I had a great time talking to Justin Gary on his Think Like A Game Designer podcast. Justin includes a great text outline of some of the big topics we hit on the web page, including some of the major takeaways. Think Like A Game Designer: Ben Robbins — World Building in Microscope, Gaming with […]

Okay, show of hands: who’s interested in a course called “Science Fiction & Public Health”??? Sign me up! In their latest podcast, Alexis Dinno and Nell Carter talk about how they brought In This World to the classroom at the OHSU-PSU School of Public Health: Science Fiction & Public Health Podcast, Episode 8 The In […]

Even more copies of In This World arriving around the globe (and also Portland). The kickstarter is done and done! There are still stragglers who haven’t answered their surveys (there are always stragglers) but the vast majority have gone out. And I have to say that, as a game designer, it is tremendously satisfying seeing […]

People have had a long week, everyone’s tired, but we still want to do a little gaming-something-something. This looks like a job for… IN THIS WORLD! Our topic: Clothing! We were doing the normal brainstorming and we had some good topics (but also “trains!!!”) but when Caroline threw out Clothing I knew that was the […]

I’m getting verified sightings of In This World deliveries in the wild! Books are showing up on people’s doorsteps, which means it’s time to get folks together and make some new worlds. Cats not included. Update: If you too want to show everyone your beautiful book (with or without pets) drop a link in the […]

Does one of these belong to you? If you interpret this glorious sight to mean that printing is done and shipping is underway, you would be correct.

“Let’s pick a light topic, like Holidays. Or maybe… MURRRRDEERRR????” The Thursday night hobbits have a knack for In This World that is by now well-documented: sparrow bodhisattvas, mech wars, reimagining the Aliens movies… oh right, I never posted about the Aliens game. Someone remind me to do that. So when we sat down to […]

I love when interviews stop being “interviews” and turn into conversations about the things we love. That’s exactly what happened during this chat with Craig Shipman on the Third Floor Wars podcast. A very fun time! Third Floor Wars Podcast, Tabletop Talk with Ben Robbins We cover a whole range of stuff, from when I […]

“This is part of the magic of collaborative world-building — that you can start a sentence with no pressure to finish it on your own. Jump. Your friends will catch you.” Jack Edward wrote a very thoughtful review of In This World after playing it with his group to brainstorm a campaign world. I highly […]

We’re back at the table, playing more In This World. What could top our Vacations game? How about Dating..??? We recorded this game a while back, shortly after the Vacations session, but technical problems prevented me from editing and posting it when I first intended. Now that In This World is done, I circled back […]

The full release of In This World is done! You can get it and play right now. If you bought the early access release, you should have already received an email with your download link. The book is about 20 pages longer than I originally planned, not because the rules changed — the rules are […]

You had me at watermelon jack-o-lanterns…

I’m working on finishing In This World, but I keep thinking of more things I want to add. Just the other night we playtested an “alternate history” rules variant and now that absolutely has to go in the book. Plus there’s my usual perfectionist streak. But the real thing slowing me down is… a mouse. […]

Did you miss the Kickstarter? If so, you can finally get your hands on the early access rules of In This World. When you pre-order the book or PDF, you’ll get the fully playable rules now, and the final version when it is released. Lots of people have told me they only heard about the […]

“I’m tired of characters who are just shallow stereotypes…” We had just finished a delightful session of In This World and were basking in the afterglow. Talk turned to different stripes of gaming, from story games to D&D. Which is when Ace said how tired they were of one-dimensional characters. Characters that were just cardboard […]

We had an urge to play some space cowboys. But what does “space cowboys” even mean to us? There was one way to find out: play In This World and chew on our preconceptions. Our plan was to play In This World to prototype some worlds, and then pick one to use for another game […]

My original plan was to release an early access version of In This World to backers after the Kickstarter ended, so they could get started playing before the whole book was done. But then the other day I was having a great time playing with a new group of people and it made me think […]

Trying something new! I’ve uploaded a gameplay video of one of our In This World sessions. The topic for our worlds: Vacations! I’ve never tried posting video of our sessions before, but a lot of people have asked to see what all my games look like in action, so we’ll see how this works! It […]

or, “Can you play this game solo?” Ever since I starting working on In This World, it has been slowly taking over my brain. I don’t mean I’m working on it all the time, I mean it is working on me! I’m just going about my day, minding my own business, and then something crosses […]

“We started by changing “Story games aren’t about winning,” to “well, actually they are…”” Caroline and Marc took In This World for a spin on a lovely and leisurely Sunday morning. Their topic? Something near and dear to us all: story games! Less Than Three Games: World of Story Games “But what I most appreciate […]

Alien mechs fall from the sky like shooting stars. Their technology is so advanced that even after smashing into the Earth they still work. And just one is advanced enough to change the balance of power. Governments and militaries around the world race to be the first to secure each mech as it falls… For […]

The kickstarter for In This World is now live. I pressed the button and unleashed the flood.

The date is set. The kickstarter for In This World is launching on Tuesday May 16, one week from today. That’s my plan, anyway! Because the sooner I launch, the sooner you all get to play the game. I’m also going to be chatting with folks at the Foresight Games event this Wednesday (tomorrow), talking […]

Want to stream or podcast a game of In This World? I would love to jump on and facilitate a game, or just send you the rules so you can play it, or just talk about this weird little game and how it works. I suspect In This World is particularly well-suited for streaming, because […]