Thursday, August 17, 2006

Verge: Reprogrammed

Verge is the best cyberpunk game you haven't heard of. Go. Read. Get excited. Play. It rocks very, very hard. I'm going to put this in the queue for our local group, probably for some time next year (it's a long queue).

Also, Adam Dray (the author) is a cool guy. I heard that he once threw a knife into heaven. Opponents beware.

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Tuesday, August 08, 2006

Creative Agenda: Ron and Levi hash it out

Argh! It's a game theory post! Run for the hills!!!

Ron and Levi are having an awesome conversation about Creative Agenda over at le Forge. It's a step-by-step Q&A that really lays out a lot of the gnarly Forge-theory stuff in a way that (I think) is easy to digest.

Plus it includes one of my favorite Ron thingies:
[[[Character + Setting] = Situation] + System] x Color

And Levi says this great thing:
If I say something "speaks to the character", then I may mean any or all of:

-Something that the player wants to explore and address, and sees a way that to do so through the media of their character.

-Something that the player, again screened through that media, finds compelling in and of itself.

-Something that the player believes is, while not necessarily compelling or worth exploring in itself, nevertheless something that grounds the character or opens up chances for the player to get the whole media into a state that will bring up compelling or explorable stuff.

-Something the player believes is relevant to other player's characters, and would like to see brought into the game where it can be dealt with.

-Something that fits so smoothly with the fiction of the character, or the systemry attached to that character, that it feels as if it belongs.

In other news, I'll be at GenCon this week, along with another Attacks contributor, Matt Wilson. We'll be pimpin' (large) at the Forge booth, so swing by and say hello.

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