20 Years and 723 Posts Later

It is essential that players like their characters. The character is the lens through which the player experiences everything in the game.

It is also essential but not so obvious that they have to like the other players’ characters as well.

That’s from my very first post on ars ludi, twenty years ago today. I’ve published 723 articles in that time, which comes out to an average of one every 10 days.

But that count is actually pretty meaningless, because some articles have a lot to say, even if they’re short (classics like Treasure Tells A Story or Situations Not Plots). While others don’t, because they’re just updates or maintenance posts (like this one), or things of passing value, like me talking about how a particular game design is coming along.… [read more]

I Made A Game About Laws

Remember how I said summerlab meant you were going to get games sooner? I was not kidding. I’m putting the finishing touches on a new game right now.

Rules of Law is a world-building game about — you guessed it — laws. Because the laws we make, and how we do or do not enforce them, say who we are as a society. And that’s the kind of thing I think is very interesting.

It’s short and sweet, with a full game taking under two hours, easy. More in the In This World vein, except the whole thing will probably clock in at two pages. Two pages! Because yeah, I’m taking summerlab to heart.

Summerlab: Because Lab is Experimental and Summer is Fun

I want to tell you about a new thing we’ve been doing that’s got our engines firing on all cylinders. A thing we call… summerlab.

Summerlab is our game design support group / experimental design space. It’s a flag that says “yeah, this isn’t a big multi-year design, this is a smaller project. Maybe a little rougher. Maybe a little weirder. But hopefully still awesome.”

Part of it is bouncing ideas of each other, playtesting each others’ stuff, and harnessing our collective brain power. But it’s also about giving ourselves (and each other) permission to experiment and maybe fail. Which is a lot less scary when everyone else is putting themselves out there too, like our old Run Club.… [read more]

Our Bankrupt Dracharium and the Power of Names

Our merchant cartel — our Dracharium — has cut a deal with the very bandit’s that blocked our trade through Vulture Pass, enlisting them as toll collectors and even building them a fort to secure their control of the road. We’ve given the thieves badges and hoped they won’t turn against us… again.

We’ve made the situation even worse for anyone else trying to use that route and our reputation with our fellow merchants has suffered accordingly. Once a respected enterprise, we’re now thought to engage in shady deals with the worst class of people. Because we do.

So for the second Crossroad of our Kingdom, we decide to lean in and see just how far we’ll go. One of our original threats was that our profits were suffering because a drought had made a precious dye we traded exceedingly scarce.… [read more]

The Star-Pattern (part 2): Breaking Free

It’s game night. Precious, precious game night. Everyone is ready to play and have fun. And then two hours later, you realize the players are all talking to the GM but not each other. Your game is stuck in a star-pattern. What can you do to escape this trap and save the fun???

First of all, you have my sympathy. Second, don’t despair! No matter who you are at the table, whether you are a GM trying to salvage your game or a suffering player, there are things you can do to help. And if you are a GM planning a new game, there are things you can do to avoid this whole problem in the first place.

Some of these are quick fixes while others require more fundamental changes.… [read more]

The Star-Pattern: a Pitfall of GMing

When someone tells me about a session of a GMed game (like D&D) that they didn’t enjoy, I put on my investigator cap and ask a bunch of questions about what happened. Because I like understanding why games work… or fail.

And after I’ve listened a bunch, lots of times I’ll nod and say “ooo, yeah, a star-pattern”. Because it’s a widespread syndrome and a common pitfall in GMed games.

It’s a phrase I’ve used for ages, but I don’t think I’ve ever described it here. When I say ‘star-pattern’, I mean when the players all talk to the GM but don’t talk to each other. Picture the table, and draw lines showing interactions: all the lines go from the GM, the center, out to the different players, like a starburst.… [read more]

World of Pets: “No one cares about your latte art, they want to see your osprey”

I was re-reading this example of play from In This World and I decided it was just too much fun not to share. It’s a great example of a lighthearted session that still makes you think about issues, which is something I see happen a lot with In This World. Big thoughts don’t have to be big bummers.

This excerpt is partway through the game. The players (Ada, Bram, Cat, and Dana) have already picked their topic — Pets! — made statements and are just about to start getting creative and make their first world…

1st World of Pets

Dana explains that Ada is making a new world, and to start, all she has to do is pick a statement and then say how in this world it isn’t true and then tell us how it’s different.… [read more]

Zodiac Ring, 20 Years Later

Twenty years ago today I released Zodiac Ring, my very first publication. Which means this is also the 20th anniversary of Lame Mage Productions. There’s no blog post announcement to link to because this was before I even started ars ludi.

