First off, if you're American: GO VOTE! I'll wait for you. I'll be right here. Back? Ok. Shield bashing in 2e is lame. Even with the Combat and Tactics rules, this is what you get: Shield TypeSizeSpeedReachDamageKnockdown SmallSFa (2)11d3d6 MediumMAv (6)11d4d8 LargeLSl (8)11d6d10 That doesn't look too impressive, does it? Your small shield is as useful as a knife---not

Way back when, before I ever picked up a d20, there was HeroQuest. I played that game like only an obsessive preteen can. Not only did I play, I made up my own adventures, treasure, buy-able items, and even some variant monsters. I painted every mini that came in the set, as well as the expansion boxes. And those minis have seen lots of use over the years in many many D&D games.

Recently I was handed a complete copy, practically new. It's beautiful.


I actually feel a little bad that in the couple of weeks I've [...]

People who read this blog – welcome back, you beautiful people – will know I have spoken about this game before. The reason I’m taking a crack at it for the NaGa DeMon (national game design month, for theuninitiated) is thataftera couple of play tests, I knew that the game needed a substantial re-write. Each time it was played, with different numbers of players, the game got bogged down and would have taken hours to play, even taking into account the fact that it was going slowly due to note taking and rules clarifications. Luckily, the people who offered to [...]

Well, mainly bust.

We never got around to the Necromunda game this weekend, due to fatigue, illness, and a fateful Saturday morning delivery from LoveFilm:

Skyrim.

I should settle my affairs now, to prevent the shame of dieing in front of the screen with no will ready...

1. Adjtep-renthys Isetpator
2. Amandet Isetonkhem
3. Amunnetpet Nebheb
4. Amunpakhis Tahsut
5. Apoast-bithdis Mehianath
6. Asetnaktath Karkephis
7. Ashebi-tetaten Neferonimen
8. Henutheb Pashet
9. Ipnetdis Khareneb
10. Karaten Shemsenptah
11. Khakhefath Beshis
12. Khamut Sheperu-henutmat
13. Nakhferor Werten
14. Nantit-takhpet Kemjuut
15. Nebnedma Heruor
16. Nubasht-tefbet Nefpakhtra
17. Shedayt Paksa
18. Teftep Tefheb
19. Tutaat Pakto
20. Tutut Hetto

I was talking with John Payne from Sycarion Diversionsabout system simplification.

Many games build complex systems, then offer means to simplify the rules. John suggested that perhaps games should build simple systems, then offer options to make them more complex.

I can’t help but agree. I aim to make the core of Echelon as simple as reasonably possible, with options for extending or expanding as desired or needed.

Areas that can readily gain from this (this list may change over time):

• Duration
• Range
• Area of Effect

Rounds per level, minutes per level, hours per level… or some random number of rounds, minutes, or hours, or a combination…

This gets to be a pain to manage. I can’t be bothered to count things too carefully, especially when most of the time the duration doesn’t run out while it matters.

Instead, durations last until certain conditions are met, or are no longer met.

I have found that once you are past a certain level (about fifth), in practice “rounds per level” basically amounts to “until the fight is over” (things intended for use outside combat typically don’t have durations measured in rounds). I think I’ll replace durations measured in rounds with “until you stop fighting”.

Similarly, durations measured in hours often amount to “all day”. I’m going to go with that — I’m replacing durations measured in hours with “until you sleep”. Or “until sundown” or “until sun up”.

Durations measured in minutes looks like it should be more difficult to quantify this way, but I have typically seen it mean “go go go until we can’t”. Effects with durations measured in minutes are often buffs and the like, so PCs like to push as fast as they can while the buffs last. [...]

Range can be abstracted. I discussed it recently inWeapon Speed in D&Dat KJD-IMC, but it can be abstracted slightly more than that.

Range honestly amounts to “too far away”, “just right”, and “too close”. ”Too far away” means you can’t affect your target, or can only do so at a penalty. “Just right” means you can affect your target normally. ”Too close” means you either can’t affect your target, or you can affect your target with some difficulty.

