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	<title>ars ludi &#187; game design</title>
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	<description>art of the game, roleplaying game theory from the brain of ben robbins</description>
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		<title>Suppressing Useful Actions</title>
		<link>http://arsludi.lamemage.com/index.php/181/suppressing-useful-actions/</link>
		<comments>http://arsludi.lamemage.com/index.php/181/suppressing-useful-actions/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 06 Sep 2011 02:02:28 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>ben robbins</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[game design]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://arsludi.lamemage.com/?p=181</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The important thing in strategy is to suppress the enemy&#8217;s useful actions but allow his useless actions. &#8211; A Book of Five Rings (The Fire Book), Miyamoto Musashi The diametric opposite of role-playing game design. Informatively so. Game design acid test: if your rules block ideas the players want and you don&#8217;t have an excellent [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>5</slash:comments>
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		<title>Advanced Agon: Three Flavors of Myth</title>
		<link>http://arsludi.lamemage.com/index.php/103/advanced-agon-three-flavors-of-myth/</link>
		<comments>http://arsludi.lamemage.com/index.php/103/advanced-agon-three-flavors-of-myth/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 12 Jul 2008 19:13:17 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>ben robbins</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[game design]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.lamemage.com/blog/?p=30</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I admit it: when I&#8217;m running Agon I&#8217;m a stickler for Classical Greek style. I don&#8217;t just want D&#038;D with spears or a fuzzy Xena-barbarian analog, I want it to feel like mythic Greece. Hubris, arrogance, tragedy &#8212; the works. That&#8217;s a great thing about Agon: the built-in mechanics pack a lot of Greek punch. [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
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		<title>Advanced Agon: Deeper Quests</title>
		<link>http://arsludi.lamemage.com/index.php/101/advanced-agon-deeper-quests/</link>
		<comments>http://arsludi.lamemage.com/index.php/101/advanced-agon-deeper-quests/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 30 Jun 2008 23:39:21 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>ben robbins</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[game design]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.lamemage.com/blog/?p=28</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Agon includes a quick and painless way to get a quest started: a god descends from Olympus and says &#8220;hey, you, go do this thing!&#8221; (well, technically three things and you pick which one to do first) That&#8217;s excellent if you are doing a pick-up game and want to get straight to the action. But [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>My Indie Realization</title>
		<link>http://arsludi.lamemage.com/index.php/87/my-indie-realization/</link>
		<comments>http://arsludi.lamemage.com/index.php/87/my-indie-realization/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 08 Feb 2008 18:51:25 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>ben robbins</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[game design]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://arsludi.lamemage.com/index.php/87/my-indie-realization/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I wrote the first draft of my first indie game (codename: hicks) on the plane back from GenCon 07. It was the perfect recipe for writing: post-con euphoria, extreme exhaustion, lots of caffeine, and complete captivity in an airplane seat. It helped that my partners in con-crime quite sensibly passed out so I was on [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
		</item>
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		<title>Color Blind Gamers</title>
		<link>http://arsludi.lamemage.com/index.php/55/color-blind-gamers/</link>
		<comments>http://arsludi.lamemage.com/index.php/55/color-blind-gamers/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 18 Mar 2007 08:53:05 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>ben robbins</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[game design]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.lamemage.com/proto/wordpress/?p=55</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[And now, a Public Service Announcement: About 8% of males in the US are color blind, the most common type being red-green color blind, followed by the rarer blue-yellow color blind. If you are color blind, it literally means that the colors look the same to you &#8212; you see one color instead of two. [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>5</slash:comments>
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		<title>Dungeons &amp; Doomsday Devices: Superhero Base Raids</title>
		<link>http://arsludi.lamemage.com/index.php/36/dungeons-doomsday-devices-superhero-base-raids/</link>
		<comments>http://arsludi.lamemage.com/index.php/36/dungeons-doomsday-devices-superhero-base-raids/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 30 Aug 2006 06:46:11 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>ben robbins</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[game design]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.lamemage.com/proto/wordpress/?p=36</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[A dungeon crawl does not fit the superhero genre. Superheroes zip though villain bases, smashing walls or wafting through them with arcane powers. They do not decide on a marching order and do a room-by-room search (or if they do a search, it is glossed over off-screen). Dr Null&#39;s base is a complex maze of [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
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		<title>Four Types of Supervillains</title>
		<link>http://arsludi.lamemage.com/index.php/35/four-types-of-supervillains/</link>
		<comments>http://arsludi.lamemage.com/index.php/35/four-types-of-supervillains/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 24 Aug 2006 08:36:28 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>ben robbins</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[game design]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.lamemage.com/proto/wordpress/?p=35</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Forget the ice claws, the glowing brains, and the hooks-for-feet for a minute. Despite their surface differences, all your supervillains fall into four categories: soldiers, menaces, masterminds and thieves. The distinction is not about powers or how much of a threat they pose, it&#39;s about how the supervillain behaves. As a GM if you know [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>What is an Action Shtick? (part 2)</title>
		<link>http://arsludi.lamemage.com/index.php/33/what-is-an-action-shtick-part-2/</link>
		<comments>http://arsludi.lamemage.com/index.php/33/what-is-an-action-shtick-part-2/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 02 Aug 2006 11:56:36 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>ben robbins</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[game design]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.lamemage.com/proto/wordpress/?p=33</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Leaping from rooftop to rooftop on a racing train. Streaking to catch a falling civilian before he goes splat. Racing past the sign that says the bridge ahead is out. These are Action Shticks, classic challenges that go with a particular situation or environment. By definition they are not original. They are the things you [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://arsludi.lamemage.com/index.php/33/what-is-an-action-shtick-part-2/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Naming Games (part 2), Episode Titles</title>
		<link>http://arsludi.lamemage.com/index.php/26/naming-games-part-2-episode-titles/</link>
		<comments>http://arsludi.lamemage.com/index.php/26/naming-games-part-2-episode-titles/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 27 Apr 2006 06:58:17 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>ben robbins</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[game design]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.lamemage.com/proto/wordpress/?p=26</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[In my superhero campaign I name each episode. I tell the players the name at the start of the game session, sometimes even days in advance. I write it on the white board in big letters so everyone can see it throughout the game. There are pros and cons to doing this. The primary advantage [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://arsludi.lamemage.com/index.php/26/naming-games-part-2-episode-titles/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Naming Games</title>
		<link>http://arsludi.lamemage.com/index.php/25/naming-games/</link>
		<comments>http://arsludi.lamemage.com/index.php/25/naming-games/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 21 Apr 2006 06:17:14 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>ben robbins</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[game design]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.lamemage.com/proto/wordpress/?p=25</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I always name games I run. Whether it&#39;s going to be a campaign or only one or two sessions, a distinct name gives the players a point of reference, both immediately and long after the game is over. What&#39;s more memorable, saying you played in West Marches or &#8220;that low level game, the one with [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
		</item>
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		<title>What is an Action Shtick?</title>
		<link>http://arsludi.lamemage.com/index.php/8/what-is-an-action-shtick/</link>
		<comments>http://arsludi.lamemage.com/index.php/8/what-is-an-action-shtick/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 18 Dec 2005 03:18:31 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>ben robbins</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[game design]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.lamemage.com/proto/wordpress/?p=8</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Zodiac Ring includes Action Shticks in each scene. Much like the hero strapped beneath the death ray by his evil nemesis, you ask me: what the hell are Action Shticks, exactly, in detail? We&#39;re primarily talking about gaming in the superhero genre, but the concepts can be applied much more broadly. Without the death ray, [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
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