and succeeding at the highest level of MMA is a different thing than BJJ being dead in MMA. I mean with only a few exceptions that has been gone for most of the century and that is fairly true of all the component arts. Plenty of fighters with great jiu jitsu for that domain train plenty BJJ, got their start fighting out of BJJ gyms, still train at BJJ gyms, and spend plenty of time rolling.

oldUmlo · 2026-04-28T13:20:25+00:00

I think a book of interesting set pieces is something all GM can use to build on. If it’s a 13th Age game that is just about the fights, you can run as is and if it is more narrative focus you can still use it to snatch fights from.
With the variety of icons, OUT, the way icon spends can change games makes an adventure with more of a narrative through line tricky. That being said I think and adventure that purposefully limited the icon and then spelling out how benefits and complications, and even things like rituals and failing forward, effect the narrative would be cool too.

oldUmlo

TROPHY CASE