Observations of the Fox

I've mentioned Ukiyo Zoshi ("Tales of the Floating World") earlier in this sequence of posts. It was the series of multiform LARPs that I ran wth Dave Chandraratnam back in the late 90s at game conventions in Sydney. These were the games we were solidly booked out for... ...where we'd have sessions of 6 players in the first session (because that was the maximum team size that the conventions expected)... ...then a few extra players in the second session due to word of mouth... ...then two full teams in the third session (10-12 players) and we'd split GM duties... ...then then a player from the first or second session would step up for GM duties, when we'd have 14+ players (divided into three groups of 4-5, each with their own GM)... ...and by the tenth session of the convention we'd have half a dozen GMs, and 30 odd players... ...good times. I've already indicated that I'm recycling some of the faction ideas from those games, but ther...

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...

I think the mid 1990s will always be my golden age. I had just left high school and was starting to truly forge an identity of my own. I had gotten a job and was earning my own keep for the first time. The cold war was ending and the feeling of hope in the world was echoing my own feeling of freedom and the chance for a better life. Nirvana was showing the world that you didn't need make-up and big hair to play good rock music. And you didn't need to spend far too much money on film clips to get into the top 40. White Wolf's Storyteller system was showing the roleplaying community that games could focus on story rather than a quirky set of skills and abilities (but it still included these anyway). I had a good core group of friends, and it felt like we'd all stay friends forever... I could go on...but that's not the point of my post. Around this time, a friend and I developed a game called Ukiyo Zoshi (translated from Japanese it roughly means "Tales of the Flo...

Over the past couple of months I've been to Supanova and I've been to GenCon Oz . I had intended to go to both of these conventions with some kind of product that I could use sell. Or at least attend the conventions with a product that would showcase my thoughts and ideas. In this regard, GenCon Oz was far more successful. But on the other hand, I did meet someone at Supanova who thought my artwork showed talent. So I'm going to start working on a few new ideas that could be used in a comic. In this regard I've had a few ideas that might have a bit of potential. The problem I'm having now is that some of the ideas are much better suited to a roleplaying game where the players can interactively explore the ideas within their own group of friends. Other ideas seem better suited to a more linear storytelling format, and hence would work better as a comic. Most of the ideas fit between these two options, and quite a few ideas seem to vary between the options depending ...