Diary of a Failed Game Designer

Playing World Wide Wrestling the RPG. OR It’s still real to me damn  it! I have said before on this blog (and for the record taken some heat for it,) that I feel Nathan Paoletta's World Wide Wrestling RolePlaying game , is the best stab anyone has taken a the world of pro wrestling in the form of an RPG. I stand by that, at least until I find a game I like better. That statement is not  meant to demean anyone who has taken previous shots at the genre. I feel Nathan approached the world of Pro wrestling from a unique angle, that of playing both the  wrestlers and the people behind the gimmicks as they are in the real world. I find this approach to be extremely satisfying, I knew I would from the moment I read the  book. Now that I have had the chance to live in the game for a few sessions I do have one  gripe. I am ( As I have stated before ) Not a fan of the Apocalypse World (AW) RPG engine. I have never been able to put my finger on exactly why, but for our group dungeon world nev

The world’s tallest dwarf meets the Amber Symbiant. We played a game of AAIE last Saturday, which I touched on a bit in my last post. That previous post was all about the good vibes I got from the game today I’m going to talk about the game itself. Doing an “actual play” style retelling would be damn near impossible, the post would go on forever. Besides that the game was almost a week ago and details are bound to have escaped my brain to be forever lost to the ether.  * What I am going to do is hit some things that I thought were highlights in the game and how they were handled mechanically. First off for the sake of time everyone rolled up their charters before the game.  In my mind AIEE is at its best, at the table, with everyone rolling up their characters step by step and grimacing at the results.  However, we were playing on Roll20 with people spread over two continents. The whole optimal game set up was impossible. It was for the best, having everyone prepared with a character s

Tiny Validation: “High my names is Mark, and I write games for my friends.” And that's about it. Over this weekend however I ran one of my games for a couple of people who haven't played the game before, whom I had never ran a game for before. So lets set the scene. A home brew game of dubious quality. Three players I know very well, one player I have played with but never as a GM, and two players who I know but had never directly gamed with. We gamed over Roll 20, (which presents it's own set of issues.) Now here's the thing I have been Game Mastering for a long time, but I don't claim to be great at it. I'm alright , but I'm spoiled by having run for a steady group of some of the best folks you could ever ask to have at a game table. They will tell me if something sucks. They make things fun, good players oil the gears for a DM in a way that setting, and system never will. I am not that guy (I don' feel I am any way I have never tried.) who could pl