Monthly Archives: April 2012

Livestream Chat on Friday — Join Us!

Livestream Chat on Friday — Join Us!

 

This Friday at 9 PM we will have a Hangout with Tracy Hurley to talk about gaming and her project Prismatic Art. We’ll be streaming live on Twitch TV, and we’ll post up to Youtube later.

Our topics include:

  • Focus on Fallout: Creating interesting outcomes in RPGs
  • What does inclusivity mean in games, anyway? 
  • Doing something about it –Prismatic Art project.
Of course, we’ll be taking your questions in the chat and interacting with you!  Please join us in the live chat this Friday!

Good, Fast and Cheap: Temptation’s Gate

Good, Fast and Cheap: Temptation’s Gate

As I approach putting out my first public game to the world – even in the free, alpha form it currently stands in – I’d like to take a moment to explain its origins a little. This will be the first of two posts do so.

A couple months back, I was discussing D&D niche protection with my close friend Casey (@thedanddaddy). I am a huge fan of “wizard supremacy;” he is not. The conversation had turned to rogues and the Knock spell. How do you balance a rogue who can pick locks with a wizard who can just cast a spell to open them without removing either’s abilities? My point was “Look, it comes down to cost. The rogue can do this pretty well all day, every day with no resource consumption. The wizard can do it perfectly a limited number of times and with some cost for spell components. You can have it good, fast or cheap – pick two.”

That’s where it hit me.  “You can have it good, fast or cheap – pick two.” That’s a game mechanic right there. Heck, it’s not just a mechanic. That’s a whole fricking game! This is the game I had to publish somehow. I knew pretty much what it looked like and how to play it. All I had to do was write it down.

Folks, we’re here to “crash cars” – a phrase I blatantly stole from Quinn to describe the style of play I’m aiming for with this game.

Maybe it’s a figure of speech, maybe it’s for real (and by ‘real’ I of course mean ‘imaginary’), but really deep down, that’s what this whole “Good, Fast, Cheap” thing is about – setting events in motion and watching what happens when they collide. As a wise and more than slightly demented man once said, “Some (people) just want to watch the world burn.”

That’s not all though. Don’t get me wrong, crashing cars is fun but there’s another level. See, you’re going to get whatever you want. You ever stop and think about that? What is it you really want? Are you sure? Alright, we’re going to give it to you, but it’s going to cost you. It’s going to cost you more than you expect, maybe more than you’re ready for. Do you still want to be the crime boss? How about the Archmage? Even the very right hand of God him/her/itself? It’s there. You can have it. You just have to pay for it.

Now while you think about that, let me explain a couple more things to you. First, this isn’t a pass-the-stick kind of story game. There’s nothing wrong with that style of game but it’s not what we’re doing here. Everyone at the table, including the GM, is beholden to the dice to some extent because the dice tell you how much it’s going to cost. This means no one’s ever exactly going to know what happens next ahead of time – not even the GM. Everyone gets to be surprised. Don’t worry though – you have a hand in it as well. “Good, Fast, Cheap” is all about making decisions that matter. Second, don’t expect to be the invincible epic hero because you won’t. It can always go wrong, no matter how powerful you are.

In this first scenario, players take on the role of up to four wizard grad students who have broken one of the most important laws of magic and are on the run from the authorities. Since drastic times call for drastic measures, they decide to summon an otherworldly creature and request its assistance. The creature will help, but what can the PCs offer in return??

“Good, Fast, Cheap” is influenced by other games including but not limited to Dogs in the Vineyard, Apocalypse World, FATE (particularly the Dresden Files), Cortex+ (particularly MARVEL) and TechNoir. If you like those games, see if you like this one.

Everyone has a price.

Everyone.

Let’s see if we can’t find yours.

