Month: March 2018

Worldbuilding for Roleplaying: Hows and Whys

I’ve written on worldbuilding before, and I want to go over some very broad general ideas before I get back into it (which I’m hoping to do soon).

One thing that I want to talk about is how particularly to write for worldbuilding where you can have an effective roleplaying game based off of it. Many settings are really good at this, and some really aren’t, depending on how they’re implemented and written.

Disclaimer: Some of the links in this article are affiliate links.

Continue reading “Worldbuilding for Roleplaying: Hows and Whys”

This Week’s Goals (March 19-25)

This is just a quick overview of my  goals for this week. I’ve actually gotten a lot of stuff done already today, so I’ll be putting in some stuff that’s already done too. velotha’s flock v3 was released last week too (and on schedule, though there were a couple more things I am probably going to tweak).

Continue reading “This Week’s Goals (March 19-25)”

Vehicles in Hammercalled

I want to take a moment to discuss how I’m handling vehicles in Hammercalled. I generally feel that roleplaying games tend to treat vehicles poorly, and while Hammercalled isn’t going to go into great mechanical complexity with vehicles (barring the usual “highly customizable” thing that we tend to do with anything) I want to talk about some ways that Hammercalled makes vehicles feel interesting.

Continue reading “Vehicles in Hammercalled”

Streamlining Hammercalled

I’ve been hard at work on Hammercalled recently. The real goal of this is to make up for some flaws I’ve noticed in playtesting, and moving toward the actual design objectives of the game. One of the problems was obvious over-complexity, and I’ve already talked about how I handle that in combat, but I’m going to be talking about some other changes I’ve been making.

Continue reading “Streamlining Hammercalled”

Hammercalled Design Objectives (Or “Why You Should Play Hammercalled”)

I’ve become a bigger fan of planning recently as a way to prevent mission creep, and it was very effective for velotha’s flock, which released (mostly) on-schedule without any sacrifices to its core content.

So, as we move into Hammercalled entering regular testing by April and potentially being available to the public in its first wave release around that time, I want to share what my design objectives are for the game.

Continue reading “Hammercalled Design Objectives (Or “Why You Should Play Hammercalled”)”

Music for Spire

I reviewed Spire a while back, and it’s the sort of game that’s managed to stick with me since I first discovered it on Kickstarter and then played it with my local gaming group.

It’s a good time for everyone, and its setting is delightful (and sublime) in its weirdness and darkness. It’s punk done without self-indulgence, and it’s beautiful.

So, here’s some music that I suggest for Spire. I’ve selected a handful of artists whose work I feel fits perfectly with the aesthetic and mood of the game. Before I begin, I should point out that I am considering this both for reading and playing the game to, so some of these songs are definitely more for ambience than persistent listening.

Continue reading “Music for Spire”

The Power of Love

As I’ve been branching out into creative writing, I also have felt a pull to move toward other sorts of writing. I’m going to try my best to keep these essays non-political and positive, or at least not negative and spiteful.

Since this blog is no longer strictly about games, I feel that it’s a good time to diversify, since a lot of the work I’m doing on my game projects is strictly in the background.

Continue reading “The Power of Love”

Topple the Giant, Part I

He felt the cold breeze settle into his bones as he stared out at the neon lights of the city. His ears tuned out the noise, listening for the music that underpinned the bustle and life.

Soon, he thought, they would have their chance.

He returned to the apartment, and his lover. She was caught in repose, sleep having taken her hours earlier, head on the armrest of the sofa that he’d purchased when he moved into the apartment.

Continue reading “Topple the Giant, Part I”

Next Week’s Goals (March 12-18)

Because I often find myself sort of directionless throughout the week, I often have thought about making a short checklist of the week’s goals. Since i also want to increase my transparency with my audience, I figured I’d share the items on that list that pertain to Loreshapers and this blog.

I’m also going to go through and add markers to each of the points that I finish up over the course of the week.

So, with that said, let’s get to the list:

Continue reading “Next Week’s Goals (March 12-18)”