Articles will be reproduced on this site as they become available from Gaming Outpost.  The full list of articles is here, with links to the original location and to the new home as it arrives.  Those interested in reading articles listed but not yet posted here are invited to visit Gaming Outpost and subscribe; a few of the articles there were made available free of charge, and can be accessed by non-members.

New this week at Gaming Outpost:

New this week at Valdron.com:
Game Ideas Unlimited:
Embraces

To facilitate finding the articles, titles are broken into quarterly installments.  That is, the earliest articles are listed first, but these quick links will get you to the later articles directly.  Each article is listed and described, with links at the end.

  We hope you enjoy these, and that they help you develop better games and game play.

1. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Introduction gave some idea of what lay ahead, along with links to articles the author had already published online elsewhere.  It appeared on June 1, 2001 at Gaming Outpost, and is now also here.
2. Game Ideas Unlimited:  An Amusing Dungeon gave an example of dropping something very ordinary in one world into another world in which it would be completely alien.  It is found at Gaming Outpost and also here.
3. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Transmats talked about thinking your technology through to its logical conclusions, as many potential applications of basic transmat technology usually overlooked in those settings that use it were expounded.  Gaming Outpost still has this article, which is now also here.
4. Game Ideas Unlimited:  My North Wall took a look at finding inspiration in the ordinary things around us.  It is still at Gaming Outpost and now also here.
5. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Screen Wrap played games with teleporters, magic or otherwise, as an adventure design feature to confuse players.  It's at Gaming Outpost, and as June ends in 2003 it also appears here.
6. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Pay Attention applies some advice given to aspiring authors and artists to running role playing games:  watch the world go by and write down the details, because you will probably find them useful sometime in the future.  Gaming Outpost is the first place to find it, but it's now also here.
7. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Living in the Past when it first appeared sent many gamers to their parents and grandparents for stories of how things use to be; the past is full of great ideas for games and characters, if only you take the time to find them.  This was at Gaming Outpost and now also here.
8. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Snow Day was remembered by readers for long after it debuted at the end of August, as it showed how to describe a scene so vividly that your players would feel it.  It is still remembered at Gaming Outpost and now also here.
9. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Invisible Coins talked about how to decide which way to take a game scenario by getting in touch with what it is you want to have happen.  This somewhat illusionist technique is described at Gaming Outpost and now here.
10. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Empiricism tackles philosopher David Hume's assertion that we can't imagine anything we've never seen, and suggests that it's not our imaginations but our descriptions that are limited.  How to use this to our advantage is considered at Gaming Outpost and now also here.
11. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Aptrusis is a scrambled word; it was the basis for a look into thought process and puzzle solving at Gaming Outpost and here.
12. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Monster Design came about because author M. Joseph Young was invited to help judge a monster design contest, and from his notes he suggested what made a monster good or bad in game terms.  It's at Gaming Outpost and also here.
13. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Over My Shoulder originally appeared on August 24, 2001, and marked the completion of the first quarter of a year of the series.  The author decided then to use that milestone as an opportunity to look back over what preceded, and forward toward what was to come.  The copy at Gaming Outpost is riddled with bad links because since its publication the library was entirely revamped, but the reposting here has been fixed.

14. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Who? challenged the idea that players should know everything about their own characters, and suggested ways to build surprises into the characters themselves.  It began the second quarter of the series at Gaming Outpost and now here.
15. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Left Hand again explored mental process, how each of us understands directions and deals with them in our minds, as an important aspect of describing imaginary settings.  Gaming Outpost still has this one, and it's now also here.
16. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Learning speaks of watching television, reading books, and otherwise expanding your knowledge to fill in your game worlds.  That's at Gaming Outpost and now here.
17. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Deceased marked the passing of a family pet, a cat, and asked why we so rarely role play funerals in our games--something which, it is suggested, would bring new depths to the characters and the situations.  The readers at Gaming Outpost responded well to this, and now we've brought it here.
18. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Left or Right? is an early discussion of what would now be called full illusionist techniques:  the author recommends taking away any real significance to any choice which shouldn't matter.  This appeared on September 28, 2001 at Gaming Outpost and now here--and the scenario of which it speaks will soon be available in Multiverser:  The Third Book of Worlds.
19. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Embraces was the first to appear after the Gaming Outpost redesign.  It talked about bringing romantic moments into play, and the only criticism anyone mentioned was that at 1999 words it wasn't long enough.  Gaming Outpost still has it, and introduced its rating system with this one, an 8.56 out of 10 with 18 votes.  Now you can also read it here.
20. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Believable Nonsense hearkened back to the cat's funeral to consider how to make superstition work in a game world.  It's highly rated at Gaming Outpost.
21. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Stitches followed the author and his son into an emergency room, but was more about the changes that had happened there over time, and about getting the setting right.  It's at Gaming Outpost
22. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Sentience considers what might be involved in creating an alien intelligence.  Find it at Gaming Outpost.
23. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Motivation considered what holds parties together, what gives each character the reason he needs to be where he is.  It was well received at Gaming Outpost.
24. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Edison told us that genius was more perspiration than inspiration, looking at the importance of working on an idea to bring it to completion.  It appears at Gaming Outpost.
25. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Names considers how names get attached to people and places.  It mentions another column at Gaming Outpost.
26. Game Ideas Unlimited:  The Process looked back at the second quarter, and suggested that the way to learn creative process was by watching how others did it.  It still appears at Gaming Outpost, where it's free.

27. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Ives Loves a Parade was praised for its simple explanations of music theory concepts and its application of them to game design, particularly in understanding what the rules do and when to break them.  It's at Gaming Outpost.
28. Game Ideas Unlimited:  David is a common name, the name of an ancient king, a statue of that king, and a friend of the author, but all together they teach us to keep things simple.  That's at Gaming Outpost.
29. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Procession expresses the author's annoyance at inconvenience caused by a funeral as a step into making misplaced societal values seem the most reasonable thing in the world.  It was well received at Gaming Outpost.
30. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Pain recalled the author's encounter with flaming oil and third degree burns, giving some insight into what our characters experience.  It's at Gaming Outpost.
31. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Dog takes another crack at fathoming alien intelligence by looking at the thoughts of a household pet.  It's at Gaming Outpost.
32. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Flirting is not about romance in games, but about using role playing as a way of trying lifestyles and experiences without taking the risks.  It was said to be a new angle on role playing when it first appeared at Gaming Outpost.
33. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Map told of the author's experience exploring a building and later seeing the floor plan for it, and how the two experiences differed.  At least one gamer changed his view of maps at Gaming Outpost.
34. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Value provided insights in thinking about what things are worth in our game worlds, said to be very practical by more than one gamer when it first appeared at Gaming Outpost.
35. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Time talks about creating and working within alien systems of time measurement.  It's at Gaming Outpost.
36. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Multiple Staging takes a standard Multiverser idea--split the player characters up--and shows why this can increase the excitement and interest in a game.  It's at Gaming Outpost.
37. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Sense was about sensation, that is, how we perceive things, and how differences in perceptions could cause us to relate differently to reality.  Such shifts in perception would impact culture significantly, as was noted by one reader at Gaming Outpost.
38. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Senseless addresses those moments of sheer fear that leave us momentarily unable to do anything at all, and suggests incorporating them into play at times.  It's at Gaming Outpost.
39. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Flashbacks flashes back over the quarter, and talks about how to use such techniques in play.  It's free at Gaming Outpost.

40. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Derivative opens the fourth quarter by suggesting that something can be original and creative while borrowing from previous works of others.  It appears at Gaming Outpost.
41. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Wounds discusses the degree to which previous adventures may leave their mark on a character.  That's at Gaming Outpost.
42. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Faith recalls The Unsinkable Molly Brown, and suggests that religious beliefs can be a source of strength in a character.  Gaming Outpost has it.
43. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Vivid talks about making imaginary events as memorable as real ones.  It's at Gaming Outpost.
44. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Words examines how language and jargon can facilitate or complicate communication.  It appears at Gaming Outpost.
45. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Wizardry looked at the power of a magic-user in terms not of what he can do but of what he can make others believe.  Although originally written in 1992, it became an entry in this series by appearing on Gaming Outpost.
46. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Knowing talks about our own experience in relation to information we can recognize but not recite, comparisons we can't make so easily, and other matters which could be handled better in games.  It's at Gaming Outpost.
47. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Tactics suggests the importance of thinking like a fighter when playing one, and presents a few battle strategies proven in games.  Gaming Outpost has it.
48. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Possibilities observes that isolated facts can fit into many explanations, and good scenario design can use that to advantage.  It's at Gaming Outpost.
49. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Common draws a lesson from the Bible to suggest that ultimately we are all in many ways the same, and so can understand characters who seem different.  It's at Gaming Outpost.
50. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Uncertainty suggests how to use an enemy's lack of knowledge about you to your advantage.  It's at Gaming Outpost.
51. Game Ideas Unlimited:  The Alien allowed M. Joseph Young to deconstruct one of the creatures from a Multiverser world and reveal how an alien mind was made playable.  It's at Gaming Outpost.
52. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Celebrations brought the first year of Game Ideas Unlimited to a close, looking at what we celebrate, why, and how.  It's a look back on the fourth quarter, free at Gaming Outpost.

53. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Characterization talks about the little things that can be done to bring a character to life during play, such as voices and accents and quirks and tics and habits.  It's at Gaming Outpost.
54. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Cash spans time from ancient history to current events to trends of the future, looking to understand what money is and how it works.  You'll find the article at Gaming Outpost.
55. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Shares talks about different ways for a player character party to split up the stuff they collect during adventures, with several unusual but viable approaches included.  That's at Gaming Outpost.
56. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Props discusses the advantages to having objects at the table that set the mood, and maybe do a bit more.  This is at Gaming Outpost.
57. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Comparisons is primarily about understanding the advantages and disadvantages of various similar weapons, within the context of game mechanics.  It's at Gaming Outpost.
58. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Name-monics suggested puns and familiar names to help the referee and the players remember who was who and what was what within a game setting.  That's at Gaming Outpost.
59. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Expanding suggests a world creation method which takes one aspect of reality and blows it out of proportion.  Read it at Gaming Outpost.
60. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Stars may be the most poetic article in the series, quoting Joni Mitchell and Robert Frost in an effort to convey some of the awe people once felt for the heavens.  It was well received at Gaming Outpost.
61. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Paperwork got back to the mundane and practical, with some methods of organizing all the papers that games seem to require.  That's at Gaming Outpost.
62. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Clones addresses not the science fiction concept of duplicate people but a method of building well-defined minor characters quickly, by borrowing the identities of people you know.  There's a copy at Gaming Outpost.
63. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Flies and Fairies, as much as it rings of fantasy, is actually about game mechanics, and the relationship between defensive values and survival.  It's at Gaming Outpost.
64. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Plague considers the impact disease has on history, and might have on the future, and could have in our games.  It's at Gaming Outpost.
65. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Continuity is a quarterly review at the end of the fifteenth month of publication of the series, which in addition to looking back over the preceding dozen articles provided some ideas on making the adventures of our games feel more connected.  It's free at Gaming Outpost.

66. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Civil Planning gave some practical insights into why roads and towns are designed as they are.  It brought life to the city maps of one reader at Gaming Outpost.
67. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Bits reports a trick Multiverser co-author E. R. Jones used which series author M. Joseph Young found valuable in writing Verse Three, Chapter One, the first Multiverser novel, the inclusion of minor details that can later be imbued with significance.  It's at Gaming Outpost.
68. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Ephemeral Illusion examines the concept of illusionism as a game design, and finds it flawed, despite the author's recognition that illusionist techniques can be extremely valuable.  You can see it at Gaming Outpost.
69. Game Ideas Unlimited:  File Cards is another collection of ideas for streamlining game paperwork.  It's at Gaming Outpost.
70. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Peace explores non-violent alternatives in game conflict situations.  That's at Gaming Outpost.
71. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Child's Play challenges the assertion that games of make believe are role playing without rules, finding the rules within the interactions of the players.  This is at Gaming Outpost.
72. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Encounters turns the standard random encounter on its head, suggesting a type of encounter generally overlooked in the tables but quite common in life.  You can encounter it at Gaming Outpost.
73. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Food might make you hungry, but it's a recipe for designing things eaten by other cultures and races which will be believable.  That's at Gaming Outpost.
74. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Kahanamoku teaches a lesson about cultural values from a postage stamp.  It's at Gaming Outpost.
75. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Rivalry explores the competition between friends and the admiration between enemies as potential game themes.  It's at Gaming Outpost.
76. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Spin is about using names for things that hide their true natures.  You'll find it under that name at Gaming Outpost.
77. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Occurences notes the way little things happen all the time, and sometimes big things happen, and sometimes we're caught in them; and then suggests ways to bring these into play.  This is at Gaming Outpost.
78. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Reports wraps up one and a half years of the series with another look back, and a discussion of how having players do in-game in-character reports for in-game superiors can enhance play.  It's free at Gaming Outpost.

79. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Attention considers our ability to be oblivious.  You can give your attention to it at Gaming Outpost.
80. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Trust is about character, and particularly about whether our characters are too trusting and not trustworthy enough.  This begins the seventh quarter at Gaming Outpost.
81. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Transition recommends those moments in history in which the world is in upheaval as great times for role playing.  It's at Gaming Outpost.
82. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Partnership contrasts working together with working together--finding two distinct meanings of the same words, both of which can be valid and effective in play.  It's at Gaming Outpost.
83. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Language looks at some of the strengths and weaknesses of real languages, extrapolates from there to imaginary ones, and suggests how language differences within game worlds can make for more interesting play.  It's written at Gaming Outpost.
84. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Invention recognizes this as the child of necessity, as people who can't do what they need to do the way everyone else does it find another way to do it.  You'll find it at Gaming Outpost.
85. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Control examines what makes people afraid, and how to use it in games.  It's at Gaming Outpost.
86. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Prophecy explores ways to include predictions in games without railroading the players.  It's at Gaming Outpost.
87. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Culture introduced the Shibboleth test, the idea that there are things we cannot help in how we speak and act which broadcast much about us to others.  It was well received at Gaming Outpost.
88. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Graffiti considers the writing on the walls, and the cliffs, and the caves, and the fact that humans have been leaving their marks everywhere for as long as they've been able to do so--so why not in our dungeons and spaceships?  It's at Gaming Outpost.
89. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Opportunity Costs takes an accounting concept about the cost of choices and extrapolates it to a source of game tension.  Decide whether it's worth reading at Gaming Outpost.
90. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Can't recognizes that we all have our limitations.  It's at Gaming Outpost.
91. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Patterns wraps up another quarter with a consideration of the way things recur in regular rhythm.  It's free at Gaming Outpost.

92. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Exercise proposes a way to practice the sort of multitasking required of referees.  It was judged an excellent way to do so by one reader at Gaming Outpost.
93. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Objectives returns to the problems of working together by looking at the impact of different characters having different goals.  It's at Gaming Outpost.
94. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Bridge is a lesson in strategy drawn from a card game.  It's at Gaming Outpost.
95. Game Ideas Unlimited:  CharGen examines some of the advantages and disadvantages of various character creation methods, focusing on ways to do freeform design.  It's at Gaming Outpost.
96. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Funny tries to distinguish humor that helps a game from that which derails it, in a rather practical manner.  This is at Gaming Outpost.
97. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Rewards is again about game mechanics, this time looking at how rewards systems must work two ways or they fail.  It's at Gaming Outpost.
98. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Negative Points returns to character generation and proposes ways to make better random and points-based creation systems.  It was well received at Gaming Outpost.
99. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Romanian talks about those unusual skills, taken by players but never used or required by scenarios which give too much away, and ways to make them work.  It's at Gaming Outpost.
100. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Century focused on the importance of getting into the mindset of an age or people or culture to create a realistic game world.  It's at Gaming Outpost.
101. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Waltz returned to the analogy of music to suggest that sometimes form crushes creativity, and if we wish to see role playing games continue we must break out of the molds.  Dance over to Gaming Outpost.
102. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Cumulative brings into view the fact that although each time you roll the dice you know the odds, the chance of failure builds up with each new roll.  It's at Gaming Outpost.
103. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Token speaks of small victories and insignificant rewards, and how these can keep the game going.  It's at Gaming Outpost.
104. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Arbitrary looked back the end of the quarter, marking two years of weekly columns, and at the same time suggesting that, like most things, the celebration of years is in some sense a matter of our own choosing.  It's free at Gaming Outpost.

Ninth Quarter Articles

105. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Variations recognizes that all of these articles could be expanded with new ideas, and just as easily our old game ideas can become the basis for new ones.  It's at Gaming Outpost.
106. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Wait continues the strategic importance of not doing something before it's necessary.  It's on Gaming Outpost.
107. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Togetherness recognizes the essentially social nature of games.  It's on Gaming Outpost.
108. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Contingencies talks about Plan B, the backup plan you need as player or referee.  Now at Gaming Outpost, but not yet backed up here.
109. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Levels is about logic, about thinking deeper when you have to solve a puzzle or riddle.  It reached Gaming Outpost the last week of June 2003.
110. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Silence delves into the law, and particularly into the modern protection against self-incrimination.  What difference would it make to the world if this was not a legal right, and even if it is what does that mean?  It was published at Gaming Outpost on Independence Day, July 4, 2003.
111. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Math only uses math as an example, or a series of examples, to challenge the reader to believe in his own ability to do more with his mind.  It's at Gaming Outpost.
112. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Bad Ideas fulfills a promise made long ago by looking at how to sort out the good ideas from the bad.  You can read it at Gaming Outpost.
113. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Stalling talks about a referee technique for giving yourself time to think without letting on to the players that you need it.  This is now at Gaming Outpost.
114. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Orthography talks about ways to use nuances of spelling and grammar as clues in a game.  You can read it at Gaming Outpost.
115. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Entertainment wonders whether the changes in our role playing games reflect something more general in our culture, a shift away from challenge in many of our entertainments.  It posted on Gaming Outpost in early August, 2003.
116. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Gamer Movies visits an oft-discussed topic and suggests a few films that teach something for better play.  It posted at Gaming Outpost.
117. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Diversification talks about getting around writer's block by being involved in many different creative projects.  Read it at Gaming Outpost.

Tenth Quarter Articles

118. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Laser Sharks considers going over the top, and how to make it work.  It made a splash at Gaming Outpost.
119. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Dungeons returns to wandering monsters, and ways to make them work better as a game scenario element.  It appeared at Gaming Outpost.
120. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Moods talks about how to keep your bad mood, as player or referee, from spoiling the game for everyone.  That's at Gaming Outpost.
121. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Ghosts draws some ideas from a modern-day ghost story.  You can read them at Gaming Outpost.
122. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Strangers discusses the idea that characters won't always be buddies.  It went up Gaming Outpost on September 26, 2003.
123. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Beliefs is not really about religion, but about what the character thinks is most important in the world, and how that impacts his actions.
124. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Pyramids is a bit of a joke, perhaps, but talks about building worlds.
125. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Foliage discusses the conflict potential of man against nature, as a game option.
126. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Numerology discusses our individual superstitions, how we get them, and how we can give them to characters.
127. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Treats is slated for Halloween, and is a collection of idea fragments that have been simmering for a while.
128. Game Ideas Unlimited:  Beneficence tackles what it is to be a good person, from a game perspective.