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DnDNext: Is this REALLY how you should design a game?
The next iteration of DnD is coming to open play test soon. Mike Mearls and Jeremy Crawford held a chat Q&A earlier today. I put a transcript on our forum. It’s not making me excited about the product, which happens to be the gateway drug to one of my favorite hobbies. This is mostly because of the questions they chose to answer (or maybe it was the only questions they got). Some of them were typical procedural questions about the play test, what materials it will include, what’s changed since the demos over the past few months, etc. The rest of the questions pretty much had to do with combat. It was either, “what cool stuff are you including for the class I like to play?” or “are you getting rid of this … Read entire article »
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Adventure Seed Fiction: The Nevada Pestilence Part 1
The Nevada Pestilence Part 1 by Stu Venable Personal Journal of John Haunt November 1872 Some time ago, I was told by the conductor, a tall gaunt man with graying beard and mustache, that we passed through … Read more »
Top Secret – Orccon 2012 Recap
In the old days of role-playing there were charts. Charts begat more charts and you had to … Read more »
Reflection on the recording of Stu’s Ghostbusters Game
http://www.happyjacks.org/ap/sw-ghostbusters.mp3 – Link to Stu’s posting of the game First things first, I’ve listened to a number of real play recordings and unedited this one is more fun to listen to than any … Read more »
Popular
Advice to Gamers: December is Prep-Month!
Yeah, this is a little late, but I've seen several blog posts by frustrated gamers who can get games going in December. Take some advice from a long-time gamer. This doesn't go out … Read more »
Don't Retcon Me
I’m not a huge fan of retconning in the games I play. I believe the game should unfold naturally and the players and GM live with the results. If your character lives, … Read more »
4 Attribute Savage Worlds Houserule
Here are the rules for my 4 attribute version of Savage Worlds. Reasons for this house rule: First of all, in a mechanical sense, I don't think that it's very balanced to make a … Read more »
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System Agnostic Writing
When writing down the first draft of your custom adventure, I suggest ignoring all gameplay mechanics. Don’t draw maps, don’t think on how many perception rolls should be allowed, don’t even build monsters. Just concentrate on getting the story down on paper. I know this isn’t a novel concept. People have been doing it for years. I haven’t. Sometimes I’m dumb that way. The problem I’ve always run into, the roadblock I keep putting in front of myself, is the idea that I must finish each part of the story as I go along. If I was writing a Call of Cthulhu scenario, I didn’t just write about the creepy folks running the feed store in some … Read entire article »
Call of Cthulhu Char Gen and Skills
I’ve started going through the first step in seriously playing and or running a game. Last night, while my daughter was catching up on math homework, I rolled up a couple of Call of Cthulhu characters. I have played Call of Cthulhu before, but it was a very long time ago, and I remember almost nothing about it. Yes, “rolled up” characters, … Read entire article »
Thou Shalt Not Play with Assholes
Should subjective tabletop RPG rules be eliminated since they can allow the GM’s biases to influence the game? This rather hot topic has arisen lately, especially regarding mechanics where the GM can reward players for their role-playing. This discussion was started by site called Gaming for Women and we recently discussed it on an episode of the Happy Jack’s RPG podcast. While misogynistic behavior was the main concern of the article, any time you allow the human element into activities it opens the door for prejudice. I will be the first to admit that this can lead to horrible situations in games and in gaming groups. However, I argue that this subjectivity is imperative to gaming … Read entire article »
Adventure Seed Fiction: The Nevada Pestilence Part 2
The Nevada Pestilence Part II by Stu Venable, Jr. The stench, as I found purchase to gain footing upon the caboose’s railings, was unlike anything I had ever experienced. Having served with the 51st Ohio Infantry, I was not unfamiliar with the smell of rotting human flesh. This however seemed to me to be the smell of cooking human flesh, a scent with which I was far less familiar, having only caught the briefest whiff of it when an occasional wound need cauterization. But my senses were met with the cannibalistic equivalent of some festive feast. Deep within my mind, the memories of my ancestors met the smell with revulsion and horror. I tensed my jaw and looked … Read entire article »
