Let’s Have A Good Clean Fight…

I’ve written on this topic before, but only as part of a larger subject. But I recently had occasion to expand the EL-CR chart that I created for my own use, and decided to share it with our readers – and ha[...]
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Secretary Day Special

Today, the 1st of September, is Secretary Day. Every year, on this date, South Africans recognise and show their appreciation for our secretaries. Spell Keeper (General) Your organisational skills are well-suited for sup[...]
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Lessons From The West Wing II: The Psychology Of Maps

It’s time for another of my occasional Lessons From The West Wing. This draws heavily on concepts put forward in a single episode, Episode 16 of Season 2, “Somebody’s Going To Emergency, Somebody’[...]
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Gen Con Haul, quick and dirty reviews, Part 1

Here are some of the things I got at Gen Con this year. Ok, that is a small lie.  I actually didn't buy anything this year, but instead bought some on PDF before the Con and others afterwards. First up Pathfinder, t[...]
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Pathfinder APG

I now have my hands on the Advanced Player's Guide for Pathfinder.Still dig the witch, but would rather see her stats based on Wisdom or even Charisma. Love the art.More once I have had a chance to go over it proper[...]
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Gen Con 2010 in retrospect

All things considered Gen Con 2010 was a great time. It was the first time I took the wife and kids and everyone had a blast. Here are some of the highlights (and lowlights) of my time.Best:- Playing the Red Box D&D[...]
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A Monkey Wrench In The Deus-Ex-Machina: Limiting Divine Power

This article deals in subjects that are sensitive issues to a lot of people. Everything contained within is written from a roleplaying context and no judgements are intended regarding the validity of any individual pers[...]
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Pulling That Lever: The Selection Of Leaders In RPG Societies

Okay, so for the first time since we started this online magazine/blog, one of us has missed getting a post up. Johnn struck problems with his planned post at the last possible moment, and then tried to rewrite it but mi[...]
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[Pathfinder] What I want from 3rd party publishers – Part 1

The release of Paizo’s Pathfinder Advanced Player’s Guide is upon us and, by all accounts, it is amazing.  While chatting to friends about the APG, I realised that throughout 3.X and PFRPG, my need for addit[...]
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Crazy Omar’s

You walk into the shop that is size of a small keep.  All around you are other "adventurers", some holding tickets with numbers on them, others hold what are obviously enchanted items.  All around are gnomes ru[...]
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Favorite Modules

So thanks to the magic that is Half-Price Books, eBay and my local game store, I have managed to score over the years nearly every classic AD&D Module and many of the 2nd ED ones and a fair number of 3rd and 4th ed o[...]
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Ways to Make NPC Archers More Dangerous

Inspired by this post, in which the author discusses some problems encountered when trying to make NPC archers more threatening, I’ve drawn up a list of ideas to make NPC archers more dangerous, while also providin[...]
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Ask The GMs: Rubbing Two Dry Words Together

Why have different languages in an RPG? How can they be used to enhance a story? And what’s wrong with Universal Translators, anyway? I have a question about using languages in fantasy RPGs. There are numerous[...]
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Return to the Palace of Silver Princess

Like a lot of gamers my age I am familiar with the module B3: Palace of the Silver Princess, and like most of those gamers my experience is with the "Green" cover version.  Well I had heard about the infam[...]
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Vuvuzela of Blasting

When a Horn of Blasting or a Greater Horn of Blasting has been rolled as part of a treasure hoard, roll again on the following table: 01 – 80: The item is a normal (Greater) Horn of Blasting. 81 – 100: The it[...]
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Revised Plan; Generational Mega Plots

I plan to come back to Cartoon Action Hour here in a bit, but I have something I want to get organized first.So a while back I posted a plan for the adventures I wanted to run with my family using 4E.Well since that time[...]
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Orcus is mine!!

