Geoff Bottone's Blog, page 22
March 12, 2017
Boldly Go Character Art
Dave Woodward from Badgerlord Studios is a wonderful, talented artist who is quick, takes direction, and has reasonable rates! He is also a super-cool guy to LARP with!
Dave was kind enough to help me with my art needs for Boldly Go, that game that I talk about almost constantly, but which hasn't yet been released. However, with the way Dave produces art, the theoretical release date for the game
Dave was kind enough to help me with my art needs for Boldly Go, that game that I talk about almost constantly, but which hasn't yet been released. However, with the way Dave produces art, the theoretical release date for the game
March 10, 2017
The RPG Character Library: Mercenaries, Spies, and Private Eyes
Mercenaries, Spies, and Private Eyes is a game that bills itself on being an adventure game in which you can play the three eponymous things from the title, as well as pretty much any other "modern day" type of character. Happily, it also dips its toes into the pulp pool, giving rules on making characters with psychic powers and providing a whole section on running a Lost World campaign.
March 6, 2017
The RPG Character Library: Lords of Creation
Lords of Creation is a role-playing game that I purchased thanks to something that combined an idle whim and bit of the butterfly effect. To wit: I was looking up funny gaming stories on the internet and found a whole bunch written by a gentleman, whose name escapes me, but who is quite an excellent writer. The games he described were singularly awful occurrences--involving an adventure in which
March 2, 2017
The Misadventures of Mr. Foppish, Rabbit Extraordinaire
I've written a lot of LARP lore and in-game documentation in my time. I'd like to think that they're all reasonably good and interesting, but some of them are definitely better than others. Only a handful have made it into my favorites pile, however.
This is one such piece of lore. It's a series of several BGAs (between game actions), in which a player read several different chapters of The
This is one such piece of lore. It's a series of several BGAs (between game actions), in which a player read several different chapters of The
February 27, 2017
The RPG Character Library: Star Frontiers
Star Frontiers! A game that I almost played once.
Way, way back in 6th grade, my friend Damian decided that he wanted to run Star Frontiers. We spent a whole afternoon making characters and then...never played, because kids are like that. One thing I remember from this time is that we were famously bad at the rules for all RPGs (well, okay, D&D), and no firmer example of this was the character
Way, way back in 6th grade, my friend Damian decided that he wanted to run Star Frontiers. We spent a whole afternoon making characters and then...never played, because kids are like that. One thing I remember from this time is that we were famously bad at the rules for all RPGs (well, okay, D&D), and no firmer example of this was the character
February 22, 2017
The RPG Character Library: Mystwood LARP
It's been a while since I've made up a LARP character...so here's a LARP character.
Mystwood is a game that I occasionally play up in Maine. It currently has two chapters, Mystwood: The Keep, which runs in Jefferson, ME, and Mystwood: Burgundar, which runs in Harrison, ME. The two games are interlinked and share continuity, which means that you can take a break from the Keep and hang out with
Mystwood is a game that I occasionally play up in Maine. It currently has two chapters, Mystwood: The Keep, which runs in Jefferson, ME, and Mystwood: Burgundar, which runs in Harrison, ME. The two games are interlinked and share continuity, which means that you can take a break from the Keep and hang out with
February 16, 2017
Introducing Grey the Mercenary!
I've said this just about everywhere else, so I might as well say it here: I published a novella on Amazon.
It's called A Street Rat of Salagena: A Grey the Mercenary Tale. It's the first in what, I hope, will be a series of novellas featuring the interlinked adventures of a mysterious, bad-ass swordsman who goes by the name of Grey.
In this, the first installment, Grey crosses paths with and
It's called A Street Rat of Salagena: A Grey the Mercenary Tale. It's the first in what, I hope, will be a series of novellas featuring the interlinked adventures of a mysterious, bad-ass swordsman who goes by the name of Grey.
In this, the first installment, Grey crosses paths with and
The RPG Character Library: Tunnels & Trolls Power Trip
This is a game I bought on a whim back in 2009 or so. It was an eye-catching little hardcover book and it featured a rules-set copied from Tunnels & Trolls, a game I really enjoy. I never played it, of course, but if I played every game I've ever bought, I'd still be going through them.
I was tired last night, but also wanted to get back on the character library train. I picked this book as a
I was tired last night, but also wanted to get back on the character library train. I picked this book as a
February 12, 2017
The RPG Character Library: Uberbeans!
Uberbeans is a rules-light, funny, superhero game made by my friend Josh McGaw. I had a hand it it as well for, as Josh once said, "Geoff took all of the papers and cocktail napkins I had written on, turned the Joshinese into English, and put it in rulebook format."
I even get name dropped in the FAQ at the front of the book. Like so:
So, where did the name Uberbeans come from? The name came
I even get name dropped in the FAQ at the front of the book. Like so:
So, where did the name Uberbeans come from? The name came
February 11, 2017
Exciting Crossover Event: Part II
With all of these related posts, it's starting to feel a bit like Marvel up in here!
Ahem.
Anyway.
In my previous post, I talked about my design philosophy for Boldly Go, (though, at the time, it was called Velour and Go-Go Boots), and the simple and straightforward stat/skill system I created for the alpha version of the game.
As is often the case with game design, the system described in
Ahem.
Anyway.
In my previous post, I talked about my design philosophy for Boldly Go, (though, at the time, it was called Velour and Go-Go Boots), and the simple and straightforward stat/skill system I created for the alpha version of the game.
As is often the case with game design, the system described in
