A Role Playing Games Blog
Advice
Review: Masks – 1000 Memorable NPCs for Any Roleplaying Game
5July 5, 2011
It was almost a year ago when I had the chance to review Engine Publishing’s debut product: Eureka. Back then I called it “the most useful tool a gamemaster could probably have”. And now it seems Martin Ralya and his coauthors have managed to add another vital component to the GM’s toolbox.
Masks is a 338-paged book which contains thousand unique NPCs for your game. There are 334 fantasy characters, 333 sci-fi characters and 333 characters meant for a modern setting. These genre divisions are of course only meant as guidelines, so you might actually use a fantasy character in your sci-fi game with just a few minor tweaks. Aside from being divided into genres the NPCs also fall in three general roles: villain, neutral and allies. Since the most people in any given campaign world are more or less neutral to the players this group makes up 50%, while villains and allies are 25% each.
Describing the Indescribable
3June 28, 2011
For many creative people, a blank space is an inspiration, a key to unlock ideas. These people can take an empty page or fresh canvas and fill it with wonders, unleashing their imaginations.
I am not one of these people. To me, a blank space is a challenge. I rely on seeds to kickstart me. (This is probably why I am a fan of what has been called “remix culture”, taking existing things and making new things out of them, often by combination with other existing things.) My creativity works more from adaptation to constraint than from limitless possibility. (more…)
Fun with Photofunia
1June 15, 2011
On the German RPG Blog “Cthulhu’s Ruf” I read about Photofunia, a service that allows you to apply all kinds of interesting effects onto your portrait photos. Aside from being a perfect time waster it can be easily used to create handouts for your roleplaying games. Here are some examples:
 |
 |
| Wanted Poster (Western Style) | Wanted Poster (Harry Potter Style) |
 |
 |
| Newspaper Handout | Behold the Great Cthulhu |
I am sure you can come up with even more creative uses of PhotoFunia’s effects. Enjoy!
“Spanish, Spanish, Spanish saving throw, Spanish”: Role-Playing in different languages
11June 6, 2011
Recently I had a tweet exchange with Shaun and Michael about which language we role-played in, and Shaun wrote an excellent post about languages in RPG games here in the blog last week. However our exchange made me think about languages on the other side of the equation, or the screen so to speak, the language we speak as we play.
I am well aware that role-playing is an international affair. While I knew this to be a fact, writing in the blog has confirmed it as I have met people from all over the world. I also know that games have been created, written and played in many countries, but (to the best of my knowledge) they first appeared in the United States of America and have spread to the world.
The first RPG games I read where all in English and it was years before I actually saw games in my native Spanish. I became aware they existed, but did not see one for years. I live in Puerto Rico and our socio-political situation means we are very close to the US so it is not surprising that RPG games would become available in English here. When I finally found RPGs in Spanish it was actually cheaper for me to buy them in English. That did not stop me and I have a few Spanish RPG books in my collection, the gem being a Traveller boxed set and the main rule book and some supplements for Aqularre, an excellent RPG from Spain.
Despite this, the majority (99%) of my RPG collection is in English. Shaun asked (and I paraphrase here so forgive me in advance for any mistake) whether we played in Spanish and only used English for certain terms, thus the title of the post: “Spanish, Spanish, saving throw, Spanish, Spanish”. Michael chimed in and confirmed that was the case when he games. Of course in his case its, “German, German, attack of opportunity, German German”. Like I told Shaun, that was not the case for me…
Communication Breakdown: Language in RPGs
15June 3, 2011
The other night I got my hands on a copy of Rogue Trader, one of the Warhammer 40,000 role-playing games released by Fantasy Flight Games. Naturally, the most immediate way to give the system a once-over was to craft a character (a Forge World Explorator, if you must know).
I liked what I saw, and recommend giving the game a glance if you ever have the opportunity. I’m not here to review Rogue Trader, however. Do that in your own time! Rogue Trader does include—like so many other RPGs—an aspect I want to talk about: languages.
Cards on the table here: I speak two languages reasonably well (English and Japanese) and a third passably (German). I’ve dabbled in language construction or “conlanging” as it is sometimes known, know a bit of Esperanto, and have glanced at Klingon, Quenya, and recently Dothraki. I consider myself quite the language buff.
