Diary of a Failed Game Designer

This is a great idea. If it's your kind of thing check it out! Build a better Gm challenge, Have a great day, -Mark.

I just read this and wanted to share it (and not loose it) So yes this post is a single link to the  Sword and Scoundrel  blog. Just one link, but I think it's a good one. -Mark.

Let's break some  5th edition today. Attributes are a great way to measure Characters against the environment: (For most of these examples I'm going to use the "Strength" attribute because it's easy to quantify.) "The wizard has a strength of 8 there is no way in  heck the wizard is going to beat the  cleric in arm wrestling  because the  cleric has a strength of 14.  Meanwhile, the  warrior who has a strength of 17 laughs at both of them." I like to look at attributes in D&D almost the same way as the Amber diceless RPG did*. In my mind if a one character has a higher strength than another, even if it's only by one point, the character with the advantage is unequivocally stronger. A strength 16 warrior will NEVER beat A strength 17 fighter at arm wrestling unless they give themselves some kind of  exterior advantage.**  Attributes are so useful as this kind of comparative standard I feel it would be a shame to ditch them altogether....

I,m not even giving an attempt at context. Where is that damn NPC? (1d12) Attending a viewing of an “orctopsy “or the autopsy of a dead orc at the local university.  Did you know Orc livers are bivalve in design and almost twice as big as a liver of a normal human? Did you know Orcs have a second smaller sub stomach used to store and slowly digest fibrous matter? Learn these things and so much more at the Ocrtopsy. The NPC is at the inn and has been drinking heavily. You find him or her gleefully chatting up a well-known local prostitute and about to make some bad life decisions. The NPC is out wandering the fields looking to catch a weasel. The NPC wants the weasel to train for rabbiting. Unfortunately, the NPC has no idea how to properly trap anything. The NPC is skulking around the dark corners of the local streets, trying to trail a lover who has recently spurned him or her. The NPC is at the town hall trying to get recognition for a lease that will grant him or her ownership o...

Give me three bucks and you can see the rest of this post.. .. Just Kidding.. Never pay for my writing, I'm a hack. Back on 10 /26/2013 I wrote about Microtransactions ruining my love of video games. To this day that's still my 4th most viewed post on this blog. It's even more viewed than my post about  Trials of passage in Orc society, which for the record, no one read. This is brief post is in effect a revisit of the subject, a part duex. The duce. In rereading my old post I realized that on one hand it was completely disorganized and  scatterbrained. On the other hand  it was also quite naive. Three years have gone by since that post and no I have not given up online gaming. Microtransactions have not gone anywhere, and it hasn't  seemed to have made any great difference to my habits. Or for that matter how much I spend on electronic games. Then two games come along that seem  to be tied at the hip. Two games, while very different still  share enough si...

To both of you who read this blog... you know who you are. How do you  inject a feeling of true exploration into an RPG? I'm asking. I'm going to give some examples of what I mean from other mediums. Video games: Far cry Primal: I'm walking through the  woods I come across a cave.. I have no idea what's in it, but I know every thing in the game is out to kill me so i'm nervous as hell about going in. I mark it on the map and walk on .. saving it for latter. These are set pieces in Far Cry. Terraria: I am completely addicted to digging around underground and just finding cool things. There are houses built down there, and mine cart tracks and traps and all kinds of strange things. I love the  feeling of breaking into a new cave and finding something I haven't seen before. Terraria procedurally generates the world,... so things are always different. Real Life: My wife and I went hiking the other day  by our local river. We round a corner walk down to the river ban...

Forewarning: I have learned a bit on the  internet over the past few years, making statements like this is one example: This post is about wrecking the advancement system in D&D. This post (this blog in fact) is NOT me telling anyone how the game should be played, or what you personally should do. It's just me throwing ideas around. If these ideas somehow offend you please do not use them, offense is not my intention. I have seen how sensitive some folks can get about D&D ... First things first there is a ton of RPG "stuff" on twitter. I highly suggest going on the service and seeking out others who enjoy the types of role playing games you enjoy and joining a conversations. I find that on twitter it is easier to engage in a conversation when I find the subject interesting. On the flip side, I also find it easier to disengage with a twitter conversation than I do on Google Plus. A week or so ago I got involved in a tread with @thedicenerd  about playing D&D wi...