OGL Content
Any posts in the OGL Content category is covered by the Open Game License v1.0a.
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My New Game for the New Year! (& Other Stuff)
So I launched my “Santa as a Villain” contest on Gnome Stew and Martin Ralya (the Gnome-in-Chief) contacted me to see if I wanted to use some of the Gnome Stew funds to pay for the prize. I declined, but we got to talking about contests and I tossed out this idea for a “New Year, New Game” that had been buzzing about in my head. Martin liked it so much that he decided to build a whole web s
My Christmas Contest for Gnome Stew
Today I announced a contest over at Gnome Stew asking GMs to create an RPG adventure using Santa Claus as the villain. Go there, write up your idea in 250 words or less as a comment, and you may win a $25 gift certificate to us at my favorite online store Drive Thru RPG.
Good luck to all who enter the contest!
Your Team First, Your Ambitions Second
A recent conflict with a friend reminded me of a vital lesson that I think all gamemasters should keep in mind. I will not go into details, but I and a friend had a significant disagreement on how a project should proceed. We were not going to resolve our differences and I stepped down from the project. My friend offered to do the same, but the truth is the disagreement soured the work for me so I would not have be
More Gamers Should Play Sports
Today I heard a gamer talk about how he loves his hobby and that at least it does not make him stupid like “all of those dumb jocks!”
I stunned him when I said that his claim was ridiculous. That stereotype just does not hold up under scrutiny. Neil deGrasse Tyson, arguably this generation’s Carl Sagan, was a wrestler. Enrico Fermi reportedly played tennis like a mad man in order to win. There is
Chris Crawford’s Game Design & Creativity Lecture
If you want to do creative work, any type of creative work, watch this video:
Wax on! Wax off! Write code!!!
Yes, it is dated from way back in 1989 before humanity had discovered the Pluto was not a planet, and that what we all really wanted was instant access to porn from the privacy of our own homes. Yes, it is about video game development and not tabletop RPGs. Yes, I know that some people think that C
RPGs Can Survive Learning Some New Tricks
A friend responded to my articles on artwork in RPGs being sexist and the sexism that I felt was apparent in my review of an RPG aimed at children with the following:
While I agree with you that sexism is bad, I don’t think it’s something that can be divorced from RPGs. RPGs are essentially an attempt to vicariously emulate leisure class status gaining behavior and unfortunately clannishness (racism and
Questions to Design a Scene With
Here are some questions from my current project which is a GM’s campaign planner workbook. I decided to share these with everyone after receiving some positive feedback from a friend who has been helping me design and complete this project. Please use them when designing the next scene for your game and let me know what you think.
How does the setting for the scene look?
What can be heard during the scene? Are t
Bigger is Better
I bit the bullet and went and bought an LCD television to use as my computer monitor this weekend. I ended up getting a 42″ television and I was worried that I had made the wrong decision.
I definitely did not!
With 42″ of real estate and 1920 x 1080 resolution I am definitely seeing the difference compared to my dual monitor setup of two 19″ LCDs each set to 1280 x 1024 resolution. Yes, I have ac
Donate to Wikipedia
Ryan Macklin wrote an article titled Donate to the Ultimate Gaming Resource in which he appeals to gamers to support Wikipedia. His point is pretty solid – we pay $25 to $40 for gaming materials, but he (and I am certain many GMs) uses Wikipedia for free when doing research for a game.
I had already donated $10 to Wikipedia, but I read his article and thought “I can afford to give more.” So I we
