Check out today's Penny Arcade on D&D Essentials and edition warring: http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2010/8/23/ # RT @loganbonner: So Cryptic announces a Neverwinter game, but it's not an MMO: http://bit.ly/bxa3lo # RT @JaredvonHindman: Own the D&D the Movie? Want to listen to me make fun of it MST3k-style? Huzzah: http://bit.ly/bWp0gn # From the Archives:: Review: "Forgotten Heroes: Fang, […]
Archives for 2010
Thinking Outside the Boxed Text
Boxed text is often the first interaction between the writer of an adventure and its players. It had better be good, or Brark the Grimlock Barbarian may have something to say about it.
Friday Chat, Early Edition: The Geeky Road Trip
In about 24 hours, I’ll be leaving for the Toronto Fan Expo with my friend PM. The Expo is Canada’s largest event for Sci-Fi, Horror, Anime and Gaming fans where they get to meet some of their favorite industry personalities and stock up on merch. I have a 5 hour car trip to plan so I thought I’d reach out and share/ask how the travelling part of the trip should be prepared!
The Architect DM: Function & Playability
Welcome to the second installment of my series about applying real world design concepts to your own personal D&D or tabletop RPG world. Last week’s post was a relatively broad overview of the basic aspects to consider while designing a location. Today I would like to look at a different approach to designing locations, which involves thinking more about how the game will actually play out and how your players (and you as the DM/GM) will use and interact with the environment you’re creating.
The Lord of Troma
This week, I had the pleasure of speaking with Lloyd Kaufman, President and co-founder of Troma entertainment and creator of the Toxic Avenger. I had a lot of nerves going into this – I’ve been a big Troma fan since I was 13 and used to spend every Friday and Saturday night watching horror movies on USA Up All Night. Read on to discover the true meaning of Troma, what the Lord of Troma thinks about Inception, and Justin Bieber’s role in all this. No, really.
The New D&D Starter Red Box: A Chatty and Nico Review
The first product of the D&D Essentials product line, while likely to be the target of hordes of people who will complain that it is not what it could never be… is what I wished I opened in 1986.
It is an introduction to the D&D game that goes directly to the heart of things.
Upcoming 4e Item Rarities and the Great 4e Rebalancing
At the D&D New Products Seminar, and on this post from Mike Mearls, it was stated that, from Essentials on out, items would fall into categories of common, uncommon, and rare. Most existing items, he stated, would fall into the “uncommon” rarity. So why does this matter? It matters because it is the combination of item powers mixed with class, paragon path, epic destiny, and class power effects that often unbalanced the game. With these item combinations much more rare, PCs are more likely to stay balanced. Let’s look at a few specific instances where we’ll see this change.
Critical Bits for the week ending 2010-08-22
4e DMing Tips Seminar with @chattydm, @ChrisSSims and @DaveTheGame audio recording posted: http://is.gd/ejdrX # Listen to @GFBRobot Episode #25 for an interview with our Editor-in-Chief @DaveTheGame about the history of CH http://gfbrobot.com/?p=6595 # RT @gamefiend: New blog post: Worldbreaker: Etherkai, the Nightmare Dragon http://bit.ly/dw4qE6 # RT @monkeyking: Terrific Q&A on the Lost City project. http://www.neuroglyphgames.com/investigating-the-lost-city-q-and-a […]
The GM: Everyone’s Best Friend
When the GM is everyone’s best friend, no one has to get thrown under the bus.
Review: “DC Adventures: Hero’s Handbook” RPG
My only major purchase at Gen Con was the DC Adventures: Hero’s Handbook RPG, which is an updated version of Mutants and Masterminds. After playing in a demo run by (I believe) game designer Steven Kenson, I was certain it was just the superhero flavor I had been looking for many moons. I haven’t run my own adventure yet, but I did play a demo. Here are my thoughts.
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