#188: Designing a Game Course (01/11/2013)
Teaching good gameplay and more.

#187: 4 Cheap Gifts for Fancy Gamers (12/13/2012)
Inexpensive gifts for the gamer in your life.

#186: embracing rpgs as a luddite phenomenon (11/09/2012)
a letter about the next big thing

#185: They're not rulebooks, they're history books! (10/05/2012)
Macro-evolutionary Culture in D&D Worlds.

#184: Agents, Publicists, or Going it Alone? (09/12/2012)
Time, money, and other factors in publication.

#183: Engineering, Movie Style (08/10/2012)
Creating RPG drama with engineering problems.

#182: If You Can't Take the Heat, Ambush! (07/06/2012)
How hot summer weather can drive an RPG storyline.

#181: The Myth of the Perfect Rules System (06/08/2012)
What's the best RPG today?

#180: Kickstarter, the Avengers, and Pirates (05/11/2012)
The movie model or the ownership model?

#179: Ropebridge (04/06/2012)
A half-hour LARP improv scenario.

#178: Kickstarter Theater Open Game Design, or You Never Knew How Good You've Got It Until It Got Better (03/09/2012)
Transparency, from mailing lists to Kickstarter.

#177: Engineering Roleplaying (02/10/2012)
Simulation & roleplay: two great tastes that taste great together!

#176: A Brilliant Ready-to-play RPG Romp Redux (01/06/2012)
The ________________ that saved __________________.

#175: The ___________ that Saved Christmas (12/09/2011)
A quickie RPG scenario for the holidays.

#174: Any Quiz Can Be a Roleplay (11/18/2011)
Roleplaying exercises in the real world.

#173: The Kickstarter RPG Marketplace (10/07/2011)
Is Kickstarter the source for print RPGs?

#172: Ready in 30 Seconds (09/09/2011)
The group is showing up and you don't have an adventure!

#171: What Value a Writer? (08/05/2011)
Should writers' pay be stuck in the 1950s?

#170: Fear the Goodie Two-Shoes (07/08/2011)
In a fictional world, does everyone have an agenda?

#169: The Mystic Nature of Natural Calamities (06/10/2011)
Cargo cults and the creation of death traps of yore.

#168: Child Heroes vs 300 Hours of Swordplay (05/06/2011)
How do plucky humans become instant butt kickers?

#167: Are RPGS, LARP or Sports Viewing Performance Art? (04/08/2011)
What makes performance art?

#166: A Tale of 2 Stores (03/04/2011)
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

#165: Gaming with the Spectrum (02/11/2011)
How to game with people in a variety of social modes.

#164: 720 Remixes on Next Gen RPGing: the Teaser (01/07/2011)
720 looks at gateway RPGs, CRPG design, and what makes a game immersive.

#163: Harry Potter Houses Vs D&D Alignments (12/10/2010)
Does Harry Potter successfully collapse 9-fold alignments into a 4-fold bundle?

#162: Outed as a Gamer (11/05/2010)
Sandy the Gamer and Alex the Astrophysicist.

#161: 9 Disney Combat Princesses (10/08/2010)
Disney princesses in their later lives as hack-and-slashers.

#160: Verification and Validation in Game Design (09/09/2010)
V&V: Not just for superheroes anymore.

#159: Weddings & GMing (08/06/2010)
Premise: GMing is a real life skill.

#158: Archie and the Olympians (07/09/2010)
Is Archie a son of Hermes?

#157: Kids Playing 'Percy Jackson and the Olympians' Go Over the Edge (06/11/2010)
The War of the Titans in its Tweetian glory.

#156: Hypertextual Gaming (05/06/2010)
Non-linear stories in RPGs.

#155: Hub and Spoke Scenarios (04/08/2010)
A new model for RPG adventures.

#154: Monopoly: The RPG (03/05/2010)
What would it take to turn Monopoly into an RPG?

#153: Game Publishing and Meaning (02/04/2010)
Socially connecting and remaining grounded.

