What is this table-top role-playing thing? How does it work, what does it do, what kind of designs do which things? I've got some ideas, and so do you. This is where we talk about it - like this!
Some of my posts here present a concept, game title, or a historical hobby event for discussion in the comments, so join in with a will. You'll also find interviews and conversations.
I'm also recording what I guess I call "labs," which are organized and prepared at the Patreon. I run them on Mondays using Discord, and anyone pledging there can participate when they feel like it.
As part of the discussion on Discord about looking at “OSR” games, I visited an old friend.
Back in the early 80s, I GMed perhaps 100 sessions of DragonQuest 2nd edition. I've just been combing through those old rules and I've found some interesting elements.
I'm not quite as cool as the fire guy in the picture, but almost, perhaps. This week brings in the last sessions of the five-session courses I'm teaching for Giano Academy (see the banner item at the top right). This time it was two sections of the same course, "Introduction to Design."
There are a lot of great games happening among participants at Adept Play right now.
I consider myself bilingual in Italian and English, and fluent in both languages. I think bilingually, which really is not that impressive, as it just means I’m crap at both and end up coming up with an expression in one language when I’m speaking the other one.
For anyone interested, I recorded a video chat I had with Sean about his experiences with Rolemaster (and mine, such as they were). This came about because he had talked about Rolemaster in the recent probability seminar, and I took note -- my play of the game in college was fairly unmemorable, but the game itself has a long-enduring fascination, and I've often thought about trying to do more with it.
Here's a blessed event insofar as I can finally talk about role-playing content and procedures that are ordinarily kicked down the road. For me, Adept Play is a rousing success insofar as ideas can be introduced and resolved enough so that "next ideas" can actually be addressed, and I don't have to spray down the entry point with fire-extinguisher foam or, for that matter, disinfectant.
Pretty much what the title says! General or specific, important or unimportant, obvious or not so much ... doesn't matter.
Part of hobby mythology concerns role-playing's origins as bringing tighter focus into table-top wargaming, such that within this or that battalion, or aboard this or that vehicle, the group can look closer and see Sergeant Bob or whoever running around, being a character, having opinions, and doing things.
I initially composed this as yet another reflection upon the game of Undiscovered that I'm playing with Sam, Helma, and Lorenzo, but decided it was more generally relevant to bring into Seminar as its own thing.
Metatopia 2020 was an online event held on Nov. 5-8. This is an annual conference that focuses on small press and independent game designers. Panels covered a wide variety of topics, and the quality, as is to be expected, was varied.