Art & Life Advice

OK, Nuna text is finished. Just need to add a half dozen sketches at important points, redesign the covers, and it is off to the printer. I'll also have to get the gameshop launch party planned, as well as online sales set up.

But feels great to have come this far.

My whole life I have been called a Dreamer, but that is how I have made so many of my dreams come true.

I wanted to live in Japan. Spent 22 years there.

I wanted to be a professor. I got tenure in Japan, but quit to care for sonny.

I wanted to be a martial artist. I got blackbelt in karate, then won 2nd place in my city in Japan.

I wanted to learn Japanese. I taught myself to the JLPT level 1, the highest you can get.

I wanted to get my son out of Japan. Now we enjoy life in Vancouver.

I wanted to be a game designer. Now here I am.

In my life, people have mostly been supportive of my dreams. But there are always negative voices, and our inner voice often sides with them against our own dreams.

So I say to you, Dream big!

Don't listen to the naysayers.

Keep at it with incremental action.

And whatever dream you have, you can make it reality.

Nekmek!

First Character Complete

 

This was a detailed process of addition and modification. But I like how it turned out.

Time for a walk and a snack.

Skills might seem meager to modern players, but are made up for by Cultural abilities and impresses the need for cooperation and community instead of maxed out individuals.

NUNA Character sheet Sneak Peek

BRP character sheets have always staggered under the burden of all the information they have to hold. So with NUNA, I tried to simplify in three ways.

First, a sheet that helps with character generation so you don't have to look through the rulebook so much.

Next, a sheet that just asks you for the essentials.

Last, a sheet that is function over form. I would like to produce a creative or artistic sheet at some point, but bigger fish to fry at the moment.

ENJOY!

NUNA Update, Game Designer ADD, and Elric's Secret Part Three

 Greetings!

I've gone silent running mode the past few days as I have been editing and rewriting NUNA Quickstart.

It is 99.99% done.

WHEW!

I still have to rejigger the PC stats (they were a bit underpowered) and add art. Then it is off to the printers! Then the social media blitz and networking begins.

Exciting. There are so many facets to making an RPG. The making is just the start of it. The connecting to community and getting your name out there is a much bigger part of the process, I have learned.

Wish me all the luck I wish you.

One thing I have noticed, is that Gamer ADD, ie having so many games you don't know which to play, extends to designing games as well. My game of Japan, Giri-Ninjo, is next in my sights. But I have plans for a Call of Cthulhu series of adventures with recurring characters, as well as a Coyote & Crow adventure I ran here in Vancouver.

But as a designer you will NEVER get anything done if you don't commit to finish one game before you work on the next.

In preparation for the final artwork of NUNA, here is the next chapter in Elric's Secret, my satirical mashup of Elric and old time bodybuilding ads.

(NB Had to re-upload the pic as the mesh shirt didn't show)

Are role-playing games art?

I’m pretty much entirely centred on finishing off the NUNA Quickstart right now, so time for a mental (procrastination) break to think of something larger.

New NUNA art!

So the titular question, are role-playing games art? Here are my thoughts.

They are definitely spaces for art. From their inception, they supported writers and world builders, and gave a discernible boost to fantasy fiction. I won’t get into the downside, which is the D&Difucation of the fantasy genre, and how fantasy without any dungeon exploring tropes is now hard to come by. Just look at the history of D&D novels and current domination of works like Dungeon Crawler Carl and Frieren. Role-playing games have definitely contributed much to the continuance of the publishing industry during the digital age, both in the form of novels and gamebooks. And there are many role-playing games that are equally important as pieces of art than as playable games, from Stormbringer to the art books of Tales From the Loop and Alien.

In return, role-playing games have also given a huge boost to visual artists. In Japan especially, the master of fantasy art, Yoshitaka Amano, cut his teeth on art he did for the Japanese edition of Stormbringer, as well as the original Sword World RPG and the CRPG Final Fantasy. Frank Brunner's Stormbringer cover is equally iconic, and I will fight anyone who says its deeply atmospheric depiction of Elric isn't art.

Russel's shadowing and mastery of form here is breathtaking

Amano did both the game and novel translations, and adds a dreamlike quality

If you are a gamesmaster, then you’ve served as both script, writer and director for your own narratives. Josh Whedon reportedly based Firefly on a college Traveller campaign, which could explain his career success in those roles.

