#ttrpg

I really do appreciate that the authors were trying to explore settings with a different perspective than the pseudo-European/North American cultural base used for most #DnD settings.

But since this 224 page book is split up between 13 adventures and 15 cultures, the glimpses we get of each culture is so frustratingly brief. As someone who wants their settings to come with lots of details, this would make it difficult for me to bring the cultures in question truly come alive. In lieu of further detail, it might have helped if they had spelled out which culture each setting is based on - in some cases it was fairly easy for me to guess, but in others I was unsure.

I also have to admit, I prefer running campaigns where the PCs largely stay in one particular region rather than traveling around - and when they do travel around, there should be a good reason for why they are doing all this traveling. The 13 adventures in this book do not really have any real connection to each other than their presupposed home base (the Radiant Citadel) - the PCs just show up in some place for whatever reason the GM come up with, and solve some local problem.

Still, the brief glimpses I get of all these worlds are intriguing. And I am curious if any of the original authors have developed their miniature settings further on the Dungeon Master's Guild - I would certainly take a closer look! #ttrpg

The Ink That Bleeds is a fine zine about playing solo rpgs/ journaling game in a way that allows your subconscious lots of input. Paul Czege does a great job at telling how he arrived at this play style, explaining his thoughts on and analysis of it, and giving examples from his actual plays of various journaling games. The zine has a beautiful cover, a clean layout, and a nice feel to it.

The subtitle "how to play immersive journaling games" might be interpreted that Paul describes THE way to play these solo games immersively, but I'm not sure that's an interpretation he would agree with. I'm no expert at immersion, but I think other ways to immersive journal gaming experiences are possible.

That speculation aside, this zine is an introduction to a play style that sounds very interesting. Paul describes a stance and techniques that invite participation of your subconscious. I assume that even with practice, the outcome might partly have the surreal quality of dreams that don't adhere to the logical or narrative standards we're taught to expect, but that rather make sense at a deep, personal level that may need getting used to.

However, I totally want to try it out. Now I just need to find more time for journal gaming! #solorpg #ttrpg #journalgaming #sologaming #journalinggame

This book by @hellcowkeith@dice.camp is not a book that focuses on a specific topic and covers that topic in detail, like the assorted 3.5 books for Eberron did. It is best to see it as a collection of essays on a variety of niche topics - some of which are very niche, such two minor gnome subcultures.

Some of the chapters are broader in scope, and personally I found the chapter on the Overlords, The Dark Six, and the lore and folk-lore about undead the most useful. As an amateur folklorist, I especially appreciated the last one - to run good adventures about monsters, you should not only contemplate their stats, but also what the people within the world know about them, and what kinds of stories they tell.

Fans of Keith Baker's previous work will find plenty to like here, but I see this work to be more for completists rather than a "must have" for Eberron fans.

Still, I suspect that Keith Baker's next work - "Frontiers of Eberron: Quickstone" will be more to my liking, since it is a more focused work on a specific topic and region. And as it happened, it is out right now - so excuse me while I download it. 😉

#ttrpg #dnd #Eberron