Have you ever had a great idea for a level – maybe a cool way to use an art asset, maybe a good puzzle, maybe a fun way to set up an encounter with enemies? You started up your editor and began designing in it, hoping to implement your plan right away, and then the… Read More Shogo MAD Level Dev Blog: Step 1, a Project Plan
Can good level design fix bad game design? I’ve decided for 2018 I would like to get back into some video game development. I haven’t touched this in a long time, and most of my experience comes from modding existing games, rather than building something standalone from scratch. My plan with this is to start… Read More Shogo: Mobile Armor Division – Level Dev Log: Fixing Games with Levels
It’s been some time since I’ve updated, so here’s some news. I’ve updated Mutant Wilds. Part was doing some general cleanup and errata, but I’ve also made some expansions. First, I moved the entire game to a Silver Piece standard. I’m running a convention game that will take Mutant Wilds to a weird West setting,… Read More Updated Mutant Wilds
I just ran my third game of Everyone is John on Monday. I think I’ve had enough experience with it to write a bit of a review. I can certainly say it’s an interesting topic, both as a game and as a cultural object. Everyone is John – Mechanics and History EiJ was written by Michael… Read More Everyone Is John Review
I’m having a look at a retro RPG I’d like to run sometime soon. It’s called Teenagers from Outer Space and it’s pretty great. The first edition came out in 1987 and it looks like it; the art, the writing, the cultural references are all very VERY 1987. It’s great. I found it afew places,… Read More Teenagers from Outer Space
I invented a new game I think you might like it. It is called “Poker, except not shitty” It is played with a modified deck of 52 cards. Modify a standard deck by taking out the 4 jacks, drawing animal faces on the portraits of the Jacks, and returning them to the deck. The game is… Read More Poker except not shitty
Edit July 7, 2017: this is by far my most popular article, so I’ve re-worked it a bit to make it read from a broader Dungeons and Dragons perspective rather than the narrow one that focuses on my specific home brew Game, Mutant Wilds. Introduction Whales are one of the best monsters in Dungeons and Dragons and… Read More Whaling in Dungeons and Dragons
The character creation rules of Mutant Future generally start from the assumption that characters are able to use the same weapons and armor regardless of their class, so a Mutant Plant can wear chain armour and a short sword if they so choose. But, it also specifies that the Mutant Lord and the player should establish fair restrictions… Read More Thinking about Mutant Bodies
The Zero-Edition Dungeons & Dragons Men and Magic book allowed that a character could hire aid in the form of Hirelings – the Charisma score had a modifier beside it which indicated how many people could follow you at a maximum. It lays out the sorts of things you might do to recruit these individuals – perhaps sending letters to… Read More Generating Hirelings
I’ve updated my rule books and hosted them on DropBox, which is much better for version updates. I’ll keep the older versions around because I like keeping that sort of versioning. These have some small changes. The Players’ Handbook was updated and the Mutations book remain unchanged; I made some small updates to the Monsters… Read More Updated Rule Books
Jack Speyside 