The Polverine

Fate/Apocalypse--Moments In Fate [GUEST] A Powered by the Apocalypse inspired mechanic for the Fate role-playing game.

TL;DR: René-Pier Deshaies is the software developer behind Fari, the open-source VTT, but he is also a talented game developer and I’m honored he accepted to re-post his “Moments in Fate” here because, to be honest, I wish I could code and write like him. A Powered by the Apocalypse inspired mechanic for the Fate role-playing game. In Fate, characters can do anything, but in terms of rules and…

Hardwired Fate--Cyberpunk Scarcity Without Excess Bookkeeping Cyberpunk is all about quick gains & losses and counting your bullets, not bookkeeping. Here's how to have your cybercake, and eat it too.

TL;DR: Cyberpunk is all about quick gains and even quicker losses and counting your bullets, but you don’t want to turn it into a bookkeeping fest. Here’s how to have your cybercake, and eat it too. If you like what you read on The Polverine, please share it with your gaming group, on Facebook, Twitter, or Discord. I’m not asking for myself, more for a friend—really, a bunch of friends: the devs…

Theory Thursday--The Logic of Discovery in RPGs (Part III) Community feedback from Part I & II made me realize what really matter about in-game discovery. Here's the result, with due credit where credit's due.

TL;DR: Feedback from Part I & II stressed the importance of guided discovery, so I focused this post on its mechanics and you should care for who prompted that change; but still, you can jump right to it. After Part I dealt with conceptual distinctions about discoveries, and Part II, with examples in Fate, there are two things left to dealt with: a “minimal model” for GM-prompted discovery…

Bronze Rulz!–Sufficiently Advanced Magic (Part II)

TL;DR: I beef up Fate’s Minimal Magic-and-Crafting system from Part I and get it to do cool stuff, and if you just care for the mechanics you can jump right to it. If you like what you read on The Polverine, please share it with your gaming group, on Facebook, Twitter, or Discord. I’m not asking for myself, more for a friend—really, a bunch of friends: the devs behind Fari. And if you really…

Fiddling Friday--Fate Magic Without Hack (with community content)

TL;DR: Fate had a minimal magic system and you can jump right to it or skip my stuff entirely and go for an absolutely fabulous alternative from someone else. My first AD&D 2E gaming group included a theoretical physicist, a couple of engineers, and a logician-in-training (myself). With backgrounds like these, one of us would often challenge a rule amidst some action the others did not want to…

Don’t Miss the Migration

Hi folks,

I’m moving all my online operations over to theolderavocado.com (and getting rid of the dual-posting nonsense). As a consequence and for a limited time everybody will have access to Patreon-supported posts for free. But the exclusive content is intended to be exclusive, so enjoy it while you can.

And that’s…

Getting Started With (II) – Kettlebells

The GSW series presents focused applications of Analytic Fitness™ with a 2.500-word cap (excluding theory and analysis in asides and footnotes) for an estimated reading time under 15 minutes. This excerpt of the Patreon-supported post published exclusively on theolderavocado.com omits the theory and analysis. The full post contains 219% more information. [*])

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THE SCIENCE & BULLSHIT OF LIFTING (IV) – RECOVERY (2)

This post continues the exploration of general theories of training relative to the elusive notion of recovery. (This is an excerpt of a Patreon-supported post published exclusively on theolderavocado.com for my Patreon supporters. The full post contains 216% more information.[*])

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Getting Started With (I): The US Army Combat Fitness Test

The GSW series presents focused applications of Analytic Fitness™ with a 2.500-word cap (excluding theory and analysis in asides and footnotes) for an estimated reading time under 15 minutes. This excerpt of the Patreon-supported post published exclusively on theolderavocado.com omits the theory and analysis. The full post contains 200% more information. [*])

In order to read the full post,…

Old School Strength (VI): Athleta Ex Oblivione

We have more than enough information to reconstruct the training and diet of Roman legionnaires and get a pretty good idea of how physically impressive they would have been. (This is an excerpt of a Patreon-supported post published exclusively on theolderavocado.com for my Patreon supporters. The full post contains 171% more information.[*])

In order to read the full post, you need to: (1)…

New Post on The Older Avocado! ___________________________________ The Science & Bullshit of Lifting (IV): Recovery (1)

It may come as a surprise but recovery from exercise is not scientifically well understood. As often, when understanding is poor, there is an overabundance of theory. And, also, bullshit. (This is an excerpt of a Patreon-supported post published exclusively on theolderavocado.com for my Patreon supporters. The full post contains 262% more information.[*])

In order to read the full post, you…

The Analytic Fitness™ Dictionary – Loaded Carries

This entry of the Analytic Fitness™ Dictionary looks at what should be anyone’s first choice for strength training (but rarely is): loaded carries. ((This is an excerpt of a Patreon-supported post published exclusively on theolderavocado.com for my Patreon supporters. The full post contains 189% more information.[*])

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The Analytic Fitness™ Dictionary – Functional Movement

This entry of the Analytic Fitness™ Dictionary looks at the murky waters of functional movement.

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The Analytic Fitness™ Dictionary – Energy Systems

This entry of the Analytic Fitness™ Dictionary looks at yet another nugget of physiology often misrepresented in popular exercise science: the human body’s energy systems. (This is an excerpt of a Patreon-supported post published exclusively on theolderavocado.com for my Patreon supporters. The full post contains 188% more information.[*])

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