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It’s a Soundtrack, Not Your Mix Tape

4 April 2013 by 8 Comments
Still unpacking. There's another filing box full of CDs. MIX CDs.

Music can do a limited number of things for a game session: make it awesome, have a neutral influence, or make the entire night suck. If you're going to commit to providing a little mood music to your game, there's some things to keep mind. Whether it's instrumental or has vocals, regardless of language or musical genre, it should add to the session. It also shouldn't add to the session solely for you. These are my troubleshooting tips for using music at the table. Buffering is Not A … [Read more...]

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RPG Girl Thursday Rides Again

28 March 2013 by 6 Comments
UNPACK. ??? ADVENTURE

It’s hard to let go of a favorite game book, long-lived gaming group or your local LARP. But I just moved to Seattle, paired down some of my gaming books, and get to set my sights on the most fabled adventure a gamer can dream of. The Fresh Start I don’t belong to any game nights, groups or LARPs right now. If I want to, I can take my time to shop around. I think I want to get back into gaming face to face regularly with folks outside cons. I also feel a little overwhelmed by what it … [Read more...]

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Resisting the Urge

21 March 2013 by 24 Comments

It's easy to respond to someone else's allegiance to game, or piece of entertainment media, with everything about it that didn't work for you. Sometimes we're having a dialogue with friends or strangers that includes critique and exchanging opinions. Sometimes is not usually. If I log into Twitter and remark about a movie, game, television show or book I enjoy, I will receive more negative comments than positive. I will get comments from people who never engaged with those things, and their … [Read more...]

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Surviving Meeting Your Heroes

14 March 2013 by 3 Comments
L with Spy vs Spy cosplayers at ECCC 2013. Almost too shy to ask for the photo.

I’m a fan of a lot of people. It’s good to be a fan, to have so many game designers, artists, editors and publishers who I appreciate dearly. Waiting for stuff to come back into print (or to hit print) isn’t a downside of being a fan. Pricing isn’t something I really shake my fist at, and I learned years ago that I won’t get to see everyone I want to at a convention. The thing that gets me down about being a fan is that I turn into a pile of pink confetti when I meet a lot of my … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Geek Life

Adventures in Con Season: ECCC

7 March 2013 by 7 Comments
#VandalEyes visit the Green Ronin booth.

I went to every day of ECCC this year, and I want to recommend it to everyone. Emerald City Comic Con ran from March 1st-3rd in my beloved and caffeinated stomping grounds, Seattle, Washington. Held in the Washington State Convention Center, it's got easy access to Belltown, the waterfront, and food options that run from Subway to sushi. If you're willing to take a jaunt a few blocks down, you can hit the transportation center underneath Westlake, and hop on bus or light rail to other … [Read more...]

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Tales From The Move of RPG Girl Thursday

28 February 2013 by Leave a Comment
MOVING

I’m in the middle of moving. I’ve moved a total of 17 times before this, with varying degrees of success. There are four things I fret about when I’m moving. My cat. My tech devices. My important papers/tax records/vital ID. My gaming books. That’s a sort of roughly honest approximation, though everything after my cat occupies a similar tier of terror at the thought of any harm, damage or other form of loss happening to those things. The gaming books and associated gaming … [Read more...]

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Time Travel in a Game Box: Barbara Cartland, a romance board game

21 February 2013 by Leave a Comment
The Map

Dear Mayfair Games of 1985, I’m writing this from 2013. I know this letter’s chances of traveling back in time are slim to none, but the effort still had to be made. This past weekend I played Barbara Cartland: a romance board game. Unless my readers have immediately hit Google looking for information—or read romance novels older than them—they have no idea Cartland was a prolific British romance novelist. Prolific to the point that I find it mildly terrifying, Cartland’s … [Read more...]

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Keeping Allergies from Killing Your Party

14 February 2013 by 4 Comments
benadryl

Most gaming groups have to consider things like day and time for game, system, and who wants to be GM. But where you play and what people bring to the table can have a big impact on players with allergies. I've successfully avoided TPK of players with allergies, and so can you. Location, Location, Location One of the big problems I've run into time and time again is animal-related allergies. Be it dogs, cats, small furry friends like hamsters, or even birds, there will be a human out there … [Read more...]

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Media Inspirations

7 February 2013 by Leave a Comment
I Want to Believe

We’ve all been in the midst of watching a movie, curling up with a good book or catching up on TV when it hit us. I should run a game like this! In the same breath as inspiration, there’s often a deafening avalanche of questions in our inner monologue. Inspired by or homage? Straight port? Homebrew? Steal these three plot elements and nothing else? How do I even make a game for players that feels how this episode made me feel? Porting heavily from movies, television and books … [Read more...]

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The Quiet Year

31 January 2013 by 1 Comment
quiet-year-promo-1024x672

The Quiet Year, Joe Mcdaldno Joe Mcdaldno has successfully taken more than three games from initial genesis to physical form, making him the kind of crazy that enriches our lives and complicates our gaming vocabularies. I've publicly denounced, scorned and otherwise expressed extreme dislike for most post-apocalyptic narratives, particularly in games. But Joe's game Monsterhearts caused a number of complex, emotional and intense reactions on my part. So, when the IndieGoGo for The Quiet Year … [Read more...]

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