Archive for February, 2012

ST: The Art of the Plot Hook

It’s time for me to get my hands dirty and start talking more directly about plot.   This first article talks about the different ways that you can take plot and insert it into the game’s continuity.  The plot hook takes a certain amount of finesse, since it’s very too easy to either over or understate [...]

ST: Why Start a LARP?

Maybe you’re a maniac like me and are thinking of running a LARP.  You’re probably wondering why you’d ever want to do something like that, given the amount of commitment required to run a game.  There are a lot of reasons why you’d want to pull the trigger and start something, because running a LARP [...]

Theory: Social Mechanics in LARP

The mechanics of role playing games allow us to be faster, smarter and stronger than we are in real life, so why shouldn’t they also let us be more persuasive?  This is an old discussion in RPGs, but it takes on a different life in LARP, where it’s far more likely for social mechanics to [...]

Player: Try Something New

As players we’re only human.  Since we create our characters we tend to do so with a certain consistency.  We have a security blanket of habits and values that we wrap ourselves in, and seldom stray out into the scary, unpredictable world of roles that challenge us as actors.  Once we come to know our [...]

Admin: Monetizing Your Game

Let’s say you wanted to run a LARP professionally… is that even possible in North America? I say it is, but that it’s not exactly a career to retire to.  That being said there are good ways and bad ways to seek out profit.  This article assumes that you’ll be hitting the one-shot convention scene, [...]

ST: The Signature Game

Some of the most talked about, most successful sessions I’ve ever run are what I’ve called signature games.  My old players still talk to me about my clocktower and vault sessions from time to time.  These are games where I’ve decided to raise the bar, in terms of preparation, set dec and plot.  I usually [...]

ST: How to Herd the Cats

Players don’t want to start game when they’re supposed to.  Players don’t want to wander into the allotted game space at the very beginning of a session.  These two statements are like death and taxes, but if you take the proper measures you can inspire a culture where players expect the game to be on [...]

Player: That Game Won’t Get Better

Are you enjoying the game(s) that you play? There are a lot of reasons for not liking a game, and sadly very few of those reasons are things that you, as a player, have much control over.  Unless there’s only one LARP in town you have a choice, so choose the game that best fits [...]

ST: Obliterating Player Churn

In my day job I work in sales for a SaaS-based tech company.  Why is this relevant? The SaaS business model depends on recurring subscriptions to your product in order to be prosperous… there is a low cost to start using your product, and a low cost to leave it.  Does this sound familiar to [...]