Articles
Original papers
My articles. My own. My precious.
Know your player and know yourself
What the 4 Domains of Play can do for you
# Motivational player profiling, Pleasures of play
Players look for something specific in games based on their personality. Working for a clearly defined audience will help you in your creative choices.
On LinkedIn
Ecosystèmes Narratifs
Un nouveau modèle de narration interactive pour le jeu vidéo
# Interactive storytelling, narrative puzzle
How to bring together player's autonomy and a pre-authored plot line? Narrative ecosystems are designed to support emergent but meaningful stories, reactive to the player's interactions with the gameworld.
Game reviews
I joined the budding team of Ludovox critics in early 2015. Our mission was to help readers to recognize out of the multitude the games fit for them, while providing for an easy and pleasant read.
With these goals in mind, I chose to keep my reviews short. I cut on the explanation of game systems in order to focus on the dynamics of play. In order to prevent routine and add extra flavor, I usually write with exotic points-of-view or insert mini-games into the article.
Reviews in French only.
Traductions
From 2005 to 2011, I translated a selection of papers for the PTGPTB webzine (Place To Go, People To Be). Dedicated to good old pen-and-paper roleplaying games, most of these articles discuss their potential as a narrative medium.
The links below lead to the french translation by my hand to these articles. From there, you'll find another link to the original source.
Where Stories end and games begin
by Greg Costykian
Game and story aren't like oil and water. There's a whole continuum linking these extremes together.
Understanding genre in roleplaying
by John H. Kim
Your game's setting isn't enough to define the genre of the way you play. Discuss it with your players...
Reifying genre conventions
by John H. Kim
If you want your players to follow a genre's conventions, then make up a rule about it.
The Threefold Model - FAQ
by John H. Kim
Q&A about the GNS model that splits players into three categories: Game-, Narrative- or Simulation-oriented.
Left or Right?
by Mark J. Young
Does it really matter which door you open? What if the GM's role was to always open the interesting one?
Writing believable Sci-Fi
by Mica Goldstone
Take good care of the internal cohesion of your gameworld if you don't want "Sci-Fi" to become a short for "WTF".
The creeps and how to give them
by Robin D. Laws
Players aren't used to feel fear like their character should. For that, you may have to take away their dear power fantasy.
Information laundering 101
by Jonny Nexus
How to successfully pass onto your character informations he shouldn't be aware of, but you player are.
Proactive character players and related issues
by John H. Kim
What would happen if players where driving the story, for once?
Gender Disparity in RPGs
by John H. Kim
Why is the RPG community so dominantly male? 5 hypotheses on the saddle.
The Turku Manifesto
by Mike Phjola
A vision of LARP as aiming at immersion into your character above all else.
The Jeepform dictionnary
collective work
A glossary of technical terms for the practice of Jeepform (Free Form), an hybrid between LARP, improv theatre and flash mob.
The Crunchy Bits #1: Introduction to the Grimmy Nastiness
by Emily Dresner-Thornber
First of a series of papers on writing RPGs. This first opus details the various reasons you may or may not write a game.
The Crunchy Bits #2: "Hell, there are no rules here! We're trying to accomplish something"
by Emily Dresner-Thornber
Square away your ideas before you get bogged down into the creative process: concept, synopsis, plan.
Uncertainty and exclusivity
by T.S. Luikart
How to make your characters unique and your magic still worth its salt?
I've only got one life and I must GM!
by Nick Thornburn
Practical advice on how to conciliate an active life with RPGs.
The Character Sheet is not your Friend
by Steve Darlington
Your character sheet holds everything there is to know about your character. Too bad you're the only one reading it.