A goblin player character.
Tolkien Economics
Most people who stumble across this blog likely have at least a passing familiarity with Tolkien's Middle Earth, whether they've only seen the recent Peter Jackson films, read the books, played one of the many Lord of the Rings games, or been dedicated enough to pick up analyses of Tolkien's work and become moderators on official … Continue reading Tolkien Economics
Getting Shirty
Okay, so I WAS going to do something on character visual design, but this bullshit blew that clean out of the water. Character design can wait til I've patched the hull; let's discuss what's really so wrong about a company selling this shirt at WonderCon and why their response to public criticism shows that they are not … Continue reading Getting Shirty
Playing with Chaos
Computers operate on a principle of order. Events occur either as pre-determined by the designers or according to a series of AI if/then commands created by the programmer. Humans do not operate on a principle of order. In Saturday's Dead House game, our team was sent in to take out an immensely powerful lich whose … Continue reading Playing with Chaos
Form Follows Function
I've been doing a lot of armour design work lately, primarily for Repair Her Armor and conceptual art for Wyrmhole Gaming's futuristic horror-punk Dead House; I'm intending on cosplaying a character from that game for this year's ConnectiCon, where they'll be running an open playtest for their system, and I've reached the stage where I … Continue reading Form Follows Function
Automaton
I was a huge Shadowrun player back toward the end of high school and beyond. If you're not familiar with Shadowrun, as a concept (since it's now a computer as well as tabletop game), then a good quick summary is that it's Dungeons and Dragons set in a corporate-dystopian cyberpunk future. While the thought of … Continue reading Automaton
Self-Fulfilling Disappointment
In 2010, I was moderately known as a blogger writing about EVE Online; those of us seen as "regulars" with decent writing skills were loosely known as the Blog Pack. One of our number, CrazyKinux, ran a monthly event known as the Blog Banter, where a subject would be chosen for all of us to … Continue reading Self-Fulfilling Disappointment
For Love of the Game
I had a job interview today. No, really, you don't understand what that means. I've been looking for work since late October. The games industry is currently flooded with experienced, talented developers who have been laid off or whose companies have folded for some reason, and while I've popped up onto a few companies' radar, … Continue reading For Love of the Game
Bigger on the Inside
Every once in a while, whilst playing a game, you might notice something a little odd. You may not be able to clearly define it, but in the course of your explorations, you might occasionally get the feeling that there's something not quite right about the setting, nagging at the back of your mind like … Continue reading Bigger on the Inside
Remap
I've mentioned before that the novel I'm currently working on is the first for which I've had a full plot outline developed before I even started writing. This is where I admit that I've had to re-outline the story, one year after I made the first outline. It's not as bad as you might think. … Continue reading Remap
