Some of them could actually be people.
We’ll open with a simple question. In your campaign, is a goblin a person or a monster? What about other intelligent, upright-walking human-like things? Running the Spirits of Eden campaign setting as I usually do,[...]Read on >>
Two Scoops
In the immortal words of Muse, from the book of Cydonia: "Don't waste your time or time will waste you."[...]Read on >>
Fighting A monster versus fighting THE monster II: Removing the need for the monster manual
This post I'm going to deal with a GM pet peeve of mine, and how I solved it. Monster Stats and prep time. When I am GMing a game, I don't like to need to either pick a monster from a catalog, nor need to devise some ar[...]Read on >>
The Way
"Novices to the Way, I see," the little gnome squeaked. "Well, your worships have certainly come to the right place!" he added with enthusiasm. "Unlike some of our competitors, the Pavilion serves the main parallels -- a[...]Read on >>
Inq. of the Week: Gotta Mutate ‘Em All
While reports leaked out ahead of time, it was the D&D Experience convention where a full announcement was made about a new edition of the Gamma World RPG, based on the 4e D&D rules. During the announcement came [...]Read on >>
Your Go-To Non-RPG Reference Book For DM’s For Design/Inspiration/Reference?
What book or set of non-rpg books do you find you use between sessions for adventure or design ideas and reference for the next session more than any other?Specifically, I mean book. As in "made of paper." Not looking fo[...]Read on >>
Chapter 15, Part 3 "Slaves and Treasure"
Part I Here, Part II Here.The next morning the party takes leave of the dome ruins and Cactoids, traveling first north to Adomaz on the edge of the Red Sands and then up a canyon through the escarpment of the Iridium Pla[...]Read on >>
Chapter 15, Part 1 "Ayzold Birds of The Ahoggya Intoxicant Merchant"
The Adventurers:Buzz Brazelhach - Womanizing Australian Fightin' BlokeCorporal Radar O'Reiley - Naive Earth Boy Rocket SoldierDickie Dee - Bone Man Sorcerer JunkieJedediah - 1850s Hayseed Southerner Fightin' ManJek-Mor -[...]Read on >>
Chapter 15, Part 2 "The Bee and Tales of the Dome"
Part I Here, Part III Here.The party continues on their way from the ruined lilac glassteel dome to the port city of Kharhem. Mookla is denied entry to the city proper and us directed to the Beggars Gate on the south si[...]Read on >>
Holy Crap! I Won!
Back on January 31, I reported on the contest, which Tony Dowler was holding at his blog, Year of the Dungeon. Tony is selling some of his original Dungeon Art and invited everyone to enter a drawing, to win one of his p[...]Read on >>
Ask The GMs: Systematic Systems Choice
How do you choose the right game system? The Ask the GMs questions here at CM never seem to stop, which is great, because they never fail to inspire new discussion topics. This one’s been sitting on the backb[...]Read on >>
Apocalypse Gaming
If the world ended tomorrow, could you still game? This is a silly meta question that has little to do with the poster today. Specifically this poster is a picture of an abandoned building in Detroit. It's amazing wha[...]Read on >>
Once More (Grappling)…With Feeling
Why am I still going on about this? Well, as the philosophical Scorpion Man, Sot Sojat, said, if weapons break one roll out of thirty-six, you gotta expect this to come up a lot. At the same time, David[...]Read on >>
Black Festival Received From Printer
Black Festival was received from the printer today and I will be traveling to Noble Knight Games and autographing and numbering these some time this week. This may occur Tuesday or Wednesday. I say "May" beca[...]Read on >>
I Can’t Think Straight
Speaking of flowcharts, Sam Potts' effort FTW In the heat of the moment, I often freeze up. Mechanics flee my brain and I find myself stammering to recall the rules for grappling, activating special abilities and t[...]Read on >>
Federation-Apocalypse Session 100 – Negotiating the Siege
In Gethrid, the party had arrived near dawn. While Marty had spent some hours at the local Citadel arranging for the sale of their Corrinum, and Kevin had spent a similar period of time on buying and enthralling twe[...]Read on >>
Starting in the Middle of Combat
One of the most popular topics in Role Playing philosophy is the initial encounter of any campaign. The “initial encounter” the event which kicks-off the adventure. Sometimes the heroes are all separate entit[...]Read on >>
interesting EPT mechanics
Here are the mechanical gimcracks from Empire of the Petal Throne that I found intriguing.marching order rules - I mentioned these in my session write-up. A snap to use and easily adaptable to D&D.no Read Magic - On[...]Read on >>
