News from Around the Net: 3-FEB-2012
February 3, 2012 from Game Knight Reviews
Filed under: Call of Cthulhu, design, dungeons & dragons, Game Design, GM, Inspiration, news, pathfinder, Reviews, roleplaying, RPG, RPG Hub, Tools
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[...] Filed under: Call of Cthulhu, design, dungeons & dragons, Game Design, GM, Inspiration, news, pathfinder, Reviews, roleplaying, RPG, RPG Hub, Tools
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How to write a free RPG – Chapter 8: Publish
Finish your game. Finish your game. Finish your game. Stop procrastinating and finish it. The act of creation can be exciting and a struggle but if you don't finish it, you'll never know if it was any fun to play. Publis[...]Read on >>
Book Review: Unusual Suspects: Guide to an Interrogation Session by Robert Oglodzinski from Library of Ancient Scroll
January 31, 2012 from Game Knight Reviews
Filed under: Game Design, GM, Inspiration, Reviews, roleplaying, RPG, RPG Hub, Tools
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[...] Filed under: Game Design, GM, Inspiration, Reviews, roleplaying, RPG, RPG Hub, Tools
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Sunday Inspirational Image – Spell Books
Here are some classic spell book props all from the Propnomicon blog.I especially like the travelling spell book down at the bottom.From http://propnomicon.blogspot.com/2012/01/book-of-dni.htmlFrom http://propn[...]Read on >>
Ladies & Gentlemen, Please Excuse The Sniffles…
Very much a good news/bad news week. The Tuesday Knights kicked off our new Tekralh campaign on Tuesday, which was great, but then I came down with the worst cold in six or seven years, which confined me to bed for sever[...]Read on >>
News from Around the Net: 27-JAN-12
January 27, 2012 from Game Knight Reviews
Filed under: dungeons & dragons, Game Design, GM, Inspiration, Interviews, news, pathfinder, Reviews, roleplaying, RPG, RPG Hub, Tools
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[...] Filed under: dungeons & dragons, Game Design, GM, Inspiration, Interviews, news, pathfinder, Reviews, roleplaying, RPG, RPG Hub, Tools
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How to write a free RPG – Chapter 7: Testing
Your game needs to be tested before it’s devoured by the general public. Testing ranges from simple mechanics tests all the way through to a full blow campaign play test. If you do not have a group to test with and can[...]Read on >>
Secrets to Getting a Free 20 Gig Dropbox Account
Dropbox is the handy online storage tool I wrote about a couple of years ago. I thought it was handy tool for game groups. I used a 2 gigabyte free account for a while, but noticed I was filling it up very quickly and [...]Read on >>
Subsystems As Gamer Toys
Way back in the distant mists of 1983-1985, I was young teen who was totally hooked on role-playing games. Alas, at the time, I had yet to discover my first real gaming group. With a friend of mine in 6th grade, I stumbl[...]Read on >>
How to write a free RPG – Chapter 6: Organisation
In this Chapter, you'll learn how to organise your free RPG. Organisation is very important because a poorly organised game can be confusing and will put people off playing it. An RPG is both read and referred to. It nee[...]Read on >>
Book Review: The Kobold Guide to Board Game Design by Mike Selinker and Others from Open Design
January 17, 2012 from Game Knight Reviews
Filed under: advice, design, Game Design, Inspiration, Reviews, RPG Hub, Tools
Games. We all play them. It’s what makes us “gamers,” right? Whether you enjoy the occasional card, board, or roleplaying game, the one constant for me has been the “fun factor.” If I’[...] Filed under: advice, design, Game Design, Inspiration, Reviews, RPG Hub, Tools
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DriveThruRPG reviews for January 8–14, 2012
Happy new year, everybody! During the week of January 8–14, 2012, I reviewed four products for DriveThruRPG. Clocks and Secrets by Lyra Ambient. As the “secrets” part of the name implies, this track does a great jo[...]Read on >>
DriveThruRPG reviews for January 1–7, 2012
Happy new year, everybody! During the week of January 1–7, 2012, I reviewed four products for DriveThruRPG. I was especially delighted to have four new Sonic Legends tracks to review, after a long hiatus between new re[...]Read on >>
News from Around the Net: 13-JAN-12 (Triskaidekaphobic Edition)
January 13, 2012 from Game Knight Reviews
Filed under: design, dungeons & dragons, Game Design, Inspiration, Labyrinth Lord, news, pathfinder, Reviews, roleplaying, RPG, RPG Hub, Tools, World of Darkness
