Last week Theron (These Dice Look Funny) asked the question of what it took to run his own game company. One of the first pieces of advice I offered was that if you weren’t interested in running your own business go freelance. Viz (White Haired Man) chimed in with a response article musing on why he needed a game company instead of releasing his adventures for free, citing Greg Christopher (whom I’ve now just discovered) as an excellent free RPG resource. As a side note, it’s worth pointing out that Christopher is doing some really neat things with RPG Maps. So why do we do this as a business instead of just doing it for the love of the game?

Wrathofzombie noted a while back that America’s history seems to leak into gaming, noting that everything goes except slavery. His post went on to point out three different settings where slavery was illegal but everything else was perfectly normal and just “A-OK.” Murder, theft, and mayhem were the norm, but slavery? That was out of the question, sir. Now, of course I disagree with slavery, I’m American and carry that guilt (more on that in a bit), but I have to wonder why we have such a blind spot when it comes to slavery? Why is everything including taking a human life part of our games but slavery is a hot button issue?

As of late I’ve been spending some time in New Austin, a fictional state in Rockstar’s Red Dead Redemption. Like most Grand Theft Auto styled games game play is a series of mission that break up wondering around, and the mini games. Unlike every other GTA game I’ve played, I actually find the story and [...]

There are three basic types of actions a character would take. There are basic actions that characters plan to take. They plan an attack, or move to heal a teammate. Then there are the emergency actions, taken in reaction to events. Finally, there are the really special, really powerful actions saved for a time when they’re really needed.

I am not an MMO guy. I also believe that tabletop RPGs and videogame RPGs are completely different beasts, but with striking similarities. It is with these two thoughts in mind that I have decided to give World of Warcraft another chance.

Yesterday we explored how what your players see and hear can be modified to raise your sessions to the next level. Today we will explore the senses of taste, smell and touch. Touch This is the hard one. The first way to address touch ties directly in with sight. Recovering all your seating with identical, [...]

If you’ve been reading our blog for any length of time you have detected a certain enviable snobbishness evident in our writing and general discourse. Dazzled by the possibilities you have decided to follow our model and add some class to your game. Great! While we have given general advice you may have some questions [...]

Evaluating an adventure is difficult, since the experience is so intrinsically tied to a single group. Still, if we’re to have universally shared experiences, we need to find a vocabulary and methodology for discussion the merits and faults of an adventure. The conversation, started in the comments yesterday, continues with this post.