Role-playing games are unique for their capacity to evoke a wide range of emotions, profoundly influencing players' decisions. This emotional aspect makes role-playing games memorable and engaging. The most successful game designers focus heavily on triggering these emotional responses.
Category: design theory
Game State, Story, and The Truth
Games answer questions. Stories answer questions. Games and stories answer questions in different ways. The game state taught me how they are different.
What is the Game State?
Putting my focus on the current "Game State" refined the way I think about and run role-playing games.
Subtleties of “Rulings, not Rules”
Most of the time, old school referees use the rules and not all the rules are written.
Make Good Rulings
In this essay, I'm going to clear up why good rulings are not arbitrary and offer you some suggestions about how to make a good ruling.
When Did “Old School” Dungeons & Dragons Become “New School” Dungeons & Dragons?
What is the point in time and design ethos when "new" D&D becomes fundamentally different from "old" D&D?
Grumpy Wizard’s Swords & Wizardry House Rules: Silver Standard
One of my favorite house rules is the Silver Standard. The concept is simple; silver pieces become the primary unit of exchange and treasure in lieu of the gold piece. There are a few other modifications required to make it work. Making a few extra tweaks to the system had some interesting and desirable effects …
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Grumpy Wizard 
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