Temptation’s Gate Rules and Scenario

Full Temptation’s Gate Playtest Packet

Death by a Thousand Posts

Death by a Thousand Posts

Here is a roleplaying game that you can play in a short period of time. In this fictional world you take the role of someone who is trying to win an argument on an internet forum of some sort. To play, you’ll need some four-sided, six-sided, and eight-sided dice, some sort of tokens, and some index cards. Like most games you’ll find on the blog, it’s something to playtest and try out.  If you try it out or have questions, contact us.

Goals

Depends on the players! Decide if your character wants to derail the thread, or make a good , long thread. If conflicted, split the group into posters and trolls, and go at it.

d4s are Fact dice. Use these to drive your point home, and to make truly convincing arguments. Facts are vulnerable to debating tricks and flaming, but when you get enough of them together, it becomes difficult to argue against you.
d6s are Debate dice. Debate dice allow you to control the structure of an argument. Debate dice aren’t as solid as fact dice, but they can allow you to muscle over basic facts, and sometimes redirect rage dice.
d8s are Rage dice. You can’t win an argument with Rage dice, but you can make everyone regret they were in an argument with you.

Making characters

Making a character is simple. Each player takes an index card and folds it in half. Write your character’s name on one side, and your online handle on the other side. put the card in front of you so that your online handle faces the other players.

Each player gets 1 each of Fact, Debate, and Rage dice (a d4, a d6 and a d8). In addition, each character can pick two dice of any type. This could be two extra fact, or two debate, or 1 debate and 1 rage. Once you pick your dice, place them behind your handle.

Last, give each player some index cards and a writing utensil of some sort.

Starting the Game

To start a game, someone has to start a thread. First see who has a thread idea. If only one person has a thread idea, just let her create the thread. If more than one person has an idea, have each player roll a debate die. the highest roll makes the thread and the first post.

Making posts

When you make the first post on a thread, are making one of three basic thread types:

Education: “I am going to teach you something about X.” Write a short sentence or phrase about some topic on your index card. At the bottom write your handle, the “Fact”, then roll yourfact dice. total up your ones, and put the sum after “Fact”.

Start a Debate: “What do people think about this?” Write a short sentence or phrase about some topic on your index card. At the bottom write your handle, then write “Debate”, then roll your debate dice. Total your ones and put the sum after “Debate”. For every 6 you roll, choose someone to get an extra rage die.

Tear Something Down: “I hate this thing!” Write a short sentence or phrase about something you can’t stand. At the bottom write your handle, then write “Rage!”. Write the number of your highest die after it.

Responding to the first post.

The rest of the game is about responding to posts. To respond to a post:

Roll your dice. You’ll use these dice to see what response you can give. All posts must respond to another post, even if the post is a non-sequitir.

Pick one type of die that can make a valid post with it. You can attack, support or derail another post. All posts should be numbered in the order they appear in the thread.

When you attack a post, put a mark on the attacked post, then write a short sentence detaliing how you attacked the point. If a post has three marks on it, it is discredited and the creator of the post immediately loses a die. Discredited posts cannot be attacked, derailed or supported. On your post, write the die type used. Your post strength is equal to half your highest die. write that number next to the die type.

When you support a post, you write a supporting statement and add the number of ones from the dice you use to the strength of the supported post. For every 1 & 2 you roll, add 1 to the strength of the supported post. Your post strength is equal to half your highest die. write that number next to the die type.

When you derail a post, take some detail (imagined or otherwise) from the post you are derailing
and then change the topic. Split the strength of the post in half, rounding down. Your post strength and the derailed post strength are equal to the halved value.

No post can have a strength higher than 8.

Using dice.

To make one of the post types, you must choose on die type from what you rolled, and exceed the post strength of the post you wish to attack, support, or derail.

If you use fact dice, you can add the two highest dice you rolled together for a total. For an attack, halve this value. For derailment, use the highest and lowest die. Any 4 you use with fact dice is removed.

