I’ve had devils on the brain, of late.
There are many reasons for this.
Greedy Devils: A Privatized Little Hell
We’ve got a Kickstarter on right now: A Privatized Little Hell! You need to check this adventure out mostly because of the tactical-heist type layout (a rarity) and the high-level high-tier difficulty (that most people are too chickenshit to write for), but it’s the devils that’ll keep you laughing and reading as you bring it to the table.
With Greed freshly in charge of Hell, security is caught in the cost-cutting; this might be your best chance to free a damned soul!
We’ve got Employee of the Month Devils, Pay-for-Use Toilets, Company Stores, a Dreaded Union, and privatized little hells for whatever money-grubbing monster is squeezing you. Come take a look!
Blood Prairie: Devil Country
We’ve been playtesting more Blood Prairie! By my count, we’ve now played about thirteen sessions, across three or four groups, divided into five separate adventures.
It’s my new favourite RPG.
The Ashcan version fast approaches (comment below if you want to receive a copy), but while you wait, let me quickly summarize the events of the last few games.
Salos and Virginia Slim met up with Morty Smith, Gunslinger. The Devil Sugartooth fooled the group into killing the Vampiric escort of one Myra Ming. Bearing the (highly illegal/reality-damaging) child of an angel, Myra was wanted dead by hell. The PCs took her north, overcoming Sugartooth’s trickery and a fallen angel, to Silver Silo, a silver mine where the angelic brides of Uriel gathered to raise a new nation of half-angels. Unfortunately, some Mounties showed up to enforce the crown’s interest in the Silver Mine; the result was a TPK! A Blood Prairie first. Pro-tip: highly trained riflemen are deadly as hell, especially when you’re outnumbered.
Meanwhile, our Wednesday crew has been challenging Derricksland, our sandbox-hexcrawl adventure. They’ve been collecting bounties for Malaster King, local magnate, but increasingly expect they’ll need to take him out. RIP to Scabby Sarah, blasted out a second-story window by a Gunslinger during a kidnapping-gone-wrong and Nebuchenezzar, our Occultist, who died bargaining with the Grim Reaper for the soul of Elijah, the Wild One with an imaginary friend.
The surviving crew is currently parked outside a house haunted by two Ghosts and a Clock-Eyed Devil; dare they go back in next session?
We’ve also got a Tuesday crew working their way through a second playthrough of Hilltop Hymnal (as we’re calling this Adventure). It’s crazy how different this playthrough has been! We’ve struck dangerous deals with Cold Devils, witnessed a part-time marriage come to a bloody end, and stolen some tears from some widows.
That’s the Blood Prairie, bay-bee!
I’m looking forward to writing up better, more detailed summaries, but in the meantime, let us know if you’d like to join in on the playtesting fun! Ashcan versions coming soon!
The Devil in DnD
Like many old men, I worry about the future.
I think something is changing in our hobby, and I don’t like it. I’m aware of the constant complaining about narrative gaming, old-school precepts, influence from new generations (or even — gasp! — demographics?!?!). I don’t really care about any of that crap. The complaining sucks, and I hate it, but it’s hardly new; as long as it’s people playing these games, there will be complaining.
No, what bothers me is the medium, the territory, over which we play these games, build our communities, and bring new people in.
The internet is ruining DnD.
Algorithms that reward contention over cooperation are a big part of this. The ‘professionalization’ of GMs turning play into a species of prostitution is another factor. The migration of the TTRPG discourse from blogs to Twitter and YouTube has resulted in angrier, shallower conversations, not to mention less actually usable content (can’t put a whole class on your YouTube). And don’t even get me started about the voyeuristic, spectator-sport dreck that is Actual Plays; taking a story-telling form based on participation and agency and reducing it to passive consumption is an act so deeply Satanic it boggles the mind. Even pornography encourages more audience participation!
My friend Andrew pointed something out to me about this image of the Devil: the chain-loops around the necks of the man and woman there? Totally bigger than their heads. They could take those chains off anytime they like, but they don’t.
When I think of Devils, I ask myself: what chains am I wearing willing? What could I take off?
I think a lot of us are losing patience with an internet designed to reflect our worst selves back at us, designed to addict us to conflict, designed to do everything but the one thing TTRPGs are so good at: form community.
This year has been an incredible year of gaming for me, and I think it’s all because of the wonderful people I’ve had a chance to meet and talk to. Real People, in the Real World, operating with Real Manners and playing Real Games. Isn’t that what it’s all about. Friendship and play?
I see so many talking heads on YouTube who’d rather bitch about gaming than roll dice with their friends. Isn’t it time we started tuning those people out? The best part about abandoning the internet is that when I meet gaming friends, they don’t want to talk about editions, or houserules, or narrativism vs simulationism, or who in the industry is mean or bad, or what kind of play is wrong, or what sucks.
They just want to play.
So cast the devil out of your DnD, deplug, and remember why you love this hobby.
Play!
Okay, so I’m guilty of being this internet guy on more than one occasion. But I do produce good content too, I swear! Check out our highly usable blog content, our published adventures, and our free material. Also, apologies to my friends who enjoy paid GMing and Actual Plays; you know I’m just an old crank! Gabriel actually just had a pretty good AP where they played Cave of the Slumbering Crawlers; check it out!
Don’t forget our Kickstarter!