by Nathan | Nov 18, 2024 | Blog, Design, News
I cannot believe it is November. This year has been a strange one for me, dragging with interminable slowness for large portions, only for me to blink and find that months have passed. Today, I want to give an update on the state of projects and what has been...
by Nathan | Jun 8, 2024 | Blog, Freeform Universal
Today I want to talk about drives in more detail. The classic FU rules describe them as defining a character’s “purpose”, or the thing they most want to achieve. However, drives can be much more than that. Drives can be the overt reasons a...
by Nathan | Jan 4, 2024 | Blog, Business of Games, Design
I haven’t done this before, but I thought I would begin the year with a look back at the year that was 2023 – releases, sales and what I worked on. I don’t think this will be a particularly long post, but I am writing it as both a record of what has...
by Nathan | Nov 11, 2023 | Blog, Freeform Universal
Here’s a quick thumb-sketch of an idea for a story or campaign, inspired by Marvel’s Inhumans. In this variation, however, it is more of a mash-up with traditional fantasy tropes, rather than alien experimentation. In the distant past, thousands (if not millions) of...
by Nathan | Nov 4, 2023 | Blog, Design
The Green and the Tan are fast-playing and fun miniature battle rules to use with plastic army men – you know, the cheap toy soldiers you get from discount stores! Easy for new players to get involved quickly, without having to worry about detailed army lists or...
by Nathan | Oct 28, 2023 | Blog, Other Games, Reviews
Black Ops is a skirmish miniature game from Osprey Games. It is subtitled “Tactical Espionage Wargaming” and the back cover copy describes it as a game that “recreates the tension and excitement of modern action thrillers such as the Bond and Bourne films.” The cover,...
by Nathan | Oct 25, 2023 | Blog, Freeform Universal
Freeform Universal works really well just the way it is, but today I am going to share with you two changes I have been working on – tags and trademarks. The first is a pretty simple adjustment to the language we use to describe functions in the game, while the second...
by Nathan | Oct 21, 2023 | Blog, Other Games, Roleplaying Games
Vagrant Workshop have done a fantastic job on two amazing games that utilise the FU system. If you haven’t checked out Earthdawn: Age of Legend or the Equinox Storygame Guide, you should – they are beautiful products, evocative settings...
by Nathan | Oct 18, 2023 | Blog, Design
Every project has a point where it is time to share it with others. In game design, you need to get it in front of play testers to see if things work how you intended. When writing, you need your beta readers to tackle the text and share their initial impressions....
by Nathan | Oct 14, 2023 | Blog, Freeform Universal
FU uses dice to generate a response to a closed question, with Yes, No, And, But providing six distinct possible results. While these answers can be generated with a standard six-sided die, I thought it might be fun to have something a little more custom. Today I am...
