Making a Start/The Ground Rules

April 27, 2012
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Greetings, internet!
This is my first blog, so I’m going to ask you to be patient with the first few months of this experiment. My intention is to grow the site with plenty of content, including articles on games, game design, reviews, and so forth.
I should start with a brief introduction: I’m Ross Watson, and I’ve been making games for over ten years now. I started out as a freelance writer for a number of D20 products and became the line developer for the Warhammer 40,000 RPGs from Fantasy Flight Games. Recently I’ve started designing for computer and video games as well, starting with Darksiders II from Vigil Games/THQ.
So, why make a blog? I have a lot of fascinating conversations with other designers and enthusiasts quite often and thing to myself “I should have written that down!” This blog is going to give me a place to put down on virtual “paper” some of the thoughts, conversations, and reactions to the things that make me tick: games of all kinds plus geek and sci-fi culture.
I like to work with lists, headings, and clear statements up-front… it’s just how I roll. Therefore, you will find below some of the ground rules for my blog.

NDAs

One thing I can’t… and won’t… discuss on my blog is anything that I’m currently working on (with some exceptions assuming I’ve received permission or the information is already released via official channels). Having worked for a number of companies with highly sensitive material in the past, this is just one of the realities of the industry and I have no intention of compromising it for brief internet celebrity.

No Hate

Much like the distinguished gentlemen of the D6 Generation Podcast, I don’t want my blog to become a pit of negativity—I feel that reasoned and reasonable dialogue is much more constructive. My pledge is to never express a hateful attitude. This is not to say I won’t give a negative review… I believe there is certainly room for disappointment and constructive criticism where it is warranted! However, you won’t find extreme levels of “nerd rage” on this blog.
Some of the article ideas I’d like to present include:
  • King for a Day—I have a really large collection of games, and often I’ll put together some thoughts on what I’d do if given the reins to the game (or a chance to reboot it) personally. Just to be clear, anytime I write one of these articles, it will be with total respect to the original creators and designers. See the note about “No Hate” above.
  •  Table Tales—Similar to KODT’s “Tales from the Table,” I have a ton of gaming stories of yore. Some of these stories I’ve used many times in panels at conventions, and it seems like now would be a good time to give them a home on the internet!
  •  Game Gab—Yeah, it’s a bad title, come up with something better in the comments section! Basically, this is where I chat about some concepts of game design that I’ve found to be interesting and significant during my career. Again, to give credit where it is due, my plan is to include the names of the people that inspired or collaborated with me on these ideas. 🙂

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