Observations of the Fox

Another year with a slow start for the blog, basically because I've been preparing to move house next week, rehearsing for a local community theatre production, and putting the final touches on the playtest character generation document for Familiar. It's probably going to be another of those years where I end up chasing my tail, only to end up in flux at the end of it... we'll see. As for the game design stuff... The majority of the character generation system for Familiar relies on a five-card tarot spread, but I realise that not everyone has access to a deck of tarot cards. To make things easier, I'm currently looking through online Tarot spread generators, and the closest I've found to what I'm after is here . It's a Celtic Cross spread rather than a five card spread, so I'm trying to find something better...but I'm having a bit of trouble in this regard. There are plenty of Tarot phone apps , so maybe a person could use one of these inste...

There used to be four character classes in D&D... Fighters - who hit stuff Rogues - who avoided stuff Magic User - who cast magical effects at stuff Clerics - who prayed to stuff, and healed you when you got hit by stuff Then there were a bunch of hybrids between those four (yes, I'm massively oversimplifying here) Fighter / Rogue - Someone who moves quickly to avoid stuff, and hits stuff from a distance (Ranger) Rogue / Magic User - A sneaky mage who doesn't need books or ingredients (Sorceror) Fighter / Cleric - Someone who prays and hits stuff (Paladin) Fight/Rogue/Magic-User - A jack of all trades (Bard) etc. In most of the groups I've played with over the years, this has basically meant that every player has a type of character that suits their style of play. The same can be seen in other game designs.  Vampire the Masquerade began with... Brujah - who are angry about stuff and hit stuff Gangrel - who know wilderness stuff an...

+Steve Dee 's game Relics is a curious beast. It straddles the line between a traditional game and a story game. On the traditional side, there is a GM, an agenda for the characters for pursue, a skill system where a randomiser determines the outcome in a fairly traditional "Fail/Success-at-a-price/Success" pattern, then improves chances of success if an appropriate skill can be applied to the task at hand, and then it applies a system where characters improve over the course of playing ongoing sessions. On the story game side, the skills used are generally freeform, the world develops organically through the interaction of the player group, and the characters are defined as much by their relationships with one another as they are by anything else. There's a few games trying to unite this divide between traditional and story games, but so far I haven't seen many that do it well without a dedicated set of driving rules that hone in on a specific niche or ...

For those of you who are unaware, I've started an IndieGoGo project to fund the first part of my Goblin game. This project is called the Goblin Tarot and begins by providing a tarot deck derived from the mythology of my goblin world. Those who contribute a little more will receive a booklet containing some games to play with the card deck, some further insight into the goblin world and some goblinesque methods of divination. For information about this project, visit the IndieGoGo site . (P.S. If you've got any available funds and you'd love a fun present for this years festive season, I'd appreciate a few new backers)

I've added a few more goblin tarot images to my deviantart page. I figure I'm about 3/4 of the way through the collection now. I'm happy that these images are getting a good viewing by people who haven't previously seen my work. I'm starting to get a few more regular watchers out of this series. If you'd like to have a look, a link to the gallery is here .

Game Chef is over. I'm not too happy with my result. Lots of potential in it, but I just wasn't able to realise that potential in time. So it's back to my pet project of the Goblin Labyrinth. The Goblin City (Status Report) I've sculpted up the first two of my blank hex templates for the labyrinthine Goblin city, these blanks are made from plaster and I'll be carving them and adding to them until I get the desired result. I'll probably be sculpting a few dozen more of these blank templates before I'm done. If I get the chance I'll update the vulpinoid studios website with a few works in progress. Goblin Tarot (Status Report) I've started generating a few more images for the minor arcana. Just assorted goblins displaying a wide range of cultural heritage, and posed in a variety of comical, macabre or slightly odd manners. I'll be compositing these images into cards shortly for uploading onto deviantart. The Miniatures Game (Status Report) Last nig...

Just to show that I'm still ploughing away on the Goblin Tarot Deck, here are a few more images to entice and enthral. At this rate I should have the full deck knocked out in a few weeks. Have a look at my Deviant Art profile for more updates on this project.