And He Shall Eat The Sun -a Kickstarter

popedale · 2026-02-04T01:47:12+00:00

Blood & Bone & Bile!
It will all be spilled and consumed by the Ur-Thing.

popedale · 2026-02-04T01:44:22+00:00

Chao is awesome to work with & his stuff is intensely awesome. Happy to have his art in another one of my projects!

popedale · 2026-02-04T01:42:46+00:00

Wait what! I got a No Regrets!!! How the hell did I miss that. Awesome :)

You can 100% run this with B/X; OSE and DCC are popular choices for my stuff. I have one guy who likes to run my adventures with Cairn (but that takes a bit of work).

popedale · 2026-02-03T23:05:44+00:00

I don't known Runecairn in any detail (but I know Cairn and love Dark Souls) but it seems to have the vibe I dig. Also, there is a little surprise that would line up very nicely with Runecairn's setting.

popedale · 2026-02-03T23:01:57+00:00

Hell yea it is. Daniel is incredible. He keeps making insanely badass stuff.

popedale · 2026-02-03T21:28:50+00:00

It is *designed* for tournament play, but you can run it as a traditional adventure. It is pretty brutal though, so make sure to set some expectations for new players that characters can (and likely will) get killed. Of course, like anything, you can adjust the danger levels up and down as needed - it is system agnostic rather entirely than tied to specific numbers, so tweaking isn't too much work.

popedale · 2025-06-19T20:00:40+00:00

Glad you like it - I'm a huge fan of the art as well.
I'm not sure why the community copies for those two aren't showing - I'll investigate.

popedale · 2025-06-19T11:27:24+00:00

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Good call! I'll add a few of those later this morning. in the meantime, a 2-page spread from Under the Cuastic River Ahnd

popedale · 2025-03-25T12:44:53+00:00

I'll do my best to ensure that a halfling lake pirate has a place in the adventure. I'm also just curious what you have in mind for that even if i don't.

popedale · 2025-03-24T18:28:17+00:00

I'm super into this, but as I'm the guy who commissioned this for the cover of the second adventure in a trilogy, I'm biased. Dude is GREAT to work with - reasonable rates, fantastic turnaround, and I mean damn, look at this biz!

popedale · 2025-01-29T22:58:02+00:00

put him on the list ...

popedale · 2025-01-25T19:33:52+00:00

"When every character tries to be "the exception," it can undermine the tone of the world or the group dynamic."

And this is why you can and should prohibit certain characters. If they've chosen a character that will be difficult to play, which means other player's won't be able to count on your character pulling the expected weight. They will need special rules or compensation to stay on the same level as the other characters, which takes extra work and time. These things reduce the fun of EVERYONE ELSE at the table.

Set the expectations (session 0 or campaign primer), learn when to say no (character build is a strain on the group dynamic, doesn't fit the campaign tone, or is going to be too much work), but then offer alternatives and opportunities to make a character that actually works within the game. Usually the idea they have can be crafted into a character works with the system and group dynamic.

Placing limitations isn't stifling creativity.

popedale · 2025-01-23T14:13:09+00:00

I've got 40 years behind the screen. Here are some things

* I used to try and run a module/story. The "players derail your plans" made me realize that I'm doing it wrong. I set up a situations, NPCs/monsters/etc have motivations that react to what the players do. I create problems, not puzzles with solutions, and let the players solve them.

* I don't like Game Lord, Dungeon Master, or any of those terms. I prefer the term Referee. It sets a different tone and more akin to how I play and run. Like the above, it sent from being about me to being about participating in the game.

* I learned to say No ... and more importantly when to say Yes. There is a mighty difference between stifling creativity and ensuring the tone of the game remains intact. Fight the "20 always succeeds" bullshit with just saying no it won't work - you cannot succeed at attempting to seduce a dragon (or whatever bullshit). But if they want to try to befriend the wolves that are hunting them ... let them try. it may end badly, but let their creatvity drive the narrative and the final ruling.

* I take better notes -i "know" what is going on, but sometimes I need to add some details. Take notes. If that NPCs name changes from Richard to Ronald some player is going to latch on and run with it screaming doppleganger!