Spellstorm 2010 Update
Attention Toronto gamers, Spellstorm is less than two weeks away. The event list is up and registration is underway. For those interested in Living Forgotten Realms (LFR) adventures, there are plenty of options for new a[...]Read on >>
On Hitting Your Target
Sorry today's post is late, kids. Today I had a long lunch at my local rifle range with an antique Russian Mosin-Nagant, the latest addition to my budding WWII milsurp rifle collection. So, while I was sending my fifty y[...]Read on >>
DriveThruRPG reviews for January 31–February 6
During the week of January 31–February 6, 2010, I reviewed the following products for DriveThruRPG: Power Pics Villains 7 – Malign Shapeshifter by Mesozoic Press. If you use printable miniatures for Mutants & Ma[...]Read on >>
Review: Softrope
Version Reviewed: Beta V0.2 Release 52 Website: http://softrope.net/ Price: Free Softrope is yet another sound effects program geared towards use in tabletop roleplaying games. It was first released over seven months [...]Read on >>
Dreaming of RPGs
The other night I had a dream that I was playing a tabletop RPG. I was at home and it was nighttime and all my friends were there — Shesh, Mike, Jen, Vartan, Hawwa — and they all wanted to play a game with me[...]Read on >>
Advanced Dungeons for Dimwits, 2nd Edition
Character Generation- Pretend to be an Elf. Character Advancement- replace [monster] below with the following depending on your level: 1-3: Orc 4-9: Troll 10+: Demon Adventure- Roll a die. 0,1: You[...]Read on >>
Three Versions of the “Spore Room”
As some may know, I get inspired now and then to "play" with Photoshop. In designing a particularly weird encounter for the Castle El Raja Key product release, I was inspired to render these images. I am not [...]Read on >>
Great Links: Ben Monroe’s HQ
Back to regular blogging tomorrow-- however I followed a link from Robin Laws' site to a really, really interesting session report here. I think that's a brilliant approach to building a one-shot game and really plays in[...]Read on >>
Villains for Kids: The Devil Bunny
Lurking the highways and byways of the rural regions of the land, The Devil Bunny is a strange manifestation of sheer suicidal energy. Bent with a focus to race directly at the headlights of vehicles as they travel alo[...]Read on >>
Superheroes, not Superbowl
Lat night we ran another session of Kapow!, my superheroes rpg that we’re playtesting, and I take it as a good sign that despite the fact that before we started a couple of our players expressed interest in watchin[...]Read on >>
The Week In Geek (extra portion)…
An extra round-up of geeky news you might have otherwise missed...(1) Gamers Raise $178,900 For Haiti: Through sales of the 'special bundle deal', online pdf outlets DriveThruRPG and RPGNow raised an incredible sum to do[...]Read on >>
A Market Solution
Our recurring Eberron campaign, the one mentioned in previous posts by this blog’s titular DM, has generally placed an emphasis on story elements such as prophecy and birth, and high staked action-packed combat. With t[...]Read on >>
Monday Pointers
D4: The Return of OD&DITIESOne of the great fanzines of the past decade plus is back. While all the issues of OD&DITIES have been available at Dragonsfoot the last one was April 2004. I have a special affection [...]Read on >>
[Solo GPC] 491: Siege Terrible
Moving preparations continue apace, but Des and I took a little time out yesterday to get back into some Pendragon. The year 491 would find the now-Notable Sir Herringdale moving in ever higher circles of power, just in [...]Read on >>
Warstories: The imploding campaign
I have run the same campaign since the release of 4e. We’ve been able to last together as a unit for this amount of time for a number of reasons, primarily because we all love gaming and as adults nearing the age[...]Read on >>
The Nerfing of the Starship Enterprise: Part V
1979 also saw the release of the first Star Trek movie. The franchise had came alive, although it was in this case more as a zombie than a Lazarus. The movie was boring, the costumes dull, and the acting even duller. It [...]Read on >>
Arcanotrops the Awakened
Arcanotrops is my entry for the Obsidian Portal Giraffelich Stats & Art Contest.ArcanotropsThis creature may once have been a giraffe, but now its grey fur, peeling flesh, and the arcane fire burning in its eyes say [...]Read on >>
Character Death
Does your group experience a similar pull in different directions?[...]Read on >>
No More Nation Building?
