Month: August 2025

Posted in: Anime, Role Playing Games

RPGaDAY2025 Day 23: Recent

Written by TardisCaptain 1 Comment on RPGaDAY2025 Day 23: Recent

Oh, ‘recent’ is the topic for Day 23 of the RPGaDAY 2025 Challenge. I think I’ll talk about a one-shot RPG session that I participated in for a friend who wanted to try out a new game he picked up from Kickstarter.

The game is called Gates of Krystalia and it is set up in the sub-genre of fiction called “Isekai” (which for some reason I keep wanting to pronounce it as ‘ee-seak-ay-al” which is completely wrong). The word is Japanese and means “different world” and the stories involve a person or persons who are transported to/reborn/reincarnated into a parallel universe or fantasy world. It’s a fish-out-of-water set up where the characters must survive in their new-found environment. One of my kids explained to me that Alice in Wonderland is an early example of Isekai storytelling. We were all regular humans on the same bus when it crashed over the side of a ravine and died. When we woke up, we were quickly pushed into our new fantasy bodies by an over-worked angel. We didn’t play long enough to find out how our previous human lives (and knowledge) interacted with our new bodies and environment.

So, Gates of Krystalia has an interesting RPG system. Instead of using dice, we had a regular deck of 52 playing cards. I hadn’t brought my special RPG dice deck with me which would have been perfect, so I borrowed a set from one of the hosts that had neon cats on it (or Tron Cats as my kids put it). As first-level characters we only had 25 of the 52 cards face down. Any time we had to randomly generate a number, we pulled a card. Ace had a value of 1, Jack had a value of 11 and it kept rising for each face card up to 13. There were ways that the numbers could be doubled, or certain attribute adjustments made to the pull. When we were in combat, we pulled five cards and could choose which card we wanted to play in combat. There was also the possibility of having a special hand (like two of a kind, all of the same suite, etc.) that would give us bonuses in that combat round. If we were damaged in combat, we had to reduce that amount from our draw pile into the discard pile. Cards could be returned to the draw pile when the character was healed or rested.

We didn’t get very far in the one-shot, but my tactical mind was starting to click when I tried to strategize. I’m not much of an Isekai fan to know if I’d want to play in a full campaign, but I’d like to see the system in action a little bit more. I guess to keep it Isekai for me, it would have to continue to be a fish-out-of-water scenario. And I don’t know if that concept would last longer than a session or two before the character had adjusted themselves to their new world or body. Then is it Isekai anymore? I was trying to suggest to the GM that he run Gates of Krystalia as a one-shot at an upcoming SaltCON. I know that there would probably be a few interested parties who would want to check it out.

Feedback on my challenge post for ‘Enter‘ from LexTenebris on Mastodon.

What he posted was really long for me to cut and paste here, but he liked to hack at examples like getting past the door. He referenced a game that he has really enjoyed, Ironsworn (https://tomkinpress.com/pages/ironsworn). I think the key thing he stated in his post was this: “Every time you go to the dice, you take the risk of introducing complications, which may be as simple as harm to yourself in a mechanical sense, but also very well could be a complication introduced in your fictional positioning within the narrative. You’ve taken too long with the door, and guards are coming around the corner right now. You’ve shorted out the panel and set off an alarm that your character is not aware of, which is going to increase the difficulty of things going forward. Fictive positioning is just as important as mechanical tracking in this case.”

Am I missing the point on Isekai storytelling? Is there a recent gaming event that you enjoyed? Tell me about it. This article is open for discussion on the TardisCaptain dot Com Discord server. You can also email me at Carl (at) TardisCaptain.com with any comments.

Posted in: Role Playing Games

RPGaDAY2025 Day 22: Ally

Written by TardisCaptain

Here we are on Day 22 of the RPGaDAY 2025 Challenge. We have a special topic today with the prompt of ‘Ally’. An ally is someone (individual or team) that cooperates towards a common goal or benefit. To be someone’s ally is to help them out when every you can.

