Ninjas & Nerf Swords

I was browsing through /r/rpg and I came across this thread asking for a simple resolution system that uses Nerf weapons instead of dice or some other randomizer. The twist? The mechanic can't be to actually fight with the weapons. The person asking the question also presented what they wanted in the way of character stats: I'm thinking of three stats - Magic, Cunning, and Brawn. I'm not sure what...

Categories: Game Design, Nerf, Ninjas and Nerf Swords, reddit, RPG

Alvaro C. Vargas, Space Grifter

When I’m not busy slacking off from writing blog posts I tend to spend my time as a moderator for a role playing community known as r/RPG. I spent the last couple of weeks making daily updates to something I called the “Play by Poll Experiment” on this community.The experiment I had for r/RPG was to do something similar to a Quest Thread. A Quest is essentially a text adventure done over a messageboard...

Categories: Alvaro C. Vargas, Play by Poll, reddit, retrospective, Storytelling, Vote For Adventure

By Firelight: a campfire storytelling game.

UPDATE: You can read By Firelight: The Campfire Storytelling Game here. This post is about the original conception of the game. Around two weeks ago I came across someone asking for suggestions for an RPG that they could play around a campfire. A lot of people were recommending games with few rules or dice needed to play, but to me that doesn't seem to capture that special something that telling...

Categories: By Firelight, Game Design, reddit, RPG

One Lost Update

I’ve been busy working on a super secret project and seem to have missed an update here or there. I’ll post about the aforementioned covert project as soon as I’m able, in the meantime I suppose I should let let you know that One Lost Pipe placed 4th in System/Rules and 4th in Layout/Appearance for RPG Geek’s 48 hour RPG contest. While I can’t say that I’m not disappointed that I didn’t place higher,...

Categories: 48 Hour RPG, Impossible Boulder, One Lost Pipe, RPG Geek

Introducing One Lost Pipe

A wonderful website that goes by the name of RPG Geek recently held a 48 hour RPG contest. What this means is that the contestants have to design, write, and submit a complete RPG in 48 hours without any help. I decided to try my luck and see what happened. The contest, this time, had each contestant randomly generate 3 words which were to become...

Categories: 48 Hour RPG, Design, One Lost Pipe, RPG Geek

All’s Well That Ends As You Like It (Game Chef 2011 Review)

I really like the title. I don’t really have a reason to like it, I just do.Another game I reviewed for Game Chef this year. All’s Well That Ends As You Like It is an unusual mashup of board game and RPG elements.Everything about this game just screams out at me with style. It looks like fun. It looks like a lot of fun. I don’t have too much to comment on as far as the rules go. I like that there...

Categories: All’s Well That Ends As You Like It, Game Chef, Review

The Gentlefae of Cremona (Game Chef 2011 Review)

This is the last one of these and then I’m done posting my thoughts. It was one of the harder ones to review because of the density of the rules. I enjoy seeing the few games that borrow the fairy elements from Shakespeare’s work. It’s a nice change from all of the tragedies and romantic comedies. I didn’t get stuck anywhere reading through the rules, but I did have to read through twice before...

Categories: Game Chef, Review, The Gentlefae of Cremona

My Daughter, The Queen (Game Chef Review)

Here is the second game that I reviewed during the reviewing stage of Game Chef 2011.This one has a very nice and simple format. It’s unfair of me to take that into consideration, but I do. It is just more enjoyable for me to read when some thought has been put into the presentation.Let’s get to the meat of it. Right from the start I’m interested. I like the idea of a father going over the minutia...

Categories: Game Chef, My Daughter The Queen, Review

Blood Tragedy (Game Chef Review)

This year’s Game Chef requires the participants to review 4 of the other games and recommend one for advancement. So far I’ve reviewed 3 of 4 and have posted my thoughts on the Game Chef website. I’ll be copying my thoughts here as well. This is the first one.Blood Tragedy. Okay, definitely going for a Tragedy here. That seems Shakespearean. Like all good tragedies we know that most everyone is going...

Categories: Blood Tragedy, Game Chef, Review

The Daughter of Padua (Game Chef 2011)

I’m participating in Game Chef again this year. You couldn’t keep me away after how much fun I had with it last year. This year’s theme was Shakespeare and we had to pick 3 of the 4 ingredients (Daughter, Exile, Forsworn, Nature). My entry this year is titled The Daughter of Padua. It’s a game where one person plays as a sickeningly rich man’s daughter...

Categories: Design, Game Chef, RPG, Shakespeare, The Daughter of Padua

A Dwarf loadout for a game that doesn’t exist.

Just as the topic says. Remember that role playing card game I mused about several months ago? I kept thinking about it and produced enough cards to make a sample character loadout. What you see above is a loadout for a stereotypical Dwarf character. Based on the card layout for this character our dwarf has: 2 Strength 3 Toughness 1 Dexterity 1...

Categories: Card Games, Game Design, RPCG

Magic Eight-balls as a Game Mechanic

Did you know that the piece inside a magic eight-ball that produces an answer when you shake it is a dodecahedron? I didn't and when I found out that it was a twenty-sided die I was inspired to come up with an RPG that uses a magic eight-ball, or that at least approximates one with a d20 table. Using an eight-ball as an oracle There is an interesting...

Categories: d20, Game Design, Idea, magic eightball, The RPG Office, Weird Corporate

A review of the In Between 2.0 from Poland

Those Polish gamers are at it again. This time they have played my revised version of In Between and it looks like they had a pretty good time with it. You can read their review here. It does happen to be in Polish, though. The review author was kind enough to send me the gist of it via email. It sounds like most of their problems were due to vagueness in the writing, something that I’ll definitely...

Categories: In Between, Poland, RPG, RPG Kepos

In Between v2 is finished.

I’ve spent a lot of time procrastinating in regards to the second version of In Between. I’ve had all kinds of notes and ideas sitting in a dropbox folder for months, but when it came down to compiling them all I just kept putting it off. No more! I sat down this week and put them all into the lackluster layout that is the official version of In Between. Those of you that are actually interested...

Categories: In Between, Release, RPG

Foundation: a kingdom-building rpg (idea)

I have always loved the kingdom and city building elements of video games like Suikoden and Actraiser. There is something compelling about searching out people to fill your city, managing the day to day conflicts and the dealing with politics and war. It is something I really enjoy, but aside from a few supplements it's also something I rarely see in the tabletop RPG world. I remember the Birthright...

Categories: Foundation, Game Design, Idea, RPG