What Makes a Good RPG Rulebook?

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What Makes a Good RPG Rulebook? Introduction Most RPG criticism out there sounds like people arguing about totally different objects while pointing at the same rulebook. They are talking past each other. One person loves a game’s atmosphere, someone else complains the index is impossible to use, a third flat-out gave up because the pacing … Read more

How Ronald Reagan Became a Republican

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How Ronald Reagan Became a Republican I’m writing this two-part series because to make any sense of American politics today, I think I need to better understand Ronald Reagan. He is so enshrined by so many Americans that it’s hard for me to separate the myth from the man Modern conservatism still speaks in his … Read more

The 8 Best TTRPG Sandbox Campaigns Ever Written

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The 8 Best TTRPG Sandbox Campaigns Ever Written It may help to read my previous piece, The 8 Best Guided Campaigns Ever for context. In my last post I focused on the best guided, prewritten campaigns. This is my companion piece, the best TTRPG sandbox campaigns ever written. Sandbox campaigns are the hardest to design … Read more

The 8 Best TTRPG Campaigns Ever Written

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The 8 Best TTRPG Campaigns Ever Written If you prefer sandboxes, read The 8 Best TTRPG Sandbox Campaigns Ever for my companion piece. Over the past year I’ve shared posts on lots of TTRPG topics, but I haven’t really focused on campaigns. I decided to find the best prewritten campaigns ever made and put them … Read more

TTRPG Social Enmeshment Games

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Social Enmeshment TTRPGs: You Think Social Mechanics Are Flavor. They Aren’t. This is part of my ongoing series on system structure and pressure models—see also: Consequence Routing: When Getting Stronger Doesn’t Make You Safer.) You think social RPGs are just flavor layered on top of the real game. So if a social mechanics TTRPG has … Read more