Astral Frontier

D-MON

2025-03-25T03:24:37+00:00

Since I feel like the core of Constellation Cards is in good shape (aside from some graphical design work), I wanted to try building a custom deck. I have a few ideas for fantasy settings, but what about something more… specific?</p>

Gearshifting in Games

2025-01-23T05:59:08+00:00

The X-Card</a> and compilations are the TTRPG Safety Toolkit</a> are vital tools for play in tabletop RPGs.</p>

But sometimes you don’t just want to signal that things are going wrong, but that they’re going well.</p>

What If?

2024-10-26T17:26:00+00:00

I had a discussion with a friend and game designer about a new mechanic for Constellation Cards, which replaces the vague and nebulous “challenge” concept. It’s intended to be a very simple framing for how to handle success vs. failure in any RPG, but the discussion brought up other topics I want to hash out as well.</p>

Gaming Recap: October 13, 2024

2024-10-13T20:31:38+00:00

Friday didn’t happen (for me - I slept through it due to lack of sleep over the last two days), and Sunday Mechatron canceled for real-life reasons. But that left Henshin, the sci-fi Fate game, and Sentinels Comics.</p>

Gaming Recap: October 6, 2024

2024-10-07T00:42:08+00:00

Ski lodge supervillains and Star Wars heists dominated this week’s gaming. Let’s find out what happened and what I thought about it.</p>

Gaming Recap: September 29, 2024

2024-09-28T22:33:09+00:00

Since I know the Sunday Mechatron game isn’t happening, I’m getting this done a day early. This was a week for superhero gaming.</p>

Gaming Recap: September 22, 2024

2024-09-23T10:16:28+00:00

This is a weekly recap of the games I’m in, or games that were talked about. Here’s where this week took me.</p>

Gaming Recap: September 15, 2024

2024-09-15T15:01:14+00:00

I’m going to try writing weekly recaps of the games I’m in, or games that were talked about, and see if that helps organize my thoughts about gaming in general. Let’s start with this week.</p>

Performing Yourself vs. Moving In

2024-09-14T04:55:31+00:00

It’s sometimes hard for me to find roleplaying games that satisfy the particular goals I have. And I sometimes describe those goals as “moving into a game”, as opposed to what I describe many players as doing, which is “perform themselves”. What do I mean by that, and how do games serve these different goals?</p>

The Moment

2024-08-17T17:39:19+00:00

For the Queen</a> is a collaborative card-driven game about the retinue of a certain Queen, and how they feel about her, each other, and themselves. The gist of the game is that while the Queen can be kind, she is also capable of some pretty awful acts, and it’s about your relationship with a person with power over you.</p>

Sounds like Doctor Who to me! So what did I do with it?</p>

Strange New Worlds

2024-06-04T20:36:30+00:00

This is a review of the first two seasons of “Strange New Worlds”, one of the this decade’s new Star Trek series.</p>

As usual, this isn’t a traditional review, but more a round-up of thoughts, opinions, and fun stuff.</p>

The Lacuna Virtual Tabletop

2024-05-29T04:53:30+00:00

I’ve started working on a VTT (Virtual Tabletop), called Lacuna. The goal is to create a self-hostable, open source platform for TTRPG players. Let’s talk about what that will take, and where I am on it.</p>

Base-Building Roundup

2024-05-03T11:23:14+00:00

The premise of a base-building game is that you’ve got a world full of resources, and you want to build up infrastructure to harness those resources and/or achieve objectives. If you’ve played Minecraft, you get the idea.</p>

I’ve played a few such games recently. So what do they do that I like, and what would my ideal base-building game look like?</p>

Mighty Orbots (1984)

2024-05-02T23:43:09+00:00

This is a review of the 1984 “Mighty Orbots” cartoon that ran on ABC.</p>

Like my previous review of Captain America</a>, this is more a series of impressions and opinions than a proper review.</p>

Trapped in the MMORPG

2024-04-19T13:10:59+00:00

The LitRPG</a> or “Literary Role-Playing Game” has become prominent in recent years. Franchises like Sword Art Online</a> inherit ideas from the Matrix - you’re plugged into this virtual world, and if you die in VR, you die for real - and add RPG mechanics like levels and quests.</p>

There are some things I don’t like about the LitRPG genre’s more notable works, but I like the genre as a concept. So what would I do with it?</p>

Dungeons & Dragons fusion jobs

2024-04-07T10:49:32+00:00

In the spirit of Final Fantasy fusion jobs</a>, I thought I’d try combining D&D classes.</p>

Astral Clockwork

2024-04-05T13:03:09+00:00

For the Gigaia</a> supplement for Superfantasy</a>, I briefly wrote a thing about wizards, and how they use “astral clockwork”. I want to generalize this out into a system of magic anyone can use.</p>

Captain America (1944)

2024-03-26T09:31:30+00:00

This is a review of the 1944 “Captain America” serial from Republic.</p>

This isn’t a traditional review. Rather, it’ll be a series of impressions and opinions about the experience.</p>

The Metaphysics of the Menagerie

2024-03-10T10:13:59+00:00

As a writer, I have a few goals when I create worlds. One of those is to have a coherent framework that explains how things work in a logical, understandable way. Another is for a framework to lead to interesting and dramatically juicy outcomes.</p>

Superheroic and comic-book stories are a kitchen sink. Gods, ghosts, and sorcerers work alongside high-tech heroes, mutants, and other people with unique powers. On the supernatural side, this often leads to the All Myths Are True</a> trope. So when I need a framework for how all this works in the long-running Menagerie fiction I’ve worked on, what can I do that doesn’t contradict what’s come before, makes room for new stuff, and still lead to new interesting stories?</p>

Framartes

2024-03-06T20:15:00+00:00

Framartes is a world of secrets. On the surface, it seems to be dominated by dry, sandy deserts and the ruined grandeur of past civilizations. But beneath that are underwater canals, caverns, and fungal gardens. Life is constant hardship and conflict, but those who dare to dream can find those dreams rewarded. The world’s theme is “the echoes of glory”.</p>

