Seek and ye may find
It’s happened to all of us – we receive some paperwork that is important, do whatever we have to do with it, and then put it away for the next time we need it. And then, when the time comes, can’t...
View ArticleTaking The Initiative and changing it
I was thinking about the perception of time and how that doesn’t match up with the mechanism of time-keeping in the standard initiative systems in games. I mean, it’s certainly possible to design...
View ArticleFade Into The Background
A Status Update It can be readily observed that this is not part 3 of the ongoing series on Economics in RPGs that I’ve been publishing for the last couple of weeks. Right up until the last moment, I...
View ArticleEconomics In RPGs 6c: Pre-Digital Tech Age Ch 3
I’ve clearly decided to push on and get this trilogy of posts out of the way before interrupting the series for another break. As usual, because this is a direct continuation of what’s already been...
View ArticleInherent, Relative, and Personal Modifiers
For the first time since I started it, when I went to draft the penultimate(?) parts of the Economics in RPGs series today, I found myself unsure of how best to structure the post. While I have total...
View ArticleThree Strange Places Pt 1: Cemetery Gates
This was originally going to be one monster post containing three locations that I have devised recently for different campaigns. I quickly realized that this was too ambitious, so this will be a...
View ArticleAn Application of INT
What is INT, and (in practical terms), what can it be used for? I was strolling down the street the other day and noticed a logo consisting of a name and a number of dots, and for some reason, it...
View ArticleTime And The Everyday Adventurer
There is no standardized, consistent, approach to how long it should take to do things in an RPG. It’s time that changed. A strongly-related question is how long is a skill roll good for, before a new...
View ArticleTrade In Fantasy Ch. 2: Trade Units Pt 2
Repeated from last time: The concept of an abstracted “Trade Unit” lies at the heart of making Trade a playable event on a recurring and large scale. Without it, you bog down in minutia; with it in...
View ArticleA Roll Of Six Modifiers
There are six types of skill roll modifier that I take into account when assessing any attempt by a character – PC or NPC – to carry out some task. Past articles have focused on just a few of them;...
View ArticleTrade In Fantasy Ch. 3: Routine Personnel Pt 1
The first of at least three posts looking at everyday personnel in Trade. This covers everything from wagon drivers to guards to dock-hands and farmhands. Anybody who can be considered a faceless cog...
View ArticleTrade In Fantasy Ch. 3: Routine Personnel Pt 2
The 2nd of likely four posts looking at everyday personnel in Trade. In this part, Beasts of Burden, Provisions, Carts, and Wagons. For anyone wondering at the cause of the delay, just look at the...
View ArticleTrade In Fantasy Ch. 4: Modes Of Transport, Pt 1
The 4th chapter of the Trade In Fantasy series looks at Modes Of Transport and trade route planning (9th post in the series). Table Of Contents: In today’s post: Chapter 4: Modes Of Transport 4.0 A...
View ArticleTrade In Fantasy Ch. 4: Modes Of Transport, Pt 2
Rivers provide a natural alternative to roads and overland travel, if the river happens to go where you want it to. That’s more likely than it might initially seem, because rivers provide natural...
View Article‘No One Can Foil My Evil Plan’
“I attack him while he’s distracted.” That’s not an appropriate response to an antagonist Monologing, but it happened once. There came a time when a new player, unfamiliar with the genre, joined the...
View ArticleA Recipe For (Small) Disasters: Cooking in RPGs
So your character has a cooking skill. What dishes can he prepare? What will be inedible? What does that mean? Adaptable all systems. We’ve all grown up with the concept of a recipe being utterly...
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