Rich Stokes
@tacticalbacon.bsky.social
GenX nerd.
Thinks he's funny, but isn't.
If you care about what I think, you probably shouldn't. I'm an idiot.
Look, I'm just here to talk about RPGs. And sometimes Industrial music and videogames or movies.
Also sometimes comics. More of a DC guy, sorry.
Thinks he's funny, but isn't.
If you care about what I think, you probably shouldn't. I'm an idiot.
Look, I'm just here to talk about RPGs. And sometimes Industrial music and videogames or movies.
Also sometimes comics. More of a DC guy, sorry.
Having now apparently decided it's a good idea to run VtM for my regular group, I'm reading a bunch of both new and old books to get myself back in the swing of the setting.
Some of the early V5 books are... not good.
Some of the early V5 books are... not good.
December 29, 2025 at 2:32 PM
Having now apparently decided it's a good idea to run VtM for my regular group, I'm reading a bunch of both new and old books to get myself back in the swing of the setting.
Some of the early V5 books are... not good.
Some of the early V5 books are... not good.
Recent discussion on various forms of TTRPG play have me baffled, because I've always felt this was pretty simple.
Trad play is typified by playing which values Story as a goal, but uses mainly non Story facing mechanics which simulate the game world rather than directly addressing story elements.
Trad play is typified by playing which values Story as a goal, but uses mainly non Story facing mechanics which simulate the game world rather than directly addressing story elements.
December 19, 2025 at 10:38 AM
Recent discussion on various forms of TTRPG play have me baffled, because I've always felt this was pretty simple.
Trad play is typified by playing which values Story as a goal, but uses mainly non Story facing mechanics which simulate the game world rather than directly addressing story elements.
Trad play is typified by playing which values Story as a goal, but uses mainly non Story facing mechanics which simulate the game world rather than directly addressing story elements.
Life of Grinch
The City of Lost Grinches
My Dinner with Grinch
December 18, 2025 at 4:07 PM
Life of Grinch
What tools do people use to organise notes and stuff for TTRPG games?
I'm generally pretty ok with remembering important stuff, but I'm looking for something which can do relationship maps, actual maps, track NPC notes and the like.
For context, I run in person, but use a laptop.
I'm generally pretty ok with remembering important stuff, but I'm looking for something which can do relationship maps, actual maps, track NPC notes and the like.
For context, I run in person, but use a laptop.
December 18, 2025 at 4:04 PM
What tools do people use to organise notes and stuff for TTRPG games?
I'm generally pretty ok with remembering important stuff, but I'm looking for something which can do relationship maps, actual maps, track NPC notes and the like.
For context, I run in person, but use a laptop.
I'm generally pretty ok with remembering important stuff, but I'm looking for something which can do relationship maps, actual maps, track NPC notes and the like.
For context, I run in person, but use a laptop.
Turbo-snot has given me the time to finally actually read the VtM 5e books properly.
It's interesting to see it walk a tightrope between trying to modernise and keeping fundamentals unchanged.
Not 100% sold on the way humanity works now, the maths seems wonky but it's a nice idea.
It's interesting to see it walk a tightrope between trying to modernise and keeping fundamentals unchanged.
Not 100% sold on the way humanity works now, the maths seems wonky but it's a nice idea.
December 15, 2025 at 10:52 PM
Turbo-snot has given me the time to finally actually read the VtM 5e books properly.
It's interesting to see it walk a tightrope between trying to modernise and keeping fundamentals unchanged.
Not 100% sold on the way humanity works now, the maths seems wonky but it's a nice idea.
It's interesting to see it walk a tightrope between trying to modernise and keeping fundamentals unchanged.
Not 100% sold on the way humanity works now, the maths seems wonky but it's a nice idea.
Discussed running Urban Shadows for my regular RPG group and one of them is already calling it Apocalypse World of Darkness.
December 6, 2025 at 9:02 PM
Discussed running Urban Shadows for my regular RPG group and one of them is already calling it Apocalypse World of Darkness.
It's that time of year again.
December 2, 2025 at 4:28 PM
It's that time of year again.
