Fictions & Fragments

First, I love this title, which sounds like some kind of prequel novel! Getting ready for Big Bad Con is reminding me that I have lots of outlets for sharing my creativity with people. I meant to go to Big Bad Con last year. I didn't get things together, which may have been some kind of anxiety or executive dysfunction. It's been a long time since I gamed with people I've never met in public and I'm honestly nervous about how I'm going to come across and what I'm going to do. https://www.bigbadcon.com/ But I need Big Bad Con too. Some of the reasons: To meet people I've come to appreciate online in person. To make new connections and be inspired. To challenge myself, because the more people you tell you will do something, the better chance you actually do it. I find myself interested in developing new games, streaming new shows and making more creative collaborative projects. This is going to be a great opportunity. Here's my scheduled ev...

When you're playing a game, there are times you don't want to roll. Playing any version of an RPG, such as Dungeons & Dragons, there are things that you need to accomplish and things you want to accomplish. The things you need to accomplish are the things that make sure everyone has fun and feels supported. When I say 'fun' I don't mean that their characters win. I mean that they are able to be in a social situation with friends that makes them feel comfortable and like they'd want to return. When I say 'feels supported' I mean that they should be able to express how they feel about the game and the way they are able to interact with the other players. When I play a game, I do it to share an experience with others. If they're not my friends at the start of the game (probably because this is the first time we've played together), I treat them like I want to be their friends by the end. I've made some mistakes doing this. They...

Here's a pitch for a new game setting for D&D I'm working on. First, I recommend you read Shadow of the Fox by Julie Kagawa. I'm enjoying it a lot; it's a fantasy Japan with a lot of great characters and fun over-the-top fantasy. The Dragon's Pool is an Asian-inspired setting that focuses on the mystical and magical. Long-term goals are to zoom out and see the lands of China, Korea, Mongolia and southeast Asia (Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia). Short-term, Dragon's Pool will focus on a mythic Japan and the sea that surrounds it. Some of the homebrew topics I'm dealing with are the yokai (monster) races of Kitsune and Tanuki and a lot of mapping D&D Classes and Archetypes to Asian tropes. You can follow along for more and also check out the World Anvil page at https://www.worldanvil.com/w/dragons-pool-hans

I'm taking the long way around to another Cypher System hack. There is a lot to love about the Cypher System; in this case I want to emphasize the ease of creating NPCs and other entities by level. The Cypher System uses levels to abstract everything outside of player characters. They're generally rated 1-10 with 10 being the best. When you compare 2 things and they have different levels, the one with the higher level wins. You can make quick decisions based on that system or do things in a more granular fashion using these same rules. So here are some things I want to lay out in Cypher System for a monster battling setting. 1. Easy monster creation and ways to classify weakness/strength based on type. This would be something like: Splash (Level 3 Water Mon) Water Type is Strong against Earth types and Weak against Wood types. 2. Character Types based upon Monster Battling. Revising the default types of Cypher (Warrior, Adept, Explorer, Speaker) to be based around...

I was lucky to get a new 3d printer for Xmas! It's a Creatlity Ender 3. Creality Ender 3 I had asked for this when I saw the Ender 3 was on sale on Black Friday. I wasn't planning on putting it together on Xmas (3 meals to cook and Legos to build), but my wife encouraged me and I'm glad she did. It took 1 hour and 45 minutes to put together. That included looking at an assembly video by Fat Dragon Games on YouTube https://youtu.be/me8Qrwh907Q and doing basic calibration. My previous printer took 2 nights (6 hours?) to assemble the first time, half that time the second. The Ender 3 comes with lots of pre-assembled parts and it very solid. Easy to put together, probably even for a first timer, though the video is very helpful. The quality has been great. The features on the printer are great. Looking forward to doing more with this new printer. I'm especially excited by the number of hobbyist 3d mini and terrain printers that use the Ender 3 and share their pro...

Stakes Save the world or survive the night A game for 2 or more players, 1 acting as Guide. The other players are Survivors, describing how they work to survive. The Guide describes the Results of their choices. The formatting on this as a webpage is terrible, so if you prefer to read on Google Docs, you can do so here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1AS8-2qrUUMdXoxqfs97hcCVRXILqreOnFV5beY3ozWM/edit?usp=sharing Playing a Survivor When you play a Survivor, you are stuck in the woods far from civilization. You have a simple goal: survive. There are eldritch horrors at your heels and not enough time to finish all that must be done. To win the game, you need to Get Out. What you have You have 2 hands so you roll 2 dice (normal six-sided dice). Roll them at the same time. If you get a odd number, you get a mysterious occult item. If you get an even number, you get a practical powerful item. If your dice match, you get to have one more item than usual. Roll again ...