Adept Play
This is a monthly series begun in early 2022, in which members of the Patreon ask me questions and I provide a collective video response (often more questions!). It is provided publicly the following month.
I see much underlying unity across these questions, and I hope you can too. The central concept is situation in play, which certainly needs more practical clarity among us as it relates first to texts, and also to straightforward behavior. Oddly, too, it matches with the final question concerning explicit role-playing references in music, as…
Maybe I’m too much of a pattern-making story-making animal, but the questions this time really built a single coherent body of inquiry for me. I felt like I was addressing a single important topic from multiple angles of attack. I introduce the video with a warning, but I’ll say it briefly here as well: this…
The first video is long as I wanted to keep my reply to Mark in a single packet. His question was a comment in the previous Q&A post, regarding my recommendations for myth inquiries & ideas regarding popular culture. I’ve attached an outline which may make it easier to follow. I did not manage actually…
[image by Jennell Jacquays, from Cults of Terror] We’re into questions that wouldn’t be possible without many of the exchanges and developments carried out through the past couple of years. There’s a historical look at Arkat and Nysalor/Gbaji, who may even perhaps have escaped over-canonizing, a follow-up on last month’s Patreon post about characters and…
Even a couple of questions can go pretty deep. There’s a solid look at initiative and order during confrontations, and some development of the “reverse mullet” problem observed in many role-playing texts. Please check out the attached file to see our discussion at the Patreon. Sean identifies the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition /…
Lucky 13th time – I hope you like it, because this was a beast of a question series, across a wide variety of topics. I even get to revisit the Finding D&D series regarding current IP/OGL shenanigans. I promised Alessio a couple of links so here they are: Presentation: Why Glorantha (and its games) and…
About how we play (at all), about players and characters, about conceptual rules, about small-scale procedural rules … It’s a full-spectrum session this time. At one point I wonder which version of Ars Magica I’m talking about, which turns out to be the second edition (1989).
This set of questions spans a wide range: some Forge and Story Games history, using traits or rules involving “Destiny” without railroading toward a specific thing, and plenty of resolution-type topics regarding how characters fight. Here’s the file summarizing our discussion at the Patreon. As always, I’m hoping for continuance and more development here.
Very meaty questions, good examples of highly specific topics which open up important levels of understanding, or so I hope. The relationship map technique from The Sorcerer’s Soul The Elemental Control from Champions At one point I mistakenly said “powers” when I meant “attacks,” unfortunately, as that is a key factor in my reply to…