My buddy oshiah  (the Eternal Nomad) has some thoughts about MMOs that intrigued me. I recognize some of this monologue from conversations we’ve had about roleplaying games and MMOs in the past and some new insights. If I ever get a chance to design an MMO myself, I’ll be calling on him for insight.   

Congrats. You Win. Here’s an idea. Something I’d implement if I were running a Vampire LARP. Once you become Prince, we throw you a party. Everyone congratulates you on your well-earned victory–becoming Prince is rough–and then… your character becomes an NPC. An NPC. Controlled by the Narrators. You move off the front page and move…

Game Design Rule #1: Don’t Design Games for People You Wouldn’t Allow at Your TableWriting Houses. Writing The Wanker Rue into the chapter on aspects. It looks like this: Using aspects is fun. It should be fun. Sometimes it’s fun. Sometimes, a player abuses the rules to make the game fun for him at the…