Game Review: Nights of the Crusades by MJ Alishah from Aetheric Dreams

Occasionally I get the opportunity to review something that is at once both familiar and completely new. There’s nothing wrong with variations on a theme, but it’s nice to see a fresh take on roleplaying that[...]
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Adventure Review: The Tribute (PFRPG) by Carl Bussler from Timeless Adventures

Don’t you just love double-edged swords? You can swing them this way or that way and they do a lot of damage in the hands of someone who can swing them effectively. Unfortunately, there’s a downside… Yo[...]
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Making Your Villain’s Plan

Over the last 6-8 months I've killed about 3-4 different "big" writing projects because they stalled out. They all stalled out for different specific reason, but when I looked back at them recently I noticed that they al[...]
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Creighton’s Corner: What’s A Campaign Anyway?

Last time we talked about taking a moment to think about what you and your players want to get out of a game. Armed with this knowledge, the GM can start to think about what kind of campaign to actually run. A campaign c[...]
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Ancient Scroll’s Secret Room: Oh peaceful village, oh village of joy…

Today I want to share some thoughts about playing with PCs in a single location. Most fantasy adventures and campaigns are designed as a never-ending journey & quest pursuit. There are only a few RPGs (that I know) [...]
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Friday Knight News – Gaming Edition: 23-MAR-2012

Another week buried in Java code. But I did get some gaming in last Sunday thanks to Jason, Mark, Jonathan, Ben, and Ben! Sure, we were stuck in a sewer for the majority of the evening, but hey… it was a very nice [...]
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Publisher Interview: Christopher Merwin of BlackStar Games

Back in October 2011, I caught wind of the Shadowlands Epic Fantasy Sci-Fi Mashup project at Kickstarter. When I checked out the project page, I was impressed by the art, the descriptions, and most of all the new approa[...]
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The Gassy Gnoll: Flea Tinted Glasses

The Gassy Gnoll had his yearly flea dip this week and had an odd thought while gagging on the cloud of dust… How does a flea see the world? A shorter life, plus the occasional killer blizzard, frequent earthquakes,[...]
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Don’t Change The Character, Change The Story

This is part of a 2 part series. This part, the first part, is addressed to the GMs of the world and is to address something I've seen a lot of new GMs do when trying to get their games going. Tomorrow's entry will be to[...]
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Suddenly Serious

A lot of grim, dark, and horrific stuff can get glossed over at the game table. Sure, we all joke about the Paladin obliterating that ork chieftain with his smite, but the actual visual related to that can be gruesome. I[...]
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Adventure Review: Shadowed Keep on the Borderland by Creighton Broadhurst and Martin Tideswell for Raging Swan Press

Sometimes all you need to kick off a new campaign is a good adventure. Something with some twists and turns, well-defined encounters, and a path that your players can stray from when they need to wander. Though the occas[...]
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Creighton’s Corner: Know Your Players

So you’re a GM thinking about starting a new campaign. No doubt, you’ve got some cool ideas and are champing at the bit to get started, but how do you know your players will enjoy what you’ve planned? Better yet, w[...]
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Ancient Scroll’s Secret Room: One Bad Hand (Open-ended Adventure Seed)

(Editor’s Note: Robert offers us something a little different this week with an adventure seed that could be used for a modern horror setting…) Sometimes all it takes for a murder is a bad hand of poker…[...]
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Friday Knight News, Gaming Edition: 16-MAR-2012

What a week! But on the plus side, tomorrow is St. Patrick’s Day! I know this may not mean much to a lot of people, but it’s my second favorite holiday behind Thanksgiving. I not only get to cook (the Crock P[...]
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GM vs. Players: Who Owns What?

Ownership is a funny thing when it comes to RPGs. There was a time (the 90s is when I saw it the most) where the act of touching another man's dice was worthy of a beating that the toucher would be seen as to blame for. [...]
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Filling In The Gaps Of PC Back Story

I've been doing a lot of self assessment lately, trying to find things I can improve upon and things that I genuinely like about my GMing style, and one of the things I came across as being a bit too vague is something I[...]
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Victory Does Not Mean Total Victory

RPGs are funny things sometimes. In fact, they can be downright frustrating at times. See, we all come together to tell a story, play a game, and have some fun. However, that isn't always what happens. Misperceptions can[...]
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Adventure Review: BP3: The Prophecy Revealed (PFRPG) from Jeff Gupton and Blackbyrne Publishing

When we last left our heroes in the Dark Veil campaign from Blackbyrne Publishing, they were exploring the town of Gull’s Port in BP2: The Manor of Deceit. Now, in BP3: The Prophecy Revealed by Jeff Gupton, the PCs[...]
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Ancient Scroll’s Secret Room: High School… Horror!

