More chess with kids – Chess with Mods
I previously made a post about introducing kids in my chess club to chess variants. The more enterprising kids called it Chess with Mods and promptly started hacking the game with different versions. They didn’t stop there. Here are some more variants of chess that the kids made up. Train Chess Train Chess is played…
Pokémon Essence V0.8
My Pokémon ttrpg, Pokémon Essence, as just received an update Feature list: Download Pokémon Essence for free on itch.io now! Check out the full length dev-log here The next update, V0.81, will be the Viridian Region edit. It will include encounter tables, quests and locations for Pallet Town, Route 1, Viridian City, Route 2, Viridian Forest and…
The OTHER three best spells in Harry Potter
mood music I previously argued that the three best spells in Harry Potter are: Here are the other three best spells in Harry Potter. The Unbreakable Vow It’s a magically-binding promise from one wizard/witch to another, witnessed by a third. If you break the vow you die. It’s not clear from the fiction exactly why…
My first experience with Matrix Games
What is a Matrix Game? Essentially, a Matrix Game combines the tactical infinity of role-playing games with control of an ‘actor’ – a faction, organisation or entity – as would be expected in a strategy game. They align with the play worlds, not rules philosophy of the Free Kriegspiel Revival movement, meaning that setting, and…
LOTR: Many Meetings and Council of Elrond
Mood music – Song of Eärendil or Eärendil was a mariner I wanted to re-read The Fellowship of The Ring, specifically the Council of Elrond chapter, as I’ve been thinking about making a game where the players are at a council. Council of Elrond, Game of Throne’s small council, Congress of Vienna – that kind…
Designing magic: Make casting the magic more engaging
(This is part 2 of a 3 part series about designing magic for tabletop roleplaying games. Part 1 is available here.) Once again I’ll be referencing Harry Potter a lot, as well as D&D 5e. Harry Potter remains the best cultural touchstone when discussing learning magic, whilst D&D 5e is the big ttrpg. When I…
Designing magic: Make learning the magic more engaging
(This is part 1 of a 3 part series about designing magic for tabletop roleplaying games. Get part 2 here. I’ll link part 3 when it’s finished.) Unfortunately, Harry Potter remains the best cultural touchstone when discussing learning magic. This is unfortunate for several reasons, but the one I’m focusing on today is that the…
Using linguistic false friends in your games
In linguistics there are sometimes words in two different languages which sound like their meaning will be obvious, but actually they aren’t. Some false friends have very separate meanings. The English embarrassed and the Spanish embarazada (pregnant). They might cause some miscommunications, but most of the time it will be obvious that an error has…
Laser Monks in Outer Space is released! Free on itch!
Laser Monks is an ultralight tabletop roleplaying game where you play as space-paladins with Laserblades and superpowers. The core of the game is about adhering too, or rejecting, the Laser Monk creed, known as The Path. The Path is PeaceThe Path is CompassionThe Path is Moderation You can get it for free on itch.io by clicking…
Coppers and Boars First Blog-iversary
It’s been a year since I made my first post, which was about Character progression in games. The blog started out as a way to crystallise my vague roleplay game thoughts into coherent and communicable ideas. The majority of my posts are game design theory, tips or insight. I think the best three are Play…
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Coppers and Boars 