About Me

My photo
Seattle, Washington, United States
I'm an old time roleplayer who became a soldier who became a veteran who became a developer who became a dba who became a manager who never gave up his dream of a better world. Even if I have to create it myself.

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

M3 Larp

OK, I know, Larps and stuff.

But our distant cousins who refuse to accept the righteousness of tabletop gaming deserve love, too. Well, every once in a while.


Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Stellar Animated Badge

I decided to play around with Adobe After Effects and animate the Stellar Badge.

Here it is.



Direct Vimeo Link: Animated Stellar Badge
Sound Effects from: http://www.freesfx.co.uk

It's my first foray into AE, so be gentle!


Monday, February 17, 2014

Stellar Space Fighter Combat, Part 2

Last time I talked about the basic goals and the Initiative Phase of space combat in Stellar. This time, I'll talk about the Movement phases. I've done multiple playtests to arrive at this version of the rules: some on my own, some with 1 other player, and some with 2 other players.

Thanks go out to PintoBean and BabyBat for playing!

To recap, Initiative was the first phase, and the design is to have a Movement Phase and a Weapons Phase after that. This structure allows me to have players more frequently active/involved, and make initiative dynamic yet simple by not having to know everyone's roll before the action starts.

In play, this structure also aids the "feel" of space combat.

Two players vs. six goons, and a whole lotta d12s

Sunday, February 16, 2014

Stellar Badge

Felt like drawing today, so I made a badge for Stellar in Adobe Illustrator. I wouldn't go as far as to call it a logo, but maybe. Mostly I wanted some sort of identity look for now.

© 2014 Cobalt Kobold Publishing

There are 4 components here, layered from back to front. I started with an empty 200pt x 100pt artboard.

Saturday, February 15, 2014

Stellar Space Fighter Combat, Part 1

One of my big issues with a lot of sci-fi tabletop RPGs is that the space combat seems to be an afterthought. Frequently, the rules either exactly match the ground combat, or they seem to be a minor optional ruleset.

For me, a sci-fi game must include fun space battles.

Once upon a time, this was sci-fi.
photo credit: Chris Devers via photopin cc

Thursday, February 13, 2014

Graphic Design Books

Tim Shorts over at the Valentine Manor asked about books for graphic design and layout. Here's some of my favorites.


Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Stellar Mechanics

photo credit: mag3737 via photopin cc


One of the lessons I've learned in the past few years is that I needed to figure out mechanics after I figure out the outcomes.

For Stellar, I need to get a core mechanic going so that I can explore the rest of the rules. But in the classic chicken vs egg fashion, I need some idea of the rules before I can select a trial mechanic.

Monday, February 10, 2014

Stellar Goals

What do I want out of Stellar?

I asked myself this question first, to give the initial direction. What follows is a bit of a stream of consciousness... a window into my design soul, if you will.

It's cloudy, with a chance of sci-fi.
photo credit: ChaoticMind75 via photopin cc


Sunday, February 9, 2014

Backstreet's Back. In Black.

photo credit: A Guy Taking Pictures via photopin cc

Been a while.

It took me some time to come to grips with a nasty reality: I was burnt out. Between work, and medical stuff, and working on Phoenix RPG, something had to give. So I've spent a lot of the last few months just watching TV (Chuck marathon, anyone?) and playing video games (mostly SWTOR and Path of Exile). Well, and still going to work, which as we all know is a bit of a necessary evil.

Phoenix/Monstrarium has been an amazing learning experience and I want to get back to it. However, I'm not ready for that yet. I'm going to take a break and start a new project, code-named Stellar. My intention is to use some of my lessons learned from Phoenix/Monstrarium and see if I can have a better process this time around.

Process? What?

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