Game Design – Page 2 – Michael Iantorno

September 26, 2012

Pathfinder Racial Archetypes

4 Min Read

26September

The Advanced Race Guide dropped last month, bringing a bag full of goodies to the Pathfinder roleplaying game. Asides from the obvious addition of new player races (including tieflings, aasimar, and tengu), the book introduced a slew of new racial archetypes. These archetypes are only available to single races, and many radically alter the base abilities of their corresponding class. Coupled with...

September 5, 2012

The Elephant in the Room: Feat Taxes in Pathfinder

By Mathew

6 Min Read

158 Comments

05September

Editor’s Note: The Elephant in the Room is now available as a Full Rules Document and a HeroLab Mod. Thanks for your continued support and interest! By all metrics, Pathfinder is the most satisfying pen-and-paper game I’ve ever played. The class balance feels good, the math isn’t overwhelming, and the community support is outstanding. However, it suffers from one syndrome that haunts the...

April 30, 2012

Pathfinder Society: An Argument for Rebuilding

By Mathew

3 Min Read

3 Comments

30April

Pathfinder Society Organized Play is great. It allows players to participate in short, four-hour Pathfinder adventures without having to commit to the rigorous schedule of a home game. Overall I’m impressed with Paizo’s handling of the initiative, but in recent weeks my local Pathfinder lodge has been faced with a pressing problem: we’ve run out of low level modules to play and lack high enough...

March 8, 2012

Dawntide Postmortem

By Mathew

3 Min Read

1 Comment

08March

Late last week, Working As Intended announced that it had ceased all development on Dawntide. Citing “unexpected financial difficulties,” the game has been put on hiatus until new investors are found. This marks the end of several years of development and of an open beta period that has extended almost as long. Dawntide was ambitious. The developer’s aim was to create a sandbox-style MMO in the...

December 12, 2011

New Years Eve, 1980

By Mathew

5 Min Read

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12December

It’s New Years Eve, 1980. You peer listlessly out of the window of your London flat, clenching a half-empty bottle of wine. The holiday has provided a momentary lapse in your labours as a dockworker. It’s a good thing too – the hum of the thermionic lanterns was causing you splitting migraines, and there’s no chance in hell you can afford another trepanning appointment. The booze will have to do...

October 26, 2011

Dead Pixels: Secret of Evermore

By Michael

6 Min Read

7 Comments

26October

(where Michael deconstructs discontinued franchises, and puts forth ideas concerning hypothetical sequels) Overview Secret of Evermore got a lot of flak from players when it was released. Seen as an Americanized substitute for the Seiken Densetsu 3 (the Japan-only sequel to Secret of Mana), many gamers snubbed the game pre-emptively without giving it a fair shake. Although suffering from cheesy...

September 22, 2011

The Oracle, Mysterious Gatekeeper

By Mathew

3 Min Read

2 Comments

22September

The Oracle, Mysterious Gatekeeper The oracle was the last class we conceived for dMetric. The timing is ironic considering the class fills the role of primary healer – widely considered to be the most integral role in any party-based game. The cause of the delay was a disagreement between my me and my brother. I debated that dedicated healers were inherently boring to play. My experiences in...

August 10, 2011

Game Design: Supernova

By Michael

3 Min Read

3 Comments

10August

Ever since university I’ve carried a notebook along with me that I have scrawled little doodles, thoughts and ideas in. Most of the stuff in it is pretty non-sensical, but occasionally I come up with something tangible such as an idea for a game. For the longest time I would just let these ideas rot within the pages; doomed to be forgotten when I inevitably fill up the notebook and replace...

TagGame Design