Archive for the ‘RPGs & Systems – Non-D&D Systems by genre’ Category

The Dark Secrets of Hacking Interface Zero 2.0

A Guest Article by Dave Viars, line developer for Interface Zero These week I’m interrupting the Orcs & Elves series to give readers wgho aren’t into it a break, and to bring you a guest article advance sneak-peek at a new Game Setting that’s on the way, in a genre that hasn’t yet received a […]

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On The Origins Of Orcs, Chapters 1-4

This entry is part 6 of 31 in the series Orcs & Elves

I’ve got so much campaign prep to get done that if I don’t do it here, in public, I’ll either never get it done in time… But First, One more piece of context: In preparing this article, and the series as a whole, it’s suddenly occurred to me that I’ve never explained just why this […]

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The Poetry Of Meaning: 16 words to synopsize a national identity

There are certain words whose literal translation can be considered telling when defining the mindset of a nation or culture. Most of these are identified after the fact, when a scholar matches a literal translation with a key insight into the profile of a particular group, but for roleplaying purposes we can define and redefine as necessary to employ selected terms as key indicators and giveaways to the psychology of a group or race.

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Shades of Sky Blue: Variations on U.N.T.I.L.

A book on the structures and natures of different governments within our world got me to thinking anew about perhaps the most seminal creation within the background of the Hero System – U.N.T.I.L. Specifically, thinking about who the organization is; how they fit into the policies, principles and charter of the United Nations; what’s wrong […]

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The Longex Dextora (The Hinterlands)

This entry is part 7 of 7 in the series On Alien Languages

Having given Campaign Mastery’s readers (and myself) a break from the series, today’s article contains another Kingdom write-up from my Shards Of Divinity Campaign, once again in more detail than even the players have seen it before… Metagame Origins A ‘Hinterland’ is technically a region behind a coast or rivers, i.e. separated from the main […]

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The Color Of Pulp

Earlier this week I received an email from Richard Hetley, a writer & game designer from Megara Entertainment. Magara have a new kickstarter-funded project, and Richard was inviting me to write an article about that project. I’ve received a number of such invitations in the past, and turned them down (politely and with words of […]

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Patterns Of Unpredictability: Superheroics and the Stock Market

A long time ago, when I had an idle six months or so, I came up with a theoretical model for chaotic systems from a roleplaying point of view. I was looking for a way to simulate the behaviour of the stock market in the Champions Universe. The result was 31 pages of 6-point type […]

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An Adventure Into Writing: The Co-GMing Difference

I thought that I’d talk a little today about the way Blair and I write adventures for the Adventurer’s Club campaign. Because we share the GMing responsibilities in that campaign – and I don’t mean alternating in the GM’s Chair, I mean we both GM at the same time – this process is necessarily somewhat […]

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The Ineodolus Imperascora (The Traders And Commerce Empire)

This entry is part 6 of 7 in the series On Alien Languages

Today’s article contains another Kingdom write-up from my Shards Of Divinity Campaign. This one isn’t quite as developed as the others (but the last time I said that, I wrote 11300 words and it became one of the most developed of the Kingdoms. I don’t expect history to repeat itself, but you never know…. Postscript: […]

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Therassus Amora, The Centre Of Attraction

This entry is part 5 of 7 in the series On Alien Languages

Today’s article contains another Kingdom write-up from my Shards Of Divinity Campaign. So far, these have appeared in exactly the same order as they were presented to my players in the initial pre-campaign briefing notes apon which these articles are being based. With this part, that changes; the next item on the agenda, if that […]

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Causa Domasura, The Home Of Reason

This entry is part 4 of 7 in the series On Alien Languages

Today’s article contains another Kingdom write-up from my Shards Of Divinity Campaign. My players will be examining this one carefully for any additional nuggets of additional information that I include because this particular group are tied up in their current in-game situation. They think they know who’s responsible and have a working theory – are […]

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Bher Yuralvus, The Home Of The Endless Library

This entry is part 3 of 7 in the series On Alien Languages

* This article was updated on 23 Sept 2012 * Metagame Origins & Status Bher Yuralvus is one of the least-detailed of the Shared Kingdoms. Several Paragraphs of information concerning it appear to have gone missing during the editing process of the House Rules, so that what little remains is full of non-sequitors. As a […]

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