tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38259622009-11-22T20:33:28.593-08:00a blog for game designersJohn Harperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11804100598627834615noreply@blogger.comBlogger240125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3825962.post-40309763485109845682009-11-07T11:19:00.001-08:002009-11-07T11:37:38.451-08:00

Last month, Ben, Jonathan, and I got together for a playtest of How to Host a Dungeon: Clash of Civilizations. This is gigantic multi-player How to Host a Dungeon variant. I'm just getting around to digesting the learnings now.For a while I thought I'd just junk this whole idea. The things I like about How to Host a Dungeon solo play feel dull in group play. Counting my Dwarven population to see

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3825962.post-85633801476669814112009-10-22T11:44:00.000-07:002009-10-22T11:56:39.191-07:00

I'm taking part in a contest called Two Games One Name. The idea is to give two designers one name and a divergent mechanic to work from, then see what they come up with. Josh Roby and I are supposed to each design a game called "Atlantis 2037". Josh will be designing a game that can be played while travelling. I'll be designing a game with fiddly componetry. At home I have an Anchor Pocket Atlas

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3825962.post-66092414046440817232009-08-30T12:09:00.001-07:002009-08-30T12:27:39.890-07:00

Blacktop is going to be the name for my automotive combat RPG, at least in the time being. I've written up a prospective table of contents for the game, listing out all the stuff I foresee putting into the game.IntroductionCharacters (who fights)Passion: why you driveTraits: what makes you better at driving and fightingRelationships: your place in the world of BlacktopThe World of Blacktop (where

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3825962.post-409299776719899852009-08-26T08:34:00.000-07:002009-08-30T12:28:07.507-07:00

I’m designing a Car Wars reboot. That’s to say, I’m writing a post-apocalyptic automotive combat role-playing game. Skeptics prepare to be wowed!Here are my design and publishing goals:It will have a freely-available versionRPG portion will be fully compatible with all editions of Car Wars vehicle design and combat rulesWill also include its own vehicle design rules, which will be somewhat

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3825962.post-37366748809128939932009-08-25T23:03:00.000-07:002009-08-30T12:28:20.094-07:00

Steve Jackson Games’ Car Wars is a great classic that’s massively overdue for an overhaul. SJGames tried to overhaul it a few years ago with a new, streamlined rules set, but their approach wasn’t successful, for a bunch of reasons that I won’t go into here.Why does it need an overhaul?The first reason is accessibility. If you want to play it today, you have to buy it piecemeal on eBay, or back

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3825962.post-68652755708374191292009-08-25T12:59:00.001-07:002009-10-23T14:19:30.061-07:00

Misery Bubblegum is an awesome game by Tony Lower-Basch. It’s about high-school relationship drama. Its home page is here: http://www.museoffire.com/Games/MiseryBubblegum/. I believe you will soon be able to buy it at Indie Press Revolution: http://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/home.phpBut people find Misery Bubblegum hard to play, and the rules that come with the game aren’t that helpful. I

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3825962.post-32373992216875709192009-04-05T01:56:00.000-07:002009-04-05T02:04:14.929-07:00

Here's something we haven't done in years: design a game based on this picture, found on the Paleo-Future blog in the post "Computer Criminals of the Future (1981)". 

Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08120415035474286764noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3825962.post-69987329575770348862009-02-01T11:12:00.000-08:002009-02-01T11:15:42.905-08:00

Sexy Deadly is a game that Johnstone Metzger, Lance Allen, Joe MacDonald, and I created for Jared Sorensen's Indie Game Design Challenge. It's available for $1.00.Now we've got a free supplement:The supplement, Seducing New Targets, includes:A full demo with pregen characters and objective for Sexy DeadlyVengeance is my Name, a deathmatch supplement for Sexy DeadlyCommando Squad, a WWII commando

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3825962.post-39319337048389478442008-12-28T19:17:00.000-08:002008-12-28T19:18:59.578-08:00

Coming soon, from Joe MacDonald, Lance Allen, Johnstone Metzger, and Tony Dowler.

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3825962.post-47460133172410188502008-11-07T11:12:00.000-08:002008-11-08T21:05:34.077-08:00

Marketing is most often defined as creating demand for your product. To a lot of people that means artificially drumming up demand for your product through hype, buzz, advertising, or some other means.But the simplest form of marketing is often to tell the right people that your product exists. I've found Boardgamegeek.com to be an invaluable resource for doing that, which is why I think every

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3825962.post-58135444707753289092008-11-04T09:24:00.000-08:002008-11-07T19:44:08.232-08:00

In the diadem of Tutankhamen there is a prehistoric gem whose origin has mystified scientists since it was discovered. Analysis of the ultra-rare stone, which must have had incredible value when it was set, shows that it is, astonishingly, more than 90% pure silica glass, and with an age that pre-dates any known glass-producing civilization.The true story, ferreted out by scientists in 2006, is

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3825962.post-76001535601019630232008-11-03T12:34:00.001-08:002008-11-04T07:47:53.409-08:00

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3825962.post-79867469495494690552008-11-01T19:53:00.000-07:002008-11-03T12:35:38.550-08:00

Secret project:Playstorming got me this far, but what now?I think I'm playtested into a corner.