Averdam

2024-03-03T10:32:09+00:00

Averdam is a pastoral world with green life, blue water, white clouds, and more. It has the atmosphere of a high fantasy setting - medieval technology, magic, heroes and monsters, and more. The world’s theme is “elements in balance”.</p>

Meanirin

2024-03-03T10:32:09+00:00

Meanarin is covered in a mysterious mist which creates phantasms according to the wills of those within it. It is a world of dreams, illusions, nightmares, and utopias. The world’s theme is “the lands of faerie”.</p>

Zarkhaen

2024-03-03T10:32:09+00:00

Zarkhaen is a harsh and unforgiving wasteland, even for those native to the world. It is covered by volcanoes, lava flows, jagged caverns, obsidian, and other hostile features. The world’s theme is “the hell of fire and darkness”.</p>

Introduction

2024-03-02T10:49:00+00:00

This setting is an attempt to create:</p>

A multi-planetary high-fantasy/high-technology setting, inspired by franchises such as Final Fantasy</li>
A system of planets created as rough fantasy analogues of our Solar system.</li>
Physical, magical, and moral conflicts that don’t re-invoke colonialism or historical bigotry</li>
A flexible but consistent magic system that permits a wide range of practices & disciplines</li> </ul>

The Fantasy Solar System

2024-03-02T07:45:51+00:00

I started writing a setting to roll up a lot of thoughts about high fantasy and science fantasy. The result was a series of interconnected planets, and I soon realized I could map these to the real Solar System. So what did I end up with?</p>

Final Fantasy fusion jobs

2024-01-18T07:57:03+00:00

One complaint levied against modern fantasy is that it adheres too closely to certain cultural stereotypes. There’s not just a “fighter with honor”, there’s a paladin. There’s not just a supernaturally powered healer, there’s a cleric of a god - or pantheon of gods.</p>

The Final Fantasy franchise has done interesting things with some of these stereotypes, and hewed to others. What if we start with the FF jobs, and remix them to see if we can make something really new?</p>

Fungal Necropolis Entrance

2024-01-13T11:20:11+00:00

</a> </figure>

</a> </figure> </div>

Story</h1>

A fortified ramp leading from the forest down into the depths of a mysterious abandoned forest</li>
Marble tiles, polluted water, and crude wooden fortifications</li> </ul>
Possible Objectives</h1>

Avoid mushroom spore explosions - roll 2d8 to pick a tile, and anyone in a Small Blast is POISONED(5).</li> </ul>
Possible Enemies</h1>

Fungal or decaying creatures</li>
City defenders</li> </ul>
Tactics</h1>

The map has two main ramps leading down</li>
One of the ramps is blocked by a fortified wooden barrier</li>
Another ramp has a plank placed over it, where ranged defenders can attack interlopers</li> </ul>
Tiles</h1>

The flowing water tiles are Charged</strong> but inflict the POISONED status if you occupy them.</li> </ul>
Map download: FungalNecropolisEntrance.blend</a></p>
Texture credit: Pixel Textures Pack by FlakDeau</a></p> </div> </div>

The Math of Speech Bubbles

2024-01-12T01:06:58+00:00

In the interest of creating a comic book, and/or a visual novel with a comic-book vibe, I want to programmatically create speech bubbles.</p>
On the one hand, this might just be laziness. Why don’t I just hand-draw every single bubble around every single bit of text, like an artist? I feel like that question answers itself, but let’s give another one, which is that it’s easier to produce more stuff if it’s easier to, well, produce that stuff! Labor-saving tools also enable me to easily re-edit my dialogue without laboriously redrawing it all.</p>
The downsides are obvious: this doesn’t let me incorporate the bubbles as easily into the rest of the artwork. For a professional comic book, this might be a serious consideration. But for something like a VN, or a cheap indie comic to get me started, I’m okay.</p>
So what goes into this process?</p>

Session 2 Playtest

2023-12-31T20:11:32+00:00

On Saturday, December 30, I ran the second session of Exsurge Auroram</strong>, the Arise playtest. We got through a more complex battle, and learned some important things!</p>

Success Through Failure in TTRPGs

2023-12-28T14:32:50+00:00

Different TTRPG systems try to mesh mechanics together to yield a satisfactory outcome. Some of those mechanics are character qualities, situational stakes, and randomizers such as dice. A lot has been said about success vs. failure, keeping failures interesting, and so on. What can we say about achieving your goals, even if the dice say you fail?</p>

Galidrie

2023-12-22T15:38:33+00:00

The galidrie</strong> (singular galider</strong>) are only superficially related to Elf-kin. They have lithe builds, graceful movement, and long lives. Their skin is bone-white and the fibers that make up their “hair” tend to be long and straight. But the resemblance stops there, for they are more like animated mushroom-folk than flesh-and-blood aeshee or savards.</p>

Walking Pavise

2023-12-22T12:57:00+00:00

Walking Pavise</strong> ● Stone ● Artificia ● Grunt </p>
A shield imbued with animation and limited limbs, letting it move around a battlefield on its own.</i> </p>
Basic (R3) </div>
Made of wood</i> </div> Adv (R5) </div>
Made of metal</i> </div> </div>
SPD</strong>: 1, DASH</strong>: 2, ATK</strong>: 15, MGK</strong>: 0, PDEF</strong>: 44, MDEF</strong>: 44, RES</strong>: 3 </div>
SPD</strong>: 1, DASH</strong>: 2, ATK</strong>: 30, MGK</strong>: 0, PDEF</strong>: 54, MDEF</strong>: 54, RES</strong>: 5 </div> </div>

Basic </div>
Advanced </div>
Action Name </div>
Action Description </div> </div>

1-3 </div>
1-2 </div>
Intervention </div>

Dash +1, I gain READIED(1)</p> </div> </div>

4-5 </div>
3-4 </div>
Toss Ally </div>

One GMC in Aura 1 Flies 2 tiles in a line</p> </div> </div>

6 </div>
5 </div>
Brace </div>

I gain RETALIATE(1) and Heal 1 HP</p> </div> </div>

- </div>
6 </div>
Shield Smash </div>

I inflict CRUSHED on a target in melee range</p> </div> </div>

BASIC </div>
PDEF: 44</div>
MDEF: 44</div>
ADV. </div>
PDEF: 54</div>
MDEF: 54</div> </div>

