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Saturday, March 21

Worlds.com Plans to Sue WOW and Seocnd Life

Worlds.com CEO Thom Kidrin is putting the entire virtual worlds industry on notice: His company claims the idea of a scalable virtual world with thousands of users is its patented intellectual property, and Thom told us he intends to sue anyone who refuses to enter into licensing negotiations -- including giants such as Second Life and World of Warcraft, a property of Activision Blizzard (ATVI). [MORE]

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Wednesday, March 18

The Horror: I'll Just Play World of Warcraft

An interruption has quite an effect, in my action horror gaming column, The Horror!: I'll Just Play World of Warcraft.

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Saturday, March 7

Delta Green: The Engagement of Rules

The new book will feature rules on disabling wounds, called shots, suppressive fire, stress disorders as a replacement for the stupid insanity of Call of Cthulhu, relationships, and flashbacks. AWESOME! [MORE]

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Wednesday, March 4

Boom Goes the Dynamite Revisited

So we all know about Brian Collins of Boom Goes the Dynamite.

This video purpotedly explains the origin of the phrase. SPOILER: He thought it up as trash talk during a game of Mario Kart. Great.

However, the narrator of this puff piece then rambles on about how "Mario Kart" was incorrectly transcribed as "Mario Cards." That's just plain hilarious, right?

Except the narrator then goes on to state that by confusing "Kart" with "Cards," Collins will be "forever associated...with images of 15-sided die and dark and lonely basements. As if Collins needed more bad publicity."

WTF dude. First of all, there isn't a 15-sided die. Second, dice have nothing to do with card games. Third, there's something cruely ironic about a snarky narrator posting a YouTube slam about a major news organization getting its facts wrong, when said narrator can't get HIS OWN FACTS STRAIGHT.

Seriously, you couldn't spend five seconds on Google to at least make the slam accurate? It's a 20-sided die! READ A BOOK!

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Sunday, February 22

The Horror! Borrowing from B-movies

Today, The Horror of the moment is Attack of the B-Movie Scenario, wherein Michael shows us how cheesy film plots can assist with RPGs [MORE].

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Thursday, January 22

The Horror! The Rhythm is Gonna Get You

In the latest installment of my column on action horror gaming, The Horror!, I rethink the d20 Challenge Rating system in The Rhythm is Gonna Get You. [MORE]

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Wednesday, January 7

Libraries offer more than books

Jim Rettig, president, American Library Association - Richmond, Va., offered a balanced response to the senator's criticism in the defense of gaming:

The American Psychological Association has done studies showing how video games can be powerful learning tools, specifically for problem-solving skills. This finding was echoed by a recent Sony Online Entertainment LLC study, which found that 70% of parents say their children's problem-solving skills have been improved by playing video games.

Also, a study of people ages 60 to 70 and highlighted in the December issue of Psychology and Aging showed that playing video games can be especially beneficial to people for strengthening memory and reasoning.

I applaud the Westfield Public Library for providing this innovative technology to its community. [MORE]

Bravo!

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Senator flags $1.3 billion as gov't waste

WASHINGTON — As the budget deficit soared, infrastructure crumbled and the economy tanked, the federal government this year spent $300,000 for a California skateboarding park, $188,000 to research Maine lobsters and $3.2 million on a spy blimp the military doesn't want, according to a new report by the Senate's self-styled spending scourge.

Other items in the report:

• The federal Institute of Museums and Library Sciences awarded a $3,905 grant to the public library in Westfield, Ind., for the purchase of a Nintendo Wii console, a television, a camcorder and games. [MORE]

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Saturday, December 27

Adventuring Party Politics: The Campaign is Getting Ugly

Basically, it's all the politicians running for president as players in a Dungeons and Dragons campaign. It more succinctly sums up the personalities (and their attitudes towards each other) than the major news broadcasts. I laughed so hard at this I nearly peed. [MORE]

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Thursday, December 18

The Horror! Black Jack Bauer

I try for 24, but darker, in the latest installment of my action-horror column, "The Horror!" at RPG.net. [MORE]

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Monday, November 24

THE HORROR #3: WE ALL FALL DOWN

My RPG column, The Horror takes a look at Sanity and how to lose it, in We All Fall Down. [MORE]

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Wednesday, November 12

Gen Con Indy08 Show Charity and CCF

So it turns out that the Christian Children's Fund DIDN'T reject Gen Con's donation; it was the other way around!

To be clear, Gen Con made the decision not to donate to CCF; at no time did CCF refuse to take charity money from Gen Con. Gen Con chooses a show charity long before Gen Con Indy 2008 ever takes place.


Alas, I got caught up in the blogosphere hype as well, so my apologies for spreading a false rumor. [MORE]

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Wednesday, October 29

Dungeons & Dragons & Futurama

David X. Cohen, co-creator and executive producer of the animated SF series Futurama, told SCI FI Wire that Bender's Game, the latest made-for-DVD movie, pays homage to fantasy games and movies of all kinds, but especially Dungeons & Dragons. [MORE]

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Tuesday, October 28

Christian Children’s Fund Refuses Charity Tainted by D

This is just disgusting...
Christian Children’s Fund Refuses Charity Tainted by D&D

Posted using ShareThis

And here is an eloquent response to this insanity.

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Wednesday, October 22

The Horror! I Wanna Shoot Zombies

In this article, I assert what many gamers think this time of year (or anytime, really) by saying I Wanna Shoot Zombies! [MORE]

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Sunday, October 5

Now I Want an iPhone

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Wednesday, October 1

No Halo Tonight

I'm still pretty sick, so I won't be attending my regular Halo Team Slayer game tonight, sorry.

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Wednesday, September 17

My New Gaming Column: The Horror!

My new gaming column, "The Horror!" launches today. Or it will launch soon -- as of right now the article isn't loading. Here's a sneak preview:
“This is nice,” began the anonymous feedback of my short story submission to a horror anthology, “but it reads more like an episode of the Twilight Zone than an actually scary story.”

That feedback was particularly galling, because I had tried damn hard to write something scary. It involved an organ grinder. And a monkey. No seriously, it was scary.

Anyway, ever since then I took that criticism as a personal challenge to craft horror in a way that was successful. The measure of success is up to the reader; I suppose causing someone to piss their pants would qualify, but I’ll settle for “dude, that was freaking me out!” [MORE]

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Thursday, August 21

As if we need another reason...

The 2008 presidential campaign has now made a connection, albeit a negative one, to pop culture; a spokesperson for Senator John McCain has tied supporters of Senator Barack Obama to #1 RPG Dungeons and Dragons. In a post on the McCain Website on Monday, Michael Goldfarb wrote, “It may be typical of the pro-Obama Dungeons and Dragons crowd to disparage a fellow countryman’s memory of war from the comfort of mom’s basement, but most Americans have the humility and gratitude to respect and learn from the memories of men who suffered on behalf of others.” The post was responding to a blog on Daily Kos in which McCain’s story of a Vietnamese prison camp guard drawing a cross in the dirt is tied to Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s similar story from the Soviet Gulag.

