A New Adventure in Gaming

It seems like synchronistic timing that I am about to embark on a new adventure in game design as the blog approaches 10,000 page views.  My day job is as a college professor at the University of Oklahoma.  The Center for Teaching Excellence at the university is offering a faculty discussion group about what we can learn from games in the design of college courses.  This includes specific lessons like difficulty curves and more general strategies like full gamification.

As part of this course, I will be posting my reactions to the course (you can find the information on the course -- named GOBLIN -- here) to this blog.  I welcome comments and reactions to the blog as I proceed through the course.  I am not sure if "regular programming" will continue during this time (I have a queue of posts on campaign inspirations, for example) but they will be coming back after the course in mid-March if not.

From what I can tell, this will be an opportunity to think more deeply about the foundations of games as well as my approach to instruction.  I hope it proves interesting to others as well.

Artifacts in The Strange

Monte Cook Games is about to celebrate the release of the Encyclopedia of Impossible Things -- a cypher and artifact book for The Strange -- with 10 days of previews and a contest.  This exciting program got me thinking about artifacts in the game and some ways to better integrate them into your campaigns.

Into the Badlands as Inspiration for Numenera

I just finished watching the recent AMC show Into the Badlands.  There is a lot in the show that could be inspirational for Numenera campaign design.  In particular, the show provides a useful view of the sort of social models that emerge in a fractured and depopulated world.  I will avoid spoilers of any of the plot twists in the series.

Information Theory and the Planetovores

I wanted to point everyone to a great introduction to how information theory is changing the way physicists think of the universe.  The post from PBS is available here.  After a brief recap, I will talk about how this approach works well with The Strange and informs my approach to planetovores.

Review of Strange Revelations

Monte Cook Games recently released Strange Revelations -- a set of small adventures for The Strange.   With this, there is only one book left for the kickstarter release schedule and we are starting to see what The Strange looks like as a complete line of products.

Numenera Card Game Update

Timing is everything.  Some new information came in today on the Numenera card game.  BGG.com reports that Lone Shark Games has registered the name The Ninth World: A Skill Building Game for Numenera.  This seems to be the final name for the game.

They have also confirmed that there will be a kickstarter (maybe as soon as next week) to support the development of the game.  I figure the name will be locked in as soon as the kickstarter actually launches.

A Playtest Review of the Numenera Board Game

Last week, I was able to attend Boardgamegeek Con in Dallas.  I had the fortune to participate in a playtest of the upcoming Numenera Board Game from Loneshark Games.  I figured this audience might have some interests in the game given its roots in Monte Cook Games Numenera setting.