Taking a Hit

This is another case of me throwing out some random thoughts on game design. Again, this time my thoughts are focused on rules mechanics in RPGs. Specifically, I’m thinking about hit points and weapon damage. Basically, my thought was this: What if your hit points actually told you how many times you could get hit?

GenCon 2012: Afterward

August 16-19 was the weekend of GenCon, the biggest non-video gaming convention in the nation. I wasn't able to be there, but I followed a lot of the news and new releases online through bloggers, podcasts, etc. The day before the convention I posted about what I was looking forward to. Now that I've had time to digest a lot of videos and blog posts on the GenCon, I'd like to share what I was excited to see and hear about.

[Building Character: Gamma World] Tajoezoa

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been posting these Building Character articles for the Gamma World roleplaying game. Today I’m posting my third and final article in the series. Creating player characters for Gamma World is very different from most RPGs, because a lot of the character traits are generated randomly. Therefore, these articles focus on how I took the randomly generated traits and tried to imagine a cohesive interpretation of what sort of character this might be. The game’s publisher, Wizards of the Coast, has a very handy online tool for quickly generating the random elements of a character. You can see it here. I used that to generate this characters’ traits.

Growing Out, Not Up

OK, so this article is basically me thinking out loud (or, out written, or whatever). From time to time my brain begins mauling over some random idea for a rules mechanic in a game. I don’t have a specific game I want to use this mechanic in, I just look at how a lot of games do something, and I start thinking about how I might do it differently if I were designing a game. These ideas may end up in some future game if I really like them. For that reason, I’m very interested in getting other people’s feedback on these. This isn’t just an opportunity for me to ramble or rant about the latest rules idea that wandered through my head; it’s also a chance to get feedback from you and to further refine the idea.

[Building Character: Gamma World] Voxva

This is my second in a short series of Building Character articles based on the Gamma Worldroleplaying game. You can read the first one here. Creating player characters for Gamma World is very different from most RPGs, because a lot of the character traits are generated randomly. Therefore, these articles focus on how I took the randomly generated traits and tried to imagine a cohesive interpretation of what sort of character this might be. The game’s publisher, Wizards of the Coast, has a very handy online tool for quickly generating the random elements of a character. You can see it here. I used that to generate this characters' traits.

GenCon 2012: What I’m Looking Forward To

I wish I could say I was looking forward to going. Alas, it’s not in the cards for me this year. (Maybe I rolled a critical miss!) Truth is, I’ve never been to GenCon, the nation’s biggest non-video gaming convention held each year in Indianapolis, Indiana. But, each year there are certain things I look forward to about GenCon, even though I won’t be there. The convention starts tomorrow and continues through the weekend. Here are some things I’m looking forward to about it.

[Design Journal: Mega Man TCG - Classic Set 5] Perfect Dark

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 fourth of those articles. In the first article I talked about building synergies among minions. In the second article I talked about expanding the “Marked” and “Trap” mechanics. The third article previewed one of the most iconic bosses from the game. In this final preview of Classic Set 5 we’ll be looking at one more character card that is both new to this set, and breaks a long standing precedent.

[Building Character: Gamma World] Icahbog

Last week I posted a DesignReview for the Gamma World roleplaying game. Today I’m posting my first in a short series of Building Character articles based on the game. Creating player characters for Gamma World is very different from most RPGs, because a lot of the character traits are generated randomly. Therefore, these articles are going to focus on how I took the randomly generated traits and tried to imagine a cohesive interpretation of what sort of character this might be. The game’s publisher, Wizards of the Coast, has a very handy online tool for quickly generating the random elements of a character. You can see it here. I used that to generate this character's traits.

[Design Journal: Mega Man TCG - Classic Set 5] A Sudden Reversal

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 third of those articles. In the first article I talked about building synergies among minions. In the second article I talked about expanding the “Marked” and “Trap” mechanics. Today we’ll look at one of the new character cards, and how I developed the character’s theme and mechanics.

[Design Review] Gamma World

What is Gamma World?

This is a science-fantasy roleplaying game. An experiment in atomic science went wrong, causing many alternate universes to condense into a single reality. The game pits mutant heroes with advanced technology against renegade robots, feral mutants, alien menaces, and other dangerous threats. It is an action-adventure game, but it is meant to be played with a sense of humor. Rules-wise, it is a stripped down version of the 4th edition of Dungeons & Dragons. It features a lot of simplifications though, and is intended for shorter campaigns.