Author Archives: AJ

About AJ

Gamist: 14%, Simulationist: 29%, Narrativist: 57%. Ah, the irony.

A precog walks into a bar …

Now a few weeks into the first play-test of the 3rd edition of The 23rd Letter, I wanted to post some updates on what’s been going in the game, and a few reflections as both Referee and game designer. First … Continue reading

Posted in 23rd Letter, In-Character | Leave a comment

Watchtower play test reflections

The recent posts about Watchtower were from a one-shot adventure I ran for my son’s gaming group. They’ve been playing (mostly) D&D together regularly for 3-4 years, and it was a good opportunity to test out the rules with a … Continue reading

Posted in Commentary, WatchTower | Leave a comment

Watchtower SF: August 4th

Bergs in the Bay! San Francisco Chronicle Meteorologists were shocked today when a massive iceberg several miles long appeared off the coast of Marin County, seemingly on a collision course for the Golden Gate Bridge! “This iceberg cannot be a … Continue reading

Posted in In-Character, WatchTower | Leave a comment

Watchtower SF: some recent headlines

Whyte Buys Watchtower SF San Francisco Chronicle, July 1st 2022 Jack Whyte, exotic and indestructible billionaire, adds Watchtower SF to his stable of Watchtower franchises. This brings his franchise total to four, starting in 2013 with the NYC franchise, and … Continue reading

Posted in In-Character, WatchTower | Leave a comment

Tomb of the Snake King

My kids and I made a game for a Game Jam this weekend, which had a theme of “It Never Ends”. My youngest daughter (age 12) created all the art and music for the game, while my son (age 15) … Continue reading

Posted in Videogames | Leave a comment

WatchTower: The Game

After many games of WatchTower played using rules from other systems (primarily the classic Marvel Super Heroes game), Matt and I have knuckled down to start writing the actual WatchTower game. We were planning to start a new group and … Continue reading

Posted in Supers, WatchTower | Leave a comment

WatchTower New England – Episode 3

Robotic Rampage Stopped By Raw Recruits by Rhonda McAvoy of The Boston Globe March 18th, 2002 The Prudential Center was subject to a brutal attack this morning at around 8am. Three robotic figures burst out of one of the iconic … Continue reading

Posted in WatchTower | Leave a comment

WatchTower New England – Episode 2

Sunday March 17, 2002 (St. Patrick’s Day) From the log of Karl Maclean, WTNE Controller 8am: New recruits have lasted 24 hours without injury or fatality. Void seems to have settled into a leadership role, and may make a decent … Continue reading

Posted in In-Character, WatchTower | Leave a comment

WatchTower New England Episode 1

WatchTower secretly recruits new members by Rhonda McAvoy of The Boston Globe March 17th, 2002 Three new WatchTower operatives were spotted yesterday in and around the greater metro area. While no information has been forthcoming from the New England franchise, … Continue reading

Posted in GM, WatchTower | 1 Comment

WatchTower State Coverage and the New England Team

This map shows all 50 states, and which WatchTower franchise(s) cover each state. Those states which are shaded with two colours have agreements with two franchises, and either will respond depending on availability. The north-east used to be covered by … Continue reading

Posted in WatchTower | 3 Comments

WatchTower Franchise Map

There are currently 10 WatchTower franchises in N. America, with a number of others under consideration by both WatchTower Inc. and various city and state governments. View WatchTower franchises on a map. Each franchise has its own charter of specific … Continue reading

Posted in WatchTower | Leave a comment

The X-1 visa

The late 80s and early 90s saw an upswing in exotic crime, as beleaguered WatchTower franchises were stretched trying to find members willing and able to combat this rising tide. In response in 1994, Bill Clinton signed into law the … Continue reading

Posted in WatchTower | Leave a comment

WatchTower New England

All of New England is protected under one WatchTower franchise (WT-NE), which has offices in each of the state capitals (Boston, Hartford, Providence, Montpelier and Augusta) but is headquartered in Boston. To be precise, the HQ is in Cambridge, MA … Continue reading

Posted in GM, WatchTower | Leave a comment

WatchTower – What Everyone Knows

The world is similar to the world we live in now. We have all the same political, social and environmental issues, the same level of media, technology and education, the same strip malls, gas guzzlers and sitcoms. Origins People with … Continue reading

Posted in GM, WatchTower | 3 Comments

Back from hiatus – some new WatchTower

My move to Canada and subsequent birth of my daughter kind of put my gaming on hold, but now I’m back in a regular group and I’m looking to run a WatchTower game with them. This will be my first … Continue reading

Posted in WatchTower | 12 Comments

D&D 4th Edition … now with more!

I had a poke through a friend’s copy of 4th Edition D&D. It seems it has been genericised to the nth degree, and everything has been made more powerful from the word go. On top of that, alignments have been … Continue reading

Posted in Commentary | Tagged | 3 Comments

Current games in development

As mentioned a few posts ago, here is a list of the games that have gone through our idea filter and dropped down into the Book Development stage. If you’re a regular reader, the chances are none of these are … Continue reading

Posted in Game Design | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

D&D 4th Edition – A lazy blog post

I decided to just post verbatim an IM conversation between the two of us about D&D 4th Edition. I make no apologies for my laziness.

Posted in Commentary, Industry | Tagged , | Leave a comment

How we design a role-playing game

I thought I’d share a bit about how our game design process works and (in a subsequent post) what we’re currently working on. This is not necessarily the best way to design a game, and we’re always looking at ways … Continue reading

Posted in Game Design | Leave a comment

Game Developers and Publishers

I’ve just taken over editing of the Game Developers and Publishers area on dmoz. If you are in this arena and want your site listed there, please submit it through the site suggestion link on that page and I should … Continue reading

Posted in Game Design | Leave a comment