Chris at Deep in the Game has decided to close up shop. That’s too bad, as I enjoyed Chris’ work there a lot. Even though I’m not a Forge-er by any means, I do like to make forays into that strange and alien world of RPG theory and design.
A few months ago I started out with nothing more than a buzz inside my head when I read things like Deep in the Game — A vague sensation of recognition of what was being talked about, even though it can often sound like a foreign language (bangs, keys, what the heck?). I think I have a little bit more of a grasp on it now, a bit of understanding such that I’m able to think in some of the terminology I’ve been introduced to. An example might be Treasure Tables’ recent post on Pants Stealing. I just now got off the phone with a guy from our group discussing Pants Stealing-type behavior and resolving to discuss the issue in a mature fashion at our next session, rather than letting things slip into passive-aggressiveness. Being able to sit down and look at expectations of play, styles of play, and the social contract of our group is at least helpful for me in thinking about my gaming experiences and how to deal with issues that arise.
Fortunately, what’s already up at Deep in the Game isn’t going anywhere, and Chris seems to have an interest in compiling Deep into the Game into PDF format. Might be good for passing around and discussing.
I have to say, Cineris, it sounds like we’ve had very similar recent RPG experiences. Your mindset a few months ago sounds like mine about a year ago, when I first started TT, and we seem to be in pretty similar places. I too am very sad to see DitG close, and I’m glad that Chris is leaning towards some sort of permanent archive — a PDF would rock.
Your experience with TT’s pants-stealing post is really exciting to hear — that’s exactly what I’m going for with TT: Getting GMs (myself included) thinking about gaming from new perspectives, and introducing light theory topics in practical terms. I’m glad to have played a role, however small, in where your head is at — that’s very cool! Thank you for the link, and I’ll stop talking about TT now. ;)
Thanks for stopping by Martin, Treasure Tables is one of my daily reads and I’ve been thinking quite a bit about printing out some of the articles and the comments on them to discuss with my group.