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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.
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.
Read MoreThe 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?
Read MoreTreasure 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:
Read MoreLaTeX + 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.
Read MoreLaTeX 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.
Read MoreRandom Encounters Disarm Chekov's Gun
Chekov’s gun poses a real threat to some games. If a group playing Vampire: The Masquerade (‘VtM’) encounter a Ravnos, spinning illusions, and confusing mortals, then the next time they hear about unusual events, they will assume that the Ravnos did this. Clearly - the Ravnos is part of the plot! After all, VtM draws heavily from literature; or rather, it draws a lot from the idea-spaces of people who like to analyse literature while telling you that they analyse literature.
Read MoreHaving a Bash at Travel in BIND
They say you have to playtest, but they forget that I’m a lazy man, so when it came to travel rules, I didn’t feel like simulating a bunch of journeys. So it’s time to get the computer to do the work for me.
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