News from Around the Net: 3-FEB-2012

February!?! Where’d January go? Geesh! Here in Colorado, the snow started to fly last night and we are in the first real winter storm in 2012. What does that mean for yours truly? Not much really… I work from[...]
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Social Media in Modern Settings

Not a full on discussion, but something I'm hoping to get folks' input on. How many of you have taken the time to consider what social media can mean for modern day games and events? the rate at which information can spr[...]
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Publisher Interview: Joseph Goodman of Goodman Games

The “Old School” gaming movement continues to impress me with the enthusiasm of the gamers and game companies supporting it. One of the games many gamers are excited about in 2012 is the Spring release of the[...]
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Privilege vs. Success/Failure

Did you have a good Wednesday? Mine was ok. Sorry about the late notice on no post. I completely forgot that I hadn't prepped something ahead of time until my head hit the pillow, and at that point I wasn't getting back [...]
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Game-Shepherding PCs

When I wrote about game shepherd NPCs on Monday, Lugh chimed in with several suggestions for keeping the game shepherd from taking up too much of the stage. The last of these was, instead of using an NPC to dispense the [...]
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Book Review: Unusual Suspects: Guide to an Interrogation Session by Robert Oglodzinski from Library of Ancient Scroll

When I started working with Robert Oglodzinski a few months ago, I reviewed Walls Can Talk, which collects a few “legends and adventure ideas” for fantasy and horror games. The layout, done by Michael Wolf (S[...]
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Learning from Video Games: Zelda and the Art of the Game Shepherd

Yesterday, I wrote about the game shepherd NPC. What got me thinking about that character type (or at least, what got me thinking this time) was that one feature that all of the 3D Zelda titles share—their local equiva[...]
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Doing The Impossible

It seems I have once again set this blog to update at the wrong time. Sorry for that.RPGs are funny things. Especially the campaigns that you run at your own table. Why? Well, I don't know if you've noticed, but I'd wage[...]
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Supplement Review: Caves & Caverns (PFRPG) by Creighton Broadhurst and David Posener from Raging Swan Press

Just about every fantasy campaign I’ve ever played in has involved a cave system or cavern at one time or another. And though I’m a fan of dungeons, I really like it when there’s more of a natural eleme[...]
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The Dangers of the Game Shepherd NPC

One of the things we’ve learned pretty quickly about introducing a player or group to a world they’ve never played in before is that they might not really know what the place is like. Not everyone reads the s[...]
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Concepts You Shouldn’t Allow

This is something of an odd topic because there is a lot of variance between different play groups, and so I'd imagine that there will be a lot of different opinions on just what you should and shouldn't allow a player t[...]
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Ancient Scroll’s Secret Room: To Punish and Enslave (or “Being Lawful”)

Nothing is more destructive of respect for the government and the law of the land than passing laws which cannot be enforced. - Albert Einstein One who breaks an unjust law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who wi[...]
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News from Around the Net: 27-JAN-12

Hope everyone has had a good week! Mine has been interesting… We’ve been dealing with getting some water damage assessed and fixed in our house after a small overflow in an upstairs bathroom resulted in a fam[...]
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Review: The Game Master by Tobiah Panshin

  I thought I’d do something a little different and review something slightly more out of the ordinary. I’d originally planned to have this up and online in November when I first heard about it, but I[...]
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Overarching Plots: Why Aren’t We There Yet?

During my riff on overarching plots in general, I pointed out one question that is vital to the writer of the overarching plot at every event (and, for that matter, is one of the few that should be answered event by even[...]
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The Multi-Strand Game

I promised I'd talk about this at the beginning of the week and then got distracted by other things. That said, today I want to actually talk about it before I break my promise.Now, I don't know if this kind of game is a[...]
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The Gassy Gnoll: What Makes a Location Fantastic (RPG Blog Carnival)

Once in a while a question crops up via a RPG Blog Carnival topic that makes me scratch my head and ponder for a bit. And yes, before you ask, most Gassy Gnolls are predominantly pondering people. We like to ponder just [...]
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Overarching Plots: The Major Conflict

In general, if you’ve got an overarching plot, you should have—one might even say there has to be—a major conflict. Something has to tie all those little plot threads together, after all! But how much do you ac[...]
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Make Or Break Time (What Would You Do?)