That said, my advice to you is this:
Do not include languages in your role-playing games!
“But Shaun!” I hear you beginning to type in the comments. “Languages are a vital part of my campaign world! Just the other day, my players encountered an ancient tablet they had to decipher in order to gain the password they needed to open the Door to Dreams.”
This is a valid point, but let me ask: how did they decipher it? Did they have to track down a skilled linguistic scholar? Was it presented as some kind of letter-substitution cypher? I’m willing to bet none of the characters could actually read the language on the tablet, but that’s also a possibility.
Castles & Crusades Unboxing
12May 30, 2011
Based on recommendations from more than one friend and reviews I had been reading on the Internet, (or “tubes” as we say in Alaska) I ordered three Castles & Crusades books from Troll Lord Games. The Players Handbook, Monsters & Treasure and Castle Keepers Guide. I have heard nothing but good things about this game and I wanted to make sure I had a copy sitting on my book shelf for when my group and I where ready to play it. So I ordered it.
Two weeks later the game found its way to my hands. That’s a little more time than most RPG orders I make but, not a big deal to me. Like I said, I wanted the game ready for when my party was ready to try something new.
I picked up the C&C package from my post office yesterday and was a little worried because the box that the books where shipped in was looking a little beaten up. I tried not to let this bother me. In the past I have ordered RPG books from other companies that have come to me in beat up boxes, but the books where perfectly fine. My luck must have run out however, because these books where not in what I would call new condition.
When I got home I opened the box to discover that the packing used to protect the books – wads of brown paper – was only covering one side of the books as you can see in the picture below. The other side was resting against the box. So any bumps, dings, or bangs that the box encounter on this ride to Alaska would effect at least one of the book’s hard covers. Compared to my experience of ordering the Mutants & Masterminds 3rd edition book and Gamemaster’s Kit from Green Ronin, it seems like Troll Lord Games must have a troll in some dark and dusty basement doing all the packaging and mail orders. Green Ronin really set the bar high for how products should be shipped. Amazon.com does not even do it as good as them.
Some advice for the new RPGBA members
3When I woke up this morning I was amazed to see that the number of member sites with the RPG Blog Alliance almost doubled since yesterday. It’s good to have you, guys!
And aside from a few minor hiccups everything worked great so far. But one of the issues is that the RPGBA Announcements from the official forums don’t appear in the feed yet. That’s why I use my blog to share some tips and advice with you. I’ll put this post into the forums later, also.
So, let’s get to business:
-
Site logo
You definitely should create at least two logos for your blog: a 80×80 pixels one that is shown with your posts at the RPGBA main page and a 150×50 pixels one that is shown in the banner rotation on the right of the RPGBA site. If the sizes are a bit off, the site software automatically makes sure the logo fits, but sometimes this leads to weird results. -
Sign up at the forums
We have decided to use the RPG Table Talk forums for the official RPGBA forums. Registering there is not mandatory for members of the RPGBA, but it’s highly recommended. You can not only discuss with other RPGBA members there, but it’s also the place where you can post your tech support requests or ideas how we can improve the site. -
Link back from your site to the RPGBA
Support the RPGBA and your fellow members by linking back from your blog to the RPGBA main site. If you wish, you can make use of the official RPGBA logo we created for that purpose. -
Follow @RPGBlogAlliance on Twitter
If you are on Twitter, you can subscribe to the RPGBA feed by following us on Twitter. All the new posts from member blogs will be announced there. -
Get involved in the community
In my opinion a blog community shall be more than just a glorified RSS aggregator. Check out your fellow members’ blogs, follow them on Twitter, start discussions with them on the official forums and be an active part of the community. Again, I cannot force anyone to do so, but trust me, it really helps you and your blog. Making friends in the RPG blog community is one of the best ways to attract new readers and isn’t there anything better than sharing your hobby with friends all over the world?
By the way, we have set up a wiki which is meant as a place where you can share blog and podcasting advice. If you have the time, make sure you check it out. The wiki is still under construction, so some things may be a bit rough around the edges, but there’s already some great information there if you want to start a new blog/podcast or learn a few new tricks.
You have a question about an existing or upcoming Stargazer Games product? Ask away! You want to know what we think about a recent development in the RPG industry? Send in your questions. You always wanted to know what we think about game X? Send us an email.
