Previous Topics

1/25/2010 Sebastian: [Hell for Leather] Playtest disaster: The London Fiasco
I was recently in London where I got a chance to run a playtest with Graham Walmsley and Adam Kelly. It was a disaster. In the interests of transparency, I'm…
In Playtesting
Participants: Sebastian, Ar Kayon, Gregor Hutton.

1/21/2010 Sebastian: [Hell for Leather] UCD Playtest
Some people are scared of rejection. Me, I’m scared of playtests. It’s all about control, or the lack thereof, and the false understanding that somehow I can make my game…
In Playtesting
Participants: Sebastian, Ar Kayon.

1/10/2010 Sebastian: [Hell for Leather] Hyperviolent Gaming! Now in Beta (Come and get your hands dir
Hell for Leather + Art + New Rules = BETA! Hell for Leather Murder equals extra dice Hell for Leather - the GM-less roleplaying game of pay-per-view bloodshed - is…
In Connections
Participants: Sebastian, hix, Solarsaurus.

1/2/2010 Sebastian: [Hell for Leather] Steal the Prime Minister's eyeballs
A twitch. That's what I got from Wednesday's session. Maybe it was the ear being ripped off, or maybe it was the scalpel in the testicles. No matter which, it…
In Playtesting
Participants: Sebastian.

12/21/2009 Sebastian: [Hell for Leather] German playtest with non-gamers
I got an email from my chief playtester in Germany. Sounds like a fun playtest. To keep things open, I'm posting it here (Daniel is not a member of the…
In Playtesting
Participants: Sebastian.

12/11/2009 Sebastian: [Hell for Leather] First blind playtest using students
This evening I facilitated my first blind playtest. Well, it was more near-sighted than blind, as there wasn't time for anyone to read the text. Instead, I turned up and…
In Playtesting
Participants: Sebastian, northerain, Quizoid.

12/4/2009 Sebastian: [Hell for Leather] Terrorise Kuala Lumpur? - ADULTS ONLY
[b][u]ADULTS ONLY[/u][/b] Two weeks ago we managed to play a complete session of Hell for Leather, with all the rules intact, so I thought I?d post about it here. There…
In Playtesting
Participants: Sebastian.

12/4/2009 Sebastian: [Hell for Leather] Taser in the face? - ADULTS ONLY
[B][U]ADULTS ONLY[/U][/B] Tonight was the first time we played a full session of the Hell for Leather Co-Op rules, so I thought I'd post the results. There were three contestants,…
In Playtesting
Participants: Sebastian.

11/16/2009 Sebastian: [Hell for Leather] Tasteless violence needs proofing
[Also posted on Praxis] I've just finished the alpha release of Hell for Leather for Nathan Paoletta's Two Games One Name competition. My playtest group have become contaminated by the…
In Connections
Participants: Sebastian.

10/22/2009 Sebastian: [Hell for Leather] A bit of creative help? - PC Stats
Hi guys, I need your help with player stats. I’m writing a game for Nathan Paoletta’s Two Games One Name competition (http://rpgchallenge.wordpress.com/2009/10/19/the-assignments/) called Hell for Leather.  It’s heavily influenced by…
In First Thoughts
Participants: Sebastian, Noon.

10/2/2009 Sebastian: [Primetime Adventures] "Last Stand" Great pitch... but then what happened?
I tried running PTA for three traditional role players.  Where did I go wrong? Pitch Like most first games of PTA, the guys went straight for sci-fi.  It started off…
In Actual Play
Participants: Sebastian, davidberg, JoyWriter, Noon, FredGarber.

9/30/2009 Sebastian: [Legends System] From 'Of Legends & Legacies' thread
Over the weekend I was up in Belfast to continue a game with some old time players.  It was the perfect opportunity to try out a system for recounting rumours…
In Playtesting
Participants: Sebastian, JoyWriter, dmkdesigns.

9/24/2009 Sebastian: [Way of the Agent] A rule - Should I Keep it?
I woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't get back to sleep. Question: If another character is playing a conflict and they are in the limelight, would…
In First Thoughts
Participants: Sebastian, Aapov, Mulrah, JoyWriter, whiteknife.

9/13/2009 Sebastian: [Cops & Robbers] The Grand Caper Story
I was on Story Games and there was chatter about Cop & Robbers: http://www.story-games.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=10406.  It sparked an idea, which I posted about, but I didn't get any feedback.  Maybe the…
In First Thoughts
Participants: Sebastian.

