ars ludi

The only thing I love more than making intricate, fascinating worlds when I game is making intricate, fascinating worlds and then watching them burn. Which is why I love Caroline’s game, Downfall. I love making the world and fleshing out all the traditions, and I love the tight personal tensions. And I’m guessing a lot […]

In groups I’ve played Downfall with, I’ve seen a tendency to make the society a small, insular place, like an island (possibly a floating island) or an isolated town. But I want to go big and make a Haven in the vein of Robotech, Voices of a Distant Star or Ender’s Game. Our Haven is […]

“We came. We saw. We gamed.” Once again, crack squads from Story Games Seattle, Story Games Olympia and other parts Pacific Northwest, descended on PAX to bring the story games to the people. From Friday through Monday, our expert facilitators were on hand, offering games to anybody who wandered up and wanted to take them […]

We got together to film Caroline’s new game, Downfall, so you can watch the action in living color. Was there drinking? There might have been some drinking. I’ve been playtesting Downfall over the last two years and I have to say, it rocks. It’s on Kickstarter right now so check it out!

“Let’s work on our games! Use the devastating weight of procrastination shame to jam it up!”–the Mighty CHOBBS Peer pressure makes good company. So this weekend, Marc, Caroline and I set the grindstone speed to “dangerously high” and leaned way, way in. We ignored the pretty-pretty sunshine, the chirpy-chirpy birds, and did the dreadful labor […]

Story games documentary time! https://www.lamemage.com/friends/Story_Games_by_Film_342.mp4 [ don’t be alarmed, the first thirty seconds or so is black, but if you have trouble here’s a direct link ] That’s me, J.C. and Natalie playing, plus Ashley and Ed at the interview table. The background action is all the awesome folks of Story Games Seattle playing at […]

@lamemage gives hard advice. Rewriting Downfall from memory suuuuucks.   There’s a thing I do when I design games — this is real secret squirrel, behind-the-curtain stuff — which is that after I’ve written a draft or two and playtested a bit, I take everything I’ve written and just put it away. Make a new […]