Diary of a Failed Game Designer

I started working on another section of AAIE a couple of months ago. This is part of it Hex Gids: Let's say my map starts at the very center of the grid  over here → That center hex is where the party of player characters is hanging out right now. The hex is covered in a thin deciduous forest. (marked with a green F) If I go one hex to the left, that hex is rolling hills. (It says Hill in green letters) If I go to the right that adjacent hex is mostly swamp. (Marked with a green S) That's all established: The hex marked with a question mark is the  problem. If the players explore that hex  It's terrain should take into account the terrain off all the hexes surrounding it. If I have a chart saying "roll a new terrain based on the hex the party is leaving." Only the Forest hex would be taken into account. that's not a bad solution but not necessarily a very complete one. Keeping in mind,  I'm not generating a hex field, or a large area. I'm generating he

Most Recent AAIE Update: Added quick ideas for characters harvesting and selling parts of the monsters they slay.  Updated the three example monsters to include my most recent additions. (Resolve point spread, and Harvestable resources.) In AAIE characters don't get experience like characters get in other games. So in that way there is no reason to kill a monster if  the  party can just get the hell away from it.  That was a design decision based on the realization that Characters in AAIE  will vary from  Incredibly valid and effective to woefully ineffective failures waiting to die. The basic rewards for slaying a monster are two fold. One there's usually some quest going on that will net the party some status or financial reward upon successfully returning to town. Secondly a player may roll well enough (could be badly enough) or do something interesting enough to gain a story point. For clarity story points are the "experience" of this game. Unlike normal experien

This is one of those odd posts about my personal experiences and views on RPG's. If that's not what your into cool.  Skip this post and comeback for the next one I'll probably have some random charts or something. I thought the internet was going to fix this. Apparently I underestimated my own propensity to act like a hermit. I have a very small player base. A few good friends with whom I have been playing for years and in some cases decades. I love those guys, and appreciate them putting up with my creative impulses. As is the normal way of life however  we have gotten older, life has become busier. We rarely get to play games at the table. We have started to lean more and more heavily on virtual table tops like Roll 20 and I-table-top  to get our gaming fix. That leads me to my point: If I am doing 90% of my gaming on line anyway why am I not actively seeking new players to join in? WHy am I not using the  net, to  cast a larger net? I heard a podcaster the other day , ta