9/10/2009 Sebastian: [Lands & Stones] Gambling In-Character -> The 10 minute solution
Hello, I've written up the first draft of a prototype for a pretty basic, cross platform, In-Character gambling solution.  It's called Lands & Stones. Game Idea Marbles + Cards +…
In First Thoughts
Participants: Sebastian, Vulpinoid, JoyWriter, chronoplasm.

9/3/2009 Sebastian: Are GM-less games one shots?
I'm digesting as many Indie games as I can right now, but it will never be enough.  I have to make a design decision for one or both of the…
In First Thoughts
Participants: Sebastian, jasonm, Michael S. Miller, David Artman, Eliarhiman6, Ben Lehman, JoyWriter, Noon, henebry.

9/2/2009 Sebastian: Marketing -> Can you start too early?
Can you start to market your product too early? That's the question. If so, what are the consequences and how can you make sure you get the timing right?  What…
In Publishing
Participants: Sebastian, Dan Maruschak, preludetotheend, Nathan P., pells, Elizabeth, Luke, Seamus.

8/27/2009 Sebastian: [Way of the Agent] Introduction to the first draft
[Way of the Agent] Introduction to the first draft [b]Way of the Agent [/b] Heroic vigilantes.  Explosive conspiracies.  Bad one liners. So, that’s the idea. I’m in the middle of…
In First Thoughts
Participants: Sebastian, HeTeleports, Ken, jasonm.

8/27/2009 Sebastian: Marketing & Podcasts
Hi guys, I'm writing a game.  I'm also building a website.  During the creation, design, scheduling and implementation of the RPG project, I thought it would be prudent to keep…
In Publishing
Participants: Sebastian, Ron Edwards, RobNJ, Nathan P..

7/26/2009 Sebastian: First Questions - Should I self publish?
Hello, I'm new to this industry.  I don't plan to make it big, but I love designing games.  I think I've come up with something tasty and, like all the…
In Publishing
Participants: Sebastian, Lance D. Allen, preludetotheend, Ben Lehman, MatrixGamer, HeTeleports, greyorm, Selene Tan.

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Subsequent Topics

2/6/2010 Sebastian: [Hell for Leather] Two brothers kill Hitler?
In the second of the Warpcon XX playtests, I talk about a two player session of Hell for Leather. After running the game for 6 strangers, it was nice to…
In Playtesting
Participants: Sebastian.

2/8/2010 Sebastian: [Hell for Leather] Igor and the flying castle
In the third of the Warpcon XX playtests, I talk about a six player session of Hell for Leather. The table was rammed full of creative beacons. Armed with the…
In Playtesting
Participants: Sebastian.

2/21/2010 Sebastian: [Hell for Leather] Blow up the Moon & Bean Sprout Murder!
For this week's Grind I'd like to talk a little about the results of a playtest I ran at Itzacon last weekend. What a bunch of creationizers! The two newbies…
In Playtesting
Participants: Sebastian, Gregor Hutton.

3/1/2010 Sebastian: [Hell for Leather] Sh*tting on the ancestors - ADULTS ONLY
(Warning: Contains offensive ideas and offensive language... like the word cunt) Last week I witnessed the most anarchic HfL playtest to date, a journey of debauchery and violence in old…
In Playtesting
Participants: Sebastian, Ron Edwards, Noon, Ar Kayon.

3/8/2010 Sebastian: [Contest] Write 7 lines in 10 days
I'm looking for help, so I'm holding a contest. This has been posted over on Story Games too. I'm looking for sample scenarios (called Frames—read this?) for game called Hell…
In Endeavor
Participants: Sebastian, Ar Kayon, Excalibur, Ben Lehman, Ron Edwards, davidberg, Luminous.

3/31/2010 Sebastian: [Hammer Falls] Junkie Dystopia
[b]Hammer Falls[/b] is a pocket play game of dystopian storytelling. Together with the author (John aka Pooka), I had a chance to playtest the game at Conpulsion last weekend. [u][b]Begin[/b][/u]…
In Playtesting
Participants: Sebastian.

