An example of usage of "stupid tables"

 

Yesterday I talked (wrote) about making an RPG book that doesn't hold the reader's hand in the slightest and all of its contents are unclear in their purpose (read it HERE to understand more). Now I want to show you some ideas for these contents and how they could be used if you'd like to treat the book as the semi-complete (no rules, just use Death in Space!) game.

DOOM

A collection of terrible fates, from being welded in an unused room to the collapse of the entire dimension of space. It may be just a prophecy of things awaiting the PC (or the campaign, or the universe), or the superstition plaguing PC's existence. Or just things that led to the important event.

SMALL TRANSITIONS

Humanscale doors and openings (yay). Just random doorways, obstacles, traps. Things to look for or to avoid.

MEDICINE

Obviously, random items (may be valuable af!), research in which the PCs help by gathering stuff and data (and - most likely - killing people, oh RPGs) or just source of nasty diseases and poisons. Or stuff that one PC must regularly take to avoid being dissolved into pile of primordial goo.

CHRONICLERS

NPCs,  tons of ideas of the events of the past (or not tons, just ounces - maybe I'll make just ten of them) - or the future (intertwined with the aforementioned DOOM?). Motivation for some characters to dig deeper into some occurrences, mentioning of artifacts or entities that GM can use to base his/her shit upon.

VERMIN

Just sweet, sweet denizens of ships and stations. Or maybe PC's points of origin. Or their obsessions. Or just bio-engineered tools of espionage or murder. Or (tiny) alien monsters with incomprehensible goals and motivations. Or miniscule divine entities of the Great Void.

SHIP TRAUMA

Maybe the spaceships are just living beings, warped and twisted by the powers of the ancient, hostile Cosmos? Maybe it's just a quirk of the Central Computer. Maybe it's the crew's past. Maybe it's the future (is there any difference between them, with the mazes of relativity always trying to mess up one's point of view?). Maybe you and your gaming team should ditch the idea of impersonating tiny fleshlings and just hop into the metallic flesh of star-faring vessels?

UNUSUAL ROOMS

"Have you really been born in the city-sized meat grinder and your parents were the High Priests of Mangled Flesh?"

 

Thought of the day: read the fucking Blindsight and Echopraxia by Peter Watts if you haven't before. 

PS. Sorry for the chaotic nature of the last two posts. This trend may continue well into the future. I just try to have fun in the obviously fucked-up world we live in. Welcome To The Dark Future.

Another stupid idea for the book

During the last thirteen years of reading this blog (and maybe my other creations) you've probably learned one thing - I'm really into making weird shit.

This time I came up with a strange idea - an RPG book filled with stuff without any, how to say it, labeling? No clear chapters, no defined purpose of things.

I mean, strange tables and lists, lots of cryptic stuff. Weird maps, plans and schematics (I want it to be a sci-fi or sci-fi-adjacent thing). But I want everything to be fucking unclear in terms of usage. I won't tell you - 'this is the character creation section' or 'this is a monster' or 'this is the PCs starting equipment list'. As I said, I want everything to be unclear - but not necessarily in substance but for sure in its purpose.

Why? Because I create my stuff just because I feel the urge to do so. And I just could produce weird books with absolutely gibberish / labyrinthine / utterly batshit-crazy content not caring about reception or sales because I do it out of passion.

RPGs are games about imagination, not the rules, indexes and structure. Of course - this thing won't be for everyone - but well, nothing is for everyone. And I'm not even sure if I will advertise it as an RPG rulebook - or a setting / guide / field manual or virtually anything.

I have some notes, some originating from years ago, which I will use making it. And maybe I'll even finish it this decade!

Meanwhile - if you want an ABSOLUTELY FUCKING AMAZING hard science fiction game - grab yourself a copy of DEATH IN SPACE.

Oh, and the picture is rather unrelated. It's just a Skylab airlock training module.

(sorry for this stream of consciousness - this post may be more stupid than my usual stuff)