The Space Between Stories: A Blog About Stories, How We Tell Them, and Designing for the Best Narrative Possible
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A Dark Fairytale: Real Royalty Review
In early April 2019, I had the pleasure of being invited to cover Hanging Lantern’s event “Real Royalty” written and designed by Natasha Borders, Jeffrey Steele, and Benji Michalek. The game was a dark fairytale incorporating stories and inspiration from the world’s most famous, classic stories. From a designer’s standpoint, Real Royalty was an amazing…
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Processing Feedback: We Can Lift Without Putting Others Down
Processing negative feedback can always be challenging for players or organizers, but we can take feedback in and defend our games without putting other games actively down.
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Eskhaton: Reviewing the End of the World
I recently attended Eskhaton by Reverie Studios. It was talked about as a horror game, but in truth, it was a game of modern day cults and the end of the world. The characters and cults were the horrors, not the things being horrified. It was interesting to walk on the other side of that…
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A Thematically Driven Character
A basic part of any literary analysis is identifying themes of characters and story. Learning your characters own themes is a great way to help highlight a narrative story and steer your character into deeper tales even in non-narrative gaming.
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Design Document Essentials
As much larping goes in the direction of freeforms and one-shots, design documents have become an essential part of larp design, but still aren’t things discussed much in the greater North American community. I’d argue that EVERY larp could use a well written, ten page design document which sets up the basic play style, themes,…
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A Good Death Part 2: Campaign Larp
Not many people are ready to deal with death in their real lives. It takes an incredibly strong, self-aware, and reflective individual to have prepared themselves for what we all inevitably face. Therefore, facing it in your hobby rarely creates a safe and enjoyable space for the person who has lost a long-term part of…
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