And now very firmly having a rest day and trying to chill post Dragonmeet, but utterly knackered and fighting some snotty crud.
Looking forward to digging into Questworlds, which @icooper.bsky.social very kindly signed for me and put up with my waffling about being a small book enjoyer.
Looking forward to digging into Questworlds, which @icooper.bsky.social very kindly signed for me and put up with my waffling about being a small book enjoyer.
December 1, 2025 at 11:21 AM
And now very firmly having a rest day and trying to chill post Dragonmeet, but utterly knackered and fighting some snotty crud.
Looking forward to digging into Questworlds, which @icooper.bsky.social very kindly signed for me and put up with my waffling about being a small book enjoyer.
Looking forward to digging into Questworlds, which @icooper.bsky.social very kindly signed for me and put up with my waffling about being a small book enjoyer.
We have such sights to show you, Charlie Brown.
November 24, 2025 at 9:50 PM
We have such sights to show you, Charlie Brown.
Kvetching online about Steam console specs from vocal PC Master Race types has really highlighted the fact that some people like playing videogames while some people like spending a lot of money so they can cock wave about meaningless benchmark numbers, and that these are two separate hobbies.
November 17, 2025 at 2:03 PM
Kvetching online about Steam console specs from vocal PC Master Race types has really highlighted the fact that some people like playing videogames while some people like spending a lot of money so they can cock wave about meaningless benchmark numbers, and that these are two separate hobbies.
Apparently I've arranged to see a Nirvana covers band tonight, but one with an Elvis impersonator as a front man.
That definitely sounds like something I'd want to see.
Bonus is it turns out the support is called Nic Cage Against The Machine.
www.elvana.co.uk
That definitely sounds like something I'd want to see.
Bonus is it turns out the support is called Nic Cage Against The Machine.
www.elvana.co.uk
Shop | elvisfrontednirvana
www.elvana.co.uk
November 14, 2025 at 1:42 PM
Apparently I've arranged to see a Nirvana covers band tonight, but one with an Elvis impersonator as a front man.
That definitely sounds like something I'd want to see.
Bonus is it turns out the support is called Nic Cage Against The Machine.
www.elvana.co.uk
That definitely sounds like something I'd want to see.
Bonus is it turns out the support is called Nic Cage Against The Machine.
www.elvana.co.uk
Dammit, all this thinking and talking about V:tM has ended up with me buying a ton of Vampire: the Eternal Struggle cards.
Black Chantry have done a phenomenal job keeping this game going and have managed to modernise it and bring it in line with V5 without losing what made it so good 30 years ago.
Black Chantry have done a phenomenal job keeping this game going and have managed to modernise it and bring it in line with V5 without losing what made it so good 30 years ago.
November 14, 2025 at 11:26 AM
Dammit, all this thinking and talking about V:tM has ended up with me buying a ton of Vampire: the Eternal Struggle cards.
Black Chantry have done a phenomenal job keeping this game going and have managed to modernise it and bring it in line with V5 without losing what made it so good 30 years ago.
Black Chantry have done a phenomenal job keeping this game going and have managed to modernise it and bring it in line with V5 without losing what made it so good 30 years ago.
More musings on the V:tM TTRPG:
The underlying system was, imo, not great and even at the time I had issues with it. I found it mainly OK, but required significant effort on my part when running it to keep things Working.
The underlying system was, imo, not great and even at the time I had issues with it. I found it mainly OK, but required significant effort on my part when running it to keep things Working.
November 13, 2025 at 11:13 AM
More musings on the V:tM TTRPG:
The underlying system was, imo, not great and even at the time I had issues with it. I found it mainly OK, but required significant effort on my part when running it to keep things Working.
The underlying system was, imo, not great and even at the time I had issues with it. I found it mainly OK, but required significant effort on my part when running it to keep things Working.
Recent conversation with an old TTRPG buddy around our shared love of V:tM and the WoD in general and the shortcomings I feel the entire thing had.
Important to understand that I still love a lot of what WoD is/was despite feeling there are some serious problems with it.
