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.
Review: Marvel Heroic Roleplaying: “Civil War” Event Book
The Marvel Heroic Roleplaying Game’s Civil War Event Book is hard to quickly summarize as anything but massive. From its massive ambitions, to its incredible scope and to the sizable amount of content, the book is in all aspects a massive value. It might seem like an equally massive undertaking for the prospective RPG gamer, but the guidelines help somewhat in keeping you up to speed. You don’t have to be a comic book expert in order to run it. However, I would still recommend some familiarity with the Civil War.
The Architect DM: Structural Dungeon Design
Back in one of my earliest Architect DM posts I said that structure was one of the most overlooked elements of dungeon design. These days most of the published dungeon maps that I see are not bad with regards to structure, but from what I’ve heard this is still something that a lot of people would like to learn about for their personal, hand drawn dungeon designs.
Zen and the Art of Dungeon Mastering #4: What is Your Intent with my Dungeon?
Chatty’s series of DMing advice continues. This time he discusses how you can help players focus on what they want to do in their turns by asking a simple question.
2012 ENnie Award Nominations Announced
The 2012 ENnie Award nominations are out, if you haven’t heard. Just as in previous years, here’s my thoughts on some of the nominees, particularly the ones that I’ve read or played.
Zen and the Art of Dungeon Mastering #3: Mind your Players’ Styles, Part 4 of 4
Chatty concludes his four part sub-series (and hits his 900th post) about helping DMs understand what motivate their players and how to tap into this to make a more satisfying game for all. In this article, chatty discusses Lurking and Instigating play styles and also broaches the subject of selfish players.
Zen and the Art of Dungeon Mastering #3: Mind Your Players’ Styles, Part 3 of 4
Chatty’s series on adapting a DM’s natural style to take into account those of his players continue with three more set of player motivations: Specialty Characters, Method Acting and Storyteling. Don’t miss it!
Schrödinger’s Virtual Tabletop
WotC announced yesterday that they’ll be shutting down their lukewarmly-popular Virtual Tabletop application that let people play (*gasp*) over the Internets. Of course, now those same Internets are on fire with all sorts of FUD and vitriol about how WotC is out of touch and predictions on how long before WotC sells the company to Paizo (obviously the clear winner of the online/tabletop RPG arms race). I’m not really upset about this. Why? You have to read the rest of the article for that, silly.
Zen and the Art of Dungeon Mastering #3: Mind Your Players’ Styles, Part 2 of 4
In which Chatty tackles three well-established playing styles (Power Gaming, Butt Kicking and Tactics) and shares advice to tweak encounters to take them into account.
Zen and the Art of Dungeon Mastering #3: Mind your Players’ Styles, Part 1 of 4
Chatty’s new Back-to-Basics DMing series continues by tackling a cornerstone issue of understanding and catering to what bring (and keeps) players at your gaming table.
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