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30 novembre 2015

I want to play that as an investigation scenario.

I want to play that as an investigation scenario.
http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=3942

Lima : J’étais chez des amis autour d'un jeu et d'une bonne bouteille de blanc

Lima : J’étais chez des amis autour d'un jeu et d'une bonne bouteille de blanc
iPumba : Vous jouiez à quoi ?
Lima : A loup garou, jeu drôle !
iPumba : Oulah !!! J'en ai passé des soirées avec ce jeu là :p
Lima : Ouiii bien pareil , je le kiff ce jeu ! J'adore les jeux drôles !!!
iPumba : Attends, attends !!! Jeu drôle ou de rôle ?
Lima : Bah... Drôle !!! Vu que quand on joue on s’amuse bien ! Les jeux de rôle c’est encore un de tes trucs de geek !!!
iPumba : ...
Lima : Bah quoi ?
http://danstonchat.com/16936.html

An ttrpg author chooses how much he’d like to control the players’ experience.

An ttrpg  author chooses how much he’d like to control the players’ experience. Going from, roughly, suggesting an idea or two like “why not play cowboy inventors in the context of a mutant dark elves invasion ?” or “hey, let’s build a resolution mechanic around a pendulum” to writing extended instruction as how participants ought to behave, like a scripted play with minute casting and mise-en-scène prescriptions. However, how much the players submit to the game designer’s desires is their business and their business only. The game designer might wish the players to submit completely, he might whine that they can’t understand the experience unless they do (in other words: he thinks they are too dumb and/or uninformed to decide by themselves), but it’s the players who decide. The best thing the game designer can and probably should do is to entice us to submit.

28 novembre 2015

Present proof games While discussing the near total lack of electronic publication in the French ttrpg market, I...

Present proof games While discussing the near total lack of electronic publication in the French ttrpg market, I realized one of the reasons I prefer digital documents is that they are much easier to use for virtual play. This made me notice that I know of no game that is present ready : no game that includes resources for online play. Everything still seems to be only thought out for pen and paper and table play. Did I miss the right games? Am I splitting hair? (Or even building a strawman by accident?) Or do you also see a lack there?
http://www.luispita.com/uploaded_images/back-to-the-future_1-780346.jpg

Antoine Pempie défend avec beaucoup de justesse position que je partage entièrement.

Antoine Pempie défend avec beaucoup de justesse position que je partage entièrement.

Originally shared by Antoine Pempie

LA FERMETURE DU MARCHÉ FRANCOPHONE AU SUPPORT ELECTRONIQUE

Laissez moi commencer par dire qu'il ne s'agit ici pas d'un coup de gueule ou d'une tentative de troll. Non, je fais un constat qui me laisse dans l'incompréhension et, du coup, dans la frustration. Si toi, lecteur, tu veux contribuer au débat, je t'en remercie. 

Le constat : les éditeurs francophones de jeux de rôle, dans leur majorité, ne proposent pas la vente de leurs ouvrages en PDF. J'en conclus qu'ils refusent donc de le faire, puisque je ne conçois pas de difficulté technique qui pourraient les en empêcher.
Ce constat fut confirmé lors du lancement récent d'un financement participatif qui, je dois l'avouer, m'a fait craquer tout de suite. Or, même des les niveaux de financement participatif les plus élevés, on ne propose pas les ouvrages en PDF, mais seulement des fiches de synthèse. 

Cette décision de refuser les PDF, je ne la comprends pas. 
Je ne prétend pas être le joueur moyen et/ou représentatif, mais voilà mon attitude de consommateur : je n'ai ni les moyens ni l'envie d'acheter des ouvrages en dur si je n'ai pas eu l'occasion de les lire ou d'y jouer avant. C'est aussi simple que ça. 
Du coup, certes, j'ai, je pense, une quantité de PDF à ma disposition assez conséquente, des PDF que j'ai pu lire et qui m'ont permis de découvrir des jeux méconnus. Cela ne m'empêche pourtant absolument pas d'acheter des jeux en dur : tous les jeux que j'ai appréciés se sont retrouvés dans ma bibliothèque.
Cela a eu une conséquence surprenante et amère : sans m'en rendre compte, je ne suis quasiment plus l'actualité du jdr francophone. Lorsque je vois ma bibliothèque, 80% de mes jeux sont en langue étrangère. Les derniers jeux en français que j'ai acheté en dur sont ceux de la collection Chibi parce que j'ai pu lire les PDF avant. Le reste, c'est soit parce que je connais les auteurs, soit parce que j'ai eu l'occasion de les essayer. Mais le nombre de jeux que je lis fait pâlir le nombre de jeux que j'essaie. 
Ainsi, dans mon cas, la politique de refus du PDF par les éditeurs francophones m'apparaît comme illogique. 

Je vois plusieurs raisons à ce refus :
• la peur du piratage. Je ne vais pas vous mentir : il m'est arrivé de récupérer des PDF de manière pas très clean. Mais, et je le dis honnêtement, lorsqu'ils m'ont plu et que c'était possible, j'ai fait craquer la carte bleu pour les acheter honnêtement. 
• "S'il achète le PDF, il n'achétera pas le bouquin" ou la fermeture du marché : comme je l'ai déjà avancé, je pense que c'est un raisonnement erroné. Je pense au contraire que le PDF ouvrirait le marché français, certains qui n'auraient pas débourser 30€ pour le livre en dur se laisseraient tentés par un PDF à 10€.

