Sam and Spak’s thoughts on game design, the game industry, and anything else that springs to mind.
We recently came across this awesome replay of our Shakespearean RPG Forsooth! by avid UK story-gamer Epistolary Richard. We were really impressed with the detail of the re-play, the skill and storytelling ability of the players, and the thoughtfulness of the notes – not to mention the time and effort that went into producing this …
Giving fans some control over the product they’re backing is something that a lot of kickstarters do to varying degrees. In general, I think it’s great to engage the backers, since without them, your product would never see the light of day. However, there’s certainly a line. After all, you are the game designer, and …
This article deals with designing pacing into games. We’re certainly not the first to think about this topic, nor the first to compare games to stories with a beginning, middle, and end. As a pair of writing and lit majors with theater backgrounds, the idea of pacing and storytelling has always been a focus of …
This post refers to our playing card game 42. You can read the full rules for free here. Most of our Designer Diaries use the first person plural, but Kevin wrote this one in the first person because 42 was kind of his project. I love Pitch. It’s not the most popular trick-taking game, I …
It’s the meaning of life! Also the craziest trick-taking game you ever saw. If you like Pitch, Euchre, Bridge or stuff like that, you should definitely try this out. What You Need: One 52 card deck, no jokers. You’ll probably also want a piece of paper to keep track of the score. Number of Players: …
This post refers to the dice game Six Shooter. You can read the rules for free here. Whew, been a while getting this one out. But rest assured, the free game blog and the designer diary blog are still kicking. We’re going to do something a little different this time. Six Shooter is a “press …
It’s happening. At long last, Who Beats Who? is coming to Kickstarter! For years now, we’ve been playtesting and/or just plain playing this game using crude prototypes. Our first two decks were literally scribbled on index cards in crayon. From there we progressed to printed index card versions, and finally to a business card-sized “travel …
Creating a cast in Forsooth! is a ton of fun, but it’s also challenging. So in the full version, we’ve given you the option to let us do some of the work. In the back of the book we’ve included five “Fifth Folio Plays.” The conceit here is that we’ve found a trove of lost …
Mark how well the sequel hangs together: Eleven hours I have spent to write it over.” – Richard III, Act III, Scene 6 Let’s say you’ve just won Game Chef. You’re high on life, drunk on champagne, and generally more pleased with yourself than you’ve got any right to be. Where do you go from there? …
When beggars die, there are no comets seen; The heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes. -Julius Caesar, Act II, Sc. ii OK. Let’s cut to the chase. We’ve all played RPGs, and at this point, I think we know what the groundlings want. Death. Violence. Bloody murder. Pound for pound, I’ll put Forsooth! …