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Showing posts from September, 2010

[The Leftovers] Working on New Maps: Requests?

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Heyo, so I'm probably going to have some free time on a plane the next two days. Probably going to put together some new maps for The Leftovers . Here's the Spleen as an example. (Click to embiggen.) I'm tinkering with The Pit, The Bunnies' Burrow and The Room of Spiky Things. If you have thoughts on new dungeons, post your ideas. For example: The Bunnies' Burrow Dangers Cute Rabbit Teeth Hole Fall Scratch Items Carrot Sawdust Grass Foot The Pit Dangers Sweaty Twitching Smelly Hairy Narrow Tangle Items Deodorant Shaver Cologne Aftershave Any requests?

[Do] Saturday Night Group - Episode 1

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This is a story created by playing Do: Pilgrims of the Flying Temple . The Pilgrims Pilgrim Delicate Brick gets in trouble by being frail and helps people by build stronger relationships. (Written by Matt) World Destiny: 0 Temple Destiny: 0 Pilgrim Red Shirt gets in trouble by having a bad temper and helps people by drawing away danger. (Written by Daniel) World Destiny: 0 Temple Destiny: 0 Pilgrim Marvelous Mollusk gets in trouble by being overly-dramatic and overdoing things and helps people by polishing things up. (Written by Raven) World Destiny: 0 Temple Destiny: 0 The Letter " Swallowed Whole " by Ben Lehman The Story While the whale remains startled from Mollusk's approach, pilgrim Delicate Brick goes down the whale's blowhole, looking for MELANIE. The blowhole seems to narrow as pilgrim Delicate Brick crawls down, until finds he can only push his head out to look around inside the WHALE. Pilgrim Red Shirt draws the whale's attention aw

Interview on Little Metal Dog

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The Little Metal Dog is a podcast with some focus on the UK gaming scene, but also game professionals in general. Episode 9 highlights games for kids, including Happy Birthday, Robot! Then we discuss Do: Pilgrims of the Flying Temple and its relationship with HBR . Namely, that HBR introduces the very essential elements of RPGs, then Do introduces just a little bit more while still maintaining the essential story-building gameplay. Michael is very pleasant to talk to and we could've gone on quite a bit longer. Oh boy, though, my stammering is such a harsh contrast to Michael's velvety English accent. Hear for yourself! » Little Metal Dog: Episode 9

Free Font: Marain Script

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Here's a new free font for you to install: Marain Script. It's my first one! I'll be using it in Do: Pilgrims of the Flying Temple . I used a web service called Fontifier, so the quality works best at small sizes. At large sizes, you see the slight pixelated corners the web service creates. At small sizes, those pixelated corners just look like a grainy texture that fits an alphabet written by a brush. Hey, happy accidents! The letterforms are based on the Marain alphabet, from Iain M. Banks' "Culture" novels. In those novels, the spacefaring Culture use the Marain alphabet because each character is unique and can be read in any rotation. That seemed to make sense for use in Do, since the monks and pilgrims are not bound by gravity either. » Download MarainScript.tff Marain Script by Daniel Solis is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License . » More about Marain » More about the Culture novels » More about Fontifier

[Do] Monday Night Group - Episode 1

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This is a story created by playing Do: Pilgrims of the Flying Temple . The Pilgrims Pilgrim Elegant Glass gets in trouble by dancing around and knocking things down and helps people by her clear thinking. (Written by Jenn) World Destiny: 0 Temple Destiny: 0 Pilgrim Loquacious Candy gets in trouble by talking too much, and helps people by giving them candies to make them feel better. (Written by Mark) World Destiny: 0 Temple Destiny: 0 Pilgrim Heavy Boot gets in trouble by being quite large and helps people with his indestructible boots. (Written by Daniel) World Destiny: 0 Temple Destiny: 0 The Letter " Swallowed Whole " by Ben Lehman The Story Pilgrim Loquacious Candy talked and talked and missed the whale coming at him and EATING ALL OF US The Pilgrims end up in the stomach, where Pilgrim Loquacious Candy lands in a pool of digestive juices. They eat a hole in one of his pockets, but the pocket contained tasty antacids, which neutralized the pool. Pilgr

