Grumpy's Blog

Everyone has a favourite method for rolling initiative and controlling the flow of combat. It doesn’t matter what rule set you’re using, when things kick off and blades are drawn, or slugs are belching from barrels, then it’s important to know who is going first, or is it? There is nothing that focuses players' attention, and cuts through the narrative chatter more than those seven little words.. “Right, let's have an Initiative Roll then!” Over the years, I have heard arguments for narrative combat, for very mechanical combat and all sorts of mixtures in between. I have sat and listened...

When writing a background for any role-playing character, I try to think about the following parts of the character and fill out as much about them as I possibly can, so that when it comes to playing them I know as much as possible about my character and how they would react to situations, and more importantly, how to interact with other people. Have a read of the following article that I found many years ago on a website, (which if I knew where it was from I would give credit to it now, and if anyone knows where it...

Have you been wondering what this Rosebyrne Manor game is that is plastered on the website, well this is the first in a series of articles designed to explain to you the story behind the game, as well as the worldbuilding and character development that has gone in to the game.

A Few weeks ago we posted a list of 10 Trinkets you can use in your RPG Games to add a little mystery to your character or for your GM to give you a story hook.  Well here are 10 more to add to that list! A silver filigreed pocket watch with cracked glass and missing the hour hand. A dented Pewter tankard with “Stonefist” scratched into the bottom of it A small silver case with realistic drawings of creatures on small pieces of parchments inside. You have never seen half the creatures depicted in the drawings before. A rough-cut...