Site feeds ATOM feed · RSS feed · JSON feed

Welcome to Take on Rules, a website dedicated primarily to Jeremy Friesen’s blog posts. The highlights the breadth and scope of Take on Rules.

Blog Posts

  1. Quick Overview of Errant’s “Combat” Sub-System

    My summarization of Errant’s initiative, attack roll, armor, weapons, movement, and morale systems. All of which builds towards chaotic combat in which folks are cheering and jeering at the highs and lows of the combat rolls.

  2. A History of the Text Editors I've Used

    I take a tour of the text editors I’ve used and why and when I moved on from them. Along the way, I write up some further insights into what I’m looking for and how I practice and explore a new to me editor.

  3. Musing on Emacs

    The tools I use for my work are a vital part of me. I spend evenings talking about them with a dear friend. I encourage other folks to practice their tools, hoping that in practicing folks will improve their problem solving skills.

  4. Reflections on Game Stores and Serendipity

    Reflecting on the loss of the magic of discovery and serendipity in this era of product awareness and promotion. I miss the magic of the unknown.

  5. Listened to the First Two Episodes of “Into the Megadungeon”

    A quick shout-out to “Into the Megadungeon”; a podcast that interviews folks who have created or run mega-dungeons. And how these mega-dungeons and the procedures of original D&D overlap and create the emergent “story.”

  6. Amplifying “Rival Parties and Replacement Characters”

    A reflection on the campaign-level benefits of playing a “hirelings and henchmen” style game: increased campaign durability, easier scheduling considerations, and quicker incorpation of players joining a game with a new-to-them character.

  7. Working with a Software Stack that Involves Many Repositories

    Given that modern software builds on many small components, when troubleshooting across those components, I find it helpful to have a local copy of many of those components. I also find it useful to have a versioned copy, so I can review the historical state of the component. In this post, I go through some of the pros of having local clones of component repositories.

  8. Considering Errant's Turn Random Table

    Thinking about how Errant’s Event Die table can be applied to Old School Essentials.

  9. Moving a Shell Command and Spreadsheet into a Hugo Page

    A quick walk through and reflection of adding more blog post stats to my site. This is stuff I’ve published, not visitor traffice (which I don’t track).

  10. New Campaigns and the Quest for Novelty

    A reflection on the promise of a new campaign. Namely RPG player’s seeing the potentiality of mechanics as a means for the glorious and serendipitous moments of artistic bliss.