This is RPG-ology #24: An Amusing Dungeon, for November 2019. On June 1, 2001, Gaming Outpost began publishing Game Ideas Unlimited with an introduction to the author and the series plan. The following week this article appeared, only slightly edited for republication here, under the title Game Ideas Unlimited: An Amusing Dungeon. Some years … [Read more…]
This is RPG-ology #23: Nonrandom Thought, for October 2019. A long time back in Faith and Gaming: Mechanics we talked about Fortune, one of three methods of resolving outcomes in our games: the use of dice, cards, and other randomizers to create unpredictable random outcomes. We discussed then the question of how Christian faith relates … [Read more…]
This is RPG-ology #22: Snow Day, for September 2019. As I write this, it’s snowing; snow is sticking to the ground, and we’re probably going to be snowed in. At least, the boys are hoping there will be no school tomorrow. That makes no sense to most of you as you read this. By the … [Read more…]
This is RPG-ology #21: Living In the Past, for August 2019. All four of my grandparents have died. I have also lost my father, and both of my wife’s parents are gone. I had a long list of great uncles and great aunts at one time, but it has dwindled to nothing, and of my … [Read more…]
This is RPG-ology #20: Pay Attention, for July 2019. When Multiverser was first going to publication, artist Jim Denaxas suggested that from henceforth everything in my life had become tax deductible. My job today is to create worlds, and to find ways to import worlds to games—my games and the games of referees around the … [Read more…]
This is RPG-ology #19: Treasure Auction, for June 2019. A recent article by Michael Garcia, Treasure Division: A Case Study From Northumbria, got me remembering treasure division from the past. I was in quite a few games, and we had quite a few ways of doing it. In more than one group, the party leader … [Read more…]
This is RPG-ology #18: Waterways, for May 2019. We mentioned rivers, lakes, and other bodies of water in connection with maps when we talked about Country Roads and again when we were talking about the placement of Cities, but we barely touched on them, more from the perspective of their influence on other aspects of … [Read more…]
This is RPG-ology #17: With the Odds, for April 2019. A few years ago I launched the mark Joseph “young” web log with post #1: Probabilities and Solitaire, which talked about how to improve your success at that and other card games by considering the odds of any particular lay of the cards. I do … [Read more…]
This is RPG-ology #16: Creatures, for March 2019. In seeking a topic for this month, I kept coming back to one covered in Game Ideas Unlimited, August 3rd, 2001, which discussed envisioning and describing fantastic creatures. I thought of rewriting the idea for this column, but as I reviewed it I was more and more … [Read more…]
This is RPG-ology #15: Vivid, for February 2019. Last month I told a story of a real-life adventure on a canoe trip from which I have vivid memories. I promised that this month I would tell of another adventure. There were six of us. We had been traveling with a larger group through some underground … [Read more…]