Monday, May 19, 2025
Traveller Distinctives: Speculative Trade
Friday, May 16, 2025
Save Versus Senescence

Thursday, May 15, 2025
Performance Anxiety
Late last summer, I first broached the idea of my House of Worms Empire of the Petal Throne campaign finally ending. As regular readers know, House of Worms is the longest campaign I’ve ever run with a stable group of players. Week after week, year after year, we have returned to Tékumel, exploring its labyrinthine politics, alien gods, and decaying glories together. It’s been a singular experience, one I never quite expected to last this long when we first began playing more than a decade ago.
In fact, when we started House of Worms, I had no expectation that it'd last more than maybe a few months. At the time, I hadn't played in the world of Tékumel in almost ten years and, even then, it was for only a brief period, so I assumed something similar would happen. This time, though, something clicked and did so almost immediately. The characters took on lives of their own. The setting opened up like a great unfolding map, rich with possibilities. The players responded with curiosity and commitment – and so did I. Before long, we had a real campaign and that campaign became a weekly tradition, a touchstone not just for our hobby lives but also for our friendships.
I’m proud of what we have accomplished. The characters evolved from unknown newcomers to key players on the imperial stage. Locations, events, and characters that began as vague sketches soon crystallized into defining elements of not just of the campaign but our conception of what Tékumel is like as a setting. Choices had consequences. Deaths mattered (often in unexpected ways). Victories felt earned. What began as a yet another attempt to play an old school roleplaying game few remembered soon became something more: a collaborative, shared history of the sort that I think is genuinely unique to this hobby of ours.
Still, it’s time. The campaign started to lose a lot of momentum in 2024 and we all recognized this. The characters had been through a lot during the previous nine years of play and, while there were still lots of places they could go, we'd nevertheless reached a point that felt like some kind of ending was in sight. Certainly, we could play on – as a setting, Tékumel is immense and filled with possibilities – but to do so would feel like lingering after the curtain has fallen. Better, we decided, to end well than to drag things out past their prime. That knowledge doesn’t make it any easier, though. There’s a sadness in ending a campaign of such longevity.
There's also satisfaction and pride and lots of other positive feelings too. The House of Worms campaign shouldn't be mourned but celebrated. Likewise, my players are very loyal; they've asked me to start a new campaign when we finally conclude our current one. They want something fresh but with the same spirit of discovery, depth, and continuity that defined House of Worms. Their enthusiasm is heartening. It means I did something right. It means the game mattered, which makes me very happy. I often think we don't recognize just how meaningful and important a good RPG campaign can be to the people who participate in it.
So, even as things wind down, I am very pleased by what we've accomplished – but I'm also more than a little anxious about the future.
The truth is I’ve launched many campaigns over the years. Most of them didn't last. Some sputtered out after only a handful of sessions. Others lasted a respectable amount of time but never achieved the same alchemy as House of Worms. That’s the way of things. Long-running, deeply satisfying campaigns are rare. They are accidents of chemistry, timing, and luck as much as planning and design. You can’t force them into being, no matter how hard you try to do so. This is one of the more frustrating aspects of roleplaying as a hobby: there are no guarantees that you'll actually enjoy what you're playing, especially not over the long term.
Part of the challenge is structural. Life intrudes. Schedules shift. Interests drift. Players move on. Sustaining any long-term creative endeavor, especially one that depends on the consistent involvement of several adults with busy lives, is very hard. Sustaining it for ten years is, frankly, a minor miracle and, like all miracles, it’s not one you can replicate on command.
There’s another kind of challenge, too: the weight of comparison. After something as long-lived and beloved as House of Worms, anything new is likely to feel slight by contrast. Early sessions will lack the depth of history. New characters will feel unformed. The setting will feel empty until it is slowly filled in over the course of weeks and months. It’s hard not to wonder then: will this new campaign, whatever it winds up being, catch fire the same way? Will it grow into something fun and meaningful or will it fall apart before it ever finds its legs?

Wednesday, May 14, 2025
Retrospective: Nephilim
I think anyone who's been deeply involved in the hobby of roleplaying games for any length of time will eventually come across a game with which they become obsessed – not necessarily because they actually play it but because the game's concept or presentation happen to strike an unexpected chord with him. Over the decades since I was initiated into this hobby, I've had several such games. The one I want to talk about in this post continues to be an object of fascination for me more than 30 years after its publication, both for its virtues and its flaws. It's a game that I think could have been bigger and more successful than it was, if only it hadn't been produced by Chaosium in the mid-90s, a time of particular turmoil for the venerable California game company.
