When running a most improvised scenario (either something as ambitious as the Dracula Dossier or just riffing off a paragraph or two of notes), One Useful Trick is to have a copy of the investigative ability list for your game to hand, and check off abilities as you call for them or the players use […]
Category Archives: General
“Colonel Buchan’s novel Greenmantle has more than a flavor of truth …” — T.E. Lawrence, to Robert Graves In Britain, the first rank of spy novelists has long included writers from the ranks of actual intelligence agencies: John Buchan (British Army Intelligence Corps), Somerset Maugham (MI6), Graham Greene (MI6), Dennis Wheatley (London Controlling Section of […]
By Julian Kay In the early days of our hobby, before players learned to yearn for lofty quests, adventurers’ motivation was simple: treasure was what we needed. Using wealth to draw enemies towards a trap is a standard real-world and literary trope, but early fantasy games went a step further, turning the wealth into a […]
The following articles originally appeared on an earlier iteration of See Page XX in December 2007. In this issue, Robin D Laws discusses three ways you can resolve interpersonal conflicts in the GUMSHOE system. Interpersonal conflicts also feature in Mystic Moo’s Yuletide pantomime, and Simon Carryer reminds us of the fun of festive travel with […]
In the early 2000s, DyingEarth.com featured a Jack Vance Random Quote Generator. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to figure out how to incorporate a random generator into WordPress without adding new plugins – so, in lieu of that, here’s a random table of 68 Jack Vance quotes for you to play with at your leisure. […]
The following article originally appeared in an earlier iteration of See Page XX in April 2008. by Julia Ellingboe [Editor] Julia Ellingboe is the author of Steal Away Jordan, an RPG about slavery in the United States. “Steal Away Jordan is about playing heroes” has become my mantra of late. I declare it to illustrate that Steal […]
The following three interviews originally appeared in an earlier iteration of See Page XX in September 2008. Three interviews in one issue – how fantastically cool is that? (As an aside, Luke told me that he wouldn’t send me the next batch if I didn’t release these ones soon. So expect a few more shortly). […]
The following article originally appeared in an earlier iteration of See Page XX in September 2008. A column on roleplaying by Robin D. Laws Pipe and Believability A while back on the Yog-Sothoth forum dedicated to Trail Of Cthulhu a discussion arose from that game’s suggestion that players be permitted to select their exotic languages […]
The following article originally appeared in an earlier iteration of See Page XX in September 2008. Robin D Laws discusses the nature of believability in RPGs, and we present not one, but three interviews from Luke Crane. This month also sees the launch of a flurry of new products, including a Keeper’s Screen, and James […]
The following interview originally appeared in an earlier iteration of See Page XX in June 2008. Luke Crane and Jason Morningstar In this second in the series, Luke Crane (Burning Wheel) talks to Jason Morningstar about his games (Grey Ranks, Shab al’Hiri Roach). See Luke’s ambush question about art work to telling effect.