A game of Libreté: Session 1

The other day I got together with some good friends for a game of Libreté. It was on short notice and they had never played before, so I decided to run them through the adventure detailed in the Quick Start Guide (QSG), which features a simplified form of the core rules. Here’s how it went:

The Five Laws of RPG Science

In 1931, librarian S. R. Ranganathan wrote a book titled The Five Laws of Library Science, in which he set down what he believed to be the most important principles for ethically running a public library system. It’s a dense read, but the main concepts are: Books are for use. Every book its reader. Every

Exploring Libreté: Brutalism in RPG Graphic Design

While previous installments of Exploring Libreté have focused on key game mechanics and the language used for them, this time I want to talk about how the game looks. In particular, I’d like to explain how I used basic principles of information design and presentation to create a layout that puts everything important right where

Exploring Libreté: Lost (and Found) in Translation

As anyone following the project likely knows, Libreté was originally written in French. Vivien Féasson is a gifted translator, but RPGs often make use of made-up words in their systems and story that can be hard to find approximations for. Similarly, Vivien’s clever wordplay in French did not always translate directly into English. This left

Exploring Libreté: What’s Bile?

Anyone familiar with the Apocalypse World series of games will have no trouble picking up the basic mechanics of Libreté: PCs attempting to affect the world roll 2d6 and add relevant bonuses, trying to score above or within a range of numbers. This is a simple, elegant system suited for games that emphasize narration–a natural

Introducing Libreté: Round Two!

A few months ago, GMDK launched our most ambitious project to date: a full-English translation of Vivien Féasson’s Libreté. A week later, realizing we weren’t going to hit our funding goal, we cancelled it. Where had we gone wrong? In hindsight, quite a few places. Our Quick-Start Guide wasn’t fully edited and laid out, and

The Demon Collective, Vol. 1 Posters Now Available!

At long last, you can snag some of the beautiful alternate cover designs for each of the adventures in The Demon Collective, Vol. 1 as 18″x24″ posters! Each of Lauren’s amazing full-page illustrations has been re-imagined as a classic theme, trope, or artistic medium–from 80’s horror paperbacks to DOS-based first person shooters–and are printed on

Introducing the Humble Mabel Bundle

Beloved friend/partner/creator and GMDK contributor Mabel Harper needed some help this week, and the whole community banded together to contribute. In less than a week, we raised over $8,000 for her GoFundMe and all but ensured that she’ll be able to come home safely. My gratitude is immeasurable. Mabel’s an amazing person, and knowing that

The Demon Collective, Volume 1

GMDK’s first publication, live on Kickstarter February 5th. A system-neutral splatterhouse of a zine. Four original horror adventures from Comrade Pollux (blogs at killyourdungeonmaster.blogspot.com), Mabel Harper (at ablogfullofdemons.blogspot.com), Camilla Greer, and David Shugars. With full B/W illustration by the magnanimous Lauren Bryce, and edited by the Queen of the OSR herself, Fiona Geist. Plunder the