Similarly, players are also actors, and the role-playing table is a space that allows people to polish their acting chops without fear of sanction. The professional actors I know have all had to deal with a high level of criticism for pursuing their art, whereas playing in an RPG is decidedly nonjudgmental. Go look at Audrey Plaza's performance in the Harmonquest series, and you can see what heights an unfettered actor at a gaming table can aspire to.

With all these examples, it is pretty clear that rpgs are an integral and modern inspiration for many artists, from a variety of art forms. They may not have the cachet of exclusive high art, but that is an elitist domain and thus not a great loss.

But I think asking the question Are role-playing games art is actually an example of looking in the wrong direction, barking up the wrong tree.

Instead, if we see role-play games as essential incubation spaces for various genres of art, then we can see both their social and artistic relevance. And at this moment of history, rpgs are also an important canary in the coal mine in the conflict between AI and human art. The debate over AI art in games, the rise of AI GMs who will run your game for you, both point out the danger of not defending art - that we will be cut off from others and turned into captive individual audiences for corporate AI products.

And that would be the end of art, of games, and of our humanity, which is rooted in interaction with others.

NUNA Summer Schedule Update

I have killed off the day job and my exhaustion from the day job and ready to roll up my sleeves.

The plan.

Finish all mechanics and story this week.

Do art all next week

Launch this baby into the world

Exciting.

Now reading David Suzuki for inspiration. NUNA is a decolonial game, but doesn’t try to preach or hit you over the head with things. After the fall, the land regrows and regenerates and people recalibrate to it. It’s the opposite of Mad Max, where people mourn for capitalism and the exploitive system that drove them to the end of the world.

Instead of warring peoples there are communities knitting together. Instead of gritty realism, magic seeps back into the world. Suzuki notes that if we disappeared, the world would heal at an amazing pace. I agree, but we were originally in harmony with that world, and so what if we just shifted our alignment back towards it?

Elric's Secret Part Deux

 Work is ended, time for ART ATTACK!

Anyone know what this is based on?

FREE LEAGUE and/or GOODMAN, I am open for commissions!

Stormbringer Redux Updated (30 posts!)

 Hi all,

I am sick as a dog when I should be working and prepping NUNA.

I decided to go back and reorganize Stormbringer Redux. Added all posts to #30.

Enjoy.

Stormbringer Redux # 30 Ever Wonder Why Your Runesword is Trying to Kill You?

In my experience, runeweapons are too often poorly run by the DM, and give an unfair power boost to one character without any drawbacks. As I said in an earlier post, “Basically, if a player is happy to get a rune weapon, you’re running it wrong.” Since Elric’s Stormbringer is the model for rune weapons, they should be equally treacherous and perilous to the wielder. What follows is some tables to determine your runeweapon’s secret agenda, the overt power it can use on behalf of its wielder, and the covert power it holds in reserve to advance its own schemes.

The tables are descriptive and system-free so as to allow easy use in any system.

RUNEWEAPON SECRET AGENDA. Roll 1d12. (For GMs only)

1) Revenge! The weapon seeks to destroy the foe of its last wielder. This foe is at least twice as powerful as the current wielder and has minions or allies equal in strength to the player characters. It cares not whether its wielder wins or loses, just that the battle continue.

2) Return! The weapon seeks to return to its last wielder. To determine former wielder’s location, roll 1d6 = 1 Wandering amnesiac somewhere in the world 2 Trapped in hell 3 Lost on another plane 4 At the deepest level of a dungeon 5 Imprisoned by the ruler of the land 6 In plague-infested City of Beggars.

3) Immolation! The weapon seeks its own destruction, and doesn’t really care if the wielder is taken along for the ride. Roll 1d6 to see the only way it can be destroyed = 1 Thrown into the lava of Mount Badoom 2 Frozen and cracked by the Witch of the Wastes 3 Reforged by the King of the Deep Dwarves 4 Sucked dry of dweomer by an Enchanter 5 Thrust into a Nullstone in the Faerie Realm 6 Skewering the Lord of the Undead.

4) Armageddon! The weapon seeks to bring about the End of the World! If the PCs are trying to stop this, the weapon will thwart them and aid their foes, or else set the chain of actions for Ragnarok in motion.

5) War! The weapon thrills at battle and will always seek to drag its wielder into any altercation it can, the larger the better. It will seek to persuade or kill a cowardly wielder.

6) Deicide! The weapon seeks to kill all gods and demigods. It will actively seek out the nearest target and commence hostilities regardless of the wielder’s intent or abilities.

