I have a confession to make: I used to engage in conventional play in the TTRPG space. Complete and utter shock, I know. Things were good for a spell, I’ll admit, but over time I started to burn out. I was preparing too much, and the players passively went along with it because that’s just how things were supposed to be. Scheduling was a nightmare, and syncing up the right combination of players to unpause the game took an almost herculian effort. I needed something different, and I needed it fast. I began researching in earnest for concepts that promised new or alternative ways to play.

The West Marches was my first significant find in that it gave me something concrete to experiment with. I took my Halfhand Adventurers Guild campaign and made the necessary adjustments to make it fit with that style of play. Right off the bat it solved the scheduling problem. Instead of spending all my time wrangling the players, they came and went as they pleased. Not bad, all said and done, but I was still doing way too much while the players weren’t doing enough. Timkeeping improved a little, but continued to be this cognitive load that kept things a few miles shy of fun. Turns out I’d only slowed the process of burning out instead of stopping it completely.

I almost threw in the towel and peaced out of the hobby, or at the very least packed away the books for a spell. Decided to poke around the socials one last time as a hail mary to see if anyone had made similar journeys or had new insights. I just needed something!

I met Alchemic Raker, who turned me onto Chainmail through his clone The Old Lords of Wonder and Ruin. That got me exploring the origins of D&D and old school play, which then led me to the brilliant, cheeky trio of Scutifer Mike, Dundermoose, and Harmony Ginger. From them I found Jeffro Johnson (author of many enlightening works – such as Winning Secrets), and then picked up Drakonheim through SeriousDM. Met Rule of Thule after that, and then encountered a wild bdubs, which pretty much leads us here.

“Where is here?” you’re obviously asking yourself.

I’m Running Two Braunsteins

Earlier this year I converted my Halfhand Adventurers Guide campaign to a Braunstein, adopting a lot of mechanisms that significantly changed how the game operated. 1:1 Timekeeping was the first add, which basically cat-swatted that burden off my table. I also added SEEN, GOSS, and Docketing, that last one being a mechanism I picked up through a very specific ordeal in SeriousDM’s Drakonheim campaign.

I read through BROZER, which included an essay that laid out what a Braunstein actually was and codified three different methods of running them. Turns out everything I was angling my campaign toward was a Type/Method 3. Knowing is half the battle, right?

My game still needed some kind of identity, however. From the beginning I always envisioned a huge, unwieldy map, and a scale that begged for multiple Referees. I wanted a game where I could jam a myriad of milieus together based on classic literature, Appendix N stories, and horror. It needed to push the bounds of comfort and safety, and be a borederline bad idea at times.

A word bandied about in all Braunsteins is convergence. To achieve this the players, the setting, and the scale need to work in tandem. Drakonheim’s ratio is sick, which makes its convergences a wonder to behold. For Halfhand, I needed to go a little stupid with it. Everything would need to be bigger, and there would need to be more of it. I would need my players to move heaven and earth to converge. There would have to be massive travel and exhaustive exploration. Nations and factions would be numerous, and feel unwieldy.

And years from now, when I look back on the experiment of this campaign, my hope would be that the data was real hella messy.

In the header I mentioned “two” games. This past month I decided to create another Type/Method 3 Braunstein, this time centered around the Cyberpunk Red ruleset. I’m calling it Night City Grindstein, and the idea is much more in line with Drakonheim: massive convergence across a limited map.

Whereas Halfhand Adventurers Guild is sprawling, I want Grindstein to be succinct. I envision it as the kind of game where you roll up a character and find yourself embroiled in a corpo-level war before you can ask, “why is this rulebook so unorganized?” The game itself follows a lot of conventional play trappings that have plagued modern D&D, which means it’s ripe for experimentation. It’s just as much a question mark as Halfhand, but I’m encouraged by the forecast.

The Elevator Pitch

So, what’s the deal with these games anyway?

