Good Monday, Gamer!
“I like a good beer buzz, early in the morning” — S. Crow
This week’s post is a full orbit: playing Cairn, getting in more Mekton/Titanfall with Max, prepping Wild Talents, sketching UVG + Burning Wheel, and carving out the first Hard Zone for Apocalypse World: Burned Over out in the Kuiper Belt. Plenty of game gravity pulling me in different directions — the good kind.
I’ve been thinking about something Keith Senkowski wrote about third spaces — those places that aren’t home and aren’t work, but anchor us anyway. His piece (linked below) hits funky for me. I’ve been searching for new third spaces. I have none, and I feel it. Work and home are the same anymore. I don’t hate that, but I need something else; I miss it. The old spots are all brand new, if you know what I mean. Lately I’ve been spending more time out at the golf range and yoga mats…kinda 1.5 spaces… 🤷🏾♂️
So here’s what I’ve been orbiting this week…
Playing
Cairn
Judd’s catch-as-catch-can campaign. We’re off to explore the new estate Raven just traded an ancient sword for. Cairn is a tight, OSR DIY fantasy RPG. I’m about that life!
Mekton in a Titanfall Setting
R. Talsorian’s Mekton is classic 1980s mecha — crunchy, modular, unapologetically extra. We’re running it under a Titanfall skin: Pilots, Titans, factions battling in the Frontier—just me and Max, who turns 18 this month. I’m trying to get in every game I can with this young man, who is indifferent about learning to drive.
Jiangshi: Blood in the Banquet Hall (Very Soon!)
Absolutely AMPED to play this. It’s been at the top of my “need to play right now” list.
Prepping
Wild Talents: Lifted
A 4–6 session series in Irama, the Brazilian megacity inside my Lifted universe.Working on pregens 🙄
Ultraviolet Grasslands + Burning Wheel
UVG gives me myth; BW gives me consequence. Together: a long, strange, moral road. I think this works 🤷🏾♂️ I’m hoping to get it going by the end of the month.
Apocalypse World: Burned Over (in the Kuiper Belt)
This one will run on Twitch, so the prep is more than just the game. I’ve got two new hard zones we’ll play in here is the first:
The Grave Belt
Once the Kuiper Belt’s safe harbor, the Anadyomene Pulse turned this ring of private elite frigates, 49er rigs, and national flagships into a drifting cemetery.
Now the Grave Belt is a swath of failed colonies, sealed habitats, and derelict ships where chain-of-command still clings on long after hope has vented out the airlock—scarcity rules.
The Concord LineA linked chain of surviving vessels enforcing “order” with rationed power and stubborn authority. The last believers in civilization-as-it-was.
Haven 5A sealed generational ship for the ultra-rich. No signals in or out since the Pulse. Rumors say the nobles live on in simulation.
Kibo StationThe trade crossroads — flickering lights, ration markets, air-for-credit exchanges. A hundred factions lying to each other every hour.
Echo HotelAn autonomous AI warship continues to follow its final directive: preserve the asset. It recognizes no ceasefire and no new masters.
OrpheusA national flagship full of failed cryopods and half-dreaming survivors. Sometimes, it's a hymn that drifts across open channels.
The YardScrapyard heart of the Belt — wrecks chained together for cutting, smelting, and fighting over whatever still burns.
The Rock GardenMining asteroids hollowed out into failing habitats. Beautiful crystal caverns. Dangerous as hell. Home to air-thieves and debt-slaves.
The ReliquaryA museum ship transformed into a shrine to lost humanity. Holograms still loop the old world. Pilgrims come seeking meaning or relics. Some say the exhibits whisper back.
🧠 ICYMI
Dandadan — a wild manga born to be an RPG. I’d play it!! Google it
Apocalypse World: Burned Over Kickstarter — I’m a fan. You know what to do.
Save vs Total Party Kill on Over/Under — Missed this massive PBP event, but I’ll be strip-mining it for ideas.
Keith Senkowski is Staring into the Distance — His bit on third spaces, oof, I miss ‘em.
Sarah Doom’s Magic Makers — Sarah’s doing the homework for our new podcast. (There was homework??)
The Indie RPG’s List of Lists — Endless rabbit holes.
Githyanki Diaspora covers Into the UVG — Fueling my UVG + BW obsession.
As always, thanks for reading, sharing, and building strange worlds with me.