7) Freedom! The weapon is a bound demon, and seeks escape from its current shape. Roll 1d6 to see how it can escape = 1 Exorcism by Great Leader of the largest Church in the land 2 Trading places with another soul using a Spirit Gem obtained from the Lichking Lair 3 Being destroyed (see Immolation above) 4 Undergoing purification in the hidden shrine of the Scarlett Swordmaidens who slay all men and enslave all women on sight 5 Striking the Great Golden Gong jealously guarded by the Fighting Tiger Monks of the Hidden Temple of Song Ho 6 Bathed in the acid blood of a freshly slain 7-headed Hydragon.

8) Allegiance! Will try to bind the wielder to the same force it serves. Roll 1d6 – 1 Law 2 Chaos 3 The Balance 4 Hell 5 Heaven 6 Itself!

9) Home! The weapon seeks to return to its home, and will desert the wielder should it get there. Roll 1d6 = 1 Armory of The Entropy Lords at the End of Time 2 In the hand of the Eight Armed Death Goddess Khali 3 With the Deep Dwarves who dwell below Mount Badoom 4 In the Tomb of the Hero Beneath the Hill from whence it was stolen 5 In the hidden shrine of the Scarlett Swordmaidens who slay all men and enslave all women on sight 6 In the Plane of Things were people don’t exist and all objects are sentient.

10) Nemesis! The weapon has an identical opposite wielded by another hero somewhere. The weapon can feel where its nemesis is and nudges its wielder towards a confrontation with it. It cares not whether its wielder wins or loses, just that the battle continue.

11) Blood & Souls! The weapon feeds on the flesh and spirit of those slain with it, and must feed upon a dozen souls every fortnight or turn on its wielder.

12) Roll twice and apply both. If the same agenda is rolled again, substitute with the next down the list.

RUNEWEAPON BASE ABILITIES & RESTRICTIONS (Unknown at start, come out via play or a Lore dump)

All runic weapons share certain basic abilities.

1.        They can either do maximum damage or roll double the amount of dice for damage.

2.        They cannot be thrown away or destroyed, and will magically appear back in the wielder’s sheath.

3.        They cannot be surprised, and will automatically attack first against surprise attackers.

4.        They will kill all opponents, and will refuse to do stunning damage, instead always going for lethal hits.

5.        On a fumble, they automatically attack the closest ally of the wielder, some say out of jealousy.

6.        In addition, they have one Overt Power which they usually let the wielder know about and use, and one Covert Power which they normally keep to themselves and employ when it furthers their aim. Weapons can withhold or use either type of Powers at any time so long as it furthers their aims.

7.        Runeweapons can talk, but only do so the moment they slay their wielder.

OVERT POWERS Known to the wielder. Can be used once per session. Roll 1d12. (GMs only)

1) Blind – The weapon creates a dazzling sparkle that temporarily blinds 1-4 foes instead of an attack.

2) Elemental Attack – The weapon can cause an attack. Roll 1d6 = 1 Flame Burst (damage and item destruction) 2 Wind Blast (damage, blindness & knock back) 3 Water Punch (damage & drowning) 4 Rock Barrage (damage & concussion) 5 Lightning Bolt (damage & blindness) 6 Ice Dagger (damage & immobility).

3) Celerity – The weapon doubles the wielder’s speed and attacks.

4) Vorpality – The weapon breaks through mundane weapons, armor and shields. It can also negate the effects of magic armor.

5) Berserker – The weapon makes the wielder immune to all pain, fear, and sleep effects, and can fight until literally hacked to pieces.

6) Summon Allies – The weapon summons the undead corpses of the last creatures it slew to fight at its side.

7) Elemental Shield – The weapon can make a shield of one type of element that nullifies its opposite. Roll 1d6 = 1 Flame Buckler (vs plants or flesh) 2 Wind Target (vs arrows) 3 Water Wall (vs fire or insects) 4 Rock Wall (vs charging creatures) 5 Energy Field (vs firearms) 6 Ice Blockade (vs reptiles).

8) Duplication – The weapon can make 1d6 duplicates of the wielder appear to confuse its enemies.

9) Vampire – The weapon steals vitality from foes it kills to heal the wielder.

10) Levitate – The weapon can slowly lift the wielder, or slow their fall.

11) Recall – The weapon can be thrown or launch itself to attack an enemy in sight then return to the wielder’s hand.

12) Roll twice and apply both. If the same power is rolled again, substitute with the next down the list.

COVERT POWERS Unknown to the wielder. Can be used once per session. Roll 1d12.