I want to thank my allies. I want to thank those who have helped me. Without your help, I don’t know if I could have made it as far as I’ve could.

First and foremost are my geek wife and family. Not only do they support me when it’s time for dad to make another blog post, but they also help me with artwork (see P.R.O.M.P.T.) or with reviews (such as the Mystery Dice Goblin review) or just bouncing ideas off of. I’ve mentioned about the inter-activeness of ideas and getting energy from them and sometimes my geek family has helped me out with this.

I also want to thank every one of my allies who visit my blog and read my posts. I see the hit counters go up, I see where the clicks come from. Part of the reason this general geek blog turned into more of an RPG geek blog is because that is where the most visits drew you to my little corner of the internet. Every feedback post that you make on the various social media platforms, every thumbs up icon, every virtual donut that is given to me on the TardisCaptain dot Com Discord Server. I love the interaction that we have. I try to post some of the feedback items that I’ve received because they have been good enough to share. I’ve done this for both the RPGaDAY and Character Creation Challenge series. When I launch some new series soon, I hope to get the same amount of feedback as well to share. I especially want to thank those of you who click on my sponsored links to Amazon or DriveThruRPG. I don’t run this blog to make money. If anything, it’s earned peanuts. But what little bit it does earn, I use to pick up other RPGs to review or use in challenges.

I want to thank my gaming friends. Those that invite me to different games that are campaigns or one-shots. Those that run local gaming stores and coordinate the GMs for SaltCON. Even those who just come up to give me a hug (you don’t know how much that helped me out mentally) or sent me special gifts (I still don’t know who mailed me the gift card to Wienerschnitzel). In a world that is trying to beat me down mentally and physically, you don’t know how much your friendship has helped keep me sane. At least as sane as any one of us are.

I try to pay it forward by being an ally to others. I try to re-post the social media links that you make about your blogs. If I can, I try to back crowdfunding campaigns or just buy the product you are selling. I try to respond and give feedback if I feel that I can contribute. Even if it’s a game that I don’t have much interest in playing or homebrewing for, I hope you have fun interacting with it.

Who are your gaming allies? Tell me about it. This article is open for discussion on the TardisCaptain dot Com Discord server. You can also email me at Carl (at) TardisCaptain.com with any comments.

Posted in: Doctor Who, Dungeons and Dragons

RPGaDAY2025 Day 21: Unexpected

Written by TardisCaptain

On special Day 21 of the RPGaDAY 2025 Challenge we get to talk about the ‘unexpected’. I specifically wanted to talk about keeping things unexpected for the players so that they can experience the storyline that the GM has planned for them. Yes, a proper RPG session is a joint storytelling experience, but the GM still works out the appropriate plot points ahead of time.

To quote River Song from Doctor Who: “Spoilers” (wicked grin). Spoilers in a game can be a bad thing. We hate spoilers for the latest TV episodes and movies. And it should be the same for gaming. Seeing the look on the players faces as they figure out the clues (or completely miss it all together). That is part of the fun of the game.

I recall two things about this from my past. When I was early into the RPG hobby, I remember being at a local gaming store talking about some of the modules that were for sale. I wondered about players buying the module that the GM was going to run to know the story ahead of time. This is probably why I preferred to homebrew my adventures and gaming world to keep this from happening. I remember the person I was talking with making the statement that he could (and had) changed the module to fit his campaign needs. Even to the point of just keeping the module title to present the unexpected to his players.

Recently at a SaltCON event, I signed up to play a one-shot of the Fallout RPG. One of my kids was in attendance and really wanted to play a session with her Father. At the table I quickly realized that I had already played this one-shot at a previous convention. So in order to not spoil the other players fun, I did not say or do anything about the knowledge I already had on the plot. It was actually to my benefit as we got farther along the plot on this session than we had previously.