[Do] Sunday Night Group - Episode 1

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This is a story created by playing Do: Pilgrims of the Flying Temple . The Pilgrims Pilgrim Green Goggles gets into trouble by being inexperienced and helps people by seeing things clearly. (Written by Anders) World Destiny: 0 Temple Destiny: 0 Pilgrim Rolling Glass gets into trouble by being clumsy and helps people by being honest. (Written by David) World Destiny: 0 Temple Destiny: 0 Pilgrim Yellow Balloon gets into trouble by being afraid and helps people by celebrating. (Written by Jamie) World Destiny: 0 Temple Destiny: 0 The Letter " Swallowed Whole " by Ben Lehman The Story As they travel toward Melanie and the whale, Pilgrim Green Goggles notices how few moons there are for whales to eat. But while looking around at the sky, he flies straight down the gullet of the whale! Pilgrim Rolling Glass asks the whale to open his mouth, and the whale says, "OOOOKAAAAYYYYY!" just long enough for Green Goggles to fly out. As Green Goggles flies o

[Do] Sunday Afternoon Group - Episode 1

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This is a story created by playing Do: Pilgrims of the Flying Temple . The Pilgrims Pilgrim Reaching Book gets into trouble by overestimating what he can do and helps people by knowing stuff. (Written by Anders) World Destiny: 0 Temple Destiny: 0 Pilgrim Wooden Bell gets in trouble by being stiff and helps people by warning of danger. (Written by Daniel) World Destiny: 0 Temple Destiny: 0 Pilgrim Tattered Card gets into trouble by looking like someone unsavory and helps people by taking chances. (Written by Marc) World Destiny: 0 Temple Destiny: 0 Pilgrim Fancy Tablet gets in trouble by being too elaborate and helps people by making them feel better. (Written by Nolan) World Destiny: 0 Temple Destiny: 0 The Letter " Swallowed Whole " by Ben Lehman The Story Upon arriving at the whale, Pilgrim Reaching book recalls whales are allergic to grass, and attempts to make the whale sneeze. The whale inhales sharply, sucking in Pilgrim Reaching Book and sneezes,

Interview with Adam Dray on Jennisodes

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I met Jenn Wong at Dreamation this year but it seems like we've known each other far longer. (Hi, Jenn!) She was in the first public game of Happy Birthday, Robot! , which put HBR down the road to publication a short time later. I met Adam Dray in the mean streets of the Story-Games forum and discussions of his game Verge . When it came time for HBR to go to publication, I knew I needed a good editor. Adam came highly recommended, so I hit him up. :) You can hear all about these stories on Jennisodes #5: Editors and Layout Guys . Jenn interviewed Adam and I in this odd time right before HBR was published, right before my wife and I got married, right before we moved to a new house. You can hear all those stories in the podcast. Check it out!

[In the Lab] Belle of the Ball

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The Belle invites you to attend a most festivitous, celebratious, ostentaneous party! All guests should be on their best behavior! Seriously. Behave. Belle of the Ball is a saucy Victorianic tile game. Invite guests to a grand party and score points by entertaining the Belle. » Development Status: Definitely Alpha. See notes at bottom of post. Stuff You Need 2-4 Players Download and cut out these tiles and tokens. You'll also need a 7x7 grid like this (Click to embiggen): Lastly, you'll need a paper and pencil to keep track of each player's current score. The Guest Tiles The Belle enjoys inviting both peasantry and nobility, delighting in the culture-clashing mayhem that ensues. Some guests are loud boors, others are known to get into fights, and more than a handful are known philanderers. On each Guest tile, you'll see the distinct family crest for the Goatsbury, Lordhurtz, Richminster, Dundifax, Boarbottom and Crawhole families. On the lower left or

More Game Ideas

This post is part of a series compiling random game ideas I tweet occasionally. Some develop into full games, some not, I leave them here for my own future reference. Game Idea: A train/railroad board game rethemed for a parade. Visions of Paprika in mind. Game Idea: Chess var. Open w standard pawns. Other pieces set aside. On turn, move a piece or place new piece behind pawn. Cont. as normal. Game Idea: Play involves laying out cards for combos. (Doubles, Triples, etc). Can use other player's cards + your cards for other combos. Reading "More Information Than You Require." Struck by idea for game based on Batman ep " Almost Got 'im " Game Idea: Oshi, with slightly larger board and triomino pieces. On your turn, move or rotate one of your pieces. Game Idea: Tiles w Straight/Turning paths. Tiles move 1 space unless passing over another tile; follow paths til reaching open space.

