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The video game focus on “boss” monsters doesn’t make sense for tabletop RPGs. Video gamers are disappointed if the climactic monster doesn’t kill them several times; in RPGs, once you die, you (usually) don’t respawn. First a little history. Jeffro Johnson asked me if I'd used the monsters I...

That's a good point, that coincidence is often involved in the start of an adventure. Interesting discussion.

Bear with me a while, as the following becomes a lesson for writing stories in RPGs. My wife and I have been watching the HBO Game of Thrones series on DVD. We’re now into the fifth season. Not long ago she started to read the Song of Ice and Fire books (I read them long ago, and only remember...

“Presentism” is the imposition of contemporary morality on historical figures of centuries ago, usually resulting in criticism of those people. It’s nonsense, because circumstances were quite different, and morality was different, “back then”. Example: people think the Romans were evil for...

Oddly enough, I've seen quite a few people over the years say they thought that was one of the best articles Dragon Magazine articles ever. To each his own.

Some of you have seen Peter's "Evil Overlord List" from 1996-97. It's "The Top 100 Things I'd Do If I Ever Became An Evil Overlord" such as "Shooting is not too good for my enemies." If you've not read it before, it may help you make your opponents-for-adventurers more effective. It seems...

Rex Martin's doctoral dissertation (according to Rex, formerly AH General editor IIRC) discussed how board wargaming is/was a Baby Boomer hobby. Out of touch? What puts one in touch? What puts YOU in touch? I've attended a variety of game clubs/session in two states in the past year, plus...

The boardgame renaissance is not wargaming, it's non-wargaming. Wargaming (via board games) is a Baby Boomer hobby, and wargamers are few and far between. There are lots of video games involving war, but mostly so unrealistic that they're not wargames (often, they're resource management games)...

I saw no significant difference in practice. But I was playing at a convention, not in a long-running campaign. I've not read all of the rules.

I discussed the plight of the small, new RPG publisher last time. Today I’ll talk about some design choices in Shattered Dawn (SD). I’ve thought about ways to drastically simplify RPGs for a basic RPG intended to be included in a board game. The Shattered Dawn guys have greater ambitions...

Before dice, people split sticks or bones lengthwise so that they had a curved side and a flat side, and tossed several to achieve various combinations. (They didn't understand the probability very well, though!) I understand that opposite faces of Viking dice didn't match the modern arrangement.

It's certainly common that people believe what they want to believe, rather than find the truth. "Fake News" is only one of the results. But is it my task to watch out for those who want to ignore the truth? No. Why would I lie? Is it my task to worry about some people's feelings than about...

Recently I was at Infinity Con in Lake City Florida, where I encountered two gents (young but older than college-age) in a small booth offering the Shattered Dawn RPG. The con turned out to be a multimedia con with almost no gaming interest so I spent a lot of time talking with the guys and...

Another reason to use hirelings/henchmen (and mules!): they could help absorb the effects of a sleep spell, which at 4-16 could wipe out an entire small party of low level characters.

I see lots of wargamers who play RPGs, but few Eurogamers who do. Likely part of any difference in observation is that I don't regard every non-wargame as a Euro (Catan is *not* a Euro, as many have observed), whereas others do. If you treat every non-wargame as a "Euro", you'll inevitably see...

A large subset of board games is Eurostyle games. These games are almost exactly the opposite of RPGs in many ways. Keep in mind, board (including some card) games are a vastly larger segment of tabletop gaming than RPGs in monetary terms, and Eurostyle games are a large part of that segment. So...

The Tragedy of the Commons often kicks in with digital products (e.g. video games, especially mobile games). Individual publishers drop prices soon after release to make a short-term profit, but collectively the lower prices for digital cause consumers to be less willing to pay full price, or...

A lot of "reviewing" suffers from the same problem that informs much of Internet comment, people know so little about what they're talking about but think they're experts. (Dunning Kruger Syndrome) Browsing/skimming instead of actually reading is another big problem. I suppose it derives from...

(I read a review at ENWorld that reminded me that many reviewers of games don’t entirely know what they’re doing! I reviewed games and related materials for Dragon and White Dwarf a long time ago, but almost never have the time to do so these days. I’ve modified a handout I created over the...

(I read a review at ENWorld that reminded me that many reviewers of games don’t entirely know what they’re doing! I reviewed games and related materials for Dragon and White Dwarf a long time ago, but almost never have the time to do so these days. I’ve modified a handout I created over the...