#152: New Year's Bitching (01/08/2010)
RPGnet: Haven for bitching?

#151: Free RPG Stuff in a Neat Container (12/11/2009)
Giving great RPG stuff on the cheap.

#150: Diversity Lessons from D&D (11/06/2009)
A true Dream Team, using D&D as a model.

#149: Gaming in the Classroom, 2010-Style (10/09/2009)
What games would you use in the classroom?

#148: 200 Grams of Gaming In Orbit? (09/11/2009)
Have your own personal gaming satellite!

#147: Editors in Web2.0 (08/07/2009)
Editors are still important, honest.

#146: One Gamer's View (07/10/2009)
A guest column by Sandy's daughter.

#145: DIY Writers' Retreat (06/05/2009)
Getting away and finishing writing projects.

#144: Teaching Swordplay (05/08/2009)
The basics of stage fighting.

#143: First CASTEing (04/10/2009)
A look at CASTE, an upcoming RPG system.

#142: Buy My RPG Column! (03/06/2009)
Highest bidder buys the April column!

#141: Day Jobs (02/05/2009)
What do RPG writers really do?

#140: RPG-of-the-Month Club (01/09/2009)
PDF + POD = $$$.

#139: I Hate PDFs (and Buy Them Anyway) (12/05/2008)
Sandy doesn't buy long PDFs (except when he does).

#138: From 100 Copies to 1000 Fans (11/07/2008)
How to become a successful RPG publisher--through fans.

#137: Movie-Length Games (10/10/2008)
Complete scenarios under two hours?

#136: Cheaper Than Therapy (09/05/2008)
Games as mood changers and social events.

#135: RPGing for Y2K Kids (08/08/2008)
The next generation of RPs: online and book-free?

#134: Who Will Get .RPG? (07/04/2008)
On domain names and RPGs

#133: Iron Man, the Marvel Method, and RPG Design (06/06/2008)
Applying Marvel Comics to RPGs.

#132: About Communities and Credit (05/12/2008)
On RPGnet's History and Success

#131: RPG Con Season Tips (04/11/2008)
Discusses skills that should be developed for good roleplaying.

#130: Gygax, RPGs: A Connection? (03/07/2008)
Thoughts on the legacy of Gygax

#129: Dunbar Brackets and MMOs (02/08/2008)
Discover the relationship between group size tolerance, gaming, and community building.

#128: A Recipe for Live Roleplaying (01/10/2008)
Create your own LARP game system

#127: How to Buy Gifts for Gamers (12/07/2007)
A column for your friends and relatives about holiday espionage.

#126: Tell Me What You Want (11/08/2007)
A poll on Sandy's topics for 2008.

#125: The Power of Obscurity (10/05/2007)
Joyful obscurity or Cthulhoid horror?

#124: Immersive Game Events (09/07/2007)
More about scalable LARPs.

#123: Massive RPG Runtime (08/10/2007)
A tabletop RPG with a thousand participants?

#122: The Tail End of Business (07/06/2007)
Why investors leave businesses.

#121: B-List Writer Blues (06/11/2007)
You know you're a B-List Writer when ...

#120: Sales Vs. Marketing (05/11/2007)
Lessons in sales from behind the counter.

#119: Can 30-somethings Save the World? (04/06/2007)
Should you never trust anyone over 30? D&D offers insight.

#118: Earth First! (03/09/2007)
Alien Culture,

#117: GenCon SoCal Pundit Roundup (02/09/2007)
An RPG pundit explains why GenConSoCal failed.

#116: Three Schools of RPG (01/05/2007)
High concept, homebrew, and indie RPGs.

#115: Bad Apples, Good Apples, Apples To Apples (12/08/2006)
How to get people into board games, and an Apples to Apples Rummy variant.

#114: Attack of the POD People (11/10/2006)
Print on Demand, PDFs, and the world of "single digit returns".

#113: Wiki Fever (10/06/2006)
Wikis as tools for interactive fiction.

