Neitherworld Stories

May 16, 2009

Easier PDF reading on laptops and netbooks

I know a lot of people use wee-PCs at the gaming table. Today, via Lifehacker, I found EeeRotate. This is a tiny program that does one thing. It sets up hotkey combinations to rotate your screen by 270 degrees (and back). Suddenly, your netbook can be turned sideways and you have a full-page display for viewing PDFs. Awesome. This was...

May 14, 2009

Its Just A Game, Part II: Emotional Insulation and Player Characters

This is something of a follow-up to my last post. There have been times, in the past, when I’ve become too emotionally wound up with a character I’ve been playing. This happened more often when I was involved in LARPing where the immediacy and direct correlation between a player and PC was particularly strong. My playing style involves a degree...

May 12, 2009

It’s just a game

It is a trite sentiment that annoys some people, but it is true… and important to remember. How many people have ever gotten upset or angry while roleplaying… enough to ruin your fun? Of those remaining, how many have ever been part of a roleplaying session that was derailed when someone got upset or angry? If you don’t fall into...

May 7, 2009

Great GMing Advice

Sometimes the best GMing advice isn’t directed at GMs. Applied Game Design is a blog about game design in general. It rarely (if ever) focuses on tabletop RPGs. Today’s post, though, provides advice on level docs for a computer RPG. Most of it is spot on for designing tabletop RPG encounters (and dungeons). Read it. It’s worth it.

April 28, 2009

Inspiration: Pandemonium by Daryl Gregory

I just finished reading Daryl Gregory’s first novel, Pandemonium. Pandemonium is a story set in a world much like our own, but for the presence of body-hopping demons that embody archetypes of the collective unconscious and human imagination. The demons usually have fairly restrictive goals, and they possess people (usually people who fit a particular profile) in order to fulfill...

April 23, 2009

Netbook at the gaming table

Recently, I’ve acquired a netbook. In particular, I got an HP Mini (I got one with a solid state drive, but the one linked looks like a really good deal). I love it. It is small and light enough (about 2 lbs.) that I can toss it into my bag with my gaming books and not notice the weight. The...

April 21, 2009

Awesome resource for historical games

Do you ever run games set in the last 100 years or so? WWI, WWII, the 1980s… pulp games set in the 1930s? If so, check out Google News Timeline. You’ll thank me. I’ve been waiting for something like this for some time….

April 11, 2009

Free Online Game Design Class

Interested in learning more about game design? Head over to Game Design Concepts, where Ian Schreiber (who teaches college-level game design) will be offering a free on-line course in non-digital game design. The class will run from late June through early September. There are some costs associated with it if you want to get the full experience – namely a...

April 8, 2009

Political Considerations…

Yesterday, I voted in my local elections. None of the races that I really cared about turned out the way I wanted it to, unfortunately. Last night, I started thinking about the new D&D (3.5) game I’ve been playing in… the game is currently set in a mid-sized town in a human-dominated mageocratic empire. The three main political powers in...

April 1, 2009

Today’s Lesson:

Believe nothing. As a GM, do you try to trick your players? If so, do you prefer to set up circumstances to deliberately mislead player or to you use NPCs who try to trick the PCs? While I have done the former, I’m definitely in the latter camp. I prefer to be honest and up front with my players (which...