Welcome to the first triskaidekaphobic edition of GKR’s News frrom Around the Net for 2012… (Apparently there are three in 2012, two in 2013, and one in 2014. Since we’re on a downward trend let’s[...] Filed under: design, dungeons & dragons, Game Design, Inspiration, Labyrinth Lord, news, pathfinder, Reviews, roleplaying, RPG, RPG Hub, Tools, World of Darkness
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Tools Review: Dungeons & Dragons Virtual Table Beta
January 12, 2012 from Game Knight Reviews
Filed under: 4e, design, dungeons & dragons, GM, Reviews, roleplaying, RPG, RPG Hub, Tools
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[...] Filed under: 4e, design, dungeons & dragons, GM, Reviews, roleplaying, RPG, RPG Hub, Tools
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How to write a free RPG – Chapter 5: System
The mechanics of your game provide the players with tactical and strategic choices. They will spend resources, take risks, win and lose. The mechanics must mesh with the concept of the game and support the setting. The f[...]Read on >>
Tools Review: Awesome Dice Die Rollers For Your Blog
January 10, 2012 from Game Knight Reviews
Filed under: dungeons & dragons, Reviews, roleplaying, RPG, RPG Hub, Tools, World of Darkness
Here’s a first for Game Knight Reviews… I’m reviewing a WordPress plug-in! Last week I was contacted by Brian Wood from Awesome Dice, who asked me to take a look at a new plug-in for WP that adds a die [...] Filed under: dungeons & dragons, Reviews, roleplaying, RPG, RPG Hub, Tools, World of Darkness
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You Remind Me Of The Babe
Yesterday was the 65th birthday of David Bowie!Happy Birthday to one of my all time favorite singers, song writers, composers, musicians, singers-who-act-in-trippy-movies, people-with-numerous talents.You don't look a da[...]Read on >>
News from Around the Net: 6-JAN-12
January 6, 2012 from Game Knight Reviews
Filed under: design, dungeons & dragons, GM, Inspiration, news, pathfinder, Reviews, roleplaying, RPG, RPG Hub, Tools
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[...] Filed under: design, dungeons & dragons, GM, Inspiration, news, pathfinder, Reviews, roleplaying, RPG, RPG Hub, Tools
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How to write a free RPG – Chapter 4: Setting
In this Chapter, you will learn how to write an unique setting; what to include and how to avoid common pitfalls. The setting is the imaginary world that will act upon the characters and that the characters will change w[...]Read on >>
Shadowghast Manor, a.k.a. the coffin warehouse
January 2, 2012 from Icosahedrophilia
Filed under: D&D 4e, Legacy D&D, pathfinder, Props, Reviews, RPG, RPG Hub
December 2011 brought with it Shadowghast Manor, the latest set of Dungeon Tiles from Wizards of the Coast. Like the previous sets in the DN series (as well as DT and DU), Shadowghast Manor includes six sheets of double-[...] Filed under: D&D 4e, Legacy D&D, pathfinder, Props, Reviews, RPG, RPG Hub
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News from Around the Net: 30-DEC-11
December 30, 2011 from Game Knight Reviews
Filed under: 4e, design, dungeons & dragons, Game Design, GM, Inspiration, news, pathfinder, Reviews, roleplaying, RPG, RPG Hub, Savage Worlds, Tools, World of Darkness
“It’s the end of the year as we know it and I feel fine…” (apologies to Michael Stipe and the rest of REM for paraphrasing the lyrics to “It’s The End of the World As We Know It (And I[...] Filed under: 4e, design, dungeons & dragons, Game Design, GM, Inspiration, news, pathfinder, Reviews, roleplaying, RPG, RPG Hub, Savage Worlds, Tools, World of Darkness
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The Gassy Gnoll: The Circle of Trust (or The Power of Odd Jobs and Beginnings)
December 28, 2011 from Game Knight Reviews
Filed under: Campaign, Campaigns, design, GM, Inspiration, roleplaying, RPG, RPG Hub, Tools
Have you ever noticed how adventurers always seem to get the glamorous jobs and only rarely get the dirty jobs nobody really wants to do? Let’s take a simple example. A new group of PCs gets hired to kill some rats[...] Filed under: Campaign, Campaigns, design, GM, Inspiration, roleplaying, RPG, RPG Hub, Tools
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How to write a free RPG – Chapter 3: Writing and style
In this Chapter, we will look at the act of writing itself. By the end you will know some habits to keep and pitfalls to avoid. The second part of this chapter focuses on style and details how writing in a particular way[...]Read on >>
Product Review: Dungeonmorph Dice and Cards from Inkwell Ideas
December 27, 2011 from Game Knight Reviews
