Scum and Villainy

Blades in the Dark is a heist-themed tabletop roleplaying game system about a crew of daring misfits  on the streets of an industrial fantasy city. Published by Evil Hat Productions in 2017 and designed by John Harper, it introduced the highly influential Forged in the Dark rules engine. BitD revolutionized the heist genre in tabletop gaming by pushing players straight into the act, eliminating the "planning phase". The system it loosely evolved from is Apocalypse World Description In Blades in the Dark, players are part of a criminal organization in Doskvol, a grim Victorian era city. The city is protected by a wall of lightning, to keep any threat on the outside. Players create their characters as either smugglers, thieves, assassins or cultists and explore the criminal underworld, perform dangerous heists, manage gang warfare and grow their criminal organization. The game focuses heavily on narrative momentum and failing forward. Characters are competent but flawed, constantly accumulating stress, trauma, and heat from the law as their gang rises to power. System Overview & Key Features Action Roll (d6 Dice Pool) The core mechanic uses a pool of six-sided dice(d6) based on a character's action rating. The highest die result will determine the outcome of the action. 6 is considered a full success, 4-5 is a partial success with a consequence, and 1-3 is a failure. Rolling multiple full successes is considered a critical success. Position and Effect Before every roll, the Game Master explicitly states the character's Position (Controlled, Risky, or Desperate) and Effect (Limited, Standard, or Great). This transparently communicates the exact stakes and potential fallout of the action before the dice hit the table. Stress and Resistance Characters have a Stress track. Players can spend Stress to give themselves for extra dice when rolling. They can also use it to assist an ally, or fuel their special abilities. Players can also spend Stress when facing any situation or consequence the GM throws at them, this makes the characters very skilled, but forces them to consider when to spend it. The Flashback Mechanic Instead of spending hours planning a heist, the crew simply chooses a target, picks a detail, and jumps right into the action. Later, they can use Stress, to envoke a flashback moment, where they explain how they had already planned for such a situation, or had "solved" it beforehand. Progress Clocks The game uses circular progress tracks called Clocks to visually represent approaching danger or the progress of a complex task. A clock might represent the alert level of the city watch, the structural integrity of a safe vault, or the patience of a rival gang leader. The Crew as a Character The criminal organization the players run has its own character sheet. The organization gains experience, levels up, claims territory, and unlocks special abilities, ensuring that the gang's rise to power is just as mechanically significant as the characters'

Shadowrun Sixth World (SR6) is the sixth edition of Shadowrun, a science fantasy tabletop roleplaying game that mixes cyberpunk, urban fantasy and crime fiction in a near-future world where cybernetics, magic and fantasy creatures coexist. Catalyst Game Labs published it in 2019 for the game's 30th anniversary, with Jason Hardy as Shadowrun line developer, and it is set in 2080, about 60 years from the present day. FASA first published Shadowrun in 1989, and the property later passed to WizKids, Fantasy Productions and Catalyst. The edition was announced as easier to learn and play than earlier versions, and the core rulebook is 322 pages, down from 466 in Fifth Edition. The Beginner Box came out in June 2019, with an introduction to the setting, quick-start rules, the Seattle adventure "Battle Royale" and four pregenerated characters. The system directly replaced Shadowrun Fifth Edition (2013), and it keeps that edition's six-sided dice pools while removing limits. Description Players take on shadowrunners, deniable operatives hired by megacorporations to steal data and break into secure sites, and the Game Master (GM) runs missions in the Sixth World, mostly in Seattle. Magic has returned to the world, bringing metahumans such as orks, trolls and elves, and the roles of street samurai, mage, decker and rigger give a team distinct jobs. A character can be built in minutes through a priority table, with 50 Karma to spend. The game asks a table to learn a layered setting, though it is lighter than Fifth Edition. The design goal was a core book of no more than 300 pages, and a reviewer found it well organised but with missing or hard-to-find rules, such as starting Essence, and with scattered gear rules. It suits groups who like planning a heist and a mix of magic and technology, and who are happy to keep a book open.

