Plot Points

Emily Care Boss is the brilliant designer of games like The Romance Trilogy, and Bubblegumshoe. With Ben Riggs, she chews over game theory, her career, and how Ars Magica may have directly inspired some of the most important indie designers of the 21st century. Then, in a brief chat, Ben talks to Wizards of the Coast founder and Gen Con owner Peter Adkison about what quality may have led to his tremendously successful career in games.

Ben's book on RPG adventure design, Encounter Theory, is on DriveThruRPG. Click here to pick up this essential volume!

Like Plot Points? Support it on Patreon at the $2 level, and you'll get a sneak peek into Ben's book about the sale of TSR to Wizards of the Coast! This chapter concerns TSR West, an effort by TSR to open an LA office devoted to producing comic books, an effort that failed rather impressively. It is the product of a dozen interviews with professionals from comics, gaming, and Hollywood, and as far as I can reckon, it is a tale entirely untold until now.

Image courtesy Evil Hat Productions.

Imagine a world where teachers used RPGs as teaching tools. That is the world the Teacher-Gamer Handbook aims to bring about. Zachary Reznichek is a master teacher who has been using RPGs to teach writing, math, and other skills to students. He has taken his decades of accumulated wisdom and put it into the Teacher-Gamer Handbook, a volume which teachers (or parents) can use to teach their children through the magic of RPGs. Click here to back the book, and hurry! It hasn't funded, and it only has eight days to do so!

Image courtesy Zachary Reznichek.

Academic Scott Bruner and Ben Riggs read aloud and comment on the 1st edition Dungeon Master's Guide by Gary Gygax, an attempt by the game's co-creator to instruct players, but also exert control over the burgeoning community of gamers. This week, we tackle the forward and preface to the work.

Ben's book on RPG adventure design, Encounter Theory, is on DriveThruRPG. Click here to pick up this essential volume!

Like Plot Points? Support it on Patreon at the $2 level, and you'll get a sneak peek into Ben's book about the sale of TSR to Wizards of the Coast! This chapter concerns TSR West, an effort by TSR to open an LA office devoted to producing comic books, an effort that failed rather impressively. It is the product of a dozen interviews with professionals from comics, gaming, and Hollywood, and as far as I can reckon, it is a tale entirely untold until now.

Image courtesy Wizards of the Coast.

The Plot Points gang continues looking at Descent into Avernus chapter-by-chapter. This week, we visit Baldur's Gate, and then descend into the pit itself!

Ben's book on RPG adventure design, Encounter Theory, is on DriveThruRPG. Click here to pick up this essential volume!

Like Plot Points? Support it on Patreon at the $2 level, and you'll get a sneak peek into Ben's book about the sale of TSR to Wizards of the Coast! This chapter concerns TSR West, an effort by TSR to open an LA office devoted to producing comic books, an effort that failed rather impressively. It is the product of a dozen interviews with professionals from comics, gaming, and Hollywood, and as far as I can reckon, it is a tale entirely untold until now.

Image courtesy Wizards of the Coast.

Bill Bridges worked on some of the most phenomenal game products of the 1990s at White Wolf, and he's back with a Kickstarter for a new edition of Fading Suns, the far-future RPG of sci-fi passion!

Ben's book on RPG adventure design, Encounter Theory, is on DriveThruRPG. Click here to pick up this essential volume!

Like Plot Points? Support it on Patreon at the $2 level, and you'll get a sneak peek into Ben's book about the sale of TSR to Wizards of the Coast! This chapter concerns TSR West, an effort by TSR to open an LA office devoted to producing comic books, an effort that failed rather impressively. It is the product of a dozen interviews with professionals from comics, gaming, and Hollywood, and as far as I can reckon, it is a tale entirely untold until now.

Image courtesy Ulisses Spiele.

Peek behind the curtain at the stores and supply chains that make the RPG industry run with Micheal Parker of ACD Distribution. How did the industry weather the '08 recession? How does the RPG industry look on the sales side? Find out!

Ben's book on RPG adventure design, Encounter Theory, is on DriveThruRPG. Click here to pick up this essential volume!

Like Plot Points? Support it on Patreon at the $2 level, and you'll get a sneak peek into Ben's book about the sale of TSR to Wizards of the Coast! This chapter concerns TSR West, an effort by TSR to open an LA office devoted to producing comic books, an effort that failed rather impressively. It is the product of a dozen interviews with professionals from comics, gaming, and Hollywood, and as far as I can reckon, it is a tale entirely untold until now.

Image courtesy Monte Cook Games.

Ptolus was the home campaign Monte Cook ran while designing 3rd edition D&D. Brimming with brilliant fodder for the gaming table, it quickly sold out and became an item for the collector's market. Now, Monte Cook Games is Kickstarting a new edition of Ptolus, updating the classic setting for both the Cypher System and 5th Edition. Click here to learn more about this stupendous setting!

Ben's book on RPG adventure design, Encounter Theory, is on DriveThruRPG. Click here to pick up this essential volume!

Like Plot Points? Support it on Patreon at the $2 level, and you'll get a sneak peek into Ben's book about the sale of TSR to Wizards of the Coast! This chapter concerns TSR West, an effort by TSR to open an LA office devoted to producing comic books, an effort that failed rather impressively. It is the product of a dozen interviews with professionals from comics, gaming, and Hollywood, and as far as I can reckon, it is a tale entirely untold until now.

Image courtesy Monte Cook Games.

Once upon a time, the TSR offices were in downtown Lake Geneva in an old hotel. These are the stories of that building.

Ben's book on RPG adventure design, Encounter Theory, is on DriveThruRPG. Click here to pick up this essential volume!

Like Plot Points? Support it on Patreon at the $2 level, and you'll get a sneak peek into Ben's book about the sale of TSR to Wizards of the Coast! This chapter concerns TSR West, an effort by TSR to open an LA office devoted to producing comic books, an effort that failed rather impressively. It is the product of a dozen interviews with professionals from comics, gaming, and Hollywood, and as far as I can reckon, it is a tale entirely untold until now.

An academic, a game professional, and your host gather to review Richard Stanley's latest effort, an HP Lovecraft adaptation: The Colour Out of Space starring Nicholas Cage!

Ben's book on RPG adventure design, Encounter Theory, is on DriveThruRPG. Click here to pick up this essential volume!

Like Plot Points? Support it on Patreon at the $2 level, and you'll get a sneak peek into Ben's book about the sale of TSR to Wizards of the Coast! This chapter concerns TSR West, an effort by TSR to open an LA office devoted to producing comic books, an effort that failed rather impressively. It is the product of a dozen interviews with professionals from comics, gaming, and Hollywood, and as far as I can reckon, it is a tale entirely untold until now.

How did HP Lovecraft's "Colour Out of Space" influence gaming? Academic Scott Bruner, Chaosium stalwart Jim Lowder, and host Ben Riggs gather to discuss!

Ben's book on RPG adventure design, Encounter Theory, is on DriveThruRPG. Click here to pick up this essential volume!

Like Plot Points? Support it on Patreon at the $2 level, and you'll get a sneak peek into Ben's book about the sale of TSR to Wizards of the Coast! This chapter concerns TSR West, an effort by TSR to open an LA office devoted to producing comic books, an effort that failed rather impressively. It is the product of a dozen interviews with professionals from comics, gaming, and Hollywood, and as far as I can reckon, it is a tale entirely untold until now.