I’ve recently been playing Apocalypse World in our weekly playing session. It is a generally good game, at least if you prefer the style: violent, apocalyptic, sexy (certainly the first two, not necessarily the last one). It is also interesting when it comes to issues of gender. And it is definitely gender, not sex, that… [Read more…]
September 23, 2011
I’ve had a play report on a Dungeons & Discourse game we played last year lying around on my computer for over an year now. I thought I might finally post it online. Unfortunately, it is in Finnish. More info after the cut.
September 18, 2011
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Recently, a two-year long campaign ended. With 53 evenings spent playing, it is the longest game I’ve been involved in. We played Heimot, a Finnish science fiction game (it would be ‘Tribes’ in English, but that name is already taken). With a strong game master influence and a narrative focus it is a traditional game in… [Read more…]
August 26, 2011
When randomness in role-playing games is discussed, it usually means analysis of specific dice-mechanics. And since most rpg’s employ dice, it is a useful pursuit to try to understand the interplay of the mechanics and how they affect role-playing. But dice are not the only source of randomness, nor are the usual substitutions for them… [Read more…]
August 24, 2011
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One of the pillars of our role-playing hobby has been the space provided by the student village. We have been able to use increasingly larger rooms as the amount of players has increased over the years. Recently, we lost our best rooms yet to a kindergarten, or more accurately, to money. They were able to… [Read more…]
August 1, 2011
Ropecon was just last weekend and a friend of mine, the writer of Cafe Lax, published a role-playing game there: Bliaron. Apparently it sold quite well. It is written in Finnish and the book looks really good. The setting is a bronze-age fantasy land, with a strong emphasis on magic. There are also political undertones… [Read more…]
May 9, 2011
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Galleries aren’t waiting for games to be accepted as art by critics, but seem to have made the choice themselves already. For example, The Smithsonian American Art Museum is hosting The Art of Video Games. Also, the NYU Game Center is holding the second annual exhibition of games No Quarter. Unfortunately not very close to… [Read more…]
April 20, 2011
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Managed to publish my first article in role-playing theory, in the second issue of International Journal of Role-Playing. The article is about how role-playing games are, can and should be defined. There is a bunch of great articles in the journal. Suggested reading for anyone interested in (academic) role-playing game theory.
March 31, 2011
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I recently gave a lecture on pervasive games. In preparing that lecture I took some notes that were almost an introduction to the subject itself. It seemed a pity not to use that text, so here is a short introduction to pervasive gaming. Pervasive Games Pervasive games are not an entirely new phenomenon, but the… [Read more…]
September 7, 2010
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I wrote about games as art before, so I should mention that Georgia Tech University has held a conference called Art History of Games. The talks are fortunately available on Youtube. Certainly worth a glance.
October 25, 2011
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