When I was first DMing, I spent a lot of time fleshing out every last detail and herding everyone around to each subsequent plot point on the Illusion of Choice Express (woo woo!). I’ve since learned that laying out some probable places to go and things to do is a good plan, and not to […]
Readin’, Writin’, and Roleplayin’
This month is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo to all the cool kids). For reasons modern science cannot explain, I have decided to subject myself to this ritual. I walked into NaNoWriMo with a nonzero amount of hubris that was quickly shattered on the rocks of reality. It’s not that I thought I was going […]
Night Of The Gaming Dead
There’s been a lot of my mind lately, what with the Presidential election, the Frankenstorm pointed directly at most of Critical Hits’s staff, and the unholy rebirth of Furbys. However, the terror at the center of every sleepless night since I can remember has been this and this alone:
If the zombie apocalypse comes, how will I play D&D?
The Pepperoni Of The Damned
Game night for our group has always been the day out of the week we can let off some steam. When it’s board game night, there’s usually time to let our luxurious social hair and talk about stuff, including whatever’s bothering us. D&D nights tend to be more escapist, and we’re on-task right after everybody gets done eating. Up until now, this has worked pretty well. When I first started DMing, it was really stressful. It still is, but there’s a certain euphoria that comes with getting a session to take flight (or at least not to crash and burn), and it always feels good when it’s all over.
Except when it doesn’t.
The Island Of Dr. Flail
It’s October, and I’m in the mood for some scary stuff. Problem: I’ve never really played in a good horror game and I’m about as scary as a box of Franken-Berry cereal. Time to get my vampire hat on. Come up to the lab, and see what’s on the slab.
Review: “Director’s Cut: Survival Horror”
My gaming group tried something new this past week. One of our members wanted to run a game he’d picked up at Gen Con this past August — namely, Director’s Cut: Survival Horror, a survival horror RPG in the spirit of slasher/monster/mostly-unclothed-women-about-to-die-horribly movies. Things didn’t turn out so well. The bandages come off next month, I’m told.
The Possibly Accidentally Nonviolent DM
As you may have guessed from my past few weeks’ worth of columns, I’ve been pretty anxious about getting back behind the DM screen. That finally happened this past Thursday, and it was really fun. The story progressed and grew in ways that were cooler than I initially envisioned (I freaking love that!) and the players were emotionally engaged in what was happening. Also, there was almost no combat whatsoever. Should I be worried? I hope their lust for orc blood doesn’t need to be sated with MINE. (P.S. I game with barbarians.)
The Big Story
My D&D campaign is at an awkward place. We haven’t played in at least a month, a couple of my players may be moving away at some point in the near future, and (by my reckoning) we’re about midway through what I’m loosely calling “the main story”. I’ve rather enjoyed this campaign. I’d rather not see it cancelled mid-season. But how do I give it a shot in the arm it needs?
Momentum
I’m not sure how long it’s been since my group played D&D. I think it’s going on two months now. That’s not a good thing. I know my players have been missing it, mostly because they say things like “MATT. WHEN ARE WE PLAYING D&D.”, using periods instead of question marks so that I know they are serious?. I have a variety of reasons we haven’t played. We’ve had work conflicts, Gen Con, my family being sick, and this past week, I just couldn’t get it together. All those reasons were true, but that’s not why I didn’t run a game that night.
YOU WILL EX-TERR-MINATE THE PEE-CEES
My wife came home sick from work on Wednesday with what turned out to be strep. As this was not our first Strep Rodeo, I took my CPAP machine and made my bed upon the couch, where I slept until last night. I’m not exactly sure what about this situation prompted me to decide to catch up on six seasons worth of Doctor Who, but it made sense at the time. Basically every moment that I’ve been awake that my son has not has been filled completely to the brim with Daleks. I would watch the show with my 4 year old son, except I’ve got this thing where I don’t want my kid to freak out and run away from robots. Although, depending on how the future turns out, that might actually be a good thing to do. I’ll ponder this. Yes, this has something to do with my D&D campaign eventually, but you’ll have to wibbly wobbly timey wimey or something.
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