Hello!
Many of us who were active at Story Games spent hours - and pages - interrogating Eero Tuovinen about his practice of "challenge-based" wargame old-school play. There were wonderful and insightful discussions, which, unfortunately, were all lost when the forum shut down.
Well, great news! Eero is back at work publishing an actual "primer" covering this kind of play. It's both theory and praxis.
His perspective here is well developed, unique to his particular approach to this style of gaming, and based on years of actual play.
I highly recommend you to check it out, to see what all the hype was all about. He's looking to fund it here, at IndieGoGo:
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/muster-an-old-school-primer#/
Help spread the word, too - it's just word of mouth at this point, and I'm sure you have friends or contacts who would really enjoy this product.
Hi Paul! Good to see you
Billy - Sun, 12/06/2020 - 09:57Hi Paul! Good to see you around.
There is a thread about this over here, though I'm sure more exposure doesn't hurt. : )
Of course, those we remember are never truly lost . . .
https://web.archive.org/web/20191221034708/http://story-games.com/forums...
https://web.archive.org/web/20191221041407/http://story-games.com/forums...
https://web.archive.org/web/20191221035252/http://www.story-games.com/fo...
https://web.archive.org/web/20191107091353/http://story-games.com/forums...
Thanks, Billy!
Paul T. - Sun, 12/06/2020 - 10:01I didn't think of looking for 'Muster' in the Design subforum.
My apologies for the double post!
Thank you for the web archive links, though - I didn't even know those existed! (There is also a less formal archive created by one of the S-G users, but it's more involved to get into.)
Hey...
Paul T. - Sun, 12/06/2020 - 10:06How did you find those links, by the way? Is there a way to search for such things, or did you just happen to have old bookmarks?
archive links
Billy - Sun, 12/06/2020 - 10:16Yeah, finding them is the trick. You can actually go to the main page of the site on that archive and browse backwards through every page of the forum, though that's awfully time confusing. If you know who started the thread, then you can go to the archive of their user page (e.g., click on Eero's name on one of the archived threads), and see all their threads listed.
But the real truth of how I found those ones is that I downloaded Jeph's archive on my computer, then I use a "find in files" search (in Notepad++, though there other tools to do this) to find phrases I remember from specific threads; then I check the thread ID, and substitute it into the URL on archive.org...
List of threads
Billy - Sun, 12/06/2020 - 15:51Hey Paul, maybe you'll find this useful:
http://bemurkled.ca/storygamesindex.txt
I ran a script on the archive to make a list of threads with the number, author, title, and date. So you can Ctrl-F on the file to find a certain author or keyword, and then use the number to find it in the archive.
I was meaning to do this ages ago, but never got around to it before...
Awesome links!
Johann - Thu, 12/10/2020 - 02:54Thank you for the links (and some instructions to find stuff)!
Like you, I remember various phrases and threads. I also have some favorites bookmarked as well as quotes from Eero on my old blog.
Wasn't quite sure where to post about Eero's Muster but the more the merrier!
A quick request...
Paul T. - Thu, 12/10/2020 - 11:59Billy, this may seem like an odd request, but would you do me a favour?
Could you search your Notepad file for the term "vast Agharta", and let me know what you find?
Vast Agharta
Billy - Thu, 12/10/2020 - 15:21On the index - nothing, not in a thread title.
Doing the "Find in Files" search (on the whole archive) brings up two references in thread 19234.html.
So that's https://jeffschecter.github.io/storygames/storygames/19234.html
----
If you want your very own searchable archive, here's what you can do:
1) Go to https://github.com/jeffschecter/storygames
2) Press the big green button that says "Code" (screenshot)
3) Select "Download ZIP" and save the archive on your computer
4) Unzip the files to a folder that is convenient for you
5) Download and install Notepad++ on your computer
6) Run Notepad++ and press Ctrl F to open the search dialogue
7) Go to the third tab, "Find in Files"
8) Where it says "Directory", press the [...] button and navigate to the folder where you unzipped the archive
9) Where it says "Filters", make sure it says *.*
10) Find what: put whatever you want to search for (example)
11) Press Find All
It will search for a while, then bring up a list at the bottom of the screen of all the hits, sorted by filename. Double-clicking on the results will bring up the file where the result was found.
Remarkable!
Paul T. - Thu, 12/10/2020 - 21:29Thank you; tremendously helpful.
I was using the github search, and, for some reason, it doesn't find certain things (like this one).
A wonderful tutorial! Much appreciated.
(I also still think Tod should just host the Story Games archive here... who's going to complain, really? But that's not my place to say.)
A threshold
DeReel - Fri, 12/11/2020 - 01:44Let James Stuart's will be. We owe him big.
It's just more work, but in the end anyone who wants to find the info and has a computer can find it. I am bringing back page links and will - in time - make an index of "what to read on SG".
Thanks a lot Billy ! You make my week shine.
*edit : I'll also paste the tutorials in the Archive thread.
Viewing Story Games easily
Paul T. - Sun, 12/13/2020 - 08:29For the technologically inhibited, I just posted a new thread for the easiest way to access S-G threads.
http://fictioneers.net/forums/plug/reading-story-games-technologically-c...
Enjoy!
If someone wants to add an easy user-friendly search method, go ahead! (I don't know of one.)
Muster is on its way
Paul T. - Wed, 12/16/2020 - 15:23The kickstarter is approaching the end, and it's 75% funded.
If you have any interest in this - and I think you should! - now is the time to help make it happen.
There is a special update (outlined here, below) and lots to see and read!
https://forums.gauntlet-rpg.com/t/muster-a-new-old-school-primer/6188/3?...
OSR Blog takes on Muster
Paul T. - Sun, 12/20/2020 - 13:09A friend of mine writes the Necropraxis blog, an excellent resource, with dungeons, game design, essays, and even quantitative research on RPGs.
He recently posted about Muster - check it out!
http://www.necropraxis.com/2020/12/20/muster/
We did it
Billy - Wed, 12/23/2020 - 10:49Hey, look at that--the project is fully funded! Maybe the Necropraxis exposure pushed it over the edge.
Can't wait to read the finished version.
Yee-ha!
Johann - Wed, 12/23/2020 - 15:05Congratulations, Eero. Now go forth and save D&D! ;-)
(Just kidding. Go forth and codify your particular brand!)