You’re a teenager. You’re a zookeeper. It’s a fantasy magical petting zoo. It’s a lasers and feelings game about being a Teenage Magical Zookeeper.
Category: RPG Pen & Paper
The Swiss Cheese Model of RPGs
There is a perception that all RPGs lie somewhere on a spectrum. At one end there are games which attempt to simulate a world and the player is bound by the rules of that simulation – e.g. the character starts
Where the Mechanics Meet The Narrative
A critical component of good game design is how the game’s mechanics mesh with the game’s narrative. If the these elements do not align the player’s ability to suspend disbelief is challenged. For example, most games have mechanics which allow
Why Prophecies Are Bad In RPGs
Fate True prophecies involve predetermination, a fixed time-line or gods of fate ensuring things happen. Which means the prophecy will be fulfilled regardless of what the characters do. As railroading the players this much is something most GMs avoid, adventures
How Much Can A Player Define A World?
There is an almost universal trope in tabletop RPGs that a player (other the GM) only has narrative control of their own character. That is, they have very little ability to create and define parts of the world – the
Rounding Up Garbage And Sewers for the RPG Blog Carnival
2016 and its December RPG Blog Carnival have now come to a close. It has been 6d6 RPG’s pleasure to host the theme of Garbage and Sewers. So as the big top is taken down and the midden is filled
Garbage & Sewers: RPG Blog Carnival
Where are the toilets on the Enterprise? It may seem like a silly question but waste is an important part of life and therefore a potential source of role playing. For GM’s, thinking about toilets and garbage can give rise
The Red Shirt Problem
Why The GM Is Forced To Bribe Players A typical RPG plot involves the party arriving in town and being approached by NPC A because NPC B has been kidnapped by NPC C. The typical response by players to this
Story Creation Versus Story Discovery
The split between traditional and story gaming. Murdering The Plot A while ago I ran our whodunit adventure Mince Pies & Murder for the Indie+ team, gamers who are heavily into games such as Apocalypse World and Fate. These are
Can An RPG Tell A Story?
Four key reasons why story telling in RPGs is fundamentally different from other media. RPGs Are A Collective & Social Activity The great story telling media – oral, prose, verse, stage and screen – all have one thing in common.
Stories – The Bare Bones
Stories are defined by a basic structure – a skeleton on which the flesh of creativity can be added. The Arrow of Time In Star Trek (the original series) the crew and ship were identical in all regards at the
Why We Don’t Eat Red Berries From Spiky Leafed Plants
A bad story will always cause player frustration. A Long Time Ago After the arrival of a new pack drove them from their familiar patch of forest, Ug, Krg and their offspring find themselves in unfamiliar jungle. Hungrily they begin