Search results

Many Star Wars fans absolutely do not care that the combat/military part of it is utter nonsense (and of course, some don't know enough to even recognize it's nonsense). While I complain about it, I've watched all the Star Wars movies, Clone Wars, Rebels, usually more than once. Writing about...

Settings that are there only to provide opportunities for drama are usually for movies (such as original Star Wars) or other short-term activity (a short story or play?). A setting for a RPG campaign or a series of novels (one novel, perhaps) need to be more sensible than short-term settings to...

We all know Star Wars is much more fantasy than SF (magic swords=light sabers, spells=The Force). And its military aspects make virtually no sense. But from what I know of historical weapons development, once something is seen (the hyperspace massacre of the giant ship), weapon makers take...

That one is coming up quite soon, actually

These are excuses, not believable reasons. Small chance of working? Space combat is at close quarters - easy to hit something when you're miles away or less. "Gravity shadow" (what?), just have varied size missiles. Virtually every comment I've ever seen about the fiasco of the hyperspace attack...

Any change you make from the real world will have consequences, possibly massive consequences. If you want your world to hold together, you have to figure out those consequences, which is hard to do. Please Note: This article contains spoilers for the Blood in the Stars and Star Wars series...

Character names and where we might get them from are today’s topics. This is important insofar as we don't want to delay the start of the actual adventure because someone is trying to think of a name! Picture courtesy of Pixabay. A book often referred to among the founding works of American...

Players who say they don't run away because they would be caught, sound terribly unenterprising. With magic and magic items, you ought to be able to figure out a way to get away. Of course, would all monsters pursue (in a reasonable world)? No, they're probably scared spitless just like the...

Yes. I give only mission XP, not XP for treasure or for killing. Makes a big difference in player behavior. Subject of a future column.

Yes, running away in a normal battle, after battle has been joined, can result in heavy casualties. I was thinking in terms of running away immediately, no battle. But with magic-equipped adventurers, who are much tougher than ordinary soldiers, running away after battle has been joined is still...

How often does an adventuring party avoid an encounter, even run away from one? This used to be common in earlier versions of the game, but less so now. What changed? Picture courtesy of Pixabay. “Run away, run away!” King Arthur, fleeing the carnivorous rabbit in Monty Python and the Holy...

No one knows for sure. But there seem to have been several causes. Climate, earthquakes, too big a gap between the rich and the non-rich, "Sea Peoples", Phrygians, and so on.

Nations in the ancient near East fought over trade routes. A well-known route was from Assyria (where textiles were produced) to the Hittite Empire (copper, I think). This was at least partly trade by donkey etc. But it was still valuable to those economies. Part of the reason for the Bronze Age...