ars ludi
if you asked Ben's brain about gaming, this is what it would say
All Posts by Category
follow
“Was ist eure nächste Queste?”
Follow In German
Quest: Escape the Haunted House!
“If it weren’t for those darn kids..!”
Follow Invades Spain
It Was A Monster Mash
The Teeth Sneak Up On You In Follow
The Flipside of the Quest
The Fall and Rise (and Fall) of Antal
Hot Off the Presses
Follow Is Ready for You
Do You Think You’re Beautiful?
Follow Early Access
Follow Races to the Finish
Heartbreak at Suicide Ridge
microscope
Time Is A Tentacle
Beware False Prophets
Barbie x Microscope
Just Him and His Dad
“Ooh, let’s be bad!” Microscope player says before Breaking the Rules
Microscope In Spanish
Metal of the Gods
It Never Ends
Microscope In the Classroom: Collaboration Is Not Easy
Mercenaries vs Terraformers
Microscope Comes to Japan
What’s the Korean word for Microscope?
Angels & Offspring
Last Stand of the Murderfists
A Scene Less Traveled
microscope actual play
Time Is A Tentacle
Beware False Prophets
Barbie x Microscope
Angels & Offspring
Last Stand of the Murderfists
“Is it… sentient?”
An Eye for an Eye
Kill All Enlightened Robots
The Blooded
Boom, Stone Age
“I have never been so proud of her…”
Flight of the Madamas
Dark Side of the Moon
By This Ring I Swear
Microscope After School
microscope explorer
Union Stands Alone
Indie RPG Award for Best Supplement
Microscope Oracle: Capes & Justice
Microscope Seed: Brave New World
Oracles for Everyone
Happy Birthday, Microscope!
Breaking the Oracles
Unleash the Scribes!
Microscope Explorer Released
“Arrr why won’t my kids grow up faster?!?”
Flight of the Madamas
Microscope Explorer Kicks Off
Echo: Take Your Time
Getting ready for Microscope Explorer
Microscope Echo Needs Playtesters
microscope kids
Microscope In the Classroom: Collaboration Is Not Easy
Microscope meets 9th Grade English Class
Teaching Teachers How to Teach
The Scarlet Letter: Microscope in the Classroom
“Arrr why won’t my kids grow up faster?!?”
Microscope After School
The Adventures of Meteor Man
“I asked the other 13 yr old what he liked best? Freedom.”
You’re no White Knight (aka kids being awesome gamers)
I ♥ Unicorns
Microscope Q&A: In a forest, in Poland
microscope tools
Microscope Oracle: Capes & Justice
Microscope Seeds: Secrets & Squirrels
Microscope Seed: Brave New World
Oracles for Everyone
Microscope Seeds: To the Stars…
Microscope Seeds: Who Watches the Watchmen?
Microscope On Your iPhone
Push Concede
kingdom
Voyage of the Astral Swan
You got Kingdom in my D&D!
Where the Ball Lies
Cars vs Clouds: A Tale of Two Kingdoms
Field Game: Tips & Strategies
Ring the Nug: the Kingdomon Field Game
Kingdomon: Back to Kin Je’do
Kingdomon: Enter the Sub-Verse
Aushi Finds Their Magic
Blood of the Star-Dragon
Gods & Kingdomon
A Careful Balance of Agreement & Disagreement
K2: Books Are Shipping!
K2: Start the Presses
Kingdom Is Ready to Play
kingdom actual play
Voyage of the Astral Swan
You got Kingdom in my D&D!
Where the Ball Lies
Cars vs Clouds: A Tale of Two Kingdoms
Field Game: Tips & Strategies
Ring the Nug: the Kingdomon Field Game
Kingdomon: Back to Kin Je’do
Blood of the Star-Dragon
Gods & Kingdomon
Kingdomon: Launching Into Legacy
Kingdomon: You Must Acquire Them All!
Real Dinosaurs Are Bitey
Lawyers Never Die
Summer Is Coming
Actual Play Roundup: A Beetle Pushing the Sun
syndromes
Damage Per Second
The Shackles of Precognition
An Ode to The New Hotness
Walk a Mile in Their Dice: The practical limitations of “Don’t be a dick”
Benefits of Tyranny
Bad Trap Syndrome (part 2), Curing the Bad Trap Blues
Bad Trap Syndrome
Initiative: the Silent Killer
Don’t Roll, Think
It’s Not A Movie
Buffing is not Teamwork
grand experiments
Ghost of Astariole’s Wife
Which Kid Touches the Giant Robot?
Grand Experiments: Bloody Morder
West Marches: Layers of History
West Marches: Secrets & Answers (part 1)
Dear West Marches
Grand Experiments: Eclipse is a Robot!
Not So Grand Experiments: the Battle of Chuck E. Cheese (part 2)
Not So Grand Experiments: the Battle of Chuck E. Cheese
Grand Experiments: We’ll always have Lorngard
West Marches: Running Your Own
Not So Grand Experiments: Dream Cantos
The Enemy Within
Grand Experiments: West Marches (part 4), Death & Danger
Grand Experiments: West Marches (part 3), Recycling
history of gaming
Braunstein 2010
Shippensburg Archives
Braunstein On Demand
Shippensburg Adventure Game Camp
Braunstein Memories Additions
Braunstein Memories
Braunstein at GenCon
Braunstein: the Roots of Roleplaying Games
how to play
Emic vs Etic: Invent Words You Can Use
Finger Dice
Festival of Rain
Lockdown Level-Up: Mind Over Matter
Building Better Gods
Only Say Yes to a Yes
Feelings > Actions
First Rule of Gaming
Making Characters: The Fine Art of (Not) Fitting In
Story Games Online: What I’ve Learned So Far
Rewrite the Ending Together
Great Players
Why Can’t We All Just Get Along?