Merci de m'avoir lu jusqu'au bout.

27 novembre 2015

"Grosso merdo" 24h après le lancement, la souscription est réussie, toutes les contreparties early bird se sont...

"Grosso merdo" 24h après le lancement, la souscription est réussie, toutes les contreparties early bird se sont envolées, les deux premiers paliers sont franchis et donc les 3 ouvrages sont promis. Le 3e palier "doubler la rémunération des auteurs (pas des éditeurs)" est à moins de 500 €, sauf anomalie sociologique-économico-temporelle, il sera rapidement franchi.

Je me demande ce que réserve la suite...

(Vous pouvez attendre d'avoir une Epiphanie, mais pas plus tard.)
https://fr.ulule.com/jeu-de-role/

Azra – Le Chien de Guerre (+Juce Ferrer), Dolarhyde – L’arrangeu.se.r (+Tom Z), Mirjane – La Machiniste (+Peggy...

Azra – Le Chien de Guerre (+Juce Ferrer), Dolarhyde – L’arrangeu.se.r (+Tom Z), Mirjane – La Machiniste (+Peggy Chassenet) et *Jaxn – La Taulière (+Eric Nieudan) dans l’E04 « Détraquement » d’Apocalypse World. On aurait pu croire que la vie serait plus tranquille après le départ des colonnes du Roi Vautour, mais il n’en est rien. Les nuages s’amoncèlent à l’horizon. L’épidémie de peste jaune grignote la population. Mirjane s’attaque à la reproduction du « remède » mais cela prend du temps et des efforts. Elle n’a pas vraiment le temps de se soucier de Séllim qui reste, sans aucune raison apparente, plongé dans le coma. Des raiders se profilent aux frontières de l’Enclave. Les morts insultent les vivants. Chacun fait son taf – Azra combat, Dolarhyde arrange les bidons, Mirjane bricole et Jaxn gère – mais les temps s’annoncent troubles et les tensions grimpent.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYdkqqDGjzI

Azra – Le Chien de Guerre (Juce Ferrer), Dolarhyde – L’arrangeu.se.r (Tom Z), Mirjane – La Machiniste (Peggy...

Azra – Le Chien de Guerre (Juce Ferrer), Dolarhyde – L’arrangeu.se.r (Tom Z), Mirjane – La Machiniste (Peggy Chassenet) et *Jaxn – La Taulière (Eric Nieudan) dans l’E04 « Détraquement » d’Apocalypse World. On aurait pu croire que la vie serait plus tranquille après le départ des colonnes du Roi Vautour, mais il n’en est rien. Les nuages s’amoncèlent à l’horizon. L’épidémie de peste jaune grignote la population. Mirjane s’attaque à la reproduction du « remède » mais cela prend du temps et des efforts. Elle n’a pas vraiment le temps de se soucier de Séllim qui reste, sans aucune raison apparente, plongé dans le coma. Des raiders se profilent aux frontières de l’Enclave. Les morts insultent les vivants. Chacun fait son taf – Azra combat, Dolarhyde arrange les bidons, Mirjane bricole et Jaxn gère – mais les temps s’annoncent troubles et les tensions grimpent.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYdkqqDGjzI

25 novembre 2015

Nearly all the PbtA games in print! In not any great order!

Originally shared by Meguey Baker

Nearly all the PbtA games in print! In not any great order!

Monserthearts http://buriedwithoutceremony.com/monsterhearts/

Dream Askew http://buriedwithoutceremony.com/dream-askew/

Dungeon World http://www.dungeon-world.com/

Adventures on Dungeon Planet: http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/112308/Adventures-on-Dungeon-Planet

Grimm World http://www.boldlygames.com/grimworld/

Inverse World http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/128281/Inverse-World--A-Dungeon-World-Supplement

Monster of the Week http://genericgames.co.nz/motw/

Murderous Ghosts http://nightskygames.com/welcome/game/MurderousGhosts

The Sundered Land http://nightskygames.com/welcome/game/TheSunderedLand

Wolfspell https://dig1000holes.wordpress.com/2013/12/04/issue-2-of-worlds-without-master/

The Warren http://www.bullypulpitgames.com/store/

Night Witches http://www.bullypulpitgames.com/store/

Tremulous http://realityblurs.com/shop/product/tremulus-hardcover-print-pdf/

Sagas of the Icelanders http://redmoosegames.blogspot.com/2012/03/sagas-of-icelanders-playbooks-and-mc.html

World Wide Wrestling http://ndpdesign.com/wwwrpg/

Spirit of '77 http://spiritof77game.com/

Superhuman http://www.happionlabs.com/superhuman-rpg/

Epyllion http://www.magpiegames.com/epyllion/

Masks (upcoming) https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1277034820/masks-a-new-generation

Ghost Lines (downloadable) http://www.onesevendesign.com/ghostlines/


I probably missed a few; link them if you know them.

24 novembre 2015

Firefox trick: more speed and less tracking with Decentraleyes addon.

Firefox trick: more speed and less tracking with Decentraleyes addon. Many websites uses libraries and diverse ressources that are delivered to your browser trough centralized content delivery networks (CDN). This takes time and allows tracking (as you need files from the same CDN for many different websites and, yes, they can track you even if you don't allow cookies from them). Decentraleyes catch these request and replace them with a local request, bypassing CDN, download time and tracking.