1) Intangibility – The weapon can pass through solid objects, dropping through floors, hiding in pillars, etcetera.

2) Invisibility – The weapon can pass from sight, although it stays in the same place.

3) Charm Person – The weapon takes control of an NPC and has them do its bidding for a day.

4) Teleport Self – The weapon instantly disappears in one spot and reappears in another in the same building, dungeon or forest.

5) Polymorph Self – The weapon takes on the appearance of another object. Roll 1d6 = 1 Old rusty shield 2 A pair of boots 3 A dead rabbit 4 A head of lettuce 5 A spinning wheel 6 A bear trap.

6) Insect Swarm – The weapon summons 1d10x100 insects who attack anyone it chooses.

7) Wall of Blades – The weapon is surrounded by a whirling wall of magical blades who slice anyone attempting to pass through them.

8) Illusion – The weapon creates an illusion in the mind of all onlookers. Either reroll on this table and use the result as the illusion or make up a suitable one yourself.

9) Animate Objects = All objects in the room come to life and do the weapon’s bidding for one day. Curtains can strangle, chairs kick, and tables ram foes.

10) Fire Body – The weapon sprouts a pair of legs, arms, and head made of flame that can carry it around, pick up inflammable objects, and attack foes.

11) Demon Servant – The weapon summons a demon servant who will do one task for it. Roll 1d6 for demon type = 1 Imp, weak but can fly 2 Satyr, equal to men but can Mesmerize with its pipe playing 3 Hellhound, larger than men with flame breath 4 Firedrake, great fire-breathing flame serpent with wings 5 Balrog, strong, winged and flamewhip wielding 6 Flame princess, kind yet can steal the heart of any man who then immolates himself in her arms.

12) Roll twice and apply both. If the same power is rolled again, substitute with the next down the list.

The Worst Part of Teaching

It is not the kids, who are wonderful young people finding their way and much more savvy than I was their age.

It is not the colleagues, who are brilliant and dedicated and who fall into the normal workplace split of 10% who love me, 80% who don't care, and 10% who resent me for being a freewheeling fun teacher.

It is not the office, who are just people doing a job I'd never want to do and who increasingly have to butt heads with teachers as the govt and parents put more pressure on them and we push back aided by our union.

It

Is

Spending

All

Day

Marking

Seeing you on the other side, when the push towards the NUNA QuickStart launch and regular posting begins!

NUNA Bestiary # 1 - GIANTS, Giants, and giants

 Atelihai!

If you've ever read any Inuit folklore, you'll realize that Giants play a big role in their stories. There are basically 3 sizes or kinds:

Arctic Titans

These giants are so huge that they can cause tsunami when they go fishing, and their heads are literally in the clouds or among the birds. They are seldom hostile to the Inuit, but instead try to interact or befriend them, with equally comic or tragic consequences. Ever hear the story of the Titan who decided to wife swap with an Inuit man? It went just about as well as you'd think...

Arctic Giants

This next group, often called Tuniits (spelled with many variations from Alaska to Greenland) tower above humans, and are often helpful or wise. They may gift magical weapons of enlist Inuit to aid them in their duels, which they are said to have engaged in often, leading to their extinction. They are solitary and strange, but may take a village under their wing if lonely.

Arctic Ogres

The word Tuniit is often used for these as well, but the stories present a different picture. These Tuniit are larger than Inuit, but not by much. They have immense physical strength, but are also supposed to have disgusted the Inuit by their poor manners and hygiene. The menfolk steal Inuit umiak (rowboats) for their own fishing, and may be cannibal, although stories of kind or helpful Ogres exist. The women for their part cook meat by keeping it in their clothes (Tartar steak?), but may kidnap men they like. In fact, there is a whole subsection of she-ogres that kidnap babies, either to raise as ogres or to eat. Tuniit ogres are said to have lived in large stone houses which they built by hand, and to have slept upside down inside them.

Archaeologists have indeed found stone structures built across the Arctic, and the prevailing theory among Anthropologists is that these were made by the Dorset Inuit, the precursor of modern Inuit. The ancestors of the Inuit we know are called Thule, who spread out from Siberia across the Arctic 1000 years ago and dominated the region with their superior technology, which included barbed harpoons with animalskin floats so that prey would not sink. It is believed that the Thule drove the larger but less sophisticated Dorset Inuit into extinction, based on the many stories of tricking, trapping, or killing Tuniit ogres that have survived.

And Historians believed that there was ANOTHER group of Inuit long before the Dorset...