I’ve also blogged about the multi-year Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 campaign that I played with some friends. While talking with the DM, I mentioned that I was going through some older Dragon Magazine articles looking for some research information. He cautioned me about reading some of the older adventures found in the magazines as he was currently using one for the campaign. I was glad that he had warned me, just in case as I wanted to feel the thrill of the unexpected.

What do you do to keep things unexpected in your game? Would you make drastic changes to the characters or plot? Have you found yourself at a table where you knew the adventure? How did you handle it? Tell me about it. This article is open for discussion on the TardisCaptain dot Com Discord server. You can also email me at Carl (at) TardisCaptain.com with any comments.

Posted in: Role Playing Games, Star Trek

RPGaDAY2025 Day 20: Enter

Written by TardisCaptain 2 Comments on RPGaDAY2025 Day 20: Enter

On Day 20 of the RPGaDAY 2025 Challenge our topic is “enter”. What do you usually do when you are entering a location? Well, most of the time you are entering through a door. This is the angle I wanted to blog from because getting past a door has been one of the examples that I’ve used to explain a roleplaying game system to new players. Especially for a simple one-shot game like those played at SaltCON or at my local gaming store.

One of the games that I’ve GMed quite a few times for these one-shots is Star Trek Adventures 2nd Edition. When explaining the rules, the first thing that I say is that this game is an episode simulator, not a tactical simulator. Then the second thing explain is how the 2d20 system works. After talking about the attributes and the departments developing your target number based on your action, I bring up the challenge. The characters trying to get past the door that is between them and their objective. Perhaps they are being pursued by an enemy, or someone on the other side of the door is critically injured, etc. In STA2e, your character sheet doesn’t define what steps you can or can’t take, the player does. You see the door in front of you, it has these traits (reinforced, computerized, looks frail, strong lock, etc.) what do you do? One character may try to break down the door. In that case as the GM, I’d tell them what attribute and department to use for your target number and how many successes that need to be rolled. If the door was reinforced, the target number would be higher, if it was already damaged, it could be lower. Another character may try to pick the lock, check out the computer controls for the door (if present), try to communicate through the door to guide someone through the process of unlocking the door, etc. Again, I like the ability for the player to decide instead of the character sheet. At the last SaltCON a father and son team heard this explanation, was quickly able to get into their first STA2e game and enjoyed themselves. Even the son was asking if they could pick up the core rulebook after the one-shot. I was quite proud when I heard that.

Are there other games that have similar concepts of allowing the players to get past the door in any method of their choosing? While I’m certain that most experienced players can come up with ideas of their own, I’m looking for systems that actively encourage this thinking. While I haven’t played it yet, I’m eager to try the Siege system used for Castles and Crusades. It’s a D20 system, but the character has two (or three) primary ability scores that when used in a skill test, has a lower base target number to reach. A character can try to use a skill that would fit a non-primary ability, but the base target number would be higher. Then that target number is adjusted based upon the traits of the scene (like a door being reinforced instead of barely holding on its hinges).

I know I’ve seen other games like this, but in the short amount of time that I have to write this blog post, I can’t do a deep dive into them all. But like that father and son team, I hope that it gives players a chance to enter into a system that they really like.

Feedback from LelxTenebris on Mastodon: @TardisCaptain Did you know that Gallant Knight Games is putting together a new edition of the D6 System? The Kickstarter definitely funded, and if you take a look at it, there is guaranteed to be a module which is essentially Star Wars with the serial numbers filed off. My suspicion is that this is going to probably be the best choice for classic WEG-style Star Wars play, if that’s the kind of mechanics that you want to go for. I was not down for the Fantasy Flight version, specifically for the custom dice, which I thought was way too fiddly and ignores the fact that pretty much everyone already has some dice. At this point, if I wanted to play a Star Wars game, I would probably either break out Scum and Villainy if I was interested in playing/GMing for a group, or just Starforged and go with the narrative framework.

Are there other RPG systems that you could explain using the door example? Do you like the idea of the players trying to enter past a door as a way to explain the system to them? Tell me about it. This article is open for discussion on the TardisCaptain dot Com Discord server. You can also email me at Carl (at) TardisCaptain.com with any comments.

