Tag: horror
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Thirty-Three. Jasper: Sea Wall
I wasn’t normally someone who got seasick. The coast near Shrain, though, was hostile and intent on breaking me of that delusion. It had seemed routine, friendly, even. The rain was slow, steady at first, but in minutes turned to waves of water to mimic the waves beneath the ship. The ship rolled and bobbed…
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Thirty-Two. Ivo: Darkwell
Our shadows seemed weighed down by foreboding events, so we decided to cast them off by stopping in Byhre on our way. We stopped in the apartment for some much appreciated time in luxury, without our packs on our shoulders, or someone else watching us. It was raining, of course, but it had stopped briefly…
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Thirty-One. Sasha: Eternal
I recalled the first night on the road because my dreams weren’t nightmares. Usually, there and back on the Soot Road, even if we were camping off the side of the road, nights regularly featured tossing and turning, our minds polluted by abstract, half-remembered shapes that we only knew enough that they woke us up…
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Mystery Rules in Action: A Session Case Study and Campaign Diary
I just realized today that I didn’t post anything last night, so here’s an analysis of the story so far in my recent ttrpg system test. In my last Lessons from Collaboration post, I talked about mystery writing and rules in tabletop rpgs, examining the Alexandrian’s 3 Clue Rule. If you’ve missed that, it’s a…
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Lessons from Collaboration 2: Mysteries
In case you missed the last post, this is a sequence of excerpts from conversations I had with a friend who wanted help and inspiration to create their first adventure. I’ve sampled the pieces that are the most useful, and added a few post-thoughts of my own. Talking about puzzles last time got me talking…
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Fictional Science 2
Hello again, I checked the clock last night and realized I needed to go to sleep immediately, even though I forgot to post on Sunday. I think it might have been because I got to do another test run of my game system, so I was pretty out of gas and running catch up the…
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Thirty. Not Alone
As I stepped out into the dark, cold air, I reminded myself that night time was our time. That was something I’d always learned to say to myself. Lately, though, it’d become less comforting. Night time was their time too. They had more power during it, and more power during the day, too. We didn’t…
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A Look Behind the Screen: Lessons from Collaboration
Last week I had the unexpected pleasure of helping one of my friends plan their first original one-shot D&D adventure. Unexpected for me as it was, I also surprised myself at my own excitement and resources I have pooled over the years that might be helpful to rookie DMs. I did end up writing a…
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Twenty-Nine. Jasper: Watchers in the Dark
When we left the castle I couldn’t help but feel defeated. Ivo had told me, in pieces, about what had occurred in the alternate time that he prevented. “I was thinking all these horrible things,” he said suddenly. I waited for a moment, thinking that maybe he would elaborate, but he didn’t. I wondered if…
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Twenty-Eight. Ivo: The Dark Court of Crimson
There was the burn of light that happened when one was pulled through space between spaces. Jasper held up her light. Albert, that treacherous asshole, crept forward in a remarkably cat-like way, as the light revealed the corner of a figure in the gloom. Pale, wet skin stretched over a curled spine as the man…