If you use a debate die, only use one die. Any debate die that rolls a 6 is removed, and you can give someone else a rage die or a fact die. In a derailment, double your debate die (a roll of 6 is still removed)

If you use a rage die, use only 1 die. You can only support Rage posts. If supporting a post would raise its strength higher than 8, instead give a rage dice to a poster of your choosing. Halve your rage die when trying to derail. If you use a rage die of 8, give it to another player.

If you can’t make any valid posts, remove one die of your choice from your total, and change a die from one type to another if you wish.

Running out of dice.

When you have no dice, you are out of the thread.

Ending the game

The game ends after twenty posts are reached (“good thread!”), when only rage dice remain between all posters (“flamewar”), or when all posters run out of dice (“boring thread”).

Make Games, not Cases: A Love Letter to Change

Make Games, not Cases: A Love Letter to Change

If you care about making role-playing games more diverse and inclusive, I need you to do something:

Stop arguing with people who don’t care about diversity and inclusiveness!

To make something new requires a lot of energy.  After identifying something that’s not quite right, you have to learn about it, and then you must use creativity and skills to build something new out of what you’ve got.

Everyone who makes things knows how limited that energy is, and how fragile it can sometimes be, especially when balanced with all the other elements in your life.

Knowing this, if you are someone not interested in diversity happening, or actively against diversity, you don’t need to go through the effort of making your own non-diverse games –they already exist–  but instead just de-rail and argue in circles with people who do want it.  Since people who do want diversity have to build the games, trap them in circular, nonsensical arguments.  Be abrasive, be rude, be obnoxious.  Get those people who would make and support games that encourage diversity so pissed off and worried about constructing arguments with you that they aren’t building.

Get them so exhausted with the topic that they try to avoid it, for fear of having to talk with you or someone like you about it.  Hard to create and support things one subconsciously avoids! Since you don’t care about expanding representation and making games fun and inclusive for everyone,  you just need to preserve the status quo.  Keep those who would change things busy trying to make you see something you’ve basically chosen not to see.

It’s really easy.

But if you are someone who wants games to be more diverse, who sees the rewards of expanding our hobby, you can avoid being trapped like this.  I am not saying never argue and never stand up for equality.  Absolutely there are times when there is no other answer but to fight.

But then there are all the other times.

It is very easy to waste your words on people who won’t hear them;  As an African American man, I’ve learned that no matter how smart I may be, there are people who won’t listen to what I say, no matter how true it is.  If I must make people see, I’ve got to make them see by taking action and providing incontrovertible truth.  The number of people who still won’t admit it always surprises me, but there are people who will see when they are shown truth. But I have to make something, I always must put truth first in the world.

Put your change into the world.  If you argue, argue with people who care.  Be stingy with your creative spark.  Give it to those who need it, who want, who love it.

Do not use it to feed trolls.

Do not use your creative energy to argue your case; use it create, support, and play the games you want to see in the world.

I want you to take one second and consider what you need to make.  Start making it.  If you want to share, if you need help starting, talk to us.

Three Kinds of Challenge: Desires and Needs

Three Kinds of Challenge: Desires and Needs

We talked first about survival.  The most primal and primary of  challenges is “Can I keep playing this character?” which is a basic way of saying, “Can you make decisions that keep your character alive and viable throughout this challenge?”

It works, but every GM has seen at least once that point where players are able to arm characters with enough mechanical good stuff to make these challenges either a matter of  escalation (tougher threats, more PC countermeasures) or worse yet, a stalemate.  Here’s the thing:  In a game where the most important struggle for your character is staying alive, the wisest course of action is to optimize towards survival.

But survival alone ain’t good storytelling.

The substance of the best stories always center around the desires and needs of its central characters. What do the characters want in their lives, short term and long term?  What keeps the character from getting those things? When we challenge these things, we challenge characters directly, and put players in support positions.  Rather than asking  how you the player keeps your character alive through this threat, I now ask you how you help your character gets what he wants.

