Topics regarding design and game theory.
Today GreyKnight tagged me in a G+ post regarding some machine-assisted mapping software by Martin O’Leary (Uncharted Atlas on Twitter). Well, I say ‘machine-assisted’, but it looks like the software does most of the work. It’s also frighteningly close to some ideas I explored about fifteen years ago, but Martin made it work much better than …
I had an epiphany of sorts last night. Also, insomnia; the epiphany might be nothing of the sort. In my previous post about the card crawl I described PCs as starting at ‘second level’, and that each level made them better in one area of endeavor (martial, arcane, divine, skill), …
… or not. I’m working around the edges of a card-based crawl game. I don’t know all the resolution mechanics yet, but I’m starting to see the shape of it. Probably co-op (adventuring party) Possibly competitive co-op: party has a shared goal, but each PC might have individual goals that …
I’ve written a couple times recently about simple techniques for drawing mountain ranges. Yesterday I showed how I draw the basic landforms, and on Sunday I showed how I manipulate them to relieve monotonous elements and make them look better to me. Under normal circumstances I would have presented the material …
On Sunday I posted a tutorial on a technique I use when drawing mountains. This tutorial focused on a specific set of techniques used to cause a frighteningly boring mountain range — in this case, several parallel ‘ranges’ that were completely straight, uniformly straight, and parallel. They demonstrated how to …
On G+ I saw a map that I quite liked, but there was a mountain range on it that seemed too perfect. The ridge line of the range was very clean, with a couple sections that were quite straight (and at almost right angles), and another that followed a smooth …
I now have a set of 13 icons: the 12 major icons, and the 13th, the High One. Under normal circumstances where I have no particular plan, I might roll a few dice to see which icons are involved, or at least interested, in the current event. I might use a …
In drafting the other twelve icons, I had in the back of my mind a thirteenth icon similar to 13th Age’s Prince of Shadows. This is a compelling archetype, the ambiguous figure that has his (her? their?) fingers in everything, and it’s never quite clear if it is for weal or …
Some time ago I explored damage progression, how various things that increase damage might be represented with different roles. Much analysis happens there of various options and what they mean, I won’t repeat it here. I recently had cause to look at the Pathfinder equivalent of the RSRD progression shown in …
In my last post in this series I drafted a set of twelve icons, based on twenty campaign elements or themes. This is to fit a Celtic-inspired setting, so we’ve got raids (between clans and otherwise), fey, giants, curses, spirits, invasion from a couple directions (sea reavers/’vikings’, and more civilized …