About this series: “Building Stories, Telling Games” is a column about building online roleplaying games... and what to do with them once you have them built. The author, Travis Casey, is a 20-year veteran of the RPG hobby, who has written for Wizards of the Coast, administrated a mud, and spent far more time playing RPGs than anyone probably should.
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Building Stories, Telling Games Column...
- Monsters, Part 2 (12/23/2003) – #68: Lost for months, Travis' final article on monsters rises from its lair.
- Monsters (or, Dragons and Orcs and Unicorns, Oh My!) (9/12/2003) – #67: What's the purpose of monsters? Travis explains.
- Roleplaying and Combat: Events and Choices (8/29/2003) – #66: Travis plunges into the realm of roleplay during action sequences.
- Combat, Part 7: Breaking away from D&D-style combat (8/15/2003) – #65: Travis volleys some alternatives to traditional FRPG-style combat.
- Combat, Part 6: Battle Stances (8/1/2003) – #64: Travis digs in for some head-to-head combat interface ideas.
- Combat, Part 5: Combat Systems as User Interface (7/18/2003) – #63: Travis explores ways to simplify complex combat systems.
- Combat, Part 4: Kinds of Fighting (7/4/2003) – #62: Travis locks on to the objectives of game combat and its different modes.
- Combat, Part 3: Notes From the Real World (6/20/2003) – #61: Travis throws down some solid combat mechanic advice.
- Thinking Mechanically, Part 16: Combat as Conflict (6/6/2003) – #60: Travis focuses on the sub-game aspects of a good conflict system.
- Thinking Mechanically, Part 15: Combat Systems (5/23/2003) – #59: Travis fires some whys and whats of combat mechanics at us.
- Thinking Mechanically, Part 14: Yes, We're Still on Personality (5/9/2003) – #58: Travis dabbles in the useful mechanics of personality in roleplaying.
- Thinking Mechanically, Part 13: I've Got Personality! (4/11/2003) – #57: Travis reflects on the mechanics behind character personalities.
- Interlude: Showing Not Telling & Encouraging RP (4/4/2003) – #56: Travis presents ways of showing background material within a game.
- Interlude: Moments of Character (3/14/2003) – #55: Travis switches gears and expounds on the importance of characterization.
- Thinking Mechanically, Part 12: Where Did I Go Wrong? (3/3/2003) – #54: Travis compares staged resolution systems for determining failure.
- Thinking Mechanically, Part 11: Systems, Time, and Steps (2/14/2003) – #53: Travis delves into alternate approaches to task/step resolution.
- Thinking Mechanically, Part 10: Systems (1/31/2003) – #52: Travis dabbles in the approaches and complexities of combat systems.
- Thinking Mechanically, Part 9: Resolution and Representation (1/20/2003) – #51: Travis continues to explore game mechanics, this time focusing on interpreting results.
- Thinking Mechanically, Part 8: Oddball Resolution Systems (1/3/2003) – #50: Travis describes some of the more unusual methods of resolution.
- Thinking Mechanically, Part 7: Resolution Mechanics (12/23/2002) – #49: Travis compares the two prominent resolution systems from pen-n-paper RPGs.
- Thinking Mechanically, Part 6: Scales and Resolution (12/6/2002) – #48: Travis returns with revelations on numeric scales.
- Thinking Mechanically, Part 5: Numbers and Not Numbers (11/27/2002) – #47: Travis explores alternate game mechanic approaches.
- Thinking Mechanically, Part 4: More Than Numbers (11/8/2002) – #46: Travis shares non-numerical ways to describe characters in gaming.
- Thinking Mechanically, Part 3: Characters and Resolution (10/25/2002) – #45: Travis talks about action resolution in roleplaying.
- Thinking Mechanically, Part 2: RPG design in theory and practice (10/11/2002) – #44: Travis compares the pros and cons of paper RPGs as online RPG systems.
- Thinking Mechanically (9/27/2002) – #43: Travis opens a new series on RPG rules and mechanics, with paper RPGs as a source.
- Don't Look Too Closely, Part 3 (9/20/2002) – #42: Travis ends his Don't Look Too Closely series with a talk on realism.
- Don't Look Too Closely, Part 2 (8/30/2002) – #41: Travis continues his foray into the fantastical.
- Don't Look Too Closely (8/18/2002) – #40: Travis looks at suspension of disbelief in gaming.
- Building A Character, Part 2 (8/2/2002) – #39: Travis continues his suggestions on character creation.