Every time we get your character struggling towards something we drive a game’s fiction. It’s not to say that you never introduce death into your games. Death and the challenge of survival gains meaning when characters have purpose. Which do you think about more in your life: death, or your own desires and needs?  Special situations make us think about survival above all else, but even those moments borrow strength from what we care about. I care about my life absolutely, but to be perfectly honest, I care more about my wife’s life and my baby’s life.  If a time comes where I have to weigh my life against theirs, I know who has more weight.  My family is one of my main reasons for living in the first place!

Obviously I avoid dire situations that force these things on me, but that’s the point: Certain things are more important than one’s life.  Survival challenges are good but gain more weight when subordinate to challenges of desires and needs.

This is something that Burning Wheel gets absolutely right. The first game I could think of to make a character’s belief and principals the main concern of the game, Burning Wheel will always be one of the most conceptually important RPGs ever for that reason.  In a game like Burning Wheel, you do not fight to live or die; you fight for your beliefs, for which you may live or die.

Now, one mistake certain Burning Wheel hardcores make is believing that only in that game can one fight for their beliefs, desires, and needs in a meaningful way.  The game is built to support that, but the most important parts of goal challenges is how you frame them, and how you develop stakes, which is a matter of technique and process. I’m open to talk more about those techniques if people want later, but I first want to talk about the last of my major challenge types:

The art of making s*** up.

Thoughts?  Take a second to talk with us via e-mail or twitter or via our contact page.  Our best e-mails get printed at month’s end, and our best e-mail gets a gift certificate to RPG Now!

Soundcrime #2: Champions of Light

Soundcrime #2: Champions of Light

 

There isn’t a lack of systems for super hero gaming these days, nor is there a lack of music.  Searching for great tunes for this Soundcrime felt like falling into a cave full of bats under Wayne Manor. It took a while to climb out and when I did I was a changed man.

I had become an avenger of justice.

Okay, so maybe I’m not going to stop a bank robbery anytime soon, but I did have to change how this column works. Instead of one straight mix like “Reboot Your Mind,” this genre forced me to split it into two playlists. This week’s songs are going to highlight the hope and optimism of superhero sounds. It’s a four-color Saturday morning musical mash-up.

Fans of the Super Friends and The Incredibles should find a lot to like here, but those of you skulking in the shadows will need to wait until next time.

Henry Jackman – “First Class”

The Dawn

I was tempted to open the playlist with John Williams’ iconic march for Superman, but I like to start with subtle songs. The score for X-Men: First Class isn’t so recognizable, but it is fantastic. This opening track perfectly embodies a new age of heroes and hope. This is the song to play when you gather your players with a purpose.

John Powell – “Unbelievable TV”

Saving the Cat

John Powell’s scores are always wonderful, and the Bolt soundtrack works great for capes. Every super hero movie has the scene where the heroes explore their new powers and save someone’s cat from a tree. This song is great for that effect. As the title suggests, the heroes are caught on camera for the first time, and the world is awed at their might.

Danny Elfman – “Headquarters”

Assembled

After cleaning up the streets, our titanic avengers of justice decide they need to form their own guild of guardians. This song from Men in Black has just the right feel of a military march combined with wonder that our heroes need when they step into their fortress of solitude for the first time.

Michael Giacchino – “The Fight for Helium”

The Confrontation

This playlist is flooded with Michael Giacchino. I’ll warn you right now — He’s my favorite composer, and I’m going to find as many excuses to shove him into Soundcrime as I can find. The John Carter score is beautifully bombastic, but let’s not forget the amazing songs off of The Incredibles and Cars 2 either. “The Fight for Helium” was grand in the film, so shall it be when your team squares off against their arch-nemeses.

John Williams – “Summon the Heroes”

The Day is Saved

The world is safe for now, and this song John Williams composed for the 1996 Summer Olympics is the perfect accompaniment while the super team accepts the key to the city. Of course, your session needs a well deserved cliffhanger when a villain crashes the party, right?