Filed under: design, Game Design, GM, Inspiration, Reviews, roleplaying, RPG, RPG Hub, Tools
When I first heard about the whole geomorph mapping paradigm in early 2011, it was at Dyson Logos’ blog – A Character For Every Game – but I came to discover only recently that they are a very old idea [...] Filed under: design, Game Design, GM, Inspiration, Reviews, roleplaying, RPG, RPG Hub, Tools
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Musical Monday: Monster Manual by Mixel Pixel
Mixel Pixel, with animation by Dan Meth, take you on a wild ride through the D&D Monster Manual.[...]Read on >>
News from Around the Net: 23-DEC-2011
December 23, 2011 from Game Knight Reviews
Filed under: 4e, Call of Cthulhu, dungeons & dragons, Game Design, Inspiration, news, pathfinder, Reviews, roleplaying, RPG, RPG Hub, Savage Worlds, Tools, World of Darkness
This must be the “It’s nearly Christmas” edition of “Around the Net”! If I haven’t mentioned it enough already, I wish everyone reading a very happy holidays – from Cthulmas and [...] Filed under: 4e, Call of Cthulhu, dungeons & dragons, Game Design, Inspiration, news, pathfinder, Reviews, roleplaying, RPG, RPG Hub, Savage Worlds, Tools, World of Darkness
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How to write a free RPG – Chapter 2: Research
Research is the act of gathering information to strengthen your game. If approached with gusto and the right mindset, research can be very enjoyable. By the end of this chapter, you will know how to research, what to res[...]Read on >>
The Dragonborn Comes…
Skyrim Bard Song and Main Theme from Bethesda's video game Skyrim that seems to be quite popular with you kids, covered by Malukah.Thanks to Tim over at Gothridge Manor for drawing this to my attention the other week.[...]Read on >>
mashupforge
Have you ever dreamed about creating a Google Maps style map of your campaign world? My friend and fellow RPG blogger Zakharov Sawyer recently told me about mashupforge, a new service that allows you to do just that. You[...]Read on >>
Customizable Superhero Miniatures
Another Kickstarter I stumbled on the other day is called “Crossover Miniatures – A New Superhero Miniature Line.” I love the idea: customizable miniatures. In this case, the heads are changeable an[...]Read on >>
Radio Free Tanelorn: Music to Read Moorcock By
Tomorrow, December 18th, is Michael Moorcock’s birthday. I’m spending my winter break re-reading a bunch of his novels, and put together a Pandora station with appropriate background music to read by. Radio F[...]Read on >>
News from Around the Net: 16-DEC-2011
December 16, 2011 from Game Knight Reviews
Filed under: dungeons & dragons, Inspiration, news, pathfinder, Reviews, roleplaying, RPG, RPG Hub, Tools, World of Darkness
Beware… The holidays are fast approaching! For those of you keeping track, it’s 9 days until St. Nick slides down chimneys worldwide and shares joy with good little girls and boys. And apparently Krampus is b[...] Filed under: dungeons & dragons, Inspiration, news, pathfinder, Reviews, roleplaying, RPG, RPG Hub, Tools, World of Darkness
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How to write a free RPG – Chapter 1: Inspiration
The goal of this chapter is to create a concept from which you will be able to write the rest of the game. The concept is: A brief overview Description of boundaries Target audience How it is different from other games D[...]Read on >>
Dungeon Tiles: Shadowghast Manor
WOTC has released their latest Dungeon Tiles set, Shadowghast Manor. This set is certainly nice to look at, it’s basically a large manor or mansion, with the underground catacombs for it on the flip side. I thi[...]Read on >>
New Kickstarter: Monster Stand-Ins (Plastic-Card Miniatures)
So my prior Kickstarter’s (DungeonMorph Dice) rewards have been sent to all backers. (I do need to wrap up the matching PDFs, but that’s nearly done and it wasn’t the primary purpose of the Kickstarte[...]Read on >>
News from Around the Net: 09-DEC-2011
December 9, 2011 from Game Knight Reviews
Filed under: 4e, Campaign, design, dungeons & dragons, Game Design, GM, Inspiration, news, pathfinder, Reviews, roleplaying, RPG, RPG Hub, Savage Worlds, Tools, World of Darkness
I don’t know about you… But as the holidays get closer to closer and my gift shopping doesn’t get done, my blood pressure starts to rise. So imagine my surprise when I started hearing about “Kramp[...] Filed under: 4e, Campaign, design, dungeons & dragons, Game Design, GM, Inspiration, news, pathfinder, Reviews, roleplaying, RPG, RPG Hub, Savage Worlds, Tools, World of Darkness
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Easing into Monday…Enjoy
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Wow. Very Cool Vid.
