Julia Bailey and the Gunslinger
Got another solo RPG demo in the can on YouTube. This time fulfilling a promise to play out a Bookmark HP RPG battle between a player's character and a "Major Foe"—i.e. a foe with a full set of four attributes.

Part of the long delay between Julia Bailey videos has been difficulty coming up with an episodic Western campaign. Fan
https://lestersmith.com/2024/08/julia-bailey-and-the-gunslinger/
#BookmarkNoHPRPG #GameDesign #RoleplayingGames #SoloRolePlay

Bethan Is Tailed!
Yeesh! It's been two years since I last role-played the vampire Petit Louis and his little retinue. I would have thought maybe eight months ago, but checking the last writeup on Facebook, I find their Chicago adventure posted May 2022. One battle since  to play-test a new combat rule last July (see the Battle Bookmark), but no actual dive into characters and story.
https://lestersmith.com/2024/05/bethan-is-tailed/
#BookmarkNoHPRPG #Horror #RoleplayingGames #SoloGaming

Battle Bookmark KS Launch!
? Over the course of the past year, I've had many, many requests for further combat rules for the game:

"What happens when a group gangs up on someone?"
"What about ranged combat?"
"When's a fighter dead?"
"Can I run away?" and such.
Today, Kickstarter approved a "Make 100" project for a Battle Bookmark to answer those quest
https://lestersmith.com/2024/01/battle-bookmark-ks-launch/
#Announcements #BookmarkNoHPRPG #GameDesign #RoleplayingGames

My Gary Con 2024 Events Are Go!
As of today, the five events I submitted to run at Gary Con are officially scheduled! (I'm very happy to see that all are slated for the same table in the same room—GWD-261 in Galewood D—which makes one less thing for me to remember, letting me focus on the fun!)

One note: I've intentionally designed Lester Smi
https://lestersmith.com/2024/01/my-gary-con-2024-events-are-go/
#Announcements #BookmarkNoHPRPG #D13RPG #D6xD6RPG #GameDesign #RoleplayingGames

Racing Thanatos
Slooowly recovering from this intestinal flu bug. Sleeping most of the time. It's taking a toll on my limbic system. Which is to say that inactivity triggers my clinical depression.

Not complainin'; just reportin'.

Meanwhile, the bookmarks continue to do well. The Bookmark Dragon Dice RPG has become a DriveThruRPG Copper Best
https://lestersmith.com/2024/01/racing-thanatos/
#Announcements #BookmarkNoHPRPG #D13RPG #D6xD6RPG #DragonDice #GameDesign #RoleplayingGames

BNHP 20 Cent Sale
Hey! If you're curious about this Bookmark HP RPG I keep going on about, click here to find every BNHP title on sale for 20¢ each, from now through New Years Day 2024: tinyurl.com/bnhp20cent.

For print copies, check out the Compleate Bookmark bundle, always 60% off!
https://lestersmith.com/2023/12/bnhp-20-cent-sale/
#Announcements #BookmarkNoHPRPG #RoleplayingGames #Sale

Magnum Opus?
If you'll forgive a bit of introspection about my own work …

Last night, Jennifer asked me if, given its ongoing success, I thought the Bookmark HP RPG was my magnum opus.

My first quip was, "So far!" But honestly, I doubt there'll be another. Three self-published RPG lines is more than enough to keep an old guy busy, what with people
https://lestersmith.com/2023/12/magnum-opus/
#BookmarkNoHPRPG #Commentary #DiceCardGames #GameDesign #OldGameDesigns #RoleplayingGames

Here's a character concept for you:

'Bob oversees the daytime custodial crew responsible for floors 18 through 36. They like to bicycle joust each Wednesday night in the old sniper gun range in sub-basement G.'

I'm looking for 3 or 4 people to join in an alpha playtest of the Factions & Feuds supplement I'm working on for @lestersmith's The Bookmark no HP RPG. This will be next Sunday, December 3, from 1 to 4 pm Chicago time.

More details are in the comments.

Also, comment below if you are able to participate. If you'd like to, but the time does not work, comment too, as I expect to do other playtests.

Free BNHP PnP PDF
Forty-five years ago, I drove to Chicago for an Army entrance test. I scored high on the "fold this box in your head & choose the correct one below" questions. They wanted to enlist me as a mapmaker; I wanted to be a graphic designer, so I drove back home a civilian.

(If I'd known map making was my buddy Larry Elmore's
https://lestersmith.com/2023/11/free-bnhp-pnp-pdf/
#Announcements #BookmarkNoHPRPG #Cthulhu #Dracula #FreeGames #GameDesign #Horror #RoleplayingGames

Horror in Lovecraftian RPGs often isn’t
There's a "Cosmic Horror" sale on at DriveThruRPG. I was curious to see whether Bookmark Cthulhu made it on the list and am happy to see that it did.

As a designer, I fall into the camp that Lovecraft's protagonists seldom go insane. Instead, their dread grows toward a breaking point. His secondary characters may be insane. Hi
https://lestersmith.com/2023/08/horror-in-lovecraftian-rpgs-often-isnt/
#BookmarkNoHPRPG #Cthulhu #GameDesign #Horror

#RPGaDAY2023 Day 8: Favorite Character
At last! A fairly easy topic!