Posted in: Role Playing Games, Star Wars

RPGaDAY2025 Day 19: Destiny

Written by TardisCaptain

“It is your Destiny.” That is the term for Day 19 of the RPGaDAY 2025 Challenge. And when I think of Destiny, I think of the quote I posted above by Darth Vader in The Empire Strikes Back. In my humble opinion, the best Star Wars movie out there.

Star Wars has been a wonderful universe to base a role playing game around. While the latest version of the Star Wars RPG by Fantasy Flight Games is interesting, it just doesn’t scratch the itch for me. I’ve played it a few times at SaltCON and the dice mechanic does lead to some narrative cooperation between player and GM, but the funky weird dice with no dice guide at the table makes me think that I’m slowing the game down. I look at the symbols and I don’t know what they mean and I don’t want to ask again and again “what did I roll?” I did make a Star Wars: Edge of the Empire character for a past Character Creation Challenge.

I’ve never played the D20 based Star Wars game that Wizards of the Coast had put out. But I’m familiar enough with the system that I could either run it or play it. I also made a character for both the D20 based Star Wars RPG and Saga Edition that were released.

There are also several other RPGs with the serial numbers filed off so that they could make their own “Star Wars” game with White Star: Galaxy Edition or a number of others. But if I was really going to set up a Star Wars RPG, I have to go with the classic. The D6 Star Wars system by West End Games. I played it when it first came out. I was invited to a one-shot at a friends house earlier this summer. I’ve written articles for this in the past (I need to find it and scan it in for a blog post) and I remember homebrewing the heck out of the system. There is still a large enough following that a special re-release was published in 2018. It’s a simple system that fits the universe. And yes I remember many gaming sessions where we were trying to evade the Imperials.

It was my destiny, and I loved every minute of it.

Have you played any of the Star Wars RPGs? Which one was your favorite and why? Tell me about it. This article is open for discussion on the TardisCaptain dot Com Discord server. You can also email me at Carl (at) TardisCaptain.com with any comments.

Posted in: Role Playing Games

RPGaDAY2025 Day 18: Sign

Written by TardisCaptain

Day 18 of the RPGaDAY 2025 Challenge and we have another vague prompt that reminded me of something from my past. The prompt is ‘sign’. Yes, I must try to avoid the “Here’s your sign” jokes. So here is the memory I have.

There was some movie (again with the movies) that I recall watching when I was younger. It was set in England during World War II. A transient type person was walking down the road and he came across an elderly gentleman paining the sign at the fork in the road. He asked which way a certain town was and the elderly gentleman refused to tell him saying “I’ve got to cover these signs just in case the Germans invade.” So the traveler didn’t know where he was going. I think it may have the Disney film Bedknobs and Broomsticks, but I’m not 100% certain. I wonder if it may have started my interest in World War II history. Later I recall watching another documentary film where the interviewed British men in their teens and twenties who were going to be part of a guerrilla resistance if the Germans were able to successfully invade the UK. They were given sealed containers with instructions to only open them up if there was an invasion. One volunteer stated he had ordered his years after the war had ended and discovered that the first set of orders in the box was to kill the person who had recruited them in order to keep their membership secret. Again, I have seen so many World War II documentaries that I wish I could remember the name of it.

So with that image in my head, I started to wonder. What type of roleplaying scenarios could characters find themselves in if they enter a country that feared an invasion? If the player characters are outsiders to the affected country, they may be viewed with suspicion. Local volunteer forces made up of non-military citizens could harass the characters along the road. If the characters are from a friendly country, they could get recruited as mercenaries or a version of the French Foreign Legion. Perhaps the characters are already a part of a military organization and the eager volunteers are requesting training for their misfit squadron. Or perhaps they just need help building the defenses around their population centers. If the characters are from the country in need then there would be a bigger level of pressure put on them to help defend the homeland. Especially if the characters were not already in the military.

