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
Author: Paul Beakley
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