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sACKS Dwimmermount Session 3: “Was That My Saving Throw?”
Monday , 30, March 2015 Tabletop Games 13 CommentsAs I write this, I admit that I barely have an idea of what day it is. I mean, it’s one thing to run a marathon roleplaying session once a year or so. It’s another thing entirely to do them on two consecutive weekends. I’m not sure, but I think this is normal for some of […]
The other night I saw Lt. Col. Ralph Peters on one of the cable evening opinion shows talking about one thousand members of ISIS stopping cold 30,000 Iraqi Army, Shiite militia, and Iranian Revolutionary Guards at Tikrit. I have been reading Ralph Peters for 22 years when I bought the paperback edition of War in […]
REVIEW: Equality – The Impossible Quest by Dr. Martin van Creveld
Friday , 27, March 2015 Uncategorized 1 CommentIn this sweeping survey of the history of equality (to my knowledge, the only such down-through-the-ages look at equality in print), Dr. Martin van Creveld has thrown down the gauntlet for any subsequent work on the subject. That is, if there are any other scholars or demogogues out there willing to accept the challenge. One of the lingering questions proposed in […]
INTERVIEW: with Dr. Martin Van Creveld on Equality – The Impossible Quest
Wednesday , 25, March 2015 Interview, Publications 11 CommentsDr. Martin van Creveld, Professor Emeritus of the Hebrew University, Jerusalem, is one of the world’s leading writers on military history and strategy, with a special interest in the future of war. He is fluent in Hebrew, German, Dutch, and English, and has authored more than twenty books. He is known for his development of […]
Roleplaying games grew out of a set of rules for miniatures wargames. For a long stretch of time, it used to be that games would try to differentiate themselves on being the best “reality simulator” on the market. This eventually led to publishers developing plug in “subgames” like Snapshot for Traveller or Phoenix Command, billed […]
A Few Observations About the Adventurer Conqueror King System
Monday , 23, March 2015 Tabletop Games 15 CommentsOkay, after spending a great deal of time with this game last week end, there are a lot of things that strike me about it. On the one hand, this is all rather esoteric… and in some cases I’ll devolve from raw opinion to pure speculation and on the generalizations based on a specific group of […]
I have mentioned in past book reviews that I have read three stories by Joe Abercrombie. None of which made me stand up and take notice. Abercrombie is one of the fairly new writers of fantasy fiction to emerge in the past decade. I had been hearing varying opinions for the past six or so […]
Just because a number of gamers and game designers have expressed interest in it, I’m going to run through my thinking on the subject in public. The more I’ve thought about it, the more I conclude that this could be the most useful new wargame design mechanic since John Hill introduced the morale model in […]
REVIEW: Other Heads & Other Tales by Arland Andrews, Sr.
Friday , 20, March 2015 Book Review Leave a commentI expected that the founder of SIGMA, the science fiction think tank, would incorporate a few interesting ideas into his fiction, but I didn’t anticipate that he’d be so funny. When a writer can make a pro-lifer chuckle about abortion and murder (but I repeat myself), you know he’s got a wicked, off-the-wall sense of […]
First, I’d like to congratulate CH blogger Ken Burnside, for the success of his AVID Assistant Kickstarter campaign with 24 days to spare. Most game-related Kickstarters fail, so it’s nice to see one of our own completing one successfully. Thanks to all of the CH readers who supported it. Second, if you subscribe to the […]
One of the first rules of user interface design is that good design is invisible. This also applies to game design. An excellent book on the subject of user interface design, and indirectly on game design, is Scott Krug’s Don’t Make Me Think. Krug’s primary thesis is that reducing options is the key to a clean design. Have […]
It may sound preposterous to suggest that one of the most storied brands in the comic book industry is on its way out, especially if that brand is responsible for such permanent icons as Batman and Superman, and has provided the source material for billions of dollars in entertainment revenue. But it is, and the […]