The Usual Suspects

Something that occurred to me just this year: having an encyclopedic knowledge of RPGs hasn’t actually made me happier. In fact it’s probably made me less happy participating in my hobby, because I don’t share the same assumptions as the players with whom I spend most of my time. It’s given me all the tools… Continue reading The Usual Suspects

Tales of Xadia and the Limits of Canon

We played four sessions of Tales of Xadia over the past couple months. Tales is the first complete and self-contained game to come out of Cortex Prime, the third generation of the Cortex ruleset by Cam Banks. My personal experience with long-form Cortex play was a rough start with Serenity way back in the day,… Continue reading Tales of Xadia and the Limits of Canon

Furniture Store Lore

Sometimes I find myself in the mood to peruse a lore*-heavy game rather than work my way through a book-book. Ugh, fiction/non-fiction, so much work! I want a short, easy imaginative jaunt just long enough for a bathroom break. Or I’m between campaigns and I’m hoping for inspiration. (*Lore for the purposes of what I’m… Continue reading Furniture Store Lore

Interview on +1 Forward

Rach Shelkey and Rich Rogers interviewed me again for their excellent podcast, +1 Forward. It's always a pleasure being on their show! This episode was interesting and a little technical, about the problems and opportunities to scale campaign play throughout a PbtA game. It's a tricky problem, because there typically aren't any GM-side adjustments you… Continue reading Interview on +1 Forward