Skip to main content

Back to Work

I haven't posted anything in a while!

It's been a busy time. Day job work has been more intense and I've done less direct game design and more game running. I've also had the very pleasant opportunity to play Dungeons & Dragons on a schedule that works for me via play-by-post!

So all in all, while there's been a change here, things are continuing like normal.

But I wasn't posting here, and sharing my game ideas has always been an outlet for me, even if no one reads or comments on them. I like to keep myself accountable for designing and adding to the conversation on games.

I've read a lot of fantastic blogs lately including work by Rob Donaghue of Fate and a developer on Pathfinder who also is making an RPG called Delve.
I've been reading about representation, diversity and how to keep your gaming group strong and feeling like their ideas are included in the game.
I've been playing more, and trying to give the lead away to the players more.

Playing a game of Lego Dungeon with the kids!

I've also been working on a game system design with 2 keystones:
  1. Being able to run the game in a GM-less/automatic fashion without additional systems in place. The key mechanics are exposed and obvious to players so they can advance the game accordingly. I always love co-op board games and would love a game where I could write the scenario then play fairly while sharing the story.
  2. Failure that results in the game moving forward. I don't want endless numbers of similar checks and I don't want the failure to be an end state; I want it to move the game forward and be part of play. So the game revolves around states like scenes that change 
I'm going to keep working on it but I'm also getting to the point where the design is less fun, so not too hard.

Final note: I'm going to spend more time with the Cypher System.  I love it, it's fun, it's easy to use and makes me happy. I have done some work with it and love the community behind it.

My next project is going to be something modern-day mythic but I haven't fleshed it out; I just know what I want.

If you read this, thanks for taking the time!

Labels

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Dragon's Pool

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
Post a Comment
Read more

Describing difficulty to players

Describing difficulty to players Some RPG games have player mechanisms that affect success. In D&D there's Inspiration, Advantage and a number of race/class abilities that can affect rolls. In Numenera and all the other MCG games you can spend from your Ability Pools to affect success. In Star Trek Adventures you can spend Momentum, use Talents, use Foci, etc. Some games like Apocalypse World tell the players exactly what they need to succeed: 7-9, 10+, etc. But for these other games you need to know what your target for success is to play the game in the best way possible- which to me, means have fun, feel like you have knowledge and agency in game). Explaining the rules to players is a part of the job for anyone inviting others to play a game. You can tell them to read the book, recommend they check out an article, or do anything beforehand, but at the time the game is taking place, if you want to run the game, you have to help players engage with the rules, includin...
Post a Comment
Read more

Stories Never Told - Learn to Play

Stories Never Told is a role-playing game project in development! The quickest version is the new Google Form-based example that works like a Choose-Your-Own Adventure! https://goo.gl/forms/jVV3hC2FbiUxRrxi1 If you would like to see how the system works, please click the link below to view it in Google Docs. This is a longer example that shows all of the options. Stories Never Told - Learn to Play in Google Docs Did you take a look? Thank you! It would be great to get your feedback. If you're interested, fill out the following Google Form SNT Learn to Play Feedback Form The goal of Stories Never Told is to keep role-playing focused on the stories of the characters being played. Stories Never Told Role-Playing Game by Hans Chun is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License .
Post a Comment
Read more