As the party schemed, hidden behind a pile of Warclank (i.e clockwork mechas) spare parts near the gigantic pile of humanoid corpses, the ghouls and blasphemes continued their Dance Macabre, the ghouls trying to snatch pieces of relatively fresh “meat” from the pile while the reconstructed undead kept them at bay with beams of death-laced energies.
Talmanthian Plateau
Just before the frigid north of a large continent lies an immense mountain plateau. The plateau is commonly known as Angel’s Table to those who live below the sheer cliffs that make it all but inaccessible. Atop the cliffs, a scenic landscape of rolling plains and small forests cover the immense majestic plateau. The creatures and tribes of this unique and exotic landscape call it Talmanthian.
D&D Tips from Mass Effect 2
Today we’re going to take a look how the action RPG Mass Effect 2 can make our games better as well. I will warn that, while I don’t plan on any direct spoilers in this review (omg, I can’t believe they blew up the Citadel!) I might step into the story just a little bit. If you want to be 100% spoiler free (Woo! You sleep with Miranda) you may want to read this when you’ve finished getting most of your crew killed by giant Aardvarks.
Review: “Vox” RPG
Vox by Michael Fiegel is a somewhat schizophrenic game. No, literally. You play a character with voices in his or her head. Each player controls a character and may also control a voice in another player’s head. The PCs aren’t necessarily crazy, though. These voices are quite real, and under certain circumstances can take over the PCs’ bodies and control their actions.
March Fo(u)rth for GM’s Day Sale 2010
DriveThruRPG is having its annual March 4th sale, and extending it a few days after that. In case you didn’t get your fill from the Haiti bundle (and really, who could get their fill of RPG books?) there’s plenty of good stuff to be had on sale, whether you’re buying it for your awesome GM who lets you have that radiant weapon you’ve been seeking, or just stocking up for yourself.
Ashes to Ashes, Death to Life
Character death. Total Party Kill. These words have long been the bane of DMs and players. DMs face scornful players and upset friends when a beloved character dies, and a possible coup when a TPK comes around. While players see their invested time, work and creation disappear before them with a single roll of the dice. Nobody, DMs and players alike, enjoy the idea of starting again or losing a beloved character within the game. However if death is never an option, if DMs fudge rolls so nobody dies, then the thrill and tension of grand battles can very quickly dissipate and the campaign can grow stale.
Critical Hits Podcast #19: 4e DMing Tips Seminar
Lead by Mike Shea of Sly Flourish, joined by Matt James of Loremaster and Dave The Game (myself), the last seminar from synDCon 2010 was about tips for DMs, primarily for 4e D&D but also some tips for GMs of all RPGs. The first part focuses on how to plan a game (and the creative process in general) and the last part talks about tips for running at the table, including ways to run initiative and track conditions.
Character Concepts: Dragonborn
A handful of character concepts and builds for creating an effective and elementally devastating dragonborn. From a Warden/Fighter that spews acid left and right to becoming an all-powerful avatar of the deceased god Io.
Critical Hits Podcast #18: Planning Your Campaign Using the 5×5 Method Seminar
I gave a talk at synDCon 2010 on how to use the 5×5 Method to plan a campaign arc. I took suggestions from the audience and walked through the process, and by the end, we had the structure to start planning.
Gears of Ruin: The Phantom Rails, Part 1
The one rule I gave myself was “Shape the adventure based on the questions your players ask you” and “When in doubt, ask for a skill check”.
It worked wonderfully. So much so that my first true sandbox dungeon adventure probably felt like a seamless linear adventure narrative to my players who probably thought they were just following the path I had made for them.
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