A fantasy world that stood in as a facsimile for the real one
It should come as no surprise that D&D players test well: A group of Grade 9 students in Texas who substantially outperformed their district on a statewide standardized test all had one surprising...
View ArticleArt & Arcana
I haven’t kept up with Dungeons & Dragons, which is now in its fifth edition, but Art & Arcana seems designed for people who grew up with the game, whether they kept up or not, and for...
View ArticleSacrifices must be made!
The Occult Defence Agency Budgeting Simulator looks like a bit of fun: Occult Defence Agency Budgeting Simulator “Sacrifices must be made!” The minister, who was previously in charge of education, and...
View ArticleSetback in The Sassoon Files
A small independent game publisher is claiming that its Lovecraftian horror adventure book, set in the Shanghai of the 1920s, has been ordered destroyed by its Chinese printer.
View ArticleFortnite’s dominance is ebbing
The Wall Street Journal takes a look at the man behind Fortnite: By age 30, Epic Games Inc. founder and CEO Tim Sweeney had a couple of successful videogames under his belt and was starting to make...
View ArticleJon Peterson discusses the birth of wargaming
I recently shared Invicta’s video, How did war become a game?, and now it looks like the show has brought on Jon Peterson, author of Playing at the World, to do a Q&A, since his book was the...
View ArticleCrowther wanted to connect better with his daughters
Fenton Wood recently mentioned that his latest novel includes a labyrinth chapter “incorporating classical myths, video game lore,” etc. I asked if it featured “a maze of twisty little passages, all...
View ArticleTheir writings were taken quite seriously
In There Will Be War Volume II, Jerry Pournelle introduces “On the Shadow of a Phosphor Screen” with some thoughts on war-gaming: In the late 50’s and early 60’s, the US Department of Defense became...
View ArticleBeing able to quick draw is probably the number-one skill in this sport
John Jackson is credited with founding the sport of archery dodgeball in 2011: Also known as combat archery and archery tag, it’s grown to more than 1,300 locations throughout the U.S. Rules differ...
View ArticleMake torches burn for one hour
Old-school dungeon master Rick Stump explains that if you really want your players to engage with your game world, make torches burn for 1 hour and weigh 21/2 lbs.: Remembering that AD&D is a...
View ArticleGood isn’t stupid, or weak, or nice
Good isn’t stupid, or weak, or nice, Rick Stump argues: I had spent my early years reading Edgar Rice Burroughs, H. Rider Haggard, Andre Norton, Le Morte d’Arthur, and (especially) the stories of...
View ArticleMaxis didn’t want to make professional simulation games
SimCity wasn’t meant to be taken seriously: The game was inspired by research on real-world urban planning concepts, and although it was created as a way for players to experiment running a city, the...
View ArticleIn 2019, fans pledged more than $176 million toward tabletop games
Tabletop gaming has evolved dramatically over the years, but lately board game funding has changed even more: Then, on March 30, the board game Frosthaven — the dungeon crawling, highly-anticipated...
View ArticleThe invasion of Japan might have resembled the Okinawa campaign
The US dropped two atomic bombs on Japan 75 years ago, but what would an actual Allied invasion of Japan have looked like? A clue can be found in Japan ’45, from John Tiller Software, a hobby wargame...
View ArticleStefan Zweig liked to play an interesting game
The Austrian writer Stefan Zweig, during his many years of delightful and luxurious travel, liked to play an interesting game — one very similar to a practice that Seneca had: As soon as Zweig arrived...
View ArticleA game that plays people
A game designer working in the niche of Alternate Reality Games (ARGs), LARPs, experience fiction, interactive theater, and “serious games” — fictions designed to feel as real as possible, games that...
View ArticleThe only thing worse than hardly knowing anything was knowing a little bit more
Tom Vanderbilt decided to learn to play chess as an adult, when his daughter started learning: Even as your skills and knowledge progress, there is a potential value to holding on to that beginner’s...
View ArticleThe maladaptive variety is what gives competitiveness its bad name
Top Dog: The Science of Winning and Losing draws a distinction between adaptive competitiveness and maladaptive competitiveness: Adaptive competitiveness is characterized by perseverance and...
View ArticleA near miss means you still lose
In 2010, a cognitive neuroscientist named Reza Habib asked twenty-two people to lie inside an MRI, Charles Duhigg explains (in The Power of Habit), and watch a slot machine spin around and around. The...
View Article