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3G: Converting Adventures to 4E, Part 2

Jan 28

You can find the first part of this article here. Fortunately, when I started this project, 4E was robust enough to have most of the components already in place I needed to convert The Spire of Long Shadows from the 3.5E Age of Worms adventure path. The majority of creatures encountered in Kuluth-Mar are the product of Kyuss’ apotheosis, and they carry his contribution to the undead...

6 Ways to Force Stuff on your Players

Jan 28

Article: 6 Ways to Force Stuff on your Players Most GMs would agree that forcing things on your players—no matter what those things are—is generally a bad idea. I’d be one of them. So, of course, the following article will outline some of the many ways you can force things on your party which they don’t actually want to happen to them. In polite gaming society this is generally frowned upon...

Gamehackery: Convention Gear

Jan 26

Today, while I write this, I'm preparing myself for Winter Fantasy (Jan 23-26, Fort Wayne Indiana). I'll be flying out there, playing and DMing for three full days, and hoping not to catch the damn flu that has been stalking me all season. The way we play at home is changing -- at least for those of us that are taking advantage of a lot of the benefits of newer technology and the latest...

RPG News for Friday, 25 January, 2013

Jan 25

Pathfinder RPG News You can grab some desktop wallpaper from the Reign of Winter adventure path. The Know Direction podcast is up with a video unboxing of Paizo's new Shattered Star Pathfinder Battles minis. Dungeons & Dragons News The Winter Fantasy Convention is currently taking place. Expect some news about the new D&D Next playtest barbarian class to emerge soon! This week's D&D...

Once More, With Feeling

Jan 24

Why do you play RPGs? Okay, okay, to have fun, yes, of course. But Call of Cthulu plays differently than 1e AD&D, which plays differently than Feng Shui, and someone might love all those games on different nights. Someone might also really not like ANY of those games and might prefer Dogs in the Vineyard or Primetime Adventures or 4e D&D. Whether we each individually like or dislike a...

Review of Wandering Monsters High School by Bold Pueblo Games

Jan 24

Swashbuckling Heroic Fantasy, gritty Science-Fiction, and creepy Horror genres tend to dominate a great swath of the role-playing game market, and regardless of which genre is favored, offer gamers a chance to save the world (or the galaxy, or multiverse) from certain doom time and time again. But there are times when players and game masters want to “unplug” and play something a little more...

Experience Point: Shut Up and Shut Down

Jan 23

When you are preparing to design or run sessions for your games, what do you do to generate ideas or prepare yourself? Do you meditate? If you'd asked me a week ago I'd probably have said "No." Now I think maybe I do. I was listening to a Buddhist monk that runs a monastery talk about the practice of meditation. They were discussing the "exquisite medicine of stillness." How quiet and...

RPG News for Wednesday, 23 Jan, 2013

Jan 23

Pathfinder RPG News Paizo and Gen Con have reached a 3-year co-sponsorship agreement (Mayfair Games is the other multi-year co-sponsor). It also means that Paizo's booth at Gen Con will be larger, and the company will have more supported events. The Top 32 Finalists for RPG Superstar 2013 have been announced. The Top 32 will now be required to design a concept for a class archetype to the...

Pretty Darn Fun - Special Edition

Jan 22

And the PDF bomb drops! The rumored WotC PDF releases have finally officially hit and are rocking the RPG community. We know it can get a bit confusing as to what they released so here we have the complete list of what is available, in order by edition. See if your favorite book has made this release run! Basic D&D Basic Set Rulebook B1 In Search of the Unknown B2 The Keep on the Borderlands...

Pretty Darn Fun (a look at new PDFs)

Jan 22

This week saw some big news in the PDF market when it was revealed that WotC is reentering the PDF marketplace…or are they? Apparently their reentry announcement may have been a bit premature as nothing has been confirmed by them and nothing has been released into the current PDF marketplaces. However, that has not stopped people from getting excited that WotC may be releasing a lot of the...

RPG News for Tuesday, 22 Jan, 2013

Jan 22

Dungeons & Dragons News http://www.dndclassics.com/images/44/17081-thumb140.jpgAs I mentioned a couple of days ago, the brand new dndclassics.com sites has launched. Run by DTRPG/RPGNow, it allow you to buy D&D products from all editions in PDF format, from BECMI, AD&D 1st Edition, 2nd Edition, D&D 3rd Edition, and 4th Edition. They're not all there yet, but I'd guess they're adding them...

