Ever since Sean talked to me about consulting for his project The Empire of the Dragon Lotus, I've been looking through old files and papers for the earliest work by that name that I remembered from him, fifteen to seventeen years ago. I wanted to review some points of interest - especially since what he was working with now seemed to me pale or lacking in spark, at least as I'd recalled being there, if not what exactly.

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've been working up a Design curriculum for role-playing for a long while, so when Justin Nichols approached me for a game design discussion that leaned toward mentoring, I accepted without reservation.

Intent, Initiation, Execution, Effect - fictional things, probably the single most direct fictional content to be interfaced with real-people speaking and using rules, in the hobby. In a recent dialogue with Zac Porcu, he called it "the beating heart of role-playing."