by NonaKnowsGames

An item RPG: Brindlewood Bay has been added to the geeklist 2026 Halloween Hijinks! Year 9 of the spooky geeklist! Add your Halloween plays

by Basti aus Hamburg

Related Item: The Ghosts of Craven Manor: A Ghostly Time Travelling Game Book

DonkeyJay wrote:

Are there dice involved?
I’m corresponding with an incarcerated person, & she used to game a lot. We’re trying to find some way for her to keep up that hobby, but dice are a no-no in prison.

In some passages, you roll a die to determine whether an action is successful. Unfortunately, this book probably isn't an option in that regard.

However, there are other gamebooks that don't require dice, such as the Critical If series.
Necklace of Skulls
Heart of Ice

by quozl

chuckdee68 wrote:

quozl wrote:

Inkwan wrote:

quozl wrote:

Not many but there are a few. Here's a current one that prompted me to ask:
https://rpggeek.com/geeklist/385323/raising-dollar-to-pay-un...

I'm hoping an announcement geeklist would help encourage more RPG auctions.

Thanks for the plug!

I created the list. Would you like to be first person to post their list there?
https://rpggeek.com/geeklist/386622/metalist-for-rpg-geeklis...

Not sure if you want to, but you might also give a shout out to the Chain of Generosity

I believe that chain is now called pay it forward and I did link those two lists.

by NonaKnowsGames

I think you already gave some good advice! Also my last 2026 NPI game is now in epilogue posts. I'm not actively GMing at the moment due to my health, but I still plan to host the NPI and by then should be able to facilitate some GMless games as well 🙂

by chromatine

Related Item: The Ghosts of Craven Manor: A Ghostly Time Travelling Game Book

That sounds like a really interesting mechanics! Thanks for sharing!

by Brass Jester

Related Item: Thrilling Tales 2e

dom5 wrote:

What a fascinating concept for the arch-villain - “peace gas”!

Love the period details too 👍

Thanks. Even though this is Pulp I do like to get most things accurate. I have mentioned this before - in a published adventure set in 1920 the heroes went to the capital of Brazil to hunt the bad guy.
Brasilia right?
Nope - Brasilia wasn't built until 1956 and became the capital in 1960. Before then the capital was Rio de Janeiro. It really doesn't take long to look this sort of stuff up.
And don't get me started on the CoC scenario set in London during the Blitz. This was so full of holes it resembled a string vest.

by troacctid

An item GeekList: 2026 RPG Character Creation Challenge has been added to the geeklist 2026 RPG Character Creation Challenge

by Alexander Beetle

Hi PBF GMs!

One of my players from the 2025 NPI got in touch with me recently. Since we finished our game, he's started running his own Play-by-Post game (not here - I'm not sure what site or system he's using). He'd got in touch to ask for any advice I might have on being a PBF GM - specifically his issue was around players not checking in and posting as regularly as he'd like, but any other advice was also welcome.

Is there an article / resource somewhere on the site with advice / guidance on PBF GMing? And what advice would you give based on your own experience? (Maybe this should be a QOTD?)

My response is below. I'm not expecting everyone to agree with it all, you'll all have your own takes on the question. But what would your top hints and tricks be?

alexander beetle wrote:

Great to hear from you, and I'm delighted to hear that you've taken the plunge into running a Play-by-Forum / Play-by-Post game. That has to go down as a success for our PBF initiative!

Thanks for remembering our game fondly. I will do my best to offer some advice, and hope your game continues to go well.
The thoughts below are based on games I've played in (so what I've learnt from other DMs) as well as games I've run.

:geek_star: Momentum is crucial in a PBF game. When I've been in games that have stalled or died, it's either been because the DM has had to step away, or because things have just slowed down and eventually the game just dies.

:geek_star: As the DM this isn't totally within your control, but you have a major part in setting the pace of the game. I don't always keep to this (so please don't pull me up on it!), but the promise I try to make to myself is that I will never keep the players waiting - I will always try to respond within a day to anything where the next step is clearly on me.

:geek_star: You can't control when the other players check in - but when they do, you want there to be something new and interesting there waiting for them - something that engages them and ideally prompts them to post themselves - because there's an immediate threat, a roll they need to make, some sort of response that's needed from them, or something new that's been revealed that they want to go and explore.

:geek_star: So when you are posting yourself, try to leave some clear options or interesting situations open for what the players might do next. You don't want people to check in, read your post, and shrug their shoulders and go "so what?"

:geek_star: If one or two players are holding things up, it's usually better to move things on without them than waiting for them to post and slowing the whole game down for everyone. For example in a combat round, if there's one player who hasn't posted and it's been a day or two, I will just skip their turn and say they can act twice in the next round.

:geek_star: On that theme - some rules benefit from being streamlined for PBF play. Initiative is a good example. In a D&D game I wouldn't insist that everyone posts in strict order - that means you're waiting on just one person at every stage. (But if it becomes critical I would still be careful to resolve the actions in the correct order). Are there any rules in your system you can simplify for PBF play to make things run more smoothly and more quickly?