 

Champions of Light – A Supers Gaming Soundtrack

Recommended Games: Marvel Heroic Roleplaying, DC Adventures, ChampionsIcons.

 

1. Henry Jackman – “First Class”
2. Henry Jackman – “X-Training”
3. Michael Giacchino – “The Glory Days”
4. Michael Giacchino – “100 Mile Dash”
5. Michael Giacchino – “A Whole Family of Supers”
6. John Williams – “Flight to Neverland from Hook – Instrumental”
7. John Powell – “Milo Escapes”
8. John Powell – “A Fast Train – Score”
9. John Powell – “Unbelievable TV – Score”
10. John Powell – “Scooter Chase – Score”
11. Michael McCuistion – “Justice League Unlimited Theme (2004)”
12. Jay Gruska – “Lois and Clark/The New Adventures of Superman (1993)”
13. John Ottman – “Memories”
14. John Ottman – “Saving The World”
15. Henry Jackman – “That Fateful Night”
16. Danny Elfman – “Spidey Suite”
17. Guy Michelmore – “Doctor Strange Main Title”
18. Guy Michelmore – “Hulk Vs Thor Main Title”
19. Guy Michelmore – “Tony Stark on Everest”
20. Guy Michelmore – “Avengers Into Battle”
21. Nobuo Uematsu – “The Man With the Machine Gun (FINAL Fantasy Vii)
22. Nobuo Uematsu – “The Earch Shark Is Coming!”
23. John Williams – “Escape from the Karaboudjan”
24. John Williams – “The Flight to Bagghar”
25. Danny Elfman – “The Suit”
26. Danny Elfman – “Headquarters”
27. Andy Sturmer – “Batman: The Brave and the Bold Theme (2008)”
28. Bear McCreary – “Theme from Dark Void”
29. Bear McCreary – “The Dweller”
30. Michael Giacchino – “The Fight for Helium”
31. Michael Giacchino – “The Second Biggest Apes I’ve Seen This Month”
32. Michael Giacchino – “The Right of Challenge”
33. Danny Elfman – “Doris Has Her Day”
34. Danny Elfman – “The Evil Plan”
35. John Williams; The Boston Pops Orchestra – “Scherzo for Motorcycle and Orchestra from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade – Instrumental”
36. Robert J. Kral – “Main Title”
37. Christopher Drake – “Heroes in Disguise”
38. James L. Venable – “Teleport”
39. Christopher Drake – “Wonder Woman The Animated Movie End Title (2009)”
40. Michael Giacchino – “Blunder and Lightning”
41. Louis Febre – “Booster Gold”
42. Louis Febre – “Trials”
43. John Williams – “Summon the Heroes (for Tim Morrison)”

That Familiar Feeling: a post-PAX wrap-up.

That Familiar Feeling: a post-PAX wrap-up.

I just left home to arrive at home.

PAX-East makes itself my home once a year. The second I arrive near it, I get to talk my “true” native language (I used to think it was English. ha!) of Gaming Geekery, and I don’t apologie or stop for anyone. If you don’t understand what a +5 longsword is, or you are not familiar with “The Code”, for a few days in a small area of the world, you are the freak, not me.

It feels so good. It’s worth it for just that alone, honestly.

But of course there is so much more. I get to see all my friends I know from on-line (and since it’s technically in my backyard, I get to see acquaintances from meatspace as well), I get to find new games, meet new people, and just bask in games generally. Here are, in no particular order, my five favorite things from the weekend.

1. Drafting. I used to hate drafting. Really, really, hate it. I was a deckbuilder when I played Magic:the Gathering, and drafting seemed to rob me of my favorite tool — a full cardset. But what rocks about drafting is that it gives you a small but full cardset every time you play. Each drafting session is a miniature meta-game. Also, drafting is a way to play Magic without going nuts on cards. I’ll most likely sell or donate my cards after the draft, so the investment is minimal but still fun. Thanks to Chris and Dave particularly for helping set up the games!

