What if I told you your tabletop RPG doesn’t need skills… or stats… or even weapon proficiencies? Today we commit a little RPG heresy—and ungovern the cylinder.

Ever wonder what happens when your Nosferatu fashion designer fails a feeding roll? The Jaunty Mantis dives deep into the blood-soaked streets of Galveston and the creative chaos of running Vampire: The Masquerade.

What if your TTRPG character suddenly told you they were more than you ever imagined—and what if your RPG's combat and social rules were holding you back?

What happens when you mix time travel, cybernetics, and dinosaurs — and then get stuck 90 million years in the past? We’re diving into Predation, the wildest RPG you’ve never played.

In this episode of The Jaunty Mantis, we riff on mechanical ways to make dinosaurs stand out at the table — beyond simple reskins or bigger HP pools. They cover size & reach, zone-based combat, fear/horror mechanics, animal companions and mounts, pack tactics, and inspiration from other RPG systems (Rifts, Exalted, 4E, Runehammer).

What happens when dinosaurs, blood magic, and gothic horror collide?