So I got my Gargantuan Orcus today! And I am ready to sick him on some players.There is Orcus next to Aspect of Orcus and the figure I use for my paladin.  It is very cool.I already stated up Orcus for Unisystem, a[...]
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Weekend Recap

My big birthday weekend is coming to an end and it was a blast.PathfinderFinally leveled up in Pathfinder yesterday! Yeah!  We are all still making tweaks to our characters which is to be expected. Still enjoying th[...]
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Random Stuff before the Weekend

So some little posts today.Monster Manual 3 for D&D 4Picked this up earlier in the week.  I love it.  You can never get too many monsters or monster books.  IT's too bad we are not playing D&D4 in [...]
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[Magical Item] Makarapa

Makarapa Aura moderate transmutation; CL 3rd Slot head; Price 1,000 gp; Weight 5 lbs. DESCRIPTION A makarapa is an elaborately decorated and customised helmet worn to show the wearer’s allegiance or support of a fa[...]
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The Critical Threshold: A brief debate on the Merits of Extreme Results

This is not the post that I expected to make this week. I simply ran out of time and could not finish either the article I had intended to post this week [about time travel] or the one for next week [the long-awaited fo[...]
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Bend it like Pelor

You can’t go anywhere in South Africa without being reminded of the football – not even this blog. Kick Anything (Combat) Prerequisites: Catch Off-Guard or Throw Anything. Benefit: You may kick any unattended[...]
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Feat Discussion: Sheathe the Blade

Sheathe the Blade (Combat) Prerequisites: Combat Recklessness; Diehard. Benefit: When struck with a slashing or piercing melee weapon, you can make a disarm attempt as an immediate action. This disarm attempt does not pr[...]
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Willow & Tara: Macho Women with Guns

Note: Ok, this is a recycled one.  I had done these in the past and wanted something for Friday.  Continuing in my "can I convert a d20 game to play more like the modern horror/supernatural game of my dreams" I[...]
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Star Wars d20

Hey all.  I know I promised more Anime stuff today, but I work has got me buried.  I did want to talk about something though really quick and that is the loss of the Star Wars RPG from Wizards.I have not been a[...]
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Family Game Day: All Wet (rain and ocean adventures)

Taking a break from Anime RPGs for a sec to talk about yesterday's family game day. Due to the rain yesterday and a general lack of motivation we decided to play a game of D&D.  This is the on going saga of the [...]
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Big Eyes, Small Mouth d20 (and SAS d20)

Why BESM d20?Well again, it seems like a logical next step. My conversions to BESM Tri-Stat version went so well that a conversion to BESM d20 seems logical. Plus I have done numerous d20 conversions so far and Silver Ag[...]
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[Review] KQ’s Monster Chronicles: The Inevitable

Since the release of the Pathfinder Bestiary, I have wondered why certain monsters were excluded. Sure, mindflayers and beholders aren’t OGL (their exclusion is rather self-explanatory), but reasons for other exclu[...]
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Towel: 7 in 1 Adventuring Tool

Towels, when wrapped around the body, grant a +2 bonus to saves against cold weather. Towels, when fashioned into a sail, grant a +2 bonus to Craft (Boats) checks. Towels, when wrapped around the face, grant a +2 bonus t[...]
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The top 10 things to do with an immovable rod

I tend to buy one or two quirky/tech/utility items when purchasing equipment for a new character. Recently, while building a character for PB (it’s my job to translate her character concepts into the rules), I gave[...]
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Sophisticated Links: Degrees Of Seperation in RPGs

Introduction This is not the post I was originally going to write for today, but a paragraph in one of the books I am reading brought to mind the game that seemed to be everywhere just a few years ago, “Six Degrees[...]
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Treasure Discovery!

So I found a disk I had burned a bunch stuff.  Mostly this was some writing I had done back in the days of the Buffy-Angel playtests and then later the Ghosts of Albion playtests.Most of it will stay on th[...]
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Willow & Tara: d20 Modern

d20 Modern and Urban ArcanaD20.  To many it was the best thing since sliced bread and the Internet. To others, well, they were vocal on how much they hated it.   D20 Modern is the modern version of the 3.x[...]
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Ask The GMs: How to GM solo PCs (especially in combat)

Campaign Mastery was asked, GM Brian: “I’m trying to run a D&D 3.5 Eberron campaign that will mostly be a solo campaign for my friend. I’m just looking for tips on how I can run a well balanced[...]
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[Pathfinder] Use Rope?

