So I've decided to pull the plug on my interactive storyworld for the Pepper&Carrot Jam (titled The Lesson. I realized that what I was writing committed the ultimate sin for any bit of writing:

It was boring.

The premise was that Chicory, the founding witch of Chaosah, came back …

Checking in for 2023-06-01:

• I think the theme for the day yesterday was "tired". Matt, the nurse administering my chemo looked tired. Once I was done with chemo I too was pretty tired. I didn't manage to get anything of consequence done yesterday, preferring to vegetate in front of the …

Yesterday I think I made a breakthrough with my interactive storyworld "Phosphors in the Dark", or at least have a better explanation of why the previous approach I had wouldn't make for an interesting story. The reason for it is that the consumer computers that I loved and admired (the …

Recently Chris Crawford declared that his magnum opus, "Le Morte D'Arthur" was ready for public consumption. I've playtested this game since September and have kept it under wraps as best I could (I mentioned it obliquely in my post Weak Passions, Strongly Held). I consider this one of Chris' finest …

I promised a follow-up post to my original thoughts on blending pen and paper role playing games with interactive storytelling, but I'd like to take an aside to talk about mechanics in tabletop games.

Mechanics in tabletop games are there to help facilitate a particular type of story. When we …