The Generic Villain on Why We Stay Evil
It’s rough being evil. It seems like we can’t leave the lair without dealing with the next band of irritating heroes, there’s always that nagging feeling that we’re never going to get our lon[...]Read on >>
Dungeon Tiles Index update
In celebration of the release of the latest Dungeon Tiles set, Harrowing Halls—which adds nice 3D elements to the Dungeon Tiles line—I have updated my Dungeon Tiles Index to include not only Harrowing Halls tiles, bu[...]Read on >>
100% Behind Everything You Just Said
It seems stupid of me to highlight a post on Grognarida, (cause seriously, who reads my blog and not that one?) But, I couldn't help my self this time. First, there are a lot of voices "on the other side" of how I'd like[...]Read on >>
What’s My Motivation? Escapism in Gaming
You're going to have a hell of a penalty for that. You know that, right? So, I've been thinking a lot lately about the whys and wherefores of the hobby. Specifically, what is it that drives us, largely grown-ass men an[...]Read on >>
Saturday Saw-Bearifying
Courtesy of Robin Ruddock, Jeff Rients and Dilvashti the Carrion Sculptor is the "Saw-Bear," former guardian beast of the Tower of the Twin Sky Masters.As an aside, it is very gratifying to see that Lester/B. Portly, the[...]Read on >>
Beyond Sanctuary: Scene 6
For an introduction to this Mythic Game Master Emulator Sandbox adventure, see this post. Setting details and links to characters are posted here.Previous scene: Scene 5SCENE 6In which the p[...]Read on >>
It’s F%$^ing Old School
You know what I love about cooking French food? It's f%$#ing old school.[...]Read on >>
Judges Nominations for the 1PDC
Ok, printed the last batch while I wrote this post, back to the reading table.[...]Read on >>
Game Design Garage: Mecha RPGS
One of the many projects I have been working on is a Mecha Role Playing Game. I am a fan of Mecha and have been working on, playtesting and improving the Mecha rpg I have designed some time ago. While there are Mecha[...]Read on >>
Federation-Apocalypse Session 106b – Down on the Pharm
Back in Kadia, Mr Gelman had dark circles under his eyes again. Sending Thralls to look after Ruth was weighing on his conscience – even if they were sending regular reports and were doing the odd rescue missi[...]Read on >>
Kagematsu [Review]
Thanks to Ed Healy and the wonderful guys at Atomic Array for giving me the chance to do another review for them. Check the bottom of the page for even more Kagematsu goodness! Kagematsu is a different kind of roleplay[...]Read on >>
Converting 1E to 4E characters: ToEE campaign
In prep for switching my ongoing Temple of Elemental Evil campaign from OSRIC/AD&D to 4th ed. D&D, I recreated each of the characters. My goal was to keep the characters as close as possible to their original rac[...]Read on >>
SceneSound version 1.6.309 released
SceneSound has released a new version. I had a chance to poke around with it and the new features look interesting. Each sound can now have special effects: echo, flanger, tempo, and pitch. A gain option has been int[...]Read on >>
Gotta Love Second Hand Games
Stopped by Emerald Comics on campus today and picked up some $3 boxed sets and $2 modules. As much as I love buying new products, the bang for your buck when buying used is insane! Plunk down $22 and get four[...]Read on >>
Fantasy Architecture
Fantasy buildings are magical. Thus they follow the rules of magic and not physics. Much like this precarious turquoise tower towering over the the seaside in ways that neither man nor god intended. Sadly the top was [...]Read on >>
PAX East Thursday Night Meetup
@ChattyDM asked a couple of us, @Neldar and me, to figure out some place cool to go on the Thursday night before PAX Eaast. @Asmor created a forum post about it in the enworld forums. If you are interested, please go t[...]Read on >>
An Open Letter to the Old School Ranter
A response to this post. He has comments turned off. Dear Scottsz, As I tool around various OSR sites, throughout the week, I keep a little notepad program pulled up, wherein I copy and past the URL’s I find [...]Read on >>
[Solo GPC] 497: The Battle of Du Plain Castle
If you're familiar with the geography of Salisbury, the title of this year's update should clue you in right away to the events that would unfold during our latest Pendragon session. The Anarchy Phase arrived on Sir Herr[...]Read on >>
I want to… game
It's been long time since last real gaming session. Where you got game master's screens, various different coloured dice on the table more you even need, pens and pencils, hand written notes and maps, few minis (well, ne[...]Read on >>
Dungeons and Dragons Revealed — Why I Wish You Tube Had Been Around During the 80s
Can you imagine what all those Bothered About Dungeons and Dragons types would have done and said if they saw this video representation of a Dungeons and Dragons gaming experience?Key "easter egg" points for me were:1) T[...]Read on >>
Friday Five: 2010-03-19
Normally, I have some comments of my own about each link to give you my thoughts on the matter or some kind of enticement to get you to follow the link. No such thing this week. Sorry. I’m pressed for time and abou[...]Read on >>
The view from my chair: What have I been doing?