Shadowrun is a science fantasy tabletop roleplaying game that mixes cyberpunk, urban fantasy and crime fiction in a near-future world where cybernetics, magic and fantasy creatures coexist. FASA first published it in 1989 and ran the line until closing in 2001, after which the property passed to WizKids and later to Fantasy Productions and Catalyst Game Labs. Catalyst published the Fifth Edition (SR5) in 2013, with Jason Hardy as Shadowrun line developer, and the sixth edition followed in 2019, set in 2080. SR5 builds on the Fourth Edition rules, makes combat deadlier, streamlines the Matrix, expands the gear options and speeds up character creation. The franchise also includes the living campaign Shadowrun Missions, more than 50 novels, a trading card game and several video games. The system directly evolved from Shadowrun Fourth Edition, and it was succeeded by Shadowrun Sixth World (2019), which removed limits and cut the skill list from 80 to 19. Description Players take on shadowrunners, deniable operatives hired by megacorporations to do data theft and break-ins. Street samurai, mages, adepts, riggers and hackers each handle a part of the job, and the Game Master (GM) runs missions, with Seattle as the main setting. Magic has returned to the world, bringing metahumans such as orks, trolls and elves, and dragons hold high corporate and political posts. The game asks a table for system knowledge. Characters are defined by skills, not classes, with large pools of options for gear, magic and cybernetics, and reviewers have found the rules awkward or fuzzy in places. It suits groups who like planning a heist, optimising a build and playing in a layered, gritty world, and who are happy to read.

Dungeon Master's Block is a premier resource podcast dedicated to the most important person at the table: the Dungeon Master. Recognized as a "gym for the mind," the show is designed to inspire, challenge, and equip GMs. From those prepping their very first session to veterans of twenty years to "Keep On Dungeon Mastering."  The podcast moves beyond simple rule explanations, diving deep into the creative philosophy of world-building, monster design, and player management. Through recurring segments like "DM-Nastics" (mental exercises for GMs) and the "Mailbag of Holding," hosts Neal Powell (DM Neal) and Derrick (DM Derrick) provide actionable advice, narrative inspiration, and a supportive community for the "only person at the table capable of playing god." Links spotify.com  - Spotify feed podcasts.apple.com  - Apple Podcasts feed youtube.com  - Youtube channel

Roll Anywhere is a dice roller for Android that floats a small dice bubble over any other app. Keep your rulebook, character sheet, adventure or journal open and roll right on top of it, without switching apps or splitting the screen. Features - All the standard RPG dice, d4 to d20 plus d100 - Modifiers, totals, keep/drop highest or lowest, and minus dice - Exploding dice, counting successes, and re-rolling just the dice you pick - Beautiful 3D dice animations, real dice sounds, and a voice that reads out the result (all toggleable) - Create custom dice with numbers, words or symbols for faces - Saved rolls, so "d20+d6+1" can be a single tap - Roll history with copy and delete - Works offline. No ads, no subscription, no account Roll Anywhere Pro Roll Anywhere Pro is a single one-time purchase. It adds: - Unlimited custom dice - Pass/fail against a target (e.g. DC) - Custom outcomes with tiered results such as Miss / Weak Hit / Strong Hit, ready-made for PbtA, Forged in the Dark and Draw Steel, or your own - Dice notation like 4d6kh3+2 - Separate dice bags for each game or character - More dice colours - 200 rolls of history Made by KodaWorks.

Operation: REDACTED is a Delta Green actual play podcast. Delta Green once stood against the dark that threatens America's citizens, now it's a husk of what it once was. Left little choice the organization calls upon the very people it has sworn to protect. Each member of F-Cell has been touched by the horrors that lurk beyond in some way. Left traumatized by the encounter they must now fight against the very things that upended their lives. These are the reports and case files left behind in their wake.