The English version of Nephilim – I have never seen any of the French editions – appeared on the scene in 1994. Though sometimes compared (favorably or otherwise) to White Wolf's "World of Darkness" games for its superficial similarity, Nephilim was in fact distinct because of its deep immersion in real world occultism, esotericism, and philosophy. This fact probably played a role in its limited impact on the wider RPG scene at the time. At best, Nephilim was, no pun intended, a cult classic, admired by some for its unique vision and polarizing to others due to its complexity and mysticism. With the benefit of hindsight, Nephilim appears to be a game that feels both ahead of and constrained by its time, with an ambitious yet flawed attempt to merge the metaphysical with the game mechanical.Nephilim places the players in the roles of titular Nephilim, powerful elemental spirits who have been reincarnating through human bodies for millennia. These beings seek enlightenment and ultimate mastery over magic, all while hiding from secret societies such as the Templars and other forces bent on suppressing their supernatural influence. The game draws heavily from esoteric traditions, like alchemy, the Kabbalah, astrology, and the Tarot, in order to create a setting that’s more intellectual than visceral. The world of Nephilim isn’t about heroics or adventure in the traditional sense, but about the slow, unfolding journey of self-discovery, spiritual awakening, and the management of hidden knowledge.
The beauty of this game lies in its depth. The Nephilim characters are not ordinary adventurers but beings of great power, constantly at odds with the limitations of human existence. Reincarnation plays a central role: your character may have lived many lives, across different times and places, and will continue to do so for eternity. This concept of eternal recurrence provides a wealth of roleplaying opportunities, as players are tasked with piecing together fragmented memories and uncovering truths hidden in past lives. This frame invites a certain kind of player, one interested in exploring questions about identity, morality, and immortality against the backdrop of occult mysticism.
However, this central conceit is also a double-edged sword. The complex background of the game, while rich, can feel inaccessible to players unfamiliar with occultism or those simply hoping for a more traditional fantasy adventure. Nephilim doesn’t offer the more traditional gratifications of slaying monsters and looting treasure; it instead asks players to navigate a web of arcane lore and hidden agendas, which can be overwhelming or unsatisfying for those unprepared for its slow pace.
The game’s mechanics are built around the Basic Role-Playing system, which was a wise choice, because it was familiar to fans of Call of Cthulhu and RuneQuest, both of whom might well be interested in the subject matter of Nephilim. However, the game doesn’t fully embrace the simplicity of BRP. Instead, it introduces several layers of complexity with its systems for magic, past lives, and the metaphysical forces known as Ka.
The Ka system is central to the game, representing the elemental forces that shape each Nephilim. It’s a fascinating concept that ties into character development and the use of magic, but it can also become a burden to manage. Characters must balance their elemental affinities, harnessing them to gain power or enlightenment, but doing so requires a deep understanding of the system. The Ka system, while thematically rich, often feels clunky and opaque, especially for players who are more accustomed to streamlined mechanics.
The magic system is similarly intricate. Divided into a series of occult sciences – alchemy, astrology, summoning, and more – each one presents unique rules, rituals, and challenges. While these magical systems offer a degree of customization, they can quickly overwhelm players. The complexity isn’t inherently a problem, but the lack of clear guidance on how to use these systems often leaves players floundering. Nephilim can thus feel like a game in search of a user manual, where the richness of its background material is undermined by the difficulty of navigating its rules.
Further, the game's character creation is a daunting process, involving past lives, elemental alignments, and a variety of other factors that require significant attention to detail. While this deep character customization can be incredibly rewarding for dedicated players, it can also be a barrier to entry. Newcomers may find themselves lost in the weeds of the system before even getting to the heart of the game.
One of Nephilim's strongest aspects is its presentation. The art and layout, while not groundbreaking by modern standards, exude a gothic, surreal quality that perfectly complements the game’s mystical themes. The illustrations are dark, moody, and evocative, which nicely complements the atmosphere of the game, even if they occasionally obscure the clarity of the text.
At the same time, Nephilim's presentation does suffer from the typical issues found in many early '90s RPGs, such as dense blocks of text, inconsistent layout, and a tendency to overload players with information without clear guidance. The mysticism that pervades the game is often reflected in the game’s writing style, which can occasionally veer toward the impenetrable. This is a game that assumes players are already familiar with esoteric traditions and it doesn’t always make the effort to ease new players into its complex world.
At its best, Nephilim offered a unique approach to supernatural-themed RPGs, one that blended philosophy, magic, and exploration in a way that was unusual at the time (and probably still is). The game's background is rich with possibility and its mechanics take a "contemplative" approach to character growth and development. For those willing to put in the effort to understand the system and immerse themselves in the game’s themes, Nephilim could offer a truly unique roleplaying experience.
