Category Archives: Nonfiction

Tweaking magic

Posted on February 13, 2013 by Confanity

Last time was a grab-bag of ideas, but the main one that drove me to post was the idea of Devotions. I like the idea of (myths and game settings that feature) human-like gods, with moods and whimsy, and the … Continue reading →

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Brainstorm of the day — Random RPG Mechanics

Posted on November 26, 2012 by Confanity

The other evening I was shooting the breeze with a friend, talking about various mechanics that could be used in constructing a traditional-style tabletop role-playing game. Here are some of the brainchildren of that conversation, in no particular order: Stat … Continue reading →

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Dungeon Design 101, Part 3

Posted on February 2, 2012 by Confanity

In part 1 of this essay I talked about using randomness to generate a dungeon of your own on the fly. That’s easy to say, but might you actually do it? Three Methods, in Outline First, there are online generators. … Continue reading →

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Dungeon Design 101, part 2

Posted on January 18, 2012 by Confanity

I’ve thrown around a lot of theory, but how does that come together in practical terms? Here’s the outline it implies when trying to create a dungeon. Decide the dungeon’s purpose in play. Decide the dungeon’s identity within the game … Continue reading →

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Dungeon Design 101

Posted on January 14, 2012 by Confanity

I was reading the Alexandrian post about the 5th Edition D&D announcement and was struck by a couple of commenters saying they wanted to see a guide to dungeon creation; that no such thing yet exists. This is a real … Continue reading →

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History Online – An experiment in playing Microscope on the internet

Posted on December 5, 2011 by Confanity

Introduction: Microscope is a social game which I should probably write a more thorough review of at some point. For the time being, let’s say it’s a group storytelling/improv-acting game that I’m entirely in love with. The more literature-nerdy you … Continue reading →

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Three Faiths, One Hamster

Posted on November 30, 2011 by Confanity

 The mad scientist carefully loaded his pet hamster into the rocket’s nose compartment. “Master!” hissed his Igor. “Are you not afraid that this, too, will break up on liftoff? If Fluffywuff were to die in vain–” The mad scientist polished … Continue reading →

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Faith and Reason and the Atheistprofessor Boogieman

Posted on November 6, 2011 by Confanity

In the beginning, Al Gore created the internet, and saw that it was good. But then people starting sending each other chain mails, and spam, and viruses, and making crappy Geospaces websites, and things have gone generally downhill ever since. … Continue reading →

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Four Realms: The Complete Experience

Posted on September 26, 2011 by Confanity

  Preamble In some ways the heart of role-playing games is that they are success-and-improvement simulators. (There are other hearts, of course, so RPGs are similar in that way to how certain dinosaurs are said to have been, but let’s … Continue reading →

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Four Realms: Introduction to Skills

Posted on September 1, 2011 by Confanity

  Apologia Alright, I thought that I’d do things in a logical order and move from theory to the math of attributes. What is their normal range? What are the maxima and minima to be used in play? Given that … Continue reading →

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