Paizo’s Pathfinder Companion: Adventurer’s Armoury added a few new weapons that augmented unarmed strikes: brass knuckles and rope gauntlets. Unsurprisingly, like the humble gauntlet, these weapons are not co[...]
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Profession (Gardener)

Throughout history, agricultural tools have often been used as tools of war. Some agricultural tools even become part of a formalised martial art. You’ll find evidence of the weaponising of agricultural tools in th[...]
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A Slippery Slope: Level Adjustments Under The Microscope

There are times when an Ask-The-GM’s question doesn’t inspire one of us, or is too attached to the mechanics of one specific game system, or doesn’t have enough depth to justify a full blog post, or ha[...]
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[3.X/PFRPG] Do monks frak up the unarmed combat design space?

Before I begin with my core argument, some background information is required: I like creative combatants – PCs that can adapt their fighting style on the fly, either through clever use of the terrain, a toolbox se[...]
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Boobs, Earthquakes and d20 Feats

Just one month after National Cleavage Day 2010, right about when you start to wonder if you’ll make it to NCD 2011, we get Boobquake day! This post introduces character options that would allow your adventurer to [...]
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Pathfinder + Hero Lab

I have been playing in two separate Pathfinder games recently and I really like the system.  But the one thing that I didn't have that 4e gave me was a kick-ass character builder program.I love character builde[...]
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[3.X, PFRPG] The monk needs cooler weapons

The monk, the ugly middle child of the 3.X base classes*, has always had a rough life. It’s tough when all the older children are bullies and the younger children are spoiled by mommy and daddy. As a character conc[...]
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[Pathfinder] Fighter Variant: The Monk

I’ve had a love-hate relationship with the 3.X monk class since I first saw it. I love the concept, but hate the execution. Over the years, I’ve made several attempts at redesigning the monk class. Today, I p[...]
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Pathfinder, Game 2: The Big Kids

We started what will hopefully be a long running Pathfinder game with the "big kids".  This is my normal play-test group of the last few years, plus some guys that my DM Greg knows.  So far it has been a lot of[...]
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Pathfinder: Going forward in reverse

So it is now official.  WE are moving our 4th Ed. D&D over to Pathfinder.I am of two minds about this.On one hand Pathfinder is a lot of fun.  It is easy to do and given the years long 3.x game I have [...]
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Pathfinder

Taking a break from smashing some goblins in Pathfinder on today's Family D&D day.The combat is going REALLY fast, much faster than 4e or even 3.x.Really digging my new witch too.  Though to be fair she does pla[...]
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The Pursuit Of Perfection, Part 2 of 5: A Perfect Vision Through A Glass, Darkly

In the first part of this article, which itself is the first installement of a series of articles, I discussed the execution and delivery of uniqueness in an RPG campaign, and derived a definition of doing so to perfect[...]
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[National Cleavage Day 2010] The Adventuress’ Uplifting Vestments

Today, South Africa celebrates/denounces National Cleavage Day and, as is this blog’s tradition, may I present an NCD-inspired item for your 3.x or Pathfinder game: The Adventuress’ Uplifting Vestments Aura F[...]
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[Pathfinder] Expanded Improvised Weapons List 3

Let’s look at a few more methods of doing business with the non-business end of your weapon: Mordstreich: You can alter your grip on your sword to smash opponents with the hilt of your weapon. One-handed or light [...]
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Hard Core Gamers

In case you have been living under a rock all week, the new video version of the hit blog Playing D&D with Porn Stars is out now.Called "I Hit it With My Axe" it features, well, porn stars, playing D&D.   It[...]
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Sympathy for the Succubus, Part 1

I'll admit it.  I have a soft spot in my heart for Succubi.    Those little trollops from Hell, tempting men with there wild demonic ways.  There are the fangs, the wings and the whole draining y[...]
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