Category: RPG

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

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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 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

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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 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

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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.  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

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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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Isle of Joy: Kickstarter Coming Soon!

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While this blog is not heavily-trafficked, I thought it would probably be a good idea to post this here, because at least according to my site’s stats, a few real people do drop by from time to time.  If you’re following me on social media, you’re probably aware that there’s a Kickstarter coming up for my Isle of Joy adventure book. One of the elevator pitches I’ve seen is, “If Jodorowsky directed The Tempest for A24, but an RPG,” and that feels right to me. If that appeals to you, then head over here to be notified when the campaign …

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Duskvol in Newsprint, Redux—And a Bit About My Process

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A while back, I shared some of the newsprint projects I’ve created for the Blades in the Dark game I play in. Since then, I’ve been saving up more, and I think it’s about time to share. However, our GM, Jeremy Tolbert, suggested I write a little more about my process for this stuff, so I figured I’d dig into that. 

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#dungeon23 Days 110–152: Fantastique Fragment, Headwall Fragment, and Great Rift Megafragment

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This entry is part 8 of 8 in the series #dungeon23

Time for another #dungeon23 post.  For a while, I was updating this every time I completed a page, but it turns out that getting the time to do a post is harder than doing the scribbles once every day or two, so here’s an update that includes three fragments of the shattered hollow moon setting that I’ve been building in this exercise.  

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