I Over Prep?
Tweet Never Unprepared is a concise guide to game prep. For those unfamiliar with (or overwhelmed by) brainstorming and the critical steps beyond just coming up with ideas, this book would be a valuable resource. I personally think I’ve pretty much got the whole game prep thing down. I’ve been doing it for almost 35 years, and I’ve made enough mistakes along the way that I’ve learned some pretty valuable lessons. What this book made me realize is that I am very likely over-preparing for my games. “Too much prep?” Yup. Too much. I generally write out my scenes as if someone else was going to GM the game. I sometimes do this with an eye of publishing the adventure some day, but I’ve gotten into the habit of doing it all the time. For … Read entire article »
Filed under: Reviews
Legend by Mongoose Publishing
Tweet I love what Mongoose Publishing does for the RPG hobby. They’ve taken some old, oft-forgotten systems and breathed new life into them, modernizing the rules and supporting them. Legend is in someways the evolution and “genericization” of Mongoose’s revival of the classic (and table-heavy) Runequest, Runequest II. Legend is a setting-less fantasy RPG using a percentile dice based skill system, much like Call of Cthulhu. The skill system is very flexible and includes rules for taking extra time for bonuses, penalties for rush jobs, applying two skills to a situation. The character generation system is both detailed and quick. In some ways, they’ve applied some aspects of the Traveller chargen and applied it here (though it isn’t random). Characteristics (Strength, Constitution, Size, Intelligence, Power, Dexterity, Charisma) can either be rolled randomly or purchased … Read entire article »
Filed under: Reviews
Cowboys vs. Xenomorphs — Mongoose Traveller
Tweet Mongoose’s modernization of the classic Traveller science fiction RPG is a fine example of a mature gaming system. It has maintained (and in some cases improved upon) some of Marc Miller’s great innovations, like the random and detailed character generation system and a simple but effective skill system. We’ve played a lot of Mongoose Traveller (MGT) over the last year or so, and a few of us have mused that, because of MGT’s high tech level, … Read entire article »
Filed under: Reviews
First GMing of Call of Cthulhu
Tweet I ran the playtest for a Call of Cthulhu scenario I’m planning on running at Gateway 2012 in September. I don’t want to go into detail on the scenario, since I haven’t publicly run it yet, but I would like to discuss my impressions on the system and my experience with running what I consider a successful suspense game (which I’ve never pulled off before). Impression of Call of Cthulhu and BRP Character Generation Character generation is quick, … Read entire article »
Filed under: General Gaming, Opinion, Reviews
