MTG RPG

So. Been a while. Turns out updating a blog takes a lot out of you, and scheduling gaming events does the same. Who knew? But I got bored last night and decided to write out the rules for an RPG using Magic cards as the basis of the system that's been kicking around in my head since college or so, posted below. I've always kind of liked the idea of the Magic setting, if not the novels set there, and there's a lot of appeal to a system with thousands of character customization options that I don't have to write myself.

This is kind of about both politics and games?

I've been playing some Blood Bowl Legendary Edition lately.  I'm not great at the game and don't really mind, but there's a Let's Play of it I've been watching that occasionally makes me want to play.  Anyway, I made an Elf team called the People's Republic.  They wear red and are named for communists.  I was chatting with a friend about them and he seemed to think it was amusing enough that it should be kept for posterity.  Read on for the adventures of communist fantasy football/rugby.  (Edited for typos and non-related tangents.)

Poor Choices

Despite initial excitement, I don't like Civilization V nearly as much as Civ 4.  I'm not wildly interested in breaking down everything I think went wrong with it, in part because I didn't have anything to do with the design so it seems mean-spirited, and partially because if I wait until my complaints are related to larger issues, I can milk it for more introductions.  It did get me thinking, though, about a big issue in game design that I'd like to talk more about: the desirability and creation of choices.

General Laxity

Man, I haven't posted here in ages - been pretty busy.  I apparently missed a few comments.  I kinda expected this software to email me if someone commented on a post, but it didn't happen.  Alas.  Now I know and should keep on top of them more in the future.

Gonna do an entry now, and hopefully do them a bit more regularly - I've got so much work to do lately I can't promise much regularity, but it's been months and I think I can do better than that!

Dark Elves Retrospective

In case you're reading this and weren't aware: as touched on in my last post, the Battleground: Fantasy Warfare* Dark Elves are (mostly**) out, and have gotten some player feedback on the Battleground forum and are my first lead designed gaming project.  So, I'm going to tell the tale of how this came to be, my thoughts on the experience, what went right, what went wrong, and what I feel like I've taken away from it thus far.  (End of post note: this is really long, so be warned.)

Not Dead Yet

Hey all, just wanted to note that I've got several posts percolating: more political stuff, and a Battleground Dark Elves design retrospective.  (Since the Dark Elves are my first published lead design, I feel like it'd be neat to look back on what I did, what worked, what didn't, what lessons to take away, and so forth.)

Unfortunately, we've had a series of disasters at work including two thefts this week (though we solved the one tonight, woo!) so I've not had the time I wanted to.  I have both Monday and Tuesday off, so expect something then if not before.  Thanks for reading - I love to write this stuff, but sometimes the job eats the time for it!

Democracy and its Preconditions

I have a gaming post mostly typed out, but I haven't quite got a way to tie it together quite yet.  I'm also considering an early post-publication overview of the Battleground Dark Elves, who are now out and slowly trickling their way through distribution, but I think that's not for tonight either, and I might wait until I'm confident that all parts of the world can buy them, rather than just those parts that shop at my store.  So my first dedicated gaming update will have to wait.  Instead, since it has already been over a week for various reasons and I don't want this blog to be too neglected, have some more politics.

It is quite trendy, it seems, to claim that your own political system is the best in the world.  There seems to be this idea around that there's some platonic form of leader selection*, and if we can just find it, we'll have discovered the governmental system that is ideal for all peoples, all places, and all times.  Being as this is the United States and we are already prone to flag-waving and overblown exceptionalism, it isn't particularly surprising that it is also widely taken for granted that our system, or at least a similar one, is the ideal.