Blogs

Design progress, playtest reports, and gaming thoughts

Lonely Courage Playtesting

February 19, 2019

Here are some stories from people who have played the game. The first one is based on the kitchen table recording which can be downloaded on this site. The following ones were told as part of three of the playtests of A Cool and Lonely Courage at Metatopia 2018.
(9 minutes read)

Stories of Lonely Courage

November 19, 2018

Starguild - Underbelly Setting Dials

August 6, 2018

What kind of power level do you want cybernetics and psionics to have in your Starguild game? Whether you like rare and dangerous or powers that wouldn’t look out of place in a superhero movie, Adventures in the Underbelly has you covered.
(2 minutes read)

Starguild - What do psionic powers look like?

July 16, 2018

Psychic powers cover a wide range of science fiction mental powers. They are broadly divided into six disciplines, each of which have a number of talents which can be gained within them.
(3 minutes read)

Starguild - What Do Cybernetics Look Like?

May 22, 2018

Cybernetics are man-machine interfaces of one kind or another. Characters and opponents can use money to build in additional capabilities of one kind or another, but at a cost – every bit of tech embedded in you causes you to lose a little bit of humanity. And when the chips are down, the horror of what you have done to your body can cost you dear.
(2 minutes read)

Starguild - core game design

November 26, 2017

In this page I describe the fundamentals of the Starguild game - backgrounds, ability scores, skills, saves and Non-Player Characters
(24 minutes read)

Starguild - game influences

September 8, 2017

When setting out to write an RPG, it is useful to consider all the influences which you have had along the way. Starguild was a long time in the making, and these are some of the key things which affected design decisions about what I was doing.
(9 minutes read)

Starguild - professional art on the pages

June 8, 2016

As a result of the successful kickstarter, art is coming in from the three main artists that I have commissioned. These page excerpts show their work and my goodness I'm pleased with the way things are coming along. Great art really does lift a book!
(1 minutes read)

Kickstarter 6 - The print proof

January 12, 2016

I want to be able to underline the fact that the game is done apart from additional artwork, and there seems to be no better way of doing that than being able to include in the video some shots of me holding a printed copy of the game.
(2 minutes read)

Kickstarter 5 - Making the video

December 23, 2015

Planning and preparing the kickstarter video is somewhat less straightforward than I might have hoped…
(4 minutes read)

Kickstarter 4 – The Shipping Forecast

November 23, 2015

If you live in the U.K. You are probably aware of the shipping forecast. It is an institution beloved of many in this island nation, because it reflects our relationship with the sea. “Tyne, Dogger. Northeast 3 or 4. Occasional rain. Moderate or poor.” in the early hours of the morning can be hypnotically comforting. Planning shipping for a Kickstarter is not nearly as comforting!
(5 minutes read)

Kickstarter 3 – How many words on the back cover?

November 9, 2015

How much text should you put on the back cover of a book? Well, I guess the first question to ask is “What is it there to do?” Actually, that might be the second question, as it is almost certainly worth deferring to what I consider the Ken Hite Rule here – beyond a certain point, the more words that are squeezed onto the back, the more crazy the contents. So let’s not go that far
(9 minutes read)