There have always been divisive topics within the tabletop roleplaying game hobby: Tactical battle maps versus theater of the mind; XP or milestone progression; Should you fudge dice rolls? But none of these topics come even close to how riled up some people get about the mention of Sessions Zero and safety tools. I wouldContinue reading “Session Zero and Safety Tools”
Category Archives: blog
Vampire: the Masquerade and the Attraction to Evil
Back in the 1990s, every college campus across America had groups of young men and women meeting in public locations while dressed like vampires. This wasn’t for cosplay conventions or Halloween parties, though. No, these people engaged in live action roleplaying (LARP). Mind’s Eye Theatre, the live action version of the roleplaying game Vampire: theContinue reading “Vampire: the Masquerade and the Attraction to Evil”
Creating Your Own Setting
A setting is the time and place used to define a narrative. It adds context and atmosphere to a story but also acts as a stage the characters can inhabit and interact with. The setting is one of the pillars of a roleplaying game, but a good setting is also like a character in itself.Continue reading “Creating Your Own Setting”
Why You Should Write Homebrew
My history with designing roleplaying games dates to the very same day as when I played my first one. I was eight years old and had been invited to my neighbor for a game of Swedish TTRPG Drakar &Demoner. As soon as I saw the book, I was immediately hooked, and the game itself threwContinue reading “Why You Should Write Homebrew”
2021 In Retrospect
When I wrote the blog post about my goals for 2021, I had a bunch of expectations and made a bunch of promises. I was going to post one review a month on my Youtube channel. That didn’t happen. I was going to launch a podcast. That didn’t happen. I was going to release Machineborn.Continue reading “2021 In Retrospect”
How to Improve as a Roleplayer
Everyone has a different idea of what it means to be a good roleplayer. For some, a good roleplayer is someone who can immerse themselves in a story and embrace their character; for others, a good roleplayer is someone who can solve all the puzzles and defeat all the encounters. For me, a good roleplayerContinue reading “How to Improve as a Roleplayer”
Storytelling for Powerful Characters
Some roleplaying games, such as Exalted, let players take the roles of immensely powerful characters. I think that most people who have frequented Exalted forums or hang around with people who talk a lot about the game, have probably read or heard that a Game Master cannot plan a game of Exalted because the PCsContinue reading “Storytelling for Powerful Characters”
Introducing a tabletop roleplaying game to your friends
Do you want your friends to try playing a tabletop roleplaying game? Are you upset that your group only plays D&D and does not seem to want to play anything else? Do you want to slam your fist in the table and tell your group that tabletop roleplaying games are an extremely diverse hobby thatContinue reading “Introducing a tabletop roleplaying game to your friends”
Tabletop Roleplaying Games in Therapy
Throughout spring of 2020, I, as well as a study partner, wrote a bachelor’s dissertation in social work that focuses on the use of tabletop roleplaying games in therapeutic treatment of individuals with mental illness and autism spectrum disorder. We interviewed six professional practitioners with experience using tabletop roleplaying games therapeutically, and we compared theContinue reading “Tabletop Roleplaying Games in Therapy”
What’s the deal with tabletop roleplaying games?
What are tabletop roleplaying games? What is a roleplaying game really? Everyone has their own ideas and frames of reference when it comes to roleplaying games and what that term means to them. There are tabletop roleplaying games, live-action roleplaying games, massively multiplayer online roleplaying games; all of these are roleplaying games but they areContinue reading “What’s the deal with tabletop roleplaying games?”
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