Author

About the Author
James lives somewhere in Pennsylvania with his wife and baby boy. He is an avid distance runner who really gets a kick out of talking to folks. His biggest asset might be his thorough enjoyment of people.

Alignment In Worldbuilding

What if the chaotic actions of the hero cause harm despite their good intentions? Consequences are part of the worldbuilding and within the Dungeon Master (DM)’s control as a result the DM should have a sense of how to handle them. The Big 9 The following is a basic layout for what alignments are skip…

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Alignment In Worldbuilding

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Alignment In Worldbuilding
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Madness and Sadness in Adventure Time

The contrast and nonsensical nature of this world doesn’t take away from the depth of the story, it adds to it.

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Madness and Sadness in Adventure Time

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Madness and Sadness in Adventure Time
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CyberPunk: Money Can Buy You Love

The Beatles famously wrote ‘I don’t care too much for money, cause money can’t buy me love’. But what if it could? What if technology could synthesize that feeling? Cypher acknowledges this in the Matrix. As I look back on that original movie I find myself sympathizing with him more and more. You wake up…

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CyberPunk: Money Can Buy You Love

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CyberPunk: Money Can Buy You Love
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Revan and Mandalore

You’ll have to bear with me, I’m a little obsessed. You see, I played KOTOR (Knights of the Old Republic) at a young and impressionable age and it messed me up good and proper. I never really recovered. Though I loved the movies, it was this game and that novel that served as the true…

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Revan and Mandalore

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Revan and Mandalore
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Complexity Where It Counts

Atoms Knocking on Atoms I think worldbuilders are a strange bunch. We mostly grew up worshiping detail and intricacy because we’re the type of people that like to dive deep into detail. I knew this when my wife asked me what Tusken Raiders looked like under their desert regalia and I started talking about the…

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Complexity Where It Counts

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Complexity Where It Counts
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Brandon Sanderson’s 0th Law

I’m late to the party. Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn series has been around for a while but I just cracked open the first book. Why did I wait so long? The truth is I’ve always been late to the party, it’s like a personal preference or inbuilt mandate in my system. I just don’t do new…

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Brandon Sanderson’s 0th Law

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Brandon Sanderson's 0th Law
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Mechanics are the Bridge Between Worlds and the Players Who Inhabit Them

Shivs are a vital and rare resource in the Last of Us, they unlock doors, allow for quick and stealthy kills or rescue you from the embrace of a savage clicker. They’re a gameplay mechanic in a gritty, fairly realistic world and, if taken too literally, are entirely immersion breaking. This is not a criticism…

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Mechanics are the Bridge Between Worlds and the Players Who Inhabit Them

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Mechanics are the Bridge Between Worlds and the Players Who Inhabit Them
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Zombies Zombies Everywhere

For me, The Last of Us was a primary factor in purchasing a PS4 over competing consoles (or building a gaming PC) and I stand by that position to this day. After my wife bought me the game thinking we were going to enjoy a play through together -as we had done with Uncharted (made…

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Zombies Zombies Everywhere

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Zombies Zombies Everywhere
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TTRPG Character Building and Setting

I recently played a new pen and paper roleplaying game with Jon. Guy’s a brilliant game runner and it was a blast. The setting is called Degenesis and uses the Katharsys system which appears to have been designed solely for the game. Now, Degenesis is made by artists and you can tell. It’s a beautiful…

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TTRPG Character Building and Setting

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TTRPG Character Building and Setting
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Rich vs. Poor in Harry Potter

So, here we are again, I’m writing about Harry Potter. In a prior blog I’d alluded to the Statute of Secrecy being a problem and now listening to our Rich vs. Poor episode featuring Seth and Marcos I’m even more peeved about it. You see, class disparity doesn’t have to be the result of cash…

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Rich vs. Poor in Harry Potter

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Rich vs. Poor in Harry Potter
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