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Malcolm Sheppard on Twitter

  • I increasingly think the more something can be captured by a high concept pitch, the less it's worth doing. 8 hrs ago
  • Ugh. Digging myself out of lots of stuff that's been neglected while I've been sick. 2 days ago
  • Sprained my toe! 2 days ago
  • Bowie goes down. Blood. Monkeys eat each other. 3 days ago
  • Vicious monkeys! Peter Murphy is upset! 3 days ago
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The Bastard Out of Boston and the End of the World

One of the interesting things about tabletop roleplaying is the ability to set up tensions between the game’s concepts and practical play considerations. Many tabletop gamers have a Manichean streak where something has to either cleave to the Big Idea or the Big Idea has to utterly suborn itself to practical issues. To my way [...]

Metaplot 2.0 (Part Two)

Over in my last post on metaplot I talked about the good and bad in metaplots, how they compare to other game/IP development methods and proposed some ways they could be improved. This time around I want to develop a model for how to build a metaplot so that it supports a loyal community, a [...]

RPGs and Art That Challenges

Art isn’t always for challenging the audience, but a creative community needs that if it’s going to thrive. RPGs aren’t doing that. By “challenges,” I don’t mean Maybe old D&D rules kicked ass! or I bet we can do this without a GM! because these things don’t have wider social relevance. This also applies to [...]

Poooooooodcasting! On Darker Days

I did an enormous podcast interview — almost three hours — with the folks at the Darker Days podcast. Check it out! I think the important bit is where I answer why I like RPGs, but there’s lots of bits and bobs about the Mages and many other things. Kudos to both interviewers, who did [...]