We started playing Nathan Paoletta’s Imp of the Perverse last week. It’s a funky, specific horror game that evokes Edgar Allan Poe vibes in 1830s-1850s Jacksonian America. Playing the first session reminded me about how hard I find conflict resolution games. Imp of the Perverse is squarely in that camp of design. Conflict resolution is… Continue reading Conflict Resolution is Indie Gaming on Hard Mode
The healing power of children’s laughter is undisputed. I was reminded of this on a recent opportunity to escape my quarantine, since coronavirus shut down cities across the United States. I went to the beach and was moved to tears by my friend’s willingness to touch me, and because of the intensity of joy radiating… Continue reading Guest Column: The Healing Power of Playing Make Believe
Quick note up front: I wrote this as last month's Patreon-first post, so it's ready to be unlocked for the public this month. I'm holding off on producing new pieces until we've had a good stretch of time to hear from black creators, black designers, black artists, and black players. I'm sure you've read and… Continue reading Authority vs Credibility
Last week I was struck by a deep exhaustion when I realized literally every discussion topic about roleplaying I've read in the past six months has come from the same short list for at least 20 years, and probably longer than that. Thirty? I started chatting about ttrpgs on Usenet in the early ‘90s and… Continue reading What’s It All For?
I posted the 2014 edition of my ongoing “Best of the Twenty-Teens” series recently. In it, I called 2014 “The Year of the Trindie,” which got me thinking about what trindie even means. There’s quite a lot in that space as I conceive it: conventional (“trad”) power and resolution arrangements paired with unconventional (“indie” aka… Continue reading A Few of My Favorite (Trindie) Things
