I hang out with a lot of OSR folks. It’s where I’ve found community, and it’s where I perceive the most discussion happening in the ttrpg space. The blogging culture is thriving and it feels like people are talking with each other rather than posting to an audience. Unfortunately, despite the excellent work Elmcat is … anti-blorb principles
It’s time we re-examine what we mean when we use the term “quantum ogre”. The seed of this post started when Valeria posted her review of Fabula Ultima and quoted Emanuele Galletto (the game’s author) using the term to describe the game’s playstyle. If I had been vaguely aware of the term beforehand, that post … quantum ogre reborn
About a week ago, I jokingly announced to my friends that I had seen one too many posts about torches. My comrades in the OSR have received abundant mileage from blog posts talking about torches, torch alternatives, lighting, making light matter, and all manner of darkness mechanics. Truly: I love that for them. I am … alternative game fantasy: a manifesto
A little while back, I showed one of my friends the website I’m building and she asked me what faggot games meant. I directed her to click on the link, as I believe that Eclipse expresses an eloquent vision for the movement in her post. However, I wanted to give a shot at explaining in … Faggot Games: in my own words
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?)
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
Jargon is necessary to have deeper conversations from an academic perspective. In order to build upon ideas, we develop a shorthand to refer to foundational concepts. I don’t want to assume that any readers of this blog are already familiar with pre-existing jargon, so I’m going to explain foundational concepts as they come up. rules … rules elide: theory 101