#112: Back When Everything Was New (09/08/2006)
A look back at 10 years of RPGnet.

#111: The Curse of the Columnist (08/11/2006)
The curse of the columnist ... is time (and how to overcome it).

#110: Publishing is Hard (07/07/2006)
How it takes more than putting out a book to be a publisher. Marketing, branding, sales, and more.

#109: The Battle for Alpha Geek (06/09/2006)
The fight for game control in middle school.

#108: Taking Chances and Selling Books (05/05/2006)
Effort versus return in business and the agony of minor decisions.

#107: Cosmic Cows and Origins Awards (04/07/2006)
Choosing the Origins Award board game finalists.

#106: 24 Hour RPGs, Postmodernism, and Giant Sharks (03/10/2006)
Niche game design, evolution, and more.

#105: Enjoying Being Acquired (02/10/2006)
Sandy announces being acquired.

#104: See What Sticks (01/06/2006)
The problems of getting started as a freelancer.

#103: Simple Gifts for Pre-Gamers (12/09/2005)
Indoctrinating children aged 2-6 into the joys of RPGs.

#102: Col vs. Blog (11/04/2005)
Why columns are still relevant in this age of blogs.

#101: Running a First RPG for Kids (10/07/2005)
Seven steps to running a game for children.

#100: Making It Pay (09/02/2005)
Sandy celebrates his 100th column with a PhD and a discussion of writing for pay.

#99: The Hazards of Non-Combat Gaming (08/05/2005)
Sneaker games, and the unpopularity of non-combat games.

#98: Just in Time Pre-Order Hell (07/01/2005)
Why you have to pre-order at bad gaming stores, and what good gaming stores are like.

#97: Cassandra's Industry Report (06/03/2005)
Upcoming changes in the gaming industry.

#96: Fiction or Non-Fiction? (05/05/2005)
Which category do RPG sourcebooks fit into?

#95: I Am Not a Storyteller (04/08/2005)
Yo, 'Storytellers'! You didn't write what just happened. At best, you watched and took notes.

#94: A Better Job (04/01/2005)
The RPG business, or pushing people around in a wheel barrow?

#93: Advice for Working Writers (03/04/2005)
15 good suggestions for good writing.

#92: Startup Fever (02/04/2005)
Going pro as a game creator, the problems of business, and other possibilities.

#91: Why Blogging is Lame (01/07/2005)
Why editors are necessary, and blogging isn't actually publishing.

#90: Being a Pro Writer (12/10/2004)
Advice on how to be a successful freelancing writer.

#89: Viral Marketing Invitational (11/05/2004)
Sandy tries to get a free iPod (and talks about games being sold by word of mouth).

#88: The 24 Hour RPG Challenge (10/08/2004)
Sandy designs The Monitors in 1,440 minutes or less.

#87: A Decade of Distilled Advice (09/03/2004)
Ten years of advice about freelancing and business, boiled down to one column.

#86: Go Ahead, Hit Me! (08/06/2004)
All about boffer combat and LARPs.

#85: Promoting Yourself (07/09/2004)
How to promote yourself as a freelancer to get work.

#84: 10 Hurdles to Selling Your Game (06/11/2004)
10 questions to ask yourself about your new game.

#83: Let's Team Up (05/07/2004)
Why to team up with other publishers rather than creating a new start-up business.

#82: Beyond Role and Pla(t)y(pus) (04/08/2004)
A theory toolkit that game designers need.

#81: Slow Improv and the Post-Kilgallon (03/05/2004)
RPGs as goal-driven improv dramas and an answer to the Kilgallon Paradox.

#80: Paradox Redux (02/06/2004)
More responses to the Kilgallon Paradox.

#79: Mad Scientists and the Kilgallon Paradox (01/09/2004)
The emphasis on combat in RPGs.

#78: It's Not Your World, It's Mine (12/05/2003)
How an enjoyable heroic journey starts from ignorance.