Of course I had no idea what I was getting into, or that these humble beginnings would lead to me publishing games of my own, like Microscope and In This World. It was a magical and foolish time.

Zodiac Ring was an adventure/campaign for Mutants & Masterminds 2nd edition, based on games I ran while we were playtesting the new rules in a spin-off of our regular New Century City game. I had timed it to match M&M2’s release at GenCon 2005, and we even went to the con for the first time to celebrate the whole thing.… [read more]

Civil Service x In This World

Earlier this year, I got to give a talk for the folks at the Civil Service College in Singapore as part of their Infinite Games series:

Infinite Games is a series of bi-monthly dialogues between game designers and public officers about serious games, spanning the spectrum of policy areas and manifesting in diverse forms. Game designers share about the conceptualisation, process of development, and impact of their work; and public officers are invited to contextualise these games to the work we do in public service.

Yep, you had me at “dialogues between game designers and public officers about serious games”. What did I decide to talk about? Here’s my pitch:

Games can be designed to teach specific lessons, but what about designing games to explore ideas neither the designer nor the players already know?

An Illusion of a Mountain

I had never watched Bob Ross’s Joy of Painting series until that magnificent twitch run back in 2015. The thing that really stuck with me (other than the fact that Bob Ross was a saint now but had clearly been through some shit) was how much he emphasized that paintings were entirely optical illusions. It’s never a mountain, or even a picture of a mountain, it’s smears of paint composed in certain ways to make the human brain think of a mountain. A painting doesn’t have to be an accurate representation, it has to be the pattern that makes you think of the thing the painter wants you to see.

I think of game rules the same way. Any time I design a rule asking players to do something or answer some question, I’m concerned less with the literal answer or task and more about how it affects what everyone at the table is thinking.… [read more]

Haters Welcome

I’ve seen some game creators say that if you don’t agree with their politics or their worldview — or frankly just hold hateful or bigoted opinions — they do not want you to play their games.

And I get it. I get wanting to punish bad people, to tell them they don’t deserve to enjoy the art you make. Because we seem to live in the worst timeline and some folks out there have gone full werewolf.

But I say the exact opposite: I want the terrible people to play my games.

I am a firm believer that sitting down and being creative with other humans makes us better people. And who needs help being better people more than the folks who’ve been sucked into dysfunctional and hateful worldviews?… [read more]

A Satisfying Game

You can make a game that is very easy to learn and play if you ask the players to do very little.

But here’s my theory: the more a game lets you contribute — the more it asks of you — the more rewarding play can be. And I mean rewarding in the sense of giving the players satisfaction or gratification. The reverse is true too: the less a player is able to contribute, the less satisfaction they will feel from playing.

Of course a game can be fun or entertaining without actually being “rewarding” in the sense that I’m talking about. They’re different things.

I think in life in general, when you feel a sense of satisfaction or gratification, it is ultimately because you are feeling something about yourself.*… [read more]

In This World, In Your Pocket

I made a new mobile PDF of the In This World rules, so you carry it around in your pocket and question assumptions and rethink the world we live in wherever you go.

If you already purchased In This World from lamemage.com, you can use the same download link to get the new PDF (or email me at info at lamemage.com if you can’t find it). If you’re a Kickstarter backer, there’s a new update with the link.

The mobile PDF only includes the main rules and essential stuff, so you’ll still want the main PDF for all the alternate rules, examples, and discussion.

If you’re a fan of these mobile formatted PDFs and want to see more, jump about and scream and shout.… [read more]

A is for Artificial

artificial (adj)
1. made to copy something natural
2. not what it appears to be; fake

The battle lines are drawn. The war between AI and humanity has begun. In fact it is well underway. AI is out there, drawing pictures, writing stories, asking people how their day was.

As anyone who has followed my work knows, I am all about making and playing games which say: use your brain, interact with other humans, and create things together. Be surprised by what your minds are capable of. Push your boundaries and grow. Because I think that is good for you.

Then we have generative AI, which says: don’t create or come up with answers. Sit back and leave it to me.… [read more]

Microscope Hacks the Planet

I got an award for Microscope, pretty unexpectedly. For the original Microscope from way back, not the new Microscope: Chronicle, which of course is not even finished yet. I think they were originally talking about having one category for games from past years (like Microscope) but then opened up the inaugural awards to older entries.

Microscope won the Hack the Planet award for “most unexpected idea”. Too true. But let me tell you what I like about this award.

