Plus, I like playing at Tolkien-style fantasy not just by recombining Tolkien lore into new adventures but by drawing on history and myth to add or expand the lore of Middle-earth for my own games—hacking and drifting Middle-earth into my own playable fanfic. I’m not just roleplaying as Hobbits and goblins, in other words; I’m also roleplaying as a mythopoeic romantic a la Professor Tolkien.

stevensanders: So, this is one of the designs I’ve been working on for Will Hindmarch’s GUMSHOE game Razed.  The game concept is great, and it’s been a blast working on the designs. more to follow, and here’s more info on the game and the piece, from the publisher.  It has been a wonderful experience, watching the concept artists bring the creatures of Razed to life. This illustration genuinely freaks me out. I love that about it.
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stevensanders:

So, this is one of the designs I’ve been working on for Will Hindmarch’s GUMSHOE game Razed.  The game concept is great, and it’s been a blast working on the designs. more to follow, and here’s more info on the game and the piece, from the publisher. 

It has been a wonderful experience, watching the concept artists bring the creatures of Razed to life. This illustration genuinely freaks me out. I love that about it.

thisfeliciaday:

Episode 5 of Dragon Age: Redemption is posted!  Hope you enjoy, if you do please share and thumbs up! Only one episode left, help us go out with a bang!  Or a slice!  Whatever.

My interview with writer/actress Felicia Day—plus Dragon Age RPG stats for her Redemption character there, the elf assassin called Tallis—are now available free from Green Ronin.

Kickstarter Giveaway: “Time Lord”

unchartedbooks:

There are 8 days to go on our Kickstarter campaign! That means it’s…

Giveaway time!

I will randomly choose from the next 10 pledges of $50 or more to win the vintage manual for “Time Lord,” the official Doctor Who role playing game. It’s the nerdiest thing I’ve ever seen, and it’s awesome.

Go!

I write RPGs as part of my job and even I have never owned this rare item.

Q:In your mind, what makes a useful playtest report for RPGs?

Anonymous

(The more I think about this answer, the more I find it lacking.)

Honesty and clarity. I might be more forgiving of shitty playtest reports than some, because I feel pretty comfortable cutting away suggestions of fixes or assertions of how things “should” be when they get in the way of what a playtest report should do, which is report problems. Fixes are the purview of the designer or the developer and must coexist with the vision for the project. One playtester’s unappealing scene may be one designer’s vital component.

A good, self-aware playtester knows when the text has let her down but the idea at its root has not. A good, self-aware playtester knows when she has “fixed” a rule (or whatever) and how and why and reports that. A good, self-aware playtester phrases opinions clearly and knows when they’re opinions.

I tend to find value in highly charged playtest reports, good or bad, but less to use in blandly generalized overviews. I like anecdotes as a unit of reportage. I like them to be clear and concise. I like them to separate reportage from editorialization, though I appreciate that editorialization can help a playtester feel involved or invested. The less work I have to do to suss out what was happening at the table—good and bad—the better. I prefer bullet points to a block of text.

That said, I’m constantly on the lookout for new playtesting methods and solutions. For all the playtests that I’ve been a part of, as designer and as tester (and it’s quite a few), I’ve never been a part of one that didn’t dent or diminish my feelings. No blame there—a little denting is just the way things go. Wear a helmet and a heavy coat.