The highs and lows of a tense sports match make for great stories, but are a unique design challenge. We joined in the online fun at Big Bad Con 2021 to present The Making of a Match: Designing Sports Action. It was a good chance to reflect on our process and learnings designing the sports drama game, […]
This guide is adapted from the content of Good Society: Expanded Acquaintance. If you want even more detail about how to hack Good Society, you can grab the book or PDF for the full guide. In Part 1, we talked about the process of hacking Good Society. In this post, we’ll be talking about the elements of Good […]
This guide is adapted from the content of Good Society: Expanded Acquaintance. If you want even more detail about how to hack Good Society, you can grab the book or PDF for the full guide. So, there’s a story you’re itching to tell, and you’re already starting to imagine how Good Society can help to […]
Emotional storytelling in rpgs has always been an area of interest for us, both as players and designers. This year we were lucky enough to speak at Metatopia 2020 on the topic The Human Heart: Engaging Emotions in RPG Design. Here is the video of our panel, or for those who prefer to read, I’ve included an […]
Last year was our first full year as (almost) full-time game designers, and we learned a lot from the experience. One thing we learned was how hard it is as game designers running their own publishing house to actually find time to make games. This year, we’ve decided to track the way we spend our […]
This post was written by Vee! We share very similar thoughts on playtesting – Hayley I firmly believe that learning to love playtesting is one of the most important parts of becoming a game designer. While it may seem daunting and scary to run an unfinished version of your game to a group of critically […]
As conventions are coming up for me in the following months, I avail myself yet again with wisdom from past me. If you, like me, are wondering how to run Good Society effectively as a one session experience, say… at a convention, then look no further! Past me helpfully goes through tips, tricks and a […]
One of the best and most succinct panels we’ve presented was at Hubcon 2019. This was a practical talk about the process of creating an rpg. It does not delve into rpg theory, but rather, the talk revolves around the procedure of design, and tips and tricks to get productive at each step, rather than […]
Of all the GMing techniques in all the Kingdoms of all the Lands, my very favourite is the humble question. It is versatile, editorial, creative, and narrative. It allows the GM to shape the story while giving ultimate say to the players. And it’s a relief to share the narrative burden GMs typically bear with […]
I like to think that when I play a roleplaying game with other people, we are working together to tell a story. We surprise each other—developing new twists and turns in the narrative as we go. Or we delight each other—playing into hints and clues left earlier to create a bitter conflict or a smoochful […]
