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How much detail do you need to know to run a particular setting in FRPG? Some settings have about the detail level of comic books, some are more detailed such as Edgar Rice Burroughs' Barsoom novels or Lord of the Rings (LOTR), some have settings as detailed as the Game of Thrones show. Can you...

Commercial RPGs have existed for some 45 years. Where RPG ideas are concerned, there's not much new under the sun. Then why do people keep writing new RPGs? It's a LOT of work, even if you don't do it well. I think of composer Sir William Walton's remark after writing his only opera: "don't...

I've seen people suggest you look for student artists on large college campuses. They're not quite professionals yet, and need the credits. (But please, don't try to persuade them to do it for free "for the exposure".) I understand that actually getting freelance artists to deliver what they've...

An interesting calculation: according to what I've read, pulp writers (who wrote in VOLUME) in the thirties made 1 to 2 cents a word. But with inflation of 2453.3% since 1935, 1.5 cents a word becomes 25.5 cents. (Inflation Calculator). Yet several years ago, freelancers I talked with said 5...

You may benefit, as a GM, from understanding where your players stand in the spectrum from Romantic to Classical game player. The terms derive from music and philosophy. I discussed one point of view about game playing styles in an earlier column ("Different look at playing styles"). This one is...

It is virtually impossible to protect game ideas, but virtually no idea is new. On rare occasions someone deliberately copies someone else’s game, but game designers cannot worry about this: they have to talk to publishers, funding sources, and other people about their games. Photo courtesy...

Now that we've established the four stages of magic, here are some questions to ask yourself as you design your campaign world. You can read parts 1 here and 2 here. Art, Craft, or Science? First, is magic an art, a craft, or a science? If an art, there may be few practitioners, but some few...

The idea that there are natural stages that derive from use of magic is not new. Laying out the stages can help a lot when you’re creating a fantasy setting. Part 2. You can read Part 1 here. Sourced from Pixabay. Senility The fourth stage, Senility or Decadence, is depicted in Larry...

The idea that there are natural stages that derive from use of magic is not new. Figuring out the stages can help a lot when you’re creating a fantasy setting. Sourced from Pixabay. “Generally it appears the case that, when faced with all life's problems, the baby, he wants to cry about...

I was watching a game played with a dice pool, and could see that the GM was waiting for the dice roll and then deciding by what felt right, rather than having any kind of precise resolution. How precise are the RPG rules themselves, and what are the consequences of imprecision? Sourced from...

Worlds of Design: “Old School” in RPGs and other Games – Part 2 Rules, Pacing, and Non-RPGs For me, the difference between Old School and anything else is not in the rules, but in attitude, as described last time. Yet the rules, and the pacing, can make a big difference; parts 2 and 3...

For me, the difference between Old School and anything else is not in the rules, but in attitude. Is failure, even losing, possible, or is it not? Is it a game, or is it a storytelling session? Notice it’s “storytelling”, not storymaking. Every RPG involves a story, the question is, who...

If you’ve GMed a long-standing campaign where players reached fairly high levels, you may have run into problems of too much magic, or of too many low-powered magic items (such as +1 items) in the hands of the heroes. What to do? Photo by Charisse Kenion on Unsplash While you could simply...

When I first saw D&D, I was in my Diplomacy playing phase. That’s a game with no dice, no chance mechanisms at all, but with lots of uncertainty owing to 7 players and simultaneous movement (which can involve guessing enemy intentions). I said, “I hate dice games” and that was it. But not long...

I often compare fiction writing and publishing with game designing and publishing. They’re similar creative efforts in many ways, especially in tabletop and in the lower ends of video games where you can have one person creating the game. Photo sourced from Pixabay To compare with my own...

I hope I showed in my last piece that "science vs magic" is not a sufficient way to differentiate fantasy from science fiction. What about other ways? Sourced from Pixabay What about the size (and speed) of typical vehicles as a separator? Science fiction often has vast spaceships that you...

This is a broader question than just RPGs but the same arguments apply. It’s important for RPG designers, for consistency and to avoid immersion-breaking, but it’s probably not important to players. Sourced from Pixabay. After making some notes to try to answer this question for myself, I...

What makes an RPG a tabletop hobby RPG? An RPG, as we talk about them in the hobby, is a human‑opposed co‑operative game. I describe some characteristics. Picture sourced from Pixabay. I must be crazy to try to define/characterize a segment as large and diverse as this one in a few words...

Part 2. Continuing to describe the “All About Me” style, and asking why it’s popular. It has to do with player (not character) backgrounds, certainly. Is it generational in some way? Photo by Hello I'm Nik on Unsplash Last time I talked about the “All About Me” RPG style, and...

I’ve played and GMed FRPGs since 1975, yet I’m sure I’ll never see all the different styles of play that are possible. I describe an immersion-breaking but popular style, “All About Me”, that differs greatly from the cooperative semi-military style. Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash I’ve...