Design Notes
These are my design notes — first-person reflections on the craft behind the games I make, from Tableau to the projects still taking shape. I’m Christopher Allen, a creator and publisher of cooperative storytelling games, fascinated by how and why collaboration works at the table. More about me →
The Fate You Make
(a Design Diary)
On the empty space where For the Queen ends, and the two things I built The Launch to do about it.My last note ended on a small complaint I could not let go of. For the Queen stops the instant you answer its final question. The Queen is under attack,...
For the Queen: a Design Appreciation
On the craft around the prompts, and why Alex Roberts’ little deck seems to run itself.Most summers I give myself a creative project: some corner of game design I want to understand by making something inside it. This summer, the project picked me. My local group, the East Bay Story...
The Power of the Prompt
(a Design Diary)
A Design Diary, on writing a question that does three jobs at once.A while back, my friend Deanna got me thinking about exposition, about how a storytelling-game prompt can hand the players a whole world without ever sounding like a lecture. I’d been treating exposition, character, and plot as three...
The Power of Constraints
(a Design Diary)
“The Power of Constraints: Embrace limitations and boundaries as a source of inspiration. Appreciating the obstacles helps you see more fully how to overcome or adapt to them. Accepting constraints, they can morph into useful forms that open up new possibilities, spurring creativity.” [^1]I’d like to discuss some design choices...