Tag Archives: gaming

BuyConsumeSubmit

Posted on by
1

I’ve never really put myself out there. Not for sale anyway. I write a mean resume, but that’s simply the weight of my past. My twitter was super active for its first eight years or so, but it never felt terribly substantial, and I certainly wasn’t hawking a product.

So pivoting into this role, especially during [gestures widely at the state of the world]? It’s daunting. But it’s also my dream. Even as a kid in the nineties, I was poring through AD&D and Palladium books, drawing my own maps, building my own classes, dreaming up new worlds and adventures for my friends. I’ve spent over two decades making my own character sheets for games because the ones included weren’t doing the job for me.

Setting up shop. Rolling out. Prepping for production. I’ve got a lot of things competing for my brain meats — being a parent, caring for my partners, keeping up with my day job. But even within the realm of hobbyist game design, it’s a wild dash for attention, with autistic special interests and ADHD hyperfocus constantly steering my energy into new and wondrous things.

With a wide range of Cortex microgames in my backlog, what do I work on? Push forward? Mythikal: Wand & Steel, which is basically just bog-standard fantasy? coreTEK, which is basically just cog-standard mecha? Nah, I’m gonna take something utterly out there, and (relatively) unique, and make it my flagship. Whiskey Grits n’ Demon Spittle is a weird west game set on terraformed Mars, and it carries every bit the energy of Omnybus’ poem which inspired the title.

Somethin’ wicked this way rides.

Roskilde: Iron Edda Flash Fiction

Posted on by
2

Here’s a little bit of flash fiction to help establish more of the feel Heroes of Metal and Bone is intended to invoke.

The deck rocked almost imperceptively as Eloni guided the Roskilde through the debris-ridden waters of New York. A vague glow had started to fill the horizon to the east – time was running thin. I could smell the stress and apprehension of everyone on board as I paced back and forth like a trapped animal. Our resident techie Grace was tap-tapping away at her laptop in the cabin, keeping watch on the sensors. Mitch was sitting cross-legged on the roof of the tophouse, completely motionless and calm. No clue how he could do that – this morning depended on him. And the… thing we were dragging behind us.

Continue reading →

Heroes of Metal and Bone

Posted on by
1

So when the end of the world started, it wasn’t exactly like those guys on street corners holding signs in New York would have you believe. (not that there are street corners in New York any more, but that’s another story) It wasn’t Armageddon. The dead haven’t risen, and the skies never opened up. It wasn’t the Apocalypse. There aren’t dire horsemen spreading disease and famine. (though the Jotnar and the Destroyers have done a good job of that) Nobody expected what it really was. Ragnarok.

Continue reading →

Edge of the Empire: Kids!

Posted on by
14

So yesterday was Father’s Day, right? Right. Had a decent day – got an enjoyable breakfast at Biscuits, grabbed new shoes, and dropped by our FLGS to see if I was interested in anything. Of course… I’m interested in pretty much everything, but who has that kind of budget? Wrath of Ashardalon? Game of Thrones LCG? Lots of options, but not the most free time. So I grabbed a dish of static grass (which looks badass on the figure I used it on, btw) and FFG’s Edge of the Empire Beginner Game.

Continue reading →

Edge of the Dungeon Part 5

Posted on by
Reply

You know what helps a lot of people “get” a system? Actual play. I love podcasts for this (I have a fairly long commute – they fit nicely into my schedule), and it’s my main exposure to some of the systems that I’ve studied for this project.

But, nobody’s played Edge of the Dungeon yet, have they? I’ll just have to make something up. But before that, let’s get some terms straight. Unless you’re totally confident with either your familiarity with the multiple games I’m using as inspiration, or with your abilities to read my mind, check out the Edge of the Dungeon Glossary.

Continue reading →

Edge of the Dungeon Part 4

Posted on by
Reply

Are we going to create a character today? Sure we will. How about your average rogue/thief type character? Let’s do it. Remember, all these numbers are probably gonna change drastically between now (completely unplaytested and completely unproofread) and release time.

What do I want my rogue to do? Control, Protect, Support? Not “roguey” enough. We’ll go Duel primary, Smash secondary. At the moment, this matters little, since I’m just throwing ideas down and assigning arbitrary point values to them.

Continue reading →

Edge of the Dungeon Part 3

Posted on by
Reply

My brain is a little addled with the mechanics at the moment. I want to do a read-through of Warhammer Fantasy RP before continuing. It’s been suggested reading from a few different folks, so I’ll hit that up. Maybe find an actual play podcast.

So what am I gonna talk about if I’m not exploring more mechanics? Well, a lot of the systems I’m working off of here have some incredible ways of bringing your players’ characters into the game world. D&D 4e brings us Backgrounds (small snippets of story with a very minor mechanical benefit) and Themes (direct connection to game world, with tiered mechanical benefits throughout advancement). For the setting books (Dark Sun, Neverwinter, Shadowfell, etc) this is actually very well done, and IMO blows previous editions out of the water. There’s a lot of ways to tell the Dungeon Master where you want the story to go, and ways for the DM to guide players.

Continue reading →

Edge of the Dungeon Part 2

Posted on by
Reply

Last time, I said we’d discuss Hit Points and Defenses. Well, I was sort of right. Those are both going to be derived traits from the Combat Careers, which is the real focus of this post. I’m thinking about making D&D 4e style Hybrid classes the norm here. You choose a primary Career and a secondary – certain traits come in from both of them, and then Feats and Talents can be purchased as a member of both Careers.

Continue reading →

Edge of the Dungeon Part 1

Posted on by
6

Looks like I came up with a name for my little project. I’m borrowing such huge concepts from Edge of the Empire and smashing them into D&D – I figured “Edge of the Dungeon” seemed appropriate. Kinda like how Apocalypse World variations always have “World” in the title, or Dragon Age variations include “Age” somewhere, etc.

I’ve started an article on my Wiki for this game. So many fiddly bits! I’ve done a little design before, with Arcana Evolved Saga Edition, but never finished it. I outlined how this system should work from start to finish, but I think I’m going to boil this down to the base, and rebuild off of that. Find the mechanical hooks to hang things on one by one.

Continue reading →