Archangel review
This is a review of Archangel by Visionary Games.
Four Future Democracies
The end of a trilogy. This one describes four different types of Science-Fiction Democracies in an attempt to improve on the unrealistic Empire of the Future. I also include adventure seeds.
Game Ideas Un limited: Attention
The series returns to the question of noticing things, but also to not noticing them.
Game Ideas Un limited: Bits
It may be a crazy idea, but it works: include interesting details in your games that don't have any particular meaning at the moment, and use them later when the opportunity arises.
Game Ideas Un limited: Cash
Money has taken many different forms over the millennia; it may be helpful in approaching our games to consider what form it takes in our worlds.
Game Ideas Un limited: Celebrations
In celebration of an anniversary, we consider why, what, and how people celebrate, and how to use that in games.
Game Ideas Un limited: Characterization
A simple referee's trick for making games run smoothly: how to give recognizable traits to your NPC's.
Game Ideas Un limited: Child's Play
When children play pretend games, what really are the rules? The article offers a perhaps disturbing possible answer, hoping to find a better one.
Game Ideas Un limited: Civil Planning
How do you design roads and towns? What makes them interesting? What makes them feel real? Here are some observations on the realities of the subject.
Game Ideas Un limited: Clones
Every referee has a library of available non-player characters at his fingertips, if he realizes it.
Game Ideas Un limited: Comparisons
What makes a good sandwich? It's only partly subjective. The same goes for a good weapon.
Game Ideas Un limited: Continuity
How do you make a collection of disjointed adventures feel like an ongoing saga? Partly through a retrospective of the columns of the last quarter, some techniques are suggested.
Game Ideas Un limited: Encounters
Wandering the dungeons or the cities, what--or who--are you really likely to meet?
Game Ideas Un limited: Expanding
Here is one way to generate ideas for worlds and scenarios that has worked in a lot of different contexts.
Game Ideas Un limited: File Cards
A few practical uses for a readily available playing aid are presented.
Game Ideas Un limited: Food
Here are a few thoughts about what characters eat and how to create those unusual foods that give aliens and elves an alien or fantastic feeling.
Game Ideas Un limited: Kahanamoku
The nuances of cultural values are considered through the recognition of a postage stamp.
Game Ideas Un limited: Language
The series suggests ways in which language sometimes limits our ability to communicate.
Game Ideas Un limited: Name-monics
Here are some referee tips on making the game run a bit smoother--by using names that are easy for you to remember during play.
Game Ideas Un limited: Occurences
It's the little events that give color to the story, and sometimes which give it direction.
Game Ideas Un limited: Paperwork
Practical suggestions on organizing the information used in the games.
Game Ideas Un limited: Partnership
What does it mean to work together ? Two conflicting ideas are presented, in relation to party dynamics.
Game Ideas Un limited: Peace
Fighting may not always be the answer; and the answer may sometimes sound ridiculous, but can still be fun and interesting even if it doesn't involve combat.
Game Ideas Un limited: Plague
The place of disease in the history and perhaps the future of the world is a lot different from where it sits in our games; our games could benefit from a reconsideration of this potential blight.
Game Ideas Un limited: Props
Why do some gamers use props even in tabletop role play? Certainly it helps set the mood--but does it do more?
Game Ideas Un limited: Reports
In our quarterly report, looking back at the last dozen articles, we consider the value of in-game in-character reports.
Game Ideas Un limited: Rivalry
Being allies and being adversaries can often be complex relationships. We can admire those we oppose, and we can be very competitive with our friends. Can we explore this with our characters?
Game Ideas Un limited: Shares
The process of dividing up the stuff at the end of an adventure, whatever the game or genre, has many different approaches. You may not have considered some of these.
Game Ideas Un limited: Spin
What's wrong with a phrase like Human Resources , and why is it like Internal Revenue --and how can such nuances of meaning be put to good use in world design?
Game Ideas Un limited: Stars
The awe of the heavens doesn't often touch our modern thought; perhaps if we can see it from the perspective of our ancestors, we can better understand how it should impact our characters.