Role playing isn’t necessarily always about rolling dice. Sometimes it as simple as sitting down and going “What if….” Somebody asked me in an e-mail, why I haven’t been writing as much RP[...]Read on >>
The Shield of Ferelden #3
It has been a while since we got opportunity to gather around the gaming table, but still we managed quite quickly to continue our Dragon Age: The Shield of Ferelden Campaign. Today’s session was third time we play[...]Read on >>
To Fudge or not to Fudge?
… that is the question, to paraphrase the (original) Bard. I’ve read a few blogs and forums over the last month talking about the pros and cons of dice roll fudging. Let me state for the record that I’m against pla[...]Read on >>
The Real Reason Why Mages Hide in Towers
Most think Mages seek isolated towers to hide their magical secrets. There are very few secrets left. Magic is a known thing now. It is no longer what does the other mage have, but more how that mage can use what he has.[...]Read on >>
Complete Characters #7: Brandy, Earthbound Sea Nymph
UPDATE: I have made some formatting changes to Brandy's character sheet. I think this is the format that I'll stick with from now on, at least when I have art to go along with the character. Feel free to chime in.Few thi[...]Read on >>
International Traditional Gaming Week Is Go
This game is definitely going forward. I’ve got four players — one so eager he showed up at the host’s house last night, rather than this coming Friday — a module in mind, Greyhawk Grognard’[...]Read on >>
Drink The Maggot Wine, I Dare You!
Another Worth1000 post. This time the contest title is, “I ain’t drinking that!” The resulting entries immediately had me thinking of alternative conflict resolutions. Instead of shooting at the party, [...]Read on >>
[Adventure Seed] Two Weeks to Sunrise
How about another Doctor Who plot seed? Came up with this one at the same time as Countdown. On the planet of Dydd, one side of the planet always faces the sun, leaving it in constant sunlight. Blessed with the eternal l[...]Read on >>
Canon Puncture 89: Game Advocates – Polaris
This episode’s advocate is Seth Ben-Ezra of Dark Oemn Games, creator of Dirty Secrets, Flower for Mara and Legends of Alyria Seth advocates for Polaris by Ben Lehman and TAO Games. Find out more about Polaris - h[...]Read on >>
Interesting Thoughts from Other Gamers (6)
Every so often I like to post links to interesting things going on in other game journals and other gamer related things that my readers might find interesting. This is the latest installment: Necromancer of the Northw[...]Read on >>
Aces & Eights RPG- Judas Crossing
Yes, I like this game. It combines some pretty cool mechanics (shot clock, playing cards, etc) with tightly written rules and a great presentation. I’ve run the game a couple of times and have been wanting more sup[...]Read on >>
In Case You Were Unaware, Quantique is Flippin Fantastic
QUANTIQUE[...]Read on >>
This Week In The OSR
My weekly news post is up on the TARGA blog! Check out all the new OSR releases and more. Including something nifty from the OD&D Carcosa Board posters. [...]Read on >>
Gemstones of absorption (magic item)
In the middle of the town of Horsehead lies an old antique shop, one which Billobi frequently visited throughout his lifetime. It was owned by one of his old friends from school, that - just like himself - never paid muc[...]Read on >>
Geomorph Mapping Project #46
One of the things that is hard to do when drawing these is avoiding too much symmetry. The other item, it appears, is remembering to mark where corridors go under other dungeon features. Wow. Seems I forgot to draw in th[...]Read on >>
Ultimate Survivor
Ultimate Survivor Presenting a new racial paragon path for Fourth Edition Dungeons & Dragons. One of the nifty things about Earth Delta is that, having established maximum compatability as a design goal, a lot o[...]Read on >>
Comments on Marketing of the OSR.