Back in the 1980's, when I worked in a factory, had no children, and the future was far distant, I actually had time to paint miniatures for my characters. (I'm not saying they were very good, but at the time they seemed so.)
Raedel Pinehaven
That guy in blue up front i
https://lestersmith.com/2023/08/rpgaday2023-day-8-favorite-character/
#Announcements #BookmarkNoHPRPG #D6xD6RPG #Horror #RoleplayingGames #Writing

BNHP Dragon Dice RPG will be at Gen Con
SFR, Inc, publishers of the Dragon Dice battle game (designed by yours truly), today received copies of the Bookmark HP Dragon Dice RPG (also by yours truly) from their printer, in time for Gen Con!

As you can see in the photo, to adapt BNHP rules to the unique dice of the tabletop gam
https://lestersmith.com/2023/07/bnhp-dragon-dice-rpg-will-be-at-gen-con/
#Announcements #BookmarkNoHPRPG #DiceCardGames #DragonDice #GameDesign #RoleplayingGames

PPM-LSG Bundles
I'm happy to say that Parts Per Million (Peter Ruding-Burgess) and Lester Smith Games (me) now have four bundles of titles on DriveThruRPG:

Cut Up Solo "Hour of the Dragon"/Swords & Spellbookmarks
Cut Up Solo Carnacki/Paranormal Wordbookmark
Cut Up Solo Dracula/Dracula's Get
Cut Up Solo Lovecraft/Bookmark Cthulhu

In case  you're not  familiar wi
https://lestersmith.com/2023/06/ppm-lsg-bundles/
#Announcements #BookmarkNoHPRPG #GameDesign #RoleplayingGames

Bookmark Dragon Dice: Shirrah’s 1st Adventure!
For a couple of decades now, I've been telling SFR, Inc. that a Dragon Dice role-playing game was in the offing. I dipped my toe in the water back in 2014, with a setting chapter in the D6xD6 RPG launch, but I was hoping to expand that further. But too many
https://lestersmith.com/2023/04/bookmark-dragon-dice-shirrahs-1st-adventure/
#Announcements #BookmarkNoHPRPG #Dice&cardgames #DragonDice #GameDesign #Oldgamedesigns #Role-playinggames

Kindle Fire RPG Adventure Contest
Through an ordering error on my part, I’m in possession of an unneeded, Woot refurbished, 16 GB, red Kindle Fire HD 8 Tablet (7th gen). The OS is fresh, ready for connection to a new owner’s Amazon account, but I’ve preloaded the tablet with PDFs of every published Lester Smith Games RPG title: D13, D6xD6, D
https://lestersmith.com/2023/04/kindle-fire-rpg-adventure-contest/
#Announcements #BookmarkNoHPRPG #D13RPG #D6xD6RPG #GameDesign #Role-playinggames

“Make 100” 2023 – Limited Edition Bookmarks
As you'll see in the sidebar, I've launched a Kickstarter project to make a limited-edition set of Bookmark HP RPG bookmarks, hole-punched for a ribbon or chain. At the moment, it's been live for about 10 hours and is 71% funded, with 53 of the 100 sets pledged.

As with most things nowadays, I launch
https://lestersmith.com/2023/01/make-100-2023-limited-edition-bookmarks/
#Announcements #BookmarkNoHPRPG #GameDesign #Role-playinggames

Role-Playing Dracula’s Kids sans GM
Today the Cut Up Solo Dracula/Dracula's Get bundle went live (undead?) on DriveThruRPG.

So what is Cut Up Solo Dracula? Published by Parts Per Million, it's Stoker's novel cut up into 5-word snippets in a programmed spreadsheet. Every time you hit F9, the spreadsheet delivers a set of random snippets as a prompt to
https://lestersmith.com/2023/01/role-playing-draculas-kids-sans-gm/
#BookmarkNoHPRPG #Dracula #GameDesign #Horror #Role-playinggames

GM-Less Cthulhu et al
You may have seen my mention of the "Cut Up Solo" oracle series by Parts Per Million. Each oracle is an automated spreadsheet of 5-word snippets from a public domain novel (such as Dracula) or series (John Carter of Mars, for example). It outputs a group of four 5-word snippets with each press of F9, and you browse the list to see what role-pl
https://lestersmith.com/2023/01/gm-less-cthulhu-et-al/
#Announcements #BookmarkNoHPRPG #Cthulhu #GameDesign #Horror #Horror

No, Virginia . . .
"You can't fool me. There ain't no sanity clause!" Chico Marx
Bookmark Cthulhu is now live, just in time for the holidays! And in a break with RPG tradition, it has no sanity rules. What it does have is a system for steadily rising dread. That, and a way to rank his classic monstrosities and create new ones of your own by using Lovecraft's own most common
https://lestersmith.com/2022/11/no-virginia/
#Announcements #BookmarkNoHPRPG #Cthulhu #GameDesign #Horror #Horror