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3825962.post-2576465732073354252008-10-30T14:39:00.000-07:002008-11-01T19:58:09.123-07:00

That Republican isn't very happy that I took her Cuban base to form a new congressional district.I don't know anything about political redistricting, but I know what I like.Games written with a didactic purpose typically suck, but The Redistricting Game is loads of fun. You play a political consultant assigned with redrawing the political districts so one party (or both, see below) can screw the

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3825962.post-19351248999472448172008-10-28T10:07:00.000-07:002008-10-30T15:06:42.119-07:00

When I was in junior high school and we made games, our trick was to make character classes of whatever we thought were the important types of people in our world. When we made our Teenage Role Playing Game (TARP), the classes reflected high school stereotype of rocker, skater, jock, and nerd. When we made a science fiction game it was scientist, soldier, pilot, and space knight.In Principia, the

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3825962.post-62798922299923446822008-10-27T09:05:00.001-07:002008-10-27T09:21:17.708-07:00

I just published a book of dungeon maps, For the Love of Dungeons. Go ahead and check it out!

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3825962.post-31075360299394655912008-08-12T18:40:00.001-07:002008-08-12T22:18:07.495-07:00

How to Host a Dungeon is back from the printers and in the assembly plant!Some of the graphics didn't come out in the print run as nicely as I'd like, so purchasers be warned! I will, however, replace your copy from the second printing if you're dissatisfied.Update: And here's how to find it! Come to the Forge Booth at Gen Con. I'll be there much of the day giving demos of the game as well.

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3825962.post-65344152787829529472008-05-10T14:20:00.001-07:002008-05-10T14:21:12.448-07:00

Principia is a good system for games where the characters are embedded in a social order under stress. I've been playtesting Principia in it's default setting a lot. I was thinking about alternate settings for a game at Go Play NW, and Star Wars just kind of jumped out at me.When you set out to run Principia, your first job is to find a pressure point on the current world order and push. Make

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3825962.post-30021980390857209912008-05-08T21:44:00.000-07:002008-05-08T21:52:56.620-07:00

Go Play NW 2008 pre-registration is almost done!Go Play NW 2008 is our home-grown role-playing game convention. This year it's going to be held at the Watertown Hotel in Seattle's University District, May 31 - June 1. You can find out more and register at the Wiki.Last year we used an ad-hoc game sign up system where people simply showed up, offered games, found players, and played. This year

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3825962.post-47440738022010815412008-04-23T12:10:00.000-07:002008-10-23T16:03:47.926-07:00

I've been playing a lot of old-school D&D this year and enjoying it tremendously. This has given rise to a little "secret" project that's slowly coming to fruition. Here's a little preview:Update: to my surprise, this map has turned up on Hand Drawn Maps and been referenced on Metafilter. Go map!Update: For the Love of Dungeons is published!

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3825962.post-40831573743692820342008-04-14T21:44:00.000-07:002008-04-14T22:28:59.124-07:00

I was just reading Ed and Joe's blog Esoteric Murmurs, and found a post back from the end of February linking to a discussion about "how best to experience weird fantasy in a [D&D] campaign" on a forum called Knights & Knaves Alehouse. Ed calls attention to a particular suggestion made by a forum member called Kellri, the "Otus/Elmore Rule": The Otus/Elmore rule: When adding something new to the

Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08120415035474286764noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3825962.post-47780740101195827232008-03-18T14:38:00.000-07:002008-03-18T14:41:50.608-07:00

I should've announced this here a while ago, but we're holding our second annual Go Play NW event this year May 31 - June 1.Go Play NW 2008 is a gathering of role-playing gamers and game designers where we get together, play some games, renew old acquaintances, and make new friends. For more information, see The Go Play NW wiki. Also, here's the registration page. Because of our new location, we

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3825962.post-57081013196600341182008-03-12T00:48:00.000-07:002008-03-12T00:55:05.165-07:00

Over on Story Games, JBR made some very pointed observations about Tomb of Horrors. So I feel compelled to explain why I consider Tomb of Horrors to be one of the greatest D&D modules every written. Everything I need to make this defense is contained in the first hallway of the dungeon.WARNING: SPOILERS ENSUE!First of all, any given party is either going to examine everything carefully or they’re

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3825962.post-20836279062322967062008-02-26T01:21:00.000-08:002008-02-26T02:34:28.706-08:00

Over in the Story Games forum, user komradebob started a thread asking for some more stereotypes to use in a game crossing Space: 1889 with Miss Schiffer's School for Young Ladies of Quality (Meguey Baker's game in development). Apparently characters in YLQ have a nationality, which gives them bonuses on certain tasks; these bonuses are based on stereotypes of those nationalities. Three examples

Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08120415035474286764noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3825962.post-19277294645478010002008-02-21T09:13:00.000-08:002008-02-21T09:37:16.833-08:00

Wow this place is quiet.Maybe it's because God invented January to test us and the devil invented February to show he could test us better. A pox on those two months of dreariness and dark.So here's what I've been up to in game and design lately:I'm still refining and updating How to Host a Dungeon. It's gotten some nice praise from quarters I never would have expected. Plus Ben Lehman won't let

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com0