This weekend a good friend of mine and I were discussion the lethality of the various editions of D&D. This lead to the discussion of levels, which in turn turned to a discussion of advancement. This finally lead us [...]Read on >>
This week: Epic experiment
I'm curious to know how many people have actually tried playing the epic tier. 4e has been out for a year and a half now, and I'm sure some groups have powered through the levels, but I suspect that's the exception to th[...]Read on >>
Dungeon Map
Made this dungeon map last night while wallowing after the Superbowl. I hate it, but I pretty much hate everything right now so maybe I should reserve judgment. [...]Read on >>
The Equality of Experience
Experience distribution is both important and subjective, so how do you handle it for your group?[...]Read on >>
The Necromancer’s Hands
This ghoulish item is a pair of gloves sewn together from strips and patches of human and demi-human skin, a nightmarish blend of smooth unblemished flesh and coarse green hide, each piece sewn into place with rough blac[...]Read on >>
Customer Service RPG
So, I opened my mailbox this weekend to find package awaiting me . . . Kobold Quarterly 12. So BAM! – already a warm, happy feeling. However, I then look towards the upper right hand corner of my envelope and there, sc[...]Read on >>
5 Random Games: War of the Ring, The Dark Side Sourcebook, Star Wars: The Queen’s Gambit, Sidewinder: Recoiled, Ultimate Adversaries
Akin to last time, I’ll be talking about 5 random games (or supplements) I own, based on my random collection widget to the right of the blog here, generated by Geekdo.com. 1. War of the Ring I picked this one up w[...]Read on >>
LFR Magic Item Treasure Bundle List (Part 2)
A few months ago we provided you with a Living Forgotten Realms (LFR) magic item treasure bundle list. The original list included a complete inventory of magic items available from 78 different LFR adventures. As promise[...]Read on >>
What Monster Are You?
D&D Home Page - What Monster Are You? - D&D Compendium [...]Read on >>
Modular dry-erase sections for dungeon tiles
I posted a short while back on me using a whiteboard for my D&D sessions. I generally have the players sketch out a general map on a sheet of paper. When things need miniatures being moved around I then switch to a b[...]Read on >>
Best of Mad Brew Labs: Online Resources
The Online Resource category is probably the most visited category of Mad Brew Labs. In the last year and half that the Labs has been operating, I have occasionally gathered together massive lists of resources of various[...]Read on >>
Picking A Generic RPG System
I was hoping to have my review of Rolemaster Rome finished by today, but it isn't quite finished. This weekend, I was looking at generic RPG systems to use with my Middle Isles campaign, and hopefully beyond. The hope [...]Read on >>
Review of Blackdirge’s Bargain Bestiaries: Dragon-Blooded by Blackdirge Publishing
“It’s a cross between a dragon and a… what?!” ~ Last Words of an Outraged Adventurer If you think about it, hybrid creatures are the staple of mythology, in both eastern and western traditions. There are dozens[...]Read on >>
Gaming with Kids: Temple of Elemental Evil – Session #3
Session #3 began with the group in the moathouse where they had just defeated the bandits who had set up camp there. This time around I was missing only 2 players, although one of them was someone who had been present th[...]Read on >>
- Cabal
- Elthos RPG
- Initiative or What?
