There are as many plots in role playing as there are in genre fiction. They all boil down to “man in conflict,” but there are many different flavors of “man” and an equally high number of flavors of “conflict.” If I were to attempt to describe every nuanced type of story available to role players, […]
This month, I want to delve a bit into different styles of games. There are tons of different ways of playing a game, and in many cases it’s a mix ‘n’ match of different styles all merging into a cohesive thing. Some games lend themselves toward a certain style of play, but most of them […]
I’m going to take a moment (or twelve) to talk about character backgrounds. Some (most?) folks view a character as a set of numbers, a list of abilities, and a collection of equipment that combine to define the character. These are merely surface details. You don’t get to know someone by looking at them and […]
I’ve talked a bit about the foundational history of role playing games. I think it’s time to talk a bit about how things stand these days. Release of the OGL The watershed moment for modern role playing came in 2000 with the release of Dungeon and Dragons, 3rd edition. The game itself wasn’t the most important […]
This is the first in what I hope will turn into a regular column here at Functional Nerds. I’m going to be talking about role playing games (RPGs). Before I delve too deeply into the nuance and history of this wonderful style of gaming, I figured I would start off by telling you what RPGs […]
Subscribe to The Functional Nerds Podcast on iTunes and never miss an episode!