A Role Playing Games Blog
Legacy D&D
Get 20% off until September 20 on selected DriveThruRPG titles
0August 22, 2011
As in the months before DriveThruRPG has provided us with a coupon code that gives you 20% off of the following products:
The coupon code you need to use at checkout to get the 20% discount is AfterGenConGlow2011.
By the way, if you haven’t checked out Iron Dynasty yet, you definitely should do so. It’s an awesome and very original setting for Savage Worlds that combines elements from feudal Japan with steampunk. You can read my review of this game here.
D&D is rubbish! Or is it?
9August 22, 2011
EN World’s Morrus shared three videos created by Nikolas Lloyd three days ago. In these three videos its creator explains why he thinks early D&D was rubbish, why mid-period D&D wasn’t great and why fourth edition D&D is terrible. In my opinion he has a few good points and even if you disagree with him, they are fun to watch.
From Weird West to Barbarians of the Future
3August 17, 2011
Today I want to share a couple of things I stumbled upon during the last days.
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Tomb of the Overfiend
Weird West is definitely one of coolest old-school games ever conceived. It’s extremely rules-light, but contains a lot of weird west goodness. Recently Stuart Robertson, creator of that fine game, released a free one-page adventure based on an excellent map by Matt Jackson. And even if you’re not into Weird West you can easily use it for other old-school games as well. - Ashen Stars Theme Music
James Semple who has done several soundtracks for Gumshoe games in the past, has composed a theme music for Robin D. Laws latest game, Ashen Stars. I really hope this is the first sign of a full Ashen Stars soundtrack to come. You can listen to the rather short theme tune here. -
Barbarians of the Future
You probably might already have heard about Barbarians of Lemuria, Simon Washbourne’s Sword & Sorcery RPG. While I haven’t tried the game yet, it’s among the games I have to give a try at least once. Some people actually call it one of the best RPGs of the genre. Obviously the system used in BoL can also be easily be used in other genres. There’s Jabberwocky Productions’ post-apocalyptic setting-expansion Barbarians of the Aftermath for example.
A while back rpg.net forum member Maxwell Luther created a free PDF supplement for BoA that allows players and the GM to experience adventures in the grim-dark future of the Warhammer 40,000 universe (with the serial numbers filed off). If you are interested in both BoA and the WH40K universe, you should definitely give it a look. You can download the 42-paged PDF here. -
Expedition RPG
Fellow RPG blogger Dennis N. Santana has recently released an early playtest edition of his Expedition RPG. I haven’t had time to give it a closer look, but according to Shaun Welch’s playtest reports (part one & part two), he and his players not only had fun with the fast character creation system that allows truly unique character concepts, but also very much enjoyed the combat rules. From what I’ve seen Expedition contains a lot of interesting ideas that set the game apart from the majority of fantasy games. If you’re looking for something new, why don’t you give it a try. It’s free and obviously pretty polished for a game still in its alpha stage.
Gen Con 2011, a retrospective… Part 1: Role Playing Games
8August 12, 2011
by Sunglar
in Blogging, D&D4e, GenCon, Humor, Legacy D&D, News & Reviews, Other Systems, Pathfinder, Random musings, RPG, Savage Worlds
Last time I wrote about Gen Con was a week ago as I did my first day wrap up in the wee hours of the night. Then and there I realized writing posts after a long day of gaming and fun at the con would probably be unlikely. So I decided to enjoy Gen Con to the best my stamina would permit and I would write about it early the next week. Well you know what they say about the “best laid schemes of mice and men”…
First I got home to a work week of unforeseen dimensions, then the con-crud hit! The combination kept me down for two days. Then last night when I finally sat down to write my laptop crashed, and apparently my smart phone followed in a sign of support. I had about half of my pictures and a smattering of videos on the smart phone. I restored the laptop and solved that problem, the smart phone proved another matter. I lost pictures and videos, never to be recovered. So if I took your picture at Gen Con and you never see it, I apologize.
