Fantasy, Harry Potter, Avatar starting packages

Shipwright. Skills are cool, I guess. Making lists of stats and abilities and skills and whatever can be cool. Items are cooler, for sure. In the renewed interest in games to make things more diegetic, that is "in the game world," some designers have been moving to describe tools that are available to player characters. …

Adventure Hour! Second Draft

Shipwright. Missed you, buddy. Confession: I've been bad about posting. And I could claim there were good reasons for doing so like student teaching and volunteering and all these other things. All totally valid. But the real REAL reason is that I've been sitting on a draft of my Free Kriegspiel Revolution game for a …

Playing with Youngers: Lists

This is my favorite piece of this series. By Shipwright. This is part of the “Playing with Youngers” series, but requires no additional context to read and enjoy. Find the rest of the series here. Clarity is key in children’s games. Now clarity is a big component of all games. Information is what starts how …

Playing with Youngers: “Stopping” the Inevitable

"You do what now?" Shipwright. This is part of the “Playing with Youngers” series, but requires no additional context to read and enjoy. Find the rest of the series here. This is something I wrote while working an upcoming project of mine. I don't know if it'll make "the cut" as it's a bit unfocused, …

open OPEN table

many books, one world. shipwright. So RPGs are popular on my campus. In the heart of Wisconsin, near the places where Gygax and Arneson gave birth to the role-playing game, RPGs are well-known. I could name the number of Game Masters at my college, but I’d run out of fingers. For players? I don’t have …

Squires Errant

Art from the game. Squires Errant is a game made for the Eclectic Bastion Jam by Tim B. of quarterlingscorner.blogspot.com. Squires Errant lists the Special Attacks and the dice mechanics of Red Ink Adventures 2.0 as a few of its inspirations. It has a clean layout, cool ideas, and expands on the ideas of exploration …

Playing with Youngers: Dealing with Deathlessness

There are more dangers here than just death. Think about it. Shipwright. This is part of the “Playing with Youngers” series, but requires no additional context to read and enjoy. Find the rest of the series here. When we last looked at death in games for kids, I came to the conclusion that death is …

Happy 1.5 years and 100 posts!

Shipwright. For all of the coolest art. This blog turns 1.5 years old on it 100th post. Wow. Not so much that “time flies” but so much has happened. I got into this gig because I was making things for my Maze Rats campaign. I owe so much to that game. I stayed in this …

Silly Elf Costumes

It's all an illusion, man. Shipwright. I’ll tell you straight-up, folks: this was a doozy to write. And not because of the stupid play on words at the beginning. I actually wrote this article, changed my mind about the subject, and reordered the whole thing. This is why writing is good. You have to order …

Irrationality and Compels

Shipwright. My brother and I were watching a crime show that takes place in Birmingham right after World War I. Between episodes I confessed that I was just watching the show as a role-playing game, mulling over in my mind how such a game could be made possible at the table. What information was given? …