ExaminationMelee Range

In melee it might be worth slightly more differentiation. Melee weapons in Dungeons & Dragons 3.x and Pathfinder include ‘reach’, which is a little longer than normal melee weapons.

There are thus essentially four physical ranges — normal range (“one square” or “five-foot” range), reach (“two square” or “ten-foot” range), out of range, and I’ve added “immediate” range to cover the use of light weapons “in the same square”, inside the reach of normal weapons.

This sounds like it could get complicated, but if handled abstractly it’s actually pretty easy. When you have two or more creatures engaged in melee, whoever has most recently hit controls the current range. Normally this might not matter, two characters facing off at normal range will likely stay there [...]

The Museum of Ethnology in Hamburg has a great collection of masks, mainly form the South Seas. From quite adorable to very crepy, they are impressive and powerful. If you find yourself in need for some inspiration for some idol for Call of Cthulhu or a mask worn by a high priest of a cult in your game, maybe these will help.

If you want to use these online, I ask that you link back here and maybe to the homepage of the museum and that you don't use the photos commercially. Otherwise, feel free to [...]

If you're a miniatures gamer interested in zombie-themed games then you're probably well aware of the brilliant selection of flesh-eaters available from Studio Miniatures, but I don't think enough has been said about their increasing range of equally-excellent "survivor" figures.

The latest addition to the range, above, even comes with a pair of neutered zombie pets. And she's not the only figure available from Studio Miniatures that's reminiscent of characters from a certain genre-leading TV show and comic book.

Check out the survivors below.



And take a look at Studio Miniatures other survivors, many of whom have cinematic analogue, that would look great on your games table, whether for wargames or RPGs.

My group has been improvising a FATE adaptation recently, and when we went to test it today, one of the first things we looked into was how its fight turned out. I learned a few things---some about our work in progress, but more about the kinds of things one looks at in a fighting system.

There’s the question of what the fighting is for. Why are there fight scenes? As such, what does the fight need to do, to look like, in order not to lose its fighters?

Myself, I think my first priority is that it not be too easy to [...]

Alright Greymaniacs, it's a slow week (and Election Day in the States) so I've got a good time killer for you. It's a simple map search. As most fans should know, the World of Greyhawk maps feature a unique set of coordinates along the top, bottom and sides that aid in finding locations on the hexagonal based map. These coordinates are similiar to those found in old school road maps. For younger readers, road maps were from the dark ages before the internet and GPS. Anyhoo, the game goes like this: I supply the coordinates and with your vast knowledge and collection of Greyhawk, [...]

There is something about the design philosophy of Stars Without Numbers were categories are sharp.  Starship levels go from Fighter, Frigate, and Cruiser; each one much bigger and more powerful than another.  The Faction game is no different.  At one ability level, it may be possible to hold together a small stellar empire - but probably not much bigger.  With another power level - wham - you can march across the sky with your jack boots.

When setting up your factions in a sector, it's important to have an idea of scale.  Stars are arranged in hex patterns, and [...]

Picture from Bioware websiteYesterday I started playing Mass Effect with PC again. I had started it earlier but didn't like PC gaming. Now I got gaming room with a nice armchair to sit when using PC so PC gaming is much more enjoyable.

Don't know yet how good Mass Effect plot is but I like the system how it works.

After playing Mass Effect I moved into bed and watched some movie before fell asleep. And in my dream I wrote scifi rpg! Here are some ideas I got from my dream:

- Game is based on [...]

This is our fifth piece for the Art Every Day Month Challenge hosted by Leah Piken Kolidas, the instigator behind the Creative Every Day Challenge.

MicrOSR20_Rev1 As a fan of Microlite20 and Microlite74, a few years ago I tried writing my own version and here it is.

Enjoy!

Take a look at it folks.  It may be the last creepy butterfly you ever see.  Ivy went to the post today and they only had one sheet left.  They said they won't be getting any more.  What fresh hell is this?!  Damn you change!  I may have to go to other posts and get a few more sheets.  I only have a few left. 

It will be a sad day when all of them have flown away.

