Recent content by whindmarch

Thanks for weighing in, everyone! I've been wanting to write this piece for a long time, and I'm glad to discover that I'm not alone in my fandom for tabletop-RPG music. Crimson Dragoon, if you're looking for music for your Serenity campaign, you could do a lot worse than to dig up the...

The DM Is a DJ Movies and videogames both use soundtracks to help tell stories, and with just a little planning, your pen-and-paper RPG can, too. Read Full Article

Chuck, I don't think that's a cop-out answer. I think it's worth examining more closely, though, and I'm eager to get that discussion going here where it seems pretty relevant. How does trust differ from camaraderie of opinion, for example? Does Twitter grow trust or does it provide a tool for...

A vibrant article in the classic Wendig voice, but I'm left with a question: Where does the trust come from? If word of mouth is the royal herald, because you trust the folks in your social-media circles, who bequeaths that herald the royal colors? Where does trust come from on Twitter?

Yahtzee, did you in fact criticize this game's writing as "unnecessarily good?" Did I hear that right? So the trouble with the writing is that it's good... when it didn't have to be? Curious, that.

Curiosity Killed the NPC Roleplaying games give you an opportunity to act out the part of the hero in a world that desperately needs one. But what happens when, after a few costly mistakes, you end up with a hero that is less than heroic? Will Hindmarch examines the angst of roleplaying a...

That's a great quote, Rogue Wolf! I wanted to use that one in my longer piece, but it ate up such precious head count. It demonstrates, though, the curiosity that both of the key religions in THIEF are about creators ? there is no easily villainous religion-of-destruction for bad guys to...

There's lots I would've liked to cover, but we had limited space. Someday I'd like to write a book on these games.

If I'd had space, I'd have gone more into how the religions influenced the gameplay of each game, especially how the Keepers' inherent neutrality (or pretense of it) and sense of balance informed the faction-tending elements of DEADLY SHADOWS. In short, the ruling faction tended to dictate the...

Robbing Gods The Thief series is well known for its convincing and immersive gaming world. To achieve this feat the developers hinged the series on a religious conflict that plays no small part in driving players forward in the game. One thing's for sure, religious fanatics have never been...

Bow Before the Worm-Slayer The Titles and Deeds systems in Lord of the Rings Online aren't just another way for players to grind: They let players express themselves and communicate with one another. Will Hindmarch looks at what makes LOTRO's achievement system different from other platforms...

The three-act structure has been attempted and bungled in some games, but that's not the same as it not being a viable option for game design. It's a tool, it has its uses. For example, the structure as represented in one of my favorite games ever, THIEF: THE DARK PROJECT (with spoilers)...

I'm not sure what people you're referring to, KDR_11k, but my experience as a professional pen-and-paper RPG designer was that people in both the video game business and in the general public spoke of (and recognized!) board games like Puerto Rico and Settlers of Catan more than tabletop RPGs...

For kicks, since it's sort of topical again, here's my Escapist article looking at the writing of THIEF and SPLINTER CELL: CHAOS THEORY from back when: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/issues/issue_37/226-Magic-Words THIEF was a profound game.

An MMO can absolutely thrive on 300,000 players ? if they're budgeted for that. 300k players at $14/month is a nice, solid revenue stream. The trouble is that WoW has created unrealistic expectations for developers (and their investors). Look at EVE Online, though, which is quite proud (and...