Important to understand that I still love a lot of what WoD is/was despite feeling there are some serious problems with it.
November 12, 2025 at 1:59 PM
Recent conversation with an old TTRPG buddy around our shared love of V:tM and the WoD in general and the shortcomings I feel the entire thing had.
Important to understand that I still love a lot of what WoD is/was despite feeling there are some serious problems with it.
Important to understand that I still love a lot of what WoD is/was despite feeling there are some serious problems with it.
Seriously, at this point just have James Bond fight Predator and be done with it.
November 11, 2025 at 2:57 PM
Seriously, at this point just have James Bond fight Predator and be done with it.
Good golly, I missed some odd TTRPG discussions this week.
Like, "rule of cool" being misunderstood is all well and good, but fundamentally if you want a specific play experience and the game/system you're running your game with doesn't do that, then that's a shortcoming or mismatch.
Like, "rule of cool" being misunderstood is all well and good, but fundamentally if you want a specific play experience and the game/system you're running your game with doesn't do that, then that's a shortcoming or mismatch.
November 5, 2025 at 5:27 PM
Good golly, I missed some odd TTRPG discussions this week.
Like, "rule of cool" being misunderstood is all well and good, but fundamentally if you want a specific play experience and the game/system you're running your game with doesn't do that, then that's a shortcoming or mismatch.
Like, "rule of cool" being misunderstood is all well and good, but fundamentally if you want a specific play experience and the game/system you're running your game with doesn't do that, then that's a shortcoming or mismatch.
I've realised I'm way too busy* to create a full on dungeon for my current OSE TTRPG game, so I've decided to randomly generate the content of rooms by just picking them blidfolded from the various megadungeon nonsense books I own but will never run.
* by which I mean lazy
* by which I mean lazy
October 22, 2025 at 4:11 PM
I've realised I'm way too busy* to create a full on dungeon for my current OSE TTRPG game, so I've decided to randomly generate the content of rooms by just picking them blidfolded from the various megadungeon nonsense books I own but will never run.
* by which I mean lazy
* by which I mean lazy
Mrs Rich decided she wanted to watch a horror film.
Not just any random one, she specifically wanted to watch Poultrygiest: Night of the Chicken Dead.
So I tracked it down and it turns out to be a Lloyd Kaufman Troma film.
She REALLY wasn't prepared for this nonsense.
m.imdb.com/title/tt0462...
Not just any random one, she specifically wanted to watch Poultrygiest: Night of the Chicken Dead.
So I tracked it down and it turns out to be a Lloyd Kaufman Troma film.
She REALLY wasn't prepared for this nonsense.
m.imdb.com/title/tt0462...
Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead (2006) ⭐ 6.0 | Comedy, Horror, Musical
1h 43m | Not Rated
m.imdb.com
October 20, 2025 at 6:28 PM
Mrs Rich decided she wanted to watch a horror film.
Not just any random one, she specifically wanted to watch Poultrygiest: Night of the Chicken Dead.
So I tracked it down and it turns out to be a Lloyd Kaufman Troma film.
She REALLY wasn't prepared for this nonsense.
m.imdb.com/title/tt0462...
Not just any random one, she specifically wanted to watch Poultrygiest: Night of the Chicken Dead.
So I tracked it down and it turns out to be a Lloyd Kaufman Troma film.
She REALLY wasn't prepared for this nonsense.
m.imdb.com/title/tt0462...
Republica aren't a band I paid much attention to back in the day. They had their hits, I kinda liked their albums and they seemed to be playing locally every week.
So seeing them for the first time in nearly 30 years on Friday it was nice to see they're still pretty fun.
So seeing them for the first time in nearly 30 years on Friday it was nice to see they're still pretty fun.
September 28, 2025 at 11:00 AM
Republica aren't a band I paid much attention to back in the day. They had their hits, I kinda liked their albums and they seemed to be playing locally every week.
So seeing them for the first time in nearly 30 years on Friday it was nice to see they're still pretty fun.
So seeing them for the first time in nearly 30 years on Friday it was nice to see they're still pretty fun.
