Archive for the ‘Mapping & Maps & Minis’ Category

Trade In Fantasy Ch. 5: Land Transport, Pt 4

This entry is part 17 of 17 in the series Trade In Fantasy

With the economic foundations sorted, this part gets back to the distribution of fortifications, defensive networks, and Inns. Table Of Contents In part 1: Chapter 5: Land Transport 5.1 Distance, Time, & Detriments 5.1.1 Time Vs Distance 5.1.2 Defining a terrain / region / locality      5.1.2.1 Road Quality: An introductory mention 5.2 Terrain 5.2.0 Terrain […]

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Trade In Fantasy Ch. 5: Land Transport, Pt 3

This entry is part 16 of 17 in the series Trade In Fantasy

While working on the subject of population and its distribution, I stumbled onto a method of using a Realm’s economics for worldbuilding and history generation. Originally subordinated to the main thread, I’ve decided to break it out into it’s own post. Note that the unfinished part that’s been set aside for the next post is […]

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Trade In Fantasy Ch. 4: Modes Of Transport, Pt 2

This entry is part 10 of 17 in the series Trade In Fantasy

Rivers provide a natural alternative to roads and overland travel, if the river happens to go where you want it to. That’s more likely than it might initially seem, because rivers provide natural resources and defenses that make them natural locations for settlements, with transportation of cargo a bonus on top of those advantages. Table […]

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The Potential Benefits Of A Session Minus-One

I was recently offered the opportunity to review a copy of Mythwoven, a new RPG supplement by Sphynx Tale Games, by the Author Brett Moore. His description sounded intriguing: a collaborative worldbuilding game designed to enhance session 0 and immerse players in the game world’s lore. From the additional details that his email disclosed, I […]

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Trade In Fantasy Ch. 2: Trade Units Pt 2

This entry is part 4 of 17 in the series Trade In Fantasy

Repeated from last time: The concept of an abstracted “Trade Unit” lies at the heart of making Trade a playable event on a recurring and large scale. Without it, you bog down in minutia; with it in place, direct comparisons become easier and decisions far more prone to “make themselves” unless overridden for story purposes. […]

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Fuzzy Plastic Memories III – Application

Introduction This wasn’t intended to be a separate post at all; it is the second half of the response to a guest article published back in March, before the unwanted disruption of my life caused by relocating to a new apartment (I’m still unpacking!) Rather than repeat a lot of material from Part II, I […]

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Expectations and the Theater of the Mind

I’ve decided to wait another week before posting the final part of the Economics in RPGs series, because yesterday, I thought up a new article. I immediately set about outlining the article. I know from past experience that if the outline is not substantial enough, by the time I get to actually writing it, I […]

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The Power Of Basic Utilities

Today I’m going to tell readers about something I’ve been working on a lot over the last few months, because it highlights an important principle – you can usually do a lot more with basic tools and utilities than you think. A Recurring Pattern Every now and then we seem to get waves of tools […]

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Economics In RPGs 6c: Pre-Digital Tech Age Ch 3

This entry is part 9 of 16 in the series Economics In RPGs

I’ve clearly decided to push on and get this trilogy of posts out of the way before interrupting the series for another break. As usual, because this is a direct continuation of what’s already been posted, I’m going to skip the usual preamble, so make sure that you have read Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 […]

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Fade Into The Background

A Status Update It can be readily observed that this is not part 3 of the ongoing series on Economics in RPGs that I’ve been publishing for the last couple of weeks. Right up until the last moment, I was uncertain as to whether or not to continue with that series this week, but two […]

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Mapping Through Logic and Flavor

This is being written more in hope than expectation. Last week (Wednesday night, to be exact), my internet connection became suddenly unreliable. Because it happened late at night, I had the not unreasonable theory that this was because of network upgrades; not only does my ISP not notify customers of such outages in advance, but […]

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Welcome To Tanares, Land Of Chaos

Finished at last – this is only about 90 minutes late! Enjoy :) Anytime a product with the combined talents of multiple industry heavy-hitters like Ed Greenwood and Skip Williams comes onto your horizon, you pay attention. When that product made its funding targets in just 2 1/2 hours, you pay even closer attention. Clearly, […]

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