Like I said, during the month of November I'm going to be down to content on Monday Wednesday and Friday. Friday will still likely be discussions, but a bit more thought out. As a small update for today I pose the following question: What is your favorite type of die, and why?

Sound off in the comments.

I cannot convey how utterly disappointed I am that I don’t know anyone right now with kids the right age for this.

A small,short Kickstarter campaign — started November 5, closes November 10, already 1,100/600 funded.

Yes. That small. The rewards are similarly small, $4 for a digital copy, $7 for a print copy ($12 outside Canada), $23 for the coloring book and Modest Medusa Season 1 ($33 outside the US).

Oh my gods, the Kitty Egg Crayons you can get at higher tiers are cute.

… I don’t gush over ‘cute’ very often. Don’t get used to it.

This one makes me smile. Hard.

Modest [...]

In a post apocalyptic world, you need your survival gear to be small and easily portable.

I'm definitely thinking of including a modified version of this in the Wayfarer's survival guide.

Details Here

I grew up the son of a liberal Mennonite pastor. My dad was, and still is, aconscientiousobjector. Instead of serving in Vietnam, he did mission work in Brazil.

I recall conversations at the dining table about people struggling with the idea of paying taxes that went to the United States military complex.I knew of people who had refused to pay huge chunk of taxes, withholding the amount that would’ve went to the military. They would instead give that withheld money to organizations that promoted peace and justice.

My parents discouraged me fromplaying with guns. But when your primary toy is Lego, guns [...]

We're purging user accounts with no comments on November 6 -- the full details, and a contest, are here: Accounts with Zero Comments will be Purged on November 6, 2012 (Plus, a Contest!). The short version is that because the only thing here that requires an account is commenting on articles (everything on the site is free; nothing is locked away or user-only), accounts with zero comments tend to be spam accounts. But not all of them! Which is why we announced the purge, spread the word, and are posting this reminder. If you have an account but have never commented, please [...]

Brendan at Untimately got me thinking about encumbrance tonight. He presented a slightly modified version of a system from Papers & Pencils; essentially Brendan takes the slot-based system from LotFP and introduces variable carrying capacity based on Strength. If you aren’t familiar with LotFP, instead of worrying about what an item weighs, it puts the emphasis on how many different items your character is carrying, with some special considerations for bulky armor.

I’ve decided that his system as presented can be very easily adapted to Savage Worlds with minor variation. The rules presented in SWD note to only worry about encumbrance [...]

Just curious. I've seen Faintheart and thought that was actually amusing.

I love the Flash, especially Wally West. I've been a Titans fan since I was a kid and Michael Rosenbaum's Wally from Justice League and Justice League Unlimited was amazing. I like how speedsters work in DC and their tie to the Speed Force. Sadly my favorite supers gaming setting, Freedom City has no version of the Speed Force. Well that is until I created the Momentum Veil. Like the Speed Force, the Momentum Veil is  both an energy source and plane of existence. It is a sort of speedster afterlife. It powers all speedsters, though not everyone with [...]

I love the Flash, especially Wally West. I've been a Titans fan since I was a kid and Michael Rosenbaum's Wally from Justice League and Justice League Unlimited was amazing. I like how speedsters work in DC and their tie to the Speed Force. Sadly my favorite supers gaming setting, Freedom City has no version of the Speed Force. Well that is until I created the Momentum Veil. Like the Speed Force, the Momentum Veil is  both an energy source and plane of existence. It is a sort of speedster afterlife. It powers all speedsters, though not everyone with [...]

Take a look at it folks.  It may be the last creepy butterfly you ever see.  Ivy went to the post today and they only had one sheet left.  They said they won't be getting any more.  What fresh hell is this?!  Damn you change!  I may have to go to other posts and get a few more sheets.  I only have a few left.  It will be a sad day when all of them have flown away.

Hello all! Couldn't resist posting a pic from my trip with Hari Ragat partner Marc Reyes (and our respective SO's) around Davao and Bukidnon.  It's particularly appropriate that this pic is a sunrise, as we've something new dawning for Hari Ragat!

