Back to Basics – Each Session is a Unique Dialogue
Realizing Each Session as a Unique Dialogue is a new mnemonic/coping mechanism and tool for me. A session is not just a Game, but a Conversation where we deep dive…
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Gaming, tools, and thoughts from Game in the Brain.
Sins of the Crusade Time Line Leading up to 1092
The detail and how often the pieces fit from the various Wikipedia entries are awesome. This is for my players but the amount of work it took to assemble this…
Read more →Back to Basics: Pacing – Dice Agency and Framing the Narrative
As a GM or Player, what do you think of the activity of Framing the Narrative? Is Framing the Narrative part of Managing Tension and Conflict? If it is, how…
Read more →[Reflections] Ads for Skilled Players
Early on I realized that information is a barrier between people. As much as Shared Interests can connect us, differences in Interests separate us. I hated the vicious cycle of…
Read more →Proto-Stress Rules
Inspiration from work kinda makes me want to introduce a STRESS penalty rule. Basically responsibilities and worries accumulate, these distractions represents how much levels of mastery in skills are there…
Read more →Solar Power Learnings, It is only works under specific conditions.
Our plant just ordered 100KWh of solar panels. We will be “energized” within the next 90 days. Its often touted Here are some notes from the experience: From our solar…
Read more →Back to Basics: Pacing and Tension, Pacing Tool
Two wonderful videos below on Pacing but I’m here to talk about some ways to apply it immediately. Pacing Grid I have my players/PCs names in the left most column…
Read more →Back to Basics: Organizing your session by Challenges, and a reminder on Pacing
Keeping things simple, my players will notice I will be using these mnemonics: Minor and Significant Challenges. Minor Problems/Challenges was covered in Non-Binary Consequences. Basically it is resolved quickly. What…
Read more →GURPS Houserules: No more double pay, Households, Relationships
Houserules I had to make to organize my game better and keep with the setting and immersion. No Double Pay In the GURPS FAQ there is a question about “Should…
Read more →Back to Basics: Non-Binary Consequences
Here are tools to use non-binary consequences to further the game. If you’re worried about gamist choices is being encouraged this should muddy up the the matter nice and messy. Continued…
Read more →Back to Basics: My Game Itinerary
Why it takes me roughly 4 hours to run a game. Part of the Back to Basics because I’ve tried to make my style system agnostic and dependent on Active…
Read more →How to GM Abstract Combat Part 3 – Initiative, Combat for the Non-Combat GM
Part 2 can be found here. This is Back to Basics. Initiative is a simple matter, it is for the Player (not the PC), to act or re-act. The matter…
Read more →Sins of the Crusades Notes on Army Organization
Sadly its really hard to research Komnenian Armies. This is because of the haphazard situation and the constant conflicts unlike Justinian/Belisarius and Maurice’s time as well as titles being a…
Read more →A Call for better definition of Skills, and more
If you agree with these assertions, then I want to point you towards Agency and Skills. Particularly how people feel a greater sense of Agency when they acquire skills, and…
Read more →Back to Basics – Empathy as the Goal
This is related to my post on the thesis that GMing is very much like Active Listening. Related to my Back to Basics line of articles. I’ve been following Extra…
Read more →Sins of the Crusades – Season 02, Episode 06 – Betreyal
Thanks +Wilton Heath, +Dan Mungham, +Thunder Clonch , and +Il Pella for playing. The team was planning an attack, the problems and challenges were plenty the closest target was Nicomedia (Izmit), assailable by sea and land…
Read more →How to GM Abstract Combat Part 2 – Economies of Attention
This is Part 2 of How to GM Abstract Combat. Here is part 1. Back to Basics. Economies of Attention is as simple as it sounds. People can only give…
Read more →How to GM Abstract Combat Part 1 – Think in Opportunities
Playing a game like Airsoft requires me to have some mnemonic tools to help improve and to compensate for the the severe lack of combat instinct. Which is not bad,…
Read more →Sins of the Crusade Season 02 Episode 05 – Byzantine Allies
Note: Listening again to the game, I was really out of it. Thank you goes out for my players patience this session: +Dan Mungham , +Wilton Heath , +Milan Runic , +Il Pella , and +Mike Dulay for…
Read more →What Milsim has Taught me about Describing Combat and GMing
Airsoft and RPGs always keep being a source of contemplation. RPGs and behavior economics give me the words to describe most of what is happening in the game (while philosophy…
Read more →Jan 18 2015 – retreat and Circle strategy, Observations
Most of my main mistakes is my better knowledge running into a limited set of options: which was that I knew what was the danger area and my hesitation for…
Read more →Insurgency Jan 17, 2015
the Insurgency Game today had a lot of lessons. Most memorable lesson is that CTO takes the guard, regardless of the role or rank. This is why CTO dies first…
Read more →GMing Back to Basics: Gming with very Basic Mnemonics – Active Listening GMing
The most basic mnemonic of GMing is being a good listener. Effective and Scientific Communication Skills are easy to take for granted – but there is a Science and Study on…
Read more →Running GURPS like Fate, and a conundrum
So I’ve been running GURPS like Fate… this would tear the hair out of any GURPS GM. But then I go back to the detail of GURPS when ever it…
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Jan 11 2015 Game KM14
Jan 11, 2015 CTO vs 4 opfors, including myself. First time to use my WE AK74NU. A GBBR ak carbine I bought of the Dulays. Holy crap it was accurate,…
Read more →Gravity in everything the PCs do. Some mnemonic tools for your consideration
Things in a game goes along faster when we deal with what is important. We do this in summaries and bullet points, and in other matters. The thing is, what…
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2015-01-10
Campaigns
Sins of the Crusade: Episode 4, Season 2 – Byzantine Enemies
Thanks to +Willy So , +Milan Runic , +Il Pella , +Thunder Clonch , +Dan Mungham , and +Mike Dulay for joining the game. When the lion cannot fight his own battles An Improvised ambush. The party’s warriors and lord walk…
Read more →December 14 2014 Game
Notes:First use of our own Cheap Go Pros: the SJ4000 and the PixPro Mercury by Kodak. 2nd CTO hosted event Game 1: Defend/Attack Greens vs Browns Gman was by the…
Read more →Scanning and Observation Notes
I like how Insurgency has a lot of dust and visibility penalties and the bots have good sneaking AI. They know when to slide, sneak, stay still and move, especially…
Read more →Committed Phase, Game Theory-ish
I talked about schelling point before and I learned to put to words something recently: Committed Phase. Basically its a chemistry term but recently I learned it is a business…
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