This isn’t the first time McCain spokesperson Goldfarb has inexplicably used Dungeons and Dragons as a “negative” association. In early August, he compared the editors of the New York Times to a blogger “sitting at home in his mother’s basement and ranting into the ether between games of Dungeons and Dragons.” [MORE]

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Wednesday, August 20

Tiny Adventures: Dungeons and Dragons on Facebook

I'm TOTALLY addicted to this adventure game, which is a lot like the old ProgressQuest (http://www.progressquest.com), in which the basic conceit of D&D -- that characters kill monsters and take their stuff -- is taken to an extreme wherein the player does absolutely nothing and lets the computer do all the work. This is still strangely satisfying, which is why ProgressQuest has like a bazillion downloads even though it's a joke. Us gamers LOVE the notion of the increasing value of something we own even when that thing we own is a concept that basically grows by itself.

Finally, WOTC got something right before anyone else thought of it. Using a comprehensive but relatively basic version of D&D 4.0, they created Tiny Adventures. Tiny Adventures is basically ProgressQuest for Facebook. And it's a blast.

There's a bit more interactivity of course. You pick the character type you want to play, choose equipment, and then sit back and watch the chapters of your character's adventures unfold. You have the option of using items during your quest which can influence the outcome, but the player is largely a bystander. There's some limited interactivity amongst other players (you can heal each other and "buff" each other), but there's oddly no means of creating an adventuring party. I assume that will be added later.

At heart, Tiny Adventures is like one of those Which-Way Adventure books, without the decision-making. Your character plods along from chapter to chapter in the quest until he either runs home, too wounded to continue, or triumphs. Monsters are slain, levels are gained, and treasure is bought and sold. The genius of Tiny Adventures is the countdown. The game is intentionally slow-paced and provides updates intermittently. The counter in the top right corner clicks away while you wait.

This is the perfect game for someone doing something else (like work). It's MADE for playing in the background. And it's so freaking addicting I can't even tell you...other than that the whole server crashed due to too many users. And now I'm going through withdrawal! Blast is second level and he was just about to kill that bandit...

Heck, I'm so addicted I'm not sure I want more people on the server. But what the heck, the more the merrier: http://apps.new.facebook.com/tinyadventures

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Friday, August 15

$1.00 d20 Adventures Sale

To celebrate Gen Con, the Best Four Days in Gaming, High Moon Media Productions is putting all their MonkeyGod d20 adventures on sale for only $1.00!

Click here to see the MonkeyGod d20 adventures.

Sale is in effect from August 13 - 31, 2008 at RPGnow and DriveThruRPG.

Grab some good d20 fun and head off to the dungeon in style. After all, who knows if these adventures will be seen again after the end of the year, once the d20 System license and logo have expired.

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Monday, August 4

A Crying Shame: Xbox Developer Dead in Murder-Suicide

This is just horrible and sad, both in the loss of two talented people in the game industry (console and pen-and-paper) and the sick spiral of spousal abuse and death that our law enforcement can't seem to prevent:
Very sad news from Redmond, Wash. Melissa Batten, 36, a software development engineer in Microsoft's Xbox division, was murdered by her estranged husband, who then shot himself to death, earlier this week.

Batten, a Harvard-educated lawyer, was a Software Development Engineer in Test for Microsoft, supporting Rare on its 360 titles work. She had worked for Microsoft since 2002, earning credits in Halo 3 and Gears of War as an SDET. Earlier, as a lawyer, she had been a public defender for the Mecklenburg County (Charlotte, N.C.) Public Defender's Office.

Her husband, Joseph Batten, was also 36. He had also worked for Microsoft but most recently worked for Wizards of the Coast, publisher of hobby games such as Magic: the Gathering. Melissa had obtained a restraining order against her husband on July 21. Another news story describes Joseph Batten as obsessive and verbally abusive, and when she learned he had obtained a handgun, she sought the protection order. [MORE]

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Wednesday, July 23

Halo Team Slayer Tonight!

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Wednesday, July 16

Halo 3 Team Slayer Tonight!

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Tuesday, July 8

Team Halo

I'll be on as Talien on Halo 3 this Wednesday night. Look me up!

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Sunday, June 1

D&D 4E Back to Press

A WotC spokesperson has informed ICv2 that Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition has already gone back to press more than a week before its scheduled street date next Friday, June 6th. Sell-in of 4th Edition has “far exceeded expectations” and even though the initial print run for 4th Edition was 50% higher than the order for the previous D&D 3.5 Edition, WotC has now realized that it is necessary to go back to press to meet anticipated reorder demand. [MORE]

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Saturday, May 31

Dungeon Contraband

Wizards of the Coast is due to release a new version of its classic game Dungeons & Dragons on June 6. There’s just one problem for the subsidiary of Hasbro: In various unofficial forms, it's already out. [MORE]

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Tuesday, May 6

Pledge for Delta Green: Targets of Opportunity

From Shane Ivey of Pagan Publishing:
With the success of the limited edition of Delta Green: Eyes Only and
its upcoming release to distribution, Pagan Publishing and Arc Dream
Publishing are working together on a new collection for Delta Green.
Delta Green: Targets of Opportunity will feature all new resources,
including some material that we've all wanted to see since the
earliest days of Delta Green.

But we need your help.

Both companies' financial resources are tied up in our current product
lines. We have the time and the motivation to finish and release
Targets of Opportunity, but we don't yet have the bank accounts to
manufacture it.

So, we're offering the fans of Delta Green an opportunity -- you do
feel lucky, right? -- to help us put this book in your hands.

If we collect enough "pledges" through Fundable.com to cover the
various and high costs of manufacturing "Targets of Opportunity,"
we'll do it now. For each pledge, we'll ship you a copy of the book by
priority mail. (Or by airmail for fans outside the U.S., but the
pledge needs to be higher to make up for the high cost of shipping.)

I won't give a firm delivery date until it's much closer to shipping,
but if this works I expect you'll have the book in your hands this
fall.

If this doesn't work, we'll hold off on it until we save up enough
cash the old-fashioned way to release it. That would be ... later. [PLEDGE NOW!]
What are you waiting for? Pledge man, PLEDGE LIKE THE WIND!

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Sunday, April 20

The Lazy Man's Guide to Constructing a Call of Cthulhu Adventure

Having game mastered my share of Call of Cthulhu scenarios for a modern campaign, I've come to the conclusion that there are a lot of bad scenarios out there. The ideas are always interesting...the execution is what suffers. My biggest problem is the lack of narrative thread, as if the author is afraid he'll ruin the game for the GM if he doesn't provide guidance to what happens next. I'm really a big fan of providing a plot outline as to what will happen in a scenario -- even if I only ignore it later. It seems many Delta Green/Cthulhu Now scenarios are travelogues, providing overviews of areas with schedules, NPCs, etc. but no actual means of resolving the events in question.

In some cases, there are major events that are exciting that, if the PCs do the "right" thing, don't happen at all. Which is just bloody stupid gaming.

Or to put it another way, if Luke just managed to kill Darth Vader the first time he met, we chuck that whole series. Or if someone just calls in a SWAT team on Jason/Michael Meyers in the first movie, we wouldn't have to deal with the rest of the horror. Or something important in the movie/book/television show we're experiencing and instead of actually having narrative conflict we reward players for avoiding the conflict all together...zzzzZZZZZ.

Look, I want PCs to be smart. But conflict is INTERESTING. If the PCs are so smart as to completely avoid the conflict, then what we have is a very boring scenario. Sure, the PCs are smart for staking out an area, framing the cultists, and ensuring their dastardly plan to destroy the world never happens...but that's hardly an interesting conflict. In fact, many of the scenarios dedicate quite a bit of time to when things go wrong -- implying that they should go wrong, because that's more fun.

