I was initially interested because it had Robert Redford and Paul Newman co-starring; having just watched Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid for the first time, I was eager for more from that pair. I didn't feel so strongly about Butch Cassidy that I wanted to follow its director to this film, but then my decision was clinched when I saw on Wikipedia that The Sting's plot took inspiration from David Maurer's book The Big Con, which I read just a few months ago.
Alexis has weighed in with high and generous praise for 2d6 Taoists:
[T]hese writers have worked diligently and well to create works that deserve recognition in their own right ... I feel overwhelmed at the prospect of examining their work here, as I don't believe that I can do it the justice that it deserves.
I give it my full endorsement; if my work is worth reading, then so too is the work that these designers and writers have done. Trust the effort, trust the value it offers; it is a small but meaningful tome that is worth reading more than once.
Alexis has been writing a new series about dungeon mastering, one post of which was about how to effectively incorporate intrigue into your game. Alexis has a seemingly encyclopedic knowledge of film, and has often suggested ways for DMs to improve their craft by studying movies (such as in this post). After he broached the subject of intrigue, in his Patreon subscriber chatroom I asked what movies a DM should watch to improve his understanding of intrigue. He gave me the following list (alphabetized, sans "a"/"the").
2d6 Taoists, a collection of essays honoring the work of Alexis Smolensk, is now available for purchase. Here's part of the description from the purchase page:
In this volume, four tabletop RPG designers pay homage to Smolensk's influence and talent with essays inspired by facets of his work. Jonathan Becker shares how a change in perspective renewed his devotion to the art of the RPG. Maxwell Joslyn explains why developing RPG-specific software applications is the best path toward expanding RPGs' depth and complexity. Shelby Maddox presents methods for developing game rules and game settings which feel coherent and organic. And Danielle Osterman, after empirically examining YouTube videos and Smolensk's blog posts, makes the case for improving how we teach and train budding DMs.