Supported Networks: Google Hosted Libraries, Microsoft Ajax CDN, CDNJS (Cloudflare), jQuery CDN (MaxCDN), jsDelivr (MaxCDN), Yandex CDN, Baidu CDN, Sina Public Resources and UpYun Libraries.

Bundled Resources: AngularJS, Backbone.js, Dojo, Ember.js, Ext Core, jQuery, Modernizr, MooTools, Prototype, Scriptaculous, SWFObject, Underscore.js and Web Font Loader.

Note: Decentraleyes is no silver bullet, but it does prevent a lot of websites from making you send these kinds of requests. Ultimately, you can make Decentraleyes block requests for any missing CDN resources, too.
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/decentraleyes/

Events despite new G+ UI: https://plus.google.com/u/0/events

Events despite new G+ UI: https://plus.google.com/u/0/events
https://plus.google.com/u/0/events

Ca sortira quand ce sera tout à fait prêt, mais je réserve d'ores et déjà un emplacement dans ma bibliothèque !

Ca sortira quand ce sera tout à fait prêt, mais je réserve d'ores et déjà un emplacement dans ma bibliothèque !

Originally shared by Jerome Larre

Il est frais notre poisson, il est frais...
Les trois premiers recueils prévus de la collection "Sortir de l'auberge".
Merci à tous les auteurs d'avoir accepté de relever le gant :)
http://www.tartofrez.com/bientot-2/

23 novembre 2015

So do I.

So do I.

Originally shared by Rob Donoghue

This is one of those things that bubbles to the top of my mind every time I see a boring failure in an RPG.  It's tied back to that idea of the TV Game, because if you want to see how to really do respectful failure, look at almost any decently written Television show.  Things fail all the time, but never in ways that cause us to questions the core competency of the characters we love.  This is different from "Failing forward", which is important, but serves a different master.  This is about characters.

And it's something I want at the table.
http://walkingmind.evilhat.com/2015/11/23/respectful-failure/

19 novembre 2015

For everyone saying:

For everyone saying:

"But, so-and-so-complaining-about-the-new-interface, you can still go back to the old version!"

Or...

"But, so-and-so-complaining-about-the-new-hangouts, you can still follow this funky link to get to the old, full-featured hangouts!"

--

The new UI is in preview mode. That's why you can switch back and forth. Chances are, some of the things that are bugging us will be fixed while we're in this preview stage, but don't expect large changes. Certain tasks have been made more difficult for a reason.

It won't always be in preview mode. It'll eventually be rolled out, and you'll no longer have the ability to go back. See virtually everything Google has ever rolled out for an example as to that.

While full-featured hangouts are currently available 'as-is', Google hasn't indicated they'll be doing any maintenance or updating it at all. In Googlespeak, that tends to mean they won't. They'll just quietly let it die until one day the tech debt is so high it no longer works, and has to be gotten rid of. This isn't a pot shot at Google, this is a pot shot at the entire software industry that does the exact same thing.

What's most distressing to me is that no one's addressed how this will affect hangouts on air, which at the moment use the old full-featured hangouts... and no one's talking about that, either.

It might be months or it might be years before full-featured hangouts stop working entirely and are completely unusable... but unless something changes, and Google actually addresses the problem, it's a pretty safe bet to assume full-featured hangouts are becoming unsupported dinosaurs.

So, just remember that before you try to make someone feel better about the new interface basically destroying everything they've ever used Google+ for.

La vérité sur le jeu de rôle : de la différence intrinsèque d’attitude entre le meneur et les joueurs.

La vérité sur le jeu de rôle : de la différence intrinsèque d’attitude entre le meneur et les joueurs.

Le meneur, il fait rencontrer des PNJ super puissants et importants à ses joueurs. Il en fait des caisses : des descriptions de oufs, des illustrations de leur pouvoir (show, don’t tell, il a bien compris), des voix, des tractations alambiquées et tout et tout. Et, en face…les joeurs, ils font les clowns. Oui. Les clowns ! Normal, quoi, c’est comme ça le jdr, non ?

Après, le meneur tout de même un brin dépité va trainer et râler avec ses potes MJ. Puis il finit par se convaincre d'essayer d'être PJ à la table d'un de ses potes MJ qui a les mêmes problèmes que lui et là il fait exactement la même chose que ses propres joueurs, parce que c'est le seul potentiel ludique proposé.

(Avec l'aimable participation de Volsung J.O.)

Google+ Android app: autoupdate disabled.

Google+ Android app: autoupdate disabled. Seeing the fiasco the new "desktop" UI is and hearing equally bad echoes from the new iOS app.

New G+: no polls, no extended circles, no specific circle's stream shortcut, no text field to quickly specify who...

New G+: no polls, no extended circles, no specific circle's stream shortcut, no text field to quickly specify who you want to talk to, no text wrap I only see a preview of what you write, slow when it doesn't simply freezes, aggressive and tiring red-white appearance, ... I usually like changes, even for newness' sake, but this is more alpha version stuff than whole public launch maturity. Fail. And I am afraid for lost and unreplaced features. Quite frustrated in a few minutes trying to use it. Cm'on, so buggy it does not show the whole text of comments? that's the second or third most important feature, even before being able to post! So, see you later new G+.