No Loss </div>
0 - 43 </div>
0 - 43 </div>
No Loss </div>
0 - 53 </div>
0 - 53 </div> </div>

⯀ </div>
44 - 53 </div>
44 - 53 </div>
⯀ </div>
54 - 63 </div>
54 - 63 </div> </div>

⯀⯀ </div>
54 - 63 </div>
54 - 63 </div>
⯀⯀ </div>
64 - 73 </div>
64 - 73 </div> </div>

⯀ x 3 </div>
64 - 73 </div>
64 - 73 </div>
⯀ x 3 </div>
74 - 83 </div>
74 - 83 </div> </div>

⯀ x 4 </div>
74 - 83 </div>
74 - 83 </div>
⯀ x 4 </div>
84 - 93 </div>
84 - 93 </div> </div>

⯀ x 5 </div>
84 - 93 </div>
84 - 93 </div>
⯀ x 5 </div>
94 - 103 </div>
94 - 103 </div> </div>

⯀ x 6 </div>
94 - 103 </div>
94 - 103 </div>
⯀ x 6 </div>
104 - 113 </div>
104 - 113 </div> </div>

⯀ x 7 </div>
104+ </div>
104+ </div>
⯀ x 7 </div>
114+ </div>
114+ </div> </div>

Counters per Turn</strong>: 1 </div>
Counters per Turn</strong>: 2 </div> </div>

Vulnerabilities</strong>: FLM ‐, WAV ⯀, FRS ▢, STN ▢, AER ⯀, BLT ▢, BLM ‐, MTL ⯀, NVR ‐ </div> </div>

HP</strong>: ⯀⯀⯀⯀⯀⯀⯀⯀ (8) </div>
HP</strong>: ⯀⯀⯀⯀⯀⯀⯀⯀⯀⯀ (10) </div> </div>

1d6 - Loot Table </div>
1d6 - Loot Table </div> </div>

1-4 </div>
1-2 Normal Crafting Materials </div>
1-4 </div>
2-3 Normal Crafting Materials </div> </div>

5 </div>
1 Gaianite </div>
5 </div>
2 Gaianite </div> </div>

6 </div>
1 IP </div>
6 </div>
1 IP </div> </div>
A Walking Pavise can expend a Counter to use the Protect Counter, as well as the normal Defend Counter.</p>
Description</h1>
Walking Pavises are the creation of wizards with a peculiar sense of humor. They are walking shields, made of wood or metal, with a single eye at the center and a pair of feet. They otherwise lack manipulators, but are extremely agile when it comes to using their shield-bodies to move things around.</p> </a>
Encounters</h1>
Walking Pavises accompany other creatures. They protect them from attack, use their Toss Ally move to get them into melee faster, and otherwise act as support units.</p>
Their low ATK makes them unsuitable as attackers. Instead, they rely on status effects like RETALIATE to do damage, and spend the rest of their actions absorbing damage done to allies. Trapping them away from allies can negate their effectiveness.</p>

Saturday Playtest

2023-12-20T06:31:50+00:00

On Saturday, I ran the first actual session of the Arise playtest game, Exsurge Auroram</strong>. We got through one Battle and one Camping scene.</p>
It went well, and we learned a few things.</p>

The Forest Path

2023-12-15T11:39:00+00:00

</a> </figure>
</a> </figure>
</a> </figure> </div>

Story</h1>

In the middle of a forest, a dried-up creek has formed a pathway</li>
A fallen log rests over part of the path</li> </ul>
Possible Objectives</h1>

Locate an item lost in the forest</li>
Dig up an item buried somewhere off the path</li> </ul>
Possible Enemies</h1>

Forest sprites or elementals</li>
Goblin bandits</li> </ul>
Tactics</h1>

The map is divided into three parts: the left bank, the right bank, and the center path</li>
The two banks are accessible via ramps, but there’s one fewer ramp on one side</li>
The banks are otherwise too far apart to leap over the gap</li>
The fallen log connects both banks, but it’s a chokepoint</li>
The more accessible bank has several elevated points</li> </ul>
Tiles</h1>

The flowing water tiles are Charged</strong></li>
The fallen log tiles Obscuring</strong></li> </ul>
Map download: ForestPath.blend</a></p>
Texture credit: Pixel Textures Pack by FlakDeau</a></p> </div> </div>

Skrint

2023-12-13T10:17:00+00:00

Skrint</strong> ● Metal ● Goblinkind ● Grunt </p>
Small goblinkind with a worrying quality: when a band of Skrint latch onto something beautiful or interesting, they develop a hivemind with each other.</i> </p>
Basic (R2) </div>
Scuttling, shrieking defenders</i> </div> Adv (R4) </div>
Calculating, conniving directors</i> </div> </div>
SPD</strong>: 3, DASH</strong>: 3, ATK</strong>: 30, MGK</strong>: 5, PDEF</strong>: 15, MDEF</strong>: 15, RES</strong>: 2 </div>
SPD</strong>: 4, DASH</strong>: 3, ATK</strong>: 35, MGK</strong>: 5, PDEF</strong>: 20, MDEF</strong>: 20, RES</strong>: 4 </div> </div>

Basic </div>
Advanced </div>
Action Name </div>
Action Description </div> </div>

1-3 </div>
1-2 </div>
Raking Claws </div>

Dash +0, Melee Attack +5</p> </div> </div>

4-5 </div>
3-4 </div>
Pelting Rocks </div>

Dash +0, Ranged Attack +5, Range 4. Sharp Rocks</em>: On 1-2 on d6, the target is BLEEDING.</p> </div> </div>

6 </div>
5 </div>
Battle Frenzy </div>

I gain HASTE and Heal 1 HP</p> </div> </div>

- </div>
6 </div>
Summon Pack </div>

Add one Skrint (Basic) to the bottom of the turn tracker, otherwise as per the Grave Thrall’s “Howlcall” move.</p> </div> </div>

BASIC </div>
PDEF: 15</div>
MDEF: 15</div>
ADV. </div>
PDEF: 20</div>
MDEF: 20</div> </div>