Today I’d like to share some adventure ideas with you. Something that might even inspire you to run a modern horror adventure in… high school. Last weekend I missed writing a Saturday column (Sorry, Fitz!) be[...]
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Friday Knight News – Gaming Edition: 9-MAR-2012

Do you hear that? That’s the sound of Friday finally arriving! Unfortunately at my house, that also means that the Spring season of soccer is gonig to start and I’m going to be spending lots of time on a socc[...]
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Adventure Review: BP2: The Manor of Deceit (PFRPG) from Jeff Gupton and Blackbyrne Publishing

A couple of days ago I took a look at the adventure BP1: The Hidden Current from Jeff Gupton and Blackbyrne Publishing and noted a few issues with page layout and art choices. Today, I’m happy to say that the secon[...]
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A Monument To Their Sins

Not 100% sure where today's post is going as of the time of writing. I have an idea for what I want to talk about, and I guess we're going to see where it goes. Sorry if it comes off as rambly or ranty, but it will be wh[...]
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How Much Agency Do You Give?

This is something I've been thinking about a lot in relation to my own games. The question is simple, and right up there in the topic. The question comes down to how much control do you give to your players? Does it chan[...]
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Adventure Review: BP1: The Hidden Current(PFRPG) from Jeff Gupton and Blackbyrne Publishing

Not every product is perfect. And, like a lot of GMs, I suspect that I am willing to overlook certain issues with a product if it meets my needs. But in my role as a reviewer, I want to make sure that I touch on both the[...]
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Ending A Story

this being the release day of Mass Effect 3, I figured I'd do something small about what you might want to look for as you end your story. Hilariously, and by pure chance, this post coming out on time and on the actual d[...]
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Game Review: The Shotgun Diaries: A Zombie Survival Roleplaying Game by John Wick

Yes, The Shotgun Diaries is an older game, written back in 2009. Yes, it’s probably been reviewed a hundred times before. But I’ve had it in my queue for a while and decided to check it out. At a mere 16 page[...]
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The GM Is A Player

I'm going to be upfront. This blog post was inspired by this post from The Action Point. In the post the writer makes a lot of good points. They do, however, forget one key point. Or at least, that is how it seems to me.[...]
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DIY Digital D&D (Guest Post by Angela Taylor)

Computers make D&D a whole lot smoother, but if you don’t want to pay through the nose every month for D&D Insider, you’ll have to do some preparation on your own. Here are a few must-have tools for DIY D&#[...]
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Friday Knight News – Gaming Edition: 2-MAR-2012

February is short, but where did it go? March zipped in under the radar and I wasn’t ready for it. Yet, here it is! Sorry about only one review this week, but it’s looking like next week we’ll shoot for[...]
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Appearances

How much thought do you give to the appearance of your table top character? I mean, sure, everyone gives at least some thought to it. The basic physical descriptors are on most character sheets I've seen: height, weight,[...]
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What Do You Like About Char Gen?

Simple and small post for today. I don't have much to talk about, but I am intrigued about a comment that Rob Donahue made on twitter today.The topic being discussed was character creation in the new Marvel Heroic RPG. A[...]
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Tool Review: Chaotic Shiny’s Problem Mini-Gen

Sometimes you just need a spark to create something on the fly or even if you have plenty of planning time. That one idea, flash of inspiration, or kick in the pants to create an encounter, an adventure, or even a whole [...]
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Saving The World – And Other Favored Cliches

What is your favorite cliche to use in game? Seriously. No, this isn't a full on discussion post, but our game stories are absolutely full of various cliche plots. I can't blame us either. I mean, general theory sug[...]
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Story > Mechanics For Feeling Epic

This post is inspired by a recent session of City of Heroes I played over the weekend with a house mate. While the topic is inspired by the game, it is applicable to our table top games as well. See, in City of Heroes th[...]
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Ancient Scroll’s Secret Room: Someone’s Gonna Die Tonight (PvP)

