Lessons from the Isle of Joy: The Uncanny in RPGs

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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Lessons from the Isle of Joy: Time Records (Strict and Otherwise)

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 address how time and pacing works when it comes to worldbuilding or, rather, when it comes …

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Lessons from the Isle of Joy: XP in a Survival Game

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 address how to handle the question of XP in a game where the focus becomes survival …

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Lessons from the Isle of Joy: Languages

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.  When we were playtesting Isle of Joy, one thing that came up was languages. The Isle is a weird place, …

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Isle of Joy on Kickstarter Now

At the moment, my latest tabletop RPG project, from Knight Owl Publishing, is live on Kickstarter. Here’s the pitch from the Kickstarter page: Isle of Joy is an adventure like no other—a brooding, psychedelic trip across a haunted island, as well as a fractious exploration of the nature of identity, and a frightening battle to survive in a world gone mad. Imagine if David Lynch directed The Tempest for A24 Films and you might get a feel for the tone of this book: isolated, complex, dream-like, surreal. Isle of Joy is that and much more, as esteemed writer Gord Sellar weaves a complex and touching …

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