No Loss </div>
0 - 14 </div>
0 - 14 </div>
No Loss </div>
0 - 19 </div>
0 - 19 </div> </div>

⯀ </div>
15 - 24 </div>
15 - 24 </div>
⯀ </div>
20 - 29 </div>
20 - 29 </div> </div>

⯀⯀ </div>
25 - 34 </div>
25 - 34 </div>
⯀⯀ </div>
30 - 39 </div>
30 - 39 </div> </div>

⯀ x 3 </div>
35 - 44 </div>
35 - 44 </div>
⯀ x 3 </div>
40 - 49 </div>
40 - 49 </div> </div>

⯀ x 4 </div>
45 - 54 </div>
45 - 54 </div>
⯀ x 4 </div>
50 - 59 </div>
50 - 59 </div> </div>

⯀ x 5 </div>
55 - 64 </div>
55 - 64 </div>
⯀ x 5 </div>
60 - 69 </div>
60 - 69 </div> </div>

⯀ x 6 </div>
65 - 74 </div>
65 - 74 </div>
⯀ x 6 </div>
70 - 79 </div>
70 - 79 </div> </div>

⯀ x 7 </div>
75+ </div>
75+ </div>
⯀ x 7 </div>
80+ </div>
80+ </div> </div>

Counters per Turn</strong>: 1 </div>
Counters per Turn</strong>: 2 </div> </div>

Vulnerabilities</strong>: FLM ▢, WAV ‐, FRS ⯀, STN ‐, AER ‐, BLT ⯀, BLM ▢, MTL ▢, NVR ⯀ </div> </div>

HP</strong>: ⯀⯀⯀⯀⯀ (5) </div>
HP</strong>: ⯀⯀⯀⯀⯀⯀⯀ (7) </div> </div>

1d6 - Loot Table </div>
1d6 - Loot Table </div> </div>

1-4 </div>
1-3 Supplies </div>
1-4 </div>
3-5 Supplies </div> </div>

5 </div>
1-2 Normal Cooking Materials </div>
5 </div>
1 Special Cooking Material </div> </div>

6 </div>
1 IP </div>
6 </div>
1 IP </div> </div>
Description</h1>
Skrint (the singular and plural are the same) are small goblinkind with a worrying quality: when a band of Skrint latch onto something beautiful or interesting, they develop a hivemind with each other. Without individual motivations, the collective sets to work protecting and venerating the “shiny” that has captured their attention.</p>
For this reason, fellow Skrint often encourage adventurers to steal the “shiny” away from a Skrint pack that’s fixated on it, even if some individual members of the pack must be hurt. Once the “shiny” is gone, the hivemind collapses and the affected Skrint will return to their original selves.</p>
Individual Skrint in the world often pick up eccentric habits, manners of dress, or obsessions in an attempt to resist this urge with fellow Skrint. They become fanatically individual to retain their selves, no matter how quirky or weird it makes them seem. Their latent telepathy, the source of the hivemind, otherwise makes them empathetic and sensitive to the needs and feelings of others.</p>
Skrint in history were responsible for the preservation of many old relics from the lost times and may be the reason so much stuff survived to this day. Did the gods make them this way? Or did they, knowing their natures, volunteer to do it? Nobody knows.</p>
Playable Skrint would use the “Hobb” Cath.</p>
Skrint were originally posted about here</a>.</p>
Encounters</h1>
An encounter with a Skrint hivemind should include at least one upranked Skrint, who can summon more units.</p>
The map should include the “shiny” - an object, or a doorway to a place - that the Skrint have latched onto. An objective of the battle should be to deprive the hivemind of the shiny, either by destroying it or carrying it off the map boundary. This will bring the Skrint to their senses, ending the battle.</p>
The GM can stipulate that Downed Skrint aren’t killed, merely injured, and that they’ll be treated by their comrades once the hivemind is dispelled. The PCs can help with this task, perhaps during a Camp scene, or leave it to the goblinkind themselves.</p>

Exsurge Auroram Introduction

2023-12-13T00:44:40+00:00

This section of the site is about Exsurge Auroram</strong>, a setting I’m developing for the Arise</a> RPG, currently under playtest.</p>

The Ferry

2023-12-13T00:17:00+00:00

</a> </figure>
</a> </figure>
</a> </figure> </div>

Story</h1>

There is a small flat-bottomed barge that carries cargo and passengers across a wild river</li>
The party is ready to set sail - or come ashore? - when enemies attack</li> </ul>
Possible Objectives</h1>

Find (or destroy) cargo contained in a crate, before an enemy gets to it</li>
Rescue someone from the barge and bring them ashore (or vice versa)</li>
Get all enemies off the riverboat, at which time it can set sail</li> </ul>
Possible Enemies</h1>

All types of enemies, coming from shore</li>
Pirates or fishpeople, who emerge from the water</li> </ul>
Tactics</h1>

The map is broadly divided into two parts: shore and the riverboat</li>
The crane and stacked cargo are the harder path onto or off of the boat, but the crane offers a perch for ranged attackers</li>
The boarding ramp is an easy chokepoint, but the gap between the boat and shore is narrow enough to leap with effort</li>
The wheelhouse and cargo on deck offer defenders cover</li>
There are few cover options on shore, but the height advantage may compensate for that</li> </ul>
Tiles</h1>

The shallow water tiles around the ferry are Slippery</strong> and Charged</strong></li>
The wheelhouse tiles on the ferry are Obcuring</strong></li> </ul>
Map download: Ferry.blend</a></p>
Texture credit: Pixel Textures Pack by FlakDeau</a></p> </div> </div>

Constellation Cards playtest

2023-12-06T09:38:27+00:00

Over the weekend, I got to playtest Constellation Cards at a small local gaming event. The results were pretty good! I think the biggest problems actually came from my own failure to use my prep.</p>
But I upheld one promise. “This game will be unlike anything you play here.”</p>

Principles of Arise GMCs

2023-11-28T23:13:37+00:00

The Arise playtest</a> is out, but there’s only a handful of GMCs - GM Characters, or “monsters” - available. Let’s work out some principles to make more, and then create a few</p>

