Posted by Stargazer | Posted on 31-12-2009
Category : Gumshoe System, News, Reviews & Culture, Other Systems, RPG
New Year’s Eve is upon us and as last year I have invited my gaming group to try out a new game. This time we are going to play “Trail of Cthulhu” by Pelgrane Press.
This is actually the first time I am running a game using the GUMSHOE rules and I wondering how it will turn out. Aside from being pretty rules-light, you don’t need to roll on investigative abilities in that system. All clue-gathering skills succeed automatically. Which removes the old problem that the players have a hard time solving the mystery, because of one or two failed skill checks while gathering information.
If you want to learn more about the GUMSHOE system, you definitely should check out the interview I did with Robin D. Laws in September.
I will now return to my preparations of tonight’s New Year’s Eve party. Take care and have a happy new year 2010!
Posted by Stargazer | Posted on 24-12-2009
Category : RPG, Site News
I just came back from the Christmas Eve dinner at my parents and decided it was the perfect time to wish you all a merry Christmas!
As you’ve probably noticed I am taking a small hiatus from blogging but I will be back soon! So stay tuned and take care!
1 person likes this post.
Posted by Stargazer | Posted on 22-12-2009
Category : Dungeonslayers, Freebies, News, Reviews & Culture, Other Systems, RPG
Some days ago the 2nd “Dungeon-2-Go” for the Dungeonslayers RPG has been released. While the German version had been available for some time now, Andreas Bösche, Sana D. and Moritz Mehlem finished the English translation just a few days ago.
Following a map they found – or perhaps just by chance – the players find a cave containing the tomb of the witch king Vundraziel, whose disciples followed him into the grave.
The 1-paged PDF is a full adventure for your Dungeonslayers campaign and can be played with characters of level 5 to 8. You can download Tomb of the Witchking at the Dungeonslayers download page. Enjoy!
2 people like this post.
Posted by Stargazer | Posted on 18-12-2009
Category : Humor, Music, RPG, RPG tools, Video
I’m officially on vacation right now and probably pretty busy in the upcoming week, so I will post less frequent than before for the time being. In order to pass the time more easily, I’ve dug in my own archives and found a video that fits perfectly:
You can download the music as MP3 file here. Or press the button below to play it directly in your browser:
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Posted by Stargazer | Posted on 16-12-2009
Category : Feature, Microlite Games, RPG, Random musings
In the last years I have developed an aversion against games that are very rules-heavy. Although Pathfinder looks very sweet, I just can’t see myself any game based on the d20 System anymore (aside from Microlite20 perhaps). I actually bought Fantasy Craft and was amazed by all the fresh ideas they brought into the game, but in the end, I will probably never run it. Back in the day I have ran several Shadowrun campaigns but today I find the rules much too complicated for my liking.
As I have been getting older I have noticed that I have less time for my hobby. That’s why I started to look at rules-light games like Savage Worlds, the D&D retro clones like Swords & Wizardry, Dungeonslayers and the new Dragon Age RPG. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind reading hundreds of pages of setting information, but when it comes to rules I want it fast and easy. Am I getting old or am I just lazy. As you grew older have you noticed that you preferred rules-light games or would you run D&D 3.5 with all available classes, feats, optional rules every day?
11 people like this post.
Posted by Stargazer | Posted on 16-12-2009
Category : Freebies, News, Reviews & Culture, Other Systems, RPG
This may be old news to some of my readers, but I just learned about the Quickstart Rules for Chill 3rd Edition. I’ve played Chill a few years back (I think it was the Mayfair edition) and enjoyed it very much, even though my first character ran off naked into the night somewhere in Alaska, never to be seen again. But that’s another story. It was also the first time that I played in a game where the GM made use of eerie music to get the players into the mood. This is a technique I use to this day, sometimes to great effect.
I am not sure if there ever will be a 3rd edition of Chill, because the last news on the official homepage was several months ago. The last thing I heard was that publisher OtherWorld Creations was trying to raise money for the project. Alas the link to the fundraising page is dead and the activity on the Yahoo! group of the project has almost come to a halt in the last months.
The 45-paged Quickstart Rules PDF contains all the rules you need to play a game, an introductory adventure and a couple of pregenerated characters. Since I am a big fan of horror games I might have bought a third edition of Chill, but from the looks of it, the project is dead like a dodo.
1 person likes this post.