#77: Murphy's Law for Adventure Writers (11/07/2003)
How preparing for a player choice prevents it from happening.

#76: Eigentesting (10/09/2003)
Testing roleplaying adventures.

#75: Atomic (09/05/2003)
Do you ever actually roll to succeed at something in life? Or is it a question of determination?

#74: Is Writing a Commodity? (08/06/2003)
Encouraging good writers rather than bad ones in the RPG industry.

#73: Designing amidst the Tides of Gaming History (07/08/2003)
Designing between innovation and devotion.

#72: Buy This Book! (06/05/2003)
Sandy's new ePublisher guide.

#71: Hobbies (05/08/2003)
Hardware and the costs of hobbies

#70: The Websites that Wouldn't Die (04/10/2003)
The two-year web cycle, and what it takes for a website to die.

#69: The Path to Atrocities (03/06/2003)
Why ordinary folks go all Lord of the Flies in gaming sessions.

#68: Cattle Mutilation: The Game Design (02/06/2003)
There are many bad ideas for games, but none that aren't playable. Or: 5 design paths for 1 bad game.

#67: Gaming with Children (01/09/2003)
Customizing your games for different ages, from 7-99.

#66: How to Be an Industry Poser, Part 1 (12/05/2002)
What it takes to build credentials in the industry and more.

#65: All I Game with I Learned from Kid's Books (11/19/2002)
PBS Kids as an inspiration for roleplaying adventures.

#64: TCG: The Total Cost of Gaming (10/10/2002)
How much a night of gaming really costs

#63: Game Publishing & The Law (09/06/2002)
What you need to know about the law to start a business.

#62: Standing on the Shoulders of Giants (08/01/2002)
All ideas are evolutionary, not revolutionary.

#61: Buying Time (07/04/2002)
Back to the question of publishing your own game.

#60: (04/10/2002)
Announcing the acquisition of RPGnet by Skotos.

#59: Give Me a Closet (03/01/2002)
Gender identity and the Internet.

#58: Let's Go Shopping?!? (01/02/2002)
A roleplaying game about ... shopping?

#57: Conflict, Ethics, Winning, and Money (12/13/2001)
Why conflict is inevitable ... and desireable.

#56: Secret RPGnet Operations Document Leaked! (11/13/2001)
Sandy's exhaustive document discussing the purpose and status of RPGnet.

#55: Leadership and D&D (10/16/2001)
Another look at the D&D classes, with the question: who can lead?

#54: Leading Industry Site Reports Secret: Sex Sells! (09/04/2001)
If people can't see what we're wearing, who's to say we aren't really hot chicks who game?

#53: Anyone Can Be an Internet Success--Why Aren't You? (08/01/2001)
Virtual Vaporware: another Internet millionaire maker.

#52: Fine Print, Part U (07/03/2001)
Seriously, how to get published without starting your own company.

#51: Fine Print, Part I (06/05/2001)
How to get published in the industry: the fine print.

#50: Pushing Limits (05/08/2001)
The adult side of the industry. (Or: sex sells.)

#49: The State of the Union (05/04/2001)
The state of RPGnet, a year after a failed acquisition.

#48: Niche Hobbies and Other Markets (04/06/2001)
Comparing the gaming industry to ... stage magicians.

#47: Running a Business as an Old-Style D&D Party (05/09/2000)
The acquisition of RPGnet, with D&D parties as a model.

#46: First to Market (04/14/2000)
RPGnet as the first mover in the RPG web portal industry.

#45: Labor Pains (03/20/2000)
Working in the gaming industry as a professional.

#44: One Trick Pony (02/15/2000)
The one true path of running a publishing or gaming business.

#43: Creativy is Bad, Hard to Sell, and Great for Business (01/06/2000)
The value of creativity.

#42: Oranges Verus Bananas: Entertainment Costs (12/14/1999)
Why RPGs are a great deal when you do the math.

#41: Why Editors Lie (11/02/1999)
The secret role of RPG editors.