All I can say is wow. Fantastic job. I saw this over on Google+ and thought I would swipe it. Beautiful voice and not too hard to look at either. Bethesda, you need to hire her. [...]Read on >>
News from Around the Net: 02-DEC-2011
December 2, 2011 from Game Knight Reviews
Filed under: 4e, Call of Cthulhu, Castles & Crusades, design, dungeons & dragons, Game Design, GM, HERO, Inspiration, Labyrinth Lord, Reviews, roleplaying, RPG, RPG Hub, Tools
Did December sneak up on anybody else? Now I’m suddenly behind on my gift shopping and I never even think November waved as it zipped by… We have a ton of news today, so let’s dive right in, shall we? F[...] Filed under: 4e, Call of Cthulhu, Castles & Crusades, design, dungeons & dragons, Game Design, GM, HERO, Inspiration, Labyrinth Lord, Reviews, roleplaying, RPG, RPG Hub, Tools
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The Only Cyber Monday Deal on Amazon Worth a Damn…
.... is: Twisted Sister - A Twisted Christmas: LIVEor the non-live version, if for some reason you want less tracks and less Dee Snider commentary: link(okay, okay, there is Lulu.com sale going on too). [...]Read on >>
Musical Monday: Dungeons & Dragons songs by Allie Goertz
Above - Tonight (D&D song), below Song for Ulvaak.[...]Read on >>
Happy (Very Belated) Thanksgiving!
Here is a link to last year's Thanksgiving Day post and probably the only Thanksgiving-related D&D adventure in existence: The Feast of the Gobbler It's for 3.x, but if you're an OSR guy, you should be abl[...]Read on >>
Resource Review: 101 Curious Items by Justin Alexander
November 21, 2011 from Game Knight Reviews
Filed under: 4e, GM, Inspiration, Reviews, roleplaying, RPG, RPG Hub, Tools
Today I want to talk about a free, rules agnostic, creative fount of ideas for GMs of fantasy campaigns. This free resource is but one of the many unique ideas available from Justin Alexander at his blog – The Alex[...] Filed under: 4e, GM, Inspiration, Reviews, roleplaying, RPG, RPG Hub, Tools
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News from Around the Net: 18-NOV-2011
November 18, 2011 from Game Knight Reviews
Filed under: 4e, campaign setting, design, dungeons & dragons, Game Design, GM, Inspiration, Labyrinth Lord, news, pathfinder, Reviews, roleplaying, RPG, RPG Hub, Tools
What a wild month… This week was “Teach Your Kids to Game” week, sponsored by the great folks at RPGNow/DriveThruRPG. Next week is the US Thanksgiving holiday. So in a two week span, we’ll have se[...] Filed under: 4e, campaign setting, design, dungeons & dragons, Game Design, GM, Inspiration, Labyrinth Lord, news, pathfinder, Reviews, roleplaying, RPG, RPG Hub, Tools
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A to Z of UK RPG in the 80s: H is for Heavy Metal
H is for Heavy MetalIron Maiden - Powerslave (Cover by Derek Riggs)In the late 70's the New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWoBHM) was unleashed across the airwaves and in dingy pubs and clubs all over the UK. Spear[...]Read on >>
yet more tools for writing & groups
A trio of sites that help get ideas together. What happens next? That's down to you. Springpad - This intuitive notepad app has hidden depths. Idea capture, task management and... Click the title if[...]Read on >>
Tools Review: Dingle’s Games Generators
November 15, 2011 from Game Knight Reviews
Filed under: 3.5e, dungeons & dragons, GM, pathfinder, Reviews, roleplaying, RPG, RPG Hub, Tools
It could be said that I’m a sucker for a random generator. But over the years, through trial, error, and trying my own hand at various tools, I’ve come to realize that not all generators are equal. That hasn&[...] Filed under: 3.5e, dungeons & dragons, GM, pathfinder, Reviews, roleplaying, RPG, RPG Hub, Tools
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Musical Monday: Ode to Dungeons and Dragons "The End" – Skave
[...]Read on >>
News from Around the Net: 11-NOV-2011
November 11, 2011 from Game Knight Reviews
Filed under: 4e, Call of Cthulhu, design, dungeons & dragons, Game Design, GM, Inspiration, Mechwarrior, news, pathfinder, Reviews, Rifts, roleplaying, RPG, RPG Hub, Tools
Today is an auspicious day… Not because it’s Friday… Not because it’s fun to see a numerically repetitive date like 11-11-11… Not because it’s the 11th Doctor’s Day (in honor of [...] Filed under: 4e, Call of Cthulhu, design, dungeons & dragons, Game Design, GM, Inspiration, Mechwarrior, news, pathfinder, Reviews, Rifts, roleplaying, RPG, RPG Hub, Tools
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