A thoughtful list. 4 out of the 5 RPGs are unknown to me. But according to the author, they all are designed to drive storytelling. Take 1001 Nights, for instance: The overall trends worth learning from 1001 Nights is that all roleplaying is just making stuff up with your friends, asking questions and adding toContinue reading “Learning RPG design with 5 games”
Category Archives: games
Games without Politics
I used to worry that writing about dragons and wizards and elves is kids stuff. It’s what I love doing, but it seems so disconnected from, well, more IMPORTANT things. And that FEAR stopped me for a long time from following through on my projects. It kept me always searching for jobs that seemed serious. Continue reading “Games without Politics”
A method to structure encounter tables
There are a million random encounter tables on the Internet, each promising something useful, and many of them are. But at the end of the day, they’re still random encounter tables. I found this system at Papers Pencils and I really like it, because it takes the random out of random monster tables, and makesContinue reading “A method to structure encounter tables”
Who still plays PC Casual games?
Ah, remember the days of Flash games? How about those inexpensive games that you got in Target? No? Well, some people do, and some people are still playing them. I love articles like this, because they poke holes in reality bubbles. The reality bubble in this case is the assumption that people exclusively play AAAContinue reading “Who still plays PC Casual games?”
No Minecraft NFTs
Minecraft won’t allow NFTs, because they believe “all players should have access to the same functionality” which do not align “with Minecraft values of creative inclusion and playing together.” More here.
Is Gamedec the cyberpunk Disco Elysium?
Mostly no, but it’s the closest I’ve found so far. That makes it worth the journey. Lately I’ve been on a quest to find games like Disco Elysium. Exactly like Disco Elysium, in fact. Which is impossible. The things I like about Disco Elysium are: No combat Intense character personalization through dialogue A world thatContinue reading “Is Gamedec the cyberpunk Disco Elysium?”
The greatest video games of all time
Ranked in my opinion, they are: Disco Elysium Planescape Torment Final Fantasy VI Rise of the Tomb Raider Half-Life 1 Max Payne 1 Legend of Zelda / Metroid (tie) There has never been a game as good as Disco Elysium. I suppose there will be some day, but if it takes twenty years, it wouldn’tContinue reading “The greatest video games of all time”
Learning probability through Dungeons and Dragons
People say meta-gaming is against the spirit of Dungeons & Dragons, because it is. But that doesn’t mean players can’t use Dungeons & Dragons as an introduction to probability. It is actually possible to improve your odds of survival by calculating probabilities, combined with an analysis of monster types. More here.
How do you describe Dungeons & Dragons?
My go-to used to be “improv with rules,” but more and more, I see the comparisons with theater. So I might add “a way to get your theater fix, with some video game elements.” More at the link.
Basement Whatever 