Ben Robbins
When I was a kid watching movies with my Dad, he would sometimes frown and say, “they left out the reaction shot”. What he meant was the movie showed some important moment like the bad guy getting defeated or some tragic setback, but it didn’t show the characters’ reaction. The hero’s relief as...
Ben Robbins
I’ve talked about how This Means War strives to simulate a believable (but surprising) war. But now I want to talk about the other half of the game: the character-side. The idea all along was that this was a war-game that wasn’t really about war, it was about the people living through the war. All...
Ben Robbins
The playtest of This Means War is chugging along, alarming civilians and crushing dreams. Dreams of the characters, that is — the players love it. After 10 games I can confidently say that this weird experiment actually works. We’ve got two wars going, ancient Baat Kazir and futuristic Novaterra,...
Ben Robbins
or, “omfg Ul-Massara offered peace!!! What the fuck is going on” Second session of Ul-Massara vs Baat Kazir, playtesting This Means War. It’s winter, the third season of our war, and we just introduced characters and started to explore their lives. We finish the season… and both sides agree to...
Ben Robbins
Another playtest of This Means War: When colonists first came to this world, they were united under a single government, working together to survive. Generation after generation slowly built the sprawling mega-city that shields them from the deadly atmosphere and makes life here possible. (Yeah we...
Ben Robbins
If you look at the games I’ve made over the years, there a few things that are true for all of them: no built-in violence no dice deciding outcomes the players control what’s true in the world Sure, you can choose to make a Microscope history that’s all about war and fighting (for example), but...
Ben Robbins
Remember how I said summerlab meant you were going to get games sooner? I was not kidding. I’m putting the finishing touches on a new game right now. Rules of Law is a world-building game about — you guessed it — laws. Because the laws we make, and how we do or do not enforce them, say who we are...