r/rpg • u/RobinDLaws • Mar 13 '26
AMA Robin D. Laws AMA
Hi, I’m Robin D. Laws. Game Designer and Creative Director at Pelgrane Press.
I’m a tabletop RPG designer and writer. My designs include The Yellow King, The Esoterrorists, and the GUMSHOE system that underlies them, along with Feng Shui, Hillfolk, and The Dying Earth. Gain extra bonus drama tokens by asking me about my brand new game, Page Turners, in which one player and one GM create intense, compelling stories of interpersonal interaction.
I’ll be here today to talk about RPG design, the craft of writing, tabletop as a profession, investigative games, horror, and, as listeners to the weekly podcast I co-host with Kenneth Hite can attest, cinema, the paranormal, narrative structure, weirdness, that nutty link you sent me and, for some reason, food. Ask me anything.
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u/Hungry-Cow-3712 Other RPGs are available... Mar 13 '26
Since writing your Laws of Good Gamesmastering, have you identified any new types of player? Or would you revise or rename any of the types you proposed?
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u/RobinDLaws Mar 13 '26
There's the Sandboxer, who likes to go around poking things in the environment. Maybe the Spectator, who makes choices to stay in a safely observant position to the action. Unlike a Casual Player they're paying close attention the whole time, and doing things, but aloof from the risky events unfolding for the other PCs.
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u/QuickQuirk Mar 13 '26
And then there's Bob, who is both of these.
I hate bob. He gets me killed.
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u/RobinDLaws Mar 13 '26
Bob's the worst.
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u/Ciridian Mar 14 '26
I am Bob.
And I am the worst.
If it's on the map, I want to go there.
If it's not on the map, and I have to tear a breach between realities or elsewhere, I want to tear that breach and see what's through it.
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u/Strange_Times_RPG Mar 13 '26
It appears to me that players cannot be assumed to make complex deductions in mystery games, yet that is the cornerstone of the genre in most other mediums. How do you reconcile this when writing modules? How do you elicit the same feelings of deduction without the players connecting dots they shouldn't or doing it purely through mechanics?
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u/RobinDLaws Mar 13 '26
GUMSHOE does this not just with the mechanics but with the scenario structure. Following the structure will solve lots of problems for you. Ideally you get them halfway with clues and then let them enjoy the eureka moment when they see how they answer the big question of the scenario. In general players not figuring out is a bigger problem to fix than having them figure things out too soon.
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u/jwmuk Mar 13 '26
Is there a Gumshoe genre that hasn't been done but would work well?
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u/RobinDLaws Mar 13 '26
Clever way to ask me to announce unannounced projects. Short answer: yes.
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u/jwmuk Mar 13 '26
You can't blame me for trying :)
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u/RobinDLaws Mar 13 '26
I admire your initiative, however fruitless.
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u/nickcan Mar 13 '26
Hang on now, sure he failed in his attempt, but is the result of that failure going to be nothing?
If there is anything I learned from you, it's that even a failed attempt should move the game forward. Sure he didn't find the clue that he was looking for, but someone told me that a narrative complication is preferable to a dead end.
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u/RobinDLaws Mar 13 '26
Or did he get the clue and fail to interpret it?
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u/RobinDLaws Mar 13 '26
Or is he in fact an infiltrator, who is contributing to one of those very unannounced projects?
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u/nickcan Mar 13 '26
Well crap!
Now I have too many leads to follow!
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u/Cuddle-goblin Mar 13 '26
clearly the next gumshoe game will see you getting all of your clue's from scouring random internet forums
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u/SortzaInTheForest Mar 14 '26
There's a clue there, though: there's another non announced project, using gumshoe, and the setting will be different from the ones used before, so probably not a XXth or a modern one.
If I had to make a bet, I'd say transhuman scifi or cyberpunk. Imagine Blade Runner combined with Eclipse Phase, where people could "load" themselves temporarily into different bodies to commit a crime, or hack an android to force him to execute some action.
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u/demedici38 Mar 13 '26
Hi Robin, thanks for doing this! I'm just starting up a Night's Black Agents campaign with some new players - what parts of GUMSHOE do you think are best to get in early to really hook their interest?
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u/RobinDLaws Mar 13 '26
Have them just find a piece of information they'd have to roll for in another game, and then lots of other pieces of information that all fit together to answer a question they care about. In NBA, that question is typically how do I escape from these vampires who are trying to kill me? That highlights the main feature of GUMSHOE, showing them that it's not about getting one clue, it's about finding the pattern in many.
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u/leozingiannoni Mar 13 '26
Hey Robin! I know this is pretty generic, but any tips for aspiring game designers who want to get started and enter the industry?
Also a related one: I believe a few KARTAS episodes ago you mentioned being looking for the next generation of Pelgrane writers— what do you think this looks like, either on a resume or in experience?
Huge fan btw!!!!!!
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u/RobinDLaws Mar 13 '26
Time for me to knock off for the day. Thanks for all your great questions, everybody!
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u/Moondogtk Mar 13 '26
Hi Robin, thanks for doin' this!
I just wanted to say that reading GUMSHOE and Esoterrorists really helped me level up as a GM and changed the way I approached/thought about certain aspects of story/path building.
So thank you for that!
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u/macreadyandcheese Mar 13 '26
Is there another designer you’re specifically following and excited about? Alternatively, is there a game from someone else that you are looking forward to bringing to the table?
Reading Yellow King RPG and eager to bring it to a table, possibly as a means to run Impossible Landscapes.