Two different feedback posts on social media came in from my post on Renew. LexTenebris on Mastodon suggested that a Logan’s Run inspired campaign could be run with a system called “On Mighty Thews“. While primarily a fantasy RPG, LexTenebris stated that it could easily be altered for a dystopian science fiction (or any other genre) if needed.

Chantel Jones on one of the RPG Facebook groups responded to my post with her preference for the Fallout RPG for Logan’s Run. But she also stated that she loves Gamma World.

Are there any other campaign options that I may have missed in this scenario inspired by ‘signs’? Do you recall the movie or documentaries that I mentioned above? Tell me about it. This article is open for discussion on the TardisCaptain dot Com Discord server. You can also email me at Carl (at) TardisCaptain.com with any comments.

Posted in: Quotes, Star Trek

Daily Star Trek Quotes: August 18-24

Written by TardisCaptain
I keep saying this about certain people.

Here are the Daily Star Trek Quotes that will appear on the @STrekQuotes Mastodon account and the @STrekQuotes Bluesky account for the week of August 18th through August 24th. Note: Because Twitter/X will use posts to train AI, we will no longer be posting on that platform. This is out of respect for the owners of Star Trek.

August 18
“I think children have an instinctive need for adults; they want to be told right and wrong.” Kirk- Miri, Stardate: 2713.5 #StarTrek #StarTrekTOS #IDIC #Quote

August 19
Happy Birthday to Diana Muldaur. http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Diana_Muldaur #StarTrek #StarTrekTOS #StarTrekTNG #IDIC #Quote

“A man is ill, captain. Treating him is my priority one, regardless of who he is.” Dr. Pulaski- The Schizoid Man, Stardate: 42437.5 #StarTrek #StarTrekTNG #IDIC #Quote

Happy Birthday to Jonathan Frakes. https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Jonathan_Frakes #StarTrek #StarTrekTNG #StarTrekFilm #StarTrekDS9 #StarTrekVOY #StarTrekENT #StarTrekPicard #StarTrekLowerDecks #IDIC #Quote

“We’ve been here before, and I’m reluctant to ask you all to face this threat again.” Picard “We are the crew of the USS Enterprise. But more than that, we’re your family.” Riker-Vox, Stardate: Unknown #StarTrek #StarTrekPicard #IDIC #Quote

August 20
Happy Birthday to John Noble. https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/John_Noble #StarTrek #StarTrekProdigy #IDIC #Quote

“I have met the off-worlders. They’re not the enemy. Look around at what she’s done to our once peaceful planet the fear in our streets. Rise up. Let our voices be heard. There is no barrier we cannot overcome, for we are Vau N’Akat.” Ilthuran- Touch of Grey, Stardate: 62091.1 #StarTrek #StarTrekProdigy #IDIC #Quote

August 21
“I believe this analogy refers to the worst quality of capitalists. The Ferengi are believed to conduct their affairs of commerce on the ancient principle caveat emptor. Let the buyer beware.” Data- The Last Outpost, Stardate: 41386.4 #StarTrek #StarTrekTNG #IDIC #Quote

August 22
“I know this isn’t what you had in mind, but Bajor and Cardassia must learn to work together and that means cooperating on missions like these.” Sisko- Indiscretion, Stardate: Unknown #StarTrek #StarTrekDS9 #IDIC #Quote

August 23
“I can’t try to save Humanity without holding on to what makes me Human.” Archer- Impulse, Date: Unknown #StarTrek #StarTrekENT #IDIC #Quote

August 24
Happy Birthday to Jennifer Lien. https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Jennifer_Lien #StarTrek #StarTrekVOY #IDIC #Quote

“It wasn’t programmed to be a tenor, it was programmed to be a physician!” Zimmerman “What’s wrong with wanting to be more than that?” Kes- The Swarm, Stardate: 50252.3 #StarTrek #StarTrekVOY #IDIC #Quote

What are your favorite daily Star Trek quotes selected for this week? This article is open for discussion on the TardisCaptain dot Com Discord server. You can also email me at Carl (at) TardisCaptain.com or click on my social media links with any comments.