Pebble Rebel

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Pebble Rebel is a strategy game for two players. Each player has different goals and different ways of playing, but still get in each other's way. » Thanks to Pete Figtree for coming up with the title! » Original art source: Memo Angeles , Black Rhino Illustration and ensiferum Setup You need four sets of colored stones, fifteen stones in each set. Keep these stones in a bag or bowl nearby. The game board is a 6x6 grid. Arrange twelve stones on the board as shown below. Turn Order Two players take turns. One player is called Pebble. The other player is called Rebel. Pebble takes the first turn. The Pebble On her turn, she may move a stone on the board in straight horizontal or vertical lines as many times as she wishes to until the stone reaches its final destination. She may not pass through any occupied spaces along the way. Diagonal movement is also not allowed. In the example above, Pebble moves the black stone down, then left. She is trying to build a line

[Do] Schedule of Games

This looks like my schedule for the next couple weeks. Sunday Afternoons Sep 19, 26, Oct 3 3pm CST Players: Shane, Nolan, Marc Sunday Evenings Sep 19, Oct 3, 10 9pm CST Players: Anders, Jamie, David Monday Evenings Sep 20, 27, Oct 4 7pm CST Players: Jenn, Mark Tuesday Evenings Sep 21, 28, Oct 5 7pm CST Players: Brett, Ro, Megan Saturday Evenings Sep 25, Oct 2, 16 7pm CST Players: Matt, Raven Wow! It's going to be a busy few weeks.

[Do] Letters to Heaven

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This is an introduction to letters in Do: Pilgrims of the Flying Temple . Whenever there is a problem that can't be solved, a worldly person can call in the Pilgrims of the Flying Temple to help. Each letter describes the situation on this world, any relevant characters and a bit of back story to give some context. Your Pilgrims visit this world and help solve the problem as they see fit, hoping not to cause trouble in the process. Instead of a giant infodump, you can choose which parts of the setting you find important. You do this by choosing the letters that your Pilgrims will answer. You only respond to the letters you find interesting. Letter-writers are unreliable narrators. Each letter reflects the letter-writer's particular, sometimes skewed worldview. Some overestimate how much a Pilgrim can accomplish, thinking them to be angelic beings of divine omnipotence. Imagine their disappointment. Pilgrims try to abide by local beliefs. If the letter-writer believes

[Do] "Swallowed Whole"

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by Ben Lehman This is a letter for use in playing Do: Pilgrims of the Flying Temple . Dear Monk(s) Hi how are you! My name is Melanie. I come from a very small planet. There is me, my house, my cat, and two trees (see drawing). I am not so good, because my planet has been eaten by a whale. It is a very small planet. I woke up and I was inside a whale. I don't want to get (more) eaten. Please help! your freind Melanie (age 8) P.S. Drawing is on the other side. P.P.S. I will make you cookies. Goal Words Melanie Melanie eat house cat trees whale whale whale cookies

[Do] "Worlds Collide"

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by Colin Fredericks This is a letter for use in playing Do: Pilgrims of the Flying Temple . To the Monks of the Temple in the Center of the Sky, My deepest apologies for this letter, but our need is great. I am Yotta, assistant to the Great Sages of Juku, may the sun grace them always. Our beautiful desert world is home to many fierce and colorful tribes, who have made their homes in the vast sandy wastes that cover our planet. The Great Sages have long observed the sweep of the planets through the sky. We have always been near to the water planet of Ishita; indeed, this is whence comes our rain, on the rare occasion that rain falls on Juku. Our worlds grow closer and farther apart as the gravities of other worlds exert their influence. Recently Ishita's orbit has become disturbed by the influence of the massive world Rova. The Great Sages, may their words uplift us all, have calculated that Rova will pull Ishita directly into us on its next pass. Ishita's coming wil