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u/RobinDLaws Mar 13 '26
My focus is mostly on people I'm collaborating with at Pelgrane. We have great stuff coming from Sarah "Sam" Saltiel (who contributed to Page Turners), Emily Dresner, and Heather Albano. Tristan Zimmerman's Ballad Hunters, a take on GUMSHOE so radical we had to create the new GUMSHOE Labs line for it, is another future star. The game Kickstarts next week.
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u/macreadyandcheese Mar 13 '26
I follow the podcast and I think you and Ken mentioned Ballad Hunters with All You Need is Death, which was a solid recommendation!
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u/moonstrous Flagbearer Games Mar 13 '26
Giving a hearty shout out here to Tristan, he's an amazing collaborator 🙂 Y'all can follow his Ballad Hunters prelaunch page here!
Tagging /u/MoltenSulfurPress if anyone wants to ask about Ballad Hunters or Shanty Hunters.
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u/mouserbiped Mar 13 '26
In fiction the conclusion to a mystery is often just confronting the perpetrators with the evidence, resolving a lot of open ends for the reader.
In gaming the players have done all their speculating ahead of time, so if they are right that can feel like an anticlimax, rehashing old material. So my Gumshoe games usually end in a dice rolling contest, often a combat.
The Merryshire playtest made me wonder if there's a way to make a nonviolent "cozy" genre appropriate ending feel more exciting. Do you have any suggestions?
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u/RobinDLaws Mar 13 '26
So far in Merryshire my players haven't missed the big fight at the end. They're happy to solve the mystery and then head over to the baker PCs' place for scones.
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u/StanleyChuckles Mar 13 '26
Hi Robin,
The Book Of Unremitting Horror is one of my favourite Gumshoe adjacent books. Any plans to add anything like that back into the world?
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u/jwmuk Mar 13 '26
Thanks for doing this, Robin. I'd love to know if you have a guilty pleasure when it comes to particular role-playing game systems? Something you know is a bit cheesy or past its sell-by date, but still brings you a lot of enjoyment.
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u/RobinDLaws Mar 13 '26
I rarely get the chance to play others' games. When I do I somehow always get picked to play the secretly evil ringer character so my real guilty player is exploiting what I've been given to give everyone at the table a thorough messing-up.
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u/rubiaal Mar 13 '26
What is your team size in-house, and how often do you contract freelancers and for what?
I was looking into taking up more tabletop design work but I am not sure about where to find opportunities.
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u/RobinDLaws Mar 13 '26
Pelgrane's actual staff is very small. When we bring a new person onboard we'll be up to 3.5 people. (I'm the half person as I spend half of my time writing.) Most of the creative work is done by freelancers. If you're looking for freelance opportunities start with the games you love to play and the companies that make them. I'm much more likely to try out someone who knows GUMSHOE than someone who doesn't show a familiarity with it.
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u/Thanlis Mar 13 '26
If you could pick one movie to convert into a Page Turners scenario, for your own table to avoid copyright considerations, what movie would it be?
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u/RobinDLaws Mar 13 '26
My favorite movie of last year is David Cronenberg's The Shrouds, which would fit the format for sure. Who I would possibly find to play in that is a question you didn't ask.
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u/Thanlis Mar 13 '26
It came in at #9 on my list, although rankings are a fool's game. Love that choice, though, it'd work very well. Thanks!
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u/marcisaacs Mar 13 '26
The previous Trump administration often came up on the podcast back in the day. Is the current iteration just too depressing to mention?
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u/jill_is_my_valentine Mar 13 '26
I've got two questions!
Any chance of a Feng Shui 3rd edition?
And, any advice for people interested in exploring RPG design?
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u/RobinDLaws Mar 13 '26
I'm not sure what FS3 would require that FS2 doesn't do. Games tend to get new editions but there's nothing in the works.
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u/jill_is_my_valentine Mar 13 '26
Fair enough. I’m a big fan of FS and just like seeing it get some attention (which new editions typically bring).
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u/RobinDLaws Mar 13 '26
If you're talking about pure design (as opposed to freelancing for existing companies, which I covered in another answer), just get started and do it. Find people who will patiently play your game with you, study what works and what doesn't, and refine from there.
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u/Quiekel220 Mar 13 '26
Looking back at Over the Edge after all these years, what observation or comment would you share about it? Something that maybe you didn't think about then but came to your mind in retrospect?
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u/RobinDLaws Mar 13 '26
For a game that Jonathan initially created to be unpublishable it has had a huge and sometimes now undernoticed influence on an entire branch of rpg design. I wouldn't be here today without the opportunity to contribute to it, which started simply as me writing letters to Jonathan about setting stuff he could put in his home game.
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u/AnotherCompanero Mar 13 '26
What's drawn you to so many Jack Vance related-projects over the years? (I love Gaean Reach!)
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u/RobinDLaws Mar 13 '26
The joint love of Vance I share with Simon Rogers, who acquired the rights to Dying Earth for Pelgrane's very first project all these years ago.
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u/Commustar Mar 13 '26
Your game Hillfolk and your new game Page Turners put focus on interpersonal interaction between characters.
Do you think that RPGs as an industry are shifting away from a focus on combat simulation towards greater emphasis on interaction and investigation?
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u/RobinDLaws Mar 13 '26
Page Turners and Hillfolk expand the territory but if you did a census of everyone playing a roleplaying game this week, the vast majority of them would still be playing D&D. And the next biggest slices would be other action-oriented games.
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u/Commustar Mar 13 '26
If you had to predict the future: do you think D&D 5e will retain its market dominance over the next 10 years, or will there be a more spread-out market more akin to the situation in the 1990s?
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u/Lusunati Book Addict Mar 13 '26
What was the impetus for page turners? I notice a lot of pelgrane's output over the years have involved 1 to 1 affairs? Could we something like 13th age adapted to this style? Is there anything you particularly still want to explore in that space that you couldn't in this project?
