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  1. Ralif Redhammer

    Do All of Your RPG Maps Now Belong To Judges Guild? ... and more?

    Running I6: Ravenloft was so much more difficult by having to link up those isometric maps from one floor to the next.
  2. Ralif Redhammer

    Do All of Your RPG Maps Now Belong To Judges Guild? ... and more?

    It's a funny thing, isn't it, that they have proven themselves incapable of putting out new materials or even keeping old books in print, yet here they assert a claim beyond even that. That Goodman Games was able to bring Jennell Jaquays Judges Guild work back into print was a victory.
  3. Ralif Redhammer

    What are you reading in 2025?

    While Three Hearts Three Lions is an important document in the creation of D&D (and an enjoyable read), I agree with @Nellisir that The Broken Sword is his best fantasy work. Operation Chaos is a fun one. Definitely some gonzo fantasy.
  4. Ralif Redhammer

    Do All of Your RPG Maps Now Belong To Judges Guild? ... and more?

    This seems an absurd claim. It sounds like he's bitter and lashing out because he squandered the legacy of Judges Guild long ago. I don't think so. Pretty much every online retailer/gaming company washed their hands of the current version of Judges Guild after the original sets of comments came...
  5. Ralif Redhammer

    Do Tariffs Apply To RPG Books? Maybe, Maybe Not!

    This all is so very exhausting.
  6. Ralif Redhammer

    What videogames are you playing in 2025?

    Currently playing Citizen Sleeper. I'm a little surprised at how engaging the gameplay is, replicating the use of dice.
  7. Ralif Redhammer

    What does it take for an RPG to die?

    And that's part of it - people can have all sorts of different nostalgia buttons. All it takes is the right wistful mood (and/or a bit of bourbon), and a trip to Noble Knight Games or eBay to indulge it.
  8. Ralif Redhammer

    What does it take for an RPG to die?

    Go to enough conventions and you will realize that no matter how unsupported and out-of-print a game is, someone will be running that game somewhere. And even long-defunct games can come back. I wouldn't have ever figured on Dark Conspiracy getting a new edition, for example, but here we are.
  9. Ralif Redhammer

    How many years does it take for an RPG to become nostalgic, for you?

    “It's not the years, honey. It's the mileage.” I don't think it's about necessarily how long it's been, but who I was at that time I had the experience, how much impact it made on me, that makes me nostalgic. Whether it's being a wee kid and picking up then Red Box, an ubergoth teenager sitting...
  10. Ralif Redhammer

    How to Delay or Avoid GM Burnout

    My take on avoiding burnout is the following: Seek out your joy: Examine the moments in the game that make you smile, make it all feel effortless. Examine the tropes in whatever genre you're running a game in that resonate with you. Then focus on bringing those to the game. Seek out your...
  11. Ralif Redhammer

    What are you reading in 2025?

    Fritz Leiber, especially the latter stuff, is a notably, ahem, horny author. The Locked Tomb series is exceptional. Great characters, cool worldbuilding, and each book challenges you in a different way. As you said, it's never a one-trick pony. Yeah, there has been extensive discussion of the...
  12. Ralif Redhammer

    Best fantasy names in literature

    Queue Radark Windpassing: Cut-Me-Own-Throat Dibbler! Ahh, Thieves World. The names definitely were evocative. Tempus evokes time - he is immortal, temple - he is god-ridden, and its Latin points to his own references to, and possible roots in, our antiquity. One of my favorite opening...
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    1744122077786.png

  14. Ralif Redhammer

    Best fantasy names in literature

    Glen Cook's The Black Company works with these bold names. Croaker, Raven, The Lady, Soulcatcher, Silent, The Limper, etc. Combined with the scant details you generally get about how the characters look, they still somehow manage to be so evocative. Terry Brooks' names seem like they're just...
  15. Ralif Redhammer

    AD&D 2E Huh. AD&D 2e is my favorite D&D

    Not going to lie, part of it is nostalgia. But I do think the art on the whole in the 89 versions is better. Oof! Yeah, there was a ton to carry. It wasn't until 5e that I finally had enough of that and told people if they wanted me to DM a game, it was going to be at my place. The conciseness...
  16. Ralif Redhammer

    White Dwarf Reflections #15

    This is the second time within the span of a week that song has come up.
  17. Ralif Redhammer

    AD&D 2E Huh. AD&D 2e is my favorite D&D

    The presentation and artwork of the original 2e books just brings too much nostalgia for me - the revised books just have an uncanny valley feel for me. The number of books I'd have to lug around just to run a game was ridiculous! I remember I had a backpack and a duffle bag filled with books...
  18. Ralif Redhammer

    What are you reading in 2025?

    I finished reading Effinger's A Fire In the Sun. The second book in the Budayeen Cycle matches the quality of the first book. The series began in 1986, so while some of the language used hasn't aged well, it's still impressively inclusive for the 80s, with multiple trans characters, and a...
  19. Ralif Redhammer

    What Game Publishers Are Saying About The Tariffs

    Unfortunately, absolutely. My FLGS is smart in that they balance retail with online sales, but even still, this is going to be a hit - not just the direct costs of gaming products, but everything else that's going to get more expensive.
  20. Ralif Redhammer

    What Game Publishers Are Saying About The Tariffs

    It's clear that this is going to have a disastrous effect on the market, for years to come. And this is going to also put the squeeze on gaming stores. Just depressing.
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