Me too! I love it and I’m thinking about a lot of the same things. Especially how we illuminate or hero these different games though design and messaging. There’s an inherent excitement and advantage to leveraging popular genre, so what fills that role in its absence?

Yeah. I’m also a big fan of mashups, and that’s especially true for the unexpected or seldom executed ones.

I’m very familiar with Greg, I have his latest edition of Reign, but I didn’t know he made a noir game. Excited to dig in.

I haven't! Thank you for the recommendations.

I didn't mean to suggest that all mashups seek to sanitize their settings. Thank you for calling that out, because I agree with you, especially with those recs.

That’s a fun combination, and an example of heightening a shared theme!

We can all stand a little Columbo. As a treat.

Classic me. I made some addendums after talking on Discord.

I sit with thoughts like these for months before writing anything, and I always leave 50% of that thinking (usually the important parts) out of the final draft on accident.

My email-readers always read the worst version.

I made some small addendums based on discussions! It's such a huge topic, and I really appreciate you reading my small stab at it.

Lean hard into the usage die and doom die. That's where the system gets its juice.

Oh, and if you have a choice of adventures, I recommend any that have timers or a sense or urgency. The Black Sword hack favors characters and players of action—ala Conan.

I’m agreeing with this post by the way! (Thanks for the name drop in it!)

I think terse is too commonly used for how ill-fitting it is as an adjective on most writing.

I swear, half of reviewing a work is digging through the dictionary for the truest adjectives and verbs to shine a light on it.

Not by then. I think the picts were still working with gut and horsehair before their iconic triangular harp got its wires. If the book doesn't have an entry all about it, I'd be surprised.

By using the tools, layout, and frame of ttrpgs, and the academic rigor of real-world archaeology, Brian of Stout Stoat Press, Dr. Christie, and their collaborators have made one of the best explorations of Pict life and culture ever made.

I love it. Genuinely groundbreaking work for both fields.

It's a novel team up. Archeologists sometimes struggle to put general audiences in the context and shoes of their subject matter. Tabletop rpg designers excel at it.

The Picts of Scotland are ttrpg fantasy, in that they're as laden with mystery and discovery as any imagined place and people.

Align left leaves a lot less for me to worry about and is usually easier to read, but justified with the right line length, hyphenation, and justification can look great, read well, and add something to the project if it’s appropriate.

Personally, I’m stressed plenty without the extra work.