I'll just limit myself to Necromunda I thought (knowing my own proclivity towards shiny things). Necromunda gang done, Oak and Iron ships dusted off and painted, I have the new edition of Blood Bowl sitting by my desk, and I'm currently assembling 15mm Gallic chariots for an ancients wargame.

Sigh.

My favourite memory of running board game things with children from when I was a teacher was a child surreptitiously trying to put a meeple from Carcassonne in his mouth.

Like: I know bud, those do look delicious. But...

Here is the article if anyone is curious:

open.substack.com/pub/caradocp...

I designed Rascals which uses playing cards - each player has a hand that only refreshes when they change the scene - I wrote some articles about the design goals on my substack. It's still one of my favourite systems that I designed. I think it works well (I'm obviously biased).

Ha! I like this, it would be fun to have a page of notes that were like in-game rumours - using the meta of play to fuel the politics and tension of the game world, but which, at a casual peek, might just look like GM notes.

I don't like GMs who use a screen to project authority. I have a crown, mace, and throne for that - up your fucking game people! 😜

Sometimes I guess there might be things a GM doesn’t want the players to see (maps etc for example). I like GM screens, but have them flat on the table. If they are useful for me to look at they’re useful for everyone else as well! 😂

In that time I've written a bunch of new rules and adjustments, fleshed out the setting, and more than all of that I've had an absolute blast swashbuckling across the skies of the molten seas. I'm also thrilled that the system has held together across this many plays, and this amount of XP doled out

Faced down Imperial intelligence officers and their machinations, survived great ship to ship battles in the skies, managed to seize an enemy ship (and grown their fleet to two ships), and have encountered and faced down dragons. It's been a hoot.

Will they choose to turn back and face the dogged foe that chases them, or will they choose to pursue this new promise. Either path comes with consequences.

For now they are taking two game weeks to allow the ship's crew to forage, take on water, and repair damage to their ship...

Braving the very real threat of death and destruction, they were led to the heart of the island, and from there to a spit of rock below the swirling mists and fog of the below to a ship wreck 200 years old where they were 'asked' to solve an old mystery, righting a past wrong...