Unfortunately, I suspect that rarely happened. Nephilim has a lot of flaws. The complexity of its rules and the obscure nature of its background material can, as I said, be off-putting for many players. Its occult focus, while a selling point for some, may feel inaccessible or even pretentious to others. The game is undoubtedly aimed at a niche audience – players willing to invest time in deciphering its symbolism and mastering its systems – which no doubt played a role in its inability to achieve broader appeal.
Tuesday, May 13, 2025
REVIEW: Dragonbane

The First Proclamation of Renewal
O citizens of Béy Sü, Jewel of the Empire, Cradle of Dynasties, and Soul of the World:
For centuries we have called ourselves faithful and yet we have failed in our most sacred of duties.
Ditlána, the Rite of Renewal, commanded by divine law to be undertaken every five hundred years, lies neglected. The gods wait – and we have made them wait too long. The city groans beneath the weight of that delay. Its bones are old. Its heart is still. Its walls are choked with silence and, within that silence, fester rot and blasphemy.
The Temple of Belkhánu, long a sanctuary of Stability and Repose, has become a shadowed fane for something older and far more terrible. There, beneath clouds of incense and threnodies to the honored dead, the foul cult of the One Other has taken root – tended not by outlaws, but by priests masked in reverence and armored in tradition.
Therefore, the Temple of Belkhánu in this city shall be the first to fall. Stone by stone; beam by beam.
Its relics, if true, shall be preserved.
Its servants, if loyal to the gods and the Petal Throne, shall be spared.
Its hidden masters shall be cast down and scattered.
Let this be the first hammer-blow in the long-overdue renewal of Béy Sü.
This is not sacrilege. This is not conquest. This is not vengeance.
This is obedience to the will of the gods and the cycle of centuries.
This is the sword raised to purify.
This is Ditlána.
Let the traitors wail. Let the halls of power tremble if they must – but the city will be reborn.
The Empire will be reborn.
The gods will not be mocked, nor will their patience last forever.
Let the banners fly. Let the fires burn. Let those who love Tsolyánu stand and be counted.
Thus speaks the Sword of Judgment. Thus speaks Eselné.
REPOST: The Articles of Dragon: "Setting Saintly Standards"
That's where "Setting Saintly Standards" steps in. Bennie proposes that saints are special servants of the gods who've achieved immortality and some measure of divine power. He makes them on par with Greyhawk's "quasi-deities" like Murlynd or Keoghtom, but explicitly tied to a specific deity, whom they serve and whose cause they promote. The article lays out their spell-like abilities and offers four examples of saints from his own campaign to give the referee some idea of how to create saints of his own. He likewise suggests that some saints -- "patron saints" -- may have shrines dedicated to them and, over time, achieve sufficient power to become demigods in their own right. Exactly what this means for relations between the saint, his followers, and the deity he ostensibly serves is never discussed.
I'm on record as intensely disliking the reduction of gods and semi-divine beings to game stats. It's not for nothing that I dislike both Gods, Demigods & Heroes and Deities & Demigods. One of D&D's worst failings is its reductionism, its voracious appetite to turn everything into either a monster to be killed or a piece of magical technology to be wielded. Saints, as Bennie imagines them, are just big monsters -- or little gods -- to be confronted rather than anything more sublime. Maybe I'd be less bothered by this if he'd have adopted another term for what he's presenting; I don't think the idea of fighting gods is necessarily out of bounds. For certain styles of fantasy, it's even highly appropriate. But saint has a very specific meaning and Gygax's mention of them is almost certainly tied up in the implicit Christianity of early gaming.
Late 1983, though, was a long distance away from 1974, though, and the culture of the hobby had changed. What to Gygax had seemed obvious was now in need of explication and not just explication but expansion. That's why Bennie broadens the use of the term "saint" to include the servants of any god, not just Lawful Good ones. Thus we have St. Kargoth, a fallen paladin, among the four examples he provides us. To say that the idea of an "anti-saint" or "dark saint" is bizarre to me is an understatement. Mind you, I find the idea of non-Lawful Good paladins similarly bizarre, so clearly I'm out of step with a lot of gamers, no that this is any surprise.

Monday, May 12, 2025
The Long Game: Exceptions to the "Rules"
In the comments to Part I of "The Long Game" series, a reader wrote:
I’m curious to read about some of the cases where you violated your principles and how it worked out.
