Hey, look what I got in the mail:
The titans of indie and old school pretty much saved my GenCon last year — it was nearly a bust because I wasted too much time doing business stuff. Oh no my friend, we’ll not be making that mistake again…
So you love story games but you are drawn by the irresistible lure of the crunchy 4e battlefield? You want to smack some orcs but you want it to have meaning?
Check out Simon Carryer’s Say Yes or Face the Dungeon:
The GM should give a very short description of the dungeon, something like “It’s an zombie-filled labyrinth” or “It’s an orc warren with a surprise at the end”. All the players then brainstorm a way for the dungeon to be related to the conflict at hand…
For example, the PCs are trying to get a village of elves on their side in the civil war. The elves are undecided, and the GM makes the PCs “face the dungeon”. The dungeon the GM has prepared is a nest of harpies at the top of a crag. After some discussion, they decide that at some point during the negotiations, harpies will capture the son of an elder, one of those opposed to their plan. If they can rescue the young elf from the harpies, the elves will join in their cause. The GM marks in the dungeon where the young elf is being held, and play begins again - later that night, just after the harpies make off with their captive.
Yes, it’s a totally different way to play the game. Go read the rest. Very good stuff. And if you don’t get the reference, you owe it to yourself to go look up Vincent Baker’s famous “Say Yes or Roll the Dice.”
I’ve been so busy gaming and scheming that I almost missed that we had hit 1000 sales. That’s a nice round milestone.
I was going to say “it seems like only yesterday when Zodiac Ring was the first third party release for M&M2…” but that would be a total lie — it seems like a million years ago.
Clinton R. Nixon on game design:
“Here’s how you contribute: you play a variety of games. You go play Dust Devils, and Trollbabe, and Dogs in the Vineyard, and Universalis, and My Life with Master, and The Pool. You play the hell out of them. Then you make something better, later, when you’ve played these and you know exactly what you want. Or you don’t make a game at all - even better. Play is the point. Become an expert player.”
Absolutely right.
Hey, I’m one of the “we” and not so secret anymore!
I’m pleased as punch to be part of the lame mage development crew. I’ve had it easy, playtesting and having fun, maybe doing a little proofing and spell checking here and there, but now I’m working on my own projects and all I can say is, this stuff is hard! It’s hard to come up with mechanics or components that work for your genre or vision without turning it into a different game. It’s hard to remember what your vision is once you dig in and forget to come up for air. It’s hard to keep motivated and to remember what it is that even got you excited about the whole thing in the first place.
I’ve found that keeping a short bulleted list of what I think the game should be and what an ideal scene looks like helps. I expect that things will change, possibly completely, but I find that state where the ideas are just a crazy jumble of game mechanics, scene ideas and slightly different genres extremely overwhelming and not useful.
I’m working on a couple of ideas that I’ll write about soon, but maybe after a little more time in the oven. Unless, of course, I really need an outlet for that existential pain.
Skyla aka Ping
For Ars Ludi readers, Skyla was the name of one of my West Marches characters, arrested and exiled, but still my favorite.
I know what you’re thinking: Ars Ludi is lovely. It’s both peachy and keen. So why a second blog?
Good question. Ars Ludi is where I talk about assorted game ideas or really just whatever I want (you’ve probably picked up on that). On the other hand this blog is where I talk about actual projects that are in the works, projects that are being developed for release under the mighty Lame Mage aegis. Sneak peeks, development reflections and digressions, cries of existential pain and the periodic shout out — the whole nine yards.
And by I, I mean we. Because there are other secret collaborators joining in for the fun.
Introductions are in order but I’m not going to make them. Not quite yet.
What’s this? A second blog?
There’ll be more information later, but until then just keep reading ars ludi…