#40: And Lead a Happy Life (10/05/1999)
New RPGs: a great setting, clear rules, and nice presentation. Pick any two.

#39: It Takes a Village (to Publish a RPG) (09/07/1999)
All the people actually needed to publish a RPG.

#37: All Gamer Money Isn't Equal (08/03/1999)
The value of the niche RP consumer, the ethics of business, and boosting roleplaying.

#36: Tides of Cash Flow (07/06/1999)
Cash flow and the economics of game publishing.

#35: Ad-itudes (06/01/1999)
Magazines and advertisements.

#34: Who? What? Give Me a Guiness! (05/04/1999)
A few years in: the status of RPGnet.

#33: The GAMA Trade Show '99 (04/06/1999)
GTS '99: people and trends.

#32: Roleplaying Would Have Saved Millions (03/02/1999)
Roleplayers as zealots, counter-insurgents, and the truly dangerous?

#31: Games that Won't Suck (02/02/1999)
What's required to actually produce a game.

#30: Dangerous Games (01/05/1999)
Why games are unsafe and what that's good.

#29: Making Gamers the Old-Fashioned Way (12/01/1998)
Gaming and young children.

#28: The $1K Company (11/03/1998)
Starting a company on the cheap.

#27: So You Want to Start Your Own Company ... (10/01/1998)
Advice on starting your own RPG company (with lessons learned from RPGnet and Metagame).

#26: Holy Grails and Marching Morons (09/01/1998)
Designers versus marketers, or whether it matters what you publish.

#25: Gamers Must Die! (08/04/1998)
Flame wars, small publishers, and individual gamers as the heart of the industry.

#24: Profit versus Prophet (07/07/1998)
West End Games bankruptcy, distribution, and the state of the industry.

#23: Acquire! Acuquire! (06/02/1998)
The acquisition of Event Horizon Productions by Archon.

#22: Power (05/05/1998)
The joy of attaining (though not having) power.

#21: Schroedinger Games; or: the GAMA Report (04/07/1998)
A look at a variety of companies at GTS 1998.

#20: Culling the Herd (03/03/1998)
Game companies, Darwinian evolution, and the circle of life.

#19: Horatio Hornblower's RPG Company (02/03/1998)
The perfect world where a RPG writer can work his way up through the ranks to create a well-managed company. And why it doesn't exist.

#18: Us and Them / A Clash of Images (01/06/1998)
Professional businesses and the future of the web. (A double feature.)

#17: How to Scam Games for Free (12/02/1997)
Seven methods to get free games.

#16: Women in Gaming? (11/04/1997)
How gaming changes when the sexes mingle.

#15: Fear of a gaming planet. (10/02/1997)
Welcome to the RPG ghetto?

#14: Rush (09/02/1997)
Fame and adoration in lieu of pay in the RPG industry.

#13: For the Money (08/02/1997)
A look at the convention mating ritual of cash.

#12: Good Deeds (07/02/1997)
The dearth of evil game companies.

#11: Dirty Laundry (06/02/1997)
Copyright and slander on the web. Or: what's a little flame among friends?

#10: Communications Breakdown (05/02/1997)
Company and player schisms.

#9: The Quick & The Dead (04/02/1997)
Dying companies versus new ideas.

#8: It's All in the Timing (03/02/1997)
On hype and late delivery, and on genres.

#7: Insiders and Outsiders (02/02/1997)
Who's who and who uses the web.

#6: Fits and Starts (01/02/1997)
Web presence, print runs, and live roleplaying.

#5: Procrastination Season is Over (12/01/1996)
More industry news, including the latest delays.

#4: Best of Times, Worst of Times (11/01/1996)
LARPs, upcoming live releases, and failures in the industry.

#3: After the Con (10/01/1996)
Short notes after Gencon 1996.

#2: Our Launch (09/01/1996)
The RPGnet launch and Gencon 1996.

#1: On the Lifetime of Web Pages (08/31/1996)
Sandy discusses the intended longevity of RPGnet.