Fair, thanx for your response.

That’s fair. Just curious, do you also disregard publisher forums as well?

I absolutely do, and moderate the Traveller group here as well. I like having multiple sources of news and engagement.

Digg is its own thing. I don’t know if they plan on RSS support, but I can ask.

The iPad has a variety of sizes up to 13”.

My amazing iPad does this well. You can get a 10th generation starting about US$250. ALSO, look out for November deals.

Hollow World wasn’t strange from either perspective. There have always been fantasies involving the hidden civilizations under the earth. There was also among designers a fetish for the pulpy adventure stories. See also, Doc Savage, the Nile Empire for TORG, Justice Inc and Lands of Mystery, various Buck Roger’s iterations, Thrilling Places, Hollow Earth Expeditions, Spirit of the Century, as well as a few dozen others. Hell, even Traveller is based on the pulpy SF like Dumarest and Lensman.

Back in the 80s we were just guessing most of the time. At least until Akira was released in the United States in 1988 and only then white people started realizing there was a market.

Notes, and links, etc: UpNote Fantastic app, Windows, Linux, macOS, iOS, Android; Markdown support.

I very much appreciate UpNote for three reasons. First it is a flexible and straightforward notes app. Second, there is a one time purchase option. Third, I can use it for Linux, Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS. Nothing else combines these value propositions.

I was an Evernote user since version 2 but it has just become a bloated terrible experience, and it’s egregiously expensive. UpNote gives me those key features without any cruft.

Some people just love to bitch, especially if that’s all they do. James Wallis said (IIRC) “Game designs aren’t tools, but some game designers are”.

Fuck Hasbro

VTM illustrates all of the pros and cons of the Storyteller milieu. It is still the game that people talk about, even more than WoD.

I’d definitely study the evolution of the hobby using books like The Elusive Shift (Petersen), Role-Playing Game Studies: Transmedia Foundations (Deterding, Zagal) and Designers & Dragons: A History of the Roleplaying Game Industry (Appelcline). Once the students had a grounding in the history I would suggest a unit on Dice and Probability, the Mechanics and influence on settings.

• D&D for level and progression, and contrasting that against Palladium’s approach.
• Traveller for the lifepath concept as well as the developing of universal setting.
• Hero System and the rise of point based mechanics, contrasting with GURPS.
• Interlock (Mekton, Cyberpunk) and the emergence of Unified Game Mechanics, maybe contrast with Atlas Games All Flesh Must Be Eaten, et al.
• Vampire, and the development of Dice Pools and the rise of “splats” as a business model.
• Over The Edge and Amber Diceless as differing approaches to non-traditional RPGs.
• Sorcerer, indie games, The Forge, and the story game movement. See also gamist/narrativist/simulationist as styles of play.
• D&D 3.0 and the OGL explosion.
• Apocalypse World and the New Wave of RPGs as a reaction to OGL. (one man’s opinion).

Yes, 2013, 2020, and RED are. I am not certain about 3e as I wasn’t a contributor.

Just curious, as a former 2020 freelancer I occasionally check in.

Why just RED? Why not a wider group?

I have never met a dice-pool mechanic I didn’t dislike or despise. What makes your compelling?