The first convention that Leighton and I went to as (something approaching) legit game designers was UKon, a small convention that the University of Kentucky game club used to run (maybe they still do, I’m not sure). I’m not really sure how many games we ran, but I remember four that I’m reasonably sure we…
Role-playing is like Vegas: What happens at the game table should stay at the game table. That’s not because gaming stories are scandalous, it’s because it’s very rare for gaming stories to be the slightest bit interesting to anyone outside of the group of people who played the game. A lot of of them boil…
We all do it. You’re getting ready to play a new game and, unless it’s just a mindless dungeon crawl where the characters aren’t going to talk amongst themselves, the time comes to introduce your character. Maybe the GM wants you to describe to another player who his character sees sitting in the other corner…
The Hex crew used to regularly run a game called “The League of Awesome Dudes” (actually, it was originally “The League of Kick-Ass Dudes,” but we decided “Awesome” was more appropriate to the setting). The basic premise was “The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, but with 80s heroes.” Since it’s not really something we can publish,…
The Con Man specializes in finding people who want something for nothing and giving them nothing for something. When most people think of a con man, they imagine a ruthless criminal who steals money from little old ladies. While this is sometimes the case, the little old ladies aren’t always blameless. In addition to exploiting…
Most warriors fight for a higher cause: king, country, God, or honor. The soldier of fortune fights for a much more practical reason: to earn a living. In theory, the soldier of fortune is a mercenary whose only loyalty is to his own self-interest. In practice (at least in fiction), soldiers of fortune often discover…