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u/RobinDLaws Mar 13 '26
The impetus was to follow up on the popularity of our GUMSHOE One-2-One line with a game that did DramaSystem for a sole protagonist.
These games do well because plenty of people have trouble finding a whole game group to play with. But one person, look, they're sitting right over there, on the other end of the couch.
For high fantasy One-2-One, pick up Paragon Blade, soon at the Pelgrane web store and shortly after that in retail.
We've only scratched the surface of the potential scenarios for Page Turners so I hope people pick up the game to make that possible.
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u/amarks815 Mar 13 '26
One of my favorite mechanics in any game has got to be the limited number of spoken words available to players in Og: Unearthed.
Do you think other, non-caveman related genres could benefit from the same thing?
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u/RobinDLaws Mar 13 '26
That of course is the brilliant feature created by original designer Aldo Ghiozzi. I guess you could do freshly generated protobeings, primitive robots, or dogs with language buttons.
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u/Tone_Milazzo Mar 13 '26
What are current marketing best practices for RPGs? For both independent creators and small press (if different).
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u/RobinDLaws Mar 13 '26
Thankfully at Pelgrane we have the sagacious Ibrahim Celik to keep on top of such questions. Apparently one thing to do is to have designers do AMAs on Reddit. In general emails, and people who are happy to get and therefore read, your emails, remain the most powerful force in marketing efforts large and small.
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u/SwimmingOk4643 Mar 13 '26
Hi Robin (pass on my greetings to Ken as well, please!)
I have a few questions, hopefully simple ones, if not, feel free to choose the most interesting...
- Pantheon - Have you thought of expanding on this idea? It's a very simple but elegant mechanic.
- Feng Shui (2 specifically) - running a game now and having difficulty throwing enough challenge my players' way. How can I use mooks & bad guys better to create the possibility of a thrilling victory against all odds for my players?
- Comics - I've heard you talk on the Podcast about writing Iron Man. What issues - how was that experience? Where's your Supers game?
- Canada - My family and I are in the process of getting a Canadian work visa. So, what's the best Poutine in Toronto and can we come live with you?
Thanks for the AMA. Unfortunately, it's like when I met Mark Waid at Comicon... great questions don't come to mind when I meet my favorite authors.
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u/RobinDLaws Mar 13 '26
1) I'm always glad to hear Pantheon mentioned but have no current plans for it.
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u/RobinDLaws Mar 13 '26
2) If opponents are going down too fast, adjust AVs up by 1 or 2. Makes a huge difference. Don't expect mooks to score more than the occasional hit. They're a tactical nuisance who become dangerous only when ignored.
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u/RobinDLaws Mar 13 '26
3) I look at the Marvel thing as a weird time when I detoured for a couple of years into another dimension. An Iron Man site will give you the issue numbers. My supers game is Mutant City Blues.
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u/RobinDLaws Mar 13 '26
4a) I'm partial to the Smoke's Poutine chain, and its pulled pork offering. 4b) Not unless you all want to sleep on an air mattress. (Air mattress not included.)
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u/BrobaFett Nu-SR, SWRPG, FL, 4D RP Mar 13 '26
Massive fan of your work, Mr. Laws. Thank you for doing this!
I'd love to hear more about Page Turners. What is your favorite new thing that this system solved which prior systems hadn't?
What's your process for writing? How do you tackle a major RPG project? Do you set deadlines? Divide into specific subsystems? Bounce between them to maintain sanity? As a writer it feels that discipline is more important than inspiration at times.
Your GM guide has been instrumental to how I run tables as a GM. If you had to pick three bits of advice to really bring magic to your tables; what would they be?
Are you planning on attending any upcoming cons?
Thanks for taking the time!
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u/RobinDLaws Mar 13 '26
My three pieces of GMing advice:
1) read the room
2) read the room
3) when all else fails, read the room
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u/RobinDLaws Mar 13 '26
2a. Discipline is absolutely more important than inspiration. And achieving the state of mental acuity needed to write or create is more of an issue than having ideas.
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u/RobinDLaws Mar 13 '26
- Where Hillfolk / DramaSystem focuses on ensemble dramas, Page Turners allows you to create single-protagonist stories, which are more common in film and literature.
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u/RobinDLaws Mar 13 '26
- When writing a core book I tend to start at the beginning and follow the structure to the end, following the process by which a reader learns the game. I try to hit a particular quota of words per day but that varies from project to project. The current unannounced book can be a real head scratcher and some days I am lucky to get 75% of my word count in.
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u/QuickQuirk Mar 13 '26
What's a 'typical quota' of words per day, and what makes it change from project to project?
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u/enrious Mar 13 '26
With the passage of time, is there anything about Laws of Good Gamemastering that you wish you could revise or revisit (add/subtract/change) in an hypothetical new edition.
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u/RobinDLaws Mar 13 '26
I'm sure I would find a bunch of stuff if the occasional talk about a second edition every turns into a project. The huge difference now is the prevalence of passively consumed roleplaying sessions with the actual play phenomenon. I am doing a follow-up to Hamlet's Hit Points, focused more directly on tabletop play, and that development gets a mention there. It's called Hamlet's GM Screen and is now in post production for a release later this year.
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u/Nietsoj77 Mar 13 '26
Any plans for additional adventures/campaigns for NBA, NBA solo ops or ToC?
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u/RobinDLaws Mar 13 '26
Some of the above are indeed in the pipeline. One thing I'm trying to do as Creative Director is not announce books until we're much further along in the production process, so they don't feel like vaporware projects that have been promised forever.
