First!

So, a bit of background. I play a lot of games- computer, console, board, card, pen-and-paper, etc. I tend to analyze things quite a bit, and so that led to an early interest in game theory and game design- what makes backgammon different from chess? Is there a way to make backgammon less reliant on randomness, or is the randomness a good thing? What would make Civilization more realistic? What would make it more fun? Where do the two coincide, and more importantly, where do they not coincide? What sort of dungeons make a game of D&D fun? What sort of combat systems make a game of D&D fun? Are players satisfied by a cinematic boss fight, or do there need to be mooks beforehand? What specifically makes mass battles such a bad plan?

I'm making this blog as both an attempt to get feedback on my ideas and to keep myself honest. I can't count the number of projects I've started and never finished- hopefully keeping a public log of the work I'm doing and advertising it will make me less likely to abandon ideas after a bit of consideration.

At the moment, I've got three ideas, which I'll explain in the next three posts.