17 novembre 2015

This old but ever present conundrum.

This old but ever present conundrum.

Originally shared by Rob Donoghue

I'm totally having an internet fight here. Raar.

Ok, innovation in RPG design. Yes, innovation is necessary for any big leaps forward in RPG design, so yay innovation. It is important to question and challenge assumptions. This is super true..

But there is no connection between "innovative" and "good". The problem is  we often use the word like there was.  A lot of TERRIBLE games have been innovative. Innovation is implicitly risky, and while I applaud the courage it takes, it offers no guarantees of quality. And if the default, standard, boring thing has a better than average success rate, then most innovations will probably be a step back.

It's a buzz word.   And that's fine.  People can be legitimately excited about buzz words.
  
The thing is, It should not be the goal, but too often it is, because it is easier to make something different than something good .  Even more, something different is more likely to get attention, and we all know that good offers no guarantee of recognition.    Which is not to say all innovation is about social currency, but it often is.  Innovation without context can be fun, and good can come of it, but it's just a sort of brainstorming.

This becomes especially true when innovation is used to defend ideas. It is super easy to dismiss criticism as people not "getting" an idea, simply because it's new.   It's a social defense and a power game and it does nto improve the discussion. 

It is great to see innovative designs. It genuinely is. But innovation follows quality, it does not presage it. And I know i sound harsh here, so let me acknowledge something very powerful here.  It is very hard to say a game, especially one you are working on, is good.   That sounds like bragging, and it's not really provable, so we're very uncomfortable speaking in those terms, despite the fact that it is our goal.  It is much easier to say something is innovative - that is more provable and sounds less arrogant.  And I totally get that instinct.  And it's a large part of why we use "Innovative" as a coded substitution for "good".  I know I have certainly done so.

But we've been using that code for 20+ years, and it's produced some screwed up results.  When you say "innovative' in lieu of "good" long enough, some will start genuinely equating the two (a fact made worse that we have a gearheaded subgroup in our hobby who genuinely wants innovation more than quality, because they intend to scavenge for parts.  In this, I ma part of the problem).

So, bottom line, I think it's a crap word when applied in anything but the most shallow of ways. Genuine innovation can survive my scorn.

-----------------

None of which speaks to the other issue surrounding game designs that depart from existing best practices ("Innovative" games).  This is a more interesting question because the balance of audience buy in vs creative freedom is a very rough and tumble space.  I don't think there's a right answer, but I do think that if you don't know why you shouldn't try wacky new things, then I'm very skeptical of why you think we should. 

Thankfully, this issue is not one that is unique to RPG design - technology has struggled with it for ages, and if you want a little context for why you might not want to shake things up (or at least be more selective in your disruptions), I point you to Dan McKinley's remarkably spot on essay on the topic - http://mcfunley.com/choose-boring-technology

--------------------

Those are two really different issues, and they don't even touch on other land mines like one person's innovation is another person's old hat, and the cyclical nature of ideas in our community.  Which is to say, OF COURSE it's a problem.  It is not a load bearing word, so avoid putting too much weight on it.


----------------------

Tellingly, the dude I'm having this internet fight with is someone I know will produce quality.  It might be innovative too, but it also might not.  That matters less to me. :)
http://mcfunley.com/choose-boring-technology

14 novembre 2015

The Real Reason

Originally shared by Jason Pitre

The Real Reason

I have been banging on the promotional drum for Headspace a lot over the past year. This is partially because of some clever game design work, careful playtesting, and an established friendship with the designer. All of those things only take it so far. 

Mark Richardson could have made a simple game about cyberpunk operatives kicking ass, solving every problem through violence. He could have made a white-washed game, where the grizzled male protagonists fight to serve the corporations for the next paycheck. He could have focused the game on Seattle, birthplace of so many cyberpunk games. He could have made technology and cybernetics dehumanizing forces. He could have made all of those easy decisions. 

Instead, Mark designed a game that assumes the competence of the operatives and focuses instead on the emotional consequences of their actions. His art direction explicitly embraces diversity in protagonists and an international focus of play. Technology is redefined as a tool of communication and interaction that enhances the humanity and emotional vulnerability of the characters. He made a game about real people who made terrible decisions and seek to make the world a brighter place.

I'm proud of Mark Richardson and so happy that his kickstarter campaign is going so well in the last 36 hours. I encourage you to take a look, if you can.  You won't regret it.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1991378332/headspace-rpg?utm_source=G%2B&utm_medium=G%2B&utm_campaign=Headspace%20Kickstarter

12 novembre 2015

Corrupted by the Apocalypse.

Corrupted by the Apocalypse. Today I was reminded that the "choose 2:" PPA syntax, as natural as it seems to me now, isn't appropriate for work documents. Why?

I am reading Masks: A New Generation beta/preview docs... This stuff is so good!

I am reading Masks: A New Generation beta/preview docs... This stuff is so good!

Projet H – Initiation au jeu de rôle – Premières explications

De passage sur Google Plus ou sur les Ateliers Imaginaires, vous avez peut-être déjà croisé mon avis sur les jeux d'initiation : c’est une appellation inutile et tout jeu est (ou pourrait être) un jeu d’initiation.

