Troupe-Style Play

Here’s how we’re laying out troupe-style play in the Edgar Allan Poe’s The Raven’s Ars Magica playtest document. Part I: Troupe-Style Play If you haven’t played role-playing games troupe-style before, this should be a pretty good place to start. Let me lay it out for you. Main characters & Supporting Cast: You can think of your wizard as […]

Powered by the Apocalypse, part 11: Dice

Using Apocalypse World to Outline and Draft Your Own RPG Here in Part 11, I explore a few of the dice systems we’ve used in our games. This article was made possible by the generous support of our patrons. Please consider joining them by supporting us on Patreon. Dice: an Accident of the System Back in Part 1, […]

A PbtA Thought Experiment

This article was made possible by the generous support of my patrons. Please consider joining them by supporting me on Patreon. Prelim 1. Otherkind Dice & Assigning “Say” You may recall that a dice system called Otherkind Dice was the mechanical precursor to Apocalypse World’s moves. I’ve written a whole piece about Otherkind Dice, laying them out in […]

Powered by the Apocalypse, part 10: 3 Underlying Models

Using Apocalypse World to Outline and Draft Your Own RPG Here in Part 10, I develop the idea of underlying models further, with 2 solid examples and 1 tentative one. This article was made possible by the generous support of my patrons. Please consider joining them by supporting me on Patreon. Model #1: Apocalypse World’s Conflict Model Apocalypse […]

Powered by the Apocalypse, Part 9: That’s What’s Happening

Using Apocalypse World to Outline and Draft Your Own RPG Here in Part 9, I lay some groundwork for the idea of underlying models by pointing out a crucial feature of Apocalypse World. This article was made possible by the generous support of my patrons. Please consider joining them by supporting me on Patreon. Normal RPGs A normal […]

Ritual In Game Design

This article was made possible by the generous support of our patrons. Please consider joining them by supporting us on Patreon. Background: I have been creating ritual spaces and experiences for groups from two to 20+ for about 35 years. I was for a dozen years a professional facilitator and ritual designer for a local non-profit specifically designed […]

A Theory Point: RPG Essentialism & RPG Exceptionalism

This article was made possible by the generous support of my patrons. Please consider joining them by supporting me on Patreon. There are, I think, two twin ideas that underpin a lot of rpg theory, to its detriment. Let’s call them rpg essentialism and rpg exceptionalism. RPG essentialism is the idea that deep down, all rpgs are the […]