Two and a half years ago I wrote a series of posts about adapting Cortex Prime for Star Wars. I've had some sessions and learned some lessons since then, not just about StarCortexPrimeWars but also about what parts of the expansive Cortex toolkit work best for me. As usual, preferences vary, I'm not your dad, do what you like. Let's go.
Finding the right words is worth it, especially when they're going on a character sheet. Take the time to nail the right vibe and your games will be better for it.
Again with the car chases. After several attempts across multiple ad-hoc systems, I think I've twisted the excellent ttrpg toolkit Cortex Prime into something that'll run satisfying car chases.
My Mad Max-gone-Fast & Furious board game project is finally good enough to play. It's a light card game that uses commonly-available 1/64 scale cars (like Hot Wheels or Matchbox) and plays great with kids. Check it out (for free or PWYW) on itch.io!
My Thunder Road / JUNK'D homage game sat on the back burner for a long time until my kids got interested in Fast & Furious: Spy Racers on Netflix. I decided to bring out the XPS foam road segments and make a fun racing game that was less Mad Max and more kid-friendly. I'm still … Continue reading Fast & Fury Road: Spy Racers
I followed the principles laid out in my recent post about getting car chases into tabletop rpgs and ended up with this mildly-playtested rules system.
I'm working on another game, because tinkering with otherwise perfectly functional games is part of the hobby for me.
Car chases in TTRPGs continue to be my white whale. I've watched a ton of car chases in movies, real life, and video games, but the problem is you don't often read car chases. It's primarily a visual spectacle, and so the challenge in translating a good chase to a roleplaying game lies in finding where the decision points are.
The Earth in doomed in Insomniacs, but how it's doomed is up to you and your group. The Kurzgesagt youtube channel continues to be an invaluable source of information on existential threats, mass extinctions, and productive nihilism. Here are a few choice options that either made it into Insomniacs more or less directly, or were inspirations for some of the doomsday scenarios or exoplanets.
I wrote up a very light PbtA game about mischievous animals trying to act like people and generally committing low stakes crimes in the process. The fever dream prototype of this game turned out to be the perfect fit for the roleplaying club I ran for elementary schoolers last year.
Never get out of the car
Never get out of the car
Never get out of the car
Never get out of the car
the alien art of designer joshua a.c. newman
Hacking OSR, 5e, and Mini games
Never get out of the car
Never get out of the car
Never get out of the car
novelist
Mostly about games, but with occasional detours into other nerdy territories.
Deep reads, analysis, and talk about small press roleplaying
game design musings from the VSCA
Urban adventuring and all that baggage
Never get out of the car
Don't Roll a One 