by sdonohue

The Path of Horror is a 2016 release from Nocturnal Media. It is intended for use with any rpg system and was designed by Roderick Robertson and illustrated by Jennifer Wieck and Richard Thomas (I).

Presentation
This is available as both a pdf and a tarot-sized deck. The deck comes in a tuckbox with 36 cards and a folded sheet of instructions. The cards are black & white on good quality stock for cards -- they feel like a decent deck of poker cards even if they are a little larger.

Content
The deck consists of 36 cards. Each card has a title, a brief description, an illustration and a number. The numbers range from 1 to 7 and cards are played sequentially, so once a 2 hits the table, only 2 and higher can be played. The 1s are themes and are reserved for the GM. They set the plan for the adventure. The themes in this deck are Hint of Madness which explores life at the edge; Sense of Foreboding which encourages players to think about dark futures; Lost Cause in which everything the players do is doomed to failure; and Vast Unknown which explores the unknowable universe. The rest of the cards are shuffled and each player gets 2 or 3 of them. They can then play them when they feel like they might help move the game in a new or exciting direction.

The general idea is that the GM reveals a theme then players add "tone" by playing the cards in the 2s and 3s. The cards in the 4-7 range are considered climax cards and may end the use of cards at the GMs discretion. Once a card is played, the GM has the option to accept it, veto it, or edit it. Veto means the card is outright rejected, hopefully because it's not going advance the story but maybe because the GM doesn't like it. Edit means the player & the GM (and possibly the rest of the table) discuss the card and arrive at a slightly different version of the text which will better suit the story. Players who play cards can draw new ones, but there's not a clear mechanic there.

The composition of the deck is
1 - 4 cards
2 - 8 cards
3 - 7 cards
4 - 6 cards
5 - 5 cards
6 - 3 cards
7 - 2 cards

Evaluation
Honestly, I'm not a fan of horror as a genre in games or media, so I might not be the best judge, since none of the themes would appeal to me as a player or as a GM. I do think if you enjoy this sort of hopeless, you can't make things better play, these cards could be inspirational for both players and GMs.

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by Bifford [White Hare Games] (Sam)

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On Making things harder for yourself because you're a perfectionist
by [username=Bifford]Bifford[/username]

Ever started a project where you could do it the quick and easy way, or you could do it the harder way because you want it to be as perfect as possible? Yeah, the perfectionist in me hates that I am like that, but also acknowledges that it produces a much better result in the long run.

DIY, book making, anything really. I like to do it properly, and sometimes that means taking way longer to do something because I want to do it the right way, the as perfect as can be way, not the quick and easy "it'll do" way.

I can't be the only one. Can I?


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QOTD MAR 28: Which RPG system has been the value for you, best experience for the cost of the game? What are the best free RPGs you have played?


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by Rachel Carpenter

This post is NOT an April Fools joke. I was going to do my normal April Fools round-up of best meme games posted today (and there were quite a few good ones this year), but then, a nice big box was delivered. From The Game Crafter... My proof copies!!!!!!!

All 6. For realzies.
There's something special about handling an actual copy of a game that you designed. Not a PNP. A real copy. With actual cards. Real poker cards. No sleeves!

In terms of revisions: 1 spelling typo, 1 grammar typo, and I wanted to re-word a few things on the rules sheet for The United Cards of America. Nothing major. And no cards or boxes need changes. I'm happy.

And... I've got a LOT to do. Photos, videos, promo/marketing materials. 4 of the 6 BGG pages have been approved. And I've started setting up the Shop pages for each game over on The Game Crafter.

In the next week or so, expect a flurry of activity across my WIP threads and BGG pages. There's still a lot to do behind the scenes on The Game Crafter, things are moving fast now and gosh, I'm excited.

Game Over On borrowed time...

Happy Wednesday and happy playing!
-Rachel

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