attacks of opportunity

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 sure the pressure point encompasses something the characters care about. Finally, pose a question that ties them together.

So I'm thinking about Star Wars Episode 2. The Jedi Order, the Senate, and the Republic are all under stress. Let's take the Jedi Order. That's our pressure point. We'll decide it's fate through play. We'll assume the characters care about the fate of the Jedi Order. This is Star Wars after all.

Now we need a question. This is the question we're going to answer at the end of play. "Does the Jedi Order deserve to survive?" is a good one. How about "Is the Jedi Order hypocritical?", or "Can balance be restored to the Force (without destroying the Jedi order)?"

So for characters we can have a group of Jedi, or a mixed group of heroes, or even Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Palpatine. That sounds pretty cool--a game where we can play some of the principal characters on both sides of Episode 2 and decide the ultimate fate of the Jedi order.

Labels: go play nw, Principia

Posted by Unknown at 2:20 PM | Permalink | Comments

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 we're going to try having a bit more structure, with a mix of pre-scehduled games you can sign up for and ad-hoc gaming on site.

Labels: go play nw

Posted by Unknown at 9:44 PM | Permalink | Comments

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 only have space for 75 people this year.

You can also now order T-shirts with your registration. The theme is "robo-sasquatch". John Harper is doing the design again this year. We don't have a preview yet, but it should be pretty cool.

See you at Go Play!

Labels: go play nw

Posted by Unknown at 2:38 PM | Permalink | Comments

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 it lie.

We're still working on Principia. Brandon came up with a heap of secrets for the game, and I've been working up a new playtest version with the new secrets and positions.

I helped run the Story Games Lounge at Conquest NW. Here's an after-action thread.

Also, we have a date for our convetion, Go Play NW. It's going to be May 31-June1. Go to the Wiki for more information.

Labels: go play nw, How to host a dungeon, Principia

Posted by Unknown at 9:13 AM | Permalink | Comments

In the great city of Seattle, Washington, at a moderately nice hotel, there shall be a weekend of those games we like to play. We (a committee of five that includes myself, John Harper, Tony Dowler, Phil LaRose and Mike Sugarbaker) are currently scouting locations and generally trying to finalize a time. Right now, we are heavily leaning towards one of the following weekends:

June 1-3
June 8-10
June 15-17

Our favorite is June 8-10. That's Friday through Sunday. Yes, we will have full-on gaming on Sunday. (Friday will be a little less structured.) June 15-17 has Father's Day in it so it is the least likely of the bunch.

We currently think our location will be a hotel in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle. Food and drink are plentiful nearby and things are just generally swell there. The problem is that rooms will be more expensive - we don't yet have a quote that feels solid enough to relay to you all - and we will likely have to ask a touch more for covering the meeting space. That's just how it has to be in a place like Seattle proper.

As far as scheduling events, we want to follow the Forge Midwest model and keep things fairly loose, but we will be applying some technology to try and make things a little more transparent, both before and during the event. This will probably just amount to a wiki page.

It would be great if we could start to get an idea of who's interested in coming. Since we're posting this notice in multiple fora, we'd like to not do that part here in the forum thread. To express your interest in attending, send email to goplaynw@gmail.com. Feel free to include any preferences or commentary in your email for our reference. Some things you could possibly tell us that would be helpful:
Name
Address
Phone
Email
I will be renting a hotel room
I will be sharing someone else's room or staying off site
I'm not sure if I will be renting a hotel room
Game(s) I want to run
Game(s) I want to play
How I heard about Go Play NW
Comments and suggestions

This thread is of course for anything else you might do besides RSVP: express excitement and undying love, complain, tell us we're stupid, etc.

West Coast represent! Gooooo Play!

Labels: go play nw

Posted by JudaicDiablo at 12:37 AM | Permalink | Comments