Sam Seer's Blog

Have you heard  Tim B's interview with Dreaming Dragonslayer ? I've listened to it twice . Here's what Tim said that I can't stop thinking about (slight edits for clarity): "With an RPG, you have to think, okay, the players are going to be moving through space— what is the experience of one person in this story? Whereas with a social matrix game, you can think more about the story as a whole. Lull Astir  started in my head as a D&D scenario. There’s this exiled revolutionary and he’s being protected by this monastery. The monastery doesn’t want to give him up, but if they don’t give him up, then there could be this big war. And at first I was thinking: then I throw some adventurers in, right? And they have to go solve the problem. But I started to think: why are the adventurers here at all? Because the interesting conflict is not the conflict between the player characters and whatever monsters they’re going to fight in the dungeon. The interesting conflict is b...

Chris McDowall's Bastionland Podcast  is back and man is it good. If you haven't tuned in yet, here's the pitch in Chris's own words: "Each week, I'll talk to a new guest about three games that are important to them." I was thinking, "Man, I'd love to talk to Chris about this."  Haiku is now available in print, The Iron Coffin just got its second printing, and Planet Pulp— a "lost world" pulp adventure for Mothership—is in the works. But I have more design work to do before Chris will invite me on the show. So, I thought: why not make a blogpost about it? And why not invite everyone else to do the same? So, inspired by the ostrich-lord himself , I cordially invite you to join... a blogwagon: *** Blogwagon: [Your Name]'s Rule of Three Talk about three games that are important to you. The game can be anything: RPG, board game, video game, LARP, etc. Note that it's "important" to you, not necessarily your favorite o...

To cast a spell, you must have its text. Each spellbook is unique. There are no duplicates. Should you wish to cast Fireball (for example) you must find its current owner and, by force or guile, take it. * The origins of spells are medlied, their texts recorded in innumerable ways.  A spell might be carved on a piece of birch-bark by a long-dead druid.  Annotated across a dozen pages of vellum by an order of monks. Inscribed on a chunk of stone in pictographs by some ape-sage, pre-language.

I love the idea of rations in a survival fantasy RPG. A lone hunter on a mountainside, buffeted by the wind, turning a goat on a spit. A train of adventurers, retainers, and pack animals trekking across the badlands. So good. But, after playing Knave and Shadowdark for the last year and a half, carefully tallying rations, I’ve found it… not fun. And I'm bummed. I’m an OSR head! I’m supposed to love this gritty survival stuff! Yet, when I look down at my character sheet, I only have three experiences: Bored ("Yep, got rations.") Annoyed ("Nope, don’t have rations. Time to sideline this fun quest to go  forage .") Exasperated ("We have two mules loaded with rations. Do I really need to cross out 97 rations and write 92? Who TF cares?) How can I redesign rations to fit my beautiful, muddy, OSR dream? Rations, when designed well, should do the following: Create a sense of realism.  (Your Character is a living person— they have to eat.) Create more “surface ar...

When you meet someone for the first time, make a Reputation Check : roll 1d100 equal/under your High Score. On a success , they've heard of you. On a failure , they've never heard of you. On a critical success , they've heard of you—and they feel positively towards you. On a critical failure , they've never heard of you—and they feel negatively towards you. For example: Han Solo (High Score 35) walks into a cantina on the outer rim. He approaches the barman and rolls 1d100: 33. A critical success. "The Han Solo? Aren't you the madman who made the Kessel Run in 12 parsecs? I've got something special for you..." *** I think it's pretty delightful that High Score, as written, is totally non-mechanical. It's this wonderful, open socket waiting for you to plug something in. It also reinforces the entire tone of the game. When I Warden, I've started ending every session with this line: "And that's where we'll end for tonight. Everyon...

This is an OSR Pattern. If you haven't read one before, scroll to the bottom for some context! One, Two, or Three Exits A room with one exit is a dead-end; with two exits: a waypoint; with three exits: an interesting choice. Four or more exits is fatiguing, yet may have its place. Sometimes, you'll see a dungeon room that has way too many doors: The Temple of Elemental Evil (1985) This is uncomfortable for both the Referee and Players. The Referee has to communicate too much information at once. The Players have to comprehend too much information at once; they will ask for clarification now or later. People can hold 1-3 pieces of information in their mind at once. This is true for NPCs . It is true for quest hooks. And it is true for dungeon rooms. When placing exits, do so deliberately to manage cognitive load and pacing. A room with one exit is a dead-end . This is... A cognitive break, as the Players have reached a terminus. A tactical nightmare (no escape) or a fortifiable...

Running my first gold-for-XP game (well,  gold-or - XP  game) has me thinking about incentives. Specifically, what does gold-for-XP incentivize? Acquiring loot Doing jobs for pay Stealing Running a profitable business Avoiding things that don't pay Avoiding things that kill you Is this what I want my game to be about? No. I want my game to be about: Exploring the World ¹  Engaging with the World Following your interests By using XP, how might one incentivize this kind of game? Exploring: Give XP for locations visited and locations fully explored. Engaging: Give XP for completing quests, partnering with factions and NPCs, slaying beasts, developing your skills, doing daring and ambitious things. Following your interests: Give XP for completing personal quests. Do I  want  to  dictate  what my game is about? Of course. I don't want to play a game about running a business or managing a kingdom or waging war between armies. I don't mind if they're an el...