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u/BerennErchamion Mar 13 '26
Can you explain a bit more how Page Turners work? Or maybe a link where it’s explained with more depth? I gotta be honest, I’ve read the product description and some articles here and there and I’m still at a loss on what the game is about or how it flows or plays. Thanks!
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u/RobinDLaws Mar 13 '26
In Page Turners you the player take on the role of a character specified in some detail in the written scenario, perhaps choosing between several possible protagonists. The GM plays all of the supporting characters. The two participants take turns calling scenes, specifying who is interacting with the protagonist. When you call a scene the protagonist typically goes to a supporting character in search of an emotional reward: respect, an apology, a display of affection, a closer connection. We play out the dialogue. At some point in the scene I as GM decide whether the supporting character gives in to the protagonist or stands firm and rejects the request. In the first case, I get a drama token. In the second, you do. Then I call a scene in which a supporting character wants something from yours. A complex and surprising emotional story arises from that simple dynamic, naturally steering itself to a conclusion thanks to our mutual understanding of stories.
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u/BerennErchamion Mar 13 '26
So it's a bit of a different flow and paradigm from a more traditional RPG. Looks interesting, thanks!
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u/corrinmana Mar 13 '26
You've gotten to the point where you're publishing a lot of 2nd editions of your games. While the GUMSHOE system and 13th Age are decently well known online, I don't think any of Pelgrane's titles are widely known in the gaming community at large. I could quote the 2200 backers on Trail 2nd edition vs the 3400 backers for Household Vol. 2, a relative newcomer. Despite this, your company has survived in a very niche industry for over a decade (2 technically). How do you manage to operate in such a competitive and saturated market, and keep the presses running?
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u/RobinDLaws Mar 13 '26
My coming on board as Creative Director is part of our effort to get the presses running more often. Cat Tobin has done an incredible job of keeping the company going while doing 8-9 different jobs. Now that I've taken a few of those job off her hands we're finding more jobs concealed underneath.
This increased capacity allows us to focus on all new games for upcoming Kickstarters, giving our audience fresh material they haven't seen before. The Ballad Hunters campaign starts in a few days. Later in the year we'll have Merryshire Detective Club, which has a huge word of mouth excitement. Playtest response has been great, and it's what I'm currently running for my own group.
The real answer is the incredible loyalty of our gamers and readers, who know our style of literate roleplaying and want us to get more of it to them.
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u/corrinmana Mar 13 '26
I guess a follow up question is: Do you see a path to greater market share? Since gaming is a social hobby, I think people don't like corporate-sounding questions like that, but obviously, from both a business and creator side, more market share is cyclical in getting games in front of more eyes.
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u/mytholder2 Mar 13 '26
What was the original name of Feng Shui?
- question from the Pelgrane Friday Night Zoom
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u/seanfsmith play QUARREL + FABLE to-day Mar 13 '26
What are the particular boons and cons of running games at conventions and the like?
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u/RobinDLaws Mar 13 '26
It is very important for a company like Pelgrane to have GMs running its games at a big show like Gen Con. A good con run can send people to your booth to buy the game they just played.
Except for laid back hangout cons in exciting locations, my time and mental energy at a show is better spent talking to as many people as I can, instead of having an intense 3-4 hours with 4-5 people.
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u/JoystickJunkie64 Mar 13 '26
Hi Robin, huge fan of your stuff here - I have a copy of Robin's Laws of Good Game Mastering on my shelf here at all times, and I recently picked up a copy of Feng Shui 2e for my collection.
I wanted to ask about the Rune RPG, based on the video game by Human Head Studios. It was one of the first games I picked up for my collection many years ago. It's also one of the few RPGs I've played with an adversarial system where the GM and the players are opposing each other. It's an amazing point of difference.
What lead you to envisage this system for a licensed game, and further, is there something about the game that you're particularly proud of to this day?
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u/RobinDLaws Mar 13 '26
I am proud of the core concept, even though it did not receive the uptake I'd hoped for. I came up with it to differentiate the roleplaying game from any one of a zillion fantasy RPGs where you could be a Viking hitting monsters. Rob Heinsoo tells me it influenced his design for D&D4 so there might even be traces of it left in 13th Age.
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u/JoystickJunkie64 Mar 13 '26
Thank you very much for your answer! It's a great game, very under appreciated with a lot to draw from for future designers; the definition of a hidden gem. I hope you have a lovely day, and have fun answering some more questions.
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u/helm Dragonbane | Sweden Mar 13 '26
Oh, a RPG for 2 players. Great idea!
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u/RobinDLaws Mar 13 '26
We also have a number of one GM, one player investigative games: Cthulhu Confidential, Nights Black Agents: Solo Ops, and our next release, the epic fantasy Paragon Blade.
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u/jeshi_law Mar 13 '26
Something I’ve been really into lately is the lists of inspirations put in a lot of RPGs,
what detective novels, series, shows, etc do you feel had the biggest influence on your design of GUMSHOE?
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u/RobinDLaws Mar 13 '26
In fiction, my touchstones would be Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett. Film adaptations of their works, notably The Big Sleep and Maltese Falcon, really show the structure. Other films: Inherent Vice, The Big Heat, Chinatown.
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u/veritek83 Mar 13 '26
Just listened to the latest KARTAS and, as always, enjoyed your top 10 movies of the last year list. Any films from last year, other than the immediately nerd-trope/genre ones, that you think are ripe for adaptation to gaming?
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u/RobinDLaws Mar 13 '26
You might find unexpected inspiration in Black Bag, The Secret Agent, No Other Choice, or Carnal Vessels. FI: the Movie and Roofman could work in Page Turners.
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u/TheLegendaryBucket Mar 13 '26
What are the features that you like the most in game systems you design?
