“All dwarfs have beards and wear up to twelve layers of clothing. Gender is more or less optional.” ― Terry Pratchett Of all the prototypical fantasy races, dwarves seem to suffer most from stereotyping. I think the good folk a TVTropes summed it up pretty well here. The Fantasy Trip […]

It would be interesting to find out what goes on in that moment when someone looks at you and draws all sorts of conclusions.” ― Malcolm Gladwell We mentioned in a previous post that the race rules in The Fantasy Trip were a little lacking, even if they have not […]

“Respect the burden.” – Napoleon Bonaparte Heavy Lifting in TFT The amount of equipment an adventurer is able to carry around is important, but not very exciting in game terms. In the Fantasy Trip, players are expected to count the weight of every object that their character’s carry. Further, there […]

“Lately it occurs to me what a long, strange trip it’s been.” — Jerry Garcia After their wild successful Kickstarter — nearly 3400 backers raising $315,000 — Steve Jackson Games has brought back The Fantasy Trip after almost 40 years of languishing. A few diehards had kept the game alive […]

“Have you ever wondered how nostalgia isn’t what it used to be?” ― Jasper Fforde We have been watching the Kickstarter campaign for The Fantasy Trip with great interest her in the ‘aerie, and its pretty excitement. In just one week’s time it has blown past $150,000 and the stretch […]

Have you got it do you get it / If so how often Which do you choose / A hard or soft option? —“West End Girls”, Pet Shop Boys Recently I have been revisiting some of the fantasy stories that helped forged my vision (and many of the founders of […]

“Balk the enemy’s power; force him to reveal himself.” — Sun Tzu   There is no shortage of advice when it comes to creating villains for your fantasy campaigns like how to make them more memorable, believable, and worthy adversaries for your heroes. But what about their hordes of minions? […]

“Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.” ― Pablo Picasso   It should go without saying that writing an RPG makes you think a lot about rules. Is a rule fair? Is it consistent? Is it too cumbersome? These questions and more were […]

“Only criminals and bloodsuckers reward bad behavior.” –Ted Nugent   There many ways to encourage players, from experience awards and treasure to narrative controls. Players who are clever, or play their characters well and embrace the story should be rewarded. The methods we like provide the players with an immediately […]

“Conceal a flaw, and the world will imagine the worst.” —Marcus Valerius Martial The pitch for virtually every role-playing game ever written is “create a hero and live out their adventures.” But how much of that role is ever really lived? How often do we simply push our PCs through […]