Written Sketches

I recently started using Day One, a journaling app that’s sleek and fun and has a popup feature whereby the app tells you, “Okay, write something.” I’ve been using it mostly for sketching — a pa[...]
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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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Divine Favor: The Inquisitor

This part of the divine favor series from Open Design is 20 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial/ToC and 1 page SRD, leaving 17 pages of content for the Inquisitor, so let's check out what we get, shall we? [...]
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Now I’ve got to get the premium cable channels again…

When they're done right, the glossy looking historical (or, in some cases, fantasy) drama series are really great things to behold. Rome was absolutely terrific, and it was a shame that it was so expensive to produce tha[...]
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Divine Favor: the Paladin

This installment of Open Design's Divine Favor-series is 20 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial/ToC, 1 page SRD, leaving 17 pages of content, so let's check it out! [...]
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NeoExodus: A House Divided Campaign Setting

This pdf from Louis Porter Design is 166 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 4 pages ToC, 1 page SRD, 2 pages char-sheet, 2 pages mini-monster-sheets, 1 page condition tracker, 1 page combat & initiati[...]
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Obsidian Eclipse Book 2: Root and Branch

This adventure/sourcebook from Louis Porter Design is 27 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial/SRD, 1 page ToC, 3 pages of advertisements, leaving 21 pages of content, so let's check this installment of Obsidi[...]
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Gygax On…A Player’s Most Important Ability

What’s one of a successful player’s key abilities? Of course, rolling a 20 is a rather handy ability to have, but beyond that is it the ability to get on with fellow players (rather handy), a good grasp of the rule[...]
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GenCon 2012

So I am heading down to GenCon this year.  With any luck I'll have my "Scenic Dunnsmouth" module written,  and if there is interest I may have a third printing of Neoclassical Geek Revival as well.Any events pe[...]
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Why "The Math" Should Not Be the Primary Focus of RPG Design

Some people tell me that "The Math" is broken in games I like, play, or design. The thing is, I don't consider "The Math" to be the be all and end all of good game design. "The Math" for a game might be as close to "perf[...]
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Savage Menagerie: Grindhog

No. Enc.: 1d2 (1d4)Alignment: ChaoticMovement: 90' (30'),Hyperburrowing: 150' (50')Armor Class: 6Hit Dice: 5Attacks: 3 (claw/claw/bite)Damage: 1d8/1d8/1d12Save: F3Morale: 9Hoard Class: NoneThe Grindhog is a vicious enl[...]
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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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Blight of the Khazars

So my Monday night ConstantCon game, the action has for now settled on a horrid little dungeon in Khazakstan.A rumoured mythical dungeon full of riches and power beyond mans wildest dreams! various notable nobles, scound[...]
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This Blog Protected By Wuudchaks!

:::WARNING:::WUUDCHAKS HAVE BEEN SPOTTED IN THE AREA.IF CONFRONTED, DO NOT ENGAGE.PROCEED WITH CAUTION.:::WARNING:::(Happy One-Day-Early Groundhog Day! )[...]
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rolling for hit points in 4e

As you can tell, one of the things I miss in 4e is rolling your attributes. However, I have never missed rolling for hit points. Rolling your attributes helps throw some randomness into your character concept, and random[...]
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Carcosa Review

So I was able to acquire a hard copy of Carcosa and give it a look through in all of its Sci-fi, Post-Apocalyptic, Cthulhoid and Dinosaurian glory.First off the book itself.   It is a pretty nice hard cover,  s[...]
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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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One on One

This is a post about gaming – and tennis – but mostly about gaming. I promise. Here’s the thing. I’ve been thinking a lot (too much, it’s become an obsession) about gaming as math problem. Or, I suppose, more s[...]
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Gygax On…Equipment

We focus a lot these days on character build and character design, but we rarely spend a lot of time thinking about the equipment that our character should carry. Well, I guess that’s not completely true as everyone dr[...]
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My Fellow Gamers, Stay Classy

Hatorade, Vancian Magic, Tactics, and Other Things I’m here at DDXP and after yesterday’s Class Design Seminar, the internet has seemed ablaze with irrationality. I’d like to quell this uprising somewha[...]
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playing D&D with Mike Mornard: it’s all about context

I played another game of D&D with Gygax and Arneson player Mike Mornard, who, always quotable, said, "Understanding history is all about context. When Karl Marx was writing his first essays, Germany was a feudal sta[...]
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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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The Deep Mountains (Lightly Forested)

Here is a sample seed chart I use in games, I am compiling a list of those I use (slowly).To use, roll a d8, d6 and d4.  Know the total result, and the result of each die.  Unless specifically told to roll a di[...]
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Streets of Zobeck

