Last night, I dreamt of Gen Con. This happens to me 4-5 times a year, and though the details are usually different, there are some common threads. First, it’s always the second or third day of the con, and I haven’t done even close to everything I wanted to do. Second, something insane happens, and I’m no longer gaming, and usually my life is in danger. Sometimes, I’m a secret agent. Once, I was at a surfing academy, and my classes were conflicting with all the best seminars. In the most recent iteration of this dream, I found a holy lamppost that told me how to get a date in Victorian England and threatened to unmake reality, and I was really bummed that I was going to miss True Dungeon.
Archives for July 2012
Critical Bits for the week ending 2012-07-29
"Christmas in July" sale from @DriveThruRPG – 25% off thousands of RPG products: http://t.co/jRLNJRRZ # RT @mikemearls: Interesting news about Call of Cthulhu – http://t.co/lQL7J41v # RT @VonAether: White Wolf's schedule for Aug 2012 – Aug 2013 is up! http://t.co/odcRSbud #
The Architect DM: Structural Dungeon Design
Back in one of my earliest Architect DM posts I said that structure was one of the most overlooked elements of dungeon design. These days most of the published dungeon maps that I see are not bad with regards to structure, but from what I’ve heard this is still something that a lot of people would like to learn about for their personal, hand drawn dungeon designs.
Critical Bits for the week ending 2012-07-22
RT @DriveThruRPG: We've collected the ENnie Awards 2012 Nominees that are available on DTRPG: http://t.co/wy7Mk678 # RT @ENnies: New #ENnies Blog post: Important Announcement Regarding the ENnie Awards Submissions Fees – http://t.co/GKx0LG0Z # Ennie Award voting is now open: http://t.co/LbfSGJQM #
Zen and the Art of Dungeon Mastering #4: What is Your Intent with my Dungeon?
Chatty’s series of DMing advice continues. This time he discusses how you can help players focus on what they want to do in their turns by asking a simple question.
Critical Bits for the week ending 2012-07-15
RT @BoardgameNews: BGG News: Kingdom Builder Wins the 2012 Spiel des Jahres; Village Takes Kennerspiel des Jahres http://t.co/JG8iKLal # Wizards of the Coast announced cancellation of Virtual Tabletop: http://t.co/d3Dx8JkZ # RT @GameTableOnline: GameTable Online is planning to adopt the Virtual Table. http://t.co/C5UMl8Mm! # 2011 Dice Tower Awards winners announced: http://t.co/dI9cuJ9C # RT @mikemearls: We unearthed […]
2012 ENnie Award Nominations Announced
The 2012 ENnie Award nominations are out, if you haven’t heard. Just as in previous years, here’s my thoughts on some of the nominees, particularly the ones that I’ve read or played.
Zen and the Art of Dungeon Mastering #3: Mind your Players’ Styles, Part 4 of 4
Chatty concludes his four part sub-series (and hits his 900th post) about helping DMs understand what motivate their players and how to tap into this to make a more satisfying game for all. In this article, chatty discusses Lurking and Instigating play styles and also broaches the subject of selfish players.
Zen and the Art of Dungeon Mastering #3: Mind Your Players’ Styles, Part 3 of 4
Chatty’s series on adapting a DM’s natural style to take into account those of his players continue with three more set of player motivations: Specialty Characters, Method Acting and Storyteling. Don’t miss it!
Schrödinger’s Virtual Tabletop
WotC announced yesterday that they’ll be shutting down their lukewarmly-popular Virtual Tabletop application that let people play (*gasp*) over the Internets. Of course, now those same Internets are on fire with all sorts of FUD and vitriol about how WotC is out of touch and predictions on how long before WotC sells the company to Paizo (obviously the clear winner of the online/tabletop RPG arms race). I’m not really upset about this. Why? You have to read the rest of the article for that, silly.
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