Diary of a Failed Game Designer

A while ago I ran a short DC Heroes game. The supers were low powered, worked for the government, and were hunting mysterious aliens. I included a handout while the team searched some old moldy gov files. Or perhaps it was mailed to them anonymously? I don't remember. What I do remember is that I provided absolutely no context for the picture. It was a Vietnam era soldier torching a hut that appeared to contain some kind of shadowy creature. Up to this point the  team had no idea what they might be dealing with and after this picture they still had very little idea. Here is where things get interesting. As a GM I just laid back on that image and listened to player reactions and speculations. Some of those player ideas most definitely made it into the games story arc. The concept of  using player input to build a story is I imagine as old as RPG's. I'm sure DM's very early on heard players say things like, "I bet the duke is the killer!" And then thought "...

The Mosstaro: Physical: Size Small: Less than 4.5 feet tall, usually very broad shouldered. The do not have necks and can not turn their heads. Coloration: molted greens and browns. Skin is leathery with leaf like flaps which vary in color from dark black to bright green. Eyes range from dark black to deep red with have two retinas each. Thick arms end in broad hands each with two thick digits. Trunk like legs end in flat three toed feat. Speed: 30 feet per round walking, They may sprint at 50 feet per round but only in bursts of a single round with a "rest round" in between. They may climb vegetation at 30 feet per round vertically or horizontally. They are simply not slowed or effected by difficult woodland terrain. The move very natural through forests. Hit points / Health: Depending on your system of choice. Use the hit point statistics given for  Dwarves, or their nearest analog. Difficulty to hit: Again depends highly on your system, again use armor statistics for dwa...

This started as a few divergent G+ conversations. I started thinking about it... and now this post is here. If you are not into the  rambling personal type posts I toss here every now and again, this will not be the post for you. There is a rule in my home. Self imposed but I can assume my wife appreciates it.  The rule is "If something comes down, something goes up."   It's my RPG's in the  attic rule. It  means if I bring a book down I have to bring at least one up so that my  stuff doesn't start to take over the living room. A few days ago, I went up  to the attic to  bring down the 2nd ed Mysteria box set. I wanted to read how they  dealt with the flying ships which were such a big  part of the setting.  So  down it came and up went the following titles: 2 Fate books. (Core, and Worlds,) The  savage worlds core rules, The big dungeon crawl classics book, and Fate of the Norns. I get mysteria down, and  leaf throug...

Explanation: Yes, this is a dead blog and i'm not writing new material, but occasionally I will find something on my hard drive I think is worth cleaning up and throwing on here. In fact I wrote this months ago and never finished it. I think I stopped because I found better options. I don't remember. This material is presented unfinished, unbalanced,and untested. I'm hoping it may give someone a tingle of inspiration.  Disclaimer: because the internet is full of martial arts experts: This work is not meant as an accurate representation or simulation of the  Filipino martial art Panantukan /Suntukan which is sometimes called "Dirty Boxing". I did some reading about them, but I don't know enough about them to claim any level of expertise. Don't correct my usage of the  term "dirty boxing" in the comments I just thought the term sounded better than "Huggy Fighty" Again it's a dead blog..no one is reading the comments anyway. For the r...

Aleria Map Used in Play.