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Heartbreak at Suicide Ridge

I already talked about the Follow Rebellion where we (luckily) failed to awaken the elder god Kanaguk and destroy the world. I played another Rebellion at Story Games Seattle just a few days later with a totally different group, half of whom had never played Follow before. Playing two Rebellions in a row was chance, […]

Ben Robbins | November 6th, 2016 | , ,

Follow Kickstarter is Live!

The Follow Kickstarter is live! Our quest: get Follow into the hands of gamers everywhere. Spread the word! Immense thanks to all the wonderful players who have already taken Follow for a spin, faced their quests, and then screamed in joyous agony when the stones came up red/red! You are the best.

Ben Robbins | October 18th, 2016 | | 3 comments

Awaken, Kanaguk!

I played two games of Follow last week and by tooooootal coincidence we picked the Rebellion both times. When I’m playtesting, I often sit back and see what quest the other players choose, because: playtesting. What quests people choose or reject can be very informative. The same quest, twice in a row? Boring, right? Nope, […]

Ben Robbins | September 27th, 2016 | ,

That Winning Face

“That moment in Follow where everyone holds their breath as you draw the stones… and then everyone screams. Priceless.” Game designers make the games they want to play. We’re selfish like that. But it’s a good thing, because it means we want our games to work (selfish) and we love what we make. But for […]

Ben Robbins | September 6th, 2016 | , ,

The Colony: Strength vs Beauty, Truckers vs Slugs (Follow at Go Play NW, part 3)

My third game of Follow at Go Play NW. The very last slot of the con. The slot that has no lunch break before it. Traditionally that means people will be a little logy, a little tired, or maybe if you’re lucky, laid back and serene. That was our first real life “what makes your […]

Ben Robbins | August 28th, 2016 | , ,

The Dragon: the Sacred Flame (Follow at Go Play NW, part 2)

On Sunday a bunch of the Go Play NW staff retreated to an undisclosed location to end the con with some gaming glee. True fact: con organizers are often too exhausted making fun for others to enjoy themselves and play all the games. It’s a crime but there it is. So when Brandon suggested we […]

Ben Robbins | August 14th, 2016 | , ,

Follow at Go Play NW: Rebels and Dragons and Truckers, Oh My!

Go Play oh glorious Go Play! How we miss thee! Yeah, it’s only been a few weeks, but around the country hearts are breaking because we are separated from our dear comrades in creative-arms. We weep, we sleep, and we weep again. I got to play some lovely sessions of Follow. I scheduled one for […]

Ben Robbins | August 9th, 2016 | , ,

You don’t vote for kings!

I dropped four new quests on Team Follow: the Booty, the Candidate, the Colony and the Gods. If you are in the playtest and didn’t get the email, let me know so I can hook you up! The Booty was actually the very first quest we played but it didn’t make the initial cut because […]

Ben Robbins | July 18th, 2016 | | 2 comments

A Good Week (for Betrayal!)

Obviously the question of people working together (or not) is a pretty fundamental one which I think makes it great material for examination. As a game designer, that’s something that interests me: looking at core issues or social dynamics that we all deal with. Cooperation is a universal issue. Where it isn’t, it should be. […]

Ben Robbins | July 3rd, 2016 | , | 2 comments

Hackers & Homework

or, “You can take down the corrupt corporate hegemony after you finish cleaning your room!” I tried out some rules tweaks for Follow at our Story Games Seattle playtest meetup Monday. We agreed on a Heist but decided to make it a cyberpunk-hacky thing. Pretty normal so far, right? Except half the characters turned out […]

Ben Robbins | June 30th, 2016 | , ,

Follow Needs Playtesters

I’ve been having a lot of fun playing Follow and now I’m ready to share it with playtesters. Which means you! As always, I’m looking for people who will actually play the game and provide feedback, not just read it. If you’re interested, drop me a line at follow-playtest at lamemage.com or leave a comment […]

Ben Robbins | June 17th, 2016 | | 32 comments

Eye of the Kraken

One of the nice things about the quest templates in Follow is that they get everyone on the same page about the kind of task we’re performing, but they’re flexible enough that you can easily change the flavor or setting. Want to steal the plans to the Death Star? Whip out the Heist quest. By […]

Ben Robbins | May 25th, 2016 | , | 2 comments

Follow the plan, or follow your heart…

Now that Microscope Explorer is out, the Oracles are free online, and all but a few of the advanced backer rewards are done, should I take a vacation? Should I put my feet up, sip some coffee and rest on my laurels? Well yes to the coffee, but no to all the rest. I’ve been […]

Ben Robbins | April 14th, 2016 | | 2 comments

They Have Perspective

I just sent out the sneak peek of my next game as a reward for the fine folks who backed Kingdom at the Perspective level. If you’re a Perspective backer and you didn’t get the link, let me know. I usually play my cards pretty close to the vest when it comes to projects I’m […]

Ben Robbins | March 6th, 2014 | ,