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Asymmetry in complexity is one of the reasons D&D is so successful, which is so asymmetrical the expectation is often that players don't need to know any rules at all. Then there's the asymmetry in the temporal dimension, where a game gets more complex as you level up, which never seems to be...

Just encountered a #YouTube reply in a review for #Monsterhearts which called the 'turn someone on' move gross and creepy because it doesn't account for sexuality and consent and runs contrary to sexual identity. Oops I guess. Then there's Empire of the Petal Throne which did representation so...

So the convention I'm involved with recently declared all AI art to be bootlegs and that they will ban anyone on site for even promoting it. I of course brought up that by declaring a moral position as opposed to just a policy they were feeding into an ongoing conflict which was only harming...

So the latest artist being 'accused' of using AI is... Dennis Detwiller. The problem isn't the technology, it's the witch hunt surrounding it, fueled by profound ignorance and hypocrisy, which I can assure you only hurts the artist caught in the crossfire. And if Big Tech manages to gain...

An artist insists they did not use generative AI in their work, but because some magical AI detector generated big numbers after being fed their work the company decided to publicly declare they did. So I can tell you right off why they weren't named, because if they were it'd be actionable...

Which reminds me I still have to claim my #Kickstarter rewards.

Processes and procedures are not protected by copyright, and there is no current patent or trademark on 'roll and keep'. This is about as safe as you're going to get with anything in this design space. Could be even simpler if you remove the d6 and simply roll 2d10 under your trait. Conversely...

By a strange artifact of providence the game I'm currently designing models this depiction almost one for one, even going so far as to call character traits 'concerns'. I find many #StoryNow games take indirect steps to achieve these results, and I'm curious as to how directly this can be...

Lets see: Inauthentic use of Adventure Time lingo. No digital options. No live play demo. Most on-brand dice design a #Kickstarter exclusive. Was going to charge 10% to change pledge level before feedback. Still charging 10% for 'late' pledges. Appears they relied almost entirely on brand...

The foundation of BG3's popularity are the characters and their voice actors. Not the brand. Not the setting. Not the mechanics. And any sequel matching the level of BG3 will take at least half a decade to complete once a studio starts working on it. Meanwhile BG3 will be generating both fan and...

Seems like a pure nostalgia play, as most players can't tell the difference between the various high fantasy medieval settings anyway. Well don't look at me, I was throwing it in the trash before it was cool, for which I was called a bigot because apparently that made me racist and homophobic...

Yes, the market is saturated, and already full of cute animal games. So if you expect your game to be popular or profitable it will be an uphill battle requiring skillsets beyond simply game design. The 'indie' market is also very insular and consists mostly of other designers buying each...

It's all about the core activity of play, and whether that's the one players want to or are able to engage. Here the core activity is thinking tactically. Social acumen is irrelevant. There's no such thing as character skill, just assets and procedures a player has access to, the utility of...

All art is interpretive. It's one of its defining traits. And I can even see how the figure in question might be interpreted as a woman. But given the nature of the product this change strikes me as a deliberate attempt to revise history, especially if the ones responsible start claiming it's...

The key problem with exception based design is that players must be familiar with all the rules there's an exception to. The simpler the system, the easier this is to achieve, but the fewer exceptions which can be made, which often leads to adding additional rules to compensate, which creates...

Currently speedrunning at 2x. Yes, but is he wrong? Forget classifications, if your design cannot convey what you want play to be then you need to improve your design. And it's more than reasonable for potential players to want to know what your game is about. That's because any attempt to...

All depends on whether planning actually helps you achieve your objectives. You can't form a plan without gathering intelligence first, which can lead to potential complications in itself. But once you form a plan the GM will be adding complications anyway, so the only thing that does is provide...

Not exactly, but yes. #Facebook is where information goes to die. Don't get me wrong. I appreciate they shared their expertise at all. But what use is it if it cannot be found without following the person directly on a specific social media platform that deliberately makes search difficult...

Common norms matter. Chairs and doors account for human dimensions. Speed limits account for human reaction times. Font sizes account for human visual acuity. Game controllers account for the shape of human hands. And while outliers may benefit from variations, there are also variations nobody...