2. Playtesting. I got to playtest Dicefighter several times (thank you Dave, Bo, Josh, & Ryven). This game has a really solid core! I can tell it’s a good start because people wanted to play more after each set of games. The game is short and simple, but intense and with a lot of strategy under the surface. It’s a dice game but it’s not completely random, which I love. Lots of good choice to make, and the feedback from good decisions can lead to pretty decisive victories. I got to playtest some of Dave’s fantasy hack of Marvel. Both times we did good until the Doom Pool caught up to us. Highlight was my halfling cleric attempting to talk down a beholder from enslaving us to employing us with decent healthcare benefits. We were enslaved –who knew a beholder could be such a tyrant? I played a prototype for Race to Adventure, which is also fun. It is a game that you fiddle with for the first round or two, and then everyone gets it and play speeds right along. Our first game wrapped up in about a half-hour, so that says a lot for the speed of play. Also: I was so close to winning I thought I could taste it, but it turns out I was tasting jetpack exhaust…

3. New games. I wasn’t really hunting for new games this PAX, but I found Cards against Humanity. If you don’t know, this game is like Apples to Apples in a back-alley armed with a crack-pipe. It is so wrong and so fun. We spent a few hours each day being severely delighted and horrified by this game. If your tolerance for off-the-wall stuff is high enough, I’ll suggest you pick this up.

4. People! I want to mention this because this is the main reason I go: To meet up with my tribe. I get to hang with old friends and make new friends. For everyone there I had fun with: Hello! ‘Twas a blast.

5. Design Brain Re-charge. A strange thing happens when you start talking games and game design from Thursday Evening until Sunday evening: You come up with a lot of new ideas. A lot of the ideas I hope to share with you on this very blog! It’s really great to get my brain jump-started and my motivation renewed.

What did you enjoy about PAX-East? Let us know.

Questions for Game Designers: Chris Chinn

Questions for Game Designers: Chris Chinn

Chris is a sharp guy who I met on the interwebs.  He’s written for RPG.Net and regularly drops knowledge on his blog Deeper into the Game.  He has exquisite taste in both RPGs and hiphop, and speaks truth on matters pertaining to tabletop games and inclusivity. If you don’t know him yet, you will. I’ve gone through some of his playtest material and there is great stuff there. Check out what he has to say about RPG game design.

When is a roleplaying game successful, from a perspective of play?

What should an RPG do & how do you know you’ve done it?

(I’m putting both of those questions together with this answer)

A game should consistently produces unexpected, yet “perfect” events.  What I mean by perfect is something everyone at the table is excited by, that it’s the perfect thing to happen at that moment, in that game, that really just fits.

And to do it, over and over, multiple times in every session of play.

That’s the equivalent of that Halo design philosophy about making a fun 10 seconds and trying to have it recur regularly.

In a roleplaying game, it feels like magic, because good design guides multiple possible choices and outcomes into “being perfect”.  So at the end of the session, you all look at each other wondering how it was “so perfect” when it all seemed like it could go every which way… and it did.

 

When does an RPG fail (if ever) as a system? What are common problems as you see them?

If at any point, I have to become a game designer to get the rules to work- that is, I have to ignore or add in stuff, to get the core experience to happen?  That’s a failure.

The second is a social issue.  Here’s a quote from the Introduction to Exalted, first edition: “Rules exist to prevent bitterness between players.”

If the shining virtue of this game you put forward is that your friendships WON’T slide into a poisonous morass of betrayal most foul, well… it’s like measuring the success of chess tournament by how FEW of the players were shanking each other in the kidneys.

And I put that as a design concern, actually, because we’ve got 30 years of games giving advice like, “Don’t actually talk to the player, just punish their character until they figure it out”, which, if you transposed that to a relationship communication model…would be all the signs of passive-aggressive non-communication that destroys relationships.

 

What is your favorite game you’ve designed? What lessons did you learn building it?

