Chapter 2 describes the PC races for the new version of Dungeons & Dragons and starts up with about half of page of fluff about character races wherein the writers adorably try to pretend that different races appear as PCs in roughly the same proportions that they appear in game fiction. The multiple mentions of…
Now that I’ve dumped on the cover of Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition, it’s time to actually open the book. The first page is a piece of art that’s similar (and similarly unappealing, in my opinion) to the 3E art: noncommittal water-colory backgrounds, indistinct linework, and just kind of bleh. Then there’s the usual front…
Here’s a game idea from the DC archives: I’ve stumbled upon a rather odd true story, full of secret agents, (cyber)sex, and murder. According to the judge in the case, “Skilled writers of fiction would struggle to conjure up a plot such as this.” Since I don’t have the time or ambition to write a…
Before I start what may very well turn into a way-too-long review of 5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons, I’m honor-bound to mention that Hex Games released the third PDF in our American Artifacts series (cleverly titled American Artifacts 3) earlier this week. For those not familiar with the series, each American Artifacts PDF collects 20…
After mostly ignoring an edition and a half, curiosity got the better of me and I picked up a copy of the 5th edition Player’s Handbook. The fact that a store I visited had it on sale for 20% probably helped. I wasn’t $50 curious, but apparently I was $40 curious. My plan is to…
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We all love Halloween, but except for those wacky Lovecraftian investigators who spend every October 31 trying to stop another evil cult from summoning up yet more Things Man Was Not Meant To Know, most RPG characters never get to celebrate the holiday. That’s just wrong, so here are a few ideas to help get…
Hey kids! Did you know there are still some openings for the Cinemechanix games I’m running at GenCon this year? Guardians of Shymeria is sold out, but the other 3 still have some seats left. If you’re going to be at GenCon and want to see how the Cinemechanix system plays, buy your ticket today!…
While reworking one of the Elevator Pitches for Cinemechanix this week, I had to stop myself. I almost spent a lot of time and words on rules that were completely unnecessary. This isn’t the first time this has happened, so I’ve kind of developed a litmus test to apply when I start going into rules…
The last few months on the blog I’ve been rambling about creative projects, but most of my actual project time has been spent on re-working a game system, which (at least late in the project) is more about structure and math than creativity. So this week I’m going to take a break and give the…
