SmiteFest 2: Saturday, May 2nd in Kenmore

Posted on April 30, 2009 by Wade Rockett

On Saturday, May 2nd, the greatest gaming event ever held in a Seattle-area Episcopal church returns! (It’s also quite likely the only gaming event held in a Seattle-area Episcopal church, but let’s not quibble over details.) SmiteFest 2 is a free, all-ages day of games and awesomeness taking place in the Undercroft at Episcopal Church [...]

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Variance Supplemental: Combat (Wonkish)

Posted on April 30, 2009 by theletteromega

Introduction In my post about variance in game design I discussed the effect of rolling multiple times for combat resolution and how this reduces variability of combat results compared to non-combat results. This was supported by some simple logic and probability. However, I was interested in getting some actual numbers to back up that hypothesis. [...]

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Variance and Game Design

Posted on April 15, 2009 by theletteromega

Variance: or How Common Is Average Anyway? Introduction Most games incorporate an element of chance, usually with dice, though others use cards, coin flips, etc. While we are familiar with the concept of mean or average of a roll (a measure of central tendency), one aspect that often seems overlooked as designers search for a [...]

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Want to write articles for ECG?

Posted on April 14, 2009 by gamefest

If you have ever been interested in posting an article about your favourite game system, a review, a story recap, your musings on game design or campaign creation, this may be the right place. How do I post articles on this site? First, you need to create an ID with WordPress.com.  You don’t need to [...]

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Funnies: Time-travel aids

Posted on April 12, 2009 by mechanteanemone

Here a funny item that science-fiction geeks will appreciate: the Time Traveler Essentials poster, which you should tape inside your time-machine. According to publisher Topataco: If you’re like us, you live in constant fear of slipping into a wormhole and getting spit out in the 13th century, and the only real useful knowledge you have [...]

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Swashbucklers of the 7 Skies

Posted on April 10, 2009 by mechanteanemone

Since we’re on a PDQ# (PDQ Sharp) roll, I’ll keep going. We have had many fans of the PDQ-based groups at the Emerald City Game Feast open games. We’ve played The Zorcerer of Zo, Truth & Justice, and many home-brews based on the system. We’ve also playtested early versions of the most recent PDQ-based release [...]

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Star Trek PDQ#: Character Creation

Posted on April 9, 2009 by mechanteanemone

Sometimes, I can be a little scatterbrained. I posted the game summaries for Mark’s PDQ#-based Star Trek game, run on the Monday night Skype open games, but I forgot to post the character creation rules. Anyhow, here they are. The premise: the crew of the USS Resolute is the second-wave team, charged with establishing diplomatic [...]

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Game Recap: Star Trek – Episode 3

Posted on April 9, 2009 by mechanteanemone

This is the third episode of Mark’s PDQ#-based Star Trek game, run on the Monday night Skype open games. The premise: the crew of the USS Resolute is the second-wave team, charged with establishing diplomatic relations and trade with suitable worlds that were recently visited by the Constitution-class ships like the USS Enterprise and the [...]

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