Posted in: Character Creation Challenge, Role Playing Games, Science Fiction

RPGaDAY2025 Day 17: Renew

Written by TardisCaptain 1 Comment on RPGaDAY2025 Day 17: Renew

And here we are at Day 17 of the RPGaDAY 2025 Challenge. Today our topic is ‘Renew’. I’m going to show some of my geekness by describing a world that I think an RPG campaign can come about from the memory I have with this word. This is from the 1976 dystopian Science Fiction film Logan’s Run. In the 23rd century, survivors of a devastating war lives in a domed city. They have no wants or needs as everything is self contained and provided for them. They don’t even know that the rest of the world exists outside the city walls. However, when they reach the age of 30, they report to the Carousel on Last Day in order to Renew as demonstrated in this video.

The members of the city who didn’t report for renewal were considered runners and hunted down by a special police force called Sandmen. There were ruined parts of the city where untamed youth ran rampant and an underground resistance trying to get runners to a mythical place called Sanctuary.

While I never saw this movie in the theaters, it was one that I caught on those Saturday matinees on different TV stations looking to fill time. I found it interesting and would stop to watch it each time it came on. I didn’t know there was a TV spin-off series until later (it seemed like everything in the 70’s ended up with a one-season spin-off series).

I thought this would make for a good serious Science-Fiction roleplaying campaign. What happens when you just take orders from the computer. Is it more than just the computer in charge? This theme was touched on in the TV series but not in the movie. What is outside the city walls? Should the players just save themselves and go explore, or should they try to shut the city down and save everyone?

So what system would work for this campaign? If the first thing that came to mind was Paranoia, you wouldn’t be far off. There are a lot of similar concepts, but I don’t think it would have worked for me. While I enjoyed making a Paranoia 2nd Edition character in a past Character Creation Challenge, the base for this game is silliness. I don’t recall seeing any mutants in Logan’s Run, so if you ignored those you probably could run Mutant Future or Mutant Crawl Classics. Another game that might work is Fallout (characters come from a bunker like shelter). I’ve never played (or owned) Gamma World, but I assume that it could be used as well.

Do you think that the setting in Logan’s Run could make for a good RPG campaign? Are there other systems that would fit this movie/series better? Tell me about it. This article is open for discussion on the TardisCaptain dot Com Discord server. You can also email me at Carl (at) TardisCaptain.com with any comments.

Posted in: Role Playing Games

RPGaDAY2025 Day 16: Overcome

Written by TardisCaptain

And welcome to Day 16 of the RPGaDAY 2025 Challenge. Today we’ve been tasked with having an RPG chat about ‘Overcome’. This was another topic that I struggled with a little bit (I’ve already got tomorrow’s topic in mind). But eventually I decided to talk about something that comes with the phrase “We shall overcome”. This has been the anthem of the Civil Rights Movement and the symbol of resistance against injustice worldwide.

The theme of resistance, and eventually rebellion, has been prevalent in different forms of literature, movies, and yes, games. What plot points can be used by GMs in a roleplaying game campaign? I’d like to list some possible ideas that can be used in different genres.

The Player Characters are the suppliers- The players are smugglers, gun-runners, run an underground railroad, helping a charitable organization or agents of a certain government. Perhaps they are tasked with getting weapons, information, aid, supplies into an area that is currently under a rebellious conflict. Are they trying to get their cargo past the government, the rebels, both?

Wrong Place at the Wrong Time- The players find themselves at ground zero of a resistance turned rebellion in a certain location. Perhaps it was the only port they could get to or this was where their supplier was located. Perhaps the players have a family member/contact/employer/etc. that they need to get out before they get caught up in this sudden mess.