In Nemo Solus Sapit, there's pages upon pages dedicated to what happens when Azathoth is summoned as the PCs struggle to survive. And yet the scenario awards agents for averting the ceremony. Puhleeze! Why would I as a GM let them avoid the most interesting part of the scenario -- the conflict?

That's why I love Sandy Petersen's handy guide to crafting scenarios: http://www.yog-sothoth.com/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=51&page=1

Don't let the title fool you. I consider creating piles of useless background about an area to be much lazier than providing a narrative thread for the GM to easily use. His substeps detail the work involved, ranging from "How can the plot be prolonged?" to "why don't the authorities intervene?"

But here's the really important part:
Every scenario should have a great climax.
It's the difference between killing the cultist before he casts his ritual, and killing him after he's summoned the huge monster. I want the huge monster to show up -- nay, DEMAND IT SHOW UP -- because running away from the monster, trying to defeat it, or being eaten by it is fun.

Mind you, there are times when I don't want the climax to be an either/or proposition of apocalypse vs. happy survival. But I demand a narrative climax, as do my players. CoC scenario authors get away with not providing it because old school gamers are used to crafting their own climaxes and plots. But good scenarios make it clear how things are going to play out, even if that's not quite how the scenario ends.

What shouldn't be rewarded, but all too often is in Delta Green type scenarios, is the coward's response. In essence, good guys are encouraged to not face threats directly, not deal with them face-to-face, cause that means loss of Sanity, and Sanity means eventual death. It's like playing Charlie in Charlie's Angels instead of the Angels...sure Charlie has lots of power. But you can't help but thinking he's kind of a douche for not handling things himself.

When I have to resort to movie plots for my narrative, the scenarios aren't doing their jobs.

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Sunday, April 6

Shout Out to My Fellow Panelists

Just wanted to send a shout-out to my fellow panelists at I-CON. It was a really educational (and humbling) experience. Thanks for letting me blather on!


Scott Price
Scott has spent his professional life trying to make computers work for people by helping people play with computers. He helped the Math Forum create digital manipulatives for math students, built an IT Department during 6 years as teacher, dean, and IT Coordinator at Exploration Summer Programs, developed databases for non-profits, and performed quality assurance testing with Scholastic, Inc. Outside of 'work' he is writing a RPG setting based on an animated television series, plays in and runs AD&D groups, writes about hypertext on Textuality.org, and rarely passes up anything that can be called playtesting. He is thrilled to be able to admit all that in a biography. [MORE]

Dave "Fargo" Kosak
Fargo is one of the founding fathers of GameSpy, starting in 1996 when he helped company founder Mark "The Freshmaker" Surfas launch PlanetQuake. He left a job in the advertising industry because he couldn't stand saying good things about games he didn't like, and he's been a full-time writer and creative lead in the gaming industry ever since. Fueling the big move was a passion for online gaming and everything that the Internet brings to games: player interaction, multiplayer gaming, game modifications, tournaments, downloads... he gets all breathy whenever he talks about it, which, frankly, is disturbing. Fargo writes the longest-running column on GameSpy, a weekly humor column called PlanetFargo. He also publishes a daily World of Warcraft comic: Flintlocke's Guide to Azeroth. [MORE]

Lindsey "Z" Briggs
Puppeteer, Actress, Puppet Builder, Webdesigner, Production Manager and many other such hats, Z. is a SUNY Fredonia and University of Connecticut Alum, and has since gone on to pursue her dream of Puppetry. She is currently performing as "Lottie Lamb" on the PBS kids show - "Seemore's Playhouse" [MORE]

Andrea A. Phillips
I'm a writer, experiential marketer, and game designer. Currently I'm engaged as lead writer and associate producer for Immortal Destiny, an evolutionary MMORPG. I am also actively searching for freelance gigs. [MORE]

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Gallery: Celebrity D&D Characters, Rolled by Readers

In honor of Gary Gygax, the inventor of Dungeons & Dragons who passed away last month, we've assembled a gallery of famous people as if they were AD&D characters. [MORE]

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Monday, March 31

Mysteries: Step by Step Instructions

An excellent thread on how to construct mysteris in any role-playing game. It points to the flaws that riddle so many Call of Cthulhu scenarios, which essentially lay out the framework for a mystery but never any of the steps. So at best, the PCs are left to dither as they struggle to find certain clues (in extremis, the game grinds to a halt, which resulted in someone developing Trail of Cthulhu in response) at worst there's no actual arc of clues to find and thus the GM has no framework to guide the PCs.

http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?t=13089

Nemo Solus Sapit is a great example, which we just completed. I rewrote it completely, giving it a narrative arc, but took out much of the mystery for a couple reasons: 1) the mystery isn't relevant to the story because I didn't have any of my PCs replaced by an impostor, and 2) the climactic conclusion ultimately leads to an encounter with Azathoth, which turns the scenario from investigative to survival horror. In fact, the scenario makes it clear that although the summoning of Azathoth can be avoided (and award the PCs Sanity for doing so), many of the clues and statistics lead the PCs to the encounter.

Or in other words, if the PCs are actually effective in solving the mystery, there's no big payoff. This seems to be a problem with a lot of CoC scenarios -- by being a good investigator, you're in essence robbing the PCs of an exciting conclusion. In fact, many of the CoC scenarios are conflicted as to how they would like to be resolved, providing multiple options as if they were all equally legitimate conclusions, when in reality there's a strong bias towards one particular conclusion.

There are too many mysteries to count in Nemo Solus Sapit, but here's a few:
* What happened to the PC who was committed to the Van Dyson Center?
* What happened to Petrov Van Dyson's wife, Candice Lee?
* What's wrong with Damon Newcomb?
* What's wrong with Petrov Van Dyson?
* What happened to Mr. Kuhn?
* Why does Damon want his cane so badly?

As you can see, the scenario is all over the bloody place. I co-opted the script from Gothika to fix a lot of these problems, primarily by stripping them out. This resulted in the following:
* We know what happened to the PC, but not WHY he's there. I genuinely tried to convince the PC that he's nuts by shifting his reality several times. Thus, less of a mystery as to what happened to him and more why he's back in an insane asylum.
* In Gothika, the deus ex machina is a ghost. I used the same solution here. So it's not just that Candice Lee is dead (she's introduced immediately), but who is she and why is she so angry that she came back as a ghost? The ghost wasn't originally in the story at all, but I felt it was a necessary element to keep the scenario moving since the villain's tracks are practically undetectable.
* What happens to Damon is witnessed during the scenario, rather than after the fact. Again, less mystery, more excitment in the revelation.
* I chose to reveal what went on with Dyson through a series of audio tapes revealed throughout the session. This created its own narrative arc that happened independent of what the players did, since I just played them in order.
* Investigating what happens to Kuhn was one of the few active investigations, which was for the agents "on the outside" to discover. Even then, Candice Lee's ghost led the investigation from clue to clue.
* The cane required a much longer backstory, which I provided to one of the PCs prior to starting the scenario. In fact, the cane was a MAJOR part of the scenario but isn't valued nearly as much, to the point that the author doesn't even explain where it's hidden. Given the cane is such a big deal, I felt it should be a mystery unto itself.

In short, I took the scenario from six mysteries down to two or three. I thought it was better for it. You'll have to wait until the story hour is published to see if you agree!

