[Design Journal: Mega Man TCG - Classic Set 5] On Your Mark, Get Trapped, Go!

Recently, I had the privilege of taking the lead in designing the newest set of cards for the Mega Man Trading Card Game. The set is called Classic Set 5, and it is based on the fifth game in the classic Mega Man video game series. I’m now posting some Design Journal articles that will discuss some of my process in creating these new cards for the game, and offer previews of some of the new cards. This is the second of those articles. You can read the first article here.

This Is Your Character (Have Fun!)

 One of the core features of most RPGs, is being able to create your own character. It is very fulfilling to come up with a concept, formulate game statistics, get into the role, and see your character develop over the course of a game. Lately, though, I’ve been thinking about the implications of playing with pregenerated characters – characters created by the GM for use by the players.

[Design Journal: Mega Man TCG - Classic Set 5] Call Me Joe

I’ve all ready posted quite a bit on this blog about the Mega Man Trading Card Game created by my brother. I posted a Design Review and several Stacking the Deck articles focused on the game. Recently, I had the privilege of taking the lead in designing the newest set of cards for this game. The set is called Classic Set 5, and it is based on the fifth game in the classic Mega Man video game series. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be posting some Design Journal articles that will discuss some of my process in creating these new cards for the game, and offer previews of some of the new cards. This is the first of those articles.

[Open Design: Mercenaries #9] Our Progress So Far

It’s been three months today since we started our Open Design project here with the card game Mercenaries. I thought this would be a good time to review what we’ve done so far and consider where we should go from here.

Pacing as GM vs. Writer

Although I have played a lot of roleplaying games, and I usually am the Game Master in these games, I probably have more experience writing fiction. I really enjoy writing, and I’ve written a lot of short stories. Recently, I’ve found that my expectations when it comes to pacing in an RPG I’m GMing have been frustrated. I think the reason is my approach to writing fiction.

[Design Journal: Terra Machina] Crawling Through the Mines

I’ve been working on Terra Machina for a while now, and I’ve been privileged to have a great group of playtesters helping with this project. The last time we playtested this game, we did a trial run of the game’s Adventure Mode. The mission I’m testing right now has a group of heroes delving into crystal mines where the mechanical drones have been reprogrammed by terrorists to attack the former owners. Overall, the game went well, but we ran into one major problem: the mission takes too long.

[Stacking the Deck: Mega Man TCG] Shortcut to Victory

Following up on the previous two Stacking the Deck articles, this third article will present yet another team and deck for the Mega Man Trading Card Game. If you’re not familiar with this fun TCG you can read my Design Review here.

[Building Character: SWSERPG] VX-3R "Vexer"

This is the fourth post in my Building Character series, and the last one that will feature a character made for the Star Wars Saga Edition Roleplaying Game (at least for a while). This newest character, a droid called Vexer, joins my previous characters and rounds out their crew.

GM Burnout

As a Game Master in a table-top or pen-and-paper RPG, sometimes you hit a wall. It’s the GM’s equivalent of writer’s block. That is what’s happening in my current campaign of the Star Wars Roleplaying Game. I still enjoy the game when we’re playing, but I have a difficult time getting myself motivated to put in the work that I need to do between sessions. I’ve thought about what I’ve done right, what I’ve done wrong, and how I would like to do things differently with my next campaign in order to – hopefully – avoid this happening again.

[Stacking the Deck: Mega Man TCG] A Hard Life at Sea

Welcome back to Stacking the Deck! The idea behind these articles is to present deck ideas for various expandable card games that involve building your own deck to play with. Like the first article in this series, this second article will also present a team and deck for the Mega Man Trading Card Game. If you’re not familiar with this fun TCG you can read my Design Review here.