gaming Archive

  • <p>Allan and Nicola, half of my gaming group, are moving to Melbourne 1700 km away. We’ve been role playing weekly since about mid-2007, playing mainly Chaosium’s Call of Cthulhu RPG but with occasional forays into Deadlands, Space 1889 and the like. Although we’ll try to keep the group together using various online meeting and conferencing tools, I’m going to miss terribly the face-to-face interaction.</p> <p>The main feature of the group is our focus on making the best story we can. We bounce continually character and plot ideas off each other during play, off to our own character’s detriment. The twists […]</p>

    I has a sad

    Posted on 5 March, 2012 | No Comments

    Allan and Nicola, half of my gaming group, are moving to Melbourne 1700 km away. We’ve been role playing weekly since about mid-2007, playing mainly Chaosium’s Call of Cthulhu RPG but with occasional forays into Deadlands, Space 1889 and the like. Although we’ll try to keep the group together using various online meeting and conferencing tools, I’m going to miss terribly the face-to-face interaction.

    The main feature of the group is our focus on making the best story we can. We bounce continually character and plot ideas off each other during play, off to our own character’s detriment. The twists […]

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  • <p>I have a growing urge to create a fantasy setting. Where the urge comes from I have no idea but, given my gaming background, this desire will almost certainly take the form of a role playing world. This post is about inspirations and tying them simply into something approaching a coherent whole.</p> <p><em>In the far future, the sun is huge, bloated and red. The earth is a desert but for the scattered communities around the former Antarctic circle clinging to the receding shores of the polar ocean. One sprawling tangled ruin of a once great city is our focus. As </em> […]</p>

    City in the Dust: A Story Setting?

    Posted on 2 December, 2011 | No Comments

    I have a growing urge to create a fantasy setting. Where the urge comes from I have no idea but, given my gaming background, this desire will almost certainly take the form of a role playing world. This post is about inspirations and tying them simply into something approaching a coherent whole.

    In the far future, the sun is huge, bloated and red. The earth is a desert but for the scattered communities around the former Antarctic circle clinging to the receding shores of the polar ocean. One sprawling tangled ruin of a once great city is our focus. As […]

    Continue Reading...

  • <p>Until AusCon II (October 2011), it had been about five to six years since I last presented a roleplaying scenario. Before then, I’d been running con games regularly since 1990. I found that the design principles I used to use (waaaaay back then) don’t seem to cut it any more. Here’s the way I’ll be approaching future convention scenarios.</p> Think Inside the Box <p>Linear plots just plain don’t work. A linear plot is one that relies on scene A leading to scene B leading to scene C, etc. In an environment in which you have limited time to finish the […]</p>

    Lessons from AusCon II

    Posted on 14 October, 2011 | No Comments

    Until AusCon II (October 2011), it had been about five to six years since I last presented a roleplaying scenario. Before then, I’d been running con games regularly since 1990. I found that the design principles I used to use (waaaaay back then) don’t seem to cut it any more. Here’s the way I’ll be approaching future convention scenarios.

    Think Inside the Box

    Linear plots just plain don’t work. A linear plot is one that relies on scene A leading to scene B leading to scene C, etc. In an environment in which you have limited time to finish the […]

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  • Here’s a couple of reflections on AusCon II – Convention for Nerds and Dorks which was held over the weekend of October 1-2 in Brisbane, Australia. I came out of retirement for this con to run a Space 1889 adventure, The Deathless Hordes of Mars (PDF). First, some general impressions: there was pretty well something for everyone at AusCon. I was there for the roleplaying (natch) but there was miniature gaming downstairs (where 40k players belong), stalls for various game merchants and associated gamer services, […]

    AusCon II – Return of the Native

    Posted on 7 October, 2011 | 2 Comments
    Here’s a couple of reflections on AusCon II – Convention for Nerds and Dorks which was held over the weekend of October 1-2 in Brisbane, Australia. I came out of retirement for this con to run a Space 1889 adventure, The Deathless Hordes of Mars (PDF). First, some general impressions: there was pretty well something for everyone at AusCon. I was there for the roleplaying (natch) but there was miniature gaming downstairs (where 40k players belong), stalls for various game merchants and associated gamer services, […]

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  • <p>As previously threatened, I’m writing a roleplaying convention game again. I’ll be running a <strong>Space 1889</strong> scenario called <strong>The Deathless Hordes of Mars</strong> at AusCon II in Brisbane, Australia, in October. This post has the advertising blurb for the adventure and a little about the Space 1889 game.</p> <p>Space 1889 is the original steampunk roleplaying game. It sets itself in an alternative history in which Thomas Edison (who else?) has invented a device which can be used to propel ships through the luminiferous ether between the planets. This has opened up the way for colonisation of Mars and Venus and […]</p>

    Space 1889: The Deathless Hordes of Mars

    Posted on 19 August, 2011 | No Comments

    As previously threatened, I’m writing a roleplaying convention game again. I’ll be running a Space 1889 scenario called The Deathless Hordes of Mars at AusCon II in Brisbane, Australia, in October. This post has the advertising blurb for the adventure and a little about the Space 1889 game.

    Space 1889 is the original steampunk roleplaying game. It sets itself in an alternative history in which Thomas Edison (who else?) has invented a device which can be used to propel ships through the luminiferous ether between the planets. This has opened up the way for colonisation of Mars and Venus and […]

    Continue Reading...

  • <p>I’m still in the middle of contract disputes but both my contracting aganecy and the multinational I work at are looking after me. It’s rare to find the opportunity to say “Yay, big business!” but that’s what I’ve been doing this week.</p> <p>I have four weeks off work starting at the end of today and, yes, it was planned. Now I’m starting to think of what to do during this vast amount of time to myself. There will be, of course, celebrations of Charlotte’s and Marianne’s birthday and a memorial something to remember their deaths. I’m coming to terms with this part […]</p>

    Four Weeks Holiday

    Posted on 30 October, 2009 | No Comments

    I’m still in the middle of contract disputes but both my contracting aganecy and the multinational I work at are looking after me. It’s rare to find the opportunity to say “Yay, big business!” but that’s what I’ve been doing this week.

    I have four weeks off work starting at the end of today and, yes, it was planned. Now I’m starting to think of what to do during this vast amount of time to myself. There will be, of course, celebrations of Charlotte’s and Marianne’s birthday and a memorial something to remember their deaths. I’m coming to terms with this part […]

    Continue Reading...

  • <p>I’ve been suckered into playing <strong>Games Workshop</strong>‘s Blood Bowl. And not just playing but playing in a the Fisherman’s Stout Bloodbowl League.</p> <p>I’ve been interested in this game since it first appeared as a liftout in a holiday edition of <strong>White Dwarf</strong> magazine – way back when it was still owned by Steve Jackson Games and not an in-house advertising vehicle for GW. The game is basically a parody of American football played with fantasy races. Of course, given my Flintloque proclivities, I’ve settled on a team of elves.</p> <p>Elves, being what they are in the Warhammer universe, are […]</p>

    Blood Bowl

    Posted on 25 September, 2009 | 6 Comments

    I’ve been suckered into playing Games Workshop‘s Blood Bowl. And not just playing but playing in a the Fisherman’s Stout Bloodbowl League.

    I’ve been interested in this game since it first appeared as a liftout in a holiday edition of White Dwarf magazine – way back when it was still owned by Steve Jackson Games and not an in-house advertising vehicle for GW. The game is basically a parody of American football played with fantasy races. Of course, given my Flintloque proclivities, I’ve settled on a team of elves.

    Elves, being what they are in the Warhammer universe, are […]

    Continue Reading...