Once upon a time, back in high school, I had one of the most epic dreams of my career. In it, an evil man wearing a starfish mask and his army of dwarves had invaded my grandmother’s back yard and were kidnapping my best friend’s dad. A decade later, I based a campaign on this idea, and discovered the true meaning of Christmas. And by Christmas, I mean PAIN. Read on to know how my discovery can make your campaign better. Or something.
Infinite Possibilities, Itty-Bitty Comfort Zone
My nerdcation to Washington DC last month opened my eyes to a lot of things. These included crab chips and secret ginger candies that stop motion sickness. Mostly, it was the exposure to open-form roleplaying games that has been taking up most of my free processor cycles. Despite being the guy in our group that would cheerfully handwave every combat in favor of having an all-roleplay session, I find myself flummoxed when faced with the infinite possibilities of a game like Fiasco. I have a lot of fun when it works, and nobody has fun when it doesn’t.
I Am Not An Atomic Playboy
The key to my heart is, well, my heart. I need to have an emotional connection to something or I’ll get bored. That’s why it’s really not a surprise to me that the right music in something that’s otherwise mediocre can win me over, and the right music in something really great can push me into being a rabid fan. I had to watch Star Wars: Episode 1 several times before I was sure it was bad. Stupid John Williams. Read on to find out the secret link between Bejeweled 3 and my secret past! HINT: It’s secret.
Pac-Dad Fever
I remember playing my very first game of Pac-Man when I was 4 years old. I felt like it lasted a long time, which was pretty weird considering I thought the ghosts were my friends and I was trying to chase them. I’m guessing preschool-me managed to find some loophole in the Pac-Man patterns of old, a premise which sounds awesome and shall thusly be adopted into my official records as being arcade-analogous to baby Hercules strangling the serpents in his crib. Beep beep boop.
Improv Pushups: The Movie
Early Monday morning, I bid farewell to one Dave Chalker (who I had been staying with for the week, and who had risen with me to get me to the airport before the coming of the dread Day Star).I came all the way to the East coast for one specific purpose: to game my face off. More specifically, DC Gameday was this weekend, and I wanted to game my face off as close to Congress as I possibly could. Somebody’s got to show those guys how to play nice together, right?
Review: “Dark Delve”
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.
Be Careful What You Wish For
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!”
I Was A Teenage Movie Magic-User
The comments on my article on DM Fiat took an interesting turn last week when people started talking about how much more “cinematic” 4e is than previous editions. This is a claim I’d heard applied several times to 4e, but I’ve never really understood why. The combat is faster! All the classes have cool powers now, not just the casters! I can’t confirm or deny these things, but I am calling Shenanigans on them making anything more action-movie awesome on their own. As a matter of fact, I am extending these same Shenanigans to claims that any game system can do this.
Fudging The Grid
I prefer to keep an open mind about most things, not the least of which is gaming. That, coupled with my willingness to play devil’s advocate, occasionally finds me arguing for a position I don’t completely agree with. Sometimes, you find you’re not arguing about what you thought you were when you started. This time, I found myself in an internal argument with myself contemplating the very nature of running a roleplaying game. It was like, inside the other argument. It was like ARGUMENT INCEPTION.
Box Out Of Hell 2: Back Into The Box
Our last D&D session went a bit different from the usual. For most groups, that might mean stepping out of the box a little and trying something weird. For my players, it meant riding in a Toyota Camry on a very straight stretch of interstate back to Normaltown. For the first time in our group’s history, we switched over from homebrewed adventures crafted from the seat of my very pants over to pre-made adventures done by Real Professionals. Of course it didn’t go quite as planned.
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