Fri, 30 November 2007
As the first episode in a series about busting assumptions in game design, Ryan talks with Ben Lehman about assumptions regarding game masters (or GMs). Ben has written three games that each deal with GM distribution differently: Polaris, which has no GM; Bliss Stage, which has a typical GM; and The Drifter's Escape, which has many GMs and one PC. Bringing these various experiences to the table, they unpack various assumptions and various design pitfalls. Afterwards, Ryan shares some random bits of advice he's found himself telling people lately.
Ben's Games: Other Games Mentioned:
Discuss this episode on the forums: http://www.hmfy.com/masterplan/forum/comments.php?DiscussionID=22 
|
Sat, 10 November 2007
Ryan returns from nearly a month off to talk about a topic he's very passionate about: Emergent Play (or Emergent Behavior in Play). That is play that emerges from the people engaging and interactive with the text, but isn't a direct result of the instructions of the text. He goes into some examples to illustrate the idea from different vantage points: the board game Diplomacy, Call of Cthulhu, Paul Tevis' A Penny For My Thoughts, his own Know Thyself, and Beast Hunters. While he only scratched the surface, he looks forward to returning to this topic again.
Mentions:
Discuss this episode on the forums: http://www.hmfy.com/masterplan/forum/comments.php?DiscussionID=21
|