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To be fair, I wasn't looking forward to reading Valley but it was better than I expected.

This issue, Ian Livingstone talks about how gamers can get in touch. With no internet yet, one of the biggest questions in this age of the hobby was “how do I find a group?” I remember local games stores often putting up lists of groups looking for new players. But White Dwarf is helping a lot...

The page count of the magazine increases issue to 32 pages, but the price remains the same (still 60p!). Editor Ian Livingstone makes mention of what I think might be the first form of gaming piracy, that of photocopying bits of the magazine or wargames rules. It might seem laborious now but...

This issue contains a ‘pull out and play’ game ‘Bar Room Brawl’ and a promise to include more adventures and similar scenarios in the future. Editor Ian Livingstone also calls for readers to share their opinions on the magazine and tell them what their most popular character classes are in D&D...

This issue has a convention theme with Ian Livingstone justifiably proud that Games Day is second only to Origins in terms of attendance (breaking the 2000 attendees mark…). It also celebrates the release of the new Player’s Handbook for D&D (the statue one not the wizard one). On the Cover A...

A slightly sparser issue this month, and a pause in the letters page. Editor Ian Livingstone addresses the arguments about how games ‘should be played’ by sensibly saying ‘whatever works for you’. It seems the ‘I’m the authority’ and ‘true fan’ stereotypes are not as new as we might have...

This month, editor Ian Livingstone notes that Origins had just finished with a record breaking 4,000 attendees. Surly Gen Con the next month will do something similar. Well, those records have been somewhat shattered. Amazing to see how the hobby has grown. The magazine also announced the first...

It’s time to gear up the nostalgia again and return to our irregular reviews of the granddaddy of British gaming, White Dwarf. This issue marks the first full colour cover for the magazine, and a shift to a more glossy magazine style. The fanzine style of the first issues is gone as the magazine...

Meet the Electric State This new Core Rulebook from Free League is another game based on the art of Simon Stålenhag, following on from “Tales from the Loop” and “Things from the Flood”. While they are at least tangentially set in the same world and use the same system, they are very different...

This irregular column looks at aspects of design and system that a particular game does especially well. In this case I’m looking at Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition. Developing Background First off, kudos for the designers for not retconning the game background in the new edition. They took...

If only I had that sort of power (I would probably use it far more irresponsibly) :)

Picture courtesy of Pixabay. Here's four more tips and ideas for your consideration when designing a game. Consider your skills list carefully It’s often very tempting to create a long skill list, pleased you have covered everything. But it can work against you. The more specific and numerous...

Picking up where we left off, here's four more tips for designing your game. Picture courtesy of Pixabay. Don’t sweat the maths A lot of game designers love to work out the various probabilities of any dice roll in vast tables to prove the efficacy of the system. I’d venture to suggest it’s...

Very much agree, although I’d be adding an adventure after making the game. But you are Absolutly right that many games go unplayed because they don’t give you a good place to help you get started.

lol! Fair. However I’d argue the strength of GURPS is that it puts the rules in one place and setting in another, but doesn’t tell you that you only need one of them (although I’ve used plenty of their setting books for other things).

There is no single way to design a game. The wonderful thing about this industry is that it is full of people trying out new ideas. But that lack of borders and a distinct path can be daunting. So here are a few of the ways I approach game design, but not in terms of numbers and system so much...

Stocking fillers and gifts for gamers have never been easier to find, with a vast array of cool accessories and game related items all over the place, especially at conventions. At Dragonmeet recently there was an array of dice earings, potion bath wash, artisan wooden dice towers, dungeon theme...

We're picking up where we left off with player types converted to game master types. Here's the rest of the list. Optimiser This type of GM loves the rules and to a certain degree may be playing to win. This doesn’t mean they are trying to beat the players, but they will use every rule and...

Every Gamemaster has their own style and usually prefers a particular type of game. While I could collect a whole new set of Gamemaster types, instead I’m going to use the player types from the DM’s Guide. For me, most GM styles are really about what style they want to encourage in their...

We know GMs fudge dice rolls sometimes, but what happens when players do it? Picture courtesy of Unsplash. In my opinion, it’s not okay for a player to cheat. It effectively gives a player’s character more advantages than any of the others and probably more spotlight as they just do better...