I’ve heard the line “You’ve got to live a little while you are still young” more than once in my life. I started thinking about this the other day and it occurred to me how my frugality is reflected in my habits when I play an RPG. Continue reading
Late game dancing will go a lot further on the leaderboards than boogieing right out of the gates. Dancing at the end of the level, however, does not come quite as carefree as when you are two steps out of the starting block. Continue reading
You don’t know Project Evolution (at least not the one I’m talking about), and I can’t link you to a convenient description. It’s a rough design for a tabletop roleplaying game I’ve been working on this week. I am running an early prototype playtest this weekend just to feel out the main concepts and mechanics, and thought it would be interesting for you to read about what I’m hoping will work out in my own design this time around.
This has been a long time coming. Anybody who has spoken with me about games, especially role-playing games, knows that Final Fantasy 13-2 captivated me. I was never sure when (or if) the time would come that I would find a productive and self-contained angle from which to approach it.
We are both thrilled to have been nominated by fellow bloggers (thanks to both Cary at recollectionsofplay and Flo from teawithflo). Even if we’re a bit slow showing it. It’s a great opportunity for you to learn a bit more about us outside our normal columns, and to spread the love to some other deserving blogs.
Many people like many different things about Dungeons & Dragons – the storytelling, the fantasy action, the camaraderie, the layers of customisation. It’s safe to say that I like the philosophies behind D&D Next: understanding what the game means to everybody who plays it (or might play it given the chance) and reconciling those motivations.
However, I did enough talking about general goals in WIHILA D&D Next. Instead, let’s talk about something more specific which I’ve had some experience with during the playtest: non-combat rules in D&D Next (because rules for engaging with games which don’t involve combat don’t generally get enough love). More specifically, new rules for Exploration.
I’m a completionist. From the moment I could play games, anything less than a 100% on the little completion counter has bugged me. Continue reading
I could go on all day about different fields and instances where an extra thought to the probabilities behind varying occurrences could help shed some light on what feels like chance happenings. So I will! Continue reading
Playing games has helped me grasp the variety of settings where applying probability can be valuable. More specifically, it has aided me in getting a handle on how to use probability to assess acceptable risks and then accept losses given these risks. Continue reading
Though a shout-out on its own is not really this column’s style, there’s a lot to be learned from the many sources of insight and information out there on the expansive and noisy internet. This is a bit of a departure from the usual, but I’d like to touch upon one general game design concept (Core Aesthetics) that a weekly webseries titled Extra Credits has covered quite well with their own experiences and examples.
Turn Based Living 