It comes as little surprise to me, then, that when I look back on all the really good DM’s I’ve ever played with, I see a 10d6 fireball made out of people skills. These people manage to complete the cat-herding ritual that is holding a weekly game night. A lot of them work with their players individually to give each one something personal to enjoy in-game. They manage interpersonal conflicts, both in and out of game. They manage the expectations of their players. And they do it while running a game.
The State of D&D, Post-Gen Con 2013
I feel like this post should start with a Star Wars crawl: “It was a time of great change in Dungeons & Dragons…”
13th Age Musings: Of Templates, Uniqueness and Adventure Hooks
On one hand, I’m excited about creating stories, plots, and themes needed to establish the best possible campaign. I know the game provides me with some solid tools to do just that. On the other hand, I want to fiddle with the very same tools to make them even more useful.
Review: “13th Age”
30 Second Summary 13th Age feels like the spiritual successor of 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons mixed with the storytelling mechanics of games like Fate and Fiasco. Rob Heinsoo and Jonathan Tweet give us a fully refined RPG mixed with a pile of house rules we can drop into any d20 game. While it’s great […]
MODOK’s 11: A Marvel Heroic Roleplaying Event
This is an event for Marvel Heroic Roleplaying, based on the comic mini-series Super-Villain Team-Up: MODOK’s 11 by Fred van Lente and Frances Portela. MODOK recruits a gang of D-list villains to steal a powerful prize from a formidable adversary, while the superheroes of the world have their attention drawn elsewhere. It is designed for […]
RPGs for Kids: “Castle Death” Revisited
Last year, I wrote a short series of posts about a dead simple roleplaying game I played with my son Nico. I thought I should revisit it and add more meat to the concept. The Game Based on the first RPG system I created when I was my son’s age, Castle Death is a simple […]
First Impressions: “Fate Core” Roleplaying Game
After roughly a year with extremely limited time for roleplaying games, I was invited by a close friend to play in his newly starting modern day, Cthulhu-esque campaign using the early release Fate Core rules from the Kickstarter from Evil Hat Productions. I had heard quite a bit from Dave and other friends about the Dresden […]
First Play Impressions: “Firefly RPG”
I’ve been rather discrete about it but I had significant doubts about how the Firefly RPG would turn out and be perceived by gamers. By that I don’t mean the usual jitters of the insecure designer, as I was just one cog of many in an all-star team working on the Gen Con Preview book. […]
2013 Gen Con Preview: What to Watch For
Once again, Gen Con is upon us. You can check out my schedule if you’re so inclined. More importantly, there are games to check out and buy. This is not a comprehensive list: if you want a bigger look at what board games are available there, I recommend checking out the Board Game News list. […]
Interview: Amanda Valentine, Developer of “Little Wizards” RPG
I’ve worked with Amanda Valentine on multiple projects before (including Marvel Heroic Roleplaying), where she served as a lead editor, helping to make the books as best they could be on every level. Amanda has a lot of experience working at every level of game design across multiple game lines, and so I was very […]
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