So NUNA will include both many kinds of Arctic giants, as well as disappeared races.

NUNA vs BRP #1 - Hello Shield Armor!

Welcome to this series of designer notes where I explain differences between NUNA and BRP (Chaosium's tried and true D100 system). Please note that NUNA is built on the chassis of older versions of BRP (Stormbringer, early Runequest), and not the more modern iterations (Elric! or Call of Cthulhu), nor the latest (CoC 7E). I do look at my Big Gold Book for inspiration and to make sure I don't needlessly reinvent the wheel.

First up, I have always felt Shields were underutilized in Stormbringer. They have a damage dice rating when used to Attack, they can Parry arrows, but other than that there is no difference in coverage between the 4 types presented (Buckler, Round, Kite, and Tower).

Let's fix that.

As a former SCA member, I have seen how useful shields are in combat. Back in my PUBG days as well, I have been saved innumerable times by bullets ricocheting off my frypan.

Note that although NUNA is classic lethal combat, I think the edge that Shields provide could use a buff to make characters more robust.

Here is an overview of the 3 things shields can do in NUNA. Details are in the Quickstart and Corebook.

1. Parry

This builds on the original Stormbringer rules, but clarifies and extends the effects on the Shield depending on the material it is made from (wood or iron). Using a Shield also allows more Parries by delaying the penalty for multiple Parries by alternating between weapon and Shield.

2. Attack

Once again, this is from the original rules, but damage dice are a more logical progression. I do love the Shield throwing implied by the old rules and have addressed that more directly.  I also clarify Knockback and possible Stun effects.

3. Soak Damage & Portable Cover

This is a new use, a version of which appeared in Stormbringer Redux. Basically, carrying a Shield can give a chance to stop projectile attacks, soak up damage, and act as Cover to make one harder to hit. I am still wrestling with the simple mechanics of this, but take as my inspiration that old OSR houserule gem by Trollsmyth,  Shields Shall Be Splintered, which I consider a Platonic ideal for houserules design and implementation.

4. Limitations

Increasing the utility of shields does not mean that everyone will carry one. First, only Vikings know how to make good ones and have ready access to materials, although Riggers may have access to old riot shields. Also, Inuit general eschew carrying about Shields except if going to battle to defend their community. Shields can also can make a character easier to Grapple by any of the giant creatures that abound in Nuna.

NUNA Summer Update!

The First Peoples English classes I teach have ended at the day job, and I have 2 weeks to finish evaluations before summer vacation.

Time to kick NUNA into launch mode!

Launch date for Nuna Quickstart is July 15 on DriveThru RPG.

It will be Pay What You Want with $1 minimum, and I hope you'll help me get it to Gold or Platinum sales. Every sale is appreciated as support towards the Nuna full edition.

Thanks to all the readers, playtesters, and supporters who have helped move this game from dream to reality.

Quickstart will include basic D100 rules, introduction to special NUNA rules, and the adventure The Silver Machine.

In the middle of summer, escape to an Arctic wonderland teeming with life, community, & weird adventure! See you in NUNA!

Nekmek!

Elric at the End of Time

 So I’m rereading this banger that I haven’t looked at in about 20 years

There’s so much good stuff in here for a Moorcock afficianado.

First, Elric reveals that Chaos means a place where the laws of nature do not apply. Snow doesn’t melt, but merely sits in deserts. A land can extend to the horizon then loop up overhead and back to itself. This again is what I have talked about regarding Moorcocken gaming, and validates my use of weird or psychedelic elements in my roleplaying adventures, as opposed to the endless series of combat encounters that seems to dominate modern gaming. I find that the weird encounters I create are always well received, and the Nuna playtest responses do mention positively the delicious creepiness of such touches in my own game.

In terms of the old Stormbringer game, Elric is sent to the End of Time after a huge wizard battle on Sorcerer's Isle. There’s mention of a tribe of Subhumans, the Kretti, who seem to be the inspiration for the monsters the Kay in the old scenario Crystal of Daerdaerdarth.

I still have a response to The Skraeling Tree to write (TLDR not as bad as the general reaction would have it, and lots of useful Moorcock stuff in there), and will also review Elric at the End of Time when I kill off the beast of Eval Ooayshuns and begin the timeless Limbo known as Summer Vacation.

The business of role-playing games

 Yet another reason To stay small and make zines.

Big RPG bankruptcy bomb here

About That Shelfie…

Pristine Elric! At a good price. Couldn’t resist.

