I wasn’t supposed to go to SynDCon this year, as I had already attended my annual gaming convention, TempleCon, had a great pile of fun, and didn’t want to push my luck or spend piles of money I didn’t technically have. However, two weeks before it started, a DM I know from Meetup.com sent out a global alert/invite/threat saying he’d be going and would love to see everyone in his address book there. I thought about it for approximately 11 seconds and then fired off a text message to my best friend Dave in Rhode Island and said, “Gaming? Convention? Rockville? Maryland? Yes?” He was supposed to say, “Don’t be an idiot,” and then list hundreds of reasons why it’s a terrible idea. Instead, he agreed to be an idiot with me, and even bring along his son Mason, and suddenly the three of us were signed up for SynDCon.
Review: Heroes of Shadow
The book Player’s Option: Heroes of Shadow is the first real print product we have seen for 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons since the Essentials line and also marks what I hope is the end in what I perceived as a lag in print products for the game. Heroes of Shadow was delayed from March until April so that it could be printed as a hard cover book instead of a smaller format paperback, and I am very pleased with having a larger sized hardcover in my hands with 4E content in it after months without one. What this book contains is exactly what you would expect from a book focusing on player characters that tap into the shadow power source and draw their inspiration from the darker corners of your D&D universes. Its contents range from entirely new classes to new builds for existing classes to new races and more than a handful of new options for characters of all types that want to have a bit darker tilt to their abilities.
Innocence Lost: The Price of Omnipotence
In which Vanir opens the Pandora’s Box of gaming, and learns things he cannot un-know. In which the Infinite Improbability Drive of D&D can let a DM both cheat and not cheat simultaneously. In which redemption is sought,
Agents of the Un-Kingdom: The Thoughteater
As the Conquering Dreamer’s forces dig further into an area, the arsenal they utilize grows. Nullmen are replaced, but the legion also begins to grow as victims are caught and transformed into new ambitionless soldiers. New creations emerge as well, the most terrifying of which is the thoughteater. It turns out that all the Un-kingdom needs is your body. Your thoughts are useless garbage, which the thoughteater feeds on.
Critical Bits for the week ending 2011-04-03
From the Archives:: Friday Chat: The Issue(s) of Combat length in D&D 4e http://bit.ly/fzIARR #charchive # Dave's Mapper tool to randomly generate maps from a variety of map tiles artists. http://davesmapper.com/ # icv2 lists top 5 RPGs of Q4 2010: D&D, Pathfinder, DarkHeresy/RogueTrader/Deathwatch, Dragon Age, Mutants & Masterminds http://bit.ly/fUUSkG # RT @rdonoghue: Today I share […]
The World of Exercising Experiment: The Mantearing
This is a post about being a geek parent, losing weight and making a game out of it all… it’s closer to Jane MacGonical’s gaming theory than anything RPG related. But if you are a gamer parent and face (potential) obesity problems, this may be of interest to you. Last fall I was faced with a […]
Junk Punch
You have been sucker punched. As a gamer, you’ve been categorized and used as a negative stereotype to illustrate points about terrible movies. Video games and gamers get a bum rap in film criticism. Film critics seem to like to use video games and the people who play them as a culturally understood idiom. This practice makes the critics look as bad as what they might be criticizing.
The Architect DM: On Dungeons
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the iconic “Dungeon” concept that many of us think of when we think of it in the context of Dungeons & Dragons. Also because only a month or two ago Dave wrapped up his 4E run through the Temple of Elemental Evil with custom mechanics to add to the “large dungeon crawl” feel of the adventures. Now I find my own campaign on the verge of the epic tier (the characters are currently level 19/20), and I am beginning to brainstorm a series of elemental dungeons that they will have to go through as a form of the Temple of Elemental Evil now fractured and embodied in five separate temples. Yes, I loved The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and I plan on stealing liberally from it.
Why KmartGamer Needs To Send Me to E3: A Love Story
In which Vanir pleads his case to KmartGamer to send him to E3 this year. Please send them emails telling them how great of an idea this is. Better yet, bake them cookies. What kind of cookies do you like, KMartGamer? I have people ready to bake here.
Week 4: I Have Lost Six Dungeon Pounds
This week will be my D&D group’s fourth session. I’m starting to get the lay of the land a little better. I’ve learned that a plot won’t burst into flames if not kept on the rails the entire session. I’ve also learned that tacking it down in a couple of spots sure won’t hurt, and […]
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