Today we’re talking with Manuela Soriani, co-author of Dilemma, “a game about having power on other people and getting in touch with them”, powered by the Apocalypse. The blind playtest document is out now1. I urge you to check it out! But first, read more about the game and its author. Tell us something about
Continue reading: Dilemma: an Interview with Manuela Soriani→I think some people shy away from running games because it’s a lot of work. I’m not going to lie to you – it can be. You hold a whole universe in your head! You may even need to dedicate your whole focus to the session, which can mean no personal distractions (no cell phones,
Continue reading: Game Mastery Files: Finding Your Gaming Zen→This post is the first of two reviews of Tomb Raider (2013). We chose to review this video game because of the original marketing for the game, as well as the final result. The first review is by Brie, who is a casual video gamer, and the second will be from Melody, who is a
Continue reading: Tomb Raider – Casual Review→A bunch of years ago I was given the best larp advice I have heard so far. Today I’ll pass it on. ”Involve other people. Involve them, involve them, involve them.” – Henrik Thurfjäll That’s it. The best larp advice I have to offer. The advice might not look like much, and I wasn’t very impressed
Continue reading: The best larp advice I ever heard→Last time, I talked a bit about the mechanics of A Tragedy in Five Acts and how I came to write it, with the promise of more discussion of daughters and feminism and art and such in Part 2. With that in mind, here we are. Daughters and Feminism in Tragedy So, as I noted
Continue reading: Design Diary: A Tragedy in Five Acts, pt. 2→Obviously, Sexism in games is kind of a deal around here, and we’re always looking to up the signal, broaden the conversation, and keep talking about the issues until they improve. (And they can and DO improve!) So when GaW’s own Professor Jessica Hammer turned me on to GTFO, a documentary in the making about
Continue reading: Shannon Sun-Higginson and why you should GTFO→So I wrote a game called A Tragedy in Five Acts, which is finally done and available at DriveThruRPG.net in PDF, with hardcopy going out to Kickstarter backers (thank you!) in the next week or so as the printer ships it, and then up on the site for sale. Tragedy is an indie, one-night, Shakespearean
Continue reading: Design Diary: A Tragedy in Five Acts, pt. 1→Standard Action is a live-action online webseries currently Kickstarting their third season. The show is about a motley crew and their adventures, including a barbarian elf and halfling bard. I had the opportunity to interview the women involved with Standard Action and learn more about their work on the show and their gaming backgrounds! Check
Continue reading: An Interview with the Ladies of Standard Action→In his graphic design manifesto, Frank Chimero throws down some essential design knowledge by saying “Take things away until you cry.” Antoine de Saint Exupéry, known for creating the Little Prince, declares “A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.” In
Continue reading: Micro Games as a Game Design Experiment→Guess what my least favorite part of my job is. Go on, guess. Nope. It is not being broke from time to time waiting between publisher checks and book sales. And no, it isn’t dealing with angry fans or angrier trolls. Hell, it isn’t even the occasionally hostile environment I’m treated to within the industry
Continue reading: Oh Fudge, Self Promotion→At our local indie game night, we played Itras By by Ole Peder Giæver and Martin Bull Gudmundsen. Itras By is a tabletop role playing game with a very rules-lite system, not using dice, but descriptive cards to prompt the outcomes in conflicts and twists in the story, and giving the players a lot of
Continue reading: Itras By Play Report→Convention season is fast approaching, and with the advent of convention season comes the return of the furor over the problem of convention harassment and how to deal with that. And because I read several blogs in other areas of geekdom besides gaming, this is a theme that I’m seeing repeat over… and over… and
Continue reading: Convention harassment is bad. This isn’t rocket science.→