The Halfhand Adventurers Guild Campaign 3: The Age of Chaos

It’s the year 1300, and the world has erupted into conflict. Kingdoms engage in warfare, diplomacy, and subterfuge, each sending their airships against the other to try and annex new territories…or raze them to the ground. Factions have sprung up in each of these kingdoms hoping to either exert their influence or take over the nation from within. The Pantheon, seemingly dormant since the Schism of the Deities, have awoken and begun to explore their influence like the Greek gods of Homer. Direct intervention in the affairs of man isn’t STRICTLY forbidden…

And then there are the Adventurers, free agents of the land seeking monsters to fight, dungeons to delve, and loot to use for whatever ends they fancy. Many get their start through a benefactor and chief among them is the Great Wizard Hansel Halfhand. He is a figure of mystery, and his airship The Flying Dutchman serves as an aspiration to anyone who picks up sword and staff with adventure in their hearts.

Let the chaos begin.

Some details:

• The game has transitioned from West Marches to Method 3 (or Type 3) Braunstein.
• SEEN, GOSS, Docketing, and 1:1 Timekeeping are in play.
• The game is run on The Halfhand Adventurers Guild discord server.
• We play local and online sessions, play-by-post, and engage in player orders on the discord.
• We use D&D 5th Edition 2024 ruleset overlaid on top of 2014 rules variants.

Night City Grindstein

It’s 2045 in Night City and big trouble is brewing. Sure, there’s still an ominous red haze that permeates the city thanks to the big nuke set off in the middle of the city, but everyone’s gearing up for something! Corpos and Edgerunners alike are making serious moves and that’s where you come in. Now is the time to make your mark on a vulnerable metropolis and be the kind of choom who will be talked about in the same reverant breath as Rache Bartmoss, Morgan Blackhand or Johnny Silverhand. Night City will grind you into a paste, but it will be glorious.

Some details:

• The game uses Method 3 (or Type 3) Braunstein
• SEEN, GOSS, Docketing, and 1:1 Timekeeping are in play.
• The game is entirely run on the Night City Grindstein discord server, and features online session play, play-by-post, and player orders.
• We’re primarily using the Cyberpunk Red Core Rulebook and Single Player Mode, while judiciously using other add-ons.

I Want Some Of You…

I’m looking to add players to both of my games, players who are just as interested in this experiment as I am and who are willing to engage with all the fiddly pieces. The players who would do well here have read the material or are in the process of reading the material. I don’t just mean Winning Secrets, BROZER, or UMBROS. I mean the written works that inspired the rulesets themselves.

Rules as Written is the orthodoxy of these games, and to be a player within is to acknowledge and accept that. This is by no means draconian, as the wise will realize there’s a lot of freedom inherent in the rules. If this all seems a bit religious all the sudden, allow me to introduce you to the next aspect of these games.

They’re Christian.

Players take on the role of hero to engage in what’s right, true, and beautiful, and the players who take on the role of villain/antagonist explore those same concepts via their opposites. Even playing a cheeky true neutral can yield engaging insights among the spiritually inclined. But at the end of the day we’re good Christian folk pursuing fun and engaging gameplay that doesn’t undermine or compromise our moral center.

How Join?

These two campaigns have one very simple goal: to engage in great good play through adherence to rules, innovation of systems, and a desire for healthy comraderie. If this sounds like something you want to be a part of, I’d like to hear from you. Even if you’re extremely busy these days, it’s worth reaching out as there are a myriad of ways to engage with each of these campaign settings without having to roll up a character sheet.

For example: In Halfhand, if you don’t have time to play the game, you can take on villain or enemy forces in the world and engage the players in a guest capacity. Or maybe you have an idea for a dungeon and would like to see how it stitches into an already existing setting.

In Grindstein, there’s a whole slew of random encounters you can create and join, and I’ve got a whole book of NPCs and gang factions you can run in a guest capacity. And you wouldn’t even necessarily have to join the server.

Point is: enjoyable play is but a clickety-clack away.

I’m on X, I’m on Substack, and if you squint hard enough I’m even on LinkedIn.

Reach out to me and let’s talk.