As I write this, I'm fresh out of a game where going in the GM was not sure if he had just killed us all with what he was planning for the session. The good news - for the PCs anyhow - is that everyone made it out alive.[...]
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Adventure Review: Frozen Wind (PFRPG) by Jonathan McAnulty from Rite Publishing

When I read the first couple of adventures of the Curse of the Golden Spear adventure trilogy set in Kaidan from Jonathan McAnulty and Rite Publishing, I was blown away. I remember the first time I saw the Oriental Adven[...]
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Overarching Plots: Calibrating Scope

Yesterday, I talked about landmarks and steps that a plotter who isn’t interested in full-on outlines could use to guide herself through an overarching plot. Today, I’m going to go into more detail on one of [...]
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Small Obstacles are Sometimes The Best

So, my Friday game has come and gone. Over all it was a successful game, though I did learn a few things about the weaknesses and strengths of the format I've been using for the game - more on that later in the week. How[...]
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Adventure Review: The Haunting of Larvik Island (4E) by Stephen Newton from Thick Skull Adventures

Though The Haunting of Larvik Island has been out since June 2011, I’m coming very late to the party. Written by Stephen Newton and published by Thick Skull Adventures, this adventure for a group of five 1st level [...]
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Overarching Plot for People Who Hate Outlines

If you’re the kind of person who plans everything out in advance naturally, big overarching plots probably come relatively easily; they’re all about planning ahead and knowing how to make everything fit toget[...]
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New Brittanis Campaign Video!

This time, I've kicked things up a notch. I decided to do a full Campaign Trailer, including plot elements for the game, and a bunch of other cool stuff. Take a look! In the video you'll find elements of the Brittanis-sp[...]
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Ancient Scroll’s Secret Room: The Rules of Chaos

Last week I spoke about playing good and evil characters but promised that I’d follow up with my thoughts on playing lawful and chaotic PCs. When I started to think about it, I decided to break this post into two p[...]
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News from Around the Net: 20-JAN-12

Welcome to the gaming news roundup for the week of 20-JAN-2012! This week was “one of those” weeks with work, so I’m gleeful that it’s Friday! Yay! The debate continued this week about “D�[...]
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Favors and Compromise – Politics Part 3

Today I'm going to conclude my talking about Politics with this last bit. We talked on Tuesday about the NPCs and doing prep on it, with some great additional bits of advice in the comments. Yesterday we talked about gam[...]
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Game Review: Quantum Flux by Kieran Kowalski from 6d6 RPG

Though I don’t read much sci-fi these days, I’m still a big fan of films in the genre. Sprinkle in some horror and I’ll probably go see it if the trailer looks good enough. The golden standard is of cou[...]
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Perfect Locations: Marring Perfection

(Do I even need to tell you what prompted this post?) When last seen, the broken walls of the old buildings had shimmered in the starlight, haunted by the soft strings and fluting of the lone musician; now the musician i[...]
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Court Games and Distractions – Politics Part 2

As I mentioned yesterday, this Friday one of my games is moving more heavily into the realm of politics. I am simultaneously scared and excited by this. Why? Well, I've got an awesome group and I want to do this right fo[...]
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GM Questionnaire

From Zak originally,GM QuestionnaireRepost and answer. Or, if you don't have a blog, answer in the comments. Or be a big rebel and do neither.1. If you had to pick a single invention in a game you were most proud of what[...]
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Perfect Locations: Who’s There?

