When I was 11 years old I went to High School. All my life I’d been a bit of loner, much more comfortable in my bedroom with the door closed and the music blocking out the world beyond. Back when I was four, my best friend was my dog, Heiko; the strongest connection I felt … Continue reading The Why Of Fantasy Roleplaying Games
I am on the record as having called myself, “the flakiest GM in the world”. It turns out that the behaviours which are associated with this rather derogatory self-labelling arise from a rather severe 'Generalised Anxiety Disorder' and a deeper, only slightly less intense, 'Social Anxiety'. I am in therapy and, right now, solution-focused. This … Continue reading Breaking The Cycle
It struck me this morning that we gamers have some strange allegiances. In my case, I am oddly loyal - attached if you will - to systems of rules. Evidence for this arises whenever I try, as I have been seeking to do this week, to read an alternative system of play. Even when my … Continue reading That Strange Allegiance
Here are some show notes to go with the rather ambitious Episode Zero of Roleplay Rescue's Solo Tales podcast: https://www.podbean.com/media/player/ivt92-f2d2e8?from=pb6admin&download=1&version=1&auto=0&share=1&download=1&rtl=0&fonts=Helvetica&skin=1&pfauth=&btn-skin=108 https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/xz63u8/AnimasTaleEpisode0.mp3 Welcome to Roleplay Rescue’s Solo Tales - a podcast collecting adventure tales created by mashing up traditional storycraft with old-style pen and paper roleplaying games. This is Episode Zero for Anima’s Tale, the first … Continue reading Solo Tales, Episode 0
One of the things that has been most influential to my roleplaying experience was the discovery, back in 1980, of the RuneQuest boxed set and my introduction to the Basic Role-Playing (BRP) system. While a full review of that game is beyond the scope of this immediate discussion, one thing always stood out to me: … Continue reading Adding Essence To Mykovnia
I was listening to Jason Hobbs' "Random Screed" when I heard him talk about a desire to play some science-fiction stuff. Given that it was early - I had just arrived at school, around 7am - I shot him a quick Anchor message and thought little of it. This morning, listening to his latest episode, … Continue reading Science Fiction… With Big Guns
It's hard to believe that I have been feeling blocked for the past three weeks, especially when two of those weeks were away from work enjoying some "non-contact time" (what non-teachers call "holiday") at home. But this has been my experience: blocked... at least, until this morning. This morning, spurred by some words that were … Continue reading Playing To Teach A Friend
This probably isn't a terribly original idea but I thought I'd share it anyway. You see, recently, I've been hearing a lot of complaining about the so-called "whiffiness" of combat in a lot of games. Apparently to "whiff" is to be rolling an attack and then to discover that you'd actually missed, especially when you … Continue reading The Defence Roll Reversal
When I interviewed GURPS Line Manager Sean "Dr Kromm" Punch back in April, he said something that resonated with me strongly and has stuck with me ever since. Roughly paraphrasing, Sean outlined his belief that the main difference between GURPS and most other roleplaying games revolves around the idea of the prescriptive versus the descriptive. … Continue reading Taking The D100 Prescription
Dad bought RuneQuest in 1980. I stole it within a few days, following his rejection of the whole idea of roleplaying games. Despite the buzz in the wargaming magazines of the day, Dad was never going to be a convert to a fantasy game: too many great historical battles to explore, too many historical periods to glory … Continue reading Dreaming Of Glorantha
I missed writing for the blog on Saturday - sorry about that. To tell the truth, I am rather ironically experiencing some of the work-induced, invasive, and destructive feelings that inspired the podcast in the first place. I’m a high school teacher and, contrary to popular belief, we don’t just work from 9 until 3.30 … Continue reading Feeling Overloaded