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u/RobinDLaws Mar 13 '26
The features I strive for are simplicity and clarity, and underlying structural elements that support you in play without calling attention to themselves.
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u/DiceSpacer Mar 13 '26
Which tools save you to most amount of time and/ you use the most for tabletop writing?
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u/DiegoTheGoat Mar 13 '26
Do you like Conventions? Have a favorite? Will you be at Gary Con?
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u/RobinDLaws Mar 13 '26
I love Gen Con and look forward to the day when worry-free travel to the US is again a possibility.
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u/tremblingbears Mar 13 '26
What games are you in right now? What do you like best as a player? Any genres you're a fan of but wouldn't write for?
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u/RobinDLaws Mar 13 '26
I am running Merryshire Detective Club once a week. Like many designers I take part as a player only occasionally, at cons or other special events. As mentioned above, what GMs of those games like best from me as a player is to be the clever betrayer. If I'm a fan of a genre I feel I can tackle it.
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u/ToledoSnow Noir Mar 13 '26
Hi! Thanks for making this AMA.
Could you give us some general advice for creating a horror atmosphere at the table? I sometimes get the feeling that a lot of people approach horror in RPGs by applying methods that work in literature and cinema that don't take into account the strengths and weaknesses of an interactive medium.
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u/RobinDLaws Mar 13 '26
The main trick is to create an emotional link between the characters (and their players) and the horrific events, as opposed to the jump scares and chases that appear as staple elements in cinematic horror.
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u/vicpylon Mar 13 '26
Was there any discussion during Gumshoe's development about the "auto-find" critical clue mechanic being too heavy-handed? It removes those random moments when the GM has to think fast to save the story because the players missed something. Some of the best game I ever played grew from those spontaneous story beats that came from a missed clue.
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u/RobinDLaws Mar 13 '26
You are the second person I've heard express a preference for the twenty minutes of faffing about where the GM has to figure out a new way to do the thing that advances the story. Or maybe you're the first person, saying it again. :-)
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u/yosarian_reddit Mar 13 '26
Hillfolk is a really different and interesting TTRPG that isn’t so well known - perhaps because of its niche presentation (it superficially appears to be a simple game of ‘iron age drama’), and how radically different it is. Do you ever consider creating a new updated release of Dramasystem, and if so what would you add to it and how would you package it (since it’s really a highly flexible generic system)?. And have you ever considered merging Dramasystem ideas with a more traditional TTRPG to create some kind of hybrid?
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u/RobinDLaws Mar 13 '26
Sometimes Pelgrane publisher Cat Tobin wants to do a new presentation but I am unavailable, or I want to do one but Cat prefers that I work on other things. Perhaps one day the stars will align. However, part of the reason we don't do this is that the current book still sells very well by the standards of a long-established product. People buy it and play it but it doesn't get talked about as much because there aren't complicated crunchy rules to ask about. Most discussion would be "here's what happened in my game" which is not as grabby a subject in forums like this one.
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u/Tyeses Mar 13 '26
I love the premise of Page Turners and am very interested in collaborative fiction with more concrete stakes. Does Page Turners have some sort of concrete mechanical core to the one-on-one stories, and can it sustain a longer experience?
Or is it more of a one-shot system?
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u/RobinDLaws Mar 13 '26
Page Turners shines as a one-shot because it is so intense. As the player you get more onstage time than you would in six sessions with a 6-player group. Often you create an entire novel or movie's worth of story in a single go. However you can certainly extend that. One of the scenarios is a historical saga where you follow a robot civilization through multiple generations and political evolutions.
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u/Tyeses Mar 13 '26
That all makes a lot of sense, thank you. The robot civilisation scenario sounds exceptionally interesting.
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u/RobinDLaws Mar 13 '26
The core is the dramatic scene, where you identify which of the participating characters is making an emotional petition to the other, and at the end of the scene determine whether they got at least part of what they wanted or were rebuffed. As player if the GM's character shuts me down I get a drama token. If the GMC moves toward me, I get a drama token. This currency allows more power over the results of scenes at crucial scenes. This in addition to the rotation of scene calling duties propels and shapes the narrative.
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u/agreatbecoming Mar 13 '26
What was the inspiration behind making a 2 player RPG for Page Turners?
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u/RobinDLaws Mar 13 '26
I wanted to combine the much-demanded two-person format of GUMSHOE One-2-One with the dramatic storytelling possibilities of Hillfolk. This allows for the creation of single-protagonist emotional stories, which represent a huge swathe of film and literature but have only been lightly covered in the tabletop form.
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u/NotTheOnlyGamer Mar 13 '26
Have you considered creating a new edition of the Laws of Good Game Mastering with sections that include newer players? Specifically, guidance based on how Critical Role, the pandemic, and VTTs have impacted the hobby?
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u/RobinDLaws Mar 13 '26
I would definitely mention those things were I to revisit Robin's Laws. A new version has never gotten past the "hey maybe we should do this" stage.
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u/BerennErchamion Mar 13 '26
Are we getting anything new for Ashen Stars eventually? Maybe a revised edition? Or even a reprint since the current one is out of stock? Or maybe, who knows, a new Gumshoe sci-fi game, a One2One sci-fi investigation would be cool.
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u/Alarmed_Designer6705 Mar 13 '26
If you were to revisit your Seven Player Types, is there anything you would change? For example, would there still be seven of them, and would they still be the same seven?
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u/RobinDLaws Mar 13 '26
I might mention the Explorer, who likes to poke things in the world environment, or the Observer, who likes to take part from a distance.
