Blogs

Design progress, playtest reports, and gaming thoughts

2023 In Review

January 8, 2024

Looking back at 2023 for Plane Sailing Games
(9 minutes read)

Probability Traps

December 31, 2023

Understanding probability is really useful when designing role-playing games. But there are circumstances where you can come unstuck…
(6 minutes read)

Expect Three Visitors - playtest 3

October 30, 2023

A playtest of a game inspired by Scrooge and It's a wonderful life. A story game of the possibility of redemption, no matter how bad someone is. This playtest involves Wrath, Pride, Envy, and Gluttony.
(12 minutes read)

Expect Three Visitors - kickstarter launch

October 18, 2023

Expect Three Visitors has been launched on Kickstarter! Please back the project!
(1 minutes read)

The Long Road Home - Design Update

August 6, 2023

Some of the questions raised in a playtest and the changes which resulted from those questions.
(2 minutes read)

The Long Road Home - Playtest 2

July 23, 2023

Several playtests down the line, there have been a number of improvements to the ruleset. This session covered the whole game in 4 hours. The Broken Angel is a young adult story about a rag-tag band in a faded realm who need to imprison the broken angel by empowering the moon amulet...
(15 minutes read)

Expect Three Visitors - playtest 2

June 20, 2023

A playtest of a game inspired by Scrooge and It's a wonderful life. A story game of the possibility of redemption, no matter how bad someone is. This playtest involves Pride, Envy, Sloth, Gluttony, and Greed.
(21 minutes read)

The Long Road Home - Design the Setting

April 8, 2023

This is the first of my design diaries for The Long Road Home. Creating the Setting for your story.
(3 minutes read)

The Long Road Home - Playtest 1

April 2, 2023

My first playtest of the rules was lovely. We skipped a chapter or two, and didn't do the homecoming, but soon got into the rythym of the game. It was a heroic quest in a shadowed world, to overcome an evil queen.
(10 minutes read)

2022 In Review

January 25, 2023

Looking back at 2022 for Plane Sailing Games
(6 minutes read)

OGL, Licenses, Oh My

January 15, 2023

Well, what a furore. Who had on their bingo card for 2023 an uproar over an RPG license which is over twenty years old? Not me for sure.
(4 minutes read)

A Retrospective Games SRD

December 6, 2022

I'm launching a System Reference Document that describes the mechanisms which I've used for some of my highly regarded story games. I hope that other people will be able to take it and make fun, interesting and challenging games using this mechanism.
(2 minutes read)