The Alignment Issue Continues (4 comments)
An early look at the new 4th edition alignment system and some comments.
The Limits of Historical Simulation (3 comments)
In which MetalJim talks about the fine line between playing a game and watching a replay…
You’ve Got Your Realism in my Fantasy…. (1 comment)
Two great styles that don’t always taste great together! Some of the best sci-fi/fantasy has flown blatantly in the face of realism for the sake of a story or just because it was “cool.” Take the anachronistic weaponry and armor of the Hyborian Age of Conan or the strange pseudo-science of light sabers in Star [...]
The High King is Dead (2 comments)
Apparently, MetalJim has been reading too much history lately…
Systematic Excitement (2 comments)
No, I will not shut up about what a great system Spirit of the Century is…
Rules Variant: Armor/Weapon Types (2 comments)
A new set of armor rules that provides more benefits for selecting one type of armor over another.
Game Design the Anti-Social, Social Way (0 comments)
I swear I almost made this game once…
A Hobby is More Than Just a Game (3 comments)
Are you someone who plays games? Or are you a gamer?
For Proper Character Construction I Recommend a Foundation of Grade A 3×3x3 (3 comments)
…or mabye a roof…
There are a lot of great ideas out there in the role playing universe. Here’s one I just figured out…
Social Contracts: The Unspoken Rules (1 comment)
From the list of podcasts I listen to that I shared with you all last week you can guess that I’ve been exposed to many new and interesting ideas in the past couple of years. One that keeps coming up again and again is the concept of the social contract. Most [...]
Music in Gaming: Rightous Rock or Distracting Din (4 comments)
Ever tried to incorporate music into your gaming sessions? I have with mixed results…
How Basic Can You Go? (0 comments)
People for years have been struggling with the content of role-playing games. On the one hand there are so many rules that learning even a fraction of them takes an effort that the casual gamer is not likely to put forth. On the other hand, gamers yearn for simplistic, elegant rules that allow the player [...]
Pluggable AI - Unique Selling Proposition (USP) or Very Silly Idea (VSI)? (4 comments)
On occasion I play around with the freeware (ahem, unlicensed) computer version of Ra that MetalJim referenced in his August post on digital cardboard. Random and I have debated whether getting good at this version helps in real live face-to-face play. I think it’s a mixed bag – it’s been good to get a lot [...]
Magic Item Supply and Demand (2 comments)
In which MetalJim once again ventures into economic theory…
Is the Dungeon Hack a Dead Genre? (4 comments)
Can you walk through a dungeon corridor without falling into a deadly cliché ?
The Language of Rules, #3 (1 comment)
This is the third and final installment in my astoundingly unpopular (it’s no wild boast – I read the site statistics!) series on rules, algorithms, and interfaces for computer versions of board games. See parts one and two here.
What’s left to talk about today is AI modularity. As a way of getting there, I want to start with [...]
The Sweet Spot on the Power Curve (4 comments)
More of MetalJim’s musings on Fourth edition Dungeons and Dragons …
The Language of Rules, #1 (4 comments)
MetalJim’s brain has been melting in all those 100+ degree Nashville days, and he’s been covering d21 posts like a madman. I’m back from vacation now to pick up my regular slot, so MJ can get on to more pressing tasks, such as removing the Sony rootkit that came with his PC version of BioShock…
While [...]
What’s wrong with mercy? or “Why do all my cool bad guys get cacked?” (4 comments)
Almost every single one of us grew up watching episodic TV or reading comic books. Week after week, Month after month we had a lesson drilled into our brains: If you let the bad guys live …
Educational RPGs (0 comments)
In which MetalJim wonders about kinder, gentler, role-playing games…