Archive for the ‘World Design’ Category

None So Blind – Character Blind Spots

With the conclusion of the Zener Gate campaign, I’ve been thinking about what comes next. In fact, it’s fair to say that it’s been somewhere on my mind for most of 2022, if not always front-and-center. About six months ago, I decided that I would resurrect the Warcry campaign, even though it would need some […]

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The Artificial Mind: Z-3 Campaign Canon

Lately, a lot of the spam that CM has been receiving has proposed the use of AI-generated content to make the life of the writer/publisher easier, as though content creation was nothing more than the means to an end. The Flaw In The Argument Mankind has yet to build an artificial system that can pass […]

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On The Priorities Of Graphic Depiction 7: Events & Effects

This entry is part 7 of 8 in the series Priorities Of Graphic Depiction

So this was all ready to post – and then my internet connection went out. Thankfully that was only a problem for a day or two. But it has delayed the series slightly. The story so far… This is the sixth in a set of mini-posts that I’m writing and publishing as quickly as possible, […]

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On The Priorities Of Graphic Depiction 6: Locations

This entry is part 6 of 8 in the series Priorities Of Graphic Depiction

The story so far… This is the fifth in a set of mini-posts that I’m writing and publishing as quickly as possible, something I’m calling a mini-blitz. My normal publication schedule will resume at the end of the series. Each post examines one of the specific image categories nominated in the first post of the […]

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On The Priorities Of Graphic Depiction 4: Monsters and Encounters

This entry is part 4 of 8 in the series Priorities Of Graphic Depiction

This post has taken a lot longer than expected, delayed by medical testing that was like a black hole sucking in time. And there’s more of it to come, I’m afraid… The story so far… This is the third in a set of mini-posts that I’m writing and publishing as quickly as possible, something I’m […]

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On The Priorities Of Graphic Depiction 3: People (NPCs)

This entry is part 3 of 8 in the series Priorities Of Graphic Depiction

The story so far… This is the third article in this series, and the second of a set of mini-posts that I’m going to be writing and publishing as quickly as possible, something I’m calling a mini-blitz. My normal publication schedule will resume at the end of the series. Each post will examine one of […]

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On The Priorities Of Graphic Depiction 2: Objects

This entry is part 2 of 8 in the series Priorities Of Graphic Depiction

The story so far… This is the second article in this series, and the first of a set of mini-posts that I’m going to be writing and publishing as quickly as possible, something I’m calling a mini-blitz. My normal publication schedule will resume at the end of the mini-blitz. Each post will examine one of […]

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Cosmology and Research, Part 2

This was intended to be part of a single, self-contained article – but the more I look at it, the more inevitable it seems that what did happen, would happen. Make sure you’ve read Part 1 before continuing! I intend to dive straight in and pick up exactly where I left off, but first, there’s […]

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Cosmology and Research, Part 1

One of the essential skills that has to be in every GM’s toolkit is the ability to interleave research into subjects that they, and their players, know nothing about into the stories that they craft for their campaigns. Way back in September 2014, I produced an abbreviated list of subjects that a GM arguably had […]

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Charisma: A Lovely Little Dump Stat?

While introducing the players to the characters for the chase mechanics playtest a couple of weeks ago, I found myself ruminating on (of all things) the Charisma stat and what it represented. You might think that this is a simple question – but it’s not, as readers will see by the end of this article. […]

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Themes Should Be Like Gravity

I’ve written over 1,800 answers on Quora and for every one, I’ve read 40 or 50 answers (probably more) written by other people in response to a question by someone else again. A surprisingly small amount of what I’ve read has been directly RPG-related. That’s because most of the content that gets offered derives from […]

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The Difficulty With Deities

I was thinking about this month’s Blog Carnival subject (Gods Of The Multiverse), hosted by Gonz over at Codex Anathema, when I was struck by a thought that had never occurred to me before. Deities, by their very nature, don’t belong in Dungeons and Dragons – or in most other RPGs, for that matter. Before you […]

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