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I will be going to Gamehole Con in Madison, accompanied by Irene, this weekend. This is one of my favorite shows! Many games, many many many games. And people to play with. We would have liked to take a bigger crew, but events eventuated. We will hang out with John...

As readers of my daily movie-essay Patreon may have seen recently, I'm part of another book of movie analysis currently in the midst of a Kickstarter campaign: Subversive Sci-Fi Evolution. More importantly, I'll be alongside a bunch of other cool folks, who are offering their own reflections on films they...

I notice sometimes game designers define a mechanic as "fragile" – and I often catch myself doing this as well. I sat down for a little bit today and thought through what exactly that means. The definition I'm thinking about (and I would be happy for people to poke holes...

Remember in happier times last year when the sun disappeared in defiance of all primal reason? Our household had snacks. Well, it turns out that was quite the event for the birds as well. Since most of them didn't have tiny little solar-eclipse glasses to enjoy the festivities (probably because...

Here's a broad idea for a cinematic "impossible stuff happens"-type roleplaying campaign, based on a balancing trick some GMs use: When devising threats and adversaries (especially for a game with lots of options and power variability such as GURPS), a GM might run those threats in a quick mock-combat with...

I've been a gamer for a long time. When I was growing up, the beverage of choice to indicate a hyperkinetic over-caffeinated state of being was any variety of mountainous sodas. (I generally got the "generic" stuff from the grocery store, with names like "Mojave Mist," "Sierra Rain," or "Bornhardt...

I can't do better than the headline from Dexterto: "Florida woman wins Mortal Kombat tournament playing with newborn baby in arms." But the article is worth a read, especially for the adorable picture. Our household doesn't have quite the same story; we were eight months' pregnant when our kiddo attended...

Thought experiment, and possibly a hook for folks playing a super-heroic game: A supervillain has gained the ability to immediately access all information said directly to pets. Not near them . . . to them: "Don't let me forget that the money's hidden in the coffee can in the cupboard,...