In most stories and movies, the heroes rarely go through the pockets of their fallen foes unless they’ve got good reason to do so–for example, if they need a weapon or ammo or they need the enemy’s key card to make their escape. Thanks to D&D, however, characters in RPGs regularly heroically search through the…
Editor’s Note:Â This article was originally written back in the earliest days of the Death Cookie (1999-ish), when the D&D alignment system’s potential for unintentionally coming across as racist allegory had been less thoroughly examined. The AD&D game (as well as a few others–especially those of the fantasy genre) has some very frightening subtext. The…
REVERB GAMERS 2012, #23: Have you ever experienced Total Party Kill (TPK), or been close to it? What effect did that have on you personally? On your group of players? Have you ever used retroactive continuity (retcon) to save yourself? Why or why not? (Courtesy of Atlas Games. Visit them at www.atlas-games.com) The only thing…
REVERB GAMERS 2012, #21: What’s the best bribe you’ve ever given (or received as) a GM? What did you get (give) for it? (Courtesy of Atlas Games. Visit them at www.atlas-games.com) Considering I co-wrote a game where bribing the GM is a legitimate mechanic, you’d think I’d have a good story about this, but I…
REVERB GAMERS 2012, #18: Have you ever “cheated” on a die roll/random chance outcome, or looked up a quest solution on a fan site? Why or why not? If yes, was it worth it? (Courtesy of Atlas Games. Visit them at www.atlas-games.com) Have I ever cheated on a roll? Well sure. I’m reasonably sure that…
REVERB GAMERS 2012, #14: What kinds of adventures do you enjoy most? Dungeon crawls, mysteries, freeform roleplaying, or something else? What do you think that says about you? (Courtesy of Atlas Games. Visit them at www.atlas-games.com) I’m not a fan of dungeon crawls, at least in tabletop games. If I just want to slog through…
REVERB GAMERS 2012, #11: Have you ever played a character that was morally gray, or actually evil? Why or why not? If yes, did you enjoy it? (Courtesy of Atlas Games. Visit them at www.atlas-games.com) Most characters in hack and slash games are genocidal sociopaths by modern standards (and sometimes even medieval/primitive standards), so back…
Here we go: REVERB GAMERS 2012, #1: What was your first roleplaying experience? Who introduced you to it? How did that introduction shape the gamer you’ve become? (Courtesy of Atlas Games. Visit their web site at www.atlas-games.com) I was first introduced to gaming by Troy Haney, the only other kid other than my brother in…
The holy man is a character who serves God. Most fictional holy men serve the Christian God, but there are occasional examples of holy men serving other deities, especially in fantasy stories. It should be noted that the holy man’s status as a servant of God is not usually verifiable; he is self-appointed, granted his…
It’s not a big secret that Leighton and I didn’t do a lot of statistical analysis when we wrote QAGS. After all, the system was originally meant for use in pick-up games when we didn’t have time to spend hours on character creation. We never really intended for it to be a “real” system…