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Saturday, March 15

Sharing the Hobby the Right Way

Gamers talk a lot about bringing new gamers into the hobby, but Nick Ozment is actually doing something about it. He could teach White Wolf a thing or two.


This 4-session class introduced participants to D&D. They created their
characters and completed an adventure. Thank you to Wizards of the Coast for
their kind donation of supplies and Nick Ozment for volunteering his
time.

Go Nick!

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Friday, March 14

White Wolf's Petty Tactics

Some marketing genius at White Wolf bought into the partisan tactics we read so much about on the Internet and thought that people who don't want to play D&D 3.5 would be so pissed as to trade in their PHBs for a brand new copy of the Exalted RPG rather than upgrade to the 4th edition of Dungeons & Dragons.

Read more at http://secure1.white-wolf.com/graduateyourgame/

Which is a fine idea unto itself. Except that the marketing campaign is predicated on the notion that you're "graduating" complete with a certificate. Cause, you know, people who play D&D are emotionally and socially retarded.

Here's the thing. Gamers aren't an either/or lot. They can't be. The gaming population is too small. The grouchy jerks I tangle with on the Internet occasionally often aren't actually PLAYING the games they so righteously defend. Or to put it another way, the asshole telling you the one true way to play his game is probably not actually playing it at all.

So listening to those people is a mistake, and it's that kind of thinking -- that you only play ONE kind of gaming system -- that leads to this kind of pathetic marketing ploy. On top of that, the notion that editions actually stopped being played is equally fallacious. RPGs don't have expiration dates. They can be played forever. Any game that's been sufficiently published in large quantities can live on through inertia alone. So it's likely there will be people still playing 3.5 and NOT moving to 4.0. And they will also happily play Exalted.

But here's the real stickler, the thing that really pisses me off...from http://secure1.white-wolf.com/graduateyourgame/retailer.aspx
Retailers must take all D&D 3.5 Player’s Handbooks that are exchanged, tear out the pages, and return the full cover with the consumer forms using the return label provided in the book kit. Note: Returned book covers must be post-marked by June 30th.
We will check the returns against the participating retailer list, making sure the number of returned book covers matches the quantity of Exalted books requested. For copy of Exalted you receive that does not have a corresponding D&D 3.5 cover, you will be charged an additional $20.

This is spiteful, petty, wasteful, and disgusting in our eco-conscious times. These books are being torn up? Hell, I don't care if you hate D&D. But you don't need to literally destroy books to promote your own product. For shame, White Wolf -- you turned a promotion of your own game (reasonable) into an insulting, degrading slap on the very people you're trying to recruit (unreasonable) and worse, are destroying perfectly good books out of spite (just plain stupid).

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Thursday, March 13

Exit the dragon master

Finally, Gary Gygax's passing gets a respectful treatment from a journalist: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/exit-the-dragon-master-793150.html

It is all too easy to laugh. The lazy reporter says to himself "Gygax, silly name, lonely geeks, wizards, monsters, sub-Tolkien nonsense, Billy-no-mates with imaginary friends" and out come a thousand sneering words. Job done.
Amen, brother. Amen.

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Tuesday, March 4

Gary Gygax, 1938-2008: Rest in peace, Dungeon Master

Gary Gygax, co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons and one of the fathers of tabletop role-playing games, died on Tuesday at the age of 69. He had suffered from heart problems. [MORE]
It's thanks to Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson's colossal work that I am the person I am today. Gary was an active member of the online communty, always happy to dispense advice or provide a wry comment on the state of role-playing, which continued to evolve in ways he probably never expected. He was the progenitor of an entire gaming revolution, and he lookd upon the millions of gamers he spawned like a proud parent. The community reciprocated with love and support whenever we received reports of his failing health. His passing was completely unexpected; though Gary had been sick on and off, no one could have foreseen this.

Rest in Peace, Gary. May you avoid a bad roll on the reincarnation table.

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Sunday, February 17

Tom Salta Scores Leading Game Titles in a Customized Space

Another article about Tom Salta in Mix Online:

MixMagFeb08-Salta.pdf

Go Tom!

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Friday, October 19

RPG Media Sighting: The Sarah Silverman Program

Brian and Steve prepare for “D.D.” as it is marked on the calendar. Brian thought D.D. stood for Dungeons & Dragons and already invited some friends over to play. “That doesn’t say D&D idiot, it says D.D., it means day date. You and I were going to take a picnic and go see the Rush concert at the Valley Gardens Amphitheater, remember!?” Eric, Blonde Craig and Generator show up to play as Steve clues in Brian, but it’s too late. [MORE]

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Thursday, October 11

Vin Diesel on D&D

Just in case you didn't know...Vin Diesel really loves D&D too.

Q: Is it true you're really into Dungeons and Dragons?

VIN: No. I never play D&D. For some reason, they thought that I played D&D for 20 years. They thought that I spent years playing Barbarians, Witchunters, The Arcanum. They thought I played D&D back in the '70s when it's just the basic D&D set. They thought I continued to play D&D when it became Advanced Dungeons and Dragons. They thought I played D&D when there were only three books - the "Player's Handbook," the "Monster's Manual" and the "Dungeon Master's Guide." They thought I played D&D as it continued onto the Unearthed Arcanum, Oriental Adventures, Sea Adventures, Wilderness Adventures. THEY thought I played D&D at the time when "Deities and Demigods" was the brand new book. THEY thought I played D&D when I used to get up to a place called The Complete Strategist in New York.

[Mouths: "I'm into D&D a lot."] [MORE]

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Stephen Colbert and D&D


View More Colbert Videos

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Sunday, September 16

CELEBRATING 30 YEARS OF VERY STUPID MONSTERS.

You just have to read this article to appreciate it. [MORE]

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Tuesday, September 4

What's New in D&D 4th Edition

If we use Star Wars Saga Edition as a guide, here's what's new in D&D:

All these rules may not make it into D&D 4.0, but chances are a lot of them will!

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Wednesday, August 29

Sneak Peeks of D&D Insider

And here are some screenshots of the D&D Insider, courtesy of ENWorld. The Character Modeler:



And the virtual tabletop:

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Sunday, August 26

D&D Insider NOT a Requirement

There's been a lot of hysteria on the boards lately on how the DID Insider and the online component are not accessible to some D&D fans (due to the fact that they're poor, don't have a PC, etc.). But here's the thing: YOU CAN STILL PLAY D&D IN PERSON WITH YOUR FRIENDS.

First, it needs to be said that D&DI will be a part of 4th Edition D&D, but is not required to play D&D. D&DI will facilitate certain tasks and it is up to each of you to pick which parts of D&DI you will choose to use if you become a D&DI subscriber. Obviously, we are planning to make the whole offering attractive, but D&DI applications and web resources will be very modular and varied, reflecting the flexibility of the game itself. Between the game table, the character sheet, the character builder (also called visualizer), the dungeon builder or the encounter builder, these applications, like various pieces of a kit, will be usable independently of each others, or together. It is also important to highlight the fact that the game table can be used for any RPG purpose. It will be particularly well suited to 4th Edition, of course, but not restricted to it. [MORE]


So can we all stop tearing our hair and pissing and moaning about how D&D isn't for you and how you're going to leave the hobby and that it jumped the shark and that D&D Insider is "teh Devi1!!!1!" because you don't have access to the digital initiative?

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D&D to Consumer: Buy the Damn Book!

