Shitting on Dungeons & Dragons and other people’s fun is not cool.
In fact, D&D does a lot of things right. I’ll give you real-world proof for that, as well as theoretical proof.
D&D Is A Great Game And A Boon To Our Hobby
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Author Archives: Ville Halonen
AI Rights, Bodies and Mortality: a Game of Shock:
To my tastes, science fiction in RPGs and television is too often about adventure and excitement. The scifi that grabs me, though, is about ideas and their impact on life and society and thought. Joshua A. C. Newman‘s RPG Shock: Social Science Fiction is built on this very premise. I tried it out with a couple of people I’d never played with, and who hadn’t had any experience with games as Forge-y as this. The experience was two-sided: fun and cerebral on the one hand, heavy and somewhat disconnected on the other. Continue reading
Abstractions are good
I like abstract roleplaying mechanics.
From 13th Age to Fate Core: Same World, Different Systems
I started a 13th Age game late this summer. I like the world and I admire the design, so I wanted to try it out. The sessions, however, were quite far apart, which was a clear signal that something wasn’t quite right. I wanted to continue the story of the characters and talked the players into converting them to Fate Core; now, I want to share my observations on how system matters. Continue reading
A Paean to Ropecon
If you ever went to Ropecon in Dipoli you know that the place is hard to forget, with its architecture of stone, glass, light wood, dark metal, and its hostility to straight angles. It offered a milieu for roleplaying (and other things) that felt home-made, welcoming, and original, but still professional enough. It wasn’t perfect and like everything that’s dear, you both loved and hated parts of it. The sucky bits were parts of the charm, so much so that I can’t even bear to write anything stronger than “sucky bits”.
On Emotional Shocks in Roleplaying Games
As a child I couldn’t watch movies where dogs died. I watched First Blood, I watched Omen II, I watched Robocop (heavily cut); I did feel sympathy for those in pain, but nothing terrified me more than the thought of a dog dying.
Ropecon 2016: The Scenario Contest
A game of Yövuoro (The Night Shift).
Again, there was a short-form scenario contest at Ropecon. I managed to play in six of them, including all three that received a prize. I gave some feedback to the designers on individual games, but now that I can see the bigger picture, I’d like to point on some commonalities and offer critique that I hope will lead to more fun for everyone in the future. Continue reading
Assassination in Three Hours — Blades in the Dark
In mere three hours, we created our group of scoundrels and planned and executed an assassination. John Harper’s roleplaying game Blades in the Dark, dear readers, is awesome. This is my experience of our first session. Note that this is not a review nor an analysis of the design, just a description of a subjective experience. Continue reading
Lovecraft, Buddha, and Me: On the Relevance of H. P. Lovecraft’s Vision
(The source of the image. Those statues are all sold out.)
Lovecraftian horror is a staple of horror roleplaying, but it has its detractors as well. They don’t see anything frightening about Cthulhu and some also try to argue intellectually that no one else should either. I raise some questions about it, offer some answers — including one that says that questions are the answer — and venture into a territory I’ve not seen dealt with before: what happens to a Buddhist who meets a Lovecraftian monstrosity? Continue reading
The difference between CoCian and BWian philosophies of skills
Roleplaying games can represent stuff about real life that you don’t necessarily stop to think about. I’ll write about one here, the difference between how Call of Cthulhu and Burning Wheel handle skills, and what those differences say about human capabilities. And why it matters quite a lot to me, personally. Continue reading