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Scot Hexes
This is a response to Robgoblin’s post on hex maps . It should have been an email, but Robgoblin has no contact details on the blog.
Read MoreMachine Generated Images vs Photoshop
I grew up with people questioning whether you can be a real artist and still use Ctrl+z. Before that, people probably wondered if digital photography was ‘real photography’. My generation feels deep suspicion towards any kind of ’not-real-art’ arguments. Now Chatbot9000 has flooded the web with saccharine kittens and uncanny valley boobs, and they’re clearly ’not actually art’, but it’s hard to say why. So here is why I say these images are not real art. They are not designed, nor planned, and cannot represent anything.
Read MoreThe Joys of Automation
I don’t think any sane individual could write something like BIND without automation tools. Games with a similar scope require a team.
Read MoreBalancing Mana Points
One Reddit comment described the problem of using Mana Points in an RPG (as opposed to spell slots):
Read MoreShow 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.
Read MoreBIND'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.
Read MoreTheft 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?
Read MoreWhy Jaquays?
Linear dungeons, where players see room 1, then room 2, all in order, can feel constraining.
Read MoreBIND's Magic, Part I
My third BIND campaign ended in glorious disaster and nonsense which forced me to reforge magic.
Read MoreWeaving 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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