A Fresh Start

I’ve been away for a while (what’s it been, like 5 months?), but gamesfromthewildwood is now officially back online.

Now that I’ve completed my Anthropology degree I’ve got a lot more time free than I did last year, so I’m going to spend 2017 making up for all the RPG goodness (both playing and GMing) I had to miss out on while writing my thesis.

I’m moving away from the previous style of this blog (mostly play reports from games I GM) as something that takes time away from the actual playing and running of games, and more towards new kinds of material.

So: new year, new content, new blog. What can you actually look forward to on here from now on?

• Snapshots of my game design process for whichever storygame or microgame I’m currently working on. The project first up is a collaborative storytelling game about surreal fantastical sea journeys called Across the Endless Sea.
• Homebrew content for a variety of published games, including 5^th Edition Dungeons & Dragons and Avery Alder’s brilliant Monsterhearts.
• Thoughts on the art of GMing and the broad mechanics and themes of roleplaying games, some of it advice/tips/tricks and some more abstract theory.
• Behind-the-scenes material for All Things Under Heaven, my upcoming online campaign that will be streaming on my Twitch channel. This includes the various systems and house rules for the game, dungeons that have been resolved, original mechanics and races, and setting posts.
• Reflections on GMing for children and young people from my decade-long employment doing just that. This will include techniques and principles that I hope folks may find useful for introducing their offspring (or other youngsters) to the hobby.
• Mechanizing (or making gameable) concepts from anthropology and history that speak to me or I feel are well-suited to find a place in people’s campaigns and one-shots.
• Updates on Land of a Thousand Autumns, my mythic-Japanese PbtA game of clan obligation and personal feeling, and reflections on playtests and the overall design process.
• Other assorted snippets, including: microsettings or game ideas, half-abandoned design thoughts, updates on the progress of my game for this year’s Phenomenon (an excellent Australian roleplaying convention), and thoughts on and personal experiences with the Australian roleplaying scene.

I’m looking at a twice-weekly schedule, probably publishing one post mid-week and another during the weekend.

During weeks and months when I’m particularly productive or I have a lot to report I may post more often, but my hope is to stick with two posts every week unless work commitments make that impossible in a given period (the intensity of my workload is variable).

I'm looking forward to talking shop with y’all, and hope you stick around!