Since I’ve got nothing completed right now, I’ll just talk about one of the bigger lessons I picked up.

An earlier version of The Emperor’s Heart, I had a rule called, “What If?”, where anyone could ask anyone else at any point, “What if?” and interject an possible idea to shape the setting or background.

Problem was, it quickly took over the game.  Instead of using it to round out things, some people would “pre-play” a scene using only What If, back and forth…  It also destroyed the general feel of the game, because people would simply abandon even the loose dictates of genre the game asked for.

Games that use direct player input like that, such as 1001 Nights, Universalis, Polaris, or Apocalypse World, these all structure the process- to keep it from spilling over the whole game, and also, often enough, to channel the input into focused things that help play.

 

What is your favorite game that someone else designed? What do you like most about it? What one thing would you change (if any)?

My group’s been playing Matt Wilson’s Primetime Adventures for the last 2 years.  PTA does this amazing thing of standing at a crossroads.  It shows you exactly why you’d want rules, instead of just playing freeform, and it shows you how little rules you need, to make complex things happen.  It’s a game I think everyone should play through a whole campaign (which can be as short as 5 sessions).

If I would make one change, it would be to allow the GM to also reward players with Fanmail.

 

When is an idea/concept good enough to turn into an RPG? What makes something “gameable”?

My guess is probably anything -could- be made into a game.  There’s some kind of thing you want to explore, the question is whether you can put together a way to organize that in a way people find fun and compelling.

And, it has to take advantage of the strengths of roleplaying- group creativity (yes, you can be creative in dungeon crawling or tactical games), otherwise, why not go watch a movie/play a videogame/write a fanfic?

 

Tell us about something great you’re working on.

I’m working a few things, but the one I’m working hard on right now is “Red Echo Falling” – a sci-fi space opera game, deeply inspired by the “wander around and fix the galaxy” sort of thing Mass Effect does.

One thing I’m trying to do different, is to make most of the setting fluff be something the group comes up with as they play.  I love reading senseless setting fluff like all the info in Mass Effect, or the Battletech Technical Readouts, and stuff like Star Wars wikis.

That said, I’d rather have groups create their own rather than produce a massive setting text which, frankly, only 1-2 people will read then the other folks will have no idea what they’re talking about.  My hope is that when this is complete, what I’ll get to hear is many groups’ versions of their galaxy and what goes on there.

 

As always, we take tweets and e-mails if you have any comments!

Thoughtcrime at PAX East

Thoughtcrime at PAX East

Both Ryven and myself (Quinn) will be hanging out at Pax-East this weekend, hanging with friends, posting pictures from twitter, and generally having a good time!  I’ll be running playtests of Dicefighter and possibly Inheritance, and Ryven will be testing out a new game that will pop up on the site after PAX called Good, Fast, Cheap.

Friday at 10 PM we will have ArchFridays Live! in the open gaming area.  For those who don’t know, for ArchFridays is our casual, for-fun Magic: the Gathering League where we play Archenemy on Xbox Live.  A bunch of us will be at PAX-East, so we decided we’d bring the Arch-Friday to you!  Come join us!  Bring a deck, and try to tackle the insane schemes of an Archvillain! If you’re looking to play Magic optimized for fun, sign up on our site.

Sunday at 1:30 PM I host the panel “Saving your Campaign by Game Designing” with Dave Chalker and Phil Menard:

Sometimes, you keep running into issues with your RPG sessions that no amount of GMing skill can fix. You and your players are getting frustrated, and you’re ready to toss out the campaign, the game system, or both. Before you toss the core book across the room, come listen to us talk about how you can change the rules to customize any game to the needs of your own group. Some techniques like making failing interesting, adding relationship rules to a game, or adding personality rules to otherwise flat characters can help fix your campaign before it implodes.

We will be hanging out with lots of great people, and I will be tweeting pictures and notes from the Thoughtcrime twitter account. Want to meet up at PAX-East? Send us an e-mail and we’ll arrange something.