- Building A Character (7/19/2002) – #38: Travis dives into well realized characters.
- Suspense, Conspiracy, and Closing Thoughts on Genres (7/5/2002) – #37: Travis shares some final thoughts on his Genres series.
- Exploring Genres — Mystery and Suspense (6/21/2002) – #36: Travis dims the lights for a bit of suspense.
- Exploring Genres — Romance (6/10/2002) – #35: Travis dives into the genre of Arthurian Romance.
- Exploring Genres — There's Something Funny Going on Here (5/24/2002) – #34: Travis plunges into the meat and potatoes of setting up comedy.
- Exploring Genres — Serious Talk About Comedy (5/10/2002) – #33: Travis explains why comedy isn't commonly an RPG genre.
- Interlude: Metagenres & Stances (4/26/2002) – #32: Travis addresses larger genre concepts and classifications.
- Exploring Genres: Horror, Part 2 – Fear Itself (4/12/2002) – #31: Travis taps into our subconscious fears.
- Exploring Genres: Horror (3/29/2002) – #30: Travis delves into the creepier genre.
- Exploring Genres: Science Fiction vs. Science Fantasy (3/15/2002) – #29: Travis enlightens us about grav plates vs. velcro boots.
- Exploring Genres: Science Fiction (3/4/2002) – #28: Travis explores the endless possibilities of sci-fi.
- Interlude: Story Now! (2/15/2002) – #27: Building plots through important conflict.
- Exploring Genres: Fantasy, part 3 (2/1/2002) – #26: Travis addresses the problems and solutions for fantasy subgenres.
- Exploring Genres: Fantasy, part 2 (1/18/2002) – #25: Travis ventures further into subgenres of fantasy.
- Genres - Fantasy (1/4/2002) – #24: Travis explores the realms of the fantasy genre.
- Exploring Genres: Part 1 (12/14/2001) – #23: Travis opens a portal to genres in gaming.
- Dirty Words, Part 7 – Balance (11/30/2001) – #22: Travis tips the scales on the notions of game balance.
- Dirty Words, Part 6 – Roleplaying (11/16/2001) – #21: Travis asks if "thou art a roleplayer" or "are you a role-player."
- Dirty Words, Part 5 – Of PK and Grief Players (11/2/2001) – #20: Travis puts the magnifying glass on Grief Players.
- Dirty Words, Part 4 – PK (10/19/2001) – #19: Travis explores the rationale behind Player Killing.
- Dirty Words, Part 3 – Keepin' it Real (10/5/2001) – #18: Travis asks, "Are you afraid of some realism in your games?"
- Dirty Words, Part 2: The Plot Thickens (9/21/2001) – #17: Travis delves into what helps keep players happy, but still moves a plot forward.
- Dirty Words, Part 1: Plot (9/7/2001) – #16: Travis explores long-term plot design.
- What's Entertainment? (8/24/2001) – #15: Travis counters with his take on Art vs. Entertainment in online games.
- Stranger Than Fiction (8/10/2001) – #14: From the dusty tomes of history, Travis calls forth inspiration.
- I'm Not Superstitious (7/27/2001) – #13: The many approaches to magic in role-playing.
- The Fourth Block (7/13/2001) – #12: And the essential ingredient is... community!
- Darkest Villainry (6/29/2001) – #11: More thoughts about villains in online games.
- Building Blocks, Part 4: System (6/15/2001) – #10: Eight rules for building a game system.
- Building Blocks, Part 3: Setting (6/1/2001) – #9: Suggesting ideas for scenarios.
- Building Blocks, Part 2: Scenarios (5/21/2001) – #8: Preparing plots for online games.
- The Building Blocks of RPGs, Part 1: Theoretical Bases (5/4/2001) – #7: Definitions and classifications for creating games.
- Everything I Know, I Learned From My Players (4/20/2001) – #6: Listening to characters in online games.
- Cliché Patterns (4/6/2001) – #5: Kingdom of elves, warrior's guilds, and dog-people in game worlds.
- The Thing in Itself, Part 2 (3/23/2001) – #4: A discussion of the differences between text adventures and multiplayer games.
- The Thing In Itself (3/9/2001) – #3: What are the differences between paper and computer RPGs?
- Development (2/23/2001) – #2: The next step. How to build your great ideas into a game.
- Ideas (2/9/2001) – #1: Travis S. Casey asks "Where Do You Get Your Ideas?" in this new biweekly column.
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