You’re GMing a fantasy RPG, and the PCs need to get through a door. A simple wooden door; but the door is locked. Can they pick the lock? Can they bust it down? Can they burn it? Could they remove … Continue reading
Tag Archives: theory
I continue to be amazed by the sheer mass of burgeoning creativity in games these days. On itch.io, for example, there are games for seemingly everything: A game designed for two players, a human and a pet sitting in their … Continue reading
I’ve been toying with the idea of putting together a collection of essays. Some original, certainly; there are fair number of things I’d like to set down but haven’t had the right space for. I’d also include some things that … Continue reading
I designed B&C with no specific social combat system. As I’ve mentioned before, I and a lot of other people tend to find social combat rather deprotagonizing. That is not to say, though, that B&C couldn’t have a social combat … Continue reading
In May, I got to go to WisCon again. (Recovering took a while, thus not getting around to posting last month.) There was a lot of great gaming programming, including some very fun and mind-expanding conversations. One thing that kept … Continue reading
Imagine that someone wrote a travel guide to the US with the power to shape reality. Whatever the authors write is the way reality is, forever and ever. Imagine that that travel guide was only 50 pages long. The authors … Continue reading
Why does Traveller’s Imperium have a Scout Service? This is a question that has bothered me for a long time. The Imperium, in its most common iteration, is more than a thousand years old. There isn’t a star system that … Continue reading
There’s this persistent notion that goes around that games that play faster are better. Games that require a long time commitment, the argument seems to go, are wastes of time. If you spend more than a few moments on things … Continue reading
Another passing thought, inspired by conversation elsenet: When players tend to turn every offhandedly-mentioned NPC into the most important thing, pretty often it’s not because they like latching onto insignificant details and running off to do random things. Instead, it’s … Continue reading
Another observation brought on by gaming with my ongoing Blade & Crown group: It can be quite fun to have players choose the combination of characteristic and skill with which they’re doing a given skill roll. B&C is meant to … Continue reading