Have you ever wanted to get involved in running tabletop roleplaying games and thought “But I have no ideas!”? The Big Red Couch is designed to show exactly how easy it is to get from random notions that stick in your mind to playable concepts, all through the medium of the kind of casually weird spitballing that gamers engage in at the best of times. In every issue, the intrepid contributors to the Big Red Couch brave the noisome wonders of The Mystery Box to produce a randomly-selected seed idea, then return Some Time Later to share what they came up with and discuss how those concepts might work as games. If we can do it, anyone can: that’s the whole idea. Along the road, we discuss what RPG systems might work for implementing different concepts, together with reasons how or why. This frequently involves adaptation of systems from their original settings to the point where they creak under the strain.
https://hoarde.net/bigredcouch
Episode One Hundred And Twenty Nine – Aliens have landed at Gen Con and only stalwart games can defeat them!
Personifications of games emerge when the need is greatest to rally the forces of gamers in battle against an Alien Menace.
Alien Invaders arrive, looking for the most loyal representative of Earth to battle for dominance in a symbolic competition. Owing to poor translation skills and the inability to imagine that anyone might do things differently, they’ve found the Gen Con booth of Stalwart Games, who are about to have a very weird day.
A Meeple-Shaped spacecraft has crashed in through the roof of LucasOil stadium, and the invading forces are streaming out to take over. The MiBs are responding, but they need time, so it’d up to the Gen Con attendees to divert, confuse, distract, and possibly subvert the alien menace to buy that time.
Gen Con
( No idea why Craig wanted me to link this – He’s been banging on about the thing for years. At this point my pets know what Gen Con is ~ T. Jones )
Diverticulitis
Sigmoid Colon
Sigmund and the Sea Monsters
The Princess Bride
Eskenazi Health
Sidney & Lois Eskenazi Hospital
Craig’s Travel Blog Entries;
Where Things Diverticulated From The Plan
9311 Eskenazi, 1432 SpringHill
Dungeons & Dragons
Palladium Books / Rifts
Call Of Cthulhu RPG
GURPS
Are You A Werewolf?
Two Rooms and a Boom
Secret Hitler
QAGS
White Wolf Publishing
Apocalypse World
Fate Accelerated
MechWarrior
BattleTech
( MechWarrior is the video game, BattleTech is the wargame it’s based on ~ T. Jones )
Indiana Convention Center
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Python (code)
Galaxy Quest
The Player Of Games, by Iain M. Banks
Terran Trade Authority
Meeple
RoboRally
Fiasco
Zombie Cinema
Chris Foss
Douglas Adams
Oscar (movie)
Zucker-Abrams-Zucker
H.R. Giger
Swatch
Giger’s Watch Exhibition
David Cronenberg