I thought this was an interesting premise for another post. What follows is a look at each of the maxims I presented in that series and the times I ignored them. My purpose here is twofold: first, to make it clear that even when a referee is intentional in how he structures and runs his campaign, it's probably impossible to avoid straying from his own principles from time to time; and second, to show that doing so is not the end of the world. My maxims aren’t a formula. They’re more like a recipe, something that each referee can (and should) adjust to suit his own tastes.
Play with Friends
I believe this very strongly and have said so many times over the course of this blog’s history. By and large, roleplaying games are best experienced with friends. That said, I recognize this isn't always possible.
A good example is my House of Worms campaign, which is far and away the longest and most successful campaign I’ve ever run with a stable group of players. It began in March 2015 with six people, most of whom I barely knew at the time. I was acquainted with them through the late, lamented Google Plus, but calling any of them "friends" then would have been a stretch.
Despite that, we clicked. Maybe it was dumb luck. Maybe it was a shared willingness to be respectful, imaginative, and curious. Whatever the reason, those strangers eventually became friends – and the campaign, as longtime readers know, became something of a legend. If I’d stuck rigidly to my maxim, that never would have happened. In fact, it’s just possible that the lack of pre-existing social ties helped. It gave us space to find our own dynamic within the evolving campaign, without any outside baggage. In a setting like Tékumel, that’s actually quite valuable.
I still think prior friendship helps – a lot – but it doesn’t always have to come first. Sometimes, the campaign is the crucible where friendship is forged.
Stay Consistent
A consistent schedule of play is one of the best foundations for a long-running campaign. I think the lack of it is precisely why you so rarely hear about campaigns lasting even a year, let alone five or more. I’d go so far as to say it’s the hardest maxim to follow and the one whose absence is most likely to doom a campaign. If you’re not meeting regularly, week after week, the odds are already against you. Off the top of my head, I can name at least half a dozen campaigns I started that fizzled out because either the players or I couldn’t commit to a regular schedule.
And yet: in the late ’90s, I refereed a Star Trek campaign with a wildly inconsistent schedule, thanks to the vagaries of real life. By all rights, it shouldn’t have lasted, but, instead of dying out, the long gaps between sessions gave everyone time to anticipate the next one. When we did play, people came to the table energized and full of ideas. The campaign moved slowly, but it moved nonetheless. The irregularity gave it a kind of mythic quality. Every session felt like an event. That, more than anything, kept it alive.
Momentum matters, but sometimes scarcity makes something more valuable. Irregular play won’t kill a campaign if the players are committed for other reasons.
Accept the Lulls
This is another tough one, though for different reasons. Most of us enjoy roleplaying games because they let us escape, whether from the everyday or the already-too-eventful. They offer us a chance to step into a different world full of mystery, adventure, and danger. As a result, we come to expect a certain level of excitement from our sessions. We crave it – not just the players, but the referee too.
A good example once again comes from House of Worms. Around the third year of the campaign, the characters had settled into the Tsolyáni colony of Linyaró. I had all sorts of ideas about their taking on the responsibilities of governing a colony – economic decisions, trade, managing political and religious factions – but it turned out to be far duller than I’d hoped. Sessions dragged. I could sense a kind of restlessness in the group.
So I had some demons show up and start burning the place down.
I didn’t know why they were there. I hadn’t planned it, but it didn’t matter. The players enjoyed the sudden chaos, and it kicked the campaign into motion again.
Lester Dent once advised that if you’re stuck writing a pulp story, just have some men with guns burst into the room. That’s actually not bad RPG advice either, though I wouldn’t rely on it too often.
Be Flexible
Even though I believe firmly that the referee is a player too and that his interests and enjoyment matter, I also think a good referee needs to pay attention to which way the wind is blowing. Sometimes, you’ll spend time setting up something you’re excited about, only for the players to ignore it completely. It’s frustrating. That’s why so many referees try to fight against it, nudging or steering the players back toward “the good stuff.”
I’ve certainly done that, but sometimes, it’s better to let go – or at least let it simmer in the background.
In House of Worms, I was always keen on the idea that the characters would eventually leave Tsolyánu and explore the mysterious Southern Continent. I set up at least two separate enticements for them to head south, and they ignored both. Finally, I offered them the governorship of Linyaró and they took the bait. What followed was years (both in-game and real time) of exploration and discovery among the lands and peoples of that fabled place.
Flexibility is good, but so is persistence. Sometimes, it's OK to keep a thread alive in the background until the players are ready to pull on it.
Don’t Cling
Ideas are cheap. A good referee is always coming up with them. However, some ideas get stuck in your head. You fall in love with them. You convince yourself they’re essential. I’m not proud of this, but I’ve done it. In those cases, I’ve kept throwing the same idea at the players until they finally gave in.