Sure enough, the new online D&D functionality WILL require you to buy a copy of the book to get the unique digital code. That means no sharing with your loser friends who don't have any money. It also means that if you're a family playing online, you'll need to have a copy for each family member. I'm not sure why a family would be playing online though.

Anyhoo, here's the answer from Scott Rouse, Brand Manager for D&D:


Originally Posted by Mistwell
WotC_ScottR, a lot of gaming groups have one person buy a book, and then many players using the book. I understand that only one account (attached to the person who buys the book) will have access the online digital version of the book, but will there be a way for players to populate the database attached to their online accounts with rules from a book that they did not personally buy?If not, are you saying the only way for a group of 5 people to use the options of one book with the DI database is for all 5 people to buy the hardcopy of the book?


From Scott Rouse: yes. [MORE]

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Sunday, August 19

My Thoughts on D&D 4.0

There's a lot of griping, accusations, and flat-out incorrect information floating around on D&D 4.0. I figured I'd add my two cents to the mix:

You can play D&D with whatever you've got right now. WOTC could never print another page and you'd be set for life. This is a game of imagination, and few hobbies give you the complete building blocks to create more of said hobby for under 100 bucks. You're done. Close your eyes, open your imagination, and never look back.

But there are a lot of folks who don't see it just as a personal hobby. They see it as an investment hobby, with new and interesting ideas added to the game by an official source. They want, they CRAVE, new additions to the game. They look forward to using the new rules that come out or incorporating them into the game already. So they want published books to come out. This follows the typical model of a market, which is a dangerous game any RPG publisher plays since they technically gave you everything you need with the core rules.

But it works, because people buy those unnecessary books.

So from one perspective, D&D is immortal. Whatever you have now is good, you'll never need anything else again, go and have fun.

From another perspective, D&D is a culture of consumers with a common language, defined by WOTC. WOTC continually refines and defines that language by publishing books, so that if we all have Complete Psionic, we all speak the same gaming language and are thus more compatible. This makes us more likely to find new players. This helps keep the community cohesive instead of fragmented. But the rub is that everyone has to buy into it. And of course, not everyone does. So we have fragmentation anyway.

But we have fragmentation amongst OLDER consumers. Markets need fresh blood, that's vital to make them long term consumers. So given the choice...catering between the folks who have been playing for years or providing a new opportunity with each book to catch a new consumer...a business chooses to continue to publish new material and thereby justify its existence. The polite fiction is over: WOTC is a hungry beast and it will continue to make product so long as there are consumers willing to buy it.

Here's my suspicions:

  1. There was finally a downturn in D&D sales. That's an excellent reason to
    launch a new edition alone.
  2. The day D&D stops getting a new edition is the day D&D dies as a business model and transforms into a insular hobby model. Mind you, it will always live on in campaigns, open support, the Internet, my imagination, yadda yadda. But the day the company stops trying to refine a product is the day the game becomes a dead game. Development, evolution, refinement of a product is not only critical to a healthy company; it means the business cares enough about the core product to make it better. The alternative is just declaring the game absolutely fantastic as it is, and end up with Palladium's business model.
  3. WOTC is trying to SAVE D&D by adding it to the Internet. The old social mediums were people getting together in person to party. But the world has changed. With the fragmentation of in-person social networks and the evolution of online social networks, not only should WOTC be pushing this digital initiative, failure to do so means D&D will become an insular hobby, along with model trains. We can all stand around pretending that it's easy to get five kids together to play a game. We can deny that the hobby on the whole has aged and us adults have time to travel two hours so we can play together for four hours (my situation). We can fool ourselves into thinking that D&D is not a complex game, basically two big fat rules manuals that have to be the most challenging barriers to entry for a hobby on the planet -- "Here kid, you wanna play this game? Learn all these rules first. They're over six hundred pages in total and even though we put it in color with fancy illustrations, a huge chunk of it is about math" -- or we can see what makes D&D great and keep making it better for the next generation.

Me? So long as each new edition has something that seems manifestly better than the version before, I'm gonna keep changing. So in another six years or so, my son will have something to play with his dad.

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Thursday, August 16

Can A New Dungeons & Dragons Version Insulate Hasbro From Current Toy Industry Woes?

Hasbro has a franchise on its books that acts as a gift that keeps on giving: Wizards of the Coast, and the beloved Dungeons & Dragons (R) franchise. This is the game that all the parents used to worry about their kids playing because of exaggerated and isolated instances of some kids losing their minds, and now all those parents read Harry Potter themselves. It is still a puzzle as to whom the real joke is on. But the Dungeons & Dragons franchise is about to get another formal makeover for next year.


And

This new 4th edition is dubbed the D&D Insider(TM). Web estimates are far as total dollars spent on the gaming system are impossible to track because new sales often get recycled as used game sales and hand-me-downs. Some estimates have 15 million game players over the history of the game and some estimates are north of 20 million players since its inception in the 1970's. Generally speaking, the game itself and the offshoots for it have been responsible for over $1 Billion in retails sales in the US alone. [MORE]

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Yep, it's 4E Time

And I have to say from what I'm reading at http://www.enworld.org, I'm pretty excited.

The countdown on Wizards' web site was of course a flop, as probably billions of people just like me waited for the countdown and then all hit the web site simultaneously. And of course it went down. :)

Try for yourself: http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/welcome

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Wednesday, August 15

4th Edition is Coming!

I scoffed for sure...but now that this is at the Wizards web site: http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/welcome

I'm not so sure. Man oh man, it sure looks like that's for 4th edition.

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Wednesday, July 25

D&D 4th Edition Advisory System


Just needed to post this, because it's funny:

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Friday, July 20

[Occult Modern Settings] The Wikipedia Supplement

I don't normally link to threads, but this is one of the most interesting threads I've ever read:

Here's the concept. Post one or more links to a Wikipedia Article which you consider to be good fodder for any modern occult setting (UA, Delta Green, Witchcraft, Con X, AFMBE, whatever). Hopefully, we'll end up with a bundle of material that can serve as inspiration and adventure seeds. [MORE]

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"I'd close World of Warcraft!"

A couple of weeks ago Keith Stuart promised an interview with Richard Bartle, co-creator of the original Multi-User Dungeon (or Domain if you prefer) set up back in 1978 at the University of Essex. He asked for questions and received several suggestions which he put to Mr Bartle earlier this week, along with some of his own queries. [MORE]

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Monday, June 25

How Does Intelligence Relate to IQ?

A comparison of how the Dungeons & Dragons Intelligence score (3 to 18) compares to real life Intelligent Quotient, by Daniel R. Collins:

Occasionally, D&D enthusiasts will discuss or debate how the game ability "Intelligence" score properly relates to the real-world measurement of "Intelligence Quotient" (IQ). This almost always spawns a heated debate, in large part due to the controversy over IQ-scores general (what it seeks to measure, how valid the measurement is, whether testing procedures are fair, how the tests have changed over time, etc.), and aggravated as some find it problematic to measure IQ in fantasy non-humans, animals, and monsters. [MORE]

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Sunday, June 17

Book of Beings

I stumbled across this site when I entered "psionic defense modes" in Google images instead of Google web. It's D&D, old school -- the artwork is very reminiscent of the original Fiend Folio and universally excellent. [MORE]

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Tuesday, May 29

Red Steel OST Now available on iTunes and CD

Composer and music producer Tom Salta has sent word that the original soundtrack of the Red Steel is available on the iTunes music stores. The OST will also retail on CD by Persist Records / Sumthing Distribution from May 29, 2007.

