arcandio's mad ravings

http://arcandio.com | fed: @arcandio@write.as

Content warning: social media, diversity

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A continuing series on the #CommonComplaints of #FateCore

Now this is a hard one, because it can be true. But at the same time (at the risk of being called out for “whataboutism”) D&D and other systems often have identical mechanical events that just aren't phrased the same way.

The basic problem goes like this: The core resolution mechanic of Fate Core has too many steps to determine success or failure:

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Fate gets a lot of hate on social media. Some people hate it, some people love it. As a designer, I want to know what the issues are, so that I can avoid them in systems I design, and patch them in games that I write using Fate.

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More unhelpful soul-searching

This post was inspired by conversations on Tabletop.Social with Alex Schroeder and Frotz.

I collect hobbies. I used to think that when I said that I meant it sort of as a badge of honor, that I have wide interests and am a well-rounded person. But I also know that it's all a distraction from everything else.

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Hint: they serve fundamentally different purposes.

I'm writing this post sort of as a way to collect my thoughts before diving into a particular design challenge in this vein on #ATSD.

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I seem to write a lot of stuff phrased as a question when I intend to give a specific answer. This is not that. I'm not sure, but I've got some thoughts.

Disclaimer: I'm sick and I have no plan for this post. It's going to be hard to follow.

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Short one today. Topical though, since I'm still feeling like shit. As the saying goes, I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired.

As you probably know, I have a company Voidspiral Entertainment. That's what I do full-time. I'm not doing this as a hobby, I'm trying to do it to help support the family. It's dicey, but that's what I want to do.

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And why I don't get to use it often.

Buckle in, this is going to be a long one.

What's Analytical Game Design?

Analytical game design is just what I call doing a particular style of #gamedesign which mostly revolves around broadly-applicable design rules and the use of spreadsheets and data as the driving methods for design.

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Massive disclaimer time.

  • Content warning: Spoilers, philosophy of RPGs. Expect disagreements of schools of thought.
  • I do not fault my DM.
  • Yes, I'm butthurt and salty.
  • If one of these issues is caused by my DM, I don't intend offense, it's clearly just a difference of play style vs DM style.
  • This is probably mostly a rant.
  • I have not read the Curse of Strahd, so I'll mostly be talking out of my ass be talking about my experience as a player. Also, to prevent me from getting spoilers, I've also tried to avoid reading about it as much as I could.
  • DM: If you're reading this, take everything with a grain of salt, and do not take it personally. Reading this kind of post from my players or even just on the web would give me anxiety attacks, so put it down if you need to. We can talk about it directly if you want.
  • I've not yet done my due diligence on Player Agency to see what others have to say about it, but as a writer I've got some pretty strong opinions of my own.
  • I don't like bashing/ragging/ranting about stuff. I believe that to make the world a better place, we should focus on the positive. I'll try to do that, but it's not exactly the point of this post.

Spoiler Alert: Curse of Strahd, Death House Spoilers

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“The primary sign of a well-ordered mind is a man’s ability to remain in one place and linger in his own company.” —Macy Halford

Work is hard. I don't know if your job is like mine, but if it is, there are times when you just don't have the “energy” or “ability” to continue your tasks without some kind of break or renewing fuel or something.

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