Principles of Arise Map Creation

2023-11-25T18:05:11+00:00

Arise is different from other tactical games in a few key ways:</p>

Maps are of fixed size (8x8 or 12x12)</li>
There’s emphasis on three-dimensional movement, similar to video games like Final Fantasy Tactics</li>
Domination of a quadrant of the map gives the dominating side attack bonuses</li> </ol>
What does this mean when it comes to designing original maps?</p>

Creating Isometric Battlemaps in Blender

2023-11-25T16:40:15+00:00

Here’s what I did to create a battlemap for Arise in Blender.</p>

The City on the Lake

2023-11-22T07:08:05+00:00

This is the third part of the Project Arise playtest story. You can find the first part here</a> and the previous part here</a>.</p>
The party’s stats can be found here</a>.</p>
From here, we’ll be using the Arise Alpha Release v0.1-1.</p>

The Girl With the Pendant

2023-11-19T21:05:57+00:00

This is the second part of the Project Arise playtest story. You can find the first part here</a>.</p>
The party’s stats can be found here</a>.</p>

Once Upon a Time

2023-11-16T16:32:38+00:00

To help matara</a> playtest a new game project, and to test some of my own solo/GM-less stuff, and just to write some hopefully fun fiction, we’re going to use the project’s draft document to guide a fantasy story.</p>
I won’t be posting the draft doc itself, but you can join the MEGALOS Discord to learn more. Contact matty on Twitter</a> for details.</p>
And so we begin…</p>

What if spells were like Poke'mon?

2023-11-15T10:30:31+00:00

“The elements of life and the makings of our world, they have intent. Fire burns, sure, but is it a cozy campfire or a roaring inferno eating away at a forest? Water flows, but is it the gentle brook or a drowning tidal wave?”</p>
“You see, the old time wizards, they thought they had everything figured out. They thought, oh ho, we’re so smart and clever, what if we strip away that intent? We can just have, you know, the essence of fire, and then we imbue it with our will. Presto, a fireball!”</p>
“We shapers know better. You don’t hobble the element by stripping it of something. You empower it, by giving it more.”</p>

The Constellation Cards City Deck

2023-11-14T01:51:18+00:00

I made a lot of progress on the game recently. This includes finishing up work on an optional deck: City construction. A new addition as of tonight is a set of Personality cards.</p>
The idea is that you deal a set of Neighborhood cards to represent different parts of the city, then Dynamic cards to connect them. The goal is to create a city that will serve as a good basis for drama.</p>

The Stars Are Right

2023-11-11T20:49:15+00:00

I’ve been working on Constellation Cards (formerly “flip-a-card”, my branding is crap) for the better part of 6 years. Recently, some positive encouragement motivated me to bring it back to life and try to get it ship-shape.</p>
You can try the Tabletop Simulator version of the game by subscribing to Constellation Cards on Steam</a>.</p>
I want to talk about the technical aspects of how I created the cards in their current form, and what my next steps are for the game.</p>

The Superhero Buffet

2023-11-08T08:21:37+00:00

I started a tweet with these words: “I’ll never be off superheroes in some form”. And it’s true!</p>
I’ll talk about why, and what “superheroes” means to me, starting with this reply</a>.</p>

When players want quantum ogres

2023-10-31T17:34:23+00:00

The Quantum Ogre</a> is a concept in TTRPG encounter design. The basic idea is that the game facilitator has decided the PCs will encounter an ogre, and regardless of what choices they make or which paths they take, they will encounter an ogre.</p>
There are debates about whether this is good or not, and I’ll leave those to other people. Instead I want to look at how to put this power in player hands, because players can be excited about things happening, only for them not to happen because of how the facilitator has structured things. What if we could reward player excitement, and take some of the weight of encounter design off the shoulders of one player?</p>

Reinventing the Occult Detective

2023-10-27T01:12:31+00:00

Shows like “Supernatural” and “Lucifer”, as well as older stuff like “Forever Knight”, gave us the Occult Detective</a>: a character with some kind of magical or divine connection who solves crimes and fights mystical bad guys. Sometimes they know a little magic, sometimes they’re actual gods, but whatever the case, they’ve got a gun (or something as good), a friend (or partner) on the force, and a ton of unresolved sexual tension with some hot supernatural supporting cast.</p>
Easy win, right?</p>

Creativity Through Rearrangement

2023-10-26T17:15:06+00:00

“I have to come up with something but I don’t have any ideas!”</p>
If you’ve said these words, this process will help you fix that problem. It’s not perfect. But if you feel blocked, or lost, it will get you started. You can use it for characters, plot lines, fictional worlds, and anything else you can describe.</p>
Why is creativity so hard to get right? Because what you create has to spark strong feelings in your audience. It’s easy to say “this work made me feel this way” after you experience it. It’s harder to go the other direction and make a new thing that sparks the feelings you intend it to.</p>
It’s like cooking stew. You choose ingredients, put the best ones in the pot, stir, and serve. A mixture of experience and experimentation yields the best stew.</p>

The Unpleasable Progressive and Red Rock Mountain

2023-10-25T01:39:16+00:00

“This media is problematic”.</p>
I’ve heard dozens of variations on this refrain, hundreds of times. I’ve seen people respond to it with hostility - “what’s your problem?” - or confusion - “what’s the</em> problem?”. I’ve heard people say that such critics are unpleasable. “They’ll never be happy”, they grumble.</p>
What can we take away from this kind of situation?</p>

POSSE Comitatus

2023-10-24T00:00:00+00:00

Twitter is taking an awfully long time to die, but its death is widely seen as inevitable.</p>
Some people have already fled to other social media sites, e.g. Mastodon, or the newer Bluesky or Threads. I did too, to be fair.</p>
But the whole idea, that my stuff lives on the servers owned by people manifestly committed to shitty behavior, still feels bad.</p>
POSSE</a> is essentially a fancy new acronym for a very old idea - publish and syndicate content. The tools, like RSS and Atom, have been around for years. ActivityPub</a> is really neat, but it’s an evolution of an existing concept.</p>
So what does all this mean?</p>

Building a Better Vampire

2022-11-01T06:07:00+00:00

There’s an excellent thread on Twitter</a> about magic, urban fantasy, and the Dresden Files in particular.</p>
Since my reply to it talked about my frustration with worldbuilding in contemporary urban fantasy and how I respond to it, let me illustrate what I consider to be “good”.</p>
The vampire</strong> has been with us for millennia. Before Bram Stoker’s Dracula</em>, cultures around the world had their own stories about blood-drinking undead fiends. Works like “Nosferatu”, Anne Rice’s books, White Wolf’s “Vampire: the Masquerade”, and more continued to flesh out what vampires were about. They became metaphors for sexual assault, disease, and other social anxieties, but equally were cast as darkly magnetic, powerful, and tragic figures on the outskirts of polite society.</p>

How Does Summoning Work?

