Observations of the Fox

This article on Medium has been doing the rounds on Facebook. It feels like only a year ago that people were still defending him and fawning over him... actually, I think that was only a year ago. From what I've heard through numerous sources, this couldn't have happened to a more appropriate guy.

I've done sequences of blog posts on mapping and geomorphs . I've also done a sequence on building terrain elements ... so none of this is particularly out of the ordinary, it's just been a while since I've done a series of posts like this. For this project of physical geomorphs, I need to work out what sorts of environment I'll be simulating with the tiles. For this, I'll think about the various types of miniatures in our collection, because there will be conflicts where one side or another has home ground advantage... there will also be a range of locations that are just fun to play scenarios in. My wife has a small horde of undead miniatures, which would tend to imply a graveyard or necropolis of some type. She also has a horde of fantasy celts, so a suitable village, some forests, rolling hills, or farmlands might be appropriate. I've got a bunch of goblins and gremlins from various games, who might be found in swampy or bayou areas. I've also...

Yes, there's probably a better title for this sequence of posts... but that was first to come to mind. In 2008-2009, at Gencon Oz, I met the team from Griffin who were spruiking their "Ultimate Table Top Terrain" (or UTTT) system. It's been that long since I've wanted to do something with their products, and a cursory glance across the internet seems to indicate they might not even exist any more (they do still have a Facebook group , so I'd love to hear if they're still active at some level) Evidence of the UTTT product can be found scattered across the web, with images on Pinterest and general search engine results. I liked the system because it was made up of hexes that could be linked together like geomorphs. The hexes were also a decent size, with 37cm (just under 15 inches) across the points of the hex, and 32.1cm (just under 13 inches) across the flats. A few hexes could be laid out, with half hexes, and "shards" to create a dec...

I love  this party crasher post . It's the kind of style I'd love to see a whole game written in. Whenever I suggest this, or try to present something this way, I invariably get a bunch of people telling me how hard it is to read the text, how bad it is for cognition, and how generally unprofessional it looks. I certainly pushed in this direction for The Law, and might go further in the sourcebooks for that game... but we'll see how things go.

Today I watched a traditional smoking ceremony. I've seen a few of these in my time working with indigenous communities, and the commonalities between the ceremonies used by various groups across south-eastern Australia gives me a confidence to use them as a common ritual in Walkabout. The fact that they are used publically in front of non-indigenous Australians also means that there's no real fear of spreading secret knowledge to people who shouldn't be seeing it. Given the opportunity, I approached the local elders who ran the ceremony, asking them if they'd be willing to share some of the stories. I usually tell people I'm writing a comic book when I first make contact with them, because this is something people quickly understand as a storytelling medium. It's after a couple of meetings that I reveal how much more there is to the project. At this stage, I've once again been welcomed into the community. I've been offered a guided tour of t...

Walkabout has been a long and winding road. It's been a journey that has seemed to head one way before veering off in another, it's spiralled in such a way that I've encountered a number of points on the trail a few times each. But each crossing has brought a new perspective on those points, and a better understanding of why they might be critical concepts for the greater Walkabout plan. This year's move to the bush has given some great insight into the setting of the game, but has meant I haven't had the time to really refine things. Similarly, I've looked at the reduced frequency of posts on the blog this year, and it feels like everything is slowing down. But I'm not abandoning the game at all, I just need to focus. I don't need to go back to the SNAFU Cookbook... but I have been thinking about it.

Apparently, this was a thing . By the time I found out about it, it was gone. It seems to be related to one of the many toxic individuals who have been recently exposed in our hobby. Whether it's related to "Yourdungeonissuck"  , I don't know. Perhaps it was made by the same person, perhaps it was made as a response... either way, these are the kinds of sites that drive toxicity and trolling behaviours. There are plenty of other blogs that do similar things, by attacking the productivity of designers they don't like, I know I'm not immune to it. I've attacked a few games and related products over the years, but where possible I've tried to explain my reasoning. More often I've just tried to keep a low profile and work on my own stuff. I'll hopefully start posting more of that stuff I've been working on soon... but this year has been pretty chaotic.

In my new school, I've finally discovered the small community of roleplayers... ...and it basically consists of half of the year 11 students, who play twice a week. Now I just need to expand their horizons beyond D&D.