Real Life Avalanche & NUNA Timeline

I'm currently in crunch time at the end of the schoolyear.

I'll probably stop posting here a week or two.

I hope to get NUNA quickstart done by month's end.

Do a few weeks of publicity then let it out into the world & RELAX before starting my next project.

Shelfie Life & Death

I've been meaning to make this post for a while, ever since I joined a new Facebook RPG group and got inundated with 'shelfies' of hundreds to over a thousand RPG books.

Here's my hot take - collecting RPGs without playing or reading them, especially if you're past the half century mark like me, is a sickness for the individual, a bane to the next generation of roleplayers, and probably a hassle for your family as well.

I will admit to having had hundreds of RPG books in Japan, and doing what Japanese call 'tsundoku' or buying 'unread books that pile up.' I had tons of Stormbringer, Cthulhu, and random vintage games. But when my Japan life fell apart, I gave 90% away to friends. I think 'tsundoku' is good for novels, which are solitary affairs, but a waste of potential for the social space of gaming.

In Newfoundland, I bought a few more games and settled in. However, I found that my hometown had no place for me, so left Newfoundland for Vancouver. Again, I sold or gave away 90% of my game books.

In early 2025 I had a financial crisis, and sold off two boxes of vintage Stormbringer, Ars Magica, and Runequest books. Although I miss them in a way, the experience taught me a few things about collecting RPG books.

How Many Books Do You Need?

Here is what my current shelfie looks like:

My Facebook marketplace finds. Very happy to have Mummy, Monster of the Week, and Serenity. Cowboy Bebop was from the Kickstarter.

Pristine affordable Japanese Stormbringer (I miss Mercari), filthy and overpriced Canadian edition.

Alien 1E from Marketplace, and Green Knight for FREE.

By the standards of most men my age, my collection is pathetic. On the other hand, it is also limited to games I love (Alien, Stormbringer, Serenity & Monster of the Week, Bebop), actual treasures (my Amano Japanese Stormbringer boxed set), and other things I am either dying to read or run.

All killer, no filler.

In a sense, I have all the books I need to make myself happy. I would love my Stormbringer collection back, but prices have doubled the past year, I have no space for new books, and I have some PDFs for reference.

So, if you are old and have a dragon's hoard of dusty roleplaying tomes, here are a few things I'd like you to consider.

Are You Getting These Books To Table?

I have made the supreme effort to get books to the table since moving to Vancouver. And this makes me MUCH happier than having a larger collection that I never used. All the books I have now will definitely get read, and a majority will get played.

So look at your collection, see what you'll never play, and find someone who will run them.

One of my high school students is playing in the school gaming club, which is dominated by 5E. I happened to have 2 copies of Savage Worlds, so I gifted him one.

He was ecstatic to read it! So I have helped break up a corporate gaming monopoly and spread the word about a fun game system to people who will be playing long after I am gone. Win win.

Would You Spread The Joy?

Although on the surface selling my big BRP collection was a tragedy, one amazing thing did happen. A young man who bought my books was overjoyed to have them, and paid a fair price. Now out there in Vancouver somewhere is a twentysomething with a crate of pristine Stormbringer, Ars Magica, and Call of Cthulhu books, with the energy and free time to read and run them. Considering the glut of 5E products and the concentration of these older games in older hands, and their increasingly unreachable prices, I am glad to have passed them on to the younger generation.

You could volunteer to run games for youth in your community, and gift or sell cheaply books your players like. This is how gaming is passed on to the next generation.

Do You Need The Money That Badly?

I think a lot of people are looking at their collection and seeing it as an investment. But if you have the money to acquire and house a large collection, you probably don't need the money or hassle of haggling over Ebay or Marketplace. Find a local gaming club and pass them on, donate to a library, or run a few games and gift them to a younger gamer who appreciates them.

What Happens After You Are Gone?

Coming back to North America, I can see that people are literally drowning in things and trying to downsize. I have furnished our apartment with furniture from sharing sites, and clothed sonny the same way. Recently, I have been looking at an auction site, and it is a cornucopia of amazing things being sold for pennies because the owners have died or moved into a smaller home or facility.

I haven't seen any gamebooks yet, but I have seen collections of dice and minis. The minis are unpainted, the dice unopened. If they go unsold, they go in the trash. And that is sad for something someone once loved and shared with others at the table.

The Kids Are Alright

One last thing to consider is how grateful young people are when you share older games. My student at school was moved and gave me a hug, the young fellow who purchased my books paid extra and thanked me profusely, and the young man who gifted me The Green Knight refused he few dollars I offered out of gratitude/guilt. Young people are turning to board games and video games because RPGs, especially classics, have become too pricey for them. If you love your games, you should consider passing that love on.

