ars ludi

“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 […]

Now that all the spin-off games have gone through playtesting, I put up a proper introduction page to talk about what’s going to be in the new Microscope Explorer book. Three Microscope spin-off games? Detailed step-by-step seeds plus randomly generated seeds? All that lovely strategic advice? Yep, we got all that.

“But too often, fantasy worlds are created like Ikea furniture, popping up whole with minimal assembly from big pre-existing parts that creak and come apart after heavy use. That’s why so many many fictional worlds seem to produce carbon copies of real world Western gender hierarchies, even if it becomes painfully dissonant with other details […]

Four years ago today, Microscope is released: would-be players: “Oh cool! A game about time travel!” me: “Actually no. Players pick where in time they want to explore but the characters in the game can’t move through time. Except, uh, forwards. At the normal speed.” would-be players: “But… I can haz time travel?” Fast forward […]

The Earth was lost. The tide of Communism had spread to every corner of the globe. But on the Moon the last patriots remained steadfast, raining down showers of city-crushing debris from their lunar bunkers. Vengeful, destructive, but ultimately futile. It was a last hurrah for the West, but too late to turn the tide. […]

Great game of Microscope Chronicle at Story Games Seattle. Rulers swore oaths on it (and broke them). Friends spirited it away and swore more oaths on it (and broke them). Later it was the wedding ring binding two houses in marriage (guess how that turned out?). By This Ring I Swear Doomed bromances and loveless […]

Really fun interview I did on the RPG Gamer Dad podcast is now online. I talk about Microscope, Kingdom, the wonders of gaming with kids, the eternal font of fun that is Story Games Seattle, and some of the cool new stuff being crafted by Marc and Caroline. And yeah, I drop a few hints […]

I met Dylan at PAX. He asked me about using Microscope with kids and I made him promise to tell me how it went. Good to his word, Dylan gave me a full report and then kindly agreed to let me share it: I work as a Programmer and sometimes assistant at a after school […]

The RPG Gamer Dad podcast talks with James Torrance about Microscope: RPG Gamer Dad: The Astounding Adventures of Meteor Man And yes, the eponymous Meteor Man segment right before the Microscope part has nothing to do with Microscope, but it’s awesome so you should give it a listen.

If you guessed that I simply could not get enough tales of kids playing Microscope, you would be right. Here are Ryan and his friend Duncan rocking the Anipocalypse while Ryan’s sister schemes and watches… Having trouble visualizing Aquacology, the underwater city-state that the dolphins ultimately wipe out? No problem. Ryan has you covered: And […]

The Microscope areas on G+ and RPGGeek are already pretty active, but now there’s a shiny new spot to talk about it on Reddit: /r/MicroscopeRPG/ on Reddit Microscope has popped up on reddit before, but this is the first time it’s had its own subreddit. Relish it, crewcut!

Hearken, ye gamers! The playtest of Microscope Chronicle is closing September 30. If you’re on the team you should have already gotten an email with instructions and whatnot. I’ve gotten a lot of great feedback already, because playtesters rock. I predicted a while back that Chronicle might turn out to be the people’s choice for […]

Jackson Tegu has been working on a hack of Microscope called Kaleidoscope: Gather 3-5 players, set aside 2 hours, and make up an unwatchable “foreign” film using a pile of index cards and your crazy brains! Use this step-by-step guide to guffaw your group through non-chronologically remembering a wildly bizarre movie that you apparently just […]

Tons of great Microscope game reports recently. I can’t even keep up. Here’s just a handful: “I’m involved in a months-long, remote-play, 2-person Microscope game (in its 53rd Focus).” Shadow of the Titan: Campaign Creation for 13th Age Parallel Lives Podcast: “The masses rejoice as the World Spell is completed” Invasions: Earth! A Microscope Supers […]

Garth Rose just read the playtest draft of Microscope Chronicle: I can easily imagine doing a Chronicle on the One Ring. ;) Anchor characters: Sauron, Celebrimbor, Isildur, Bilbo, Frodo (or maybe Sam).? Exactly.

I have received a glorious wealth of feedback from Union playtesters all over. I am giddy with delight. Now it’s time for the second Microscope spin-off, Chronicle. Both are going to be included in the Microscope Explorer book, but you already knew that. What is Chronicle? It’s a laser-focused version of Microscope. Instead of a […]

…for pure literal discourse into the possibilities of things that could be, there’s very little out there that even comes close to the level of focus that Microscope presents… —The Ghost without a Shell I’m sold!

“…yet the most deadly wound Shirat inflicted was not with the blade that he crafted and which bore his name, but in the seemingly merciful act of saving the life of the Overlord who enslaved him. For in saving the Overlord’s life, the slave-smith destroyed the man the Overlord was…” Just played Microscope Chronicle with […]

I was walking around Go Play NW telling people what I was working on. Then they would say they were surprised they hadn’t heard of it and I had to respond “oh, that’s because I haven’t announced it yet.” So let me fix that right now: Microscope Explorer is a supplement that explores (ehh? get […]

Got to play two great games of Microscope Union at Go Play NW: Revolutionary Zero — Bringing down society as we know it. Let she who is without sin throw the first plague.? Oathbreaker — Magi, faerie courts and unicorns (well, one unicorn) fighting Death for the soul of a mortal.? Pat, Feiya and Tim […]

Microscope Union is already much more polished than I expected, which means it’s time to let slip the hounds of playtesting. As usual, I’m looking for people who will actually play the game and give feedback, not just read it. Because Union is a built on Microscope, you also have to already know how to […]

First playtest of Microscope Union was beautiful and bittersweet: Nathan grew up on the farm. As a young man he sees strange lights in the sky, a sight that fills him with quiet wonder. Belle comes from the big city. She hates the country, hates working on the farm, but eventually she and Nathan fall […]

Want a Microscope book overseas but don’t want to pay an arm and a leg on shipping? You can now order Microscope print-on-demand thru Lulu. Lulu now prints in a variety of countries (Australia, Canada, and all over Europe) so if you’re outside the US it might be cheaper and easier for you. You might […]

In Microscope, the sense of not knowing what’s going to happen next is provided by the simple fact that humans are unpredictable, and your fellow players are human. Spot on.