2022-08-03T08:58:00+00:00

How does your fictional world’s summoning or conjuring work? When your magic users call for something to appear, what’s going on that makes it work?</p>
Here are a few sample models I’ve seen in fiction. Each approach implies different things about how to break the summoning, and the entity’s attitude toward being summoned. They can also be combined.</p>

Red Hugh

2022-05-19T03:41:19.324+00:00

A vampire with a crush on his diabolical sire.</p>

Spitfire

2022-05-05T01:50:58.862+00:00

A Golden Age hero with a jetpack. This version of the character is from a Golden Age game, but there’s a modern-era Innocent version of the same concept.</p>

Xenocryst

2022-03-25T10:56:26.489+00:00

An archaeologist’s child transformed into an earth elemental by a chthonic god, and now bound to them in a rocky relationship.</p>

Project 9

2022-03-20T12:04:31.356+00:00

A mysterious alien whose true form is an ever-changing blur, due to their extension into 3D space from the hyperdimension. But they can take on humanoid forms to interact with people. They’re an entertainer by profession, and are trying to continue that here on Earth.</p>

iSpider

2022-03-19T05:06:25.816+00:00

A particularly bright henchman of a particularly dim inventor, who’s making a name clowning on his former criminal comrades.</p>

Archive

2022-03-18T03:40:44.818+00:00

Lewis Carter’s visit to an experimental observatory ended when he was struck by a cosmic beam that encoded a dying civilization’s collective wisdom. Now he’s got all this knowledge and all this power, and it’s threatening to burn its way out of his skull - unless he does something with it…</p>

Starhawk

2022-03-01T22:08:33.618+00:00

“I take care of this baby bird. It’s going to hatch into something amazing someday, so I look after it until then. Keeping an eye on it taught me to look after anyone or anything else that needs it.”</p>

Breakthrough

2021-09-11T12:40:52.315+00:00

“Home and family are fragile, and worth fighting for.”</p>

Happy Phantom

2021-09-11T10:47:32.747+00:00

A Beacon who became convinced he’s a ghost.</p>

Rivet

2021-09-11T09:46:23.343+00:00

A cheerful not-so-ex villain. He’s doing his best, but he’s still troublingly violent at times…</p>

Nick Knack

2021-09-11T09:27:13.164+00:00

sonder</strong> n. the realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own—populated with their own ambitions, friends, routines, worries and inherited craziness—an epic story that continues invisibly around you like an anthill sprawling deep underground, with elaborate passageways to thousands of other lives that you’ll never know existed, in which you might appear only once, as an extra sipping coffee in the background, as a blur of traffic passing on the highway, as a lighted window at dusk.</p> </blockquote>

Armiger

2021-09-11T09:19:31.154+00:00

Adonis Creed, if he joined a group like the Green Lanterns, but instead of magic green rings, it’s Thor’s hammer, but a fantasy sword.</p>

The Kingdom and the Throne

2021-09-11T09:19:31.154+00:00

The King family has been in the adventuring business for generations, but Jack King</strong> was the first to imbue himself with powers via chemistry. Now, he fights a mortal enemy in the form of Rex Talionis</strong>, genius supervillain. From his science base, the Kingdom, located in Halcyon City, Jack disappears for months at a time, while Rex unleashes minions and hired goons to disrupt civilization from his secret volcanic lair, the Throne.</p>
However, Jack and Rex used to be the same person. Jack performed a “gene separation” via magically-augmented chemistry, with his family’s long-time ally Cyrus the sorcerer</strong>. The result was two people, one good, one evil.</p>
Now Jack has disappeared. The rest of the King family, including siblings, uncles, and Jack’s wife Alisha (the superheroine Moonglow</strong>), have to stop Rex Talionis’s current master plan. And they’ve assembled a team…</p>

Reckoner

2021-09-11T08:55:13.692+00:00

High concept: “human Godzilla”</p>

Gogo

2021-09-11T08:46:27.258+00:00

A delivery driver who drank the wrong vial of Super-Soldier serum.</p>

Unwinnable Fights In Masks

2021-08-09T01:23:22.667+00:00

Suggestions on creating more challenging encounters in “Masks: a New Generation”</p>

Ex-Factor

2021-08-09T01:22:52.394+00:00

I had a simple idea: you can get plenty of interesting drama from two characters in a game if they’ve already had a romantic relationship, and sometimes more, than if they’re going to have one.</p>

Quarto Decimo Novum: Job Weapons

2019-12-15T03:37:27+00:00

Most classes and jobs are associated with specific weapons or armor, listed below. Defense stats are a combined total based on armor and typical weapon(s).</p>
Casters use implements instead, described elsewhere. Casters typically wear heavy robes (defense 1, soak 0).</p>

Quarto Decimo Novum: Talents Part 2

2019-12-15T00:20:36+00:00

Second-tier talents for experienced characters.</p>

Quarto Decimo Novum: Sample Characters

2019-12-05T20:10:05+00:00

Here’s a sample character: Ardbert</a>, a young Marauder on a mission. He is a natural, compulsive hero, and can’t stop helping people, even when it puts him in danger.</p>