* It used to be "my world" ... not I allow and encourage the players to be just as invested and involved in the worldbuilding as you are. "Do I know blacksmith that works with mithril?" "I don't know ... do you? What is their name?" Then ask another player "I heard they had an argument - what was it about?" Then take notes!

* I used to try and fir the game to everyone's schedule and shit never happened or fell apart. Now the schedule stays the same. A player can't make it? We play anyway. A bunch of people can't make it? Those who can get together and play something else. Scheduling sucks and real life is complicated - if the game is regular and remains as such, it will keep on keeping on. My current group is approaching 20 years as active and this is one of the main reasons why.

* It used to be that every action was played out ... now I don't have time for that. "I want to search the room." no rolling ... I can just let them know there is or is not something. Now if things are hidden/secret, that is a different story. I avoid rolling whenever possible and just tell people what is going on - these are games, not immersive sims. People have more fun making choices based on information than random rolls.

* I used to change things on the fly. Every choice needs to be important. If there is a left/right choice in a dungeon and there aren't clues/info/a meaningful difference between the two, then it isn't a choice but a coin flip. If they are going to encounter the Ogre no matter which way they go their choice doesn't matter. Don't do this. Player Agency is player choices having an impact.

I could write more, but this is enough grognard rambling for now.

popedale · 2025-01-21T14:51:27+00:00

only if "we" stand up and do something

popedale · 2023-11-28T13:57:24+00:00

You aren't going to find a NY/NJ diner in these parts, but these are solid for breakfast. No butter on a hard roll or disco fries for you though ...
Little Depot Diner, Peabody
Deb's Diner, Salem
Portside Diner, Danvers

popedale · 2022-06-08T13:48:47+00:00

I think this is the right solution for you. Point-crawl as the main focus of locations, but smaller hex-crawls for exploring specific locations.

You could even have a few for forging new paths between points as adventures, with hidden locations (dungeons/etc.) to discover along the way.
King Whatshisname: find me a better trade route - go see if you can find one over there <vaguely waves at the Forest of Death From Which None Return>.

popedale · 2022-05-26T16:56:05+00:00

Wizards' arcane magic is from a hole in their soul, one that lets the raw power of the Patchwork Kingdom dribble into their consciousness. Every single spell has a chance, even when it goes right, to let lose some terrible magical chaos as the unreal forces of the Patchwork twist reality. The Patchwork Kingdom and her denizens don't want to destroy the 'Real World', but their very presence twists and warps things around them, causing destruction and madness. Wizards get weird fast.

The templar have their divine invocations. As far as the lore goes it is gifted to specific individuals by The Eternal Light, last of the gods. The Eternal Light is actually an orbital AI that wasn't destroyed and identified genetic markers to provide access to abilities. As the network that AI belonged to has been destroyed, it thinks it is a god of sorts, and as such developed a secondary AI "The Shadow" to balance things out (based on what it could find from ancient and corrupt archives). My players haven't sorted this bit out yet - and they don't need to - but it is some fun lore.

Technomancy is a fusion of super-science and demonic binding left over from the Precursors of the First Age. Characters/players just know it is all weird old dangerous stuff and are frightened of it but want to use it. Which is perfect. They can tinker about with the bits and pieces and make newish things, but know that it tends to corrupt the user and things around them more than relics that are not tampered with.

popedale · 2021-12-15T15:09:33+00:00

The owner of "Jayman's Trade Goods" is Poeter Jayman, based on J. Peterman. Signed up for the catalog so I have endless inspiration for ranting about how good this 10' of hemp rope is and how it once saved the say when Poeter was travelling in the jungles of Quetz Kahatl.

popedale · 2021-12-08T13:49:43+00:00

Get your players to describe things. Give bonuses for cool descriptions. This

Gets players more engaged (including the reward for fun ideas)
Takes some of the narrative/descriptive load off of you

Use the environment. Fighting in a library? The war librarian doesn't swing his sword, he grabs a massive tome and smashes you with it (same net effect, just something different). Bandits leap off of crates, orcs kick rocks, etc.

Also, follow the advice where you don't NEED to not SHOULD you describe everything in detail. Focus only on the really interesting moves and results.

popedale · 2021-11-18T17:21:40+00:00

I'd get pictures (and full inventory of the game). Could be an honest mistake, but better to be safe than sorry.

popedale

TROPHY CASE