Category: Uncategorized
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Design Diary #002: The Haunting of Dresden Manor
The last few weeks have been busy, between summer vacation and work and life! However, I finally found time this morning to sit down and work more on The Haunting of Dresden Manor. I’ve now completed a first draft of my expanded list of clues, evidence, threats, and spooks (I’m not calling them dangers any…
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Design Diary: The Haunting of Dresden Manor #001
I’ve started a playtest draft of my next project, a gothic mystery scenario called The Haunting of Dresden Manor. I’m excited by this project because I believe that it pushes the boundaries of mystery scenario design in TTRPGs, because it will simultaneously be: If you’ve ever tried to run a proper investgative mystery scenario, you’ll…
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Game Review: Dungeons & Kittens
(In case anyone is wondering, I received no compensation for this post. I just played this game, enjoyed it, and wanted to tell y’all about it!) Last weekend, one of the players in my regular 5e Vecna: Eve of Ruin campaign (heavily modded, of course) was missing. Since we’re near the climax of the story,…
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Mystery Advice from a Master: Raymond Chandler
To help get me in the mindset for my new project, a mystery scenario called The Haunting the Dresden Manor, I spent a few days this month with one of the masters of the genre: Raymond Chandler, and specifically The Annotated Big Sleep, edited by Owen Hill, Pamela Jackson, and my esteemed colleague Anthony Rizzuto.…
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Brewing TavCon Diary 1
If you’ve been following my Instagram or checking out this website, you’ll know that my attention for the past month has been focused on planning TavCon, my Sonoma County-based TTRPG con inspired by that most epic of opening lines, “You all meet in a tavern…” So far, the work of planning a game convention hasn’t…
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Serious Fun: Disaster Prep and RPGs
Today, I got the opportunity to apply my role-playing skills at work. By day, I’m a newly-minted member of my employer’s Emergency Operations Committee (EOC). As part of my orientation to the committee, other committee members and I “played” a tabletop disaster simulation, practicing the skills that we’ll need in case a real emergency occurs.…