Diary of a Failed Game Designer

Altitude and adventures: (Not the name of some crappy fantasy game I'm writing.) yet I have a second Blog, I started it last week and on it I dump work I am doing for my campaign that I want to share with the players.  Part of that has been hex mapping the players current surroundings. Right now they are near a ruined city in  what is basically frontier wilderness. A no-mans land that was basically depopulated during a war some  200 years ago. So for now it's pretty easy, the area is populated, but not heavily, there are a few notable villages and one actual town. The rest is overgrown ghosts of an agrarian past. but to the south , the  south contains mountains. So mountains: I am thinking eventually the party is going to head south and hit the mountains. I might be wrong but I have a hunch. I have one major mountain range to contend with. The kind of range where there  are only a few safe passes. Think  the  Rockies.  Think Donner party. According to that fount of  all knowle

Before I start to  wander here is my main point: Rpg's, to be at their best need the consistency and structure of a regular continuing game. Let the digressions begin. I am not saying that one shot games can't create some very interesting and memorable experiences. I will however say, it's not the same. There are some excellent games out there designed to be one shot experiences, which are tightly designed, elegant and effective. They are also  much closer to party games in my  mind then they are to RPG's. If a person says to me, "We're going to play this one shot RPG today." In my mind they might as well be saying, "lets play  munchkin, or cards against humanity, or Blood Bowl." This is not an attack on one shots, I enjoyed "Project Ninja Panda Taco," and I LOVE "Hell for Leather" by cobweb games. One-shots can create memories, campaigns can create mythology. Does your group have a personal mytholgy? When the PC's visit a

put the shingle out we're open for business again. I went on a trip and was sans net for  more than a week. That's over and now the blog is back up and running. I should resume posting at my normal rate this week. What will I post. I have no clue. I don't want to put too fine a point on it, I prefer to be blunt. I have been  profoundly disinterested in  RPG's in general for  about a couple of months now. I was kind of hoping a vacation  off in a different country would fire my engine a bit, perhaps it has we shall see. Regardless I'm back at it so if you stop by regularly, thank you. Lets keep rolling. This  kind of building should fire the imagination  right? right.

There will be no updates on the blog this coming  week. I will be back the week after, hopefully recharged and with  new ideas. In the mean time Enjoy the monsters from your id. And If you need me use this phone, it's attached to my butt.

When 2014 began I decided to take this blog in the direction of  posting more things people can use in their games rather than just rambling about the games I am working on.  To that end I  have posted about  twenty four such entries since. I think it has improved the blog. I know there are more people looking at my page than there ever were before, so it  must be at the very least entertaining.  I know I'm sloppy sometimes, badly edited, and some of the art work is at best hackney.  (I still have to redraw Haver's Harrowing Cube.)   Still there are some usable tidbits in here.  I want to make all of it  available to anyone who wants it. I will be making this  a "Blog Page" that I will update Monthly. Adventure seeds: Priory of the Lumbering Colossus: The drawing that goes with it. The Hilldugger Inn: Haver's Harrowing Cube: Gulild of Rangers (from my  campaign) dates back to 2013, fluff from my game. Scarmaw Orcs: (something I thought was good but received very l

The  storm was fierce. The  weather had been grey and rainy for days, the slate sea uncommonly choppy, we all knew it was coming. When it finally arrived it blew in form the ocean in the  afternoon, covering the beach with  frothy angry waves. It intensified through the evening, fishermen moved from tier seasonal huts to the interior for the night. The wind lashed hurled it's fury against the  land. The  moaning of the  wind whipping through the lamenting stones which  rose high above the bay was heard for the first time in many  years. Then as quickly as it came, it cleared, leaving a dark sky ripped by streamers of low white clouds. A beach strewn with  the remains of trees and..... What did the storm wash up on the beach that night? Roll D20: Entry 7, Nasty buggers. A man naked, beautiful, with golden skin and pure white eyes. His chest covered in strange deeply azure tattoos. He is barely alive. He cradles in his arms a large white feather. A three foot around still beating hea