Oh for sure. I will deliberately not click on something of they bury the lead too obtusely.

Yes! This jam is organizing submissions for a charity bundle: itch.io/jam/disaster...

Another fun thing about Chekhov's Coupons is it contains a story about crossing the fae that I wrote using the tools. It has an ongoing annotation so you can see how the rules interact with the story as you go.

ANOTHER fun thing about Chekhob's Coupons is that I did all the art and collage myself.

This one is neat because the original version was only about a tenth of the size. I had to pause my readthrough for the day job, but I've still got a long ways to go.

The original version had a lot of the same skeleton, but not much in the way of explanation. I realized I'd left a lot in my head.

This chapter rolls into the HP/Harm summary and ends with a "don't sweat the details." This is because games start with a Tutorial Cutscene where you play a combat scene with just vibes starting out to get a feel of what you'd like out of your character.

It'd be remiss of me not to give a hearty shoutout to @explodinghye.bsky.social and the wonderful graphic design they did on this book. From the palette to the clever use of emphasis throughout, he absolutely captured the vibe of the insert booklets that used to be in game cases.

The Adventure chapter dives into dice rolling and moves. This is where the PbtA mechanics will feel most familiar. Roll 2d6 using one of four stats (ACC, DEF, DMG, & SP). 6 & under is a miss, 7-9 is a hit with a catch, and 10+ is a hit with a perk. This example breaks down a Draw Magic move.

Anyway, I love the art by @breewolfstuff.bsky.social, and this cheesy line might be my favorite in the whole book.

Still in Themes, I hit some "isn't this obvious?" ground with suggestions on how to play rules a la carte and how you might navigate safety tools and in-character relationships. Except, especially in anything that whiffs of dungeon, these things are not at all obvious to many folks playing #ttrpgs.

I dive into my take on "play to find out" since that's such an important part of FIR. The storytelling is all about finding clues together and building the narrative as you go. There's no secret objective truth the DM keeps in their pocket, but a DM that stewards discovery and fosters creativity.

Next chapter is The Themes. I get soapboxy about these monsters being saturday morning cartoon fodder. A lot of games do "ARE WE THE REAL MONSTERS" really well. For Fight Item Run, we're hitting that guiltless pleasure of jrpgs. Fight the slime, kill the slime, unlock slime armor, celebrate.

Obviously if your "dungeon" is a floating cloud city, that flavors your campaign—at least until you drop down to the Dinosaur Jungle region or whatever. You get Gear by fighting and puzzling in chambers, so completing a region IS your level up.

Chapter 1: The Dungeon describes the framework and setting. I'll admit, it hits pretty dense out the gate. The Dungeon is both literal and metaphorical backdrop: the chambers and regions you explore represent the flavor of your game, character progression, and the tinder from which drama sparks.

Okay, so I'll get into the proper read and react tomorrow because it got too late tonight, but check this out in the meantime: whimsymachinegames.com/Fight-Item-R...

Oh yeah, and this thread ends with me offering to mail folks physical copies if you do reviews, APs, etc. #ttrpgcommunity #ttrpg #dnd