Games Nathan has designed
Timestream: A Role-Playing Game.
carry. a game about war.
Countdown - Asynchronous Online Roleplay
Annalise
Games Nathan will be representing @ the Design Matters booth
What inspires you
I'm inspired by other forms of media. My games are (usually) an effort to reshape the solo experience of reading a certain kind of book or viewing a certain kind of movie into a shared experience, where instead of passively enjoying that kind of story, you actually build it with your friends. I also love playing all kinds of games, and I'm often inspired to emulate the positive and solve the negative aspects of almost any game that I play in my own designs.
What do you look for in a game as a player? As a designer?
I look for a game that has been written with a specific goal in mind, whether broad or narrow. As a player, I enjoy feeling supported by the other players at the table and having a game that allows us to work with each other as players, even (especially!) if our characters are in conflict with each other. I love games that have different rules for the GM and for the players, as I find those much easier for me to run. I very much appreciate elegance in game design (as both a player and a designer), where you use all of the pieces at the table and there are no extraneous bits. That said, I also enjoy interacting with mechanics and exploring their complexity. As a designer, I look for the unique aspect in a game system, the piece that makes me go "wow, that's neat!" That's not to say that I think every game has to have a totally off-the-wall mechanic, but rather that all of the games that I like have some aspect or combination of aspects that make that game work unlike any other game. And I always appreciate consciousness in game design, where every piece is there for a reason, if I don't agree with that reason for personal or aesthetic reasons..
If you could play a game with anyone (living or dead) who would it be, what game, and why?
I would play InSpectres with anyone who wants to write a game, past or present. It's a crash course in good game design, and it's also the most fun game I've ever played. All the time.
