Mechanics in a game serve as more than simply the way to vary the experience. In fact, the best games serve mechanics alongside the narrative to express the themes it wishes to explore. While this has been explored at length...
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The greatest challenge any writer can face is to continue writing when they no longer have passion for the subject matter. Writing when you feel passionately is easy. It flows like water out of your fingertips, and your thoughts crystallize...
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Note: An older version of this article was originally posted on Dungeon’s Master. Is Betrayal Inevitable? There is a spoken contract at my gaming table which dates all the way back to when I first started Game Mastering. Characters brought...
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Does Dungeons and Dragons still matter? This is not a question many people in the gaming hobby would consider asking, but the hobby has never seen this level of exposure before. Every week there are new Kickstarters going up with...
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Lit only by the three candles you carry, the shadows in the hallway draw long. Outside your tiny circle of light, there is movement. You cannot tell if it’s the wind playing with a curtain, your candles’ flame playing with...
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Part Five: Unrealized Possibilities Up until this point, my various segments on science fiction RPGs have examined what separates them from fantasy games, what games that met little to no success, the challenges that a sci-fi roleplaying game must overcome...
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Part Four: The Sci-fi Paragon Throughout this series (see parts One, Two, and Three), you’ve heard me reference the game of Eclipse Phase a few times. This is not by accident. I have previously discussed at length the difficulties faced by...
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Part Three: Science Fiction Fundamentals In the previous two installments of this discourse (found here and here), I discussed roleplaying game settings which are not actually science fiction, and science fiction games that have been less than successful for a...
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Part Two: Science Fiction Failures In my previous article, I examined several roleplaying games which utilize varying degrees of fantasy elements while still being considered science fiction. Each game discussed was at least marginally successful, though none held the market...
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My first introduction to tabletop roleplaying games was from a friend at the age of eleven. His older brother played Dungeons & Dragons and Shadowrun, and had introduced him to the hobby. I was already familiar with the Dragonlance novels...
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