Over cups of strong Bukidnon coffee, we decided to split HR into multiple games.  The first is Hari Ragat: Dakila (Great or Valorous), which deals with the epic exploits of the warrior caste.  HR: D will revolve around raids, monster hunts, courtship quests and tournaments, and the politics of rising kingdoms.

The second game [...]

Over the years the city by the sea has grown from a fishing village to a thriving port and a center of power along the western cost. It has also become a center for learning with the establishment of the Royal University one hundred and fifty years ago. Today the university is in the midst of trying times, the School of Theology is on the verge of a war led by the followers of "the Five", a war that could take the city with it. The History School on the other hand is thriving and consistently recovering the knowledge of [...]

In the revised Vivid system, Aces are  used to save the character from damage.  Vivid's default assumption is that any defeat spells the end for a character; but if you have an Ace to use, you can stay in the fight by spending points from it.

There are by default three Aces, to which beginning characters can assign 0-6 points: Guts, Wits, and Luck. Armor also acts as an Ace, if you have it. To see how this works, put it this way: Conan the Cimmerian survives his battles because of Guts, D'Artagnan because of Wits, and Bilbo [...]

 I came across a great post/recommendation for printed maps from Banners on the Cheap.com

As you can see from Zachary Houghton's post on his blog RPG Blog II he scored a vinyl 3 x 5 wall hanging map for under $28. That sounded pretty sweet to me, so I shot them an email asking if I could order a few of my own and any limitations that may apply.

Their lovely "Customer Love" (mind you, not just plain old 'customer service') team sent me a reply the next business day which read:
Greetings Realmwright,Good afternoon & [...]

Once in a while I end up with the GMing equivalent of writer’s block. Currently I’m in that situation, as after about a month or so of not gaming on weekends I’ve lost steam and I’m struggling to come up with a good game pitch that will excite both myself and my players. I’m annoyed, admittedly, and I know that this isn’t just burnout, but a real sort of writer’s block that affects my ability to come up with something interesting.

I’m still a big supporter of the hobby, and I still buy books (Champions Complete, I’m looking at you!) but [...]

I managed to sit down in front of Blender and do some more work on the sci-fi vehicle which will be used to render illustrations for a supplement for the Dark Galaxy space opera role-playing game. I intended to make lots of progress, but I got distracted by little things and the vehicle looks very similar to the render I posted yesterday. The only differences are that the vehicle mesh now has some headlights, a fender, and more pronounced treads on the front wheel.

It was fun working on the wheel though. As I changed details of the tread pattern, the [...]

All his life as he looked away to the future, to the horizon...
I'm sure you all know by now of Disney buying Lucasfilm, and the news of Episode VII in 2015, so I need not go much into it. At first I was shocked and a little dismayed, but then after thinking about it I think it's good thing, after all Disney's been treating the studios they've acquired pretty well, given how well Marvel Studios are doing with that franchise. I'm still worried about this new trilogy though, given how disappointing the prequels were and that so much awesome [...]

So, I don't normally do the whole "Monster Monday" thing, but just a few minutes ago, I realized that I was going to need to write a few new monsters for an adventure I'm writing for the Metal Gods of Ur-Hadad gaming group on Google+ and I might as well turn them into blog fodder. That having been said, there are also a few "new" monsters (really just modifications of existing monsters) that I'm using in my Game of Taps: Keep on Kickassistan conversion. So, yeah, lots of monsters kicking around inside my brain, so it's time for some of [...]

This session was pretty short, sharp and sweet as one of our players couldn't get there until late but I wanted to wait for him.  They went up to their old darkwood pinnace that had been stolen by four Mwangi pirates who had sold the remainder of their crew into slavery.  The pinnace was docked toward the far end of the jetty.  It was 2AM, four were on deck, and the rest were in a tavern.

They rowed out to it and Proteus cast Fae Aspect on his monkey and rose it up using Mage Hand to be threatening toward [...]

The Force has been renamed ‘The Power of Believing in Yourself’.

We’re used to seeing tech companies suing tech companies in the States. It’s a strange system worth billions of dollars.

