NathanKlas

I started a Cyberpunk Red campaign last year on a whim while it was my hyperfixation of the month. I threw myself into prep, taking notes on the factions, districts, and NPCs of Night city. I helped my players expand the lifepath system into elaborate backstories for their grungy little blorbos, which I then used connected a red-string board to reverse-construct a grand Militech conspiracy that happened to overlap with Arasaka family drama during their first mission. The PCs took their MacGuffin and DMPC to the Afterlife, and snuck out just as the sun was rising and a hit squad was coming for them. And then my wedding was coming up, and a pause turned into an indefinite hiatus when another game came out of hiatus. We only played two proper sessions, but I look back on them very fondly. Those were some of the most kick-ass sessions I've ever run as a GM. They also made me never want to run Cyberpunk Red again. The combat was janky and slow, proceeding at a 5e speed but without gimmi...

Night Trails was my submission to the 2025 Delta Green Shotgun Scenario Contest . It didn't really make a splash, and I think that's because I had to cut it to the bone to get it under the word count. I'm not complaining, I did it to challenge myself, but I think I found the limit. When I first started practicing summary writing, I learned the difference between the fat and the meat: do you really need that elaborate backstory if the players have no way to learn it, and it doesn't really change the scenario to learn it?  Then I pushed myself further, and learned that there are different kinds of meat: an NPC can be described in 6, 60, or 600 words. How many do they really need, and how much can be left to the imagination?  With this product, I learned that underpinning that meat is bone, and with an elaborate enough structure that bone adds up to a lot. I had multiple bespoke mechanics, a 3-location investigation, three procedurally-generated areas each with a travel ...

Here are my reviews for the  2025 Shotgun Scenario contest . This is probably the last year that I do this, I enjoy the work but it's a huge amount of work to do every Christmas break, and takes up a lot of free time that I'd like to spend elsewhere. Regardless, I got snowed in this year and had a blast as always, and now have even more Shotgun Scenarios prepped to go at a moment's notice. Enjoy! Link here .

This is a series where I look back on work I've done in the past, pointing out what worked, what didn't, and what I'd change if I did it again. It's also 100% me smelling my own farts, but I do like reading other people do retrospectives like this, so hopefully you get something out of this too. Glass Hound This is a Delta Green scenario that I wrote for the 2024 Shotgun Scenario Contest , which is an annual scenario writing contest with a 1,500-word limit (excluding stat blocks and other supplementary material). It won first place that year, and even got played through on the Technical Difficulties Gaming Podcast ! Needless to say, I'm very proud of this one. I also have some sharp criticisms. Let's get to it! For convenience's sake, especially for mobile users, I'm going to reproduce the text of the scenario here in black, and put my commentary in blue . You can find the original scenario here . Glass Hound in a Glass House for a Glass Hound in a Glas...

Back in the day, I wrote a short review for every scenario in the 2024 Shotgun Scenario contest . Compared to the previous year's reviews, I am much more satisfied with my writing style, and did the smart thing by making each page number correspond to a review number. Not to toot my own horn, but I did win both prizes that year, which is an achievement I will carry with me for the rest of my life. Enjoy! Link here .

Back in the day, I wrote a short review for every scenario in the 2023 Shotgun Scenario contest . This isn't my best work, but it was a great learning experience. Also, I unfortunately lost the original file, so I can't attach a google doc, just a pdf. Enjoy! Link here .