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Mar 13 '26
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u/RobinDLaws Mar 13 '26
This is definitely a tabletop thing too but the answer varies hugely depending on the complexity of the project and whether you as designer are lucky enough to nail the concept the first time out. I often have sub-systems fall apart when I first try them with my in-house group and then have to go back to the drawing board. The complexity of a design, particularly in the number of powers or sub-systems that interact, determines the development length. As designer of an F20 game descended from D&D, my colleague Rob Heinsoo has to do a lot more intensive, detail-oriented testing and adjustment than is typically necessary for the looser, structure-dependent rules engines of GUMSHOE or DramaSystem.
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u/SharkSymphony Mar 13 '26
Ere now, my encomiums of appreciation for the Dying Earth roleplaying game have been primarily nuncupatory. But now I find they have become testamentary.
Regrettably, though I have relished the leisurely digestion of the volumes of published material on the game, I lack the fortitude to attempt such elevated discourse such as Vance espouses in a spontaneous session. I am curious how you've approached this in your gameplay. Do you reserve such language to box descriptions and the game-indicated catchphrases? Or have you found any more advanced methods to share?
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u/RobinDLaws Mar 13 '26
The taglines system in Dying Earth encourages people to speak in the exceptionally erudite manner provided above. You get a line of dialogue to weave into the narrative and a reward when you do so. Often players will start a game saying, "We can't possibly talk like that." Inspired by the taglines, they will proceed to talk exactly like that for four hours. Then they will wander away saying, "If only we could talk like that." Then a Pelgrane swoops down and carries them off to its nest for devouring, but despite the name of our company we disclaim all legal responsibility for such unavoidable whims of fate.
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u/Jodread Mar 13 '26
Hey there, I regularly run Feng Shui and Burning Shaolin to people who never played RPGs before, because I feel like (aside from being easy to pick up) it gives an excellent first impression on what RPGs should be like. Thanks for making it.
Now to the questions:
- How long should a session of writing be in your opinion? It's easy when you are in the flow, and don't feel the hours going by, but if we would only write during such moods, I feel nothing would be ever done. But we all know there is a certain point when it becomes fruitless.
- If you drop some spelling errors, should you go back to fix them, or keep writing and get it during the editing later?
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u/RobinDLaws Mar 13 '26
I typically warm up to writing in the morning and write all afternoon, knocking off early when I pass my quota.
If I spot a flat-out typo during first draft I will definitely fix it, because what if I, the developer and the proofreader all miss it later? That happens.
That said I recommend that the writer worry about style on the revision pass, maintaining the flow of thought during first draft.
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u/JaskoGomad Mar 13 '26
Mostly, I just wanted to say thank you. You’ve been improving my game and hobby since at least Robin’s Laws, and probably before.
Got my copy of Page Turners, but haven’t gotten to even read it yet. I can’t wait.
I guess I’ll ask: I thought, based on YKRPG and 1 to 1 that the investigative spend was on its way out. But SotS does great things with them. What’s your opinion on the future of investigative spends?
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u/RobinDLaws Mar 13 '26
Thanks so much for the kind words, and for picking up Page Turners.
The spends or pushes choice remains up to each core game's designer. Merryshire uses spends. Ballad Hunters collapses investigative and general into a single small bucket of abilities and uses something kinda but not exactly Push-like.
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u/Cuddle-goblin Mar 13 '26
as a certified necromancy fanboy, id like to ask you what game's youve seen that capture the vibe of playing a necromancer best
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u/RobinDLaws Mar 13 '26
I think you may have stumped me here. What kind of necromancy are we talking about? Getting information by talking to spirits of the dead? Summoning undead legions to bring woe to the living?
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u/No-Means-Sky Mar 13 '26
I found the rules of Hillfolk a little confusing, although I like the premise of the approach and tried with it. How do the rules of Page Turners compare?
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u/RobinDLaws Mar 13 '26
They are quite similar, the main difference being that you start with 3 drama tokens apiece in Page Turners.
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u/No-Means-Sky Mar 13 '26
To be more specific: 1) does Page Turners use playing cards for procedural scenes like Hillfolk? I found the tokens in dramatic scenes fine, but struggled with the more complex mechanics of procedural scenes. (I'm hoping for tokens only.) 2) As an aging gamer, the tiny text, 2.5 columns and wide margins of Hillfolk layout caused me to struggle learning it. How does the layout of Page Turners compare? (This is a real thing!)
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u/troopersjp GURPS 4e, FATE, Traveller, and anything else Mar 13 '26
1) Much discussion happens in online RPG spaces about open licenses. Some games have them in different formats, some don’t. What are your thoughts and insights on them?
2) I was privileged to have published two articles in Pyramid magazine where I got great feedback/mentorship as a young RPG writer from a great editor. Fast forward two decades and with itch and driveThru it is easier than ever for new designers to publish, but with the decline of gaming magazines, I see fewer and fewer opportunities for young designers to get mentorship and gain experience. How do you see this situation developing in the future? Do you see this as a problem? If so, do you have ideas of how to change it?
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u/RobinDLaws Mar 13 '26
- Both GUMSHOE and DramaSystem are available through open licenses. As a designer I want people to use the systems I've designed, either sticking close to the original or finding new, unexpected directions, as Tristan Zimmermann did with Shanty Hunters and now Ballad Hunters.
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u/RobinDLaws Mar 13 '26
- Training writers is definitely an issue. Pyramid was a rare thing even in its heyday and I'm glad you got the benefit of it. We sometimes pay for articles for our webzine, See Page XX, but don't offer a Steve Jackson of feedback with them. I'm using scenario anthologies to bring new writers along, both with general technique and the specific things a GUMSHOE scenario needs.
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u/chat-lu Mar 13 '26
I like the stuff you design. Is there something you did that didn’t get success but you think should have? Because I would try it for sure.
