Character Death and Failure
It is often said (especially in Narrativist circles) that death and failure are not exciting, and should not be regarded as meaningful options or outcomes. In my opinion this is an understandable position, but lacking in nuance. As I've often written, categories are not real, and there are very... (Comments: 18)
Empirical Agency: A Spectrum of Design
Once upon a time, when my only RPG experiences were fairly crunchy games and my own campaigns were heavy Sims, I believed that there was a spectrum of design when it came to mechanics, and that spectrum ran from "playability" to "specificity." I was wrong. Let me clarify; The spectrum... (Comments: 17)
RPG Theory July
Did you know this was a thing? Well, it is now! https://twitter.com/hashtag/RPGTheoryJuly?src=hash This being the 1st, the topic is "Role-Play." Here are the upcoming topics... Day 1. Role-play 2. Inclusion 3. The Conversation 4. Bleed 5. Game Objective 6. Interaction Design 7.... (Comments: 4)
The mythic perspective (also credibility, game state)
There are different ways of looking at roleplaying games. Presenting such ways is one of the major benefits of rpg theory, in my opinion. Credibility This is the by-now classical Forge theory perspective. Who has the right to establish what in a roleplaying game? Maybe you take turns to say a... (Comments: 5)
The Possible and the Virtual
I've been studying a lot of Deleuze in the last few weeks. Because of this, I have a giant bundle of tangled thoughts working their way toward design-oriented theories, but they are difficult to elucidate and may take me some time. Today one such idea crystallized, and here it is... Deleuze... (Comments: 14)
Theory Ramble - Hybrid Games, Expectations and Plot
Different artforms have different expectations, and some of the games already residing under the ever-stretching aegis of "RPG" are so different from each other as to be effectively different artforms. (Fuckin' Yay!, I am all for ludological diversity. I just don't give a shit about the state... (Comments: 1)
Your RPG Journey
Stealing this thread from Twitter since it's interesting and maybe even insightful to see where others have come from, and how they got to where they are today. Please post your own journey. My journey went: 1978-1990 simulationism emergent narrative 1991-1999 system doesn't matter... (Comments: 2)