HeyJaredKate Plays
Kate Plays is a laid-back newsletter exploring tabletop RPGs through random generators, solo adventures, and thoughtful musings on the hobby.
- Indexed issues, last 90 days
- 7
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- Sep 25, 2026
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- Jul 9, 2026
Latest issues
Bribery and Negotiation (opens the original)
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TL;DR: OSR negotiation replaces diplomacy rolls with concrete actions like food, gold, and promises. The Referee judges offers based on creature motives rather than modifiers, turning social encounters into resource-management puzzles where the party must read stakes, risk betrayal, and live with the debts peace creates.<a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!_3cK!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amaz
Running away! (opens the original)
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TL;DR: In OSR tabletop RPGs, retreat is not failure but the most important survival skill. This article explores why players fear flight, how chase and cover mechanics work, and how building a retreat culture at the table makes games more exciting, dramatic, and alive.<source t
The Pencil, the Relay, and the Organized Chaos (opens the original)
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TL;DR: OSR games suffer when parties wander without structure, maps dissolve into contradiction, orders become a shouting match, and half the table checks out. By assigning a mapper to draw the dungeon and a relay to speak for the group, you turn chaos into organized tension. These simple roles don’t restrict freedom; they force every player to observe, agree, and act. The result is sharper exploration, stronger trust, and the kind of collective risk that makes OSR actually memorable.<a class="i
GURPS 4th Revised (opens the original)
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TL;DR: GURPS 4th Edition Revised finally clicked for me: point-buy isn’t about balance, it’s about narrative cost. The 250-point accountant taught me that specialization creates identity, not weakness — and that every point spent is a choice you must live with. The system is unforgiving because it demands honesty: build anyone, but play within the beautiful boundaries of your choices.<a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!b1WV!,f_auto,q_auto:go
Echoes in the Stone (opens the original)
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TL;DR: Echoes in the Stone provides referees with a comprehensive framework for replacing traditional NPC-driven exposition with immersive, wordless narrative techniques embedded directly into dungeon design and world-building. By mastering the use of architectural layers, sensory decay, and purposeful item distribution, game masters can transform static environments into silent historians that reveal deep lore through structural atrophy, spatial narratives, and subtle environmental clues, ultim
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