Today I would like to share some of my thoughts about killing in role-playing games. It’s a significant part of nearly every campaign and adventure of course… PCs are usually forced to resolve some problems w[...]
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The Trick To Capturing The Feel Of A Universe

A lot of my advice here is fairly generic. I'll admit that. Heck, a lot of the stuff that I talk about isn't even all that special. No, I'm not looking for kudos, just pointing out that a lot of what I do is just wonderi[...]
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Attention = Obstacles

When you say it bluntly, GM attention equals obstacles towards the goal, it seems obvious. However, while it is blatantly true, sometimes it feels like it is so easily understood that we actually miss it altogether. Also[...]
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Supplement Review: Altered Earth: Heroic Tier Threats (4E) by David Caffee for Chaos Trip Studios and Avalon Game Company

A few months ago I was able to look at a sample from David Caffee @ Chaos Trip Studios of the work he’s been doing for a science-fiction game that uses the D&D 4E rules. Though I wasn’t all that excited [...]
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Ancient Scroll’s Secret Room: The Cyberpunks of Culture (RPG and ACTA)

The new European anti-piracy international law – known as ACTA – is similar to SOPA and PIPA, but will have bigger impact as a global law (including US, EU, Japan, Canada, Brazil, and Mexico). A few weeks ago[...]
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News from Around the Net: 17-FEB-2012

With apologies to The Police and Sting, “We are spirits… in quite a digital world… are spirits…” I’ve spent my week in virtual boxes at work and I’m glad it’s Friday. It is[...]
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Supplement Review: Playing Possessor (4E) by Rick Martin from Rattlesn@ke Games

Body snatchers. Demonic possession. Schizophrenia. Mind control. It’s time to get out the tin foil hats folks. Somebody’s out to get you… But what happens if it’s you trying to snatch the body? Ri[...]
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The Gassy Gnoll: Love and Hate – Combat and Munchkins (RPG Blog Carnival)

Do you wonder what a gnoll hates above all else? Probably baths. You just get a good ripe stench going and your mom or mate tells you it’s time for the yearly bath… Don’t you just hate that? Of course, [...]
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Crushes, Lovers, and Romance

Yeah, yeah, I'm a day late. Still, with yesterday having been VD it seems a good time to talk about romance. I've done a bit here and there about romance at the table, so today I want to focus on romance in your game. Ho[...]
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Alternative Core Activities

At the center of every game is a core activity. In a First Person Shooter video game it is the shooting, in a game like Devil May Cry it is the hacking and slashing, and in puzzle games it is - surprise surprise - the pu[...]
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Magazine Review: Kobold Quarterly – Winter 2012 Issue 20

What is it with the kobolds and Kobold Quarterly magazine? Do they have a stash hidden somewhere in the wilderness where they can just pull out a few choice morsels of game lore, ideas, interviews, and reviews and just t[...]
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Game Review: Fantasy Craft by Alex Flagg, Scott Gearin, and Patrick Kapera from Crafty Games – Chapter 7

This is it. The last piece of the puzzle. The final chapter of Fantasy Craft from Crafty Games. And what does it cover? World building and running games. Like all major RPGs, there has to be a section to help gamemasters[...]
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News from Around the Net: 10-FEB-2012

Greetings to everyone in game land! (Not to be confused with Gameland in Jonathan Maberry‘s Rot & Ruin/Dust & Decay YA zombie series. Great series if you’re ever in the mood for some zombies and a s[...]
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Supplement Review: So What’s the NPC Like, Anyway? by Creighton Broadhurst from Raging Swan Press

When you’re in the thick of GMing a game, usually it’s pretty easy to come up with an NPC here, an NPC there… I always have a sheet handy that I can write names (and a few key descriptive elements) on w[...]
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The Gassy Gnoll: Time in a Bottle Summary – Advice from the Trenches

Greetings from the world of the Gassy Gnoll. Last week I asked the question – How do you continue to game as you age and still keep your obligations the next day? I offered a $10 gift certificate for DriveThruRPG/R[...]
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Anticipation Is A *@*((@

As I write this I am remembering a number of things that I forgot to do today. The clients at work I need to call back about their various issues on campus, the laundry I need to get done before Saturday, and whether or [...]
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