In the Roots: Playing with Habitats and Ecosystems in My Bayou RPG
I haven’t interacted with the RPG Blog Carnival before, but I was so excited when I did finally happen across this month’s prompt: Tiny Epics: Small Souls in a Big World! by Errant Thinking . I love “tiny epics” of all shapes and sizes, whether in a devoted “swords-and-whiskers” game or through a more general use of scale as tension. Reading the posts from this month has been an incredible treat, and they have inspired me to take a more deliberate look at how I have (or have not) been encountering some of these ideas in my own upcoming critter-feature, BAYOU . In particular, I wanted to write a bit about my intentions and aspirations for creating environmentally-informed player critters (PCs). First, though, a general claim for consideration: Defining “Player Critters” I believe a game’s “character creation” procedures are the most pivotal expressions of that text’s voice and spirit. This is the first time players feel the game’s heart beat in their own hands. When designi...