A company called Wildcat Intellectual Property Holdings filed a case against Nintendo, Sony, EA, Konami, Zynga and Wizards of the Coast last year in a patent battle. The name ‘Intellectual Property Holdings’ suggests that Wildcat is very much in the business of making money out of patents. Now, Courthouse News is reporting that Wildcat is suing Wizards of the Coast again, with the same patent as ammo, over Magic: The Gathering Online.

Wildcat claims they own exclusive rights to;

“…taking the traditional [...]

I thought I post a quick picture of today's progress on the next zone10 building...


...and as you can see, the top half of the main structure is pretty much finished (also note that the small trapezoidal shapes extending out from the bottom of the building are the same size/shape as the existing tunnels/passages).

Hopefully, I'll get a little more done tomorrow :)

I am the Warden!!

Well into the fifth day of this writing marathon and I still haven't been able to start today's word tally. Mondays were always going to be tricky because of my weekly slate for this first day of the work week (I like to keep my personal life somewhat similar to a real workplace so that I can dread Mondays as well as everyone else). In between checklists, I took a few minutes to talk about Messenger's progress to date, the completion of the first chapter, and how the plot didn't come about until today.

In October The Delvers went into full swing gaming. On the same weekend the City of Thieves expansion, the Mansion of Madness expansion, and Barrowmaze II all arrived on our doorstep!

First of all, this is not so much a “Sorry for the lack of updates,” but it most definitely is a, “Sorry this site is so painfully slow!”

I am having a difficult time with the site’s back-end. I have been trying to figure out what is causing these issues. From work and at home, this site can take more than a minute to load! This is unacceptable. I want to [...]

Well it's Guy Fawkes Day... Now made famous for us Yankees by the Movie and Graphic Novel, V for Vendetta. Been slammed with Overtime the last 2 weeks so the blog has been slow, I'm making an official announcement on 11/11 though. Kind of exciting if you know numerology. Well back to the Grind.

If some of the other regions I mapped out for my ancient Greece setting seemed obscure, then this region should take the cake. Information about some of these places was so hard to find, I’ll probably wind up making lots of changes over the next who-knows-how-long while I pry more mythology out of various archives.

The Argolid is a region named for the city of Argos. In mythology, it spent a good deal of time under the thumb of Argos, Mycenae, and several other city-states that I mentioned, and I think some of its regional mythology may have been absorbed into [...]

Apparently, Universal finally got off their butts and are releasingBattlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome first online this Fridayin installments, then on SciFi (I refuse to call it SyFy) and then on DVD.

I'm on a Kickstarter kick. I'll freely admit that.

Why is it? Because much of the coolest stuff going on in our hobby is happening on Kickstarter (and Indiegogo to a lesser extent).

Case in point: Shadows of Esteren - a medieval roleplaying game with horrific and gothic influence. Holy shit but if it actually hits those sweet points this game could be a killer!

Actually, it probably hits those sweet points, as this is the second Kickstarter for the game (the first wrapped up in the end of July, and I was way too invested back then in way too many Kickstarters). The first Kickstarter raised over $55k against a goal of $3k. This one? $35k against $3k with 21 days to go.

Image from WikipediaBack in March, Papers & Pencils posted a point based encumbrance system. It is similar to the LotFP slot-based encumbrance system and the less abstract encumbrance by stone system, but it bases how much you can carry on your strength score.

Encumbrance is measured relative to strength points, with the most items being worth one point of strength (insignificant items do not count at all, and bulky items cost two strength points). An encumbrance of less than or equal to the strength score is considered unencumbered, with greater encumbrance being calculated by multiples of strength. So, for example, a character [...]

On the set of Spellfury with actresses Julie O'Halloran, Jennifer Walker and Cath Kenney, to help promote their fundraiser to finish season two of the epic web series.

a couple more sketches ... first up is savage , my level one halfling fighter :w00t: and the other is sian my elven ranger :boogie:...

savage the halfling ... got dungeon :D
sian the elven ranger ...tracking orcs ^^;...:D