“You all meet in a tavern.” We’ve all played in a campaign that started like this. Some DM’s will just ask for names. Other put it as “who are you and why are you here?”, hoping to grease the backstory wheels a bit. This is where you find out who’s really into backstory and roleplaying, who wants to get their axes bloody as soon as possible, who’s just along for the ride, and who wants to pickpocket someone in the first fifteen seconds of the campaign because they rolled a rogue.
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.
Review: “Deathwatch: The Jericho Reach”
In the grim darkness of the 41st millennium, there is endless job security (mumble mumble). After taking a hiatus to attempt to slay the foes of my God-Wallet, I’ve returned with Deathwatch: The Jericho Reach.
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.
Musings on Continuity
Sometimes, in any fantasy world where you have invested a large amount of your imagination, you start to append your real-world experiences to those of the characters being portrayed. For example, in the Star Wars universe, characters such as Luke are relatable, in that most people understand the story of “the everyman.” He is compelling because of the extraordinary destiny that lies ahead in his life.
Paragon Wants, Epic Needs
Doing work for a client seems on its face a straightforward transaction. The client says what they want, and the professional they’ve hired performs the work. If there’s a snag in the plans, most people will grumble at a plumber, carpenter, or architect — but ultimately it’s hard to argue with “your 6′ bathtub will not fit in a 5′ area” or “do you really want a 6′ square living room?”. In game design, the rules lawyers intervene. And then it just gets ugly.
Golden Oldie – A Marvel Heroic Roleplaying Preview
Ever wanted to roleplay Peter Parker’s sweet old Aunt May, except she’s been chosen by Galactus to wield the Power Cosmic in his name? OF COURSE YOU DID.
The Agony & The Ecstasy of D&D Next
Following the “Retraction” episode of This Greyhawk Life, I feel I must explain myself. As you may have heard on the episode, I now admit that my account of visiting the Wizards of the Coast offices in Seattle and playing D&D Next has had elements that were not entirely truthful.
The Architect DM: Call for Questions
For those of you that don’t know, there hasn’t been an Architect DM post in several weeks because my wife and I welcomed our first child into our lives in early March and she’s been running things ever since! What this means is that I have a lot of small periods of free time on the internet at random points throughout my day. What I’d like to do in the meantime is help you, yes YOU, with anything you might need help with in your roleplaying games.
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.
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