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You are here: Home / Archives for 2011

Archives for 2011

Critical Bits for the week ending 2011-10-09

October 9, 2011 by Gato the News Robot

RT @ChrisSSims: Hey, look what @matt_james_rpg @loganbonner @rjschwalb and Jeff Morgenroth did. http://ow.ly/6M1Ha # September 2011 Errata posted, mostly clarifications: http://t.co/EhP4JcQF # RT @rdonoghue: Today's post: Taking a swing at systemizing RP and exploration rewards – http://t.co/mzN5AXpk # RT @Morrus: EN World Pathfinder NEWS: Pathfinder Beginner Box — UNBOXED http://t.co/sNCwQosh #dnd #rpg #

Filed Under: Critical Bits Tagged With: twitter

The Architect DM: Dungeon Interconnectivity

October 5, 2011 by Bartoneus

Yesterday I started playing the new game Dark Souls on the PS3 and the level designs in the game are very inspiring when it comes to planning out dungeons. One of the coolest things Dark Souls, and in fact many video games, does with its levels is interconnecting different areas in creative and unexpected ways. This is also an element that I see very rarely in tabletop RPG dungeon design, and that’s a disparity that I’d like to see changed.

Filed Under: Featured, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: advice, architect dm, D&D, dark souls, DM advice, dnd, Dungeons and Dragons, encounter design, GM, interconnectivity, Location, roleplaying games, world building

Review: “Dark Delve”

October 4, 2011 by Vanir

I was checking my email yesterday when I saw a request to review an Xbox indie game called Dark Delve by a fellow named Mark Harvey. He even sent me a code to download it for free! Given our corporate policy to give great reviews to anybody who gives us free stuff, I hope that my immortal soul was worth the $1 cost of the game.

Filed Under: Dire Flailings, Featured, Reviews, Video Games Tagged With: dark delve, dungeon crawl, eye of the beholder, telengard, ultima, xbla, xbox indie, xbox live

Critical Bits for the week ending 2011-10-02

October 2, 2011 by Gato the News Robot

RT @dresdenfiles: New blog post: Halloween Surprise: Hocus Focus! http://t.co/pfIEHEWE # RT @gregbilsland: Next month's Dragon/Dungeon editorial discusses the upcoming submission window for magazine pitches. # Dice Cam: A Kickstarter for a device to let you use real dice in your online RPG/gaming sessions: http://t.co/1o6UaTnA # Kara-Tur and Horror-themed issues of Dragon and Dungeon Table […]

Filed Under: Critical Bits Tagged With: twitter

The One-Page Character Sheet

September 29, 2011 by dixontrimline

So here is a game that I really do enjoy, and yet, there is this scar on my beloved which prevents me from embracing it completely: the character sheets are 8000 pages long.

Filed Under: Editorial, Featured, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 4e, character sheets, design

The Architect DM: Winter is Coming

September 28, 2011 by Bartoneus

Recently I’ve been reading the Song of Ice and Fire books and really enjoying them, starting with A Game of Thrones and now I’ve just finished the second book A Clash of Kings. One of the major concepts of the series is that summers and winters can last for years at a time, and the books start during a long period of summer and focus on the Stark family whose motto is the very foreboding words, “winter is coming.” Though there are different seasons, the northern portion of the series’ fantasy world is always in a wintery climate and the narrative of the books returns to this area every now and then as a subtle reminder that winter is in definitely coming.

Filed Under: Featured, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: advice, architect dm, castle black, D&D, dnd, Dungeons and Dragons, game of thrones, roleplaying games, seasons, song of ice and fire, winter is coming

Be Careful What You Wish For

September 27, 2011 by Vanir

We have a new player joining our group, and her character debut is going a little differently than I’d seen before. I’ve seen detailed backstories written. I’ve never seen a player bring a list of demands that must be met if her character is ever to see the light of day. Of course, I accepted her terms. You see, she hadn’t played D&D before, and she never knew about the credo of the Evil DM — “be careful what you wish for, you just might get it!”

Filed Under: Dire Flailings, Humor, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: batman, D&D, demands, dnd, evil, evil dm, gelfling, LOLdemort, magog, pinata, ransom, ransom note, spiderman, tears are delicious, tiger, tiger magog, wolverine

Piledriver: The Most Popular Game Ever Played

September 26, 2011 by The Main Event

Piledriver. You’ve all played it, sometimes on purpose, sometimes by accident, but you play it more than you expect.

Filed Under: Board, Card, and Miniature Games, Editorial, Featured, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: game design

Critical Bits for the week ending 2011-09-25

September 25, 2011 by Gato the News Robot

“@mudbunny74: ICV2 interviews Greg Leeds, CEO of #WotC Part 1: http://t.co/Ky5cAKpT Part 2: http://t.co/bIdwC6MS” # In his final L&L column, @mikemearls announces that @MonteJCook will be taking over the column and working on D&D http://t.co/lluEMN9p # “@mudbunny74: If you have any comments about todays #DDI update, please post them in the thread here: http://t.co/bwvtwjrX " […]

Filed Under: Critical Bits Tagged With: twitter

Why I’m Starting to Love Epic 4e D&D

September 22, 2011 by Bartoneus

I started playing and running 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons right as it was released. I started my current ongoing campaign back then with a party of 1st level characters and now three years later I’ve run over 50 adventures and the party is up to 24th level characters. The campaign has had its share of rough spots and tough times, but overall I’d say it has been an incredibly fun experience and something that I look forward to every other weekend. Dave was also running a campaign that was on the same track as mine only slightly ahead, but due to a myriad of reasons a few weeks ago we ran a day long, jointed finale that closed his game out in style and unrestrained awesomeness. What I’m discovering more and more over the last few weeks is that running epic level 4th Edition is some of the most fun I’ve ever had running or playing in any D&D game.

Filed Under: Roleplaying Games, The Architect DM Tagged With: 4e, 4th Edition, advice, D&D, DM, dnd, Dungeons & Dragons, Dungeons and Dragons, epic level, epic tier, GM, roleplaying games

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