Archive for February, 2026

The Making Of Complex Newness

A process for designing & constructing big or complex things, from spells to magic items, castles to space stations, industrial processes to political campaigns, new chemistries to better TVs and AC systems, using something every RPG already has. The real world caught up with me somewhat in the course of writing this article – I […]

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Power Skills in Zenith-3 (and elsewhere)

A ‘Power Skill’ measures how adept a character is at pushing an ability beyond its normal limits. These are rules for handling them, from my Zenith-3 System, and adapting them to other game systems, permitting their application to D&D class abilities and Feats and so on. Useful in any genre with unusual abilities. What Is […]

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What’s The Real Value? A ‘Trade In Fantasy’ Extra

A simplified mechanism for the simulation of trade in an RPG where it is not to be the focal point. Background A confluence of thoughts from different sources came together the other day relating to how we assess profit from selling something. I’m not sure it was strong enough to count as a revelation, but […]

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Delineating Overarching Character Traits

A technique for creating unique and interesting characters that makes their cultures more rich and detailed. Simple but comprehensive. I was reading something on Quora the other day about how Deep Space 9 used the overall concept of Ferengi Traits to make the personalities of Quark, Rom and Nog distinctive (and don’t worry if you […]

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