While at GenCon this year I was floored by the amount of new games that were being previewed and available to purchase at the convention. Checking out these new games is one of the big reasons that I go to GenCon, so today I’d like to talk about some of the games that I got to demo while I was there. This post is titled “previews” because I haven’t had a chance to play any of these games in their entirety, but they all stood out to me either from before I went to the con or while I was walking the exhibit hall.
DD&D 2011 Wrap-Up
It’s now been over a week since we ran the 4th annual Drinking Dungeons & Dragons event for folks we know at Gen Con. Our small, single game in a hotel room turned into a room-filling (and food and drink minimum-fulfilling) event with four tables, and including all the attendees of our pre-party and audience, had over 50 gamers talking games and having drinks. The event was talked about the rest of the weekend, and apparently spawned many, many tweets during the game (which I missed due to running and hosting) so I’m happy to call it a success.
Gen Con 2011: D&D New Products Seminar
As usual, speculation was rampant on what Wizards of the Coast would announce at Gen Con. Given the departure of some high-profile names and based on statements made via the D&D website, the default prediction seemed to be the announcement of D&D 5th edition, or some kind of Basic/Advanced split forked off the current edition of D&D. As it turned out, none of that happened. That said, there was a major announcement at the end of the D&D New Products Seminar at Gen Con, and it’s one that gamers have been asking for a LONG time.
Chatty DM, Freelancer, Part 4: The Pit and The Plan
In which Chatty chronicles the effect of his last depression (and recovery) on his writing career and how it shaped what he decided to go for.
The Architect DM: Nations as Character Backgrounds
I am still in the process of brainstorming on the following topics, but this post is an essential part of the process as I express my thoughts so far and more importantly get feedback from others and hear about their experiences. After running an adventure of D&D last week that included our friend Dixon Trimline, he and I were having a post-adventure geek out because we don’t get the chance to talk in person that often. During this geek out we discussed the history of my D&D campaign, specifically the world that has been built before and during the game, when I caught inspiration for an idea of presenting nations and world building as character background “packages” that can be taken by players.
Chatty DM, Freelancer, Part 3: RPG Blogging, The Revelation
In which Chatty relates some anecdotes about his first year as a blogger, his first lessons and, more importantly, his coming to terms with what he always has been since middle school…
Scotty’s Brewpub: Gaming, Grog, Grub, and Good Times for Gen Con
There’s a lot going on at Scotty’s during Gen Con. The short, take away is JUST GO, you’ll have fun. That’s enough if this looks like it’s going to be a TL;DR for you.
The Architect DM: On Sandbox Campaigns
The Architect DM series has covered a lot of different aspects or tabletop RPGs ranging from details of a single encounter to the much larger task of planning out an entire game world. I’ve found myself tending to progress through that range from post to post instead of staying to one end or another for more than one or two posts in a row. With this in mind, today’s post comes from some of my more recent thoughts on Campaign planning and how to build towards running a mostly sandbox style game.
Does Size Really Matter?
In which Chatty muses about the importance of size in RPG groups and the fact that he holds on to ridiculous expectations and beliefs in SPITE of contrary data. Could it be that Chatty is not a logical positronic brain but an actual slightly damaged human being?
The Architect DM: Give It Some Height
I’m going to clue you guys in to a nifty little secret that I’ve been using for a while now in my RPG encounters – adding height to a tabletop RPG can be one of the best ways to invigorate your encounters. You must be careful, because using something like height in your game can become something of a gimmick or a trick and if overused could become predictable or boring to your players. However, when applied correctly and in the right amount height and depth can create some of the most memorable moments of your game and can also help enforce or dissuade certain styles of play.
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