Monday Musings #75 🤬
Musing about XCrawl, Foundry updates and a birthday.
Good Monday, Gamer!
"Winter is coming, and so is my next saving throw." –S. Bean, unlucky player.
I thought I was done with Dungeon Crawl Classics after playing Black Sun Deathcrawl many years ago at a late-night con session. It wasn’t a bad experience by any stretch, but man, it was an experience! I figured that was my DCC phase complete, done, and tee shirt. But then this week, I got to play in a game of DCC XCrawl—just BONKERS! Think dungeon crawling as a reality TV show, complete with announcers, sponsors, and over-the-top antics. It’s loud, wild, and leans fully into the absurdity of the premise. And it was a blast! I don’t know if I’ll ever run it, but playing it was pure chaotic fun.
Foundry VTT Adventures (and Maintenance Woes)
This week also marked Foundry VTT maintenance time. I’m not usually an early adopter for updates, especially mid-campaign, but with The One Ring online sessions around the corner, I figured I’d take the plunge and upgrade to the latest version.
Since I host my own instance of Foundry, this meant cracking open the terminal for some light server sorcery to pull everything down and sort it out. Then came the inevitable audit: which systems, modules, and plugins still work after the upgrade? Not everything is backward-friendly, and every update means losing a couple of cherished tools. It’s the price we pay for progress, I suppose. The setup’s working smoothly now, though, so The One Ring sandbox campaigns are ready to roll for Dec.
Happy Birthday, Max! 🎉
Max turns 17 this week. I’m still wrapping my head around how far we’ve come from those early days of playing "Hey, That’s My Fish" to him being the voice behind the Diceology podcast intro. Feels like just a few weekends ago he was a little dude rolling his first dice.
For his birthday, Max has asked me to run Black Void RPG. He somehow got his hands on the book, read it, gave me the run-down, and is fully on board with its weird, Babylonian-inspired cosmic horror setting where humanity has taken a great fall. I read through the Quickstart over the weekend, and while it’s pretty trad-looking at its core, the background lore and its use of the D12 make it stand out. He’s hyped, so I’m hyped. I’m hoping we can record the session and turn it into an actual play episode for the podcast—stay tuned!
Speaking of Podcasts...
Judd Karlman (Daydreaming About Dragons) and I got behind the mic for a year-end wrap-up episode. We talked about the games that left an impact on us this year and the ones that, despite our best efforts, didn’t quite make it to the table. Always a joy chatting games with Judd. And speaking of podcast shenanigans, I may or may not have done a thing with the Titterpigs RPG Podcast crew recently—more on that soon.
Moldy Worlds, Mecha Nostalgia, and More
Saw an excellent piece from the Curious Archive on Moldy Worlds—world-building in post-apocalyptic settings. Naturally, Elden Ring came up (because what doesn’t remind us of Elden Ring these days?), but it was a great watch and got me thinking about how decay and ruins shape storytelling in RPGs.
I rediscovered Teknoman, a mecha anime I vaguely remember watching years ago. Turns out it’s way bigger than I realized (AKA Tekkaman Blade), with episodes I somehow completely missed. I’m now on a full binge, catching up on what I didn’t even know I needed in my life right now!
That’s it for this week’s musings! What have you been playing, watching, or rediscovering lately? Let me know—I’m always on the lookout for new shenanigans to dive into!
Catch you next week! 🎲
Nov:
RPGKC Monthly - Balin’s Moria Expedition.
Dec:
Running The One Ring: Balin’s Expeditions online via Foundry VTT.
PAXU!! Lifted: Indomitable
Games on Demand
RPG Designer Meet & Greet
PANELS!!!