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This is a continuation of a discussion from last time. Remember, strategy is what you do long before a battle takes place, and tactics is what you do in and during a battle. But I'm not going to differentiate between those two as we talk about the various gameplay tips because it's not necessary...

Want to survive in the very hostile world of tabletop role-playing games? These tips drawn from military strategy can help. Picture courtesy of Pixabay. These Tips Are Not for Everyone If your game is about storytelling, it’s possible these tips won’t apply. Furthermore, many RPG sessions are...

What are we looking for when playtesting a (tabletop) game we have designed? That is, what tells us it might be worth pursuing further? I am going to generalize here to most tabletop games, since RPGs are a category of tabletop. Picture courtesy of Pixabay. Interesting Game Decisions I was...

Internal self-consistency, creating stories that fit together and make sense, is critical if you want your players to be immersed in your game. Picture courtesy of Pixabay. Please Note: This article contains spoilers for John Carter. “A Miracle Occurs” Today my topic is internal...

Do overs are common in video games. But can they work in role-playing games? Do Overs in TV & Film I recently watched a featurette on the excellent TV show “Elementary” (Sherlock Holmes in modern day, Dr. Watson a woman). They mentioned that inexperienced directors sometimes shoot too many...

I recently saw a musical analogy for my board game Britannia that made me think about a related analogy to explain opposed games versus puzzles, and further, RPGs. Let’s have a go. Picture courtesy of Pixabay. A “Competitive Jazz Quartet” On Boardgamegeek.com Nicholas Bamber said: I thought...

In the first article we discussed the definition of a barbarian. In the second, we discuss ways that barbarians might factor into a setting or campaign. Picture courtesy of Pixabay. Barbarian Attitudes To continue our discussion of barbarians, we can ask about attitudes of our three types of...

Let me remind readers that I do not equate the class Barbarian with barbarians in general. Many RPGs do not have Barbarian class characters, of course. So saying there's conflation between the class and the general consideration of barbarians is making a false assumption. And I remind Tonguez...

It's a rare fictional universe that doesn't have barbarian lands; even in science fiction. But who decides who is a barbarian? Picture courtesy of Pixabay. What’s a Barbarian, Anyway? It's a rare fantasy world that doesn't have barbarian lands, and even in science fiction we have barbarians in...

Hard magic systems have clear rules about how they work; they are predictable. Soft magic has no clear “system” and tends to lack any kind of connection between one spell and another—more or less random, certainly chaotic. Picture courtesy of Pixabay. Types of Magic I only learned a few years...

My title for this was "Monumental Walls", so I wasn't addressing all walls such as city walls, castles, and so forth. But I will at some point. Thanks for the interesting comments.

While the typical monumental defensive wall is much less impressive than the Great Wall we see in photographs, they did serve a purpose, and many were built. How might they fit into a fantasy world? Picture courtesy of Pixabay. The Great Wall You may have seen the movie “Great Wall” (Matt...

Use of stratagems goes back at least as far as Odysseus and the Trojan Horse. Fans of Glen Cook's "Black Company" series about a fantasy mercenary company will recognize their preference for stratagems over a straight-up battle. Picture courtesy of Pixabay. Direct vs. Indirect Warfare In...

Making a Tolkien-like history for a game can be self-indulgent if you let it get in the way of the game. Making it for written stories is something else entirely. Picture courtesy of Pixabay. Stories require some kind of setting. J. R. R. Tolkien made his history and setting as a place for...

I’ve always thought that combat-oriented Dungeons & Dragons-style tabletop role-playing games become less fun to play as characters reach double-figure levels of power. Here’s why, and how to fix it. Picture courtesy of Pixabay. The “Who Shoots First” Problem A major reason is the “who...

Fantasy role-playing games, like the Star Trek television series, can sometimes suffer from a lack of differentiation between humanoid species with only slight tweaks to their appearance. Picture courtesy of Pixabay. From Go to Risk Fantasy role-playing games can suffer from a plague of the...

We've been talking about active versus passive players. But how do you tell which style works for your group? Picture courtesy of Pixabay. Consider Computer RPGs There are lots of activities in video games, certainly, and often there's lots of opposition. Though frequently it's not human...

Given that RPGs are, in essence, negotiations between players and GM, I don't see someone who relies primarily on the mechanics as active, because that gives him or her less control than if other activities were involved.

Ovinomancer, while I see your point, you're not talking about what I was trying to describe. Engaged vs unengaged is what you're talking about, or perhaps about desire to participate? I'm talking about a desire to control what happens aalong with a desire to energetically participate.

Some games need active players, others passive. There are many implications for game design. Picture courtesy of Pixabay. Active and Passive Play Styles You can in general divide game players into two types (with many somewhere in between, of course), Active and Passive. Definitions from a...