While writing Wednesday about finding inspiration in reality, I mentioned that making a game feel realistic was important for me. This got me to thinking about what exactly it was more important than. How do I rank the elements of gaming, and how does that affect my games?
Category Archives: Commentary
Bryan and I had the opportunity to lunch together this week. Don’t you just love it when people use “lunch” as a verb? In any case, our conversation inevitably turned to game design, and I continued my “why are games so damn long” rant for the benefit of Bryan, our waitress, and all the fortunate…
About a month ago, Steve Winter, formerly of Wizards of the Coast and TSR, wrote a post about the dysfunctional relationship between RPG companies and their customers. I read it some time ago, and it’s been percolating in my brain ever since. It left me wondering, how can the problem be solved?
Shortly after I got back into games as an adult nearly 10 years ago, I recall running an adventure that seemed thrilling at the time. I was running for two players, and they needed to delve into a Dwarven crypt to recover… well, something. 10 years ago, remember? I alluded to massive traps scattered throughout…
Yesterday, I had a chance to catch up with game designer Paul Stefko of Pittsburgh. Like many of us, Paul got his start in game design in grade school—but unlike those among us who have kept our designs to spiral-bound notebooks, Paul has found ways to commercialize his talent! His latest endeavor is “Full Moon:…
We gamers are an interesting bunch, prone to eccentric quirks, foibles, and… well, weirdness. As such, we’re also prone to some odd superstitions that a non-gamer wouldn’t experience. Now loyal readers may remember some past posts about using superstitions in-game to build up an interesting character, but I’m betting you also know of some odd superstitions…
We’ve all dreamed of being the hero right? I mean come on, isn’t that at least a part of why we game in the first place? To be someone/something more than what we really are? But what happens when we get that chance, when we become the hero in game? When a game is set up to…
Last week, I posted some of my thoughts inspired by “LARPs Can Change the World”, an interview with the Norweigian Minister of International Development, who is also a gamer. The interview actually got me thinking on two fronts, and this second topic is actually closer to the theme of the interview. What good are RPGs?…
Sit in on a game session here at Intwischa, and you’ll notice something about Chase: He’s always drawing. If he’s not rolling dice, his pencil is almost always in motion. After a few meetings, if you got real nosy, you could see that a pretty complete character sketch has emerged bit by bit through the…
The other day, Cory Doctorow posted a great RPG-related link in his Twitter feed. This interview with a man named Heikki Holmås is interesting for several reasons. Of course, primary among them is that he’s a gamer. Even more interesting, though, is that he’s also Norway’s new Minister of International Development. Not only is it…