Michael Bernabo

What’s Next?

I don’t have anything on the books right now. I’ve got some applications in. We’ll see what, if anything, comes of it. For now, I’m focusing on self care and learning to write again. Take care. And cheers!

What is a Game?

First, let’s establish what I mean by a game. A game is a physical representation of a complex scenario from one of my books. This representation allows me to process the scenario, watching all its component parts. To do this, I need: A star map for a science fiction project. A map of a geographical area. In some cases, I might make an organizational relationship. It largely depends on what I need to track.

Why ‘play’ a Game?

To be clear, the purpose of a game is not to roll dice and see who wins a contest. I’m not putting the plot of the story into question. But what I can do is use the game to watch and consider the complex situations and check them for common errors and opportunities. A good battle scene may require both the bird-eye (strategic) or authorial and the ground-level (tactical) or character points of view. 1.

Are there more?

Absolutely. But I wanted to start with three simple but important ones that I’ve found separate an amateur GM from an experienced one. I’ll be doing more RPG posts from now on, covering some different topics about RPG from the perspective of design, playing and gaming. But this felt like a good topic to start on. Cheers!

Do I need another letter?

No. As amusing as it might be to try and shoehorn a W into the PBRG acronym, at this time I’m not planning to do so. In part because I think it defeats the purpose of the PBRG system. But also, because I won’t always know what I want to write, or need to write, or am inspired to write. What I can do is just acknowledge that the two need to work together.