Welcome to 2022! I took a few weeks off from my posting to enjoy the holidays with my family, but it’s time to get back in the habit. In professional news, I'm happy to report that the cinematic teaser for the new Elder Scrolls Online chapter I've been working on the last few months has …
Author: richardbakerauthor
Design Rule: Perverse Incentives
Hello! Not much news to report since last week, so I’ll jump straight into another Design Rules discussion. This is a design rule I formulated years ago, and express like this: When you create a system with perverse incentives, don’t be surprised when players act perversely. Now, I’m not saying players are perverts. I’m using …
Design Rule: Same or Different
As you can probably tell from the list of archived posts, I fell out of the habit of regular blogging in March of 2020. The short explanation is that I got really busy on a big writing project, so I let the essays slide while working on other stuff. Anyway, I think it’s about time …
53 Days In, the 5 Big Stories
Greetings! Today marks my 53rd day in Maryland after venturing eastward to join the excellent content and writing team at ZeniMax Online Studio. I’m happy to report that some of the first material I worked on at ZOS is now seeing the light of day: I wrote up a number of the antiquities that are …
Oregon Trail, in Reverse
Greetings from Baltimore! Boy, I picked a strange time to move across the country. After two short weeks in the ZeniMax Online offices, I was sent home (along with everybody else) to work remotely until further notice. While the caution is well warranted, it’s a little tough for me personally: I’m just starting to learn …
Eastbound!
I’ve been sitting on this for a few weeks, but here’s some big news: I’ve accepted a position with ZeniMax Online Studios to work as a senior writer on the Elder Scrolls Online game! So, what does this mean? First of all, I’m moving from the Seattle area to the Baltimore suburbs. In fact, I’ve …
AcadeCon, Scornful Stars
Thanks for stopping by! I’ve been busy writing and bus-driving and doing an odd bit of game design here and there. Oh, and I saw my daughter Hannah off to her first year at Central Washington University last month, and my daughter Alex off to a new apartment in north Seattle earlier this month, so …
Back to School!
Hello! I’m back after ten days visiting family. We spent five days in Ocean City NJ (my hometown), and five days in Yorktown VA (the hometown of my lovely wife). Somehow we’d managed to let three years slide by between visits to the East Coast, but we did a pretty good job of making up …
Gen Con Wrap, TORG
Another Gen Con in the bag! I’m back from Indianapolis, and now I’m looking at a short week to get a LOT of things done before taking a personal vacation. A couple of quick updates for you, and a big announcement! More Restless Lightning Looking for the next offering in Sikander North? The mass market …
At Gen Con, Look to the East
Okay, a really short and to-the-point post today: What I’m doing at Gen Con! In general, I’ll be splitting my time between the Sasquatch Game Studio booth (number 265, in the “upper left” corner as you look at the Exhibit Hall map) and running the Alternity Dark Nebula adventure over at the Baldman Games area …
Richard Baker 