Quarto Decimo Novum: Implements

2019-12-03T08:34:39+00:00

These are the magical implements (Genesys p. 218) used by different classes and jobs in the game.</p>
Codex or Grimoire</strong>: used in conjunction with the arcanist’s tradition. When Conjuring a companion from aether, you automatically receive the Summon Ally effect at no extra difficulty. The creature stays summoned until you dismiss it, and you need not use the concentrate maneuver to sustain it. Encumbrance 1, Price 750, Rarity 5.</p>
Rod</strong>: used in conjunction with black magic. When using a rod to cast offensive magic, ignore the penalties imposed by the first Range modifier, and boost base damage by 4. Encumbrance 2, Price 400, Rarity 3.</p>
Wand or Cane</strong>: used in conjunction with white magic. When using a wand or cane, Divine Only effects are one less difficulty than normal. Healing spells also restore two more wounds than normal. Encumbrance 2, Price 400, Rarity 5.</p>

Quarto Decimo Novum: Soul Crystals

2019-11-30T08:17:21+00:00

This is an early draft of how soul crystals and jobs might work. This material is probably subject to change.</p> </blockquote>
Soul crystals are small, aetherically-charged crystals carried by character in a way that harmonizes body and soul, and brings the wisdom and power of past wielders of the crystal. When someone with the Soul Crystal Attunement talent holds a soul crystal for a Job they’ve unlocked (e.g. Paladin), they gain the benefits of the talent.</p>

Quarto Decimo Novum: Talents Part 1

2019-11-22T21:02:47+00:00

First-tier talents for new characters.</p>

Quarto Decimo Novum: Archetypes

2019-11-22T09:42:11+00:00

A list of racial archetypes for the typical Eorzean races - Elezen, Hyur, Lalafell, Miqo’te, and Roegadyn.</p>

Quarto Decimo Novum: Development Notes

2019-11-22T00:00:03+00:00

I’m building the racial archetypes for the game, starting with the five playable races: Elezen, Hyur, Lalafell, Miqo’te, and Roegadyn. I also started with the 2.x classes (including Rogue). I haven’t started on talents or magic yet, but I know where I want to go, at least. And I know about jobs. So what does all this look like, and what do I think is coming next?</p>

Jobs: I want most of the mechanics to be provided by a “soul crystal”, which is a piece of equipment. The soul crystal will act as a magical implement, allowing you to use certain forms of magic more easily, e.g. chakras for Monk or summoning magic for Summoner having similar benefits as existing implements.</li>
Can anyone just pick up a Soul Crystal? Maybe, maybe not. I think it would be good to have a ranked Talent that does two things: unlock the power of a specific Soul Crystal (e.g. Soul of the Paladin), and make one associated skill a career skill (e.g. Conjury Aether for the Paladin’s curative and protective spellcasting). So you’d need both the Talent and the crystal to “be” a paladin. Each Talent rank past the first unlocks two more Soul Crystals, and you pick one more relevant career skill. This means at tier 5, you’ve unlocked a maximum of 9 crystals, which I think is pretty accomplished.</li>
I know one other Talent I want: “Cavalry Training” or something like it. You get Riding as a career skill, and advantage on any maneuvers where your trained chocobo is able to help you.</li>
Magic: I plan to keep using the Genesys magic system as written, but write up specific spells e.g. Cure 1/2/3 in advance.</li>
Magic Talents: I will import something like the “Signature Spell” talent from Realms of Terrinoth to make it easier to cast such things. Others might appear as well, e.g. something to replicate the Black Mage’s Astral Fire/Umbral Ice rotation.</li>
That said, not every adventurer is the Warrior of Light. I want to leave room for characters to come up with their own styles of magic, their own mixture of effects, and so on. I’ll be creating Talents with this in mind.</li> </ul>
More on the way soon!</p>

Quarto Decimo Novum: Careers

2019-11-20T02:23:22+00:00

These are the careers available for starting characters. These are not the final “jobs” (e.g. Paladin, Black Mage, Scholar) - those will be introduced in a separate post.</p>

Quarto Decimo Novum: Skills

2019-11-19T04:20:25+00:00

What skills are we able to use? What skills are we changing?</p>

The following skills don’t exist in the setting: existing magic skills (Arcana, Divine, Primal, Runes, Verse); Alchemy (use Synthesis); Astrocartography</li>
The Computer skill is now Magitek, and covers the operation of Allagan, Garlean, or similar technology, such as teleportation nodes</li>
The Mechanics skill is now Synthesis, and allows characters to craft or repair physical things (from metalsmithing to leatherworking to alchemy) using a mixture of mundane and magical processes</li>
There are no “Light” or “Heavy” divisions within Melee and Ranged skills</li>
The following Knowledge skills exist: Aether (the nature of magic); History (events from the past); Nature (living things like plants and animals)</li> </ul>
The following magical skills exist, and use the optional rules for magic from the Genesys core book (p. 210). All skills can use the “Attack” and “Utility” magical actions.</p>

Arcane: complex spells and unusual sources of aether (Barrier, Conjure, Curse, Heal)</li>
Conjury: spells of healing and protection (Augment, Barrier, Dispel, Heal)</li>
Darkness: aspected aether used for destructive purposes (Conjure, Curse, Dispel)</li>
Martial: the harmonization of one’s own aether for combat purposes (Augment, Barrier, Heal)</li> </ul>
The next post will build these skills into careers, and talk about soul crystals.</p>
Image sources and credits:</p>

The banner image is from the FFXIV Fan Kit</a></li> </ul>

Quarto Decimo Novum: Introduction

2019-11-19T01:48:45+00:00

I love the world of Final Fantasy XIV</a>. I’ve been playing it for years, and for all that time, the story has continued to be interesting, with twists and turns and shocks and surprises, but always rooted in an essential humanity and goodness. Even the latest expansion, “Shadowbringers”, casts you as the Warrior of Darkness - but Dark is not Evil</a>.</p>
How best to bring this to the gaming table? I’ve talked about the Genesys system before, and I feel like its mixture of mechanical and narrative systems is a good mix for FFXIV. I don’t want something tied to the Dungeons & Dragons universe, and I don’t want to create something too far gone or too unique for gamers.</p>
So I’m going to start writing “Quarto Decimo Novum”, an adaption of the FFXIV universe for Genesys. This is a fan-produced project only, and will not be sold or marketed in any way. I think both Fantasy Flight Games and Square Enix have produced great products, and if you feel the need to spend money, spend it with them.</p>

