I was reminded of this when playing the newest version of the playtest packet for D&D Next at Gen Con, and also clicked even more when thinking about themes and how they work in 4e (of which I just had an article posted with new ones, obvious plug) and also how 13th Age tackles it. Here’s my conclusion: I’m not a fan of the Race/Class/Background/Specialty system as implemented in D&D Next.
Torg: A Marvel Heroic Roleplaying Hack (Orrorsh – Realm of Gothic Horror) – Part 1
In the original Torg game, Orrorsh is where Storm Knights went to die. The powers of the Horrors allowed them to prevent Storm Knights from soaking damage, which often ended up in dead heroes. I’m not looking to make Orrorsh so deadly in my Torg hack. After all, dead heroes can’t be afraid, or become corrupt and become Horrors. Since a horror style roleplaying game has a different feel than Marvel Heroic Roleplaying, there needs to be some substantial changes to how you play the game in order to get the atmosphere of horror.
Momentum
I’m not sure how long it’s been since my group played D&D. I think it’s going on two months now. That’s not a good thing. I know my players have been missing it, mostly because they say things like “MATT. WHEN ARE WE PLAYING D&D.”, using periods instead of question marks so that I know they are serious?. I have a variety of reasons we haven’t played. We’ve had work conflicts, Gen Con, my family being sick, and this past week, I just couldn’t get it together. All those reasons were true, but that’s not why I didn’t run a game that night.
Critical Bits for the week ending 2012-09-09
RT @boardgamegeek: That time of year again – nominations open for 2012 Golden Geek Awards! http://t.co/iHpz0Qku # RT @EvilHatOfficial: New from the Hat:: Designers & Dragons http://t.co/8kv2JO77 # RT @therobotviking: I've got an article at io9 about new stuff from @FFGames. http://t.co/3ot23Pas #
YOU WILL EX-TERR-MINATE THE PEE-CEES
My wife came home sick from work on Wednesday with what turned out to be strep. As this was not our first Strep Rodeo, I took my CPAP machine and made my bed upon the couch, where I slept until last night. I’m not exactly sure what about this situation prompted me to decide to catch up on six seasons worth of Doctor Who, but it made sense at the time. Basically every moment that I’ve been awake that my son has not has been filled completely to the brim with Daleks. I would watch the show with my 4 year old son, except I’ve got this thing where I don’t want my kid to freak out and run away from robots. Although, depending on how the future turns out, that might actually be a good thing to do. I’ll ponder this. Yes, this has something to do with my D&D campaign eventually, but you’ll have to wibbly wobbly timey wimey or something.
Critical Bits for the week ending 2012-09-02
Enjoy the Gamma World Junkulator? It wouldn't have been possible without @JaredvonHindman. Please donate to help him: http://t.co/6PGDoboz # RT @wizards_magic: Explore the world of Ravnica at http://t.co/rll8qQrt #MTGRTR # Public playtest beginning on Atomic Robo RPG: http://t.co/JhPe6uef Read our previous interview about it: http://t.co/tcoqvQSl #
Gen Con 2012: RPG News
Aside from all the D&D stuff I’ve already talked about, there were a couple other big RPG developments, as well as a few that I was interested in following personally.
Gen Con 2012 FLAIL STYLE
In which I relate the things I learned at Gen Con this year, tell some strange stories, and tell you how to get the stinkeye in a hotel lobby OR YOUR MONEY BACK.
Critical Bits for the week ending 2012-08-26
RT @newbiedm: The Star Wars #rpg dice app by Fantasy Flight Games has hit the Apple app store. It's $4.99 #starwars http://t.co/EiI3oQm1 # RT @direflail: Android version of Star Wars #rpg dice app here: https://t.co/ViRyyK9L # RT @13thAge: Monk, druid and chaos shaman classes for 13th Age: back the 13 True Ways expansion Kickstarter: http://t.co/apRs86EG […]
Gen Con 2012: D&D Keynote and More
D&D is in a transitional period, and that showed quite a bit at Gen Con. No longer in one big room at the Sagamore, D&D events were spread out across different rooms in the convention center, with the booth in the exhibit hall focusing mainly on showing off the new MMO expansion, the Lolth statue, and selling branded merchandise. Organized Play such as Living Forgotten Realms and Ashes of Athas kept the torching going for D&D 4e, while other rooms were dedicated to demoing Next. Let’s start with the current offerings from D&D and move forward from there.
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