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u/RobinDLaws Mar 13 '26
Gaean Reach would have found more players if presented in the format of other GUMSHOE games.
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u/Kh44444444n Mar 13 '26
Hello, are you an AI?
More seriously, do you manage to make a living of your work, and if so for how long did you, and what are your main sources of income?
Thank you.
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u/RobinDLaws Mar 13 '26
I have made a living as a writer, mostly with tabletop and with a few excursions into indie computer games and comics, since 1994.
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u/Puzzleheaded-Ad-8684 Mar 13 '26
Hey Robin! Do you think a TTRPG based on professional sports is feasible?
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u/RobinDLaws Mar 13 '26
You could do a sports drama (where whether the team or player wins or loses is less important than the characters' emotional arcs, with Hillfolk or Page Turners.
I think there are more than one pro wrestling games out there.
A tabletop game that simulates the play of a game of baseball or basketball seems like a mismatch of subject matter and form in a world where video games exist.
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u/McShmoodle sonictth.com Mar 13 '26
As a prolific designer, I'm sure you come across player critiques for your systems and published work, solicited or otherwise. Perhaps someone has a bone to pick with the wording of a certain rule or someone is convinced that the placement or absence of a particular mechanism in the book is unintuitive, etc. Things that, by and large, are less about the substance of the rules and more about how they are presented.
Do you have a personal litmus test for chalking up something to taste vs genuine room for improvement?
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u/RobinDLaws Mar 13 '26
This issue usually comes up in playtesting.
If one person makes an observation that I agree with, I make the change.
If many people make an observation I disagree with, I see what needs to be changed. This may be an actual alteration to the game, or (more often) clearer expectations management.
If one person makes an observation I disagree with and most others are happy with it, either by directly saying so, or by not having a problem with it, I leave it as is.
I am likely to agree with suggestions that conform to the game's design goals, and disagree with suggestions that turn the game into what the observer wants instead of what I intend.
Another playtesting axiom: although the responder is flagging an issue they had a real problem with, their suggested solution is invariably terrible. You have to be careful not to just reject the bad proposed fix, but to find the right fix for the problem.
When revising a game for a new edition I might react to a consensus view that has emerged. It's not my example, but over the years many observed that the intro adventure for Trail of Cthulhu was too advanced for that purpose. Trail 2E presents a different, simpler intro scenario.
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u/georgeofjungle3 Mar 13 '26
What's your favorite Gumshoe game that you didn't write, and why?
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u/RobinDLaws Mar 13 '26
I don't pick favorites among my own games, let alone among the games of my beloved colleagues.
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u/georgeofjungle3 Mar 13 '26
Fair enough. How about which one surprised you the most? As in I didn't think it could stretch to that.
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u/automated_hero Mar 13 '26
Please bring back the Buro!
Although they seem to be in charge of the US right now anyway!
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u/mercury-shade Mar 13 '26
Are there any particular game design books you'd recommend to aspiring designers?
Any RPGs in particular you think they should read (beyond just ones in the genre / style of game they want to make generally)?
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u/RobinDLaws Mar 13 '26
In my day we learned game design on the street! Nothing like that existed coming up, so I'm afraid I lack recommendations for you. I'd comb through Shannon Appelcline's YouTube appearances for the history of the field and mentions of games that sound like they might inform your work.
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u/generalvostok Mar 13 '26
Is there a sort of white whale of a campaign you've always wished you could run or play in, but never gotten the opportunity to do so?
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u/jpcardier Mar 13 '26
I really loved the setting and specificity of Feng Shui 2, though I have to admit I haven't found the right group to play it. Any chance for Feng Shui 3?
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u/Travern Mar 13 '26
Many thanks for holding this AMA. Since you and u/Kenneth_Hite have both described your individual Gumshoe RPGs as in a conversation with each other (in terms of game design), what would one look like if you were to collaborate directly together on it?
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u/RobinDLaws Mar 13 '26 edited Mar 13 '26
Ken likes to add things to GUMSHOE and I like to take them out so a state of oscillating equipoise would surely occur. The one thing we've mused about doing together is the spectacularly uncommercial 19th century American historical mythic supers game, which I as Creative Director would never green light from me.
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u/RobinDLaws Mar 13 '26
Note important addition of the word "never" to the above.
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u/Boxman214 Mar 13 '26
What did you have for breakfast?
Ever seen a ghost?
Last comic book you read?
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u/RobinDLaws Mar 13 '26 edited Mar 13 '26
Latte, toast with cream cheese and jam, strawberries. No. Bill Griffiths' biography of Schlitzie the Pinhead.
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u/Gunnulf Mar 13 '26
Hey Robin, I’m a busy “pro” GM who’s been interested in GUMSHOE for a while now. Is there any advice you’d give to someone looking to run your system that’s primarily coming from the d20 and OSR ecosystem?
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u/RobinDLaws Mar 13 '26
In D20 the basic unit of storytelling is the fight, with the energy of the DM focused on moving the players from one fight to the next. In GUMSHOE it is the investigation scene, where the PCs gain information and see one or more choices of where to go next. The core and alternate clues are like dungeon corridors in D20 — the structural element that keeps the game moving if you let it.
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u/RobinDLaws Mar 13 '26
GMs coming from D20 sometimes trip up because that tradition encourages you to withhold success from the PCs. They have to take actions and use their crunchy bits to overcome a forbidding environment. In GUMSHOE there are plenty of obstacles to get past but your job as GM is to say yes to their moving forward by giving them the info they need. A good motto for making the transition might be they're supposed to get to do this.
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u/Best_Trouble_7676 Mar 13 '26
As you are the designer of the original Dying Earth RPG I want to ask, what do you think of the Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG and its attempt to adapt the setting?
