by Nathan | Oct 7, 2023 | Blog, Design, Roleplaying Games
Sometimes, as a GM, running in an established world / universe is nice and easy. We’ve read the novels, seen the films and purchased all the supplements that reveal the deepest secrets of the most sinister organisations of the setting. When you tell your players they...
by Nathan | Oct 4, 2023 | Blog, Freeform Universal
Currently, the FU rules do not provide details on advancement through experience points, instead suggesting to change descriptors and make adjustments to characters in a more ad-hoc manner. It is a small step, however, to reward play with experience points...
by Nathan | Sep 30, 2023 | Blog, Design, Roleplaying Games
Starting a new roleplaying game is always exciting, but, as keen as I am to just get into telling exciting stores, I always take a moment to address a few things. I like to kick things off with a conversation so everyone is on the same page. Even when playing with...
by Nathan | Sep 27, 2023 | Blog, Design, Freeform Universal
So, this comes up a lot. It was never my intention to be provocative, contentious, or just damn rude. In fact I always have and always will call my little game “foo”. It never entered my mind that “F – U” might mean something else until after I had shared it. I guess...
by Nathan | Sep 25, 2023 | Blog, Other Games
I am a big fan of the Osprey Games miniature wargame, Frostgrave. Many years ago, I wrote two articles on my personal blog about how to use the rules to create wizard “specialists” – unique spell casters inspired by specific themes. I have...
by Nathan | Sep 19, 2023 | Blog, Freeform Universal, Roleplaying Games
I have been giving some thought to the dice mechanism in FU lately. A lot of thought. In fact, I have been chasing myself in circles thinking about how actions are resolved, what is important and why. I decided I would write this post so that; I could clarify for...
by Nathan | Sep 17, 2023 | Blog, Freeform Universal
This is a set of optional, untested, experimental rules to introduce a more traditional damage system to FU. This is quite a departure from the standard FU rules, as it is more prescriptive in how things work, and has a list of tags that should be used in...
by Nathan | Sep 16, 2023 | Blog, Roleplaying Games
I joined a game of Battletech: A Time of War recently and was surprised to find that nobody was playing the role of the iconic mechwarrior. It was particularly surprising as we had been told that every character would need at least some skill in battlemech piloting....
by Nathan | Jul 3, 2023 | Blog, Design
I came to the joys of traditional tabletop roleplaying in a bit of a different way than most, and it has had profound impact on me as a games designer. I think most kids of my generation discovered the joys of roleplaying either through the classic red-box DnD, or via...
by Nathan | Apr 10, 2023 | Blog, Design, News
I had the absolute pleasure to speak with Garry from the Dieku Games Youtube channel. We talked about the origins of Freeform Universal, Hard City and my upcoming dieselpunk game, Tomorrow City. Check it out and give the channel a “thumbs up” if you...
