Adept Play

Conversation: Reflections and dissections

Here's a conversation with Ivan, following up on his comments (and video) in the Finding D&D series. I split the last bit off to join the SFTV RPG seminar too, so this was sort of an all-over-Adept-Play discussion. It's divided roughly into some "how we met D&D" talk, thoughts on fantasy in role-playing and fantasy vs. role-playing, essentialism's virtues and limitations, and a little bit of rather good contrasts in views about playing on purpose.

Posted by: Ron Edwards

24 Apr 2018

Games: Wizard, Melee, Dungeons & Dragons 1977, Dungeons & Dragons 1980, Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual, Empire of the Petal Throne, Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition, Pathfinder, Champions

1 comment

A bit of a mind flip, into a time-slip

This session of our Champions 3rd edition game concerns our two heroes, ARC and Agent One, in their roles as soldiers from a future war. The former is a deserter who's decided he likes modern (our) life, and the latter is on a mission but with malfunctioning "chip" and whatnot so he doesn't really know what the mission is. They operate as a super-duo aiding the troubled police department of St.

Posted by: Ron Edwards

01 Apr 2018

Games: Champions

6 comments

Finding D&D: Communion

It's not a metaphor. I'm talking about D&D as religion, not merely "religious" as a colorful synonym for "passionate." This is Finding D&D, Part 2, addressing TSR as orthodoxy and the resulting construction of culture and values.

Posted by: Ron Edwards

08 Mar 2018

Games: Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition, Dungeons & Dragons 3rd edition, Shadowrun, Champions, RuneQuest, Cyberpunk, Dungeons & Dragons 4th edition, Forgotten Realms, Dragonlance, Dungeons and Dragons Mentzer 1985

28 comments

Finding D&D: The Stand Alone Complex

Here's part 1 of my series "Finding D&D," or rather, my first pass at working it up into a formal presentation. I'm looking forward to a fair piece of response for it. There's some history, based on several discussions at my old Adept forum, and a lot of private correspondence since then across a number of people with very different views from one another.

Posted by: Ron Edwards

24 Feb 2018

Games: Dungeons & Dragons sensu lato, RuneQuest, Tunnels and Trolls, Boot Hill, Finding D&D, The Arduin Grimoire, Chivalry & Sorcery, Melee, Wizard, Villains & Vigilantes, Champions

18 comments

Meet the Good Guys

Up against the Good Guys! Weak Force, Ankylo, the Anomalator, and Scratch, as I named them from Zircher’s illustration.

The game continues to be cursed by the interface. Please watch rather than listen, if you can, because I put in tons of visual material to help the understanding and the discussion.

Posted by: Ron Edwards

01 Feb 2018

Games: Champions

19 comments

Playing First-generation Champions

Mark and Jahmal and me are doin' it! Followers of Comics Madness know that I'm trying out my hard-won thoughts on best practices for "first-generation Champions," prior to what I think of as the Big Wrong Move it underwent for its 4th edition in 1989. I spilled my every last thought on role-playing concepts and game design through a brutal series of posts, and this game is one of the results.