Didier Lord, Executive Director, Ubisoft Music quoted, “We are really happy to make this possible, particularly with Tom’s impressive work on Red Steel. It’s an important move as it will be Ubisoft’s first soundtrack released on major digital distribution channels, the first of many to come!”

Tom Salta used traditional live Japanese instrumentation such as Koto, Shamisen, Shakuhachi and Taiko performed by expert Japanese musicians including the specialist percussion group Taikoza. This was done to make sure that the music would sound genuine to the gamers. He has also worked on Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2.The music of Red Steel too has received a lot of accolades. So now you can download it on your personal audio players or your PC to hear it anytime you want.

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Thursday, April 19

Paizo Publishing to Cease Publication of DRAGON and DUNGEON

Paizo Publishing and Wizards of the Coast today announced the conclusion of Paizo’s license to produce DRAGON and DUNGEON magazines effective September 2007. Publication of DRAGON and DUNGEON will cease with issues number 359 and 150, respectively. [MORE]

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RIP Tom Moldavy

We just finished playing an updated version of Castle Amber, by Tom Moldavy. Little did we know that Tom just passed away recently.

Tom Moldvay, 58 passed peacefully into his next adventure on March 8th 2007 . Tom was a game designer and author most notable for his work on early materials for the fantasy role-playing game, Dungeons & Dragons (D&D). As an employee of TSR, Inc., he authored or co-authored many landmark D&D adventure modules. During the early 80’s when home computers were not prevalent, Tom was creating thought provoking games that stirred the imagination and were played by thousands of enthusiasts across the country. The Classic Rulebooks and Player’s Handbooks written by Tom had been in print for several years and played so intensely that many gamers had them practically memorized. Odds were that if you’d played a published adventure, most likely you were a fan of Tom Moldvay. Most of those early modules achieved classic status, some of them being collected and reprinted again and again in the years that followed.

Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Tom graduated from Mayfield High School and went on to receive his Masters degree in Anthropology from Kent State University.

Preceded in death by parents Thomas and Selma Moldvay and sister Jody Brown.

Tom is survived by his sister, Rebecca (David) Welner of Akron, nieces and nephews, Lauren Welner, Dave Welner, and Kurt Brown Jr.

Toms wishes were to be cremated without a formal service.

Rest in Peace, Tom. Your adventure gave us hours of enjoyment.

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Tuesday, March 13

My Xbox Live Gamer Tag

We play Gears of War every Wednesday night. Look me up!

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Wednesday, March 7

Tom Salta Records Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 2


Composer and music producer Tom Salta, whose previous credits include the MTV VMA nominated original score for Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter™ (GRAW), has written and recorded the dark and epic original score for Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter™ 2, the next installment in the smash-hit squad-based action franchise. Scheduled for release in March 2007, GRAW2 is being developed by the award-winning teams that created the original Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter™ in Ubisoft’s Paris and Red Storm Studios. GRAW2 will be available on the Xbox 360™ video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system, the PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) system and Windows® PC. [MORE]

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Saturday, March 3

March 4th is GM's Day

To celebrate all the Game Masters we know and love out there, a bunch of publishers are selling their products at a discount. Here's the works I've written that you can get discounted for a limited time:

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Wednesday, February 7

Geezergamers.com

Just wanted to give a shout out to my new friends over at GeezerGamers.com.



SHOTGUN TO THE FACE!

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Sunday, October 22

D&D and Poker: Not So Different

Check out this article: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1538649,00.html

Why the parental aiding and abetting? It's not just that poker in the home keeps kids off the unpredictable streets. Many parents are saying that their kids get real-life lessons from playing poker with one another. Keeping track of the odds and the cards can help sharpen math skills without the kids even knowing it. And perhaps more important for teenage boys, who studies show lag in the development of their emotional intelligence, poker provides personal interaction. The game's central task--reading faces and psyching out opponents--can boost their EQ in ways that many other typical teenage activities do not. "As long as the money doesn't get out of hand, I think it's positive," says Renee. "They're building friendships. And I think it's teaching them some skills too."

Many experts agree with her. In their classic 1944 book, Theory of Games and Economic Behavior, John von Neumann and Oskar Morgenstern built a mathematical model of economic and social organization--creating the foundations of modern game theory--by studying strategy games like poker. Poker is like life, the argument goes, a battlefield where the players constantly try to assess risks and guess one another's next moves. More recently, Anthony Cabot, a leading gaming-law attorney who represents online and casino operators, co-authored a paper for the Thomas M. Cooley Law Review linking poker to other games in history, like jousting, that have motivated young men to increase their combat skills. He wrote that even Islam, which prohibits gambling, has made exceptions for betting on horse races as a way to spur, as it were, youths to become better horsemen and warriors. Some educators leverage the game's current popularity to sneak in their lessons. Emory University math professor Ronald Gould, for example, teaches his freshmen students basic concepts of probability using five-card stud, or for more challenging computations, a seven-card game like Texas Hold 'Em.


Sound like any games we know?

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Thursday, September 7

The Thing: Who Goes There?

Just updated The Thing: Who Goes There? d20 Modern supplement with better rules on insanity.

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Thursday, August 31

Getting His Game On: Tom Salta

More updates on Tom's progress:

Tom Salta deserves an award just for putting up with these obligatory questions about his wardrobe and acceptance speech. The composer was recently nominated for an MTV Video Music Award for writing the 35-minute score of Ubisoft's 2006 video game, "Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter." [MORE]

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Tuesday, August 1

Tom Salta Nominated for MTV's Video Music Awards

Tom Salta's score for Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter was nominated for Best Video Game Score in the MTV Video Music Awards.

This year there will be two new categories for the online gaming community to vote on, through Gametrailers.com and Xfire: Best Video Game Soundtrack and Best Video Game Score. Winners will be announced live on vma.mtv.com on August 31 during the MTV Overdrive broadcast.

Here’s your chance to make video game history! GameTrailers.com and MTV are proud to announce two new MTV Video Music Awards to be presented on MTV’s Overdrive during the world famous VMAs—“Best Video Game Soundtrack” and “Best Video Game Score.” GameTrailers has selected five nominees for each category, and you decide who wins by casting your vote now! So what are you waiting for? This is your chance to participate in the first ever video game related VMAs!

Vote Tom Salta's Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter for Best Video game Score here.

Then, catch all the star-packed VMA action direct from New York on August 31. MTV News' preshow kicks things off at 6:30 p.m. ET/PT, followed by the big show at 8 p.m.

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Saturday, June 17

Family Guy Role-Playing Reference

That's right. You read it correctly. Unfortunately, the reference is a bit off (1d4 points of disintegration won't even kill a wizard), but hey, I'll take any positive reference I can get. [Check it out!]

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Friday, May 26

All About Tom Salta

Tom Salta is a friend of a friend, who happens to be pretty famous in the game industry. From his site:
Tom Salta writes and produces emotionally charged electronic and orchestral music for records, movie/TV and video game soundtracks. Combining his expertise in programming and mixing hit records with the highest production values, Tom Salta creates powerful melodies and hooks with a hybrid of lush orchestral strings and edgy, electronic rock music. [MORE]
Check out an interview with him here.