3/31/2010 Sebastian: [Hell 4 Leather] Satanic Bikers + Manga KAPOWWW!
[b]Hell 4 Leather[/b] is [URL=http://www.princeofdarknessgames.com/]Joe Prince's[/URL] Tarot game of satanic revenge. There were six players (including Joe Prince, Gregor Hutton, myself and Daniel Klein). It was nought-to-gaming in 60 seconds.…
In Playtesting
Participants: Sebastian, DanielZKlein.

4/6/2010 Sebastian: [Hell for Leather] (IN STEREO) Satire Strikes Back!
Hell for Leather goes stereo in Scotland. If you dig these audio APs, clickity-click here for a three-part, smut free demo recording from Conpulsion 2010. It wasn't the best-goddam-session I've…
In Playtesting
Participants: Sebastian.

4/6/2010 Sebastian: [Hell for Leather] Vietnam -> I'm glad I didn't play this one
While I was off doing other things, Pooka, Malcolm Craig and an unknown fella (sorry, I didn't get to meet you), playtested Hell for Leather. As I understood it, they…
In Playtesting
Participants: Sebastian.

4/11/2010 Sebastian: [Hell for Leather RPG] Things You Gotta Do Before Printing
In 11 weeks, HfL is going to be launched but I haven't even spoken to a printers yet. What the fuck do I do now? Where do I start? Using…
In Publishing
Participants: Sebastian, Tomas, Ron Edwards, Gryffudd.

5/2/2010 Sebastian: [Hell for Leather] Statham, Jones & Diesel? (with UCD Games)
I was able to run a playtest of Hell for Leather RPG on Friday afternoon. It was incredibly ridiculous with an ensemble cast of hateable celebrities (like Davina McCall), and…
In Playtesting
Participants: Sebastian.

5/9/2010 Sebastian: [Hell for Leather] Lenin & Socrates, Chrono Vigilantes
The Saturday before last, I got a chance to play Hannibal of Carthage, the mighty chrono-vigilante, on a quest to negate tomorrow's dark dystopia. There were elephants, and everything. Awesome…
In Playtesting
Participants: Sebastian.

5/14/2010 Sebastian: [HfL] A cereberal game of Polish betrayal in WWII
Three players, three hours, one survivor. Poland in WWII. A story of betrayal and murder under the canopy of early war. In this report I'll write a quasi-transcript about building…
In Playtesting
Participants: Sebastian.

5/14/2010 Sebastian: [Hell for Leather] Hyperviolent Gaming! FREE STUFF!
Hell for Leather is basically finished. It's stacking dice + messy gore + stoopid fun. Here's a video. And another. For the next few weeks I'm giving it out for…
In Connections
Participants: Sebastian.

5/24/2010 Sebastian: [Hell for Leather] Run & Rest - 70s Narcs
Last week I got another chance to playtest Hell for Leather, this time dressed in golden medallions and gorgeous sideburns. We built the Frame (world and setting) quickly, but this…
In Playtesting
Participants: Sebastian.

6/21/2010 Sebastian: [Hell for Leather] Good coke, bad taste (80s fun)
We got caught stealing drugs from kids. That was the opening conception for the collection of buff thugs starring in this week's 80s extravaganza. Following up from our 70s, disco-licious,…
In Playtesting
Participants: Sebastian.

7/19/2010 Sebastian: Tearaway Pads & Folios -> Whacha call'em?
Did you ever buy any of those character sheet pads in the old days so you didn't have to go to the photocopier everyday? Like a 20 leaf pad of…
In Publishing
Participants: Sebastian, PJK.

8/13/2010 Sebastian: [HfL] Heir to the Spy Throne
"What about family of royal spies?" That was the question that got me buzzing at the tabletop. I wanted to put this up a few weeks ago, to be all…
In Actual Play
Participants: Sebastian.

8/19/2010 Sebastian: [Way of the Agent] Help with tragedies
So, your character has been fucked by The Man. Maybe that's the mafia, maybe that's the government, maybe that's the hive-minded slaver aliens. "What did they take from you?" That's…
In First Thoughts
Participants: Sebastian, slingshot, Noon, chronoplasm, Ar Kayon.

9/11/2010 Sebastian: Sebastian's Game Thread
One idea is to use “skin” (as in a tanned hide) to chronicle a war, in which the main character is the war itself, shaped by the recorded actions of…
In Endeavor: Game Chef 2010
Participants: Sebastian, Jason Pitre, masqueradeball.

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