Books: #25: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (f) #26: Coming of Age at the End of Days (f) #27: Helen of Sparta (f) – I abandoned this book about 28% of the way in because “rape as character development” is tired, I’m tired of it, and the main character didn’t inspire me enough to […]
August and September 2015: Books and Games
Books: #20: Cloud Atlas (m) #21: The Martian (m) #22: Assassination Classroom #1 (m) #22: The Fault in Our Stars (m) #23: Younger (f) #24:Â The Lost Art of Listening, 2nd Edition (m) Games: #64: Love Letter #65: Cthulhu Live (played twice over Gen Con weekend– once in July, once in August) #66: Magical Fury #67: […]
#RPGaDay 25: Favorite Revolutionary Mechanic
This one almost sounds like it’s written for Apocalypse World’s "fail forward" mechanic, but I rave enough about the PbtA system. So instead, I will talk about something that is anti-AW: doing away with XP and having milestone-based advancement. I think this is done well in Fate, where advancement is essentially a matter of adding […]
#RPGaDay 24: Favorite House Rule
My favorite house rule is one that is so popular, it forms the basis for many current RPG systems. The fate point, hero point, benny, stitch, or similar abstract "get out of a tight spot" mechanic that rewards players for role-playing well, and gives them an opportunity to control the dice a little bit more […]
#RPGaDay 23: Perfect Game for You
See yesterday. The perfect game for me is one where I have players who show up! Actually, the perfect game is one where we play for 3-6 sessions, completing a full story arc, but not lingering too long in the world. The players are engaged and interested and want to tell a full story, but […]