Gaming

This shouldn't annoy me

2014-12-08

The 5e DMG came out recently and Polygon took a look at it with the following headline: D&D’s last core book is your comprehensive guide to breaking the rules This shouldn’t annoy me, but I’ve said it before; If the first rule of running your game is, “ignore the rules”, maybe you should use a system with better rules.

tell me a story

2014-09-25

I don’t recall exactly how I became aware of the Storium kickstarter . Early enough that it still was climbing through its goals. “Very interesting”, I thought. I pinged some friends to gauge interest and found several receptive to the concepts. It’s a shared storytelling experience with some structure to help factiliate accomplishment, failure and progression. Useful tools, very much in the manner of some roleplaying games I’ve been interested in recently.…

its FATE

2014-09-04

Why do you play tabletop roleplaying games? It’s a simple question but there are so many good answers to it I won’t even attempt to give a fraction of them lip service here. For me it is an opportunity to try something new out. To put myself into the head of someone who never existed in our reality, and try to figure who that person is and what he might do.…

Of mice and... more mice

2014-08-23

Hail all those who are able, any mouse can, any mouse will, but the Guard prevail. -mouse proverb Mouse Guard 2nd edition is being printed. I bought my nephew the graphic novels a while back, and I really really want to sit down with him and other and run a game. More as it developers.

rules? what rules?

2014-08-11

Imma link this article , you’re call if you want to read it or not, but its what set me off for this weeks rant. It’s a pet peeve of mine when someone extols the virtues of a game system, and then, almost in the same breath, talks about the large amounts of ignoring the rules they did to have a good time. Let’s be clear: the goal of gaming is to have fun.…

d20, what's my problem?

2014-08-09

I’ve decided that if I sit down and write down my feelings about d20 I will be able to have a more rational conversation about it in the future. Right now I seem to go incandecent with rage just thinking about d20, and that just cannot be healthy. So here’s my attempt at articulating why I am trying to avoid d20 at all costs. Just to make sure everyone understands where I’m coming from, I’ve more or less been playing and running some form of d20 for the last 14 years: D&D 3e, 3.…

You must gather your party before venturing forth

2014-08-08

How often should gamers get together? Once a week? Twice a month? How much is too little or too much? It can be a tough balance between a regular game and a personal life. I am currently playing in a Shadowrun game. I think. The problem is that we only meet every other week, and we haven’t actually had a game in two months. There are all kinds of reasons for this, and mostly valid ones (probably).…

Its a grim world after all

2014-07-16

I was fortunate enough to grab one of the spare copies of Grim World that was being sold from the bonus stock after the kickstarter fullfillments were completed. Once their reserve is gone it’s gone.

I jockey data better when I'm high

2014-07-14

*translated from Japanese Chichi, It seems that I’ve been pulled together with some other runners, and it’s turning into drek, fast. It should have been a milk run, and I guess you could say it was, but there were strings attached. The stiff we jacked really was stiff, and we wound up holding some paydata when we rolled his stash. Our Johnson was feeling loyal, generous, or possibly treacherous and keyed us in.…

Isn't it all about dungeons after all?

2014-07-14

The Dungeon World (DW) character sheet pdf includes a GM sheet that give the priciples of running a DW game. I think it’s a good intro as to why I like Dungeon World (despite not having actually played yet). Draw maps, leave blanks I’m not good at maps, I admit this freely, and it’s definitely the sort of thing I think is best left in the hands of players. Unless you’re playing a game where geographical certainty is ascertained by advanced technology it’s one of those things where the players point-of-view is important.…