Inutile parce que jouer au jeu de rôle est facile. C’est, au sens propre, un jeu d’enfant. Les adultes l’oublient parfois, il nous faut oublier nos peurs. À part cela, c’est résolument abordable. En témoignent tous les enfants qui « jouent à... », en témoignent les milliers de fans d’œuvres littéraires ou cinématographiques qui sur leurs forums réinventent le jeu de rôle sans le savoir et souvent à l’insu des rôlistes. Dire à quelqu’un qui s’intéresse au jeu de rôle qu’il a besoin d’être initié, qu’il faut trouver le bon jeu d’initiation pour cela (ou, peut-être pire ? le bon Maitre) plutôt que simplement le jeu qui lui plairait est intimidant et trompeur.

Tout jeu est (ou pourrait être) un jeu d’initiation parce qu’il s’agit avant tout d’une question d’accessibilité. Qu’un jeu écrit clairement est accessible à tous, aux « rôlistes confirmés » comme aux débutants. Que vouloir s’appuyer sur les habitudes des rôlistes confirmés pour aller plus vite, c’est trop souvent s’illusionner sur la quantité de pratiques communes entre rôlistes et/ou entre jeux ; trop souvent (mais pas toujours) l’illustration d’un auteur qui ne remet pas en question ses propres habitudes de jeu par rapport à ses objectifs de conception ou qui néglige de les transmettre.

Pourtant, aujourd’hui, je suis convaincu de tenir un bon projet de jeu d’initiation au jdr. Sans pour autant avoir (encore) changé mes opinions.

Je vois deux défauts majeurs à la méthode classique d’initiation « viens faire une partie ». Pratique parfaitement fonctionnelle, je ne prétends certainement pas le contraire.

Le premier, c’est que cela demande souvent de s’investir en (ou d’ignorer) des éléments du jeu qui seront inutiles, voire parasites, pour une première expérience. Par exemple les règles de points d’expérience. Toutes les règles qui ne prennent leur sel que sur plusieurs séances. Une partie de ces règles sont des règles « avancées » qui demande un investissement important (long) du joueur pour en tirer plaisir, par exemple les décors et historiques compliqués comme ceux de Runequest ou Néphilim ; les règles complexes comme celles de combat à D&D3.x ou beaucoup de créations de personnage. Évidemment, un jeu épuré comme Lady Blackbird permet côté joueurs d’éviter ce problème.

Le second est que cette méthode classique est très réductrice. C’est comme faire gouter à un seul plat – que ce soit une choucroute, ou un canard au sang, ou un risotto Carmoli aux Marsala, ou des gnocchis au bœuf et à la vodka, ou une tempura de fleurs de courgettes, ou des magrets a la plancha, ou une venaison de sanglier en lardeaux, ou un cheeseburger, ou du sashimi, ou une côte de veau du Limousin parfumée herbes à curry et carvi rôtie à la casserole et déglacée au vieux rhum ambré – et dire « voilà, c’est ça la cuisine, c’est ça la gastronomie ». C’est réduire la diversité du jeu de rôle à une seule de ses expressions. C’est risquer de passer à côté de ce qui plaira à votre interlocuteur.

Je crois donc que si écrire un jeu d’initiation, vu de façon classique, revient à peu près à dire écrire un jeu clair avec une courbe d’apprentissage maitrisée, il est cependant possible et souhaitable de créer une expérience d’initiation qui réponde à ces deux points : une expérience réservée à l’initiation épurée d’éléments parasites et offrant un panorama de différents plaisirs et pratiques du jeu de rôle. Pour reprendre l’analogie culinaire, non pas un seul plat, mais une succession de mises en bouche, en une succession bien étudiée pour créer une progression de saveur intéressante.

Stratégiquement, je pense que suivre – avec un peu de recul – l’évolution historique des jeux de rôles, mettant à chaque fois le joueur devant une succession découvrir une règle / un élément – l’utiliser – en tirer du plaisir – rencontrer un obstacle qui appelle à une évolution du jeu permettrait de bien structurer cette expérience, de la rendre naturelle et instructive.

Concrètement, je pense commencer par un donjon en un jeu qui ressemblera à un jeu de plateau, avec des personnages-pions stéréotypés, un déroulement en tour-par-tour, des actions très réduites. Les obstacles-au-jeu vont se rencontrer progressivement : limitations du tour par tour qui mène au jeu fluide en conversation, qui pose (éventuellement) la question de l’initiative, rencontres donnant envie de faire des choses non prévues par les premières actions simples, qui mène progressivement à l’apparition des compétences… de la résolution de tâche à celle de conflit (et retour?)… des compétences aux traits… de l’amusement de l’exercice tactique à l’amusement des questions morales à l’amusement du respect et de l’évocation de ce qui a été posé… du sandbox-donjon au sandbox au scénario scripté à l’improvisation… du partage d’autorité serré au partage de responsabilité large… du jeu scripté conduit par l’animateur à l’envol conduit par les joueurs.

Je ne saurais évidemment pas tout intégrer. Il y aura des contraintes de temps de jeu et il faut avant tout que l’expérience soit séduisante, agréable et authentique. Et bien sûr, mes propres limitations. Mais je vais sincèrement essayer.

Mes prochaines étapes : un premier plan d’ensemble pour identifier les étapes par lesquelles passer et l’ordre adéquat pour le faire. Ensuite, un premier prototype pour valider au plus vite mes intuitions.




11 novembre 2015

Oooh, that.

Oooh, that.

