Monthly Archives: September 2021

Gurdjieff and Games, Part 4: Roleplaying Games

The Keep on the Borderlands, Erol Otus, 1979

The Role of Roleplaying Games

Roleplaying games occupy a unique place in contemporary culture. They appear to be a relatively new invention that developed from the miniature wargaming hobby. War games are simulation-type games where each player controls a faction of military units, usually represented by miniature figurines. The player-controlled units are brought into conflict in a particular historical or non-historical setting, represented on the tabletop by a map. Typically in war games, one player acts as the referee, while the other players control the military units that enter into conflict with each other. Each player uses tactics and strategy in order to win. 

Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, both experienced miniature war gamers, are considered the modern fathers of roleplaying games, the most well-known being Dungeons & Dragons, and it is from their innovations that the new hobby sprung.

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For the Bibliomaniacs: Protecting Book Dust Jackets

When I received my copies of Cha’alt and Cha’alt Fuchsia Malaise (by Venger Satanis), I was surprised by the high production values of the books, especially that they had dust jackets. I’ve never had gaming books with dust jackets before, so I decided to give them special treatment by protecting them.

I posted my first attempt at protecting dust jackets in mylar on Youtube.

My second attempt (below) went better.

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Crimson Escalation Kickstarter

A game-changer for D&D/OSR/d20 combat

I’m not a fan of meaninglessly prolonged combat in the games I run, and neither are my players. So I had been thinking about how to speed things up—and serendipitously, Venger Satanis was thinking about the same thing.

We’ve come up with something that’s dead simple for players and GMs to not only speed up combat but to also create a sense of mounting tension each round.

I’m excited to support Venger on this endeavor to spread the word about Crimson Escalation!

Check out the Kickstarter!

http://kck.st/3gEy178