Food For Thought

I hope this post gives some people food for thought. I am not trying to make anyone feel guilty, just realize that our treasures could easily sparkle for younger gamers, So between sharing older games and creating new ones, I am much happier than I would be with a dragon's hoard of unused gamebooks.

AI & RPGs

So...

 Is it just me, or does it seem that AI is attempting to find its way into the world of RPGs? The past few years have seen numerous AI controversies, the latest shitstorm being an article by 4 Pillar Games (who?)  about the late great Greg Stafford. Chaosium issued a rebuke, citing the lack of 'human care and creativity' in the piece, while acknowledging the growing use of AI tools in content creation.

And Chaosium is totally right to point this out, and have put their money where their mouth is by issuing a strict no AI policy for RPG art and content.

But the tide of AI slop will keep trying to seep into the once welcoming alehouse of roleplaying games. How can we fight this trend?

We have to know what to look out for.

Danger #1 The Corporate Boardroom

Of course, the ones pushing AI are corporations and the billionaires behind them. The CEO of D&D took flak in 2022 for complaining that the game was 'undermonetized'. Since then, D&D editions have split into more costly books, with proposed subscription plans designed to make players into the golden goose. But 'monetization' in the age of AI means getting machines to do for free what humans do for pay, and AI is being positioned to replace the unpaid labour of the DM. Just look at the proliferation of AI SaaS to run a game for you, which is still in the slop stage, but getting better by learning from those brave enough to try it.

We've seen this pattern before with tech, of people wielding the tools that are later used to destroy their livelihood. I myself paid off my MA student loans translating communications for Japanese car makers, but the Trados database I was forced to compile was later sold to corporations to train LLMs. When the 'translate' button appeared on my workplace email in Japan in 2020, I was happy to save hours reading Japanese and letting AI do all the work for me, but knew I could never make a dime translating as I once did.

These corporate types don't realize that one of the joys of D&D or any roleplaying game is making your own content and not being limited to game company products. I would say that the often mentioned shortage of DMs is due to the thankless work of mastering the games rules and a scenario of varying quality, while also paying for costly books. With AI, instead of a group sitting around a table, they offer to cut you off and let you play anywhere, anytime, which like many AI developments, seems to both shoot itself in the foot by eliminating paying customers, while totally misunderstanding the human or social aspect of what they are replacing.

Speaking of tools...

Danger #2 Technical Tools

Besides the corporate pressure to use AI to play games, AI in tools used for art and composition are almost impossible to avoid these days. Readers may recall that I had an AI scare where a designer's Photoshop that incorporated AI tools had added an extra finger to a character in a cover. The designer apologized, refunded payment, and explained that with image manipulation, AI is impossible to avoid unless you turn off lots of functions, which defeats the purpose of the software.

Note that the designer was a friend who I knew for decades and trust implicitly. He is also a graphic designer who has worked in magazines that are in a downward spiral of cutting costs and personnel, and my friend has stayed employed by staying atop of his design craft and tools.

Which leads us to my next point...

Danger # 3 The Pressure To Be Professional

Looking at RPGs on Kickstarter or from game studios, I can say that RPG art has never been more polished. I myself have felt the pressure and doubted that my self-taught illustration skills, coming from a family of professional self-taught indigenous artists, would complement my game.

Now, I am staunchly confident in my 'outsider art' as perfect for NUNA. I am a fan of UK game designer Tanya Floaker, whose great indie zine style games are a treat to read, and something I hope to get to a gaming table soonish. The OSR has already proven that individual creators can make a go of it with compelling works, and Old School Essentials seems to have found its niche doing so. And since I've turned into a game designer, I have met so many indie designers working on their own game and pushing the envelope in ways that an AI never could.

Onward!

Danger # 4 Slop RPGS

At some point, an AI generated RPG will hit the market. If it hasn't happened already and gone unnoticed, I am sure it will happen soon, whether its producer (I won't call them creator) announces the fact or not.

I get a lot of RPG ads, and I have to say, lots of them LOOK like they are made or influenced by AI. There are generic fantasy RPGs that sound like every other fantasy heartbreaker out there, without any of the verve or passion of the OSR when it first started spitting out retroclones over a decade ago. Then there is the art, largely figures or portraits of faces without much expression, and devoid of the kinetic or frenzied action of early RPG amateur art.