Story Games 101: Protagonist, Be Transparent
Story Games 101: Saying Terrible Things
organizing
A Place to Talk About GMless Games
Farewell, Story Games Seattle!
300 Games Later
Story Games Seattle FAQ
Women in Gaming Communities (Norwescon 2013)
Our Ground is Level and Our Table is Round
We Are Here to Game
Lottery & The Pickup Donut (part 2)
Lottery & The Pickup Donut
That’s a lot of hats
Pitching New Game Systems, or “Let’s play Star*Axe!”
You Will Miss That Really Cool Game
Lingua Franca
game design
One Missing Corner
“The rules are there to help you get the most out of your time”
All the Stuff You Never See
The Designer Ouroboros
Nail Your Setup
Names Are Hard
Diminishing Returns of Random Fiction
Forget It’s a Playtest
Guilt Con 2015
Rewriting Your Game From Memory
Pride Goeth
Musashi: Suppressing Useful Actions
Game Plugin: the Blame Game
Game Plugins: a Working Definition
Hornblower: Red-Green Vote
game theory
What Made That Game Great?
“I just like saying ‘overthrow the government'” (GMless RPGs, ECCC 2017)
“If you like role-playing games, you have to like people” (GMless RPGs, PAX 2015)
GMless RPG talk (Norwescon 2013)
Defining Story Games
“How is this possible? How can I enjoy role-playing games without a GM?!?” (ECCC 2012)
GMless Role-playing Games (PAX 2011, part 6)
GMless Role-playing Games (PAX 2011, part 5)
GMless Role-playing Games (PAX 2011, part 4)
GMless Role-playing Games (PAX 2011, part 3)
GMless Role-playing Games (PAX 2011, part 2)
GMless Role-playing Games (PAX 2011, part 1)
Movie Kisses
Competition Likes Precision
The Past is Never Closed, and other data storage problems
gm craft
Eliciting Reactions: Cart Meet Horse
Instant Names: Mythic Flavor
Bears Are Not (That) Scary
Character Monologue: Tell Us What It’s Like To Be You
Instant Names: the One-Letter Trick
Making the Party: Wedge Issues
Game Plugin: Instant Rivalries
Try Something New: the Indie Exploration Kit
Keeping the Peace: Applying Social Sanctions
Be Interested
Yin & Yang of GMing
Rolling for Roleplaying: the Virtual Roll
Burning Spotlight
Learn to Explain Failure
Left Hand and the Right Hand
what we played
My Mom’s a Mech Merc on Mars
Do you remember Remember Tomorrow?
“the stories it lets me tell with my dearest friends”
Classic Cartography: Star Frontiers
Mind of Sandra Birch
2021: A Year of Legacy
The Sword of Thanormyr
Goody Patience of Salem
We See Dead People
Hide In Your Own Body
The owl knows better
Lights, Camera, Downfall!
For Neptune! For Freedom!
The Temple Stands Empty
Flight of the Hornet
systems
Spot & Listen in 3e
Downfall: Revolution
Surprise, it’s Amazon!
Dauntless Mission #4: the Ruby Aurora
InSpace blasts off
InSpace Mission Update
Your Mission… InSpace
Dauntless Mission #3: Plague at Prospect Station
Dauntless Mission #2: Trapped in the Void
Dauntless Mission #1: InSpectres In Spaaaace!
Scidealist
Missing In Agon
Advanced Agon: Three Flavors of Myth
Advanced Agon: Wrath of the Gods
Advanced Agon: Deeper Quests
interviews
“And then later they high-five each other in the hallway”
Live Interview on Electric Dice
“But we know… they’re gonna die” (Games and Education Interview)
“You know why I got the funny voices? Years of GMing”
“I have never been so proud of her…”
Coffee & Kickstarters
“The people at the table are what matters”
“Bring me the finest gamers in town! Bring them on a platter!”
LUG Con Microscope Interview
“You’d know because your flesh would start to melt from your bones!”
Talking ’bout Story Games
“It was a gaming pyramid scheme.”
“There’s a much better randomizer that we use: human beings”
events
Say Hi at Reboot Game Labs
PAX East: What Should I Check Out?
Emerald City Comicon: A Full House of Story Games
Emerald City Comicon: The Game Schedule
Emerald City Comicon: Attack of the Story Games!
PAX 2016: Veni Vidi Ludi
PAX 2016: Games on Demand
ECCC: A fireside chat about GM-less games
PAX: Talking ’bout GM-less Games
ECCC Games On Demand
Playing Games at PAX
Love for LUG Con
Terraforming VikingCon
My Emerald City Comic Con Schedule
Emerald City Comic Con 2014: The Time Is Now
misc
Pick a Hat, Any Hat…
Does It Add Beauty to The World?
Three Kinds of Insight
Behold, You Can Get Email Notifications!
A Decade of Ludi
Who’s the real witch in Salem?
Every Single One
One Blog to Rule Them All
A Good Year for Gaming, Examined
A Good Year for Gaming
Lame Mage 2.0
Define Busy
Anthology of Game Blogs
Lame Mage hits 1000
Lame Mage Gets A Blog
