Archive for February, 2014

Kickstarted Creativity: Two fundraising campaigns of interest

The final part of the Priest Encounters article still isn’t finished, so here’s something else readers might find of interest… I approach Kickstarter very much from the perspective of the consumer and possible backer. That means that when I encounter such a campaign, my first question is always, “Am I interested in this?”, my second […]

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The Personal Computer analogy and some Truths about House Rules

I’ve been desperately trying to clear enough time to attempt to get my main computer back up and running. It occurred to me the other day that there is a clear analogy between that process and the process of creating an RPG campaign. The Computer Of Today: some context Personal Computers are everywhere – or, […]

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I See It But I Don’t Believe It – Convincingly Unconvincing in RPGs

Verisimilitude is critical in a role playing game in order to facilitate the suspension of disbelief and players (and GMs) getting into character instead of viewing events from a meta-perspective. Believability is hard-won at the gaming table and subject to constant attack by game mechanics and real-world distractions like side-conversations. More difficult still is the […]

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Casual Opportunities For Priests: The Common Encounters

This entry is part 4 of 5 in the series Casual Opportunities

So far, I’ve looked at what all Modern Priest PCs have in common, and what made one Priest different to another, This third part, and the fourth to follow, are all about casual encounters to highlight these character features… Introduction to part 3 At first glance, encounters for priests can seem easy to create. If […]

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The Fields Of Magic

How does Magic (in general) work? I’m not talking about how the rules work, but how Magic works within the game world. Why raise the question now? I should probably pause for a moment to explain why I’m writing about this now – in the middle of a major series about Modern Priests. There are […]

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Casual Opportunities For Priests: Divergences and Differences

This entry is part 3 of 5 in the series Casual Opportunities

The first part of this sub-series analyzed the basic character of the modern priest archetype, identified elements that representatives of that archetype all have in common, and along the way considered how to employ casual encounters to enhance and reveal the character’s basic role in a campaign. In this second part, I’ll take a closer […]

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Casual Opportunities For Priests: Analysis and Commonalities

This entry is part 2 of 5 in the series Casual Opportunities

About the Casual Opportunities series: This series seeks to offer opportunities for PCs to reflect their primary role within a campaign. Opportunities for heroes to be heroes, for villains to be villains, for geeks to be geeks. It’s easy to become so focused on the primary plot, or on the things that the PCs are […]

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The Application Of Time and Motion to RPG Game Mechanics

How do you tell a good House Rule from a Bad? I know, I promised something short. As long-time readers will know, I don’t do “short” very well… “Time and motion studies” used to be the favorite tool of “efficiency” experts who optimized a process for speed. They quickly became the butts of a lot […]

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