Just as AI children's books have appeared and distributed soulless, derivative works into the hands (and minds) of babes, the danger of AI is not only profiting off gamers, but also poisoning the well of imagination and community by switching over from human creations & social games to pale AI imitations that isolate gamers even more.

Danger # 5 Commoditizing A Social Space

Between the corporate pressure to use AI to play games, its invisible seep into tools, the pressure to use AI to look professional while keeping costs low, and the inevitable appearance of Slop the RPG, all this leads to the danger of losing roleplaying as a valuable social space. I have so many conversations with fellow Stormbringer enthusiasts about how online gaming is a pale substitute for sitting around a table, weaving tales and rolling dice together. What will be even worse is if people are playing RPGs run by AI whose only programming is to flatter the ego and pastiche all that has come before, and that was scraped from human works without permission or payment. I am happy that Free League AND Goodman Games will be making their own Stormbringer games, as both companies excel in getting people back to the gaming tables with their high quality, human-designed products that epitomize love for the game and gamers.

Conclusion - Folk Resistance

When I started this blog back 13 years ago as the first wave of the OSR abated, I was doing it mostly out of nostalgia and an unfulfilled creative urge. Now, I see it as both a creative outlet for me, as well as a source of deeply sociological games that represent people who have been portrayed stereotypically in media, such as indigenous people and the Japanese.

Now I am happy to consider my efforts in making a game as an additional part of the folk resistance against an unnecessary and exploitative technology that is being rammed down our throats in ways that destroy both our social bonds, natural environment, and economic viability.

Viva la resistance!

Sources

"Statement from Suzanne Stafford and Chaosium regarding a recent AI-generated article about Chaosium founder Greg Stafford." chaosium.com

https://www.chaosium.com/blogstatement-from-suzanne-stafford-and-chaosium-regarding-a-recent-aigenerated-article-about-chaosium-founder-greg-stafford/?srsltid=AfmBOoqJjAlPemRnG4GhbaPND0mk6nlFs2nS9BOC9H48F9GG1luDoxku

Wizards of the Coast Believes D&D Is "Under-Monetized" 80lv.

https://80.lv/articles/wizards-of-the-coast-believes-d-d-is-under-monetized

"I Tried AI D&D So You Don't Have To."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhGn0SagCkQ

Chaosium no AI policyhttps://www.chaosium.com/blogfrom-the-qa-our-creator-contracts-require-work-submitted-to-be-creators-original-work-and-not-contain-any-ai-generated-art-or-text/?srsltid=AfmBOorjFhgE1Kn72HyfXV1CHMwCWPBdaBPip7mY3091PZwKMJEVWVxo

Want to understand Moorcock? Understand the New Wave

 Great analysis of a movement that still influences us today

HERE

NUNA & Indigenous Education

So I just went to BEAUTIFUL Victoria BC for a workshop on Indigenous Education for my school.

Not only did I learn lots of useful things for my classes, it made me reflect on how this plays out in NUNA

BACK TO YOUR ROOTS

In NUNA, all of the peoples (Inuit, Viking, and Rigger) all survive by going back to their roots. The Northern Inuit have re-mastered the pre-colombian skills of hunting with handmade weapons (I will NOT say primitive as they are very sophisticated), the Southern Inuit use reliable early 20th century devices, and the Riggers all cling to the different cultures their ancestors brought with them working on the rigs, from Maori Whalers to Portuguese swordsmen.

I learned that Canada in general, and BC in particular, is reconnecting and recognizing the people rooted in this land, and are trying to survive as a pluralistic nation by doing so.

PREHISTORIC RECONNECTION

Even the Scientists of NUNA are reconnecting back to the lost roots of humanity. Although the Inuit often say they have always been on the land, the genetic Thule strain of modern Inuit, according to recent research, spread from Far Eastern Russia only a 1000 years ago, and was proceeded by the now extinct Dorset Inuit, and possibly the mythical Tuniit giants before them. So it is true to say that Inuit peoples have lived in the North from time immemorial, without bogging down in genetics. I pay homage to the Tuniit by having them as returning mystic giants in NUNA, hiding in caves where they hang upside down and give aid or prophecy for those brave and foolish enough to seek them out.

REST & RECUPERATION

As for me, the workshop was a chance for me to learn more about the First People's English course I am teaching, as well as enjoy so long needed R&R with sonny. Now I am back to the fatherhood + work + NUNA grind, but with summer vacation, the end of the tunnel is finally in sight.