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 Fifty One – Leroy’s Missing Hedge-Vege
Game Of Gnomes – Bloody dynastic suburban warfare in the gardens and cul-de-sacs of a post-humanity world
Mistakes Were Made- A minor criminal act sparks a cascade of suspicion, accusation, and reprisal.
Dude, Where’s My Plant? – A magical plant is missing. Was it stolen? Did it wander off? Have any other plants gone missing?
Springtime For Hitler / The Producers
Heil Honey I’m Home!
The Borrowers
Hedgerow
Small Soldiers
The Bromeliad, by Terry Pratchett
9 (movie)
MUD / Multi User Dungeon
The Carpet People, by Terry Pratchett
Grounded (game)
Reign (RPG)
Pugmire
Monarchies of Mau
Redwall
Hot Fuzz
Shaun of the Dead
The World’s End
Our Last Best Hope
Fiasco
Do: Pilgrims of the Flying Temple
The Thing
Senator Joseph McCarthy
Episode One Hundred And Twenty One – It’s promotion time for the Royal Gardeners of the Emperor. Only one will advance
H.P. Lovecraft
War Against the Chtorr, by David Gerrold
Day of the Triffids, by John Wyndham
Baobab
Kids on Bikes
Hothouse, by Brian Aldiss