This urban noir adventure anthology set in the by now legendary clockwork city of Zobeck from Open Design is 94 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 1 page ToC, 1 page advertisement, 1 blank page and 1 page [...]
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Alleys of Zobeck

This web-enhancement for Streets of Zobeck from Open Design is 17 pages long, 1 page front cover/editorial, 1/2 a page SRD, leaving 15 1/2 pages of content to add to the adventure anthology, so what exactly do we get? [...]
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Gygax On…Henchmen

I’ve always had a soft spot for henchmen, but never really been happy with the Leadership feat. I have fond memories of 1st edition when you could have up to 15 henchmen (if you could afford to keep them and were chari[...]
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The Secret to Background Creation

Do you enjoy the Dragon Age RPG? Wish you could invent your own Backgrounds? Do you think this is a short introductory paragraph? WHO CARES!? Here is my official “How To” on creating your own Backgrounds. The Breakdo[...]
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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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A Newly Refurbished Starship Warden Ready For Launch

Return once again to the Starship Warden! Just as we learned of a new reprint of the original edition of Metamorphosis Alpha, it sounds like they're getting ready to come out a new edition of the classic post-apocalyptic[...]
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Slumbering Heroes – A Super-Powered Campaign Setting

  Every gamer faces the same dilemma at some point: What game should I run next? Well, this article proposes that you take two genres and slam them together to...Visit the original post, Slumbering Heroes – A [...]
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hybrid roll and pointbuy

4e expects you to have around an 18 in your best attribute, and a decent secondary attribute. This is very predictably achieved with point buy. 4e is big on not having a single bad roll torpedo your character. On the oth[...]
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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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Cross class

I spent a happy couple of hours transferring all the 4e Essentials martial classes into a spreadsheet. Don’t knock it til you’ve tried it. It’s amazing how many similarities they share. Maybe that’[...]
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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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Hell on Eight Wheels: Eight – A Unified Core Rule

Before we go much further, anew blanket rule will be instituted to help pull the various mechanisms into amore unified concept.The highest card wins, as long as it is below the relevantattribute for the action. If two sk[...]
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The 1e Re-release is a Census

News that the 5th edition is in the pipe has arrived. On its heels is the news that Wizards of the Coast is releasing 1e with original interior art and new covers in a special direct to game store printing with a charit[...]
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The mechanics of character

I’ve never really subscribed to the idea that rules have no place at all in roleplaying. I don’t believe they’re completely necessary, but nor are they anathema to the whole lets pretend I’m looki[...]
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Gygax On…Cleric Spells

I don’t play clerics that much – only when no one else fancies it – and so I’m not wise in the ways of their ins and outs. That said, I’ve recently  been wondering where exactly a cleric (or a druid or wha[...]
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Challenge 2-2: Lords of the Underdark

The second challenge in chapter 2 of Challenges for Game Designers asks you to create a territory acquisition game for 2-4 players. The game can be a card, board, or tile game, but its victory condition must be either 1)[...]
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Game Design and Openness

I do all of my design work at Sand & Steam openly. Every bit of what I do is laid out for everyone to see, warts and all. When I first started, I choose openness not because of any high-minded philosophy about infor[...]
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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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Hell On Eight Wheels: Seven – Targeted Combat

If you’ve been reading through this series of game developmentblog posts, you’ll have seen many references to Freebooter’s Fate. This is agreat miniatures game released by Freebooter Miniature last year. I don’t [...]
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changes for clerics in 5e

Now that we're sure about 5e, the dark mutterings from Mearls and Cook's Design and Development columns seem more fraught with meaning. Here are some interesting passages from Mike Mearls's The Problem of Clerics: The pa[...]
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Metamorphosis Alpha First Edition Available In Print Again

The grand-mack-daddy of post-apocalyptic RPGs is available in print again!Metamorphosis Alpha First Edition has just been posted to Lulu for folks who need a hardcopy version of this classic game in their hands. These re[...]
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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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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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Getting The Party Started

As a GM, there are few things I hate more upon starting a new game than the mess that inevitably arises from getting a load of PCs, who may not have anything at all to do with one another, into a vague semblance of a coh[...]
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Book Review: The Kobold Guide to Board Game Design by Mike Selinker and Others from Open Design

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’[...]
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You’re Right, Monte, It Does Sound Crazy

Monte Cook's first post-5E-announcement column is up, and it gives a broad view of what the folks at WotC are doing with the new version. It basically confirms the speculative chatter of the last week, that 5E will be mo[...]
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