Closing in on the finish now, and not a moment too soon. The games in these last couple years are going to be familiar with most everyone, I think. Another tied year! 2018 was, I think, the year I finally conceded that I just can’t keep up with everything coming out. If you're just starting… Continue reading A Decade of Indie Roleplaying: 2018
Tag: Forbidden Lands
Indie Game Reading Club 2019: A Retrospective
Hello and welcome, welcome. It’s been a busy year! So let’s go over it all. Please read to the end, where I announce the launch of my Patreon. 🙂 2019: Games Played My two main themes of 2019 were fewer, longer runs at home and more conventions. I usually only make two conventions a year,… Continue reading Indie Game Reading Club 2019: A Retrospective
Goblinville is Your Next High Tech Low Tech Popcorn Game
A few weeks ago I got the coolest little surprise in the mail: a copy of Goblinville Gazette #1. It's the first of four 'zines, published as part of Kickstarter's Zine Quest promotion, and contains the complete rules for a little fantasy game called Goblinville. Michael Dunn-O'Connor has started a small press game design shop… Continue reading Goblinville is Your Next High Tech Low Tech Popcorn Game
Pattern Completion and Intermittent Rewards
The greatest gaming lab ever created is the Las Vegas casino industry. That lab's most significant finding is that humans crave two things in games: pattern completion and intermittent rewards. I've been thinking lately about how my favorite games leverage both of those monkey-level impulses. In particular, I've been thinking about how the very best… Continue reading Pattern Completion and Intermittent Rewards
Recalibrating
Has it really been a month since I last posted? I swear, there's something about running the Indie Game Reading Club Slack channel that consumes whatever bandwidth I used to have to make longer posts. By the way: if you're riding out the GPlus diaspora along with the rest of us, drop me a line if you… Continue reading Recalibrating