Monday Musings #105 🤬
Musings and dreams and the circus...the flying kind.
Good Monday, Gamer!
"Dreams are illustrations... from the book your soul is writing about you."
— Marsha Norman, Bard
My dream table?
Six to eight IRL sessions with a crew of Burning Wheel veterans. One quest-style arc. We play for keeps and then burn it all down. No strings, no campaigns dragging into forever.
What about you?
🧙♂️ Who (or what) would sit at your dream TTRPG table?
📜 What game would you play?
💫 What kind of story would unfold?
Fictional characters? Real-life heroes? Living or dead? All’s fair — this is your dream table. Hit reply and let me know — I’ll post some in a future Musing!
📚 ICYMI
Here’s what’s buzzing in the tabletop sphere and beyond:
🎙️ Roll for Origin: Supers RPG History
Lowell Francis (of Hearts of Wulin fame) and I dig deep into the roots of superhero RPGs. We start with that Riddler of a game, Superhero 2044. It’s not what you might expect.And Evil Hat has announced Tomb Raiders Fate… I’d been following this a bit, I’m excited to see what Team Evil Hat does next.
If not for the company, I probably would’ve skipped playing Flying Circus.
My friend Gary is running it, and there are two other folks I enjoy gaming with. Additionally, I’m digging the new-to-me player; he keeps a flask in his bionic leg.
Flying Circus (by Erika Chappell) is a tabletop RPG of mecha dogfights, muddy boots, and post-WWI adventuring through the skies inspired by the works of Hayao Miyazaki. Crimson Skies, Porco Rosso, and plane maintenance feelz! One of the most detailed and crunchy Powered by the Apocalypse games I’ve encountered, and I’m lovin' it!
I’m playing Nat Purell, a Survivor flying the Ersatz — a piecemeal plane held together by hope and welds. He signs on with a traveling circus crew. These folks have hammocks, food, tools... and even gave Nat a 3-Tollar bonus and tuned up his plane.
The first thing I loved?
Nat starts with the move Masked — he wears his chem-mask until he feels safe (tracked by a progress bar).
Once safe, he unlocks the Comfort Item, which comes with another progress track. Guess what that one does? Brilliant.
3-Card Stories: Forgotten Places
This week’s Tarot pull comes from my Adventurer Tarot Deck (WIP, patent pending).
Theme: A Delve into Forgotten Places
Card 1: 9 of Lore – Disaster (Failure)
A sealed archive collapsed. Magic still leaks.Card 2: The Tower (Partial Success)
This was sabotage. The culprit survived.Card 3: Knight of Swords – Outpost (Full Success)
A forward base has been hastily constructed near the collapse. Tension and secrets simmer.
A disaster site is drawing scavengers, scholars, and soldiers. But the real danger isn’t buried — it’s walking among them.
🤷🏾♂️ Promos?
Yes, I’m open to promos, ads, sponsorships… but I’m a snob. I can’t pimp razors I don’t use, or stuff that isn’t even 2-degress from gaming…like booty wipes! Yet, those are the offers I get! Where’s the scotch, man!
What I can vouch for:
🎲 Mad-Dice App — My lightweight dice/chat app for remote or in-person games. Try it out and roll with me, baby! (h/t Del Amitri)
📬 Subscribe to The Backroom: Play Fearless — behind-the-scenes posts, stuff in chaos, thoughts for the curious.
Catch ya next week!
This week reminded me how much the people at the table shape the game. Whether it’s a crunchy dogfighting RPG or little folks trying to take over the divers guild of the Kitchen realms (my household game of Household RPG), the table is everything.
I’d love to hear from you this week:
What’s your dream table?
What’s inspiring your games right now?