But you didn’t come here for the sob stories; you came here to read about games, specifically role-playing games which are the main topic of this blog. You’ve probably read about some of the big news which I’ll link to in case you only read this gaming blog (and we can’t fault you for your impeccable taste!). Margaret Weiss Productions announced their deal to produce a Marvel superheroes RPG. Sounds like a well planned project, and while I am not currently on the market for a new supers game (more on this later) I will take a look. (more…)
Plastic Crack is Wack!
1May 26, 2011
As I’ve said before, miniatures in my games a relatively new addition, only since 2001 when we started playing Dungeons & Dragons 3rd edition. I was not weaned into gaming through minis; I did not migrate from wargames to RPGs, instead I jumped right into gaming and was pretty much self-taught, so I never used miniatures. In fact I resisted! When D&D 3rd edition came out I realized the game required some sort of miniatures or counters (the arguments can be made that it CAN be played without them but indulge me for a minute) so I reluctantly dug out my old HeroQuest and Battle Masters miniatures and got to playing.
I figured I had a pretty diverse set of miniatures from these two games. True the Battle Masters minis had unit bases with various miniatures grouped together, but I solved this by getting some foam board, cutting out bases and inserting the miniature on the base. I packed them on some craft supplies boxes and I was set. I told myself I needed no more minis.
See, I had friends who owned a LOT of minis. I had played some Battletech and Epic but always with their miniatures, and I had seen the obsession with these little then lead, and later pewter, figurines. I had flirted with the idea of painting them, actually ordering a set of dwarves and skavens and trying my hand at painting them… Let’s just say the results were less than flattering. Unpainted miniatures looked so, unattractive that I was uninterested in them, so I figured that with no natural talent I was immune to the lure of miniatures.
How we buy games… A retrospective!
5May 23, 2011
This week I purchased some digital RPG supplements in PDF, pre-ordered a book, and I got home today (Saturday) from the Puerto Rico Comic Con (shameless plug) to find a box from Amazon with the copy of Traveller by Mongoose Publishing. As I sat down with the book to reminisce about that system in particular (and that’s a whole other post, and hopefully the last parenthetical interruption) I found myself travelling down memory lane to how we buy our gaming books and how times have changed.
When I first got into gaming the first place I remember seeing RPG related books and boxed sets was a small quirky book store in Old San Juan, The Book Store. The owner sat behind the cashier and knew almost all his clients, they had a small sci-fi section in the back and under the shelves holding these books were some baskets holding the aforementioned books and boxed sets along with several assorted war games.
When my mom brought me the red box Basic Set I got it at this place. I remember it being dimly lit and musty smelling, which added to the mystique of getting the game. Later I learned that a local hobby shop which mostly carried models had a shelf with RPG modules and books piles together haphazardly in the back. Likewise the local K-Bee Toy Store had a bunch of books there hidden among the board games. I was soon rifling through these stacks to get my grubby little hands on them. And then I discovered the gaming sections in B. Dalton Booksellers and Bell, Book and Candle (a local book store) with their organized well stocked gaming sections. I was in nerdvana!
Campaign Primer Ideas! Part 1
4April 11, 2011
Fellow poster, and all around nice guy, Shinobicow (who also has a really cool nick, but I digress) wrote an excellent series of posts on World Building that he shared here on the blog. They are full of useful advice to get your campaign creation juices flowing. One in particular caught my attention, Part 8, on actually getting your campaign started, touched up on a point near and dear to my heart, a campaign primer.
A way to introduce your setting to you players, giving them an idea of what the game they are about to embark upon is about. Shinobicow lists the ideas of handing out print copies, what he calls the drive-in method (jumping right in) and the elevator speech. Good stuff, go and read it. I have been pondering about this topic since reading the original post.
First about how to go about it… I used to create my campaigns by myself. Come up with concepts and ideas and then share that with players. Over the years I’ve become convinced that the more you involve your players in the process the more they are invested in the game. Not every player wants to create a campaign, that’s why YOU are the GM, but they may want to contribute depending on their interests. Some may want to create a city, a planet or an NPC; others may want to contribute some rules. Even something as simple as a campaign questionnaire can help you in this process.
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