The Stochastic Game

Ramblings of General Geekery

You supposedly can’t judge a book by its cover, but you can definitely judge it by reading its first couple pages. “Uncovered” does that using free samples and then lets you reveal the book and save it for purchase later.

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This is what’s going on in the Mitchester Arms TTRPG pub tonight… don’t ask.

The Spider-Man / Sauron meme with a few tweaks: Spider-Man: "You can compute Strike Ranks on the fly, and you're using it to turn people into dinosaurs? But with tech like that, you could cure CANCER!" Sauron: "But I don't WANT to cure cancer. I want to play old-school fantasy RPGs!"

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These past couple years I’ve been writing “timetables” for my convention one-shots, so I can better manage pacing and not get rushed at the end. Here’s the one I have for Delta Green’s Operation FULMINATE. Comments welcome!

Delta Green Operation FULMINATE Introduction (00:05) •Social presentations, make name signs •One break or two? Content Warnings? •Who knows about Delta Green? ◦“Call of Cthulhu meets X-Files” ◦Deadly, the truth is often costly or inaccessible ◦BRP-based, percentile dice, etc. Characters (00:10) •Let people pick their character •They can change the gender/backstory/etc. •SAN rolls, Willpower, Bonds, etc. •Remember this is a convention game: ◦We don’t know the difference betweenyour character and yourself. Telegraph your roleplaying. ◦The adventure is straightforward! •Pick a Delta Green cell letter (E to V), pick a codename. Mission Briefing (00:20) •Case information, time limit •Reiterate mission orders Trailhead Ranger Station (00:30) •General area information, lake, trails, dam,ranger station, etc. •Meet the Rangers, meet Brandon •Foreshadow the strangers Freeform Investigation (01:00) •Explore the trails, look for the strangers, fight some zombies, etc. •Brandon has powers? •The rainstorm gets worse! Break (02:00) •Check-in with the players Showdown at the Station (02:10) •Try to get everybody back to the station before night •Brandon’s parents arrive? •The strangers attack? Outro (3:45) •Wrap up, answer questions

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I forgot to watch this but it’s a little bit interesting, at least for fans of Ultima like me: Richard Garriott should be able to get the Ultima copyright back next year. It’s not much (all the juicy stuff is in the trademark, and I think it’s all only for the first game) but it’s still something.

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