Author Archives: Brent
50 Games in 50 Weeks: Risus
I had the good fortune to play a game using the free Risus “everything RPG system” as part of DC Gameday this year. Risus is very generic, which is its key strength. The system can be explained in two short paragraphs, which I will now attempt to do. Each character is made up of clichés, each of which gets 1 to 4 dice. Each character has a total of 10 dice … Continue reading
RPG Rx: Helping Your Players Role-Play
From a thread on RPG.net, Evongelo asks: I have run a few games over the years, and a few were successful and a few more weren’t. I play with the same five people every time, who I have been friends with for years, and this makes it difficult sometimes because we’re all too comfortable with … Continue reading
Let’s Play an Interesting RPG: The Beginning
Update on 19 Oct 11: Time change! We will start at 9:00pm EDT on Friday, 21 October 2011. 4 players are confirmed; still open to others. I suggested on #4eDnD that we organize an online group to play different, interesting games every week. We’d focus on trying out new things, but could certainly play the same system a couple weeks in a row if … Continue reading
50 Games in 50 Weeks: Do: Pilgrims of the Flying Temple
Do simulates a specific fantasy trope: adolescent temple iplgrims who travel the world, helping people and getting into trouble. As limiting as this may appear, it’s easy for folks to grasp and use to tell stories. The system is much more simple than the length of this review implies, and highly story-focused. Your character is … Continue reading
Upcoming Project: Voidjumpers of Space
I’m careful to avoid announcing new products until they’re evolved enough that I’m sure I’ll be able to release them. I have 38 pages and over 10,000 words in this one, so I’m confident now. I’m working on a SpelljammerTM adaptation for Dungeons & DragonsTM 4th Edition. Its working title: Voidjumpers of Space. First, a few definitions: Spelljammer was a D&D 2nd Edition supplement for running D&D … Continue reading
50 Games in 50 Weeks: Searchers of the Unknown
As part of RyvenCon, I decided to stretch myself a little and run a game in a system I\’d never tried before: Searchers of the Unknown. Some background is in order: No edition of Dungeons & Dragons has ever been released for free. Moreover, copies of early versions of the game are increasingly impossible to find, except at sky-high prices. Searchers of the Unknown is one of several projects aimed at releasing a free version of the mechanics of early D&D, in this … Continue reading
50 Games in 50 Weeks: Hive
Years ago, I designed a territory-building game, one in which players lay down territory cards, then spawn monsters on them in an attempt to capture another players’ castle. Never went anywhere; turns out that game design is hard. But as I sat down with a co-worker to play Hive over lunch last week, memories of my territory-building game floated to my mind. This had a similar concept, beautifully realized as a chess-like pure strategy … Continue reading