Editorials

My advice on games, design and gaming in general, sorted by site then date.

[5/17/2013] Design Diary – Inspiration is Not Cheating The Gamer Effect On how getting a little help is ok!

[5/8/2013] Kickstart this: Boston Festival of Indie Games The Gamer Effect Awesome things coming out of the BostonFIG Kickstarter.

[4/17/2013] PAX East Report – The Tabletop Effect The Gamer Effect My takeaway from PAX East, entrenched in Tabletop.

[3/6/2013] Design Diary: Pulp! Why create a new rules system? StufferShack Go Design a Rules system.

[3/6/2013] Transition Scenes: Hacking Story Games for Nontactical Combat and More (Part 2) Kobold Press And now the stunning conclusion.

[3/5/2013] Transition Scenes: Hacking Story Games for Nontactical Combat and More (Part 1) Kobold Press Options to reward mechanically minded players for non-combat encounters.

[2/18/2013] Design Diary: Urban Dressing Confessions StufferShack A peek behind the curtain at why I value the Urban Dressing line.

[10/23/2012] GenCon Report 3: Playing New Games StufferShack In this last report I talk about Dread, Midgard, Modern Assembly and Project Ninja Panda Taco.

[10/11/2012] GenCon Report 2: Marvel Heroic Roleplaying StufferShack A look at all the ways I ran Marvel at GenCon. [MarvelRPG]

[10/3/2012] Design Diary for the Midgard Bestiary Kobold Quarterly Insight into my love of Putrid Haunts. [4e]

[8/27/2012] GenCon Report 1: Shelly Mazzanoble and the Rise of the Underdark Campaign StufferShack My interview with former player-in-chief Shelly Mazzanoble.

[7/14/ 2012] Modern Assembly or Insert Name Here StufferShack A roundup of my Modern Assembly work. [4e]

[7/2/2012] Design Diaries for the Midgard Bestiary, Part 3 Kobold Quarterly I discuss the design of the Zmey. [4e]

[6/25/2012] Design Diaries for the Midgard Bestiary, Part 2 Kobold Quarterly I discuss the design of the Goblins of the Wasted West. [4e]

[6/10/2012] Announcing the Midgard Bestiary for 4e! StufferShack Where I beg and plead for you to read my book! 😉

[3/19/2012] Make Mine Marvel StufferShack Highlights, pitfalls and resources in regards to the new Marvel RPG. [Marvel]

[3/5/2012] Designing Fantasy Cities: Location StufferShack How location can help dictate a settlement’s purpose.

[2/20/2012] Love and Hate of Epic Tier StufferShack The issues I see with Epic Tier. [4e]

[2/6/2012] Epic Endings Gamer Assembly How I prepared for the new conclusion of my campaign. [4e]

[1/30/2012] Critical Failures and Magical Mishaps StufferShack What do you do when you roll a 1? Just missing is boring. Here’s some effects to make people hope for failure. [4e]

[1/10/2012] The State of the Brian StufferShack I talk about myself for a change, the ride I had over the last year while trying to freelance, and how 5e effects me. [4e]

[12/23/2011] Designing Fantasy Cities: Residents StufferShack Continuing the series on purposeful fantasy cities I discuss the culture of those living there.

[12/22/2011] Gaming Memories: No LImits and Spectacular Failure Gamer Assembly I look back on PAXEast and talk about D&D’s Learn to Play program.

[12/15/2011] Two cents on villages and towns of medieval fantasy Little Drink Shop Nerd A Portuguese article about creating and referencing fantasy towns features a full translation of Creating Fantasy Cities: Purpose. Lots of other insights as well.

[12/9/2011] It’s Ok to Stop Before 30 Gamer Assembly How my game came to an abrupt end. [4e]

[7/15/2011 and 12/9/2011] Gmail at the Game Table Netherworks Insights on how to use media in your games progressively. (Updated)

[6/17/2011] The Dark Veil Campaign Arc – A Review! StufferShack The first two adventures from Blackbyrne Publishing. [D&D 4e]

[4/27/2011] Dungeons and Doctor Who StufferShack Using material from Doctor Who in your D&D game and ideas on Time Travel. [D&D]

[4/9/2011] Themes Taking on New Roles StufferShack Introducing themes as more than professions and organizations. [D&D 4e]

[3/16/2011 and 3/28/2011] Designing Fantasy Cities: Size Part 1 and Part 2 StufferShack A more in depth look on what the size of your settlement means.

[2/21/2011] PAXEast Preview StufferShack Musings on PAXEast and general geeking out.

[2/18/2011] Designing Fantasy Cities with Purpose StufferShack A brief guide on increasing immersion by making sure all your cities make sense.

[2/14/2011] Soldiers of Fortune, A Review StufferShack My review of Soldiers of Fortune from author Matt James and Open Design. [D&D 4e]

[2/7/2011] The Devolution of Lizardfolk StufferShack My feelings on the scaled ones and their treatment throughout editions of D&D. [D&D]

[1/11/2011] Fortune Cards – A Little bit of Critical Luck? StufferShack Thoughts on Fortune Cards and their alternative uses. [D&D 4e]

[7/21/2010] Solo D&D Free Orcs Musings on wether you can have D&D without another player.

[7/19/2010] DM Report Free Orcs My players start at the end of the dungeon and I let them.

[7/8/2010] Civilized vs Savage Free Orcs Thoughts on the difference between PC Races and the monstrous races.

[7/5/2010] DM Report Free Orcs I discuss solo monsters, canon and how to deal with monsters to powerful for your party to fight.

[3/29/2010] PAX East Report Free Orcs My report from the first ever PAX East, including the preview of Dark Sun and using the MS Surface Table.