Originally shared by Jesse Burneko

Another post on horror gaming.

Poking around at various corners of the internet, I'm really seeing this notion that "horror" kind of happens as transmission from GM to Player.  Ultimately, the characters don't really matter.  What matters is the GM has cooked up a bit of mind-fuckery targeted and the players experience horror by discovering it.  The characters are just the proxy by which the real players reveal this transmission.

This is why so many horror games are so mechanically boring.  The mechanics there are for... "whatever"... decide if you can jump over a pot hole, I guess.  And that makes total sense under this "transmission" assumption of horror.  What REALLY matters is content be that the GM's own content or the setting/line developers content.  It's all about dreaming up horrific stuff for the players to learn about.

It's a fundamentally consumer oriented approach.  The result is, just reading the setting/adventure material should have just as much impact as actually playing it.  (Yes, yes, that's a bit unfair).

Vincent Baker pointed out in a thread on Story Games that he designed Murderous Ghosts to work the other way around.  That the player tells the GM what scares them.  This is a really interesting approach but it doesn't quite go far enough.  Even in Murderous Ghosts were dealing largely with the PC as an uninvolved observer discovering a terrible situation.  Those of you who know my gaming preferences know this isn't nearly close and personal enough.

So, I've been thinking a lot about how to design a better horror game.  (I've been thinking about this for a LONG, LONG, LONG time but my clarity on it and my goals have gotten a lot clearer in just the last year or so).  There are quite a few pillars of thought that are sort of "triangulate" into the target zone.

I've noticed an odd trend among old guard Forge/Story Games members.  A lot of them have actually taken a step backward.  There's a resurgence of interest in the OSR, basic fantasy dungeoneerring in general, and core mechanics that focus on simply what the characters are doing moment to moment.

I believe this is a reaction to a design school that got increasingly constrained in an effort to create perfectly repeatable game experience around very specific narrative/genre patterns.  This designer really likes disaster flicks and so here's a game that will walk you through the exact beats of a disaster flick, so that everything happens in the order it's supposed to happen and everything turns out the way you expect it would given this is a disaster flick.

When thinking about my ideal horror game I don't want this.  I don't want this.  I don't want to make things so structured that it's just a machine that takes players in one side and churns out a beat-for-beat experience on the other.  Players, should be able to "just play their characters."

However, that doesn't mean that we throw up our arms and just go play Labyrinth Lord or Trail of Cthulhu because the game should "just get out of the way." and "system doesn't really matter."  My brain keeps going back to a very particular moment I had while playing a Burning Wheel game.

I had created a pretty evil sorcerer character who was on the verge of a crisis of faith.  He wanted to be better.  That's what his Beliefs were about.  So I chose life paths appropriate to that.  And there came this moment where I realized I was mechanically very good at bullying people and not very good at compassionate argument.  Burning Wheel also makes it clear just how hard it is to learn something new through its improvement mechanics.

So there I was looking right at the heart of my character's conflict on the character sheet and in the mechanics.  I could either get what I wanted by the old, familiar and comfortable methods of violence and terror OR I could really fight for that change I had written my Beliefs about and it was going to be a genuine struggle.  The game was not going to give it to me for free and no one at the table had the power to just "decide" that I had earned it.  The game itself laid down that gauntlet.

But what's important is that it had laid down that gauntlet in a very subtle way.  It was the result of several moving pieces: Beliefs, Lifepaths, Skill & Improvement.  Nothing the game's structure said, "Now is the time you confront this.",  "Now is the time we decide this.", "Now is the time we reflect on that.." and so on.

Burning Wheel let's me, "just play my character" and then lays the consequences of that before me.

And that's the experience I want in a horror game.  I want the players trapped in a pentagram of indirect moving pieces that lay bare the awfulness of their situation, a situation partially of their own making because the horror at hand is of personal relevance to their characters, not just an unexplored silo for them to crack open and see what's inside.

The Fall of Magic is near us :D

The Fall of Magic is near us :D

Originally shared by Ross Cowman

The English edition starts shipping tomorrow. The translations are next. I hope to have the screening and printing all in process by the end of next week.

Short and to the point.

Short and to the point. Too bad it is incomplete. One thing I never thought of is that very smart interpretation to be a fan of the players’ characters. One thing I like to underline: for Apocalypse World to work, you only have to do what the rules tell you to do. Nothing less, nothing more. Emphasis on nothing more, as doing other things either by habit or by wanting to fix flaws you perceived while reading/prepping is usually much more destructive to the game then missing things. 

Originally shared by Nathan Black

A chat with Ross Cowman about how Apocalypse World works and how you can play it better.

10 novembre 2015

Mes projets de jeux

  • Projet H (titre de travail), initiation au jeu de rôle. 
  • designare (titre provisoire), jeu de définition de termes et désignation des concepts, propulsé par l’apocalypse, destiné à la jeuderologie (mais nullement limité à).
  • Gesœlig (titre provisoire), « gros jeu » qui me travaille régulièrement depuis 2010 et dont la forme est fuyante et glissante en fonction de mes propres évolutions. Le pitch de base reste de jouer des elfes noirs au sein de leur société (le premier titre de travail du jeu a même été Menzoberranzan by Night, c’est dire…), plus ou moins les elfes noirs classiques de D&D, jeu d’intrigues et à révélations, de folie, de fêlures et de faiblesses ; à partage de responsabilité plutôt lâche mais sans obligations, équilibre entre défense du personnage et fonction de meneur, réflexions sur l’accessibilité et la préparation de parties.

