I’ve been thinking about coming up with guidelines for some of the fluffier disadvantages for a while now. And this article was the culmination on the one I felt needed it the most: Divine Curse. Divine Curse is one of those traits that is the equivalent of a multi-tool in the GM’s toolbox. It can […]
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Designer’s Notes: It’s a Threat!
It’s not secret that I have hundreds of article-size/small supplements that I’ve written for GURPS since 2005. The running joke on the forums is “Ghostdancer probably has an article for that.” The sad truth of it is that I probably do. I write too damn much – it’s a form of therapy for me. The […]
Continue readingDesigner’s Notes: A Familiar Path
This started off life as a outtake from the already monstrous “Alternative Ritual Path Magic” and eventually grew into a article all its own. Not counting the time it took me to write the few chunks I excised from Alternative Ritual Path Magic this one took a surprising amount of time to incubate and write […]
Continue readingGamemaster’s Guidepost: Safer than Houses
I was talking to a friend of mine recently about the subject of “apotropes” (mythology and superstition is a common theme in our talks) and he told me something I did not know about in either subject. Names themselves can be apotropes to ward off spirits. Seriously, as much as I’ve studied and researched folk magic, […]
Continue readingDesigner’s Notes: Hidden Knowledge
Hidden Knowledge was one of those things I’d already written, but hadn’t really known it until someone knocked me on the head and said “Hey, consider writing this.” In this case it was Sean “Dr. Kromm” Punch. I’d asked him some advice on a particular subject and he gave it to – in spades (and […]
Continue readingDesigner’s Notes: Sailing the Open Skies
When you are a game designer you’re not really allowed to complain lack of design support for this or that. Of course, you might cry “But this isn’t my wheelhouse!” or “I know nothing of cannons and early firearms!” True. But…you still have no excuse! Reading and research are your best friends. You should be […]
Continue readingDesigner’s Notes: The Department of Occult Defense
Even longer than “It’s a Trap!” (I wrote the first draft in April 2013), “The Department of Occult Defense” was rejected twice (for both Pyramid #3/59: Conspiracies and Pyramid #3/58: Urban Fantasy II), but finally ended up in this month’s Pyramid (Pyramid #3/73: Monster Hunters II) after a good long while in the stew point. I wrote it fairly […]
Continue readingDesigner’s Notes: It’s a Trap!
I don’t talk about it often, but I’m a/was a huge fan of Dungeons and Dragons. I dove into Wizards of the Coast’s 3rd edition like a pool on a scorching summer day. Finally, I thought, a edition that could be mine. I bought every book that came out, I visited the site regularly, I […]
Continue readingDesigner’s Notes: Dungeon Fantasy Video Gaming
Overall writing this article was fun. I got to mix two of my favorite things: RPGs and video-games. Who wouldn’t want to do that? I also wanted to do something so out there and cool that Steven would accept it – with his “Well, I can see why ‘traditional’ dungeon-fantasy campaigns wouldn’t want to do […]
Continue readingDesigner’s Notes: Metatronic Generators
This is one of my favorite articles (so far) that I’ve written. I felt a little iffy about it first just because I was more or less taking a idea another author had wrote and expanding it out of proportion of the original scope. But I did it anyways because like everything I write – […]
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