by John Ryan Editor’s note: This piece is part of our Playtesting Game Narratives series, curated by SFWA’s Game Writing Committee. When you hear about narrative in video games, positions such as writers and narrative designers might be the first roles you’ll think of. What people don’t think about is one of the most important roles […]

by Austin Conrad Editor’s note: This piece is part of our Playtesting Game Narratives series, curated by SFWA’s Game Writing Committee. Tabletop role-playing games (TTRPGs) are built from basically two elements: game mechanics and narrative. Unlike video games, TTRPGs strongly focus on collaborative narrative between the players and the gamemaster at the table. Playtesting the narrative […]

by Marie Vibbert Editor’s note: This piece is part of our Playtesting Game Narratives series, curated by SFWA’s Game Writing Committee. Every three months, the Cleveland Game Developers host a Play Test Night for our members.  Last time, I got to play a card game. It drove home the crucial differences between video games and physical […]

by Will McDermott Editor’s note: This piece is part of our Playtesting Game Narratives series, curated by SFWA’s Game Writing Committee. Writing narrative content for board games is different from any other writing I’ve ever done. It’s even different than writing for video games or role-playing games. The reason is simple: length. Novel and short story […]

by John Dale Beety Editor’s note: This piece is part of our Playtesting Game Narratives series, curated by SFWA’s Game Writing Committee. In science fiction and fantasy (SFF) terms, game writing is exactly what it sounds like: writing for games. Calling oneself a game writer, however, is akin to declaring oneself a scientist. Divisions within game […]