Generally there are two reasons you can appreciate an award. One is that you are getting recognition from judges or voters that you respect. You value their opinion, so you appreciate them appreciating your work. The other is exposure. An award gives you credibility so more people see your work.… [read more]

Microscope May Update

Chronicle update! Well, a very small update. There are no rule changes, just two points I wanted to clarify. I put it all on a new page at the end of the doc, so if you read the rules before, you just have to look at that one page to get caught up.

What’s clarified?

• The Anchor is not limited to the Period they are placed on. They can appear in other Periods.
• The history you make has to “relate” to the Anchor, but that person does not have to be present or even alive.

Our Anchor is Elspa, a humble inn-keeper in a remote community of scholars. A player makes an Event in a Period centuries after the Anchor is dead and the community has been destroyed, where history incorrectly remembers her as a war-hero and a school is named in her honor, Elspa Academy.

Autocrats Are Afraid of You

This is not the post I was working on, but when you revise and rewrite and revise and rewrite as much as I do, real life has a way of getting ahead of you. So let’s talk about 2025. Let’s talk about politics (again).

I’m a reasonably well-informed guy, and I try to keep an eye on current events and think how it relates to the long roll of history. But despite that big brain, I sometimes find myself falling for the trick. The trick of believing that Trump is strong and that there is nothing we can do. Giving in to despair.

But like I said, it is a trick. Trump is not as strong as he wants you to believe… not as strong as he needs you to believe.… [read more]

Microscope vs Ground Table

As I’ve been working on Microscope: Chronicle, I’ve been revisiting all the core principles of Microscope, taking the watch apart and re-examining each gear under a (don’t say microscope)… magnifying glass to see what could be improved.

And now we have these codified Ground Table principles laying out the kind of games we want to make and play. We already ran these tests with a bunch of other games, but if you can’t put your own game under a (don’t say microscope)… spotlight, you’re not really doing the work.

So how does the original Microscope hold up? And how does Microscope: Chronicle improve on that? Chronicle is still in playtesting, so details may change, but let’s go down the list and find out.… [read more]

Ground Table: Putting Games Through The Crucible

All the hammering and pounding and forge-labor is done (for now). The first draft of the Ground Table principles has been nailed to the door.

But how do you test a thing like that? How do you know you got it right?

Well one test is the basic gut-check: does it *feel* right. Another is to wait and hear the screams of the internet, but let’s face it, the internet screams all the time so how would we know the difference?

What we did was to run games through the gauntlet to see how they held up. We took systems we had played over and over and knew like the back of our hands and walked down each item, one at a time.… [read more]

Microscope 2025

Hello, world. It’s 2025 and we all need some joy. What could be better for what ails us than using our brains and being creative together with other humans?

So I give you the new Microscope: Chronicle, ready to download and play right now.

Take it, gather your people, and make some fun together. It’s a playtest, so send feedback when you’ve got it, but really just play and make some good times.

The Clock On the Wall Says Chronicle Approaches

I’m generally loathe to give any kind of a release date unless I’m certain I will hit it, but I can say with confidence that the public playtest of Microscope Chronicle will be out before the end of the month. It’s a pinky-promise. I’m just doing the usual endless tidying up.

Writing examples is always a challenge, since my impulse is to leave the creativity to the players, but this time I’m having a little fun with it by telling stories that are obliquely drawn from games we’ve played over the years. For example:

In our Chronicle of Applebend, we already have an Event where Doctor Grimshaw, mountebank and miracle worker, tries to pawn his wares at the Summer Festival and barely escapes arrest.

It Doesn’t Feel Like My Game, It Feels Like Our Game

This may sound kind of weird, but once one of my games is done and released, I don’t really think of it as something *I* made.

I mean, of course I know I made it. I spent ages on it. But I also see it as an independent thing that has a life of its own without me. When someone talks about how much they love one of my games, I don’t exactly swell with pride. It’s more like I’m happy for it? I give the game a little pat on the back and say “good job!” I pass the compliment on to the right recipient.

It’s not an attitude I’ve cultivated or constructed. It’s just how I think. It works well for me, because it keeps ego and pride far away from my work.… [read more]

A Matte’r Microscope

Microscope books are getting a production upgrade. Say hello to the new and stylish matte covers.

It might not come across in the picture but it looks verrry nice in person. And yeah, this is totally cosmetic. It’s the exact same book, with the exact same cover, just with a different printing treatment. But I think it looks pretty sweet.

