Dave does RPG Stuff, sometimes

It's a Norwegian anime convention that I've been running RPG events at for a number of years now.
This was the sixth campaign I've run for them, and the third in this continuity/setting.

The leads were not written with a particular project in mind, which led to some really surprising connections. I was very nervous about this going in, but an initial in-character discussion usually yielded enough alignment that the adventure ran smoothly.

Level 3.

3/3, feel free to ask questions.

Each session the players chose a primary Project that they hoped to advance, and a Lead to pursue in order to achieve that goal.
Each project had a scope, 3-8, and each session could fill out a max of three points of scope, possibly spread across multiple projects, following the fiction.
2/3?

A notice board with a large map in the centre and pieces of paper surrounding it. Some of the larger pieces of paper have titles and circles drawn on them.

A notice board with a large map in the centre and pieces of paper surrounding it. Some of the larger pieces of paper have titles and circles drawn on them. Since the last image some circle segments have been coloured in green, three drawings of theme park attractions have been cut out and glued onto the central map. Some of the smaller papers have been removed and replaced with new ones.

A notice board with a large map in the centre and pieces of paper surrounding it. Some of the larger pieces of paper have titles and circles drawn on them. Since the last image more attractions have been glued onto the map, most of the larger sheets have been removed. More of the smaller pieces have been removed and replaced with others.

This weekend I organised a D&D campaign as part of Banzaicon (which is a lovely event).
Nine games in eight time slots, ~3 hours per game.
The players built attractions for an "Adventuring Theme Park" named Dungeonfryd, the events of the game sessions filling out the various project clocks.
1/2?

Heading up to Edinburgh Festival Fringe this weekend.
If you are a Fringe friend, I'd love to see you there!
I don't plan on performing, but I'll bring the comedy notebook just in case.

I'd like to hear your thoughts on the tension between playing a character as an archetype, and playing them as a "realistic" person.

Obviously, this is tailored to the game style, group, and environment, but I find it a good starting point.

I tend to frame it quite collaboratively, quite conversationally - "what're we thinking?" or similar.
This sets me up to ask potentially-leading questions, takes a little bit of pressure off the player, and I think subtly reminds them of the importance of keeping the shared story-world coherent.

My thing with ed tech is looking at whether the very expensive private schools have it in their classrooms. The answer is nearly always “nah they just have smaller class sizes and more teachers”

It's been a while. Apologies.
Not a lot of RPG stuff going on for me since expo, mostly focusing on getting PhD thoughts into writing.
Working on a code talk for next year, about cognitive science, code, and communication - found out @kevlin.bsky.social already covered a chunk of it.
Lots of ideas.

The format of the AI adverts i'm seeing:
1) Here is a thing you should be able to do but the deadline is ridiculous.
2) Good job AI did your job for you because you sent them a presentation you'd already written.

UKGE Friends, if you're around tonight I'm in the vicinity of the Ibis Styles if you want to meet up.

I'm curious.
What would you like to see me attempt to adapt? Either using the approaches I'm developing for my research, or in general.

Introductions are always awkward IME

Unfortunately not, I am very bad at writing things up so all the facilitator-facing stuff is just scattered physical notes.

It turned out less a TTRPG than a LARP played at a table!

The idea is that group are scholars in the far future attempting to rediscover the Lost Art of Roleplaying Games. The problem is the sourcebook being used is in a language they don't need!

It was high-energy, eclectic, and chaotic!

I do a very playful show where I design a game with the audience, and the Exegesis game I playtested the other year also blurred the line between design and play. I find it delightful to share the joy I get from game design.

I don't think I'll be running either of those this year, sadly.

Attending day three of #MythGames2025, and getting a few bits printed out to show designer friends at UKGE.

The second day of #MythGames2025 had more intriguing papers.
Not gonna lie there were some bits where I didn't understand the terminology and theoretical concepts used, but I still came out of it with a lot to think about.
The developer Q&A at the end was a great end to the day.

I find this question inspiring, personally.

Given that nobody ever has to use a single rule that I write, can I write rules that sometimes someone will choose?

A great morning session of #MythGames2025, really looking forward to the next one.

With guests and dealers it might have more of an impact.

That's a great way of looking at it.
And I think it might be a useful way of thinking about some TTRPG scenes too.

Putting together my playtest data summaries has led to a 510 line python script and a 230 line LaTeX class file.

The division of responsibility between the two could be better, but it's not that awful.

Considering throwing it up on GitHub in case others need to generate/summarise questionnaires.

I was just wondering how to fill my days up...

Haven't been posting much, I know, but I haven't really been doing a lot outside of playing video games!

Will be at UKGE, but sadly aren't performing this year.
If you see me there feel free to ask me about my first round of PhD playtesting. I may have charts!

This quote from Defunctland lives in my head rent free. Literally how I feel about making art.

Shadows with Elin Dalstål — Dice Exploder Shadows are a metatechnique in larp where you have players in the role of something other than a traditional larp or rpg player character. Maybe they’re stagehands turning out the lights because there...

This week on Dice Exploder I’m talking Shadows in larps with @elindalstal.bsky.social - what if you’re not playing a character in a larp, you’re playing as some other entity, concept, or piece of the setting? Sounds a little like GMing even…

The Copyright and AI consultation - how to respond as an illustrator – The AOI The Copyright and Artificial Intelligence consultation was published by in December 2024, and we are encouraging illustrators to submit a response to the consultation to demonstrate the negative affec...

Who’s been putting off filling in that government consultation on AI then? Because you took one look and realised that fucking thing was designed SPECIFICALLY to put you off?

Don’t worry, there are three online guides to help you:

The Association of Illustrators
theaoi.com/news/the-cop...

If you're a UK-based creative you may want to fill out the consultation, if you haven't already.