The first two works that Tom Clancy published were a letter to the editor of...
The first two works that Tom Clancy published were a letter to the editor of Proceedings and this plan for using hovercraft to deploy MX missiles: A successful MX deployment system must meet a number...
View ArticleHe pounded through that dungeon with a ruthless efficiency
Ben Espen reviews the D&D-inspired anime Goblin Slayer, whose main character is old school: The Goblin Slayer, in his obsession with killing goblins, studies them relentlessly. He learns their...
View ArticleCould the Germans have taken Moscow?
When more than 3 million German and German-allied troops surged across the border on June 22, 1941, many expected Operation Barbarossa to be a walkover: “Bolshevism will collapse as a house of cards,”...
View ArticleThey are looking for the best possible move every time, instead of a good move
To compete means to risk losing, and women, Top Dog: The Science of Winning and Losing explains, judge this risk differently than men: A Stockholm University study of 1.4 million [chess] games over 11...
View ArticleGygax was surprised to find both of the Blume brothers in attendance
In the fall of 1985, Gary Gygax was the most famous and powerful figure in hobby gaming, Jon Peterson explains: October 22 was a Tuesday, and Gygax was wrapping up another day at TSR corporate...
View ArticleIf this wargame had been played at the Pentagon or the White House in the...
In the two weeks prior to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Marine Corps University ran a four-day wargame to simulate the first several days of just such an invasion: The hope is that students will...
View ArticleHow Harpoon V would model the Ukrainian attack on the Moskva
Ian B. of the Rocky Mountain Navy looks at how the latest version of the table-top Harpoon war game, Harpoon V, would model the Ukrainian attack on the Moskva: Given that Moskva is a major combatant...
View ArticleThe lure of the grandiose explains the pull of Terraforming Mars
The lure of the grandiose explains the pull of Terraforming Mars: Although the topic is formidably complex — how many people do you know who are qualified to renovate planets? — the game is not a...
View ArticleDr. Raymond Kuo shares the Statecraft and Negotiations simulations he created...
Dr. Raymond Kuo created a Statecraft and Negotiations course when he was a professor, and he has shared his Statecraft and Negotiation Simulations: I created about a dozen original simulations that:...
View ArticleThe classic dungeon crawl promotes a play style that is very cautious,...
Yora of the Spriggan’s Den feels that classic dungeon-crawling is a fascinating and fun form of gameplay, but the archetypical dungeon crawl is not a good basis for a Sword & Sorcery campaign: The...
View ArticleAnything can become a full-time job if enough people are paying attention
Matthew Mercer is the most famous Dungeons & Dragons player in the world: Critical Role is a miraculous success, with 2 million YouTube subscribers and an additional 1.3 million followers on...
View ArticleStorytelling needs to be practiced, just like flying or marksmanship
Ian Strebel and Matt McKenzie are intelligence officers in the United States Army and Navy, respectively, who have found that creating a compelling narrative takes practice, which traditional military...
View ArticleA powder keg’s more thrilling when it hasn’t blown up yet
When Dungeons & Dragons was young, it had a western counterpart called Boot Hill that I only knew through the crossover rules in the Dungeon Master’s Guide. Adam Rutskarn went back and gave this...
View ArticleMaybe fire forces growth, and stabbing them only stuns them
Back in August, 1979, issue #29 of Dragon magazine included a game called The Awful Green Things From Outer Space. I never played it, so I didn’t realize it included this interesting game mechanic:...
View ArticleMonopoly Go! made $3 billion in just over a year
I can’t say I even knew that there was a Monopoly Go! game: On Hasbro’s second-quarter earnings call Thursday, the toymaker revealed that the mobile video game has grossed more than $3 billion in...
View ArticlePlay life like a game
In 2021, Walter Isaacson explains (in his biography of Elon), Musk became obsessed with a new multiplayer strategy game on his iPhone, Polytopia: In it, players choose to be one of sixteen characters,...
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