My participation in RPG Blog Carnival: Fantastic Locations continues! Light levels in a scene may be one of the most subtle ways of creating the mood for the perfect version of a location, but they’re not the most [...]
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Running Politics

This Friday my L5R game is taking a very rokugani turn into an area where I'm not super comfortable in my ability as a GM. Where is that you ask? Well, the PCs are taking a bit more of a court focus, which means that pol[...]
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Perfect Locations: Seeing the Light

This series was written for RPG Blog Carnival: Fantastic Locations. When I used yesterday’s post to introduce the idea of the perfect version of a location, one of the mood-contributing factors I discussed was ligh[...]
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Game Review: Fantasy Craft by Alex Flagg, Scott Gearin, and Patrick Kapera from Crafty Games – Chapter 5

There’s only three chapters to go in Fantasy Craft from Crafty Games… Combat, Foes, and Worlds. Unfortunately between those three chapters and the index, character sheets, and so on, those last three chapters[...]
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Perfect Locations

This one’s back to writing for RPG Blog Carnival. I love the way it makes me think about aspects of the theme I wouldn’t have looked into. One of the things that a lot of people forget about making locations,[...]
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Best Blogs: Old Guy Gaming

It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these, but I think today is a good time to start this back up again. I’m in the habit of poking through the archives of anyone who comments on my blog. … C[...]
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5 Issues from 4E to NOT Include in D&D Next

This is my second  (and last) post about D&D Next before we get more information about the playtests, etc. I am by no means a “4E iz teh best D&D EVAR!!” junike– no system is perfect, and the[...]
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Writer’s Block

Writer's Block is the name for the phenomenon that - traditionally writers - is used when no matter how hard one tries, they're unable to find inspiration for how to continue a story. It can be applied to almost any ende[...]
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Tools Review: Dungeons & Dragons Virtual Table Beta

Right before the holidays, Rory Madden from Game Table Online dropped me a note wondering if I’d like to check out the D&D Virtual Table they’ve had under development for Wizards of the Coast. It’s[...]
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Things You Might Want to Know When Being the Bait

Some problems can be solved just by kicking down the door and wreaking havoc, but not always. When the enemy is still faceless and their whereabouts unknown, or when going directly after them would only lead to more trou[...]
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Endings and Beginnings

When you're running a game with a strong narrative bend to it, there will come times when things need to come to an end or when things are just coming to a beginning. These moments can be very powerful moments in the gam[...]
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The Gassy Gnoll: Secret Lives of Gingerbread Men with Nine Kids (New Year, New Game)

The “New Year, New Game” efforts from the great folks at Gnome Stew and DriveThruRPG suggests something we should do as gamers anyway – try new games. Though not every game is for everybody, by trying n[...]
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Silent Characters

Sometimes you have characters of few words; you know the type, the ones who will nod or shake their heads or occasionally toss out a few word insults. And then there are the ones who don’t talk. At all. No, not eve[...]
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Game Review: The One Ring: Adventurer’s Book by Francesco Nepitello from Cubicle 7 – Part 6

The end is nigh! Well, the last part of my multi-post review of The One Ring: Adventurer’s Book from Cubicle 7 and writer Francesco Nepitello anyway… “Part 6: Fellowship Phase” deals with that par[...]
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Constructing New Timelines

Sometimes, we find ourselves needing a new course of events. It might be for a counterfactual exercise, a chance to use new people in a pre-existing world (or to replay the same world with the same people but different c[...]
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Prep an adventure in the time it takes to boil an egg {GM Secrets}

We've all been there. It's the night of your regular campaign and you gather around the table eager to roll some dice. Except, only two people have shown up because the others bailed last minute because of illness or wor[...]
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Ancient Scroll’s Secret Room: The Dwarf, The Elf, and The Onion

Welcome to the New Year dear readers! I hope 2012 will bring you more great game sessions and plenty of inspiration for new campaigns. Along those lines, hold on tight as we head into a new adventure… This time I w[...]
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News from Around the Net: 6-JAN-12

That’s right, it’s 2012… The year we see if the Mayans were right or if they were too cheap to buy a new calendar at the office supply store. Hopefully everyone had a happy and safe New Years’ cel[...]
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