by aureggio

Happy Birthday, VGG!
Yes, please.

by YazPax2025

An item RPG Item: Cyberpunk: Edgerunners Mission Kit has been added to the geeklist PAX Unplugged 2025 - RPG Freeplay: Community Game Scheduler

by Sakasaga

An item RPG Item: Masks of Nyarlathotep (5th edition) has been added to the geeklist Investigators - Masks of Nyarlathotep (PS)

by Jk_W

Glad to be part of celebrating this milestone!

A new episode has been added to the database: Keeper's Notebook: Reincorporation

by jeRm!

Way to go VGG!

by Yogitus

You all are doing great so far. I just got done with two days of intense first aid / triage training for emergencies, my wife is sick, and one of my boys just started the next round of teething "fever." I'm going to try and catch up this weekend. 😄 Never a dull moment!

by Glittermeeple

UvulaBob wrote:

For what it’s worth, the wheely ban has been in place for a long time, but the VFM takes place after the Expo hall has closed, and nobody’s ever been prevented from bringing wheely things into the queue hall that I’ve seen.

Woops, I guess we've broken the rules then... Nobody has stopped us with our stroller and wheeled game bag in the expo before! Good to know. And I totally forgot VFM is after expo is closed so that is reassuring anyway. Thanks.

by BG05

An item RPG Item: Tales of the Old West has been added to the geeklist Solo RPGs on Your Table - November 2025

by BG05

Using the Lifepath system, here are the other characters that I made for the game.


Ellie Higgins
Occupation: Frontier Folk
Grit: 4
Quick: 4
Cunning: 4
Docity: 3
Talents:
- Quick Draw
- Guard Dog
Where were you born?
Northeast
What was your upbringing?
Father was a policeman who helped people and took occasional bribes.
What of the family you left behind?
Huge family that hates her, except one sibling. They will chase her away if they see her.
What did you do for your First Living?
Ellie was a Ranch Hand. One drunken night she got into a violent argument and killed a man with her bare hands.
What did you do for your Second Living?
Ellie became Frontier Folk. One winter she was attacked by a pack of wolves. Her loyal dog saved her.
What is your Faith?
“I have faith in my dog, not people.”
What is your Big Dream?
“I dream to never have to speak to another person again.”
Who is your Pardner?
Her dog.


Virginia Rowles
Occupation: Outlaw
Grit: 5
Quick: 3
Cunning: 4
Docity: 3
Talents:
- Tomahawk Fighter
- Manhunter
- High Society
Where were you born?
East Asia
What was your upbringing?
Determined to be more resilient than her parents, who were scholars but became addicted to opium.
What of the family you left behind?
Large family but since Grandma died, her father and uncles argue over who is head of the family.
What did you do for your First Living?
Virginia was a Grifter. Her bounty hunting trade isn’t beloved.
What did you do for your Second Living?
Virginia was a Homesteader. Rustlers tried to steal her herd but she tracked them down and brought them in. The sheriff comes to her occasionally when he needs help.
What did you do for your Third Living?
Virginia became an Outlaw. She shot down a rival terrorizing a local town (Purebank) and the townspeople made her sheriff. She also ran for mayor but didn’t win.
What is your Faith?
“Before I die, I will confess my sins and repent.”
What is your Big Dream?
“Wanted for murder, I must find a way to get those charges dropped once and for all.”
Who is your Pardner?
Cole Dalton

Otto Rhodes
Occupation: Trader
Grit: 3
Quick: 4
Cunning: 5
Docity: 3
Talents:
- Authority
- Born in the Saddle
- Warcry
Where were you born?
The South (New Mexico – Native American)
What was your upbringing?
Grew up on the family ranch.
What of the family you left behind?
Only one surviving relative left (Brother – Dallas)
What did you do for your First Living?
Otto was a Grifter. He won a claim in a bet with a drunken prospector. He has a talent of telling people what to do.
What did you do for your Second Living?
Otto was Frontier Folk. Otto spent time wandering with his horse. His maps of the area are well regarded.
What did you do for your Third Living?
Otto is a Trader. He had competition with another dry goods store, and it turned ugly. The feud became known as the “County War”. Otto killed the leader and became the leader of his establishment as well.
What is your Faith?
“Money Talks. Always has, always will.”
What is your Big Dream?
“These fortune hunters come ill-equipped for the cold winters and are willing to exchange their silver for the warmer close I make. I will be the richest trader in town.”
Who is your Pardner?
His brother and 2 compadres.

by nycavri

I, Caric, Bard of Highton, vibrant and alive as only a young bard can be, was traveling the high road to perform at the sun fair. A pack of wild beasts waylaid me on the road at dawn. The old chestnut about music soothing notwithstanding, I ran rather than sang, hid rather than fought. The beasts, like none I had seen before, passed me by, but left me confused and uncertain. What use my voice and strings if I cannot protect myself. And what strange creatures are abroad in daylight, so close to civilization?

But the fair awaits, and I must prepare myself to bring good cheer, despite the misgivings in my heart.

by bryce0lynch

By Nicholas Lemler
Self Published
OSR
Levels 4-5

Hubert the Halfling was a successful adventurer before settling down and beginning a Shire of his own. After building a home to humble many among even the big folk, Hubert invited his clan to live with him in the hopes of starting a vineyard. Little has been heard in the last week or so, however, and passersby say the place looks ransacked. A group of Expert adventurers could potentially find answers, as well as loot from Hubert’s many adventures within.

