200 Words and a Coupla' Coins

These are Quadrans, You'll get it in a moment.

I threw an entry into this year's 200 Word RPG Challenge, mainly because I'd recently sketched out something that fit the parameters. Didn't win any accolades, and I didn't expect to, since what I submitted wasn't all that ambitious, didn't have an inherent theme and mechanically was boringly traditional (though I do feel it was at least a bit clever). But it was something I actually conceived and finished and there's a mote of pride in that.

My submission, Cast a Quadrans, started as a private joke years ago, abruptly developed last month in a post on RPG.net (where it was called Heads You Win) and then upon the announcement of the contest was revised into something I could actually see playing before submission. The rules are deliberately open to interpretation but, I feel, absolutely playable, and all you need to run it are a couple coins. If I ever do a "2E," I'm tempted to expand the range up to three coins.

The official Cast a Quadrans character sheet.

I've Probably Peaked

My previous post about Marc Miller and Traveller has garnered more views than anything else I've ever posted here (and possibly anything I've ever posted anywhere). I'd love to follow it up immediately to reward the attention of the many fine and wonderful people who've newly stopped by Trollbones [in other words, capitalize on the audience building], but I'm a bit busy heading off to another gaming con' this weekend, Forge Midwest (amusingly like last week's Gary Con, also in Wisconsin) so I won't have time to put together another detailed post for a while.

I guess the glory of Milwaukee keeps calling to me.
Source: olsonj

But I do have some interesting stuff planned for when I can next get back for a long sit at the keyboard:

• Similar to the Marc Miller post, notes from Jeff Dee, who also offered a Q&A seminar at Gary Con IX, and also refereed a game I had the fortune of attending.
• Comparisons of my recent experiences playing several different superhero RPG's: Hideouts & Hoodlums, Savage Worlds, Marvel Super Heroes and Villains & Vigilantes 3rd edition. 
• A retrospective on TWERPS, "The World's Easiest Roleplaying System" of the 90's, my happy experiences with it and what I've recently learned about it's history. 
• A critical review of Stars Without Number, how it's played for me, why I like it, what I think its flaws are and what I'd like to see change for its upcoming 2nd edition.
• Heads You Win, a satirical yet totally playable role-play rule system that fits complete on a single 4" x 6" note-card.
• Maaayyybe finally getting back to that comparison of XP systems I started last month.