I’ve never seen a cleric done well. A few days ago, I finished a (re-) playthrough of Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire, in anticipation of playing Obsidian’s new game in the same setting, Avowed. There are a lot of things I like about Deadfire, but it’s a game that gives very little moment to moment … god games
How does it work? What makes it tick? What are the mechanisms driving gameplay forward? Are we on a railroad or in a sandbox? These are the questions that plague me when I look at the vast unchiseled form of this game. I understand on a broad level how I want the game to feel, … The Serket Hack: Big Picture Loops
Content Warning This is an intersection of kink and tabletop roleplaying games. Pull out now if that’s not your speed. Monster Hunter Wilds released last Thursday, so we’re going to talk about handlers this week. I’m getting ahead of myself though. This is a post about the Knight and Squire classes in The Serket Hack. … The Serket Hack: Handlers & Hounds
On January 1st, Idle Cartulary over at Playful Void threw down the gauntlet by challenging everyone to make a dungeon zine. Everyone should make a dungeon, at least once. Everyone should get in touch with the hands-on craft of something physical like a zine. Everyone should get a little messy with it. I took this … dungeons (where do i start?)
One of my favorite mecha writers, Osaka, wrote a post recently. I love pilots don’t get me wrong but the real sauce to a good mecha story is to tell a story where you couldn’t substitute the robot with something else like a dragon in a fantasy story or a fighter jet in a modern … Full Metal Bones: 2
I definitely thought I’d be following up my last post to talk more about The Serket Hack, but the mecha thoughts have been hounding me this week. In particular, the thriving mechsploitation community over on bluesky lives rent free in my head. Let’s talk about Full Metal Bones. The core of FMB is purely a … Full Metal Bones: 1
I’ve got two ttrpgs I’m cooking in the oven currently. The first is a mecha rpg called Full Metal Bones and it’s been on the backburner while I figure out exactly how I want to differentiate it from other mecha rpgs. The second is a fantasy rpg with the working title The Serket Hack, which … The Serket Hack: 1
Gadda has my gears turning again. A couple days ago he made a post over on bluesky talking about the aggro mechanics for the Log Horizon TRPG. Now I can’t stop thinking about aggro and enemy combat behavior in general, and I want to refine my thoughts so I can add some mechanics to my … Aggro, Hate, and Enemy Targeting
Let’s take the fact that System Matters is given. How do we determine whether a specific system is a good or bad fit? What are games, actually? The good news is that people have been giving this a lot of thought for a long time. The bad news is that there are no clear definitions. … system anatomy: theory 103
In July 1999, Ron Edwards posted an essay called “System Does Matter”. A copy of this essay is available on the now-defunct forums of The Forge, which was a community of people interested in publishing their own RPGs. A large percentage of all ttrpg discussion and discourse can be traced back to this fundamental concept. … system matters: theory 102
