Archive • Thinking about Games by J.A. Dettman • Buttondown

In the beginning: Chaos

December 9, 2024

Before the Courts of Chaos, before Amber, before Shadows, there was Chaos. I’ve been thinking a lot about what Chaos was like before the Pattern sparked...

Season of the Witches

October 24, 2024

Lately, I've been thinking about this game about witches. It doesn't have a name yet because I've been noodling around with it in my head. The concept is...

04/19/24: Hack Hack Hack

My friend David and I went to ForgeMidwest a couple weekends ago and had a good time, though it was cut short a day for Nox related reasons. IYNYN That isn’t...

12/29/22: Time-travel Shennanigans

December 29, 2022

I’ve been listening to a new podcast lately: Ludonarrative Dissidents. It’s three guys around my age talking about a different game each episode. I enjoy...

12/24/22: Two Hands

December 24, 2022

I have two competing instincts when it comes to roleplaying games: On one hand, I love systems and mechanics. I like seeing how different games use, or don’t...

Making the world larger without doing too much Prep

September 17, 2022

Focusing on one thing is hard for me, even when I really want to work on something. A writer whose blog I used to read (I would link but I don’t remember...

03/27/22: Staging the World

I’ve had this idea for an ensemble (roleplaying) game for a while now. Haven’t put a ton of thought into it but this weekend I’ve been sick (test says not...

03/14/22: Hacking d20 Fantasy Combat

13th Age has been going well, I think. This week, the players leveled up to 2nd and one of them gained their first magic item. (Hi, Kevin!) Jade Avalanche is...

02/03/22: Out of the Darkness

February 3, 2022

I recently started a 13th Age game on Sundays with some vaccinated folks. For those unfamiliar, 13th Age is off-brand D&D. There are a lot of off-brand Ds&Ds...

01/01/22 Dramasystem Procedural Scene Resolution

January 1, 2022

Recently, I was asked by my friend David for my thoughts on an alternative procedural resolution system for Hillfolk (a game also often referred to as...

09/10/21: More Murder in Winterhaven

September 10, 2021

I’ve been all over the place the last couple weeks. I’m trying to get into a habit of writing first thing in the morning before breakfast because, when I do,...

08/29/21: Library Cards are Cool

August 30, 2021

TLDR Update: New semester, job interview, back to virtual gaming E/C/B: Looking for new menu items Listening: Throughline about Octavia Butler End Notes: You...

08/20/21: Murder in Winterhaven

August 20, 2021

A while back I promised my Brindlewood Bay players that I would write a different game that was also a cozy murder mystery game but didn't make the mystery a...

08/13/21: Immersion vs mechanics

August 13, 2021

I’ve been struggling with Blood of Meridian lately, I may have mentioned. When I set out to work on it, my goal was to create a game that let me play...

07/30/21: Product are our dreams realized (and monetized)

Everything is discombobulated. I realized around bedtime last night that I had not written a newsletter update, nor had I done one last week. Realizing that...

07/09/21: Making progress on a Blood of Meridian ashcan

This week I’ve been pretty heads down working on an ashcan for Blood of Meridian. My friend David has challenged me to get the ashcan and play materials up...

06/25/21: Where do I go from here?

I’m feeling two things, this week: first, working on Blood of Meridian feels like a constant tempo of two steps forward and one step back and, second, I’m...

06/18/21: Festival Wrap-up

This week I’ve been sitting with the feedback I received from the Magpie Game Design Festival and figuring out my path forward on the game I designing, Blood...

06/10/21: Playtesting with the MGDF

This week I got my feedback on Blood of Meridian from the Magpie Game Design Festival. The good news: I was accepted for play-testing! I hope that means that...

05/28/21: Design Festival Submission

I spent most of this week working on my Amber-inspired Powered by the Apocalypse game, Blood of Meridian. The folks over at Magpie games are having a Design...

I wrote, a few weeks back, about Brindlewood Bay and how the game didn’t work for my group. Lately, I’ve been noodling with ways to fix the game or, more...

Short games, long games, and Amber Diceless

I’m having a lot of competing feelings this week. First, I’m pretty sure that I pushed my setting thinking last week too far into “bleak and unfun”...

More Street Wise

I fell down a rabbit hole thinking about system for Street Wise this week and ended up all over the place, so this week will (probably) be brief as I stream-...

This one is a daydream that is edging into a design. I mean, every daydream is, really, because I can’t usually separate thinking about a game setting or...

The Dreams of Nighttime Animals

This is a daydream. It is a completely untested roleplaying game idea. You and your friends are a human beings. When you fall asleep, you dream of being...

Thoughts on Brindlewood Bay

We played our second and final session of Brindlewood Bay on Saturday. It didn't really work for us mechanically. Brindlewood Bay is a "cozy" murder solving...

Expectations and Motivations

This is not going to be a typical entry. This is about what a typical entry will probably look like and my motivations for writing this newsletter....