Al from Black Gate has an interesting post on marketing the OSR. The main reason for the marketing issue is the result of our diversity. None of companies specifically making OSR products individually have the budget for[...]Read on >>
weekend warrior : the losung keep brute squad
The Losung Keep Brute Squad is a mixed force of goblins and humans keeping order in Losung Keep, the largest town of the Losung Highlands. Each member wears a chainmail coat, metal skullcap and... Click the title if yo[...]Read on >>
Impractical Applications, Week 92 (Disasters at Work)
I spent most of this week riffing about disasters. It’s actually a point of annoyance for me that I can’t really live up to my ideals writing about the things; every now and then I get a flash of somethi[...]Read on >>
How often to update NAA D6?
I am literally writing more NAA D6 every day. I chop up rules, keep multiple “editions” of the game on hand, add new content, tweak old stuff, etc, practically every day. The problem is that I feel if I updat[...]Read on >>
Is online play relevant to the hobby?
I am in the precarious position that I am criticized for “coming up with imaginary enemies” who only allegedly criticize me, because they don’t really exist. But I am also criticized for other things, b[...]Read on >>
Friday Five Delayed
While I may miss my other posts during the week, I rarely miss out on a Friday Five post. I’m out of town on vacation this week (thus the lack of posts.) I have been keeping up on my RPG feeds, and have a list of 5[...]Read on >>
Fight On! #8 Winter 2010
88 pages of Fight On! Issue #8 Winter 2010 print and PDF. Dig that spacey Otus cover. Me likes it.With art and articles by Erol Otus, Kevin Mayle, Mark Allen, Lee Barber, Peter Jensen, Steve Robertson, Samuel Kisko, Patr[...]Read on >>
Detective’s Flask
Not to infringe on the wonderful items put up at Sea of Stars (look -->), but here is one I’d been fiddling with for a bit . . . Detective’s Flask Aura faint divination; CL 1st Slot –; Price[...]Read on >>
Beyond Sanctuary: Scene 5 (Map)
I've attached the following map to the Beyond Sanctuary: Scene 5 post.[...]Read on >>
Card Protectors for Power Card Types
I love using power cards. I've found that with my group, especially new players, it's so much easier to use rather than flipping through their character sheet. In the past I made up cards at Dragon's Lair using their p[...]Read on >>
Geomorph #22
Today's geomorph features two cavern areas. A western cavern intersects and overlooks a north-south passage that runs the entire length of the tile. In the east, a chamber with a pool (which may or may not be water) exit[...]Read on >>
Kill Fuck or Marry? 3 Versions of D&D…
For those not familiar with the game, it is usually applied to members of the opposite sex, usually people you are friends with or work with. Out of a pool of only 3 available options, you have to Kill one, Marry one, an[...]Read on >>
Collaborative Design: CLIO Resolution Mechanics
Clio, the Muse of History tweetmeme_url = 'http://jachilli.squarespace.com/blog/2010/3/19/collaborative-design-clio-resolution-mechanics.html'; The idea behind CLIO is to allow two or three participants to improvise a [...]Read on >>






















































































































