Back in 1990, West End Games released Torg, a cinematic style multi-genre roleplaying game. This game featured many innovative mechanics such as the Drama Deck and Possibility Points, but is best known for its background. Not only did this game allow multiple genres to be treated with the same mechanics, but then smashed them together […]
The Easily Lost Explorer’s Guide to Dungeon Crawling
if we all had perfect spacial thinking and effective communication skills, we wouldn’t need a battle grid in combat. The DM could describe the dimensions and shape of a room in the dungeon, as well as relative positions of inhabitants and features. We could just describe how far we’re going, all adjust our mental pictures appropriately, and voila: the entire time to set up a battle would be the time we need to talk about it. Unfortunately, we don’t all have that. Some of us are terrible at it (me) while others of us are really good at it.
One Hundred Monkeys, One Hundred Typewriters, One Hundred Wands Of Magic Missile
As some of you are no doubt aware, WotC has once again opened the window for article pitches to Dungeon and Dragon. For the first time in my life, I have decided to submit some stuff. As I have been writing about roleplaying games for nearly 5 years now, and with the recent success in this arena of several of my esteemed blog-tribe fresh in my mind, one might think I would be overconfident. One would be crazy wrong.
Dungeons and DJs: A review of DMDJ
As an RPG music soundboard and dice roller for the iPhone/iPad, DMDJ from Blueface offers great “at your fingertips” control in a convenient and portable package, surmounting some of the difficulties of setting up sound in your game, though there remain issues to address.
Collateral Damage Issue #2: Super Shenanigans at Camp Hammond
In which Chatty relates his second, homebrewed Marvel Heroic Roleplaying session. This month, the members of Collateral Damage are taken to Camp Hammond for the basic Avengers training.
Pain of Publication Review: “Dinocalypse Now”
“Dinocalypse Now” is the first entry into the fiction line based in the “Spirit of the Century” universe made by Evil Hat Productions. With Wendig’s mixing of pulpy goodness and a dash of panache, he effortlessly cooks up an exciting story set in the Spirit of the Century universe that stands on its own without knowing the original book..
Defeat Your Invincible Enemy Using This One Weird Old Trick
In both fantasy and science fiction, it’s a fairly common theme to pit unlikely heroes against impossible odds. In very few circumstances do we said unlikely hero train and practice for years to become strong enough to beat his enemy — in many cases, the fan has been thoroughly defecated upon and the problem needs to get solved as soon as possible. That means something really unusual needs to happen in order for the good guys to win. Are you brave enough to wield the double-edged sword to give your players this option? Will you cut your own kneecaps off? Will they beat you to death with their PHBs? Or will you achieve Total Victory?
Chatty on Creativity: Muting the Judge and the What If Exercise.
In which Chatty shares his favourite creativity tricks and manages to create the core of both a campaign arc and setting…. which turns out to be eerily familiar.
The Swag of Yore
When I was a kid, we could watch a D&D cartoon and buy AD&D toys at most toy stores. Now, our selection of D&D items appears to be mostly limited to games. t-shirts, and leather goods. Read for musings about how things have changed for D&D merch over the last 30 years, and childish hopes for the future. My heart and wallet ache.
Castle Death! A Dead Simple RPG for Kids and Parents, Part 3
In which Nico and Chatty conclude their first session of Castle Death, meeting Pit Trap Mac and dealing with an Ogre noble who’s a stickler for etiquette.
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