This is fascinating.

This is fascinating.

Originally shared by George S Hammond

I posted this to a small community, but it is so neat, I want to share it generally

In the late 17th and early 18th century, postage was paid by the recipient of a letter, not the sender. If the local postmaster could not deliver a letter (because the recipient had moved, or died, or simply refused to accept the letter), the letter was usually destroyed. In 1679, a Frenchman,  Simon Veillaume, who called himself Simon de Brienne ("lord of Brienne") was appointed postmaster for the Hague. He had responsibility for delivering all letters to or from the southern Netherlands, France, and Spain. By 1686 Simon had also become chamberlain and confidant to the Stadholder, Willem von Nassau, Prince of Orange, and so Simon's wife, Maria Germain, became postmistress. In 1689, after the Glorious Revolution of the previous year, Prince Willem became William III, King of England, Scotland, and Ireland, and Simon and Maria joined his service in London, where Simon was appointed Keeper of the Wardrobe in Kensington Palace. Ten years later, Simon sold his appointment for £1550 and a cask of fine Burgundy wine, and returned to the Hague, and resumed his position as postmaster. Unlike his contemporaries, Simon and his wife kept the letters they could not deliver. Perhaps they hoped that they would be able to deliver them in the future, and thus get paid. One of their trunks, containing about 2600 undelivered letters sent between 1689 and 1707, has been preserved. The letters were sent from all over Europe, and are written in at least 5 different languages.  600 of them have never been opened. Translations are not yet available, but even just the photos are evocative:
http://brienne.org/
They are special in that many of them were sent by ordinary folks, merchants and musicians, Huguenot exiles, not elites whose letters might have otherwise been saved.
This article from YaleNews has more detail.
http://news.yale.edu/2015/11/05/postal-piggybank-17th-century-sheds-light-culture-time

Based on some Metatopia discussion, I need to move some of the stuff about Agile, Open Space and Occupy Wall street...

Originally shared by Rob Donoghue

Based on some Metatopia discussion, I need to move some of the stuff about Agile, Open Space and Occupy Wall street from my "Should read" to "will read" piles.  I think I have Gavin White to thank, but I was horrid about capturing names.

6 novembre 2015

J'ai bien l'impression que j'ai eu une vraie idée, là, un vrai projet de JdR.

J'ai bien l'impression que j'ai eu une vraie idée, là, un vrai projet de JdR. J'ai plein de petites bulles dans le cerveau. J'ai l'impression que je suis sur un truc important (enfin, important, on parle de jdr, hein, pas de médecine ou de politique) et j'ai plus qu'envie de réorganiser mon temps pour le mener vraiment à bien. Je vais même revenir sur certains trucs que j'ai dit à propos du jdr (en même temps mes avis évoluent souvent, alors...), mais d'abord je dois vérifier. J'ai pas encore de nom pour le truc (alors je vais l'appeler Projet H, parce que le X est trop couru), et je dois encore y réfléchir, mais si je ne reviens pas pour vous en parler bientôt - style dans les deux semaines -, n'hésitez pas à me botter le cul !

That memory.


That memory.

Originally shared by Cincinnati Adventurer's Guild

Tonight we're playing Munchkin.  Who needs a DM to backstab players?

Un truc que j'adore dans Headspace, c'est que certaines actions (pour simplifier) qu'ont ou peuvent avoir les...

Un truc que j'adore dans Headspace, c'est que certaines actions (pour simplifier) qu'ont ou peuvent avoir les personnages sont assorties d'une question, Hx-like. Par exemple : "Houdini : vous êtes un génie de l'évasion, capable d'échapper à volonté de n'importe quels liens ou contraintes. Qui vous pourchasse encore ?" (oui, ma traduction est pourrie, je sais, mais ce n'est pas le propos ici). Dans les actions/compétences de base du personnage, ces questions se réfèrent nécessairement à un autre PJ. Exemple : "Arts martiaux : quel est le seul qui pouvait vous tenir tête ?"
<3 <3 <3

Can any Frank Herbert’s Dune fan here help me find a quote?

Can any Frank Herbert’s Dune fan here help me find a quote? I do not have my books anymore. It’s a tense conversation, someone Is trying to get information by surprising his opposite in the conversation. There are some considerations on the conversation strategy - which are the quote I am seeking. Something like keeping to one conversation line to decrease suspicion then suddenly bring something from another line to catch once opposite off-balance. Anyone?

Playing Nature's Year, Meguey Baker's series of eight short games to celebrate the seasons and the connection...

Playing Nature's Year, Meguey Baker's series of eight short games to celebrate the seasons and the connection between the stories we tell and the world around us. Specifically designed to play with anybody, across generations and across the usual set of "people I play games with" that we all hold.
“let us build memories in ourselves and in each other,
 lest we drag out joyless lives, 
lest we allow treasures to be lost because
 we have not been given the keys.
 We live, not by things, but by the meanings 
of things. It is needful to transmit the passwords 
from generation to generation.”