This 26 page adventure uses ten pages to describe about sixty rooms over about three levels in a hobbit hole complex now overrun. It’s got some interesting specificity here and there that really grounds it as a halfling adventure, but in general it comes off as a hack with a few traps in a bland environment.

How do you have an elf adventure FEEL like an elf adventure? How do you make a dwarf adventure FEEL like a dwarf adventure? Well, the designer here managed, in spots to really make this adventure FEEL like a halfling home. At least in places. I don’t think that’s a small feat. The number of generic elf tree forts and dour and bland drawf homes that I’ve seen is seemingly beyond number. We have resorted, a great to edal, to treating them like humans with points ears or short humans with beards and calling it a day. Oh, and stick in a few trees or a rock or two, depending. They have never felt alien, or even that different than humans. Even, accepting that they don’t really need to, they’ve never felt that interesting to me in tha vast. Vast majority of adventures. This adventure, however, does a decent job, in some laces, or really bringing in that halfling vibe.

I want to highlight just three halfling related phrases from the adventure; “Lobelia Tumbleberry”, “A breathless halfling named Fredegar Hardbuckle (second cousin, once removed to Hubert)”, and “Jar O’ Pennies sits forgotten in a southeast corner.”

I frequently talk about the power of language and its ability to reference more than the written word say. The very best in evocative language lets you learn things about the world by implication. More than the written word, the implication of what was written has meaning and lets you springboard off of it. It summons up from the dark recesses everything you have ever known about halflings, large families, and that pseudo-english small village vibes that Tolkien channeled. Sackville-Banningeses! If you can’t channel the personality of each and every one of thirty halflings from that one throw-away-like “second cousin, once removed to Hubert” then I don’t know man, I can’t help you. Anyway, there are some very nice little halfling vibes, at places, in this. Not a lot, and generally in to the preamble rather than the adventure keys proper, but there are some good examples here.

It does a few other things well. “The stench of trolls in room 11 is strong”, tells us one room. I love a good light/smell/sound warning, or, at least, and adventure that thinks about the environment as a whole to assist the DM. The descriptions are … let us politely say. Focused. “Mess of long-since pillaged crates and boxes. Gnawed animal bones spread about floor, primarily near hall east. Old Jewelry Box lies in a broken crate. 30’ x 65’” I like the GNAWED animal bones, and the east hall gives us a hint of what’s to come. Both are nice touches. But, also, let’s look at a general layout/description:


There’s a room name. That’s good. I might stick in an adjective, but, we’re starting off well with a framing of the information to come. I’m not the biggest fan of room dimensions in a description. I think that most cases it’s repetition from information on a map, but, also, I know some people, the salt of the earth, like it. But, then there’s the Occupants and Loot section. I am less than thrilled at these. We can generally intuit if there’s no loot in a room by the description not mentioning loot. The same for creatures, if none is listed in the main textual description then there must not be one present, eh? I get, perhaps, that the Occupants section might just be another way of listing creatures, instead of say, bolding or some such. But I think it’s a poorer choice. The creatures come late in the description and, in most cases, they should probably be up front, or at least near the top,of a description when they are obvious. No sticking in a “oh, yeah, ancient read dragon” after a five minute room description. They also, I believe, fit in a little better. They feel more at home when they are in the room description rather than listed at the bottom of the description like this. A little more, naturalism? They generally feel more like they belong and are doing something there.

The actual descriptions tend to be quite light. There’s nothing wrong wit being short, but they also feel more than a little hollow. An almost minimalism element present. That description of the backdoor is great. Narrow hallway, dirty shoes, clothes piled haphazardly. And the weasel nest fits PERFECTLY in to that. I’m reminded of an adventure centered around three singing witches. Which actually turned out to be harpies, not withes. Doh! Oh course! I love it when the party is told exactly what something else and then doesn’t see it. Masterful stroke, doing that. The room one guest room is a little meh, but, also, it could be the entrance (and, to the adventures credit, windows are listed on the rooms, and their state, so you can break in. Yeah!) I think the descriptions are a little too workmanlike for me, a little too fact based to really communicate the vibe of the room. Taking that room five description, the wide table is a nice nod, as is the bones and rotting flesh, a clue as to whats nearby. But its just a little too … staid? And the room numbers could stand out just a little more.

The encounters feel a little … plain? The doppelgangers in the barn from the screenshot are a good example. There’s a little note elsewhere about them, but the encounter is just a little off. It needs a little vignette, or situation. The weasels are a high point, I guess and the others feel a little like “also, there’s a monster in this room.” Not integrated in, or lacking activity. There’s also little in the way of alerts, for monsters reacting to things or to intrusions. It feels like everyone is just in their room, as a kind of afterthought. There are a few “survivors” hiding in rooms, and those feel a little more integrated, but not as much as I would like either. As if the room occupants were divorced from their surrounding and/or environment. There’s just a little too much DM sauce needed. I think I’m looking for something to springboard a more dynamic environment, as a DM. I don’t need to be spoon fed but just a little more to get the a more dynamic play style going.

This is $5 at DriveThru. The preview is the first eight pages, with no rooms shown. Traditional room/key adventures should show you at least a few of the rooms in a preview.

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/532723/hubert-s-hole