Encounters: Shadowrun — Modified Solo Play Rules
In which I codify my homebrew rules for Encounters: Shadowrun, hopefully making the game more satisfying for solo play while adding a fun narrative layer to make it more immersive.
2023 in Review: A Few of My Favorite Things
2023 was a pretty good year for my personal relationship with immersive media, though. I enjoyed a range of new-to-me books, games, movies, and TV, while also uncharacteristically diving back into some old faves when I needed a bit of comfort food.
Five Things: November 16, 2023
“Culture handbooks don’t produce culture, people do.” Five things for November 16, 2023.
Five Things: October 12, 2023
“The music I write can inspire the artists and writers.” Five things for October 12, 2023.
Is Football Manager the Greatest RPG Ever? (tldr: YES!)
No two games of Football Manager are ever alike, and the “true ending” is largely up to you. If you like multiple overlapping systems with a depth and complexity that can’t easily be min-maxed, Football Manager’s got that in spades. Praise RNGesus!
Five Things: September 21, 2023
“On book bans, Google Fusion, car-free cities, cars as spyware, and a podcast recommendation.” Five things for September 21, 2023.
Five Things: August 31, 2023
“On Gen Z, hip hop, Netflix games, Football Manager, and my film nerd son.” Five things for August 23, 2023.
In Praise of Virtual “Work” (aka Football Manager)
Some people play games to relax, to escape the tedium and/or stress of their jobs, to challenge their reflexes — physical and mental. Football Manager is a bizarre combination of both, which really should not be appealing at all. It can be stressful and tedious, while also challenging your mental abilities because, at the end of the day, it’s a glorified spreadsheet with multiple pivot tables — and I love it so much, it’s taken me a week to stop playing it long enough to write this post about it!
Five Things: June 22, 2023
“I’m so worn down by it all right now.” Five things for June 22, 2023. That’s it! That’s the excerpt.
Five Things: May 11, 2023
“They simply must do better.” Five things for May 11, 2023. That’s it! That’s the excerpt.