Have Gun Will Travel- What if the players are mercenaries being paid top dollar by the government, the rebels, a third party or ??? Getting things done efficiently, quickly or without knowing who paid the characters may come into play when certain tasks need to be completed.

We Are the Rebellion- Did the party witness a grave injustice and decided to do something about it? Do they strike while the iron is hot and quickly launch a rebellion? Or do they try to follow the lead from the People’s Front of Judea (or was that the Judean People’s Front?) and try to get the population to rise up by posting different messages through the region? Would it work? I mean, apart from the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, a fresh water system, and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us? Which leads us to…

I may have been on the losing side but not the wrong side- What happens after a rebellion fails? Will the players find themselves hunted or exiled? If they were fighting for their homeland, will they ever see it again? Or will they pick up the pieces and start new somewhere else?

Are We the Baddies?- Perhaps the players are a part of a military or government organization that the people are rebelling against. What happens if the players suddenly realize who they work for are the oppressors? Did they see something that was wrong that made them question their participation? If so, what do they do about it? Quickly join the rebels or try to work from within to sabotage the efforts of the oppressors?

I’m sure there are a few more plot points that a GM could use following the rebellion theme. But I’m overcome (giggle) with the amount of stuff I was able to pull out of this topic. Is there one that I could have brought up? Tell me about it. This article is open for discussion on the TardisCaptain dot Com Discord server. You can also email me at Carl (at) TardisCaptain.com with any comments.

Posted in: Quotes, Role Playing Games, Star Trek, Uncategorized

RPGaDAY2025 Day 15: Deceive

Written by TardisCaptain

Day 15 and about half way through the RPGaDAY 2025 Challenge. Today our topic is ‘Deceive’ and it’s another one that’s just a little too vague. I was even talking with the geek wife about this as we were driving home from a date hoping to get an inspiration for an idea. I’m going to twist this one on it’s Vulcan pointed ear for this post.

Sometimes the best play comes at our RPG table when the characters have to stay within certain boundaries of the character. One that was self-imposed or set within the game itself. The characters can and will find ways around the boundary while not crossing it directly. A common trope on this is the Star Trek race Vulcans and their reputation for not lying. For example, check out this page from the Star Trek novel, Collision Course.

There are numerous examples in the show where a Vulcan had to deceive another in order to accomplish a goal. Consider the following quotes.

“It is not a lie to keep the truth to oneself.” Spock- The Enterprise Incident, Stardate: 5027.3

“Names, Lieutenant.” Kirk “I do not remember.” Valeris “A lie?” Spock “A choice.” Valeris- Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, Stardate: 9521.6

As you can see, there were ways to work around this in different situations. Don’t be afraid to place these boundaries on your players. They will look at them as a challenge to get around.

Additional Feedback: I received the following from LexTenebris on Mastodon in response to my Darkness post.

@TardisCaptain There are two things that are important to know about ShadowDark. Firstly, it is a very old-school design with high lethality, but a surprisingly light mechanical touch. Secondly, the real-time torch mechanic is something they tout very aggressively. Now, as I remember, the default time span before the torch burns out is 30 minutes of real time. He may have been going easy on you as newbies. Personally, I don’t particularly care for the real-time connection because it feels not just gimmicky, but like it gets in the way of doing things in the game that would make sense but don’t really connect up with time as it passes. You absolutely have to be hardcore about demanding time be one-to-one between the dungeon and the players for this to hold together. It’s just too fiddly, in my opinion. A better implementation of pressure from oncoming darkness is found in the Ironsworn supplement, Darkest Delves (https://jaderavens.itch.io/darkest-delves). It uses the already extant weak hit and miss mechanics in Ironsworn to essentially be one of the things that causes the torch counter to tick down. You have a lot more connection with what’s going on in the game space that way.

What do you think? Have you experienced a challenge such as not being able to lie and deceive? Tell me about it. This article is open for discussion on the TardisCaptain dot Com Discord server. You can also email me at Carl (at) TardisCaptain.com with any comments.

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