Duo

2016-08-19T00:00:00+00:00

Forgive me, Father. This is my first confession with you. It will not be my last.</p>

The Party

2016-05-19T00:00:00+00:00

Every year, I travel back in time to that day. My younger self, and my husband, are waiting for me. I get the tears out of the way first. I brush my hair, put on make-up, dress up, try to be presentable. Every year I’m a little older, so every year I try to look a little nicer.</p>

Army of the Dead

2015-09-04T00:00:00+00:00

To my dearest Tomas,</p>
I have been your older brother these ten years of your life. I have always tried to show you the importance of honor, duty, and ideals. We are a noble family. Our father is a prosperous lord. A heavy weight rests on our shoulders. That weight now forces me to tell you certain things, and ask your forgiveness for others. I will not be returning home. I wish for you to understand why.</p>

Eternal Slumber

2015-09-04T00:00:00+00:00

“The graves of the world are packed with the silently screaming dead.”</p>
That is what the Master told those who served him. He paid us well, and his kindness earned him our loyalty. But such pronouncements from a man prone to peculiar beliefs and unwholesome thoughts made us shudder.</p>

Pray

2015-09-04T00:00:00+00:00

“Vice is the spice of life, reverend,” said Sutherland, smiling around his cigar like a Cheshire cat. The black-clad minister sighed and slid a weathered pamphlet across the table, and Sutherland toyed with it for a few moments.</p>
“Sometimes bland is better. I’m trying to save you, young man,” the minister explained wearily. His wrinkled hands shook from the effort of bringing a glass of water to his parched lips; Sutherland’s alcohol stayed in its crystal decanter, waiting to slip into the master’s good graces when the cigar lost his favor.</p>

Uncertainty

2015-09-04T00:00:00+00:00

Lucky’s been directing movies for 30 years. I’ve been acting in them for eight. So when Lucky asks me to try something new for the fifth David Dark movie, I go along with it.</p>

Astral Frontier

D-MON

Gearshifting in Games

What If?

Gaming Recap: October 13, 2024

Gaming Recap: October 6, 2024

Gaming Recap: September 29, 2024

Gaming Recap: September 22, 2024

Gaming Recap: September 15, 2024

Performing Yourself vs. Moving In

The Moment

Strange New Worlds

The Lacuna Virtual Tabletop

Base-Building Roundup

Mighty Orbots (1984)

Trapped in the MMORPG

Dungeons & Dragons fusion jobs

Astral Clockwork

Captain America (1944)

The Metaphysics of the Menagerie

Framartes

Averdam

Meanirin

Zarkhaen

Introduction

The Fantasy Solar System

Final Fantasy fusion jobs

Fungal Necropolis Entrance

Story</h1> A fortified ramp leading from the forest down into the depths of a mysterious abandoned forest</li>

Tiles</h1> The flowing water tiles are Charged</strong> but inflict the POISONED status if you occupy them.</li> </ul> Map download: FungalNecropolisEntrance.blend</a></p> Texture credit: Pixel Textures Pack by FlakDeau</a></p> </div> </div>

The Math of Speech Bubbles

Session 2 Playtest

Success Through Failure in TTRPGs

Galidrie

Walking Pavise

Saturday Playtest

The Forest Path

Story</h1> In the middle of a forest, a dried-up creek has formed a pathway</li>

Possible Objectives</h1> Locate an item lost in the forest</li>

Tiles</h1> The flowing water tiles are Charged</strong></li> The fallen log tiles Obscuring</strong></li> </ul> Map download: ForestPath.blend</a></p> Texture credit: Pixel Textures Pack by FlakDeau</a></p> </div> </div>

Skrint

Exsurge Auroram Introduction

The Ferry

Story</h1> There is a small flat-bottomed barge that carries cargo and passengers across a wild river</li>

Possible Objectives</h1> Find (or destroy) cargo contained in a crate, before an enemy gets to it</li> Rescue someone from the barge and bring them ashore (or vice versa)</li>

Tiles</h1> The shallow water tiles around the ferry are Slippery</strong> and Charged</strong></li> The wheelhouse tiles on the ferry are Obcuring</strong></li> </ul> Map download: Ferry.blend</a></p> Texture credit: Pixel Textures Pack by FlakDeau</a></p> </div> </div>

Constellation Cards playtest

Principles of Arise GMCs

Principles of Arise Map Creation

Creating Isometric Battlemaps in Blender

The City on the Lake

The Girl With the Pendant

Once Upon a Time

What if spells were like Poke'mon?

The Constellation Cards City Deck

The Stars Are Right

The Superhero Buffet

When players want quantum ogres

Reinventing the Occult Detective

Creativity Through Rearrangement

The Unpleasable Progressive and Red Rock Mountain

POSSE Comitatus

Building a Better Vampire

How Does Summoning Work?

Red Hugh

Spitfire

Xenocryst

Project 9

iSpider

Archive

Starhawk

Breakthrough

Happy Phantom

Rivet

Nick Knack

Armiger

The Kingdom and the Throne

Reckoner

Gogo

Unwinnable Fights In Masks

Tiles</h1>

The flowing water tiles are Charged</strong> but inflict the POISONED status if you occupy them.</li> </ul>
Map download: FungalNecropolisEntrance.blend</a></p>
Texture credit: Pixel Textures Pack by FlakDeau</a></p> </div> </div>

Tiles</h1>

The flowing water tiles are Charged</strong></li>
The fallen log tiles Obscuring</strong></li> </ul>
Map download: ForestPath.blend</a></p>
Texture credit: Pixel Textures Pack by FlakDeau</a></p> </div> </div>

Tiles</h1>

The shallow water tiles around the ferry are Slippery</strong> and Charged</strong></li>
The wheelhouse tiles on the ferry are Obcuring</strong></li> </ul>
Map download: Ferry.blend</a></p>
Texture credit: Pixel Textures Pack by FlakDeau</a></p> </div> </div>