Sam Seer's Blog

Some big changes to  Sellsword , a one-page OSR ruleset, recently and none of them necessitated by a playtest (though I’m eager to get it to table). In brief... 1. Overhauled the layout.  Old Butterick said Minion is a bad font choice because it’s an automatic font choice. As Calibri is to Word, Minion to Adobe. Except Adobe users are supposed to have their aesthetics about them, so it’s a graver sin. So, inspired by the 24XX games I went for a condensed sans serif, similar to Futura, but a little rounder. It’s Proxima Nova, and I’m sure Butterick would have his qualms.  I also replaced the Souvenir headings (another automatic font, pulled straight from classic D&D) with something more Western-tinged. But hopefully not too Western tinged. It’s a delicate, challenging, and fun balance between maximum readability and theme/flavor. At times like this, I’m jealous of Mothership. A game that’s set in the future feels like it has endless graphic design choices. And, ba...

This week I ran the second-ever session of  Sellsword , a one-page OSR ruleset. For an adventure, I used “Incident at Torn Throat Gorge”, a work-in-progress one-page adventure with an Old West flavor. In no particular order, here are my dominant takeaways: 1. Extend the “noob” stage. When I started playing Runescape in 2005, the most fun I ever had was playing on a free account, fishing for shrimp in Lumbridge and trying to get enough gold to buy a green cape. I was a noob. And the smallest things— like selling an inventory load of mined iron, or picking up 10 gp from a dead guard— mattered. That changed as I leveled up and gained more gold. As I leveled up, the percentage of the game that posed a challenge and offered value— that delivered joy — decreased. How might a game designer avoid this? I’ll be reflecting on this for a while I imagine. But off the top of my head, two things come to mind... First is Dark Souls. I’ve never played a Souls game, but my impression is that even t...

On Thursday night, I ran the first playtest of Sellsword , a one-page OSR ruleset. For an adventure, I used The Undying Flame of Gal-Bog , a one-page dungeon I wrote, inspired by this all-time classic illustration. In no particular order, here are my dominant takeaways: 1. Scenario drives Player behavior. Starting out dirt poor: the Players murdered an NPC for his hand-axe and sling. Starting out as strangers: one Player led two other Players into known danger. Playing as swords-for-hire: the Players were inclined towards chaotic-evil levels of violence. Is this a problem? Not necessarily. The game should incentive multiple types of problem-solving. If the ruleset makes Players feel they have choices, it works. The PvP conflict is an issue if the Players feel incentivized to kill one another endlessly; this brings the story to a standstill. 2. Action and resolution were in lockstep. It felt like the story was happening at the same speed as the game. Often, roleplaying games can feel ...

As I prep a one-shot of The Warren (the PbtA game about a colony of rabbits: yes, rabbits) I got to thinking about making a place "gameable".  What works in fiction does not work in tabletop RPGs. I can describe a meadow, sun-struck and brimming with bee buzz. It's unbearably green and the smell of the honeysuckle here at summer's peak is almost erotic. That's fun to read and fun to imagine. But try giving that to your RPG table: "OK, sounds nice. I lay down in the grass." "You lay down in the grass. It's green and itchy." "OK... I smell the flowers." "You smell the flowers. They smell so sweet." "Let's leave." What's missing is a game-able element. Why would a Player want to come here? Why would a Player not want to come here?  Every location needs both an opportunity and a threat. With these two elements, you create a push and a pull — tension— and promote meaningful risk-taking. Let's see som...