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.
The GM: Everyone’s Best Friend
When the GM is everyone’s best friend, no one has to get thrown under the bus.
Chatty’s Toronto Adventure: Fan Expo 2010
With Nico’s ear surgery out of the way, it so happens that I shall be at the Toronto Fan Expo from August 27 to 29. I’ve been invited as a gaming guest, alongside Toronto gaming luminaries like Robin Laws and Ed Greenwood… Oh yeah, and that gorgeous red-headed gamer Felicia Day…
Minions of Differing Flavors
Just like the epicure needs new and exciting experiences, numerous DMs among us need new ways to mix it up with minions. This is especially true if you feel your minions disappear too quickly to be interesting or seem to be no added challenge. I’m going to attempt to, as an infamous chef might say, help you to kick it up a notch . . . sometimes.
The Architect DM: Building Foundations
A couple of weeks ago I did a guest segment on the Dungeon Master Guys podcast about the topic of improvising as a DM. While discussing this with Dave and Quinn I suddenly realized that I have become rather adept at coming up with dungeons, locations, and hand drawn battle maps on a whim when they are needed in my D&D campaign. Both of them quickly suggested that this might be a result of my day job as an Architect and designer. This is the first post in a series I’m calling “The Architect DM” where I will be talking about how the ideas, concepts, and philosophies of designing real life locations can be applied to your D&D game.
Kids and Games: Getting it Wrong is Doing it Right
As I looked at my son and his friend play Talisman “wrong”, I was flooded with powerful memories and a striking realization. One of the reasons why I love D&D so much is because I learned most of it by making stuff up while trying to learn it. I got most of it wrong, but I didn’t know then and I still had more fun than any other games I’d played so far!
In Defense of Funny
I hear a lot of people talk about how they don’t care for humor in their D&D campaigns. That’s my favorite part! Find out a couple ways to introduce some levity into your game without annoying the crap out of everyone else. Or just annoy the crap out of everyone else. I don’t care. It’s not MY game.
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