:geek_star: You mentioned that players aren't checking in every day. Was that an expectation you set at the beginning? If not, can you try to clarify that with them now? But, having said that, my experience is that games do almost always tend to slow down a little bit over time. People will start off at a fast pace, and then other things intrude or become higher priority and the posting slows a little. I'd say that's quite normal and not a problem so long as you can keep things going at a steady pace. Generally I would try to start a game with the expectation that everyone checks in daily and posts daily when required. But for a long running game I would be pretty happy provided that someone is posting each day - i.e. there's something new in the thread every day so when people check in, there's something new for them to read.

:geek_star: Sometimes a game can benefit from new blood - bringing in a new player can inject some new enthusiasm and momentum to the game. And if some players have essentially dropped out, think about what you want to do yourself - do you want to keep the game going? If so, try to draft in some new players. My longest running PBF game finished with none of the players having started it! (Though one had been there almost all the way through).

:geek_star: Finally, while there are things you can do, it's not all within your control. Your group for Grizzled Adventurers was great, but sometimes with other games and groups it can feel like hard work! So don't beat yourself up - it's not all on the DM.

I hope at least some of that is helpful. I will have a look on RPGG and see if there's a collection of advice for PBF DMs, and I'll share that with you if I find anything.

by Inkwan

chuckdee68 wrote:

pelni wrote:

Inkwan wrote:

A full RPG designed by only a current version of AI would be trash!

For science, I decided to try if this is true:

What model did you use?

GPT 3 and 4. Have tried it with 6 or Claude to be fair. But, I find the amount of specificity of prompting required defeats the purpose. It is however and so are the others VERY good at working out sections of an RPG.

GPT is okay at creating rules for a very finite setting with tight parameters for a full rpg

by jfrank

👻 Did you feel that chill in the air? Don't be scared, it was just your DEAL SENSE tingling, because I've made so many markdowns on my games! 👻

Here's just a few:
$40 Mothership Sci-Fi Horror RPG Core Box - Winner of 4 ENNIEs
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$15 Imperial Settlers: Roll & Write - Laminated and ready for the full solo campaign
$10 Push a Monster - Kids (and inebriated adults) love this game.
$10 Forbidden Sky - The magnetic bits and light-up rocket give this Matt Leacock coop a big toy factor
$10 Creationary - Hey, it's a big box of LEGOs
$10 Truffle Shuffle - From the crew that brought you Point Salad
$10 Up or Down? - Kramer and Kiesling back at it again with a clever card game
$5 Rialto - A Stefan Feld classic

👻 Click here to view all my crazy deals! 👻

by Bifford

Thu 22nd October 2026.
GM
Moxxie
Roxxie
Quyan - Not Present
Darzar
Varinia
Yondrin + Honeydew - Me

Standing at the exit on the side of what is obviously a volcano we ponder how to get down. Yondrin takes out his light hammer, ties some rope to it, then wedges it into the rock wall, hitting it into place with his gnome hooked hammer. Roxxie is ramming into the back of his leg, trying to get him to step out onto the steep slope. He lifts his leg so she goes sailing past him out then down the slope. She slides down a way then runs back up expertly in the shifting sands. Darzar and Varinia note that there are a series of flatish areas, covered in sand, all the way down the side of the mountain - Giant steps! They start to jump and run to the first of these in a slow progress down.

Yondrin, being that much smaller knows that would be tricky for him, so he considers his options. He goes into his magical pouches, pulling out two short rods. One is very strong metal the other is Soar Wood. He holds the two together then sits on them, holding the front of them while pulling up slightly. Hoverboard! He sets off down the mountainside, very quickly getting much faster. His weight means he is barely off the ground so the ride is bouncy, choppy, wild (GM said it is like doing the Moguls in skiing). Part way down he runs into Roxxie, who jumps onto him for the ride, but 3/4 the way to the treeline they hit a big bump; Roxxie flies off one way, Yondrin heads off slightly another. He tries to slow down but loses hold of the bars, flying through the air to slam into a tree at the start of the treeline, upside down. Sliding down to the cool soft sand, Yondrin turns himself over, shakes his heads, then shouts "Yazza!" with a huge grin on his face, his earlier grumpy mood gone. He pulls out a hip flask and has a steadying drink.

Roxxie picks herself up from where she landed and heads back up to Darzar and Varinia who are still step-hopping. Darzar is doing passably well, but slightly struggling. Varinia is doing less well. She takes several tumbles, bashing into Darzar at one point, then completely losing it, rolling down the hill to ironically bash into the exact same tree as Yondrin (who moved sideways quickly to get out of the way!). Yondrin grins at Varinia and passes her the hip flask.

Moxxie meanwhile is casually walking down the mountainside, planting her feet deep into the sand to "attach" herself to solid rock every step, and therefore doesn't have any problems. She watches our shenanigans with a wry smile that is practically begging for something to say in voiceover, "Children and amateurs!"

Re-grouped, we make our way through the jungle in the direction of the Giant ruins. They are massively overgrown, as you would expect after all this time. We come out where a twin column of stones runs in an avenue towards the pyramid. Much like the stone columns in the Gods location these seem to have a resonance and purpose. At the end of the column Moxxie feels a place of power, though fairly weak compared to what she would expect for a Giant location. Yondrin comes up, feels it also and identifies it as a place of calm, wellbeing, rest, recouperation, and protection. He prestigitates the area clean, and that is exactly what it is.

by Eric R.

Maybe if you're a fan of the band Combustible Edison this might not be that silly.

Youtube Video