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Monday, May 15

The Top 10 Myths about Girl Gamers

Girl gamers. Evidently, they’re difficult to figure out. Lucky for you, Mercurial compiled this nifty little handbook to give you some hints. [MORE]

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Saturday, May 6

From the Dungeon to the Dictionary

Just wanted to reference an excellent article about the value of Dungeons & Dragons in building a child's vocabulary:

I remember vividly an encounter with my seventh-grade French teacher, who was astonished that I knew the word 'toxic'; I was (and am still) astonished that she was astonished, as I considered it quite ordinary. I told her at the time that it was a 'D&D word', although in actuality I think that toxic is one of those words that all parents should teach their children as soon as possible! It's true that if you want your child simply to learn words outside of any context, Scrabble is a much better vocabulary-building game, but in my experience, Scrabble is mostly about using existing vocabulary, and that in a decontextualized way. Give me D&D any day, and I'll give you a child who learns to love words. [MORE]

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Tuesday, April 18

Goth Youths Prone to Suicide Attempts and Self-Mutilation

You've got to love when academia and journalism collide to create...utter nonsense:
GLASGOW, Scotland, April 14 - The rate of suicide attempts and self-mutilation-is high among those in the Goth youth subculture, researchers here reported.

More than half of 19-year-olds who self-identified as Goth reported self-harming behavior, and nearly half reported a suicide attempt, said Robert Young, a research associate at the University of Glasgow.

But whether participation in Goth culture leads to self-destructive behavior or whether adolescents with those tendencies gravitate to Goth is not clear, Young and colleagues said online today in BMJ, formerly the British Medical Journal.

Goth is a subgenre of punk culture characterized by "a dark and sinister aesthetic, with aficionados conspicuous by their range of distinctive clothing and makeup and tastes in music," the investigators said. There is a Goth subculture in the U.S., reportedly inspired by fantasy games such as Dungeons and Dragon. [MORE]

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How To Build a Game In A Week From Scratch With No Budget

It's like MUD development...in a week! Thanks to Doug for pointing this one out.

An RPG in a week, starting from scratch? How hard could it be?

I did it because of a dare.

There are many great resources available to small, budget-conscious independent game developers today. On a public forum, in a counter-rant, I expressed this fact by bragging that if you gave me a week, a fresh install of Windows, and a good Internet connection, I could build a halfway decent game with no budget whatsoever. No, it wouldn't be able to compete with Halo 2 or anything (if I could create that kind of game in a week, I'd quit my day job), but it would be reasonably amusing and playable.

Tom Bampton, who runs the monthly Game-In-A-Day 'competition' (www.gameinaday.com ), said "You're on!" He then added an extra contingency – I had to do it without the benefit of one of the (free) game engines out there. I could only use a basic library / API.

At first, I dismissed the idea. I didn't have time to take a week off of work and my current game development project to do something like this. But then I thought: What is a week? Unless you work for EA, a work-week is 40 hours. How about taking 40 hours to create a game? I was intrigued – but I didn't want to just create a space-invaders clone. How about a role-playing game – one of the most complicated genres to create games for? Would it be possible?

I didn't know. I knew it would be extremely difficult. But I accepted the challenge.

On top of that, I documented what I was doing as I worked, which I expected would be a little like going through an entire development cycle on fast-forward. I thought it might be interesting to game developers – or at least an entertaining record of how I fell on my face if I failed. The end result was a long, rambling, stream-of-consciousness record of my hourly activities. I've tried to edit it down to something a little less yawn-inducing here. [MORE]

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Tuesday, March 28

Brittleactica: Planet in Need

It involves cows and possibly Battlestar Galactica. Or maybe just cows. [MORE]

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Thursday, March 23

My Finalized I-CON Schedule

I-CON, the Northeast's largest convention of science fiction, fact and fantasy, is held annually on the campus of Stony Brook University. Attended by over 6,000 people each year, I-CON is a three day festival, designed to encourage literacy, creativity and interest in science and technology through science fiction and its related genres.

FRIDAY, MARCH 24
 SATURDAY, MARCH 25

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Sunday, February 5

Fear of Girls

This video has been all over the Internet already, but it bears pointing out:

True Love is but a +2 Broadsword away. [MORE]
This video would be just plain sad, if it were not for the following reasons:
1) I've gamed with guys who consider "chaotic neutral" means the right to kill everyone and not give them any mercy.
2) There are definitely guys who run around in cloaks all the time (even though it's supposedly only for Live Action Role-Play or LARPing).
3) I've gamed with guys who have asked to "have sex with" a female character in a Dungeons & Dragons session. In front of five other guys. At a convention.
4) This video is made by gamers. It's dead on: from the barbarian rage to the Brujah clan reference.

It's funny. It's sad. It's true. Don't let it be you!

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Wednesday, February 1

Finally, a Gaming Geek on Reality TV

Somewhere on http://www.rpg.net, a poster made a comment a few years ago that said (and I'm paraphrasing): "It's too bad there aren't any pen-and-paper gamers on reality TV shows. They'd probably be a lot more interesting than half the mutants on the shows today."

Now this was a biased comment coming from a forum all about pen-and-paper role-playing. I have no idea who that poster is or if he's still paying attention. But the theory is now a reality. I give you...

KarlKarl - “Dungeon Master”
Karl graduated from North Park University with honors in biology and is currently applying to pharmacy schools. This 23-year-old watched the first season of Beauty and the Geek and knew that if he was on the show, he would “totally rule.” Having gained a great deal of confidence from his partner, Danielle, Karl says he hasn't had time to ask any girls out. He loves “Dungeons and Dragons” and plays every Friday night with his friends. To fuel his enjoyment of running, Karl is considering training for the Los Angeles Marathon.

You can read more about Karl at the Beauty & the Geek Web Site. It's true, Karl's existence is basically to be utterly mocked for his lack of social skills, further stigmatizing role-playing games. But if Karl wins...well maybe gamer geeks everywhere have a chance. And here's his partner...

Danielle
Danielle - “Cocktail Waitress”
Twenty-five-year-old swimsuit model, Danielle, would not change a thing about her experience on Beauty and the Geek and would do it again. Currently a circulation assistant at a public library and a part-time cocktail waitress, Danielle plans to return to school to become a nurse. When not working, Danielle likes to go clubbing with friends, workout and shop.

All is not hopeless for Karl. Danielle works at a public library, so they've got a lot of common right there...

Oh whom I kidding, he's screwed. I don't care, I'm still rooting for Karl. GO KARL GO!

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Cthulhu Document Generator

This thing is great! I found it by accident:

Welcome to the Cthulhu Document generator. I was going thru "Propping up the Mythos" the other day and was reading George Burruss' how-to for generating latin text. Since I don't use Excel (or Windows) and the process seemed a bit intensive labor wise I thought I could develop a document generator for the web that automatically creates the random latin pages

Yeah, I know its not going to change the world but it might save you some time making those mysterious papers/notes/tomes. Just give the generator the parameters you desire and fire away. Then copy the text from the page into your favorite editor, select all, choose your favorite font and boom! you're done. Well, kinda. Read Propping up the Mythos for more cool stuff. If I could write a php script to bind, age and distress your documents/books I would. Cest la vie. Ia ia. [MORE]

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Monday, January 30

What Topics Should I Speak About?

Hello readers, all two of you. If you're going to be attending I-CON, I've been asked to speak again. But before I suggest any topics, I'd like to get your feedback as to what you think I should speak about. I'll be participating in two tracks: the electronic gaming track and the role-playing track.

