I’m going to PAX East next week. I’ve been to PAX Prime in Seattle a bunch, of course, but this is my first time at the east coast event. What’s good to check out? Where’s the good gaming? Are there weird and interesting nooks and crannies I should explore? One of the things I enjoy […]

“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 […]

“That moment in Follow where everyone holds their breath as you draw the stones… and then everyone screams. Priceless.” Game designers make the games they want to play. We’re selfish like that. But it’s a good thing, because it means we want our games to work (selfish) and we love what we make. But for […]

Want to play games at PAX? We will have a *horde* of talented facilitators ready to bring the fun. A horde. Enough to form a political party or stage a barn-raising. The sign-up table for games on demand will be at the door to 305 on the third floor of the Washington State Convention Center […]

When I saw the slot for my talk about GMless RPGs at PAX, I was pretty skeptical whether anyone would be there. Friday morning, an hour after the doors opened? Would the crickets even show up? I think the first few seconds of the audio should answer that question… http://arsludi.lamemage.com/static/pax-2015-gmless.mp3 (or download the MP3 if […]

There is life after kickstarter! I’m chugging away getting the sneak previews of Microscope Explorer material ready for backers. I’ll be at PAX next week playing games at the indie RPG games-on-demand area and I may have some cool new Microscope tools in-hand. I’ll also be giving a talk about the secrets of GM-less games, […]

“We created the Citizen Kane of spaceship stories…” –Timothy Young Sometimes the excellent games sneak up on you. They disguise themselves with trenchcoats and fake moustaches and then, when you least expect it, they pounce! I played two games of Microscope Chronicle at PAX last year. The first was the story of a mechwarrior-style mercenary […]

If you’re going to PAX and you want to play some Microscope or Kingdom, you are a lucky, lucky duck. Unless the Games on Demand schedule is lying to me, there is Kingdom on the menu for about half the slots. Not only that, but there are talented volunteers offering to facilitate some flavor of […]

I was supposed to record the audio from this panel but there was a, err, technical malfunction. Protip: pressing the record button once is good. Pressing it twice? Not so much. Disaster. Luckily Jobe was in the front row making a recording of his own. Without him the panel would be lost in the mists […]

Friday night at 8 pm I’m on the D&D vs Story Games panel with Erik Mona, Wolfgang Baur, (maybe?) John Harper, Chris Perkins and Jonathan Walton. Far off in the Red Lion, I think. Ashley Cook will be moderating, which is a good thing because I think the idea is that we actually knife-fight to […]

Late Saturday night at PAX, some folks drifted into the Indie Games On Demand room and were checking out all the books on the display table. Like a good host, I pitched a couple of games but they didn’t seem terribly interested. I asked what kind of games they were used to. Party adventure stuff? […]

The big finale! You thought we’d never make it. We’re continuing from part 5, but if you’re just arriving (because you’re seeing the last post first) you probably want to jump straight to part 1 and start there. Indie 306 So… we’re just about done, unless people have questions? One thing I want to point […]

Continued from part 4. Don’t Fear the Reaper & Antagonism Face Ben M: One of the initial fears I had the first time I was approaching GMless gaming was “oh shit, if Xander doesn’t like me, he’s going to spend the entire time killing character. This is going to suck.” But what actually happens… Right. […]

Continued from part 3. We’re halfway through the workshop. We started off by making a list of all the things a GM does, then condensed that list into a few core activities. We’ve been going through each item and looking at how games with no GMs get those same things done, or in some cases […]

Our workshop continues from part 2. Who Gets to Talk Okay, so we were talking about world creation in Shock. One thing we kind of hinted at is that each of these games approach these critical questions in ways that are sometimes extraordinarily different. Like world creation. If you’re playing Fiasco, which is a massive […]

Continued from part 1. In case it wasn’t clear, the section titles weren’t in the talk. I added them to make it easier for you to follow the conversation. Which Things Do We Need? Okay if the GM does all of those things, what’s the next question: Do we need these things? Morgan: Without antagonism, […]

Friday, PAX 2011. About a dozen people piled into a tiny room to talk about GMless Role-playing Games. This is the transcript of that workshop in all its unexpurgated glory. Instead of a rigid lecture, I opted for a lot more audience participation. More chaotic, yes, but did it pay off? In spades, I would […]

What’s today? Friday? A week from now PAX will descend upon Seattle. Story gaming at PAX is on the rise. I’ll be spending a lot of time playing (or loitering at the Gamma Ray Games booth) but I’m also signed up to run a workshop. What about, you ask? GMless Role-Playing Games or “Oh my […]