Adept Play
Adept Play
Category: Seminar
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! You’ll see conversations, presentations, interviews, and essays.
All the posts here present a concept, game title, or a historical hobby event for discussion, so please comment at any of them. Be sure to review the Site Etiquette & Best Practices available at the bottom of the page.
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February 2023 Q&A
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…
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Quick notice for upcoming courses
Based on demand and the fast-approaching limits of scheduled events in April: the same courses as the previous term in January, People and Play and Situation and Story. We’re beginning about a week from now, which isn’t ideal but I hope you’ll consider it. Quick review: courses are five weeks long, one two-hour meeting per…
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Finding a game in there
One trend in role-playing game publications, from the beginning, is to stuff too much into the pages: design discovered and utilized in play, speculated design, padding, features or content provided by other people, consolidated content for IP purposes, content perceived as “needed” or “people want it,” and more. I find many game texts to be…
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Yikes
[This post is adapted from activity at the Patreon.] It would be nice to consider rapier fighting. If by “nice” you mean skilled murder with horrible, terrible instruments uniquely designed for exactly that. I’m thinking mainly about civilian violence and including off-hand instruments including other weapons, bucklers, and improvised defenses. Seriously, these things are nightmarish.…
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January 2023 Q&A
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).
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December Q&A
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.
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Big Stompy Robots
Rod, Robbie, and I sat down on Discord to talk about giant robots, the influences and the games we have (or have not) played. It was a good discussion, and I will just hit a few of the highlights to open up the discussion here. Apologies for not recording it, none of us felt strongly…
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January coursework
We begin again! I’m motivated, as I’ve seen multiple impacts and continued development for many people over the past tw years. This format and set of topics seems to be working. The term begins January 9, and as always, runs for five weeks. A given course meets on a specific day each week, as indicated…
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November Q & A
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…