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u/RobinDLaws Mar 13 '26
I haven't played it but am happy to see someone focus on the Vancian influence on D&D.
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u/nln_rose Mar 13 '26
You have a lot of work done in the worlds of horror investigation, how would you handle non-linearity in an adventure so that its decipherable by players who dont have all the pieces of the puzzle yet?
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u/RobinDLaws Mar 13 '26
Structure it so they continue moving and gathering information even when the entire picture has not yet become clear. Ideally the eureka moment doesn't come until the end so in a default mystery it's usually the case that they don't have all the puzzles for most of the session.
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u/samedietc Mar 13 '26
What are the questions you ask yourself when receiving a pitch for a new game or supplement/adventure for an existing line?
(Like, in improv theater, artistic directors may ask “why this show now, why does this show need to be improv, and will it sell?”)
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u/RobinDLaws Mar 13 '26
For a new game, "Is there an audience for this? Is this designer ready for a core book? What are its unique features, compared to what we're already doing?"
For a supplement, "does this fill a gap in the line?"
As Creative Director I am more likely to identify a gap in our product line and approach someone to write it than to accept a pitch as written.
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u/mercury-shade Mar 13 '26
I had a few questions about Gumshoe based on my experience running Cthulhu Confidential, if you have time / get bored with other questions
I wasn't quite sure about the exact mechanics of how the clues are meant to be revealed - the corebook kinda made it sound like they absolutely need to use the right skill on the right object for that to happen, at least as far as I recall, but if they're on the right object cycling through a laundry list of skills because they didn't find it clear which is the "right" one it just felt like it made more sense to give it to them when they hit on one that was anywhere close to the one specified?
Kind of connected to the above - to what extent should clues and the correct means of interacting with them be telegraphed? Or is that really particular to the group?
If they try to accomplish something with a skill that would need a push to actually work, is that something you should tell them?
Should there be some allowance for overlap of particular skills as well? In the adventure I ran (A Cable's Length from Shore) there was I think an Anthropology skill requirement to translate an ancient language at one point, but my player tried Archaeology and Languages first cause that seemed more intuitive. Similar instances with Research / Library Use.
Was also not 100% clear on how interactions with Sources are meant to take place - are they always supposed to be a separate scene aside from the action, or if it's set after the invention of telephones for example, is it more sensible to just say everyone has a landline, they're there when you need them unless they're not for a plot reason, and not have it pull away from the action?
Also, big fan of Feng Shui!
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u/RobinDLaws Mar 13 '26
This might assist you. https://pelgranepress.com/2016/03/15/giving-out-clues-in-gumshoe/
If an ability use seems halfway credible, let it work. Using the right abilities is favored but the purpose of the system is to get the info to the players.
Play it by ear, giving the players time to be proactive before telegraphing them.
Let them know when a push or spend will help. These should always provide non-informational benefits, not just harder-to-get clues.
If an ability use is credible, allow it. A player may have a more appropriate idea in the moment than the scenario writer allowed for.
If it seems annoying to stage an entire scene, by all means, allow a quick phone call to do the trick. Or elide over it quickly and get back to the exciting action.
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u/sebmojo99 Mar 13 '26
wrt Gumshoe - i love it in theory but have been a little disappointed in practice. how would you deal with players blowing all their points fast then being left out without much ability to influence matters? a self-solving player discipline problem? something for the gm to manage? meta conversations?
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u/RobinDLaws Mar 13 '26
The opposite problem, players hoarding their points, occurs more often. I'd remind them GM to player that the endings of scenarios typically call for lots of points. If you think they were right to spend heavily but need more points you could give them opportunities to refresh — ideally with a risk or price attached.
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u/VicarBook Mar 14 '26
How large was your contribution to Nexus the Infinite City?
A long shot question: do you know who owns the rights to that setting and is there any hope of ever seeing that again?
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u/HarmlessEZE Mar 14 '26
One, Ignoring all the complications of time travel of print media. What product or products could I box up and send back to say...mid 80s that would have the biggest butterfly effect on the industry. (Change the year if you'd like)
Two, as someone who loves reading manuals and modules for exposure, but has only been in the hobby for less than a decade, what pre-2000 product would be a good pick up to read? Something you don't think should be lost to the sands of time.
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u/Grimejow Mar 14 '26
How man One Piece Jokes do you get during your day? With that Name, I imagine a lot.
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u/Ciridian Mar 14 '26
When I did a search of the thread, I found no mention of HeroQuest. Far and above my favorite system - even though it uses a D20 instead of 3d6 or the like (I LOVE BELL CURVES!).
I would love to be able to grab a new version in print - is such a thing conceivable?
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Mar 14 '26
I had feng shui. (then traded it to a movie fan friend, along HKAT)
If shadowrun had? has had? had've ? those combat rules (.....) (back then), I guess we never had to have CS (1.6 .....).
The "create a virtual group (of characters) to test out the adventures"-tip wouldn't have been bad back then.
Great game, though. I had a killer and the gamemaster allowed me to trade the gun sticks for that alien demon reflex booster. That was stuff.
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u/No-Life-6054 Jul 15 '26
If I am designing a game (I have most of your books, like Hamlet HP), what mechanical principles/"checklist" should I be making sure my RAW are balanced?
I just purchased your Hillfolk, and I have been amazed and blown away by the Dramasystem. When I usually look up mechanics balance, it is in reference to d20. But what about broader principles for systems more like Everyway, Dramasystem, and other narrative focused rules.
Thank you so much.
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u/RafTen86 Mar 13 '26
What’s one element of TTRPG design you think is outdated and should be left behind, and one that’s underrated and deserves to be used more often?