One approach to publishing RPG products is write a text that will entertain the game master reading the rule book or adventure. There is some sense in that. The designer needs to create an emotional response from the game master reading the work. Without the game master getting excited to use the material, it will …
Category: game business
Creative Cowardice
Eric Weinstein does math for a living. He's very good at it. He started a podcast recently and has had three fascinating conversations. I recommend it heartily. In this particular episode, he speaks with Werner Herzog. Werner, if you've never heard of him, makes films. He makes insanely good films. His Nosferatu the Vampyre is one …
Thoughts on Crowdfunding RPG products
Crowdfunding, primarily through Kickstarter and Patreon have replaced bootstrapping in the table top RPG scene. Creators are going directly to their fans to get money to get a project made. Anyone paying attention knows this and probably has their own thoughts about how this has come about. I want to share a few of the …
How The Internet Works
A click bait title. I know. Here's my thesis. If you get this next bit then you can skip the rest of the post. The internet does an amazing job of making a small group of people seem far more influential and important than they really are off the internet. The enthusiast is a very …
Commodity Games?
I follow Dr. Lew Pulisfer's YouTube channel. He's been designing games for a long time. He was published multiple times in Dragon magazine in the 80's. He has designed several board games that have been published and seen several re-printings and editions. He's taught game design at a college level and wrote a book about game …
A Brief 4E Retrospective
I took a break from the RPG hobby in my late 20's and early 30's. About 10 years. When I got back into it, 4E was new and shiny. I looked at it and just wasn't interested. Six page character sheets, daily powers, "character builds" that took an hour to do with help from software, …
TSR Showed the Way on Transmedia
Transmedia is a term coined by pop culture academic Henry Jenkins and used throughout the entertainment business. Here is his definition. Transmedia storytelling represents a process where integral elements of a fiction get dispersed systematically across multiple delivery channels for the purpose of creating a unified and coordinated entertainment experience. Ideally, each medium makes its …
Grumpy Wizard 
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