The continuing adventures of that eternal man of mystery…
What D&D 2e Got Right About TTRPG Endgame Design Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition is where I started in the tabletop roleplaying hobby. I was in college at the time, I found a great DM and a good group, and we had a lot of fun. As a professional RPG mechanics auditor I decided to … Read more
Horror TTRPGs: The Rules Are the Monster This is part of my ongoing series on system structure and pressure models—see also: Survival TTRPGs: The Real Test (And Why Most Games Fail It) Just as in my previous posts, this isn’t about what horror looks like. It’s about what it does at the system level. Most player … Read more
Survival TTRPGs: You Think Survival Is Scarcity. It Isn’t. This is part of my ongoing series on system structure and pressure models—see my previous: Heroic Fantasy TTRPGs: The Real Test (And So Many Games Fail It) This post is about what survival games do at the system level. If you’re designing a survival TTRPG, resource … Read more
Heroic Fantasy TTRPGs: You Think It’s About Dragons. It Isn’t. This is part of my ongoing series on system structure and pressure models—see also: Grimdark TTRPGs: The Real Test (And Why Most Games Fail It) This post is not about what heroic fantasy looks like, it’s about what it does at the system level. If … Read more
Grimdark TTRPGs: You Think You Know What Grimdark Means (But You Don’t) This post isn’t about what grimdark looks like, it’s about what it does at the system level. You think you know what grimdark means: dark atmosphere, high lethality, morally grey characters in a brutal world. So Shadow of the Demon Lord is grimdark, … Read more