It has been a few weeks since my last Architect DM post, but I’ve been brainstorming a handful of different posts and this one came to the forefront as something I want to discuss. My last post introduced some of my general thoughts about worldbuilding for modern and futuristic games, which is a genre that I plan on talking about more in the future. However, this week I’d like to discuss something I learned in architecture school that can be applied to your games and make your life as a DM/GM easier.
The Architect DM: On Modern and Futuristic Settings
I’ve talked quite a lot about worldbuilding and running roleplaying games in fantasy settings, but I’ve been planning on addressing modern and futuristic RPGs for a long time as well. One of the big hurdles that I have to overcome when thinking and writing about modern/future settings is that they seem inherently more difficult to deal with than their fantasy counterparts. For a modern or even a historic RPG I believe the difficulties come from the game being based in a real world that brings with it a vast amount of expectations from the players. If you’re running a game in these settings and a player at your table knows more about history than you, it can become very intimidating to even try to plan or run the game. Science fiction and futuristic games are a little bit better, but you’re still dealing with a lot of heavy science and realistic elements that can lead to issues where they might not have arisen in your typical elves and magic infused setting.
Chatty Plays: Freemarket Part 3, Ghost’N’Breakin’
This post chronicles the second half of our Freemarket game. You can follow my post on character creation here and my recounting of the first half here. Let’s conclude our David vs Goliath story of stolen sex toys designs, covetous enlightened blanks and subtle revenge. Quick dramatis personae reminder: Jack Knife (Yan): Jack of many […]
Chatty Play’s: Freemarket Part 2, The Steam Stallion
In which Chatty shamefully tells the tale of how his players used a brand new, state-of-the-Art Role Playing Game and tested it’s revolutionary task resolution mechanic… to make a wall and a sex toy. True Story, but hell did everyone have fun.
Chatty Plays: Freemarket Part 1, Character Generation
In which Chatty writes about his Freemarket game, starting with character generation. Expect some gushing about the game system and a walk through of Char Gen
Barf Forth Apocalyptica! Review: Apocalypse World
Not for the faint of heart from both a thematic and playing philosophy point of view, Apocalypse World presents a very clever and potentially engrossing game. It’s main focus is not so much on player accomplishment (or setting exploration) but rather the relationships that form between PCs and the constantly mutating loyalties and rivalries between them.
If you’ve started enjoying story games that thrive on failures like Mouse Guard and Burning Wheel but want to explore a darker, very adult theme, Apocalypse World is worth giving a try.
Why You Shouldn’t Watch Firefly
Many, if not most of you, have already viewed Joss Whedon’s Firefly series and the follow-up film, Serenity. This article is not intended for you; however, let me say that I’m sorry. I now feel your pain, because some supposed “friends” convinced Bart and I to view the series. I had many reservations about it, […]
Review: I Am Legend
Even though I Am Legend came out in theaters two weeks ago on December 14th, many people have not seen it yet possibly because of the mixed reviews it has recieved. Ever since we saw the first teaser that gave no indication of anything other than Will Smith being alone in the city, my wife […]
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