Post-Forge Midwest: Arneson and Roses
I just got back from Forge Midwest last night (I took a roundabout route through Michigan for a family visit). A couple of things happened during the con worth mentioning.
Dave Arneson
After false reports a couple of weeks ago, Dave Arneson died. In the history of role-playing gaming as we know it, he was one of two people who really could be described as the fathers of the craft. What he did defined old-school. Within our little subculture of game designers and game hackers this makes it more obvious that an era has passed.
Blazing Rose
In brighter news, Sabe Jones’s Blazing Rose is now available in ashcan form. This is a really fun game that crosses card games like hearts with role-playing-style narration as you lay your cards down. You and your friends create Rivals for a Beloved, and create a story in which one of the rivals wins the heart of the beloved. This game has a definite winner: whoever wins the game, their rival gets the girl/boy/alien thing. It’s easily played in one night’s session; go forth and buy.
Story Games Names
While setting up for a game of Primetime Adventures, we decided on the story of a royal family on a far desert planet (“after an interplanetary war, the men of the family plot to institute the patriarchal rule they’ve seen on other planets”); the names were Byzantine Greek, with one Aztec name for a captive noble from another planet. Our director sent a copy of the Story Games Names Project around the table so that we were able to quickly choose appropriate names for our cast. Jason Morningstar has taken the PDFs and made them available in printed form on Lulu.
This book is a godsend for convention gaming; it makes choosing a name quick and easy.
- The Forge: Ron Edwards
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“This site is dedicated to the promotion, creation, and review of independent role-playing games. What is an independent role-playing game? Our main criterion is that the game is owned by its author, or creator-owned.” Don’t miss the article links arrayed across the top of the forums.
- Sadly, This is Accurate
- “Farewell, Mr Arneson; you will be missed. I hope that, at the very least, yesterday’s outpouring of affection for you and your contributions to our hobby cheered you in your final hours. You were one of a kind.”
- R.I.P. Dave Arneson
- “Dave told GameSpy that he would like to be remembered as a good grandpa, and as the father of role-playing games. I can’t speak to the first, but I will definitely honor him with the second title.”
- Shout from the Rooftops: First Edition Now Available for Purchase: Edward “Sabe” Jones
- “With Forge Midwest 2009 behind me, I am pleased to announce that Blazing Rose: A Story Game of Romantic Rivalry is available for purchase by the general public for the first time.”
- Dog-eared Designs
- The publishing arm of Matt Wilson, author of Primetime Adventures
- Story Games Names Project
- A collection of PDFs filled with names from many cultures.
- Story Games Name Project: Jason Morningstar (paperback)
- This paperback makes finding culturally-appropriate names on the fly a breeze. If you use vaguely historical cultures and your players often agonize over character names, you’ll find this book invaluable.
More Forge Midwest
- Escape from Tentacle City now available
- Escape from Tentacle City is a fun one-session game of indescribable horror. The horror is in realizing that you’re not just willing to play characters like this—you’re loving it.