In Emergent Stories, I wrote that various ‘major figures’ have purposes. This sounds like it means individual characters (‘figure’ in this context usually means a person), but it doesn’t have to. A faction is a collection of people (characters or creatures, not necessarily humanoid) with a shared purpose. It seems …
My participation in the A-Z Blog Challenge always seems to be hit and miss. Often, I complete the challenge, more or less on time. About as often, I don’t complete nearly on time (last year I ‘finished’ in October!), or even finish at all. In April 2013 I got as …
Roleplaying games are sometimes described as ‘collaborative story telling’. I’ve seen two main ways this is implemented. One is almost totally free form: PCs play adventures, have a time, and the events make a story. Okay. The second is more structured: PCs play an adventure path, hitting planned events, and …
I’ve been playing and reading roleplaying games for decades now. Something I’d noticed, mostly because the exceptions stand out so much, is how static things tend to be. Specifically, encounter areas are usually pretty fixed. A stage is set and then… doesn’t change. Sometimes there are hazards present (drops from …
Much like the Tome of Adventure Design, Modiphius’s Conan 2d20 line presents a couple ways of creating and adventure. Both approaches have merit, and I’ll explore them below. Ancient Ruins and Cursed Cities This approach is very site-based. Define a location with interesting things, and adventurers will come. Summarized, the …
Technically (this is Monday, April 6) I’m supposed to be on ‘E’, and I’m just writing for April 3 (‘C’). I just now put up ‘Building My Toolbox’, the second post of the month and I’m already behind. I thought about calling this a “Cheap/Cheat Post”. It starts with ‘C’ …
As is my wont, I’m gathering tools to help me develop this campaign setting. All I really know so far are the game system (Fantasy AGE) and general tone (pulpy sword and sorcery). What tools do I expect to use to build this out? Here’s a list to start. I’m …
Long ago, when G+ was still a thing, I met and befriended a mad Glaswegian named Jason Paul McCartan. The Badger. The years since have been busy. We’ve had medical events. There have been life changes, planned and unplanned. Job and work changes. Game design and publishing setbacks and progress. …
Most of the work done on my XML Workflow has focused on process content from Word files via XML. Word is probably the most useful format by volume, because of the amount of text in varying structure. However, it’s not the only format that is of use to me. Excel …
I have been remiss. When I signed up last year to host this month’s RPG Blog Carnival, I had grand thoughts of working on Planar Trappings. My vacation was booked for October, so I figured I’d have lots of time. Instead, my brain was eaten by finally solving some problems …
