Blog Posts

Show Me in the Module

One beef I’ve had in games is a chonky source book which says ‘changelings do this’, and ‘always describe the traps, don’t just say 1D6 trap-damage’, and then expecting the reader to create the world in adherence to these principles.

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BIND's Story Point System

The Problem I just wanted to rock up to the table and start the game, but the DM had other ideas. He wanted all of us to write a character back-story. Having three jobs at the time, I didn’t feel enamoured with my homework. The little story meant a hurdle to jump over to get to the actual game.

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Theft as Mnemonics

The old A,D&D Ravenloft modules were some cheesy shite. Even the most sullen and macabre Goth in Gotham couldn’t extract a nugget of honest fear from the campy Hammer Horror rip-offs. But we loved them. Why?

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Why Jaquays?

Linear dungeons, where players see room 1, then room 2, all in order, can feel constraining.

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BIND's Magic, Part I

My third BIND campaign ended in glorious disaster and nonsense which forced me to reforge magic.

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Weaving Stories

My RPG games follow a format which avoids railroading, without any need for elaborate settings or difficult NPC relations. I call it ‘story weaving’, because it lets me stretch the metaphor.

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The Quantum Ogre and the Massive Idiot

Here is a silver piece, old woman. Now tell me my fortune! What will I see on the road?

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Treasure Type P

A,D&D gave monsters random treasures like this: Type Gold Silver Copper Scroll Potion Magical Item S 100-600 1-10 - - - - P 100-800 100-400 - 20% 15% - The system goes like this:

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LaTeX + Git vs Google Docs

People who want to work with others on an RPG naturally tend towards Google docs. It seems so easy. They send the link out, people make edit suggestions, and you click ‘approve’ or ‘deny’. Everyone’s generating spells, and spelling corrections at 100 kph, and it all looks great.

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LaTeX vs InDesign

I think it’s fair to say that Adobe’s InDesign is the standard publishing tool for RPGs, or at least the most common among the most well-known RPGs. However, it’s clearly inappropriate for BIND.

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