Sad news in the RPG world this week: pillar of the community Stewart Wieck has untimely passed. RPG historian Shannon Appelcline has penned an article cataloguing some of Stewart's contributions to the RPG community. There's also a thread about his presence in the hobby on the forums.

Kickstarter Spotlight

The cry echoes out from any number of '90s teen movies: Damn the Man, Save the Music! The folks at Make Big Things - the worker-owned cooperative game company behind the GM-less game Questlandia, among others - have recently started their Kickstarter campaign for this rules-light RPG focused on emulating movies like Empire Records.

In many ways, Damn the Man, Save the Music! is another example of the wave of nostalgia-driven, youth-focused RPGs that have gained substantial traction over the last few years. Bubblegumshoe and Tales from the Loop are two other prominent recent entries into this RPG sub-genre.

Hannah Shaffer of Make Big Things was very generous with her time in answering our questions, so rather than us prattling on further about the game, let's hear from her:

The Newsletter: Your campaign page discusses several of the media inspirations for Damn the Man, Save the Music! What RPGs or other RPG designers influenced the game?

Hannah Shaffer: Great question! For RPGs I'll cite Microscope and Fiasco for approachable, streamlined mechanics that I reference often. Monsterhearts and Misspent Youth are two games that treat young adults like real people, so those have been great sources of inspiration.

Other designers I look to for new ideas are Emily Care Boss (Shooting the Moon), Epidiah Ravachol (Swords Without Master), Vincent Baker (Apocalypse World), and Joshua A.C. Newman (Shock: Social Science Fiction). I consider those folks my RPG mentors, and I hope their friendly designs are visible in my own games.

The Newsletter: What are the non-focus players doing during Schedule Scenes? Are they necessarily absent, or just mechanically disengaged? (Newsletter note: for context, a "Schedule Scene" in Damn the Man, Save the Music! is a scene focused on a particular character. Each character gets one Scheduled Scene during each Act of the 3-Act structure of a game.)

Hannah Shaffer: They're very present, actually! Non-mechanically, the GM will often put multiple players in one scene to give the spotlight character a bit of friendly banter and support. Mechanically, there's a specific type of scene, called Taking a Moment, that allows you to heal a relationship with a friend. All relationships in the game start off damaged because of some catastrophic trouble that just hit the store, and the longer you wait to rebuild those relationships, the harder it will be later to call on your friends for help.

Healed relationships can give you extra dice, so there's mechanical incentive—as well as good storytelling incentive—to keep your friends around in scenes.

The Newsletter: You mention "want[ing] to create a game that supported first-time roleplayers and first-time GMs, with lots of creative cues and helpful facilitation tools." Can you describe some of those cues/tools and how they help new gamers?

Hannah Shaffer: I've used a few different tools to try to support first-time players and GMs. The game comes with what's essentially a mini GM screen, but there's one for both the player and the facilitator. For the facilitator (the GM) that guide has all of the game's mechanics distilled down in a way that's easy to reference at a glance. There's also a chart with suggestions for scene types and dramatic story hits if a GM ever feels stuck. The player's guide is shorter, but describes the game's three major scene types, when to roll the dice, and what to do if you feel stuck.

People take in information in different ways, and I've tried to be mindful of this in the rulebook. All text is supported by visuals and the book is peppered with "In Play" examples so GMs can get a sense of what these rules look like in action.

The Newsletter: What's your favorite piece of '90s music?

Hannah Shaffer: How about Blind Melon's song "No Rain?" It's upbeat but also a little melancholy. It reminds me of being a nerdy kid and having to find my own way.

The Damn the Man, Save the Music! Kickstarter campaign runs until July 20. If you're a fan of structured, rules-light games with innovative mechanics or just like '90s music, do yourself a favor and head over to check it out.

New Columns

Jonathan Hicks of Observations From A Gamer's Chair offered "7 Tips On Creating Moments Of High Drama."

And, Shannon Appelcline conducted an RPGnet Interview of "Steve Perrin & Mark Thompson," who are reviving the oldest superhero RPG, Superhero: 2044.

New Reviews

Cedric Chin reviewed "Savage Worlds Tales of Horror, Volume 2," a three-volume adventure set that is heavier on the 'adventure' than on the 'horror.'

Antonios S took a look at two installments in the Dead of Winter apocalyptic zombie board game series. First was "Dead Of Winter: A Crossroads Game," a two to five player semi-cooperative American-style boardgame that plays a lot like an RPG. Second was "Dead Of Winter: The Long Night," a standalone expansion to A Crossroads Game that slightly refocuses the theme but does not add much in the way of game elements.

Edward Kabara reviewed "RuneQuest Roleplaying in Glorantha", which revamps the classic RPG.

The week ended with two Antonios S reviews of products related to the Symbaroum RPG line. The "Symbaroum Gamemaster Screen and Adventure Pack 1" combines a useful GM screen with a great package of adventures. "The Art Of Symbaroum" is a high-quality, well-produced art book that suffers only from its relatively small size.

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Have a good week, everyone.

• Iustum
  Newsletter Editor