I've participated in the following panels in the past: D20: The Rise and Fall of an Empire, Digital and D20, Freelancing for Beginners, Satanism and Sex in D&D, Mixing Magic and Machines, Chatroom/Text-Based RPGs.

Like any of these? Hate them? Want to see more?

Use the comment button and let me know your thoughts. Or else I'm liable to come up with something really boring!

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posted by talien at 8:13 AM | 4 comments links to this post


Tuesday, January 3

Games for Sale!

I put the following up for sale at Half.com:

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posted by talien at 4:09 PM | 0 comments links to this post


Saturday, November 5

Grow RPG!

Check out the very cool (although somewhat predictable) Flash game, Grow RPG: http://www.eyezmaze.com/grow/RPG

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posted by talien at 2:18 PM | 0 comments links to this post


Wednesday, October 26

Announcing the Welstar Wiki

As I return to my novel, I realized that I had piles (an entire notebook, actually) of notes about Welstar. Only none of it is collected in one easy to find place. Thus the creation of the Welstar Wiki: http://welstar.pbwiki.com

It has information for RetroMUDder and role-player alike.

Man I love the alliteration. Welstar Wiki. Heh.

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posted by talien at 10:56 PM | 0 comments links to this post


Monday, October 17

D20 Fantasy Magic the Gathering Cards

New players are often bewildered by the number of choices their characters have in the D20 Fantasy system. That doesn't include all the spells, feats, and class abilities they have at their disposal. That got me thinking about Magic: The Gathering. Each rule is modular, easy to remember (because it's printed on a card), and you can pull it out for reference whenever you need to. Test runs proved their usefulness in play, especially as a DM who doesn't remember all of the rules all of the time. So I put together all of the combat actions and skill actions one might perform in a round (not including feats, spells, and class abilities). You can download these and print them. It took me five tries, but I got the card backs to line up correctly as well (I should point out they say "Arcanis" for our game). Enjoy! [MORE]

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posted by talien at 8:29 AM | 0 comments links to this post


Wednesday, August 10

D&D Hones Students' Reasoning Skills

A recent article indicated that playing Dungeons & Dragons can help a child's grade point average:

...a recent five-year study by a Pennsylvania school board determined that students regularly engaged in chess classes showed a 17 percent improvement on school tests, compared with only about a 4.5 percent improvement for students who did other enrichment activities such as Dungeons & Dragons and creative writing. [MORE]

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posted by talien at 8:20 AM | 0 comments links to this post


Monday, August 1

Detention of the Damned: Blood, Brains, and Backpacks

Check out Crimson Aneurysm's D20 Modern message board game: Detention of the Damned: Blood, Brains, and Backpacks! He uses D20 Modern and Blood and Brains: The Zombie Hunter's Guide.

Like any other significant population of human beings, the small Northern California town of Pleasant Valley has its secrets. Hidden evils, both minor and grave, lurk behind its manicured gardens and friendly inhabitants. Tough, brawny, Coach Murphy, for example, enjoys berating the weaker, scrawnier boys in his gym class...but come nightfall, he puts on pantyhose, stands in front of his bedroom mirror and weeps. Sally Callahan was her class's homecoming queen...but Skip Traister got her pregnant, and now she takes out the misery of her dead-end life on the soft, defenseless body of her infant son. "He fell out of his crib," she tells Skip when he comes home drunk from the paper mill. And stranger things spread their ineffable corruption among the townspeople. Little Jimmy Buckton isn't sure why the rotting corpse of his pet cat tasted quite so good slithering its way in pieces down his throat, but he wants more...and young Herman Mulfield across the street has been looking awful tasty. The strange wooden doll that Principal Henriksen picked up on vacation in Budapest is undeniably ugly, but lately it's been telling him some pretty interesting things...like how pretty the insides of his students' heads will look decorating the freshly painted halls of Pleasant Valley High School. It's only a matter of time before the stench of the rot afflicting Pleasant Valley is too putrid to be ignored... [MORE]

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posted by talien at 8:40 PM | 0 comments links to this post


Monday, July 25

RetroMUD is BACK!

After two fans on our server blew, thereby melting the whole system, Rayzam and Alaron managed to get us working again on a new, virtual server. And the puppy is FAST. Check out the new and improved RetroMUD at http://www.retromud.org today!

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posted by talien at 9:24 AM | 0 comments links to this post


Tuesday, July 19

Loesung Updated to 3.5

I reivsed Loesung the Vampire Hunter so that he more accurately reflects his age (nearly a thousand years old and only 6th level? Bah!). Now he's 13th level with a lot more abilities. I also upgraded his intelligent items and converted him to 3.5. Enjoy!

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posted by talien at 9:57 PM | 0 comments links to this post


Amberyll the Thief-Taker Updated to 3.5

Amberyll the Thief-Taker has been updated to the new format and 3.5 rules. She got considerably richer as a result and even splurged on a nicer cloak of resistance!

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posted by talien at 6:46 PM | 0 comments links to this post


Monday, July 18

3.5 Statistics for Talien

As an experiment in stat blocking, I used the E-Tools program to recreate Talien as a celestial satyr paladin. I also wanted to use the new stat block format that Dungeon and the Monster Manual II implemented just recently. So without further ado, here's the new, improved, and simplified Talien to beat up in your D20 games!

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posted by talien at 11:12 PM | 0 comments links to this post


Thursday, April 21

Esuvee Gets Blogged!

Just wanted to note that Torakhan blogged my Esuvee freebie. Thanks Torakhan! [MORE]

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posted by talien at 1:19 PM | 1 comments links to this post


Monday, April 18

Freebie Update

It never occured to me to add the freebies available at RPGNow.com to my list of free stuff on this site. But since I wrote them, they're all just a click away. Enjoy free supplements, including adventure scenarios and factions, for Blood & Spooks, Blood & Brains, and Modern: Mercenary Manual.

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posted by talien at 10:58 PM | 0 comments links to this post


Friday, April 15

The Roots of D&D

Wonder where paladins, rogues, trolls, and the spell casting system came from? Find out at the Literary Sources of D&D.

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posted by talien at 7:58 PM | 0 comments links to this post


Thursday, April 14

Esuvee Stirs Up Controversy

Nothing quite like a d20 game supplement causing a thread about the pros and cons of SUVs. The advertising campaign is working!

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posted by talien at 7:37 PM | 1 comments links to this post


Predator PBP Game

NarlethDrider is going to start a Predator PBP game soon using my Predator and Aliens freebies. Check it out!

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posted by talien at 7:34 PM | 0 comments links to this post


Sunday, April 10

Esuvee

Because...well, because I'm insane, I had to create an esuvee as a d20 monster. I know, I know, it's an illness. I'm trying to get over my conversionmania.

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posted by talien at 8:01 PM | 0 comments links to this post


Monday, April 4

Green's Guide to Ghosts

This is hysterical...Blood and Spooks: The Ghost Hunter's Guide is actually being targeted in advertising by a rival product. That's right, the description for Green's Guide to Ghosts indicates, "Now, there's other guides out there that give you new ghost-hunting professions, skills, feats, magic, and whatnot. This ain't like those guides. No sense in going over the same old crunch." There aren't any other ghost hunter guides for d20 Modern but Blood and Spooks, so I think we know which product they're referencing. More power to 'em--the ultimate compliment, people are trying to "beat" Blood and Spooks. Curious about the difference? Check out both and see for yourself!

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posted by talien at 10:19 PM | 0 comments links to this post



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