Originally shared by Meguey Baker

New backer level!
Pledge $25 or more
Other Seasons in Other Lands
A perfect-bound copy of the book, and the pdf, shipped anywhere in the world. Your experience of the seasons may be different than the ones in the book, but wishes and stories are for everyone! I intend to have these to you by the end of December, but international shipping, especially at year's end, can take oddly unpredictable amounts of time.
Estimated delivery: Jan 2016
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1179631078/playing-natures-year

Kickstarting today : Playing Nature's Year, Meguey Baker's series of eight short games to celebrate the seasons and...

Kickstarting today : Playing Nature's Year, Meguey Baker's series of eight short games to celebrate the seasons and the connection between the stories we tell and the world around us. Specifically designed to play with anybody, across generations and across the usual set of "people I play games with" that we all hold.
“let us build memories in ourselves and in each other,
 lest we drag out joyless lives, 
lest we allow treasures to be lost because
 we have not been given the keys.
 We live, not by things, but by the meanings 
of things. It is needful to transmit the passwords 
from generation to generation.”

Originally shared by Meguey Baker

New backer level!
Pledge $25 or more
Other Seasons in Other Lands
A perfect-bound copy of the book, and the pdf, shipped anywhere in the world. Your experience of the seasons may be different than the ones in the book, but wishes and stories are for everyone! I intend to have these to you by the end of December, but international shipping, especially at year's end, can take oddly unpredictable amounts of time.
Estimated delivery: Jan 2016
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1179631078/playing-natures-year

5 novembre 2015

5e séance de jeu de notre mini-campagne d'Apocalypse World, avec Eric Nieudan (Jaxn la Taulière), Juce Ferrer (Azra,...

5e séance de jeu de notre mini-campagne d'Apocalypse World, avec Eric Nieudan (Jaxn la Taulière), Juce Ferrer (Azra, le Chien de guerre*), Peggy Chassenet (Mirjane, la Machiniste), Tom Z (Dolarhyde, l'Arrangeur.euse) et moi-même.

"Dungeons & Dragons, the turn-based roleplaying game, created by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson in 1974" Is this (the...

"Dungeons & Dragons, the turn-based roleplaying game, created by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson in 1974" Is this (the turn-based part) correct ?

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lexique_du_jeu_de_r%C3%B4le vs.

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lexique_du_jeu_de_r%C3%B4le  vs. http://lesateliersimaginaires.com/glossaire/start?DokuWiki=oqnblgltefa0vdca2qo6rds856
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lexique_du_jeu_de_r%C3%B4le

Talking about what you'd like to get from a game isn't dirty.

Talking about what you'd like to get from a game isn't dirty. Talking about what you'd like to get from a game during the game isn"t dirty either. Not at all.If you haven't already, I'd suggest you try it. Don't balk.

4 novembre 2015

OMFG!

OMFG! "It’s a game about sex and love and blind heroics. A game about seeing yourself in strange faces, a game about looking beyond the superficial to something deeper. And it’s a game about sex. A science fiction game that boldly predicts that we’re going to fix all these problems we have now and finally get along with each other. And, it’s a game about sex.
Did we mention the sex?
Violence is incidental. It’s the sex that matters."

Jessica Kauspedas and John Wick

69 (of course) pages preview avalaible on John's site.
Kickstarter soon?
http://johnwickpresents.com/games/galaxy-xxx-three-questions/

Not AGAIN ?!

Not AGAIN ?!
(me, today)
https://xkcd.com/386/

How to find a post you made or participated in in G+ Sorry Google, maybe searching is one of your businesses, but...

How to find a post you made or participated in in G+ Sorry Google, maybe searching is one of your businesses, but G+'s search simply does not work. Finding that one post you made or thread you commented is insanely hard and time consuming. But I found a shortcut.
🐺 Create and download an archive of your G+ data in html format.
   -Go to Google Takeout https://www.google.com/settings/takeout?utm_source=OGB&pli=1,
   -unselect everything and select only Google+ Stream.
   -Click [Next] ; then [Create Archive].
   - You can close the Takeout site
   - Wait a bit to receive the “Your Google data archive is ready” mail
   - In the mail click the [download] button, enter your password and download.
🐺 Unzip that takeout zip file somewhere convenient on your computer.
🐺 You’ll find there one html file for each thread you participated in.
🐺 Use your computer’s search tools to find what you need in the decompressed directory.
🐺 Often, just looking at date and filename is more efficient than trying to use G+’s search (´_`)
🐺 Once you have the exact text of the post, copy some of it in the G+ search, you’ll find your post.

Mon prochain projet de trad : la x-card de John Stavropoulos.

Mon prochain projet de trad : la x-card de John Stavropoulos. Je suis toujours occupé à traduire Play With Intent, ça avance très lentement. Notamment parce qu'interrompu par la relecture de Fall of Magic (L'automne de la magie ), dont la VF se précise de plus en plus.

Foundation is to the Mule as Star Wars is to WHO?!?

Foundation is to the Mule as Star Wars is to WHO?!?
https://www.reddit.com/r/StarWars/comments/3qvj6w/theory_jar_jar_binks_was_a_trained_force_user

3 novembre 2015

Maitre Sinh j'ai eu un avis de remboursement du Patreon pour la caravelle.

Maitre Sinh j'ai eu un avis de remboursement du Patreon pour la caravelle. Je viens de passer quelques minutes à essayer de comprendre, et je crois voir que c'est parce que "Un stretch goal pour Noël" était considéré comme une livraison ? Correct ?