That’s not the same as being flexible, which is reworking an idea into a new form. I’m talking about sticking to the same idea in the same form and just pushing it harder.
This happened in my Barrett’s Raiders campaign. I really, really wanted the characters to gain possession of a tactical nuclear weapon – in this case, a medium atomic demolition munition (MADM) – and have to deal with the consequences. I kept hinting at it through rumors, intercepted radio chatter, offhand NPC comments. The players didn’t bite. So eventually, I just had them stumble across a Soviet truck with the MADM in the back during a random encounter. Suddenly, they had it and were stuck with it.
To my surprise, it worked beautifully. Possession of the nuke shaped the last weeks of their time in Poland and helped propel the campaign toward its current trajectory.
It’s good to let ideas go. Sometimes, though, it’s okay to push – so long as you’re ready for what happens when the players finally take the bait.
In the end, maxims still matter. They’re the distilled essence of long experience and, most of the time, they’re good guides. But roleplaying games thrive on messiness, contradiction, and surprise. I still follow my maxims – most of the time – but I also don't fret about the times when I decide to break them.

Friday, May 9, 2025
"Better a usurper than a herald of the end."
From a speech delivered by Prince Eselné Tlakotáni in the Hall of Unfurled Banners of the Palace of War, Béy Sü (10 Fésru 2360 A.S.)
“You are here because you wish to know my intentions. You wish to know why I have marched legions into Béy Sü and shattered the sanctity of the Choosing. I will tell you why.
My glorious father, Hirkáne, the Stone Upon Which the Universe Rested, is dead. By tradition, once he is entombed in the vaults beneath Avanthár, the Rite of Choosing a new emperor begins. But how can we pretend that rite still matters, when one of the candidates for the throne is not a prince, but the puppet of a god who should never be named? I talk not of Sárku but the One Other, a pariah god whose worship was rightly banned in Tsolyánu millennia ago. In the face of so great a threat, I will not allow the Choosing to take place. I will not permit anything that might give the One Other a foothold in Tsolyánu.
Many of you will say I subvert tradition. But if Dhich’uné ascends the Petal Throne, it is not just the Choosing that will be ended. All will end – and the One Other will sit upon the Petal Throne forever, wearing the mask of Dhich’uné.
So no: I will not let him ascend. Not while I draw breath.
By now, many of you will have heard whispers about a bargain, an ancient pact, a blood price my line has paid since the reign of my father’s fathers. You will have heard that the sacrifice of the defeated princes sustains the Empire and that, without it, it will crumble.”
I spit on that bargain.
If the Tlakotáni made a pact with the One Other, then shame on them. I will not honor it. I will not feed it more sons and daughters so it can grow fat upon the bones of princes.
An Empire built upon such a foundation is unworthy of the loyalty of any man. I’d rather the Empire fall than survive through allegiance to such a foul god.
This is not mere ambition. This is necessity. I do not seek the Petal Throne simply for power. I seek it to close the door before that thing walks through it and calls itself emperor.
And if that means I am damned by the priests, if the high clans curse me and tradition recoils at my name – so be it.
Better a usurper than a herald of the end.
My sister, Ma’ín, stands with me now. She has finally cast off her veils of ambiguity and spoken plain. She chooses the Empire, not its undoing. And you, noble lords and high priests, must know: this decision was not lightly made. The blood that flows through our veins is also a burden we carry.
But not all blood speaks with clarity. Mridóbu, the master of scrolls and subtle poisons, hides behind his ledgers and his robes, huddled in Avanthár with his bureaucrats, pretending neutrality is wisdom. He opposes me – not openly, not yet – but he stands against my actions because I am loud, because I am honest, because I leave no room for a clever escape.
As for the others, I cannot yet say. I hope they will stand with me. I intend to make my case to them, but I will act regardless of what they choose, because I see no other option.
I now make my choice plain. I have made it with sword drawn, with banners raised, with no room for doubt. The Choosing is broken – because it was already broken, shattered by Dhich’uné’s foul designs. I have no patience for masked horrors or ancient ghosts who whisper from their tombs.
I now claim the Petal Throne – not just for glory, not to wear a high diadem, not to live in luxury. I claim it to end this nightmare before it begins.
And if you call me traitor, then call me traitor. If you call me usurper, then so be it. Let history debate what name to carve on my tomb.
But let no one say I stood idle while the Empire died.”
Campaign Updates: The End is Nigh
Barrett's Raiders
House of Worms