Looking through the Outgunned PDFs while I wait for my books to be delivered.
Initial impressions and hot takes, bearing in mind this is after a brief read of the core and a skim of the 2 Action Flicks books:
Initial impressions and hot takes, bearing in mind this is after a brief read of the core and a skim of the 2 Action Flicks books:
September 24, 2025 at 12:19 PM
Looking through the Outgunned PDFs while I wait for my books to be delivered.
Initial impressions and hot takes, bearing in mind this is after a brief read of the core and a skim of the 2 Action Flicks books:
Initial impressions and hot takes, bearing in mind this is after a brief read of the core and a skim of the 2 Action Flicks books:
Got bored and bought the RIFTS mega bundles from bundle of holding last night and spent some fun time reading the frankly batshit nonsense those books contain.
I kinda feel weirdly fond of RIFTS, despite knowing both intellectually and instinctively that's it's a complete load of arse.
I kinda feel weirdly fond of RIFTS, despite knowing both intellectually and instinctively that's it's a complete load of arse.
September 23, 2025 at 4:25 PM
Got bored and bought the RIFTS mega bundles from bundle of holding last night and spent some fun time reading the frankly batshit nonsense those books contain.
I kinda feel weirdly fond of RIFTS, despite knowing both intellectually and instinctively that's it's a complete load of arse.
I kinda feel weirdly fond of RIFTS, despite knowing both intellectually and instinctively that's it's a complete load of arse.
Spent some time with Jump Space over the weekend and it was pretty fun!
Mainly pitched at coop with up to 4 players, but pretty playable solo. The solo aspect is good because I hate jumping into a multiplayer thing without having time to practice.
store.steampowered.com/app/1757300/...
Mainly pitched at coop with up to 4 players, but pretty playable solo. The solo aspect is good because I hate jumping into a multiplayer thing without having time to practice.
store.steampowered.com/app/1757300/...
Jump Space on Steam
Jump Space (formerly Jump Ship) is a mission based co-op PvE for 1-4 players, where you are the crew of a spaceship. Transition seamlessly from crewing the ship to on-foot exploration and space walks....
store.steampowered.com
September 22, 2025 at 12:09 PM
Spent some time with Jump Space over the weekend and it was pretty fun!
Mainly pitched at coop with up to 4 players, but pretty playable solo. The solo aspect is good because I hate jumping into a multiplayer thing without having time to practice.
store.steampowered.com/app/1757300/...
Mainly pitched at coop with up to 4 players, but pretty playable solo. The solo aspect is good because I hate jumping into a multiplayer thing without having time to practice.
store.steampowered.com/app/1757300/...
Looked at the Outgunned TTRPG and it sounds pretty neat.
Will admit I'm struggling a little with the product line. There's a core book, some things called Flicks which I'm struggling to find details on but look like example settings? And World of Killers which appears to be "Not John Wick, Honest"?
Will admit I'm struggling a little with the product line. There's a core book, some things called Flicks which I'm struggling to find details on but look like example settings? And World of Killers which appears to be "Not John Wick, Honest"?
September 18, 2025 at 9:27 AM
Looked at the Outgunned TTRPG and it sounds pretty neat.
Will admit I'm struggling a little with the product line. There's a core book, some things called Flicks which I'm struggling to find details on but look like example settings? And World of Killers which appears to be "Not John Wick, Honest"?
Will admit I'm struggling a little with the product line. There's a core book, some things called Flicks which I'm struggling to find details on but look like example settings? And World of Killers which appears to be "Not John Wick, Honest"?
Saw Weapons this weekend, and while I generally enjoy horror films, I don't really consider myself a horror fan as such. If a horror film is just about scary monsters, there's better be a good plot. If it relies on suspense alone, I'm probably going to get bored if nothing is happening on screen.
September 15, 2025 at 2:28 PM
Saw Weapons this weekend, and while I generally enjoy horror films, I don't really consider myself a horror fan as such. If a horror film is just about scary monsters, there's better be a good plot. If it relies on suspense alone, I'm probably going to get bored if nothing is happening on screen.