I'm flailing around with trying to understand what the word "system" means in a role-playing game and the implications of it for game design. Also, I've been flailing around for something to write about this week and here is what my demons decided. This is a bunch of incomplete thoughts that I'm trying to give …
Category: musings
How Storytelling Skills Apply to Game Mastering
What can game masters learn from storytelling professionals?
I’m Looking For My People, Not More People.
Is more the same thing as better? I don't think so.
Classic Fantasy Adventure Games are Infinite
There are at least two kinds of games. One could be called finite, the other infinite. A finite game is played for the purpose of winning, an infinite game is for the purpose of continuing the play. If the rules of a finite game are unique to that game, it is evident that rules may …
Continue reading Classic Fantasy Adventure Games are Infinite
Let Us Talk About Assholes In the OSR.
Are there assholes in the OSR? Of course. Anywhere you go there will be at least one asshole. That's life. Assholes draw attention to themselves. They do that because they want to control things. They think they have all the answers. Often they are smart, knowledgeable, even competent. That makes them even more insidious. They …
What Makes an OSR Game an OSR game?
What make an OSR game an OSR game? I have a simple heuristic and thoughts about the broader definition.
Some Writing Advice is Crap
I have a shelf full of books about writing and storytelling. Some of them are written by famous writers. Some are written by people you have never heard and teach the craft of fiction at well regarded university writing programs. They all have something useful in them. They all have varying degrees of bullshit. Here …
Grumpy Wizard 