It’s Saturday, which means yet another roundup of nifty articles and tips, including the thrilling conclusion to Mike’s monument post, some thoughts on starting campaigns and Hank Green talking about maps. Go!
While there are a lot of other relationships going on at a university, the one between professors and students is the foundational one. Ultimately it’s a place where experts educate people. That said, the differences between professors and everyday teachers are pretty extensive. Today I want to go over some of the key ones to give a picture of what life is like as a university professor, and describe some of the ways professors might fit into your game.
Having just started a new grad program this month, I have been incredibly swamped. So for Education month here at TPK, I wanted to take a look at fantasy grad students because no matter how bad my workload gets, at least I’ll never have to deal with a dragon. I know first hand what grad students are like in the real world today but what would a fantasy grad student look like? Lets take a look.
Today, anyway. We will return from the dead in three days. In the meantime, enjoy this video on videogames and piracy.
Cheers,
– Jim
We’ve got some great links this week. Articles on pacing, timing, and worldbuilding. Also some good deals on some wicked rpg books. You can also come back tomorrow to see some livestreamed D&D in Legends of Madjan!
Every fantasy world needs an assassin’s guild. Well, that’s not true, but spies, thieves, and killers do have a tendency to hang out together in fantasy worlds, and when they spend too much time together, they unionize. The conflict between the Tanril Agezar, or the Empty Hand, and the Camonna Tong is based on the same idea as the one between the Aecha Ostai and the TSR, though battlegrounds are completely different. Old blood versus new. That’s what Temir is about. Progress, change, and the collision of the ancient with the enterprising, and the Tanril are the ancients who inhabit the shadows. Read more
Games can be influenced by the principles of higher education, but also by its spaces. Every campus doubles as a dungeon. After all, what’s in a dungeon? A good dungeon imparts a feeling of mystery and apprehension. It presents an opportunity for exploration and has an ecology all its own. Treasure, traps, and monsters are almost incidental to the feeling that the space gives. They’ve got all of that and more.
It’s that time again. Posts have been a bit sparse this week because Ryan’s phd is intrusive. Higher education is like construction in that things are rarely done on time. Nonetheless, we’ve got a great roundup this week with some GMing advice and some food for thought on issues around the gaming table.
Feels good to be back on Mondays. Anyway, Ryan and I both spend a lot of time around universities. After grad school I began working for a faculty association, and he’s just gone off to a new one to begin his doctorate (This is his first week of his phd, so hop over to one of his posts and congratulate him). Universities often seem like afterthoughts in settings, abstract places where education happens. They see play in contemporary college setting games, but I want to talk about how they can make for great stories in other settings, especially medieval fantasy.
There’s a lot of neat stuff going on, and we’re starting to get into the swing of things. I’ve been doing some more GMing work designing encounters and dungeons, and our first video came out this week! Starting Monday we’ll be talking about higher education and gaming, and how you can use universities in your setting to broaden the culture and create neat adventures. This week’s roundup has some awesome Kickstarters, a ton of new games to try in different media, and how to use media to augment your gaming experience.