Writing a good story is difficult for me. I always want to get to the exciting parts, and I usually find myself skipping a lot of the plot buildup and character development. In short, I end up writing short, choppy stories that leave people feeling like the conclusion just shouldn’t have come out of the [...]
I can’t lie. This article is in great part inspired by David Sirlin’s book Playing to Win. Like his articles and book, this one will focus on fighting games.
Although I wouldn’t put it in quite the harsh light he does, I very much agree with his main point: if it’s in the game, [...]
Most of the people I talk to about video games are constantly drooling over the cutting edge graphics of new titles. After all, we aren’t used to the new generation yet, and many of the games I’ve seen for the 360, PS3, and high end PCs are graphically beautiful. As I haven’t played much on [...]
Sometimes, as a game master, it’s tough trying to figure out the sweet spot where a combat will be dangerous for the players while granting that they have a chance of victory. Go too far into challenging territory, and the party will die. Go too far towards a chance of victory and the battle won’t [...]
So, you have a group together, and you’re ready to bust out the dice, make some characters, and go on an epic quest to save the world. There’s only one problem.
You’re the GM, and you have no plot, no story hooks, not even a starter quest given by an npc in a tavern. What to [...]
I have a confession. When I do backstories for my characters, they’re very one dimensional to start with. Just enough to justify playing the character in fact. I don’t begin with a direction for a character, I develop the direction as I play, and develop a backstory to match or compliment his direction. From there, [...]
Creating a good villain can be a challenge sometimes. There’s a temptation to just load them up with the ability to do everything, and plan for every eventuality. He’ll be a smart villain, the kind that gives the players nightmares for years to come, unless they come up with some equally intelligent plan.
Here’s the issue: [...]
1) Their systems are sturdy. NES’s manufactured over 20 years ago still work to this very day, as do the cartridges the games were released on. As do the other systems Nintendo has released since then. In a stress test on X-Play, the Gamecube suffered having a 20 pound weight dropped on it, a drop [...]
From the GM’s point of view, at least to me, it’s easy to get carried away and let one person in a campaign steal the spotlight. Sometimes a player starts a subplot I just want to see finished because I want to know what happens, sometimes a player just does more in the campaign so [...]
