Inspiration
Casual games have a secret. Many feel more like the adventure and roleplaying games of the eighties and nineties than Bejewelled. Not only that, but these days they have far more artistic details than their pixelated ancestors. These games are a trove of inspiration (and … read more »
Worldbuilding
When worldbuilding is your favorite creative outlet, it can be difficult to find a forum for sharing. A world is not usually a stand alone product. Don’t fear, though, there are ways to let others enjoy your world and not feel all those hours of creative endeavor were for naught. Read more »
Writing
The beginning of your story can do many things, but one is more important than any other: capturing the reader’s interest. If they don’t keep reading, any other purpose – setting the tone, hinting at central themes, or whatever else – becomes pointless. As a … read more »
Podcast
Oren, Mike and Chris philosophize on the origins and meaning of science fiction, fantasy, horror, and other speculative fiction genres. They discuss stories that cross genres, and sow confusion about the definition of “punk” and “orthogonal.” Read more »
Roleplaying
Your players will spend a great deal of time interacting with the non-player characters. The unpredictable nature of running an adventure means that you will be improvising NPCs as often as not. Fortunately, making them up on the spot becomes easy with practice. Read more »
Storytelling
What if you make up 20 pages of backstory, and your character still doesn’t feel “strong”? How can you even tell? I’m going to turn the subjective quality of “strength” into clear benchmarks by detailing six traits that strong characters have in common. Read more »
Roleplaying
When designers sit down to create the character generation section of a roleplaying game, they must decide where on the scale of structured to free form they want to fall. The question is a difficult one with no obvious answer. At one extreme are systems … read more »
Worldbuilding
Every once in a while, a team of astronomers discovers an Earth-sized planet orbiting its star equivalent to where Earth orbits the Sun. And popular science blogs go crazy, because – wow, that world could support life! It’s amazing… Or it would be, if life was as fickle as the writers of popular science blogs. Read more »
Storytelling
You wouldn’t want your friends to cry when they ate your cooking. You wouldn’t want to give them a prank call that made them feel they were in danger. But if they told you they cried or felt afraid while reading a story you wrote, you’d probably take that as a compliment. Read more »
Podcast
The Mythcreants discuss their favorite and least favorite characters, episodes, and romances in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. They compare the show to its spinoff, Angel, and complain about oversights in the Buffyverse. Read more »
