So right now, Into the Odd has my attention. This game has a super light rules framework inspired by older versions of D&D (even lighter than you probably think) that also lends itself well to episodic play. Each session consists of a self-contained "expedition" to recover strange magical devices called Arcana. The author, Chris McDowall, … Continue reading Delving Into the Odd
I recently learned about Harlem Unbound, a RPG by Chris Spivey (Darker Hue Studios) that looks at the Cthulhu Mythos through the lens of 1920s Harlem, especially from the black perspective. This is a game that is as much about racism as it is about otherworldly horror. It's especially paramount when dealing with a genre … Continue reading Unbinding Harlem
Street Musician by John Thomas Smith Last summer, Steven Lumpkin ran a survey about watching D&D that should inform the efforts of anybody working in or around "Actual Play"-type media. Despite the name, it also covers "listening to D&D" via podcasts and the like. Note that this is a voluntary survey and susceptible to a … Continue reading Watching D&D: what stands out to me
This session started with the most exciting of feelings for me as the Game Master: I had no idea what would happen. Given the conclusion of Session 10, it could have gone a few different ways. I asked the player of the Paladin two questions before the session: Was this "I cut myself" or "I stab … Continue reading Krevborna – Session 11 Review
Normally, we play this game for two hours per session, because it's a week night and that mostly eliminates pressure from my family since I can still give them plenty of attention. This time, we ran about half an hour over, but I really dislike pausing in the middle of combat. And I think even … Continue reading Krevborna – Session 10 Review
Originally, I wrote this post to talk about all the things I dislike about the changes to the Adventurers League rule set. Most of it comes down to treasure. Magic item counts in the previous rules had their problems, but folks could understand; now you need a cheat sheet just to understand what you get. … Continue reading Outgrowing Adventurers League
I watch YouTube a lot. I work from home, so while I sit on conference calls on average about half of my day, the rest of the day often involves YouTube videos playing on another screen or computer. Some of those need no introduction (Critical Role, Wizards of the Coast's D&D channel, etc.) But I … Continue reading Signal Boost: D&D YouTubers
As often happens, this article started as a conversation with smart friends. Mat Westhorpe tweeted about Roll20 vs D&D Beyond in the context of D&D 5e character sheets. https://twitter.com/Freebooted/status/1090005226034266113 We discussed a bit further and of course his post on character sheets has a lot of thoughtful comparison that you will almost certainly find useful. … Continue reading Going optimal with online RPGs
NB: I wrote the following last summer in preparation for new campaigns. I am posting it here as a place to point people when I'm in that situation. "Prosperous Pirates" by Josh Hass ...Respect other players as people with a valuable set of experiences and perspectives. This means never giving anyone a reason to think … Continue reading My ideal fellow players…
Despite the release of Kingdom Hearts 3, my players managed to make it to the session. Bleary-eyed and excited about the video game, but as somebody who's played such games for many decades, who was I to complain? Anyway, they showed up and we had adventures! I know this follows my previous write-up a bit … Continue reading Krevborna – Session 9 review
Technoskald's Forge 