Month: October 2023

Lessons from the Isle of Joy: Backstory

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This post is, yes, me trying to convince you to check out my latest RPG project, the Isle of Joy over on Kickstarter right now. However, since I’m not used to selling my stuff, I am going wrap the sales pitch in bacon some short essays on actionable related to RPGs. Maybe they’ll be things most GMs have figured out for themselves, maybe not, but I’d like to share what I got from the experience of designing and playtesting the book.  Today, I’m going to talk a little about backstory, especially the difficulties in establishing a mysterious backstory. 

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Monster Man: “My Favorite Monster”

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For those who are interested, I appeared on James Holloway’s podcast Monster Man for a “My Favorite Monster” episode, and you can hear it here! Along with promoting Isle of Joy Kickstarter, I also talk a bit about why I love using spirits in RPGs, and a bit about what living in Korea did to my conception of spirits and how they could work in games. As always, James was erudite and thoughtful about the topic.  For me, this was pretty wild: I’ve been listening to Monster Man since sometime late last year when a good friend recommended it to …

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The Ice is Coming, The Dark Bright Water, and Journey Behind the Wind by Patricia Wrightson

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This entry is part 21 of 23 in the series 2023 Reads

Like all the posts in my 2023 reads list, this comes at a lag, meaning I read this a while back—in this case, I’ve made my way through the trilogy in the past few months, and I finished the last volume not at all long ago.  I read The Ice Is Coming as a kid, though I barely remembered it beyond that it had a protagonist named Wirrun, who was young member of Australia’s indigenous people. The cover I remember isn’t the one on the edition I have now: it looked like the one on the right. But that cover, …

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The Sounds You Grow Up With

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As I mentioned recently, I’ve been sick with the flu lately. I was lucky to get a rapid-acting treatment (though I had to pay extra for it!) in the form of a medication administered intravenously, but it’s still been necessary to rest, and I’ve been isolating from the rest of my family as we’re trying to avoid anyone else catching it from me. I’ve been too muddled-brained to do much writing, but I have gotten some reading done, and also started studying some music theory again. (Randy Felts’ Reharmonization Techniques, specifically. Like all music theory books, I find I need …

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Lessons from the Isle of Joy: The Uncanny in RPGs

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I’m back, and once again trying to entice you to check out my latest RPG project, the Isle of Joy over on Kickstarter right now. However, since I’m not used to selling my stuff, I am going wrap the sales pitch in bacon some short essays on actionable ideas related to RPGs. Maybe they’ll be things most GMs have figured out for themselves, maybe not, but I’d like to share what I gotten out of the experience of designing and playtesting the book.  Today, I’m going to address RPGs, meta-rules, and the uncanny.  Hopefully the flu I’m battling at the moment …

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