3G: Converting Adventures to 4E, Part 1

Jan 21

I’ve played D&D since 1982, and I’ve been through every edition. When I started DMing, I started collecting – and I still have all the books, modules, and Dragon and Dungeon issues I used over the years. I have favorite adventures I reuse, favorite settings I revisit, and favorite themes I recycle from campaign to campaign. Sometimes Wizards of the Coast has converted something from one...

RPG News for Monday, 21 Jan, 2013

Jan 21

Dungeons & Dragons News WotC reports that this week's Legends & Lore will be hitting tomorrow instead of the usual Monday release Roleplaying Games News The Kobold Guide to Worldbuilding (including essays by Wolfgang Baur, Keith Baker, Monte Cook, David “Zeb” Cook, Jeff Grubb, Scott Hungerford, Chris Pramas, Jonathan Roberts, Michael A. Stackpole and Steve Winter) is now on Kindle...

Ten Ways to 'not' Kill off your Campaign

Jan 21

When I’m walking down the street, the question people most often ask me is, “Are you married?” but that’s completely beside the point of this article. One question I see popping up over forum boards again and again is, ‘How do I set up/keep going/not kill off my new campaign? I’ve seen whole sections in RPG books to address this concern, and I know of a few gamers who simply plug away at...

Boardgame Review: DUNGEON! from Wizards of the Coast

Jan 19

Not every game that hits my table is a multiple-hour marathon. Not everything has to be packed with countless miniatures or handfuls of colourful wooden cubes. It’s safe to say that a fair few games I own could even be considered as being for kids, though we’re not talking Twister or Buckaroo here; there’s plenty out there that is not only accessible enough for younger players to get into but also offer older gamers enough of a challenge. The newly reissued version of Dungeon! from Wizards of the Coast fits into that space in spades.

Gamehackery: Dungeonmaster to the Stars - On Tour with Harmontown

Jan 19

It might not look exactly like the dream you had of becoming famous as a dungeon master. But Spencer Crittenden is on tour all this month as "Dungeon Master to the Stars." And you're not. Chew on that while you're drawing up maps for your next session…. Beginnings Last July, Dan Harmon (Sarah Silverman Program, Community, Monster House), and Jeff Davis (Who's Line is it Anyway?) turned...

A chat with Pedro Gil, author of Spanish retroclone RPG "Aventuras En La Marca Del Este"

Jan 18

This interview is by Ciro Alessandro Sacco. Aventuras En La Marca Del Este is Spanish in origin, has been translated into Italian, an English edition is in the works and it makes a great job in recapturing the Frank Mentzer's D&D feel. In the last years the retrogaming phenomenon has really boomed with a lot of games published (usually by fans but there are some professionally produced...

RPG News for Friday, 18 January, 2013

Jan 18

Pathfinder RPG News Paizo reports than nearly half a million votes were cast in RPG Superstar Round 1. Although am I reading that right? One person voted over 8000 times? Yikes! Dungeons & Dragons News When Stuff Happens, Leaving a Legacy by Ed Greenwood -- "Great adventurers, like most people, would like to be remembered after they’re gone. Unlike most of us, they often have the fame...

RPG News for Thursday, 17 January, 2013

Jan 17

Dungeons & Dragons News WoTC Back on RPGNow? Now this is wonderful news if it's true! DiceMonkey, a featured reviewer for RPGNow/DTRPG, says: "This morning, I began receiving alerts to me email that Wizards of the Coast was putting materials up on RPGNow. I’m a featured reviewer for the site, I’m told when there are new products up. Going to the site, it looks like they’re not there, so...

Fear of the Dark: The Mythopoetry of Goblins

Jan 17

What's that noise? Do you hear something? What was that? Is anybody there? Hello? Anybody....? Fun fact: there's no standard, accepted scientific term for a fear of the dark. There's names for a fear of bridges, a fear of being out of mobile phone contact, a fear of the sea, a fear of the pope, and a fear of having a fear of something. As for fear of darkness...we have achluphobia...