Wanderers and Willows

Every so often, I ask a question in the OSR Discord server . They're always really friendly and helpful with even strange questions. Today I was curious about what they thought about an alternative to the popular Blades in the Dark. I got some really good answers, and when I mentioned I worked in security, some friendly folks were interested in how I would flesh out a heist-style campaign or module. One user in particular (Jojiro from dungeonantology.com ) gave me seven questions to answer. While I'm pretty sure he meant some small answers, I'm overly verbose and tend to go way too much in-depth with my explanations, so here you go. I'm sharing this with the rest of the OSR community so you can take some of this advice in mind if you plan on playing or running a heist-centered game in the future. Keep in mind that I’m working from the perspective of a fantasy-ish world. Not everything in here will be 100% realistic. 1) What is the actual information an ...

When I read Ratcatcher's pitch for a Maze Rats game set in a procedurally-generated dead mall , I was absolutely enamored with the concept, and had ideas on how to expand on it. So without further ado, here we go. A small part of the mall denizens are made up of people like the PCs: those who are trapped and still have free will. Typically teenagers or young adults, these people have formed themselves into factions resembling social cliques. The goths, the preps, the jocks, etc. Some neckbearded nerds don swords and anime attire, dubbing themselves "mall ninjas". They lord over the others, seemingly within the good graces of security. These factions tend to be somewhat secretive, as security is constantly watching for those who aren't a part of the mall, so finding them out and contacting them may prove to be a difficult task. The majority of mall denizens are "normal people" who walk around and shop. These beings are ghosts of those who have died in...