When I started printing books back in the dawn of time, I used glossy covers, but over the years my new games have used matte. Matte covers look nice and seem to hold up better to the constant handling that our beloved game books endure. My only titles that still had glossy covers were Microscope and Microscope Explorer, the old school veterans.… [read more]

Retroactive Playtesting, or the Ghost of Versions Past

A while back I was talking with Tom Kemp, designer of Dead Minutes, about a new game he’s working on. We were discussing some possible rule changes, but bumped into a very familiar question:

If you made this change to the rules, would that cool thing that happened in a previous playtest still have happened?

This is the Ghost of Versions Past, a spectre who comes to stand at the elbow of game designers in the dark hours of the night. It is the fear that by making a change we are losing some essence from our game that we saw in a previous session. That we are ruining the magic.

It can feel like making a change is somehow betraying your past playtesters.… [read more]

Principles of Ground Table, A First Draft

“Our ground is level and our table is round”

What do we want out of role-playing games? What do we think they should do? What do we value?

Our crew has been talking about this stuff for ages, in person, in posts, and through the games we design. But I realized we never put all the pieces together in one place so you could see how it all fits together. And just how we want to build on each others’ ideas when we play games, I want people to be able to build on the lessons we’ve learned.

But big ideas need the big brains, so I have called in the A-team. This document is the fruit of discussions with Caroline Hobbs, Marc Hobbs, Joe Wandyez, and Ace Hamilton, as well as years of experiences in countless games with countless people, a lot of them at Story Games Seattle.… [read more]

What’s that burning smell? Is that a manifesto?

It occurred to me that even though our crew has all these ideas about how we think games should be — all these principles and conclusions from years and years of play, including eight years of Story Games Seattle — they are not all together in one nice, neat, easy-to-read place.

So we decided to fix that and write a manifesto.

We’re making a document that says, “these are the kinds of games we make and also the kinds of games we want”. The principles that we think are essential for the specific kind of games we play, story games where people make stuff up together instead of having a game master. GMless, co-creative, etc. Our ground is level and our table is round, aka ground table games.… [read more]

Forbidden Art Goes to Art-Jail

We’re rebel artists, painting portraits in a culture where depicting faces is forbidden. Our society thinks painting faces is just… wrong.

When we want to hit back at some oppressor we graffiti a perfect picture of their face on the side of a building where everyone can see it.

Punch a fascist? Paint a fascist.

…

But now one of our least subtle rebel artists has been apprehended by the authorities, and we’re playing the scene of their judgment.

As players, we hold a quick conference to decide what the legal system is like. Our society seems pretty civilized, so violence feels like too much. Imprisonment? Noooo… exile! Offenders are cast out into the barren wastes beyond the city.

But what about the depraved art showing faces?… [read more]

An Ode to Tony Dowler’s Basement

“Tony, I’m writing an ode to your basement”

Before there was Story Games Seattle, before I really knew what the hell I was doing with story games and GMless games, I played some truly pivotal sessions that really helped shaped my understanding and future thinking. And some of the games that influenced me the most were played in Tony Dowler’s basement. And if that name sounds familiar, it might be because Tony was one of the brains behind Go Play NW since the dawn of time (and which has an online con coming up in a few weeks).

Set the wayback machine for January 2008. Bush is still president and a young Barack Obama is surging in the primaries. The Iron Man movie hasn’t come out yet and people are excited for 4th Edition D&D being released in the summer.*… [read more]

Microscope Chronicle Playtest Will Be Public

I’ve been working on getting the playtest release of Microscope Chronicle done. 2024 was full of distractions, but I’m mostly back on track.

But I think I’m going to try something a little bit different this time. Normally I ask people to sign up to be playtesters, then I email them the rules. Only those volunteers get to see the new material. But this time I’m going to try an open playtest. The rules for Microscope Chronicle will be available for anyone to download and play. If you play and send feedback, you’ll be included in the playtest credits, but of course you’re also welcome just to play and have fun.

Chronicle has a bunch of improvements that can apply to normal Microscope, so I suspect Microscope players will want to check out those changes, and I want to make it easy for them to do so.

2024: A New Personal Record

I’ve been tracking my game sessions all the way back to high school, so I can say with scientific confidence that I played more role-playing games in 2024 than any other year in my life.

My previous high watermark was 2021 (hello lockdown), and before that was 2011, which was peak Story Games Seattle and Microscope, and then a few years in college that went over 100. There are a few years before I started recording game sessions, but I don’t think there’s any chance that as an eleven year old I was playing more than two and half times a week, so 2024 is the winner.

There’s a simple rule of thumb that, even if you have a weekly game, across a whole year there will be cancellations, holidays, scheduling conflicts, etc.… [read more]