- RPG Brouhaha
- Ratty Ramblings
- The Role Play Academy
- Age of Ravens
- The Ogre Lair Times
- The Core Worlds
- Ravenous Role Playing
- A Life Full of Adventure
- Art of Blitz Hobby-ing
- hack/
- Hill Cantons
- Blog of a new RPGer
- Fame & Fortune
- Nameless Kingdom
- Conclusions Drawn
- Game Cryer
- Akratic Wizardry
- RPG in Progress
- Continuing Clockwise
- Tower of the Archmage
- The Dump Stat
- Encyclopedia Argent
- Dungeon Brew
- OpenRoleplaying.org
- Endy's RPG Stuff
- Lords of Tyr
- Atomic Array
- The Troll Ate My Homework
- Brent P. Newhall's Role-Playing Blog
- d4, d6, d8, d10, d12 and d20s behind the skeleton in the closet
- The Looney DM
- DND Corner
- Lizard Games
- The Player's Side of the Screen
- The Hybrid Universe
- D&D 4th Edition Game Design Goodness
- Wild Die
- KORE rpg
- Planet Algol
- Nevermet Press
- 3POINT75
- A Hero Twice A Month
- Questing GM
- Creative Anomalies
- Accidental Survivors: The Modern Gaming Podcast
- The RPG Corner
- Drop the Dice
- The Report
- Smart Party
- Dungeon Divas
- Transitive Property of Gaming
- Steve's Gamer Blog
- The Keep on the Gaming Lands (Mike Mearls)
- Power Word: Blog!
- Ideamancer
- 3d6
- Rustfoot
- Chad Perrin: SOB
- Siskoid's Blog of Geekery
- The Geek Emporium
- Sham's Grog and Blog
- The Hydra's Grotto
- We Need the XP!
- One Man and His Dice
- Scintilla
- The Outsyder's Blog
- Save Or Die!
- Highmoon's Ponderings
- The Recursion King
- The Call Of The Dungeon
- Points of Light
- 8:05 p.m.
- Mike's D&D Blog
- The Small Dragon's Den
- NPC a Day
- The Canon Puncture Show
- Norfolk RPG Examiner
- Gamer Bling
- Back To RPG Basics
- The Chaos Grenade
- Trollish Delver
- Jay
- Observations of the Fox
- A Hamsterish Hoard of Dungeons and Dragons
- Role-Playing Discussions
- The Omnipotent Eye
- Save vs Pointy Stick
- Geek Related
- The Free RPG Blog
- Wee Bee Gamers
- rpgmonks
- The Elder Thoughts
- Motor City Gamewerks
- HeroPress
- Critical Failure: The GURPS Podcast
- The Underdark Gazette
- Risus Monkey
- Dungeonskull Mountain
- The Book of Rev
- Wrathofzombie's Blog'
- My Girlfriend Is A DM
- Game Design Fanatic
- RPG Dumping Ground
- Maiden's Head Games
- Temple Lion
- Of Dice and Men
- Purple Pawn
- Worlds in a Handful of Dice
- Dragonlance D&D Game Blog
- Casewek: More Internet Ravings
- DICE
- The Tome Show
- Cogito, ergo ludo
- Elliot Wilen's RPG theory/design/philosophy Journal
- Justin Achilli
- Four From Fallcrest
- Mostly Geek
- Lord of the Green Dragons
- Superhero Necromancer
- Dungeonmastering
- Gelatinous Cubed
- Phoenix RPG Examiner
- Adventures of the Ottawa Warband
- Mobunited
- Apply to join today!
