#james wallis

[bryanharryrombough]

Greg: Did you ever play Star Fleet Battles, back in the day? Ross: Uh-uh James: I've seen it played.  I still have nightmares.

― Greg Stolze, Ross Payton & James Wallis, Ludonarrative Dissidents ·S1 E03 Lancer

[bryanharryrombough]

But one thing I did notice, and this is a tiny footnote, is that all the mechs… Think of a BattleTech 'Mech, think of the cover of classic BattleTech, you've got that, I can't, I don't know the different BattleTech models, but basically it's this massive structure with two enormous arms, and two enormous guns suspended from the arms, the guns are built right into the arms. Every single mech in Lancer has hands. There are, or at least all the artwork, they are all illustrated with very human-like hands. And this goes back to what I was saying about the magic robots versus the real robots, and that dichotomy that lies at the heart of what a giant robot game thinks it is and what it's doing. These giant robots are essentially beings, they are not machines, I would say. And as you’re playing them in terms of almost Jungian style, it's you as, there's no separation between you the pilot and you the thing, you are the thing, you're being the thing, represented by a small miniature on the table. I'm not going anywhere in particular with that, I just wanted to point it out because I didn't get to put it in earlier on.

― James Wallis, Ludonarrative Dissidents ·S1 E03 Lancer

[bryanharryrombough]

GURPS has always had this veneer of reality or realism to it, which it's not, it's just more complicated. But it pretends to be kind of rooted in almost a simulationist style of design…

― James Wallis, Ludonarrative Dissidents ·S3 E03 ·Savage Worlds Adventure Edition

[bryanharryrombough]

I picked up a copy of Maelstrom when I was a kid at a local bookstore (now gone, sadly) that also carried Fighting Fantasy gamebooks.

Can't recall the details now, but I'm sure I played (or tried to play) the solo adventure.

I do also remember looking through the herbiary with rapt fascination.

Unfortunately, my friends weren't interested in any non-D&D RPGs at the time, so I never played a proper game of Maelstrom.

[bryanharryrombough]

I've spent a lot ―too much of my life― designing and redesigning initiative systems, and occasionally fighting co-designers who want to take them out. [Lancer's initiative system] is basically you decide who goes first. The players decide in what order they go and then one player goes and then one of the enemy goes. The GM decides which enemy goes. It's really boardgamey and it really works and it's not realistic but then I've yet to actually see an RPG initiative system that was realistic and wasn't boring. Initiative systems are hard, this one feels like a game, but it works. And my hat is off, that is a splendid piece of design.

― James Wallis, Ludonarrative Dissidents ·S1 E03 Lancer

[bryanharryrombough]

This is a game for people who want to pilot giant robots slugging the hell out of other giant robots. This does not deconstruct the giant robot art form. This does not take Neon Genesis Evangelion and run with some of its concepts. The only thing you are deconstructing in this game is other giant robots and you are doing it with your fists.

― James Wallis, Ludonarrative Dissidents ·S1 E03 Lancer

[bryanharryrombough]

If you've got a mechanic you really love but the rest of the design is kind of grating around it, you take the bit you love out because it is breaking the rest of the design.

― James Wallis, Ludonarrative Dissidents ·S3 E17 ·EABA v 2.01

[rppr-podcast]

Labyrinth Signal: Peak Nightmares

A group of strangers meet at an abandoned theme park, haunted by nightmares plaguing them. The source of their nightmares is somewhere in the park and only they can stop it. But can they survive facing the unnatural evil cursing them? This is a playtest of my new